The recording studio downstairs here at RouteNote Towers is only a modest affair, certainly no Abbey Road, but making sure everyone involved in the running of the studio or the scheduling of a project can still get complicated. This web app from Gain Studio aims to arrange your business neatly, and make it remotley accessible, so that multiple members of staff can use it even when they’re not offsite. You can also:
- Book sessions and assign rooms, staff, resources etc to each one, then easily edit them.
- Easily track tasks by assigning jobs, tickets, and to-do lists to staff, setting due dates and priorities.
- Track your equipment and reserve it for sessions.
- View calendars for every room, staff member and piece of equipment, or get an overview of the whole studio in one place.
Of course you can also manage staff calendars etc on Google Calendar or even Outlook, and having all your studio’s co-ordination happen online can be a problem if your internet connection goes down, but this does seem a neat way of collating all the necessary information and making sure everyone’s on the same page. The basic version, for smaller studios (like ours) is free, but if you’re managing a massive organisation with tens of projects and multiple simultaneous recording sessions you’ll need to pay for a premium version (up to $399 a month!). That said, they’re running a month’s free trial at the moment, so you don’t lose anything by taking a look.
If you didn’t win the Little Phatty in the competition we mentioned a while back, and you still haven’t saved up to buy one, then Xhun Audio has released a product they’re calling the LittleOne – a complete software emulation of the Moog synthesiser. The VST is a darn sight cheaper than the hardware at a mere €45, and gives you a version that you can run in the studio or take with you to gigs on your laptop…
Here are the specs:
The Moog Little Phatty Physical Modeling emulation
An all-in-one complete synthesis setup!
Two aliasing-free analog modeled oscillators with continuous selection mode ( like the original ) between Triangle, Saw, Square, Pulse
A 4-Pole Low Pass filter modeled on the classic Moog Ladder, featuring the original frequency responses and overload control
Two 4-Stage ( ADSR ) envelope generators
Modulation LFO with the original waveforms and frequency ranges ( 0.2~500 Hz )
Monophonic/polyphonic mode , pitch bend ranges and more – all accessible from LittleOne LED display
128 ready-to-use presets from classic analog to contemporary cutting-edge dance to psychoacoustic sounds and SFX
XSQ16M, a build-in 16-step MIDI sequencer
GATED!, a build-in 16-step trancegate effect
Two master effects slots with the possibility to choose between delay, reverb, and tube distortion
Full MIDI CC#s mapping (according to the original Little Phatty CC#s specs)
One for all the home producers and mixers out there – if you’ve not burnt through your Christmas bonus yet, you might be interested to learn that audiophile equipment designers CEntrance have released a new USB headphone amp, that they’re calling DACport. For the not-exactly-cheap price of $500, you can get your hands on a tiny, portable USB powered unit that will slip into your pocket or laptop case.
“DACport is an audiophile-quality, stereo 24-bit / 96kHz Digital-to-Analogue converter (DAC) with exceptional jitter management, resulting in extreme clarity and revealing musical detail. Its professional 1/4″ output offers the highest quality headphone connection.”
Key Features:
- Audiophile-grade D/A converter plays 24-bit/96 kHz HD music natively, with bit-for-bit accuracy.
- Headphone amp, designed for hours of listening without fatigue offers clarity, soundstage and detail.
- No drivers needed. Plug ‘n play operation with most laptops, nettops and music servers.
- No power adapter needed. DACport uses USB power and works anywhere you take your laptop.
- Stereo, 1/4-inch headphone jack, perfect for the most advanced headphones on the market.
The USB interface is Windows/Mac/Linux compatible, and draws power straight from the USB, and is very portable for a Class A headphone amp. Sound on Sound have a little feature on it here.
Valleywag have been running a cheeky competition to try and ferret out evidence of the rumoured Apple iTablet – a more or less hypothetical XXL version of the iPod Touch. Far from being just an accessory to your desktop, this is supposed to be more like a halfway house between your iPod/smartphone and a Laptop computer. A portable monitor with a touch screen interface and no keyboard (although it will likely have plenty of connectors to attach peripherals) that will run modestly sized applications and interface with files that have been saved on an online ‘cloud’ like the ones Google and others have recently announced.
