Όλα τα τελευταία νέα για τη Μουσική Τεχνολογία και την Ακουστική, κατευθείαν από τις επίσημες ιστοσελίδες των εταιρειών, συγκεντρωμένα σε ένα blog!

Hybrid Modeled Drum Kits With Very Familiar Sounds

Sound Magic Supreme Drums was recorded at Abbey Road, Ocean Way and The Record Plant


Sound Magic tells us that Supreme Drums, just released for Windows, starts with the familiar drum sounds featured in many great hits such as The Eagles' Hotel California, Michael Jackson's Thriller and many more... Hmmm, sounds intriguing - let's hear what they have to say in their own words...

"We have created a powerful drum set-up with 19 available pieces and over 10 different kits. To ensure the best possible authentic sounds, Sound Magic not only chose the best drum brands available for sampling (such as DW, Ludwig and Sonar) but also utilized the best recording studios in the world to record them. It took more than two years to arrange for these samples to be created at three of the best known studios of all time: OCEAN WAY RECORDING(The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and more). THE RECORD PLANT (The Eagles Hotel California, Michael Jackson, Nine Inch Nails and more) THE LEGENDARY ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS (The Beatles and many more) to ensure the highest possible sound quality, we used the best possible gear, including the legendary Neve 88R and SSL 9080J consoles and dCS 905 AD converters.

Over two years of meticulous recording sessions resulted in over 73GB of raw sampling data with different drum sets, sticks, styles and rooms to give us the best possible starting points. It is likely that another Monster Size Drum Sample pack will appear on the market in coming days, but Sound Magic has chosen a different route to bring you these incredible sounds. By utilizing the Sound Magic MCN (Modeling Core Next) Engine, we have successfully modeled this huge data set, and our proprietary technology has shrunk it to a much more manageable 300MB size. This decreased size results in a super fast loading speed and a lightning fast performance response – all with very little impact on your CPU. And Sound Magic brings this home with NO loss of Sound Quality due to our latest modeling technology.

To further ensure the realism of these amazing sounds, Sound Magic employs its Plasma Random System, designed to make sure that successive notes are slightly different. The artificial "machine gun" rolls are a thing of the past!

We've also utilized HD Velocity Layering which extends the traditional 127 velocity layers to 65,536 velocity layers! This allows for the smoothest velocity transitions ever experienced and really brings that "live" feeling to all of your performances.
Careful modeling on our Supreme Drum's envelopes enables you to fully control the dynamics of a performance. And we've incorporated a Performance Key Switch System to make it quicker and easier to switch skill sets and techniques in intensive live playing situations.

Supreme Drums' flexible and comprehensive Mixing Console lets you mix, route and use our built-in EQ and Compression units. You can control individual microphone leakage just like a real world drum recording session. In the mixer, you not only have multiple microphone positions fully under your control, but you can also tweak those microphone leakage amounts, reproducing the leakage between different microphones that would be encountered in a real drum recording. This really brings realism to your recordings! The high quality of Sound Magic's EQ and Compressor gives you control over the acoustic impact of your drums, delivering a powerful modern sound that further enhances the sense of realism in your final product.

Supreme Drums also fully supports our Add-On System Link Version 2. Through this link, users will have the ability to add any of our high quality Neo Line Plugins allowing them to work seamlessly with Supreme Drums. Here is the flexible, extendable effects processing you've been looking for. Our Neo Line Plugins not only bring a higher quality professional standard to effects processing, they make it easier to solve your problems and get that sound you've been looking for quickly and efficiently.

Supreme Drums' Groove Engine provides the perfect environment for editing patterns, setting up performance modes and applying humanization effects for added realism. You can quickly browse the groove files and choose which one you want to play, or you can edit your own pattern on the included Step Sequencer. We have added over 1000 grooves for you to browse and use, royalty-free in your next project."

