Category Archives: Computer

otiumFX Updates Compadre Beatpuncher Plug-In To Version 1.1

Posted on August 31, 2006 by Planet-Musician

otiumFX has updated their compressor, Compadre Beatpuncher VST, to version 1.1.

This is a free upgrade for registered users.

Changes in version 1.1:

  • Improved CPU performance
  • Faster attack time (now goes down to 0.1 ms)
  • Changed response for gain reduction meter & clip indicator
  • Fix: registration glitch causing the plug-in to sometimes appear unregistered
  • Fix: Weird panning behaviour in some hosts with certain material

Unfortunately it has not been possible to maintain preset/song compatibility with the previous version, so it is recommended that you keep version 1.0 on your system while making the transition. The trial version will also soon be updated.

For more information, visit their web site at www.otiumfx.com.

Posted in Computer, Plug-Ins, Software, Technology

Line 6 Announces GuitarPort XT Now Shipping

Posted on August 30, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Line 6, Inc. announced today that GuitarPort XT is now shipping. The hardware and software bundle, which will include GearBox™ 2.0 software, is a powerful tool for guitarists seeking a no-hassle way to learn, play and record music. GuitarPort XT works with both PC and Mac computers, including the new Intel-based OS X machines.

GuitarPort XT delivers 18 classic and modern guitar amp models, 24 cab models, and 28 must-have studio and stompbox effects. Plus, included tools such as a chromatic tuner, hum reducer, metronome, and riff looper with half-speed playback ensure a great musical experience. “We’ve taken the studio standard digital modeling we perfected with POD XT, and our expertise in guitar-friendly user interfaces, and combined them into a computer-based product anyone can use and afford,” said Mark McCrite, Product Line Manager for POD & PC Products, Line 6.

With the optional GuitarPort Online™ membership, the musical possibilities of GuitarPort XT are almost limitless. Using an Internet connection, GuitarPort Online members can immerse themselves in a world of guitar tones, tracks and tablature. An incredible collection of loops, grooves, in-depth artist lessons, and original Line 6 songs are instantly available for jamming. The online library also features hundreds of the world’s greatest guitar songs. Ranging from blues to hardcore to modern rock and country, most tracks are available with and without guitar.

Recorded with the same painstaking detail as the original versions, users can learn their favorite songs by using the provided tablature, then “sit in” with a band like Double Trouble on Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. GuitarPort Online members can even jam with the original master tracks from Jimi Hendrix exclusively remixed by original engineer Eddie Kramer. All lesson, cover, and master tracks are matched with perfectly dialed in amp, cab and effect tones for the ultimate in-studio experience that only Line 6 can offer.

GuitarPort XT (hardware/software package) – $139.99 MSRP, $99.99 Street Price

For more information, visit their web site at www.line6.com.

Posted in Amplification, Computer, Digital, Effects, Software, Technology

iPlayMusic Announces New Music Lesson Programs

Posted on August 30, 2006 by Planet-Musician

IPlayMusic enables students to easily incorporate active music making into their daily lives, with the ability to export lessons onto the iPod.

By combining audio, video, animation and interactive technologies, iPlayMusic’s beginner guitar lessons put the fun into learning guitar by teaching users to play actual songs by popular recording artists.

What’s more, iPlayMusic provides a less-expensive and time-sensitive alternative to traditional music study. There is no need to drive back and forth to lessons or purchase costly sheet music. There is no ramp up time as students can purchase their guitar, bring it home and immediately have fun playing songs.

For a sneak peak of iPlayMusic’s suite of music leaning products, visit the site at www.iplaymusic.com for free demos. The following products are currently available for children and adults:

Beginner Guitar Lessons Interactive DVD; Levels 1 and 2
Each lesson presents four on-screen panels that demonstrate a basic guitar skill or technique from different angles. To help beginners master a song or to enable a “karaoke-style” sing-along, a guitar, vocal or scrolling text sections can be easily added or removed.

Beginner Guitar Lessons Level 1 introduces the musician to guitar basics and musical styles. Guitar anatomy, chords, strumming patterns and transitions are demonstrated, as is an introduction to various musical styles, including rock, blues, country and more.

Level 2 presents the next step in content for players interested in mastering the guitar. They are introduced to riffs, licks and tricks that expand on the rock, blues and country styles initiated in Level 1. In addition, musicians are introduced to new styles like reggae and 12 bar-blues.

Beginning Guitar Lessons, Level 1 and 2 are available on www.iplaymusic.com, eBay and Amazon. Each is available for $24.95 as a DVD or for download.

