Category Archives: Technology

Winter NAMM 2011: Orange Amps unveil revolutionary OPC Musician’s Personal Computer

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Planet-Musician

Orange Amplifiers announced to the world in summer 2010 the revolutionary all-in-one computer amplifier speaker – The OPC. The product has since undergone significant specification improvements and at NAMM the company will be debuting the final production spec product.

The much anticipated OPC is a complete all in one Guitar Amplifier and Recording Studio Workstation designed for musicians and songwriters, offering one stop playing, recording, editing and computing capabilities with selected software pre-installed. The OPC is the perfect ‘Musicians Personal Computer’  and will work straight out of the box with no setting up necessary… just plug in, create, play, record and share to the web!

The OPC will be leading the way with a number of ‘Firsts’:

  • The first PC to feature an integrated audio interface enabling the user to plug in a guitar or microphone using a standard 1/4″ jack plug
  • The first computer of its kind to have built-in high powered speakers which deliver superb full range studio quality sound as well as producing vintage guitar sounds.

The OPC comes with well over $1000 of premium software, including the following packages;

  • IK Multimedia Amplitube 3 including Custom Shop Orange Amps – Amp and Effects Modelling Software
  • Presonus Studio One Custom Orange Edition – DAW
  • Acoustica Mixcraft 5 – DAW
  • Toontracks EZdrummer Lite
  • Lick Library Player – Guitar learning and jamming centre

Technical Specifications:

  • 500GB Hard Disk Drive
  • 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz
  • OPC Instrument Interface 24bit, 96hz ULTRA low latency
  • 2 independent ¼” jack inputs for guitar, microphone or instrument, switchable and attenuated
  • Optical & Coaxial S/PDIF outputs
  • Slot-loading DVD-DL Drive
  • Wireless-G (802.1 B/G) with top-loaded antenna
  • Intel® Core™ i3-540 Processor (4M Cache, 3.06 GHz)
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
  • Stereo Amplifier with 2 x JBL 6.5”Dual Concentric drivers

The OPC recommended retail price is $1499 (£1020 + vat) and it will go on sale first quarter 2011

The all-in-one computer amplifier speaker revolution starts here! See the OPC on display at NAMM2011 on the Orange Music Electrical Company Booth #4674 Hall C

For further information news please see the website www.orangeamps.com or contact info@orangeusa.com.

Posted in Amplification, Computer, Guitar, NAMM Show, Recording, Technology

Winter NAMM 2011: Orange Amps Launch Two New Terror Bass Combos

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Planet-Musician

Orange Amps have taken their breakthrough technology for the new Smart Power range of speakers and Terror Bass amp heads, and put them together to create two all-new Terror Bass Combos.

These long-awaited new additions to the Terror family are two world-class quality combos with distinctive Orange sounds. The new Terror Bass Combos come in two sizes and use the pioneering Smart Power Isobaric loudspeaker concept.

This ground-breaking technology is achieved by mounting two lightweight Neodymium speakers within the cabinet, one immediately behind the other. This means a lower frequency can be delivered and more output realised with a smaller sized cabinet.

The Terror Bass Combo TB500C features a 500 watt hybrid amplifier – as in the Terror Bass head – and comes with Tube Preamp and a Class D power section which drives two 12” Neodymium speakers.

The TB300C is a 300 watt hybrid amplifier with Tube Preamp and Class D power section as well as two 10” Neodymium speakers. In keeping with the Tiny Terror concept ‘small is the new big’, these compact combos deliver more power, and more volume than any others currently on the market.

The Terror Bass Combo, with its characteristic Orange Amp great looks, rugged construction and portability means that bass players everywhere can now be part of the elite Orange Terror Club.

To take a look at the Terror Bass Combo as well as all the other Orange Amps go to Orange Music Booth 4674 Hall C.

www.orangeamps.com

Posted in Amplification, Guitar, NAMM Show, Technology

Winter NAMM 2011: Orange Amps launch new tube bias technology DIVO (Digital Intelligent Valve Optimisation) featuring TubeSync®

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Planet-Musician

For over forty years Orange amps has pushed back the boundaries of guitar amp technology and at NAMM 2011 the company are proud to announce a worldwide exclusive distribution agreement for DIVO Tube Sync®, a truly revolutionary new guitar amp technology

The new DIVO technology automatically adjusts the bias of the output power tubes to ensure their full potential is realised. It monitors the amp’s performance and will isolate faulty tube failures, by running them at half power until the tubes can be changed. The DIVO system also increases the reliability of amplifiers by maintaining the optimum performance of the tubes by performing an ‘in circuit’ test every time the amplifier is powered up.