  • Innovative MCN (Modeling Core Next) Engine modeled drums, 300MB in size with little CPU usage
  • Samples are coming from the best recording studios in the world
  • Innovative Plasma Random System provides anti-machine gun effect
  • HD Velocity Layer supports up to 65,536 Velocity Layers!
  • Performance Key Switch System to make it quicker and easier to switch skill sets and techniques in intensive live playing situations.
  • Multi-microphone positions enable users to mix between different microphone positions and create new sounds that easily fit into a mix.
  • Powerful Mixer and Microphone Leakage setting create a feeling of a real drum recording session.
  • Groove Engine provides patterns for use immediately in you project
  • Build-in 64 Steps Sequencer
  • Powerful Add-on System *
  • Built-in professional EQ and Compressor.
  • Faster load times. Smaller hard drive footprint, less memory and less CPU usage.

Pricing and Availability:
€99 / $129

More information:
www.supremepiano.com/product/sdrums.html

The Real Stories Behind 68 Seminal Recordings

Sample Magic announces Classic Tracks book


Blimey! Two books on similar subjects on the same day. No sooner do we publish a story about Jake Brown's Behind the Boards: The Making of Rock 'n' Roll's Greatest Records Revealed than Sample Magic comes right back and announces the publication of its latest book, Richard Buskin's Classic Tracks. Here's the story in Sample Magic's own words...

What really went on behind the doors of the world's top studios while recording The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Nirvana and R.E.M.? How did producers and engineers deal with the legendary egos of Oasis and Paul Simon? Or the haunted perfectionism of Michael Jackson and Phil Spector? And how – between the drugs, the sex, the fights, the tears and the tantrums – did some of the most iconic tracks of our times ever get recorded?

In Classic Tracks, New York Times best-selling author Richard Buskin unearths the true stories behind 68 seminal recordings.

From rock to rap, pop to hip hop, soul to metal, punk to disco, and jazz to electronica, each chapter draws on original interviews and the recollections of artists, producers and engineers to tell the inside story of an era-defining recording, with in-depth information – including rare original studio photos, lyrics and track sheets –
about the relevant recording techniques and creative processes. In all, 31 leading studios from around the world are profiled.

Starting with Les Paul (1951) and closing with The xx (2009), via recordings by David Bowie, Miles Davis, The Doors, John Lennon, The Sex Pistols, Donna Summer, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Madonna, Metallica, The Pogues, Rihanna, The Who, Justice and many more, Classic Tracks offers rare insight into the mindsets and unique talents of the finest musical artists of the past six decades, and reveals how – often against the odds – some of the all-time best-selling, most influential records came into being.

Classic Tracks includes more than 350 colour and black-and-white images across 420 pages.

Classic Tracks adds to Sample Magic's list of recent publications that also includes Paul White's The Producers' Manual and Marc Adamo's The Secrets of House Music Production.

Pricing and Availability:
RRP £34.95. Special introductory discount price: £26.90 direct from the website listed below (priority Fedex shipping worldwide).

More information:
www.samplemagic.com

The Making Of Rock 'n' Roll's Greatest Records Revealed

Hal Leonard publishes Behind the Boards


The term "soundtrack of our lives" is one commonly tossed around by artists, fans, critics, and historians when discussing rock 'n' roll's timeless hits, spanning every subgenre from pop to hard rock and country to new wave. Now, music biographer Jake Brown takes music lovers into the studio to see how that soundtrack was actually created.

Publisher, Hal Leonard tells us that Behind the Boards: The Making of Rock 'n' Roll's Greatest Records Revealed is the first definitive rock record producers' anthology of its kind. Written for both fans and academic audiences interested in the art of sound recording and record producing, the book features intimate first-hand accounts of the making of some of rock's greatest hits via interviews with the producers who recorded them.

"Every Breath You Take" by the Police, "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, "Beautiful Day" by U2, "When the Levy Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, and "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC all are featured in Behind the Boards, as well as works by Bob Dylan, the Pixies, the Rolling Stones, KISS, Bob Marley, the Who, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Waits, and many more. Brown's research reaches as far back as Jimi Hendrix's 1968 album, Electric Ladyland, (Historic Studio A at Electric Lady Studios is shown on the book's cover) and peers into the future with an exclusive look inside the making of Aerosmith's upcoming album, Music from Another Dimension.