Beginner Guitar Lessons Mac Software
iPlayMusic Beginner Guitar Lessons for the Mac takes advantage of iLife applications including GarageBand, iTunes and iWeb. Aspiring musicians have everything they need to learn guitar, play and sing popular songs and easily create their own performances, which can then be downloaded to iTunes to share with friends.

The software includes more than four hours of video, presented in 140 individual lessons featuring iPlayMusic’s multi-angle video learning method. Users can learn to play more than 25 popular songs made famous by artists like The Beatles and Eric Clapton. Song lessons include guitar chord videos, scrolling lyrics for sing-along, and tips on riffs, transitions, strumming and more.

Beginner Guitar Lessons for the Mac is available for $49.95 at www.iplaymusic.com and carried in select retail stores. A PC version of the product will be available this September.

Play Music Together Interactive DVD Video and Mac Software
Play Music Together, a new Mac software and DVD video product, help preschoolers develop their musical skills and encourages families to learn to play the guitar together.

The interactive learning product features scrolling chords and lyrics, close-ups of the left and right hands and looping features that enables children to learn songs by playing or singing along at their own pace. Capo the puppet models fun songs and activities, so youngsters develop an understanding and appreciation of musical elements including rhythm, tempo and pattern, while parents, teachers or caregivers play along and join in the fun. After just a few basic lessons, children can play and sing-along with six popular family songs including If You’re Happy and You Know It and The Wheels on the Bus.

Play Music Together for the Macintosh is available for $39.95. The video-only DVD version is sold separately for $24.95. The PC version of Play Music Together will be available in September.

For more information, visit their web site at www.iplaymusic.com.

Posted in Computer, Education, Music

AraldFX And Dash Signature Release Mac Version Of Grand Electrix Virtual Piano

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Planet-Musician

AraldFX and Dash Signature has released the Mac version (AU, VST and AU Universal Binary) of Grand Electrix Virtual Piano, an emulation of the famous CP70 electroacoustic piano.

To celebrate the Mac release the price is reduced to only 50 USD for two weeks, until 10th of September 2006 (then it will get back to full price $79 US). The license at $50 US includes both Mac OS X and PC Windows versions.

“Grand Electrix” is a sample based virtual instrument featuring a new stream from disk custom technology (“direct from disk”), for very low memory and CPU usage. Samples are streamed in real time from the computer disk, so there is no need for large amounts of RAM.

Features:

  • 180 MB multisample full decay, no loops, crossfading layers
  • Stream from disk custom technology for very low memory and CPU usage
  • Complete control on Velocity response, curve, min max, sensivity
  • 3 Band EQ
  • Tremolo
  • Chorus
  • Temperament Menu (microtuning)
  • Stretch tuning adjustable

Samples are derived from the acclaimed Hollow Sun library “Definitive CP 70″. A demo of Grand Electrix Virtual Piano is available here.

For more information, visit their web site at www.araldfx.com.

AraldFX And Dash Grand Electrix Virtual Piano

Posted in Apple Mac, Computer, Piano, Recording, Software, Technology

GVOX Announces MasterTracks Pro Version 6.8.4

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Planet-Musician

GVOX has announced the lastest update to MasterTracks Pro.

MasterTracks Pro for Windows has been fixed. The easiest to use MIDI sequencer on the market is once again in full working order.

GVOX knows that many have shared in the frustrations of some of the bugs that were in MTPro 6.8.3. The software primarily worked, after you may have contacted technical support or visited our knowledgebase. The bugs in the code frustrated our developers too. However, our new, crackerjack developers went right to work on MasterTracks Pro after completing the rebuilding of Encore and Musictime Deluxe for Mac OSX.

The following bugs were fixed:

  • Edit sysex, program crash
  • Slide data didn’t work right
  • Single clicks in the track editor didn’t open windows
  • Shift/click to the record controller info didn’t work
  • Request to make “Choose Instrument” dialog bigger so no need for scroll bar didn’t work
  • Menu inactivated at song end, including Save Preferences
  • Click any .mts file to open – error message “: only allowed with drive letter” would show
  • Thru on a B-port channel, it plays through the correct channel, but on the A-port
  • Songs couldn’t be reordered like on Mac
  • Stuck Sound when hit stop in middle of sustained note
  • Empty field boxes in the Track Editor Program Name column were filled with a whole bunch of grayed-out characters
  • In Windows 2000 and XP taskmanager ran at 99%
  • Now tempo offset affects current time
  • Current time” changes according to time base setting
  • Mousing deactivated main menu
  • External sync was non functional
  • Timing/tempo issue in playback/record caused a gradual “lag”

For more information, visit their web site at www.gvox.com.