DIVO technology opens up a whole new dimensions in tone options allowing for the first time ever the ability to mix and match tubes. You can experiment with an EL34, 6L6, 6550, KT77 or any other tube type all at the same time in the same amp. With DIVO the Tubes are automatically matched.

DIVO will extend the lifespan of your tubes and never again pay a tech to re-bias.

DIVO can be easily integrated into any almost any guitar tube amplifier.

Orange amps will be offering this as option in there new Rockerverb 100 which will be ‘DIVO Ready’.  For other Orange amps and most other brands Orange offer the DIVO Orange Tube Sync OV4, a complete standalone unit.

See this revolutionary important product demonstrated on the Orange Music Booth 4674 Hall C

www.orangeamps.com

Posted in Amplification, Guitar, NAMM Show, Technology

Nomad Factory Releases Magnetic – Real to Real Audio Tape Warmer Plug-In

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Planet-Musician

Nomad Factory, leader in tube emulation technology, proudly announces the launch of “MAGNETIC”, a truly realistic “Real to Real” audio tape warming effect plug-in that gives your audio tracks the exclusive vintage tape sound which your ears crave. This effect can inject sterile audio with the warmth and character of classic tube circuitry and analog tape saturation. The plug-in features pure analog reel-to-reel tape speeds, tape/tube saturation and tape color effects, as well as a dedicated vintage style EQ and a built in Boost mastering section. The result is a creamy, warm sound that can only be achieved by MAGNETIC.

Never before has such a great sounding plug-in effect been so easy to use! At first touch, the plug-in’s interface is modern, simple, and extremely user-friendly which instantly allows you to dial in usable sounds.

MAGNETIC can be used in many different musical ways. Try using it on individual tracks to add subtle warmth and tape color to your drums or use it to create a filtered cassette AM-radio effect on a vocal. But that’s not all… when used on the master bus, MAGNETIC can warm your entire mix and “boost” it up to broadcast level. It’s just like having a 30+ year old reel-to-reel tape machine at your fingertips, without all the maintenance costs.

From Today till November 30, 2010 the new MAGNETIC plug-in will be sold at introductory price of $49 (MSRP $199) or as part of a hot Group-Buy promotion.

Learn more from the Nomad Factory website :

www.nomadfactory.com

About Nomad Factory

Nomad Factory, leader in tube emulation technology is a well-known audio software company based in Los Angeles, California. Nomad Factory has from scratch developed unique tube emulation techniques that make their plug-ins sound so realistic that it gives the users, the impression they are using the warm sound of classic analog hardware. Nomad Factory’s plug-ins are actually used in professional studios through out the world as well as by professional musicians, engineers and producers…


Posted in Audio, Computer, Plug-Ins, Technology

i-tab v1.2, the world’s first portable guitar tab player

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Planet-Musician

The revolutionary and patented i-tab scroll chords and lyrics in perfect time and the new firmware v1.2 version brings a host of improvements and comes in perfect time for Christmas!

The i-tab grabbed the headlines when it launched in spring 2010. It offered for the first time guitarists of all levels a pocket sized unit that sat on the end of a guitar which gave a prompt for song chords and lyrics and at the tempo of your choice.

The new v1.2 i-tab now plays custom multi-track MP3 backing tracks where you can remove any instruments or vocals as required in playback. The studio quality tracks offer the facility to tailor the playback and whether it’s the rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals or bass guitar you can choose what you want to hear.

The new units have an adjustable metronome volume with a choice of three sounds. The whole song book layout has been improved making it easier to see and featuring a larger clickable area. Further improvements include a new ‘Apply’ button where you can save your settings retaining all the information from the current session for the next time the unit is switched on.

The i-tab unit retains all the existing features including 5” touch screen, 4GB memory, in-built speaker and comes with headphones, stylus, USB connector, power charger along with a selection of song tabs. It includes TV out leads so you can play synchronized chords, lyrics and backing tracks through the player and the new v1.2 units allow control of the unit in TV out mode.

You can see demonstrations of the latest i-tab on the following YouTube clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdpVGem6S-Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhVPLCquJ3w

The i-tab v1.2 is available to purchase worldwide including X-music, www.amazon.com, and www.i-tab.com . The price for the unit remains £129 (EU€149, US$199).

For further information visit www.i-tab.com.

Posted in Guitar, Tab, Technology

Introducing The BumChum: The silent bass drum monitoring system

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Planet-Musician

Born out of a combination of necessity and ingenuity, The BumChum is a small, highly portable and tough solution to an age-old problem:

We all know the feeling of the bottom end thump when we see a band from out front. Who usually feels that the least in the whole room? The drummer. The answer is a device that you are in control of, that delivers all the weight and power of your bass drum without the volume.