Apple haven’t taken kindly to their offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 for photos or demos of the project, and have sent over a stroppy letter demanding that Valleywag take down the competition post. A bad move, as VW have taken this as confirmation of the project’s existence in a ‘the lady doth protest too much’ way. As a consolation prize for what they consider to be a confirmation not conforming to their stated criteria, they’ve sent the lawyer a £25 Zune marketplace voucher. [smileyface.jpg]
The Audio Can has a single mini-jack input to accommodate portable music sources, and several cans can be daisy-chained together for the ultimate in surround technology. Imagine the shopping cart theater! Presently only available form ebay for around $44, you can order the Audio Can with a fashionable gray, yellow, or green label. Why not collect all three?
The Audio Can from designer Dean Brown is not a headphone; it’s an actual can that used to house normal things like cat food. Brown was apparently inspired by the old can and string telephone (a device long known for its excellent fidelity) and he decided to replace the beans with a 9V battery powered amplifier and a top-firing speaker.
Lets hope it doesn’t sound too tinny!
Classics, 
Nanos, Shuffles, Touches – Apple have made so many different shapes of iPod that you need adaptors for practically every accessory you can buy. Apple likes things to look sleek and neat, so having fiddly bits of plastic to swap over for each of the many iPods they would like you to buy (you couldn’t possibly take your 60GB classic jogging with you!) is not acceptable, and so for all the neat freaks and must-have-it Apple fans, they’re developing a universal dock to accommodate all different shapes and sizes. They’ve filed a patent for, as they phrase it:
A dock for supporting a plurality of differently-shaped electronic devices, the dock comprising: a housing; a connector coupled to the housing; and a compressible support layer positioned at least partially about the connector, wherein at least a portion of the compressible support layer compresses to the shape of at least a portion of an electronic device that is attached to the connector.
featuring:
A method for supporting a plurality of differently-shaped electronic devices in a dock that includes a compressible support layer positioned at least partially about a connector, the method comprising:attaching an electronic device to the connector of the dock; compressing at least a first portion of the compressible support layer with at least a portion of the bottom of the electronic device when the electronic device is attached to the connector; and supporting at least a portion of a side of the electronic device with at least a second portion of the compressible support layer when the electronic device is attached to the connector.
Which translates to a standard iPod connector in the middle of a squashy or springy surround, which you compress part of by pushing your iPod into, the uncompressed part supporting the sides of the device, perhaps a bit like one of those pin-art pads that were fashionable around when the Lawnmower Man came out. I’m a little unclear as to why you’d need one, my iPod sits on my hat on top of my computer, but then I use a PC and have been known to eat cereal at my desk – hardly the action of a stylish Mac user. Perhaps it makes your music sound better.
Since they broke up they don’t need to keep all their touring gear, and are doing what any sensible musician does with old equipment; selling it on ebay! If you have a couple of thousand dollars hanging around that you wouldn’t mind spending on a banjotar then click here.
Digidesign’s recently released Eleven Rack, which combines amp simulation and a Pro Tools interface into a single 2U device, is delivering a series of competition give-aways and demonstrations on tour in DV Guitar & Amp Centres in London this winter. Dates for the mini-tour are posted below.
The presentation-style conventions will give users the chance to get some hands on experiences with the new hardware and other Digidesign guitar tools, as well as a chance to be entered into a prize draw to win an Eleven Rack. The first show is tommorrow and register only so be quick about your registration (events@digitalvillage.co.uk). All shows are lead by Eleven Rack guru and guitarist, Avid’s James Ivey.
- Friday 20th November – DV West London 3pm-5pm with special guest Anders Glantz
- Saturday 21st November – DV Retail Warehouse 12pm-4pm with special guest Anders Glantz
- Saturday 5th December – DV North London 12pm-4pm
- Thursday 17th December – DV South London 3pm-7pm
4Front -Yohng.com
This is a small and versatile upright piano module with unique sound; neither a sample player, nor synthesized. It’s a hybrid technology, that combines both methods. This resulted in a great module size reduction and light CPU usage. If you’re looking for a professional grade Piano instrument VSTi, then this might be what you’re after. Download from their website or by clicking here.