Featuring exclusive interviews with 31 of producing's biggest names of today – or any day – including Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel), Dave Jerden (Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains), Bob Rock (Motley Crue, Metallica, The Cult), Butch Vig (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins), Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix), Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, KISS, Alice Cooper), Don Was (Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Elton John), and Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon), Behind the Boards is the last word on how some of the greatest records in music history were made, told by the men and women who made them.

In the video above you can listen to Aerosmith's producer Jack Douglass discuss the making of the band's new studio album Music From Another Dimension.

About the Author
Jake Brown, as a music biographer, has 33 published books to his credit, including his trademarked "In the Studio"series, and authorized works with Heart, Motorhead, and the late Rick James and Tupac Shakur. In 2010, he was nominated by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award in the category of Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. Brown lives in Nashville.

Pricing and Availability:
$24.99

More information:
www.halleonardbooks.com

Antares 12 Days Of Christmas Offers

A different Antares plug-in deal each day


Antares has announced 12 Days Of Christmas Offers. An Antares spokesperson told Sonic State, "Rumor has it that there are various winter festivities fast approaching, and in keeping with what we're led to believe was an honored tradition among ancient DAW users, we're celebrating the 12 Days of Plug-ins by offering a different screaming Antares plug-in deal for each of the 12 days leading up to December 25."

First up is AVOX CHOIR Evo Vocal Multiplier. Regularly $69, for today only (up until midnight tonight), you can put it into your virtual stocking for only $29 (almost 60% off!).

CHOIR Evo

Neither a harmonizer nor a conventional chorus effect, CHOIR Evo is a unique processor that lets you create jaw-droppingly amazing choirs out of single vocal lines. CHOIR Evo actually turns a single voice into 4, 8, 16, or 32 distinct individual unison voices, each with its own pitch, timing and vibrato variations. Assign an instance of CHOIR Evo to each of four voices singing four-part harmony, spread the voices across the stereo spectrum and voilà, instant choir. Trust us. If you record backup vocals or group harmony, or just want to seriously thicken up a lead vocal, you need this plug-in. (You can check out some audio demos here).

Pricing and Availability:
Between now and midnight (PST) tonight, Thursday December 13th, you can purchase AVOX CHOIR Evo for only $29. That's almost 60% off its regular MSRP of $69.

More information:
Antares

Electric Piano For Mac And Windows

Applied Acoustics Systems releases Lounge Lizard EP-4


Applied Acoustics Systems has released an all-new version of its Lounge Lizard EP-4 electric piano plug-in for Mac OS X and Windows.

Lounge Lizard EP-4 ships with a new streamlined interface, a new equalizer and compressor module and a new multi-effect processor. It brings native 64-bit operation on Mac OS X and more. AAs tells us that the factory library has been redesigned with more than 200 presets boasting the sought-after classic electric pianos as well as a great selection of custom pianos taking full advantage of the effects.

Marc-Pierre Verge, CEO of Applied Acoustics Systems,told Sonic State, "Since its first release more than 10 years ago, Lounge Lizard has always been a favourite among top keyboard players and producers both for live playing and studio work. This is not only because it sounds great but also because it has the feel of a true instrument. The new Lounge Lizard EP-4 goes even further in terms of faithfulness and sonic possibilities resulting in a piano that is more inspiring and fun to play than ever."

Lounge Lizard EP-4 runs on both Mac OS X and Windows in 32- and 64-bit host sequencers supporting the VST, Audio Unit, and RTAS plug-in formats.

Pricing and Availability:
Lounge Lizard EP-4 is available now. The suggested retail price is $199, but until January 15th, 2013, it's eligible for the 2 for 1 Holiday Sale on Professional Series instruments.

Lounge Lizard EP-4 Upgrades are available to Lounge Lizard EP-1, EP-2, EP-3, and Session users starting at $39.

More information:
Lounge Lizard EP-4 - Electric Piano