The revolutionary BumChum allows you to feel and experience your bass drum like you never felt it before. No longer are you dependant on the lottery of monitoring your bass drum (should any monitoring be provided), whether on a big stage, in your local pub with the bass stack in your ear, or rehearsing.

No more hammering away, technique flying out of the window, in a desperate attempt to hear yourself.

The BumChum consists of the most powerful Tactile Generator available, (used by the US military in their simulators), built into our very own throne top, coupled to a flightcased electronics pack. The BumChum system uses bone conduction to deliver powerful, precise and nuanced reproduction without sound.

Audio techs (as well as your ears) love the system because the stage is quieter and more controlled. The band can tour with fewer amplifiers and sub cabinets, saving on weight, costs and stage space. If you’re using in-ear monitoring, you’ll be able feel the bass drum like never before. If you’re not using in-ears, this system so accurately connects you to your bass drum that it will improve your confidence, playing and your whole stage experience.

Better still, our clever techy guys have built the BumChum electronics to fit into a road rugged flight case the size of a 10” tom which only weighs 8 kilos. It is extremely portable and, most importantly, is quick and easy to set up. Simply open the case, plug in throne, plug in mic, plug in power and you’re away!

From stadium concerts to pub gigs, the BumChum is aimed at both the jobbing drummer and touring pro. You’ll never want to play live again without it.

The BumChum is available now and priced at £1199. For further details and where to buy the product check out our website at www.thebumchum.co.uk.

Posted in Drums & Percussion, Monitoring, Technology

Manson’s Launch MBK-3 Guitar Pickups

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Planet-Musician

Mansons Guitar Shop and UK custom pickup manufacturers, Bare Knuckle, have collaborated on a set of unique pickups aimed at the contemporary player that seeks tight tone, huge bass response and powerful output.

With more kick than the existing MBK-1 and MBK-2 pickup sets, as featured on the company’s custom guitars and used by artists such as Matthew Bellamy and Josh Homme, the new Manson MBK-3 pickup sets feature a tech spec to delight the player to whom the word ‘d-jent’ needs no further explanation.

Far more flexible than a metal sounding pickup, Manson’s have been busy experimenting with these custom pickups in several new guitars under wraps at their Devon based workshops. The specs have been refined to provide a hard hitting pickup that’s suited to hard rock, metal, punk, and other unruly sounds! Combining the power of three ceramic magnets in the bridge and an Isotropic Alnico V in the neck, these chrome custom etched pickups work in any humbucker equipped guitar.

The existing MBK-1 custom P-90 in a humbucker set continue to provide hot-rodded blues and rock tones with a punchy, clean, single coil vibe whilst the ever-popular MBK-2 set combine a further modified P-90 humbucker neck pickup with a fat, mid heavy, highly defined custom bridge humbucker utilising Alnico V magnets.

The new passive pickups are handmade in the UK by Bare Knuckle pickups using the finest materials either manufactured by them or locally sourced. The launch of the MBK-3’s comes after extensive consultation with Mansons and is the culmination of years of experience developing the best sounding pickups money can buy.

The MBK-3 pickup sets are available now from Mansons direct at www.mansons.co.uk and retail for £229 inc VAT.

Manson Custom Pickups – tone for all players.

Posted in Guitar, Instruments, Technology

RiffBook – Organization for Musical Ideas

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Planet-Musician

Apparatus Company, Inc. announces the release of their new music software product for Macintosh called RiffBook. RiffBook is a computer “notebook” for music where riffs can be quickly recorded in the form of audio, video, music notation, tablature, and text notes.

RiffBook has come about because so many musicians have lost some of their best works because they couldn’t remember that neat riff that they’ve played the day before. Eventually musicians began taping their sessions, only to end up with a dubious pile of unlabeled tapes with little hope of finding anything again. With RiffBook, musicians can quickly record a piece of music using their computer’s built-in microphone or, with the Professional Edition, record a video with their computer’s iSight camera. With RiffBook, it is not about getting pristine, production-quality recordings; it’s about capturing the moment quickly without the hassles of equipment setup.

Transcriptions and tablature may be entered by dragging and dropping notes onto the staff. Text notes can be added to for just about any purpose such as describing performance notes or to include song lyrics. External document files from other programs may also be linked to a riff. When a file is linked with RiffBook, RiffBook makes an “Open” button that allows for quick opening of the file with the application that created it. This is great for linking files such as Logic Pro recording sessions where with one click, the document opens in Logic Pro. Using linked files in RiffBook, all of a musician’s work can be brought together and organized in one place.