Posted in Computer, Microsoft PC, MIDI, Recording, Software, Technology

NevaFong Introduces The Envelight Sound Library For Cakewalk Z3ta+

Posted on August 28, 2006 by Planet-Musician

NevaFong have announced the release of “Envelight Set” for Cakewalk Z3ta+, a new loadable wavetable set with 57 new waveforms and a sound set of 128 top-notch sounds.

Long-standing work experience with various synthesizers made it possible to create sounds which will be interesting both to beginning users and experienced musicians wishing to add new elements in their compositions.

The wavetable set includes 57 new waveforms. Unique waveforms are created on the basis of FM, additive, and subtractive synthesis and experimental modulations.

The soundset also includes 128 high-quality presets sorted by categories: Bass, Fat, FX, FX tone, Keyboard, Lead, Pad, Various.

Background and solo sounds are powerful and soft, with exotic and classical flavors to suit any genre.

Envelight Set costs $45. Demo mp3s are available for download on the Neva Fong website.

For more information, visit their web site at www.nevafong.com.

Posted in Computer, Recording, Samples, Software, Synth, Technology

Rayzoon Releases Jamstix 1.7

Posted on August 28, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Rayzoon proudly announces the release of Jamstix 1.7, another massive update for their ground-breaking virtual drummer.

The focus of this update is an improved audio engine that reduces CPU usage and the addition of the brand-new ‘Keyboard Jam’ mode. Aside from this, there are dozens of additions and enhancements, new rhythms, new automation parameters as well as several bug fixes.

All Jamstix owners can download the update free of charge here.

Update Details:

  • Lowered CPU usage through optimized audio processing and improved voice reduction
  • Implemented new jam mode “Keyboard Jam”
  • Added 20 new rhythms as follows:
    • 7 world rhythms, including cha cha, calypso, merengue and soca
    • 6 rock rhythms
    • 4 R&B rhythms
    • 2 jazz rhythms
    • 1 reggae rhythm
  • Automatic fills are now also available in ‘Manual Jam’
  • PDF manual is now fully searchable
  • Console gain meters are now stereo instead of mono sum
  • Added ‘Time Sig Changes’ option to OUTPUT tab. Host synch-up is accelerated if unchecked, fixing possible loop alignment issues
  • Improved ‘Shaping’ function in various ways, including suppression of clicking at high levels
  • Added ‘Dampening’ slider to the ‘Ambience’ control panel to simulate smaller rooms
  • Added options ‘Create 2-Bar Pattern’ and ‘Create 4-Bar Pattern’ to arranger rhythm name right-click menu, which allow the quick creation of multi-bar patterns
  • Bars that have snare or tom accents are now shown with a black center line in the arranger
  • Added ’2x 16th’ as an option for the hihat quarter column
  • When editing hihat quarter and eighths columns, the velocity is now only reset to default if it is currently zero
  • Improved fill start time suppression options
  • Added option ‘Simplify by suppressing 16th notes’ to the fill options
  • Improved reggae rhythms and added ‘shuffle’ keyword to them
  • Improved hihat choking sound when choked by low velocity closed hat event
  • Added ‘Drive/Laid-Back Timing’ automation parameter which allows setting a constant earliness (drive) or lateness (laid-back) of the drums
  • BFD mappings now have anti-machine gun mode enabled
  • Increased limb transition time for snare ghost notes to account for stick drag time
  • Improved hihat import logic for 8ths and added missing logic for 16ths
  • Mapping tab output lock state is now recalled via ini profile
  • Selecting ‘Normal’ character no longer switches off shuffling
  • Clicking ‘Free Jam’ no longer clears the current arrangement
  • When using fill filter start time limits with fills that issue rhythm silencing before the start time limit, the rhythm is no longer silenced until the fill is allowed to start
  • Added new automation parameters to dynamically control fill options during a performance
    • Fill – Start Limiter
    • Fill – Rhythm Silencer
    • Fill – Toms On Snare
    • Fill – No 16ths
  • Added warning message if sounds are missing
  • Output grouping now also applies to percussion sounds
  • Added voice limiter to restrict maximum voice load to around 60 (90 on min reduction level)
  • Improved + column hihat velocity logic and fixed suppressed semi hats in that column under certain cirucmstances
  • Added ini option ‘SpeedFilterBPM’ to set a BPM above which certain 16th notes and all 32nd notes in fills and accents will be suppressed to avoid unnaturally fast performances
  • The velocity threshold for switching from snare head to sidestick can now be adjusted in the general ini settings (Velocity_Autoside, 0..1). Default is 0.5 (used to be 0.7 so adjust if you need the old style)
  • The velocity thresholds for the reduction logic can now be adjusted in the general ini settings:
    • Velocity_Reduction1 0..1 Default=0.4
    • Velocity_Reduction2 0..1 Default=0.3
    • Velocity_Reduction3 0..1 Default=0.2
    • Velocity_Reduction4 0..1 Default=0.1
  • Added notice above arranger in free and keyword jam indicating that Jamstix is controlling the arrangement in those modes
  • Fixed increasing CPU usage over time in Podium and forte
  • Fixed problem with Jamstix ‘freezing’ after loading first internal sample in some hosts under certain circumstances
  • Fixed a problem that could lead to an infinite loop when using empty default mappings or missing stock sounds under certain circumstances
  • Fixed delayed playing of accents suppressed by a silent rhythm or post-fill pause
  • Fixed GUI freeze in n-Track when closing several listboxes without selection
  • Fixed MIDI export tempo offset by 1BPM when the host sends tempo information in .9999 format