RMXL Synth – Krakli.com
RMXL is a re-release of a plugin previously included as a Computer Music exclusive. It is the best Richman synth to date with two totally independent sound sources and a wide variety of top class patches from electric-himalaya.com. All in all a very playable instrument. There’s also a raft of other synths and plugins free to download on Krakli.com
Leslie Organ – MDA-VST.com
A really comprehensive package of plugins here, including instruments, reverbs, cabinets – here’s the list:
Bandisto – Multi-band distortion
BeatBox – Drum replacer
Combo – Amp & speaker simulator
De-ess – High frequency dynamics processor
Degrade – Sample quality reduction
Delay – Simple stereo delay with feedback tone control
Detune – Simple up/down pitch shifting thickener
Dither – Range of dither types including noise shaping
DubDelay – Delay with feedback saturation and time/pitch modulation
Dynamics – Compressor / Limiter / Gate
Envelope – Envelope follower / VCA
Image – Stereo image adjustment and M-S matrix
Leslie – Rotary speaker simulator
Limiter – Opto-electronic style limiter
Loudness – Equal loudness contours for bass EQ and mix correction
Multiband – Multi-band compressor with M-S processing modes
Overdrive – Soft distortion
Re-Psycho! – Drum loop pitch changer
RezFilter – Resonant filter with LFO and envelope follower
Round Panner – 3D panner
Shepard – Continuously rising/falling tone generator
Splitter – Frequency / level crossover for setting up dynamic processing
Stereo Simulator – Haas delay and comb filtering
Sub-Bass Synthesizer – Several low frequency enhancement methods
Talkbox – High resolution vocoder
TestTone – Signal generator with pink and white noise, impulses and sweeps
Thru-Zero Flanger – Classic tape-flanging simulation
Tracker – Pitch tracking oscillator, or pitch tracking EQ
Vocoder – Switchable 8 or 16 band vocoder
VocInput – Pitch tracking oscillator for generating vocoder carrier input
Bandisto – Multi-band distortion
BeatBox – Drum replacer
Combo – Amp & speaker simulator
De-ess – High frequency dynamics processor
Degrade – Sample quality reduction
Delay – Simple stereo delay with feedback tone control
Detune – Simple up/down pitch shifting thickener
Dither – Range of dither types including noise shaping
DubDelay – Delay with feedback saturation and time/pitch modulation
Dynamics – Compressor / Limiter / Gate
Envelope – Envelope follower / VCA
Image – Stereo image adjustment and M-S matrix
Leslie – Rotary speaker simulator
Limiter – Opto-electronic style limiter
Loudness – Equal loudness contours for bass EQ and mix correction
Multiband – Multi-band compressor with M-S processing modes
Overdrive – Soft distortion
Re-Psycho! – Drum loop pitch changer
RezFilter – Resonant filter with LFO and envelope follower
Round Panner – 3D panner
Shepard – Continuously rising/falling tone generator
Splitter – Frequency / level crossover for setting up dynamic processing
Stereo Simulator – Haas delay and comb filtering
Sub-Bass Synthesizer – Several low frequency enhancement methods
Talkbox – High resolution vocoder
TestTone – Signal generator with pink and white noise, impulses and sweeps
Thru-Zero Flanger – Classic tape-flanging simulation
Tracker – Pitch tracking oscillator, or pitch tracking EQ
Vocoder – Switchable 8 or 16 band vocoder
VocInput – Pitch tracking oscillator for generating vocoder carrier input
Hopefully these will help you produce the next hit single to come from our music distribution service.
Another little tool to add to your collection of free VST plugins, if you’re quick! TC Electronic are offering their new reverb plugin – the M30 Studio Reverb – for free if you sign up to their newsletter by clicking here, visting their site and filling out the form you’ll find there. Here’s what they say about it on their site:
The M30 Studio Reverb is a simple to use, great sounding reverb that is powered by AlgoFlex™ – a new high definition TC technology that enables hardware quality and predictability to be ported to native software.
TC Electronic has been at the forefront of effects development for decades, and our reverb algorithms can be found in the best recording and mixing environments in the world. With its great sound M30 is a unique addition to any VST- or AU compatible application.
You’ll have to get your skates on though, the free offer ends on the 18th of Nov.
Loading ...