RiffBook is great for storing and cataloging riffs that a musician really likes, but has no use for yet in a song. Over time, the riff library in RiffBook will grow so that later, during the songwriting process, RiffBook can be used to search for riffs that meet certain criteria such as chord progression or style. The riff library can also be browsed in order to generate song ideas. Riffs can be organized into song folders within RiffBook in order to group them and to designate them as being already used. This management of in-process work allows musicians to keep track of where they are in the songwriting process.

RiffBook is available in two editions: Standard and Professional. The Professional Edition adds the ability to record video riffs and provides a handy metronome feature. RiffBook Standard is priced at $49.99 while the Professional Edition is $79.99. A full-featured, 30-day demo is available for download at www.alienapparatus.com/RiffBook.html.

Alien Apparatus Company, Inc. has been providing show control systems and on-stage products to musicians since 2003. Alien Apparatus Company’s mission is to develop innovative solutions for live music performance, making shows more spectacular, easier, and more fun!

Posted in Audio, Music, Sheet Music, Tab, Technology

Digidesign Ships X-Form

Posted on September 19, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Digidesign® is now shipping X-Form™, a new high-quality AudioSuite™ plug-in that represents the pinnacle of time compression/expansion and pitch-shifting technology. X-Form delivers unparalleled time stretching and formant-correct pitch shifting to Pro Tools® and Avid DNA™ systems to produce natural-sounding results—even at the most extreme settings—making it ideal for music production, sound design, post production, or any other application that requires time-stretch and pitch-shift processing.

“The secret to X-Form’s natural-sounding, polyphonic, time-stretching algorithm is frequency domain processing, a technology proven more effective than the ‘frame overlap’ algorithms used in most time-stretching products,” reveals Digidesign Senior Product Manager Bobby Lombardi.

Getting high quality, professional results is easy. X-Form features minimal controls to simplify the workflow, yet delivers stunning sound quality whether audio is processed from 1/8 to eight times its original length, or shifted up or down three octaves. Simply choose from two algorithms—Polyphonic or Monophonic—and let X-Form do the rest.

The Polyphonic algorithm is ideal for use on complex audio files, such as chords or an entire stereo mix. This algorithm is truly “best in breed,” and when used with the Transient Sensitivity control, allows you to compress or stretch drum loops and other percussive material without losing crucial attack transients. When working with solo instruments or vocals, simply choose the Monophonic algorithm. Each algorithm was designed to provide exceptional results capable of preserving proper stereo imaging, attack transients, and timing accuracy—even at exaggerated settings.

X-Form is available now via authorized Digidesign dealers and through the online DigiStore for $595 US MSRP.

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

Posted in Audio, Plug-Ins, Production, Recording, Studio, Technology

Apogee’s Symphony PCI-X Card Now Shipping

Posted on September 19, 2006 by Planet-Musician

Apogee’s Symphony PCI-X Card is now shipping worldwide through authorized dealers and distributors. Utilizing the same driver as the PCI-Express version, the PCI-X card is specifically designed for Macintosh’s earlier G5 computers. Now with PCI-X, more G5 users can experience the high performance and low latency Symphony delivers.

Apogee’s Symphony PCI-X card is a digital computer interface that is based on the PCI-X architecture in Apple’s PowerMac G5 computers. Controlled by Apogee’s Maestro software, Symphony features 32 channels of digital I/O on a single PCI-X card format. With support for sample rates up to 192 kHz, Symphony can be used as a digital router or patch-bay when connected to external converters or other digital outboard equipment. Software drivers for Symphony feature extensive routing capabilities and very low latency performance. Symphony connects directly to Apogee’s Rosetta and AD-16X and DA-16X converters via the X-Symphony option card, which installs in the slot of the converter itself.

With the ability to have three cards installed at one time in a PowerMac G5, Symphony is the only connectivity solution that offers high-end professional users the capability to employ up to 192 channels of audio simultaneously in a single computer, more than enough for even the biggest scoring sessions.

Symphony PCI-X at a glance:

  • 32 channels of 24-bit 192K Digital I/O
  • 32 channel bi-directional connector
  • Connects directly to Apogee’s Rosetta 800, Rosetta 200 and AD-16X and DA-16X converters via the X-Symphony option card
  • Compatibility with other Macintosh based audio software
  • Apogee’s Maestro Software for advanced control and routing
  • Compatibility with any Core Audio application

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

Posted in Apple Mac, Computer, Hardware, Recording, Technology