For more information, visit their web site at www.rayzoon.com.

Posted in Computer, Drums & Percussion, Recording, Software, Technology

Nucleus SoundLab Introduces The Musical Genome Project Sample Series For Wusikstation, Reason 3, And SF2/SFZ

Posted on August 28, 2006 by Planet-Musician

The Musical Genome Project is a new sampleset series by Nucleus SoundLab for Wusikstation, Reason 3 and SF2/SFZ. MGP concentrates on inexpensive, sub-$30 libraries focused around specific musical themes. The goal of MGP is high-quality sounds everyone can afford.

ChordWaves I is the first sampleset in the Musical Genome Project series. ChordWaves I contains a variety of synth chords programmed on modular synthesizers – which are ideal as song-starters for all forms of electronica. They also make excellent atmospheric textures when run through appropriate effects.

The Wusikstation version contains:

  • Over 450mb (32-bit) of raw samples
  • 16 multisamples comprised of nearly 150 waveforms
  • 100+ Wusikstation v3 presets by a variety of professional sound designers

The Reason 3 Refill contains:

  • The same samples as above, compressed into a 150mb Refill
  • 24 Custom Combinator Patches
  • 16 NN-XT Patches

ChordWaves I is now available for the low price of $14.95 (single-format), $19.95 (all formats – Wusik/SF2/SFZ/Reason) or shipped on DVD for $24.95.

For more information, visit their web site at www.nucleus-soundlab.com.

Posted in Audio, Computer, Loops, Music, Recording, Samples

Synthogy Releases Universal Binary Version Of Ivory Grand Pianos

Posted on August 25, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Synthogy is pleased to announce the release of their first Universal Binary version of Ivory for Audio Units. While the update is essential for all Intel-based Macs, it is also highly recommended for all users with Mac PowerPC processors running OS 10.4 or higher. Included in this download and installation is also the first release of the Ivory stand-alone version for Mac.

The update is free for all registered Ivory users and requires a previous installation of Ivory 1.5. Both the Ivory stand-alone version and the Ivory UB AU update plug-in are installed in the same package that is available for download at Synthogy’s website.

Ivory retails for $349 and is available for AU, VST (Mac/PC) and RTAS (Mac/PC). The Italian Grand Expansion Pack for Ivory is expected for a release within the next few weeks.

For more information, visit their web site at www.synthogy.com.

Posted in Computer, Piano, Plug-Ins, Synth

LiveLab Releases LiveSlice 1.44

Posted on August 25, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Livelab.dk has released version 1.44 of LiveSlice.

New features/changes:

  • GUI optimized – more than twice as fast – especially when using large arrangements
  • 72 arrangements – 3 banks of 24
  • playback position is only reset the first time the play button is pressed
  • track clear changed (mouse buttons reversed): LMB does a complete clear, RMB leaves empty events
  • improved event display when moving events

Bugfixes:

  • single slice trigger timing bug fixed
  • gui play button bug fixed (is now updated correctly)
  • settings page display bug fixed
  • changing number of visible tracks now refreshes properly
  • parameter value set and display bugs fixed
  • Audiomulch crash when closing file dialogs fixed

For more information, visit their web site at www.livelab.dk.

Posted in Computer, Recording, Software, Technology