Propellerhead Reason is the first and still best all-in-one software studio available. And they recently released Record, a standalone audio recording program that also integrates with Reason. Well, the upgraded Reason 5 and Record 1.5 are available now. They offer a fair amount of extra features like new instruments, drum machines, effects, and so on.

I’ve always loved Reason, and used it on our album Grasping At Straws (Reason was used for the arpeggiated synths in Twenty Feet, and for the strings in Grasping At Straws. Yup, I’m serious. The strings). I fell off the upgrade wagon as of late, but considering I can upgrade to both Reason 5 and Record 1.5 for an incredibly reasonable $150, I will absolutely be buying into the newest versions.

Logic will always be my DAW of choice, but I think Reason is a fantastic adjunct to it, and I’m looking forward to giving Record a spin as well!

]]> http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?feed=rss2&p=108 0 http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=106 http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=106#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:33:09 +0000 admin http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=106 I debated about which blog to post this to, the “blog” or to Geartalk. It’s a general artist video, not about gear per se…but this video is mostly of interest to gearheads, since it’s a time-lapse video of Logic running this song. So I opted for GearTalk. And you know what? If you want to know what sort of instruments and software artists use to make various sounds, this is a good video to use as a guide.

And the music’s good too!

AC-7 Pro: This was quite fiddly to set up. A problem I ran into was that when running over my normal wifi network, it’s connection woudl be pretty touch and go. I could always get fader control, but control for the various buttons was sporadic. The solution was to turn on Airport on my Mac Pro (it’s normally off, as it has a direct ethernet connection to my ABS) and enable internet sharing. When using AC-7Pro I then switch networks to my Mac Pro and with a direct connection, I get full control (and no detectable latency, it’s a very responsive connection).

AC-7Pro looks good and works like a charm. The buttons have a (defatable) click sound, so you get some feedback when you press a button. The “LC” (Logic Control) mode is very good, and with a MIDIpipe connection you get full track name and settings on the iPad, which is great. Even in Portrait mode, the faders are far enough apart that you can very easily manipulate them with your finger. Changing from portrait to landscape mode and back has no effect on the responsiveness or the activity—if you’re playing back automation, for example, and you flip the iPad, everything continues as normal (remember this as I discuss Air Display). Overall, while I would like to see a more robust and less fiddly means of connecting than having to run an ad hoc network and two server applications in the background, I am very impressed with this application. Highly recommended!

Air Display: this also requires a background server to run, but it’s less fiddly than the AC-7 Pro. Just install the Mac extensions, restart, and you have a new menu bar for your Air Display. When you launch Air Display on the iPad it is nearly always detected; if not, quitting and re-launching the iPad app did the trick. You know it’s working when your iPad screen looks like your Mac desktop

When Air Display is running on your iPad, you can adjust the position of the iPad using the Displays preference pane. Your Air Display iPad will be considered a Dell 1702P (or some model number like that) 1024×768 monitor. When your Mac detects an Air Display, your whole screen flashes blue for a moment as the new monitor is added to your monitor compliment. And here is something quite annoying: each time you flip your iPad between Porttrait and Landscape mode, both your Mac and iPad screens will flash blue as the Mac re-detects the Air Display as a completely new monitor. You can imagine how annoying this is during a session. When I tried to use the iPad as a Mixer in Landscape mode, then switching it to Portrait mode for use as an Event List, I quickly got frustrated and just kept it in landscape mode. YMMV but I found it a bit unnerving to repeatedly have both my monitors blink out and back while a project was running.

Whenever moving something across the iPad, the graphics always “fuzzed out” for a bit, as if it couldn’t really handle the real-time animation. But this quickly adjusted once you stopped moving. I found that the size/resolution of the iPad wasn’t really conducive to use as a mixer if I had a lot of channels. The channel strips themselves, even if you turned off most of the elements, were narrow enough that even my skinny fingers were challenged to grab the right fader and not touch anything else. If you don’t have many channels, or if you just want to look at a few at a time, you can zoom, of course. I did think it worked great as a remote Transport bar and plug-in controller. Depending on the plug-in interface, the graphics “fuzzing” during moving a knob might be distracting but it was normally not too bad. I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable using the Air Display for realtime punch-in because of the slight latency but for non-punching in it seemed pretty ideal for Transport use.

As you can see, I’m finding uses for both apps, and I recommend each for different things. And I think an iPad definitely has a place in a pro- or semi-pro recording rig!

Here’s Roger’s YouTube demo.  Some of these sounds had me dancing in my chair!

Until now.  Enter the AC-7 Pro by Saitara Software.

As the picture shows, this iPad app turns your iPad into a wireless remote controller for your DAW.  You install an open source (free) Wifi MIDI server on your desktop, and AC-7 Pro on your iPad, and you’re in business.   Users and reviews say that the latency of the Wifi interface is surprisingly good, scrub is completely usable, and other than weaknesses when using it to control plug-ins, this is definitely ready for prime time.

This is exactly the kind of device I want as a controller, and the first app that has really made me want an iPad.  And it’s only a $10 app!  I’m likely going to sell my MC Control and MC Mix (awesome controllers, but not wireless, which I really want) for this.

You never know, one of my blogs in the future might just be written on an iPad, when it’s not doing duty as a Logic Controller…

This book was co-written by Kevin Anker, my  fellow administrator over at the Mac OS X Audio forums, and without being modest I can say that his contributions to this book are phenomenal.  I started writing the Logic Power books for Course PTR about 7 years ago with Logic 6 Power, and I brought Kevin on board for Logic Pro 8 Power.  The utility and quality got better by leaps and bounds with that fateful decision, and this latest version is no exception.

The book covers Logic Pro up through the very latest, 64-bit mode compatible Logic Pro 9.1 (the one advantage of having it out a few months later than we would have preferred!).  Like the previous books in the series, its designed as a sort of “missing manual” that both teaches you both about and how to get the most out of the various functions in Logic you’ll need to get work done.  I’m quite proud of how this book turned out, and if you’re in the market for a tutorial on Logic Pro, I think you could definitely do worse than checking this one out.

]]> http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?feed=rss2&p=91 0 http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=89 http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=89#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:48:12 +0000 admin http://www.emberafter.com/geartalk/?p=89 If you look on the regular Ember After blog, I note how with the Internet, trade shows are losing some of their steam.  This very post is an example.  I walked by these Vox guitars at the show, but nobody from Vox was around to sing about their unique features, so I wasn’t all that moved.  However, after seeing Rob Chappers interview the designer, I can appreciate the unique features of them.  Of course, none are left-handed, so these gitfiddles are useless to me…

And I do mean few—there weren’t a ton of really brand spanking new things.  I guess that makes sense, considering the global economy has been in the toilet, and people haven’t been spending like they used to.  So most new products were variations on old products, nice updates, evolutions, not revolutions.  In a few cases, they were products I saw last NAMM but weren’t shipping, and now either are currently shipping or are finished and right on the cusp.  Of course, in a couple cases, in the best NAMM tradition these were prototypes that might ship in half a year…

Mesa Boogie TransAtlantic 15

Lunchbox amps—small amps with handles that generally weigh in between 10lbs to 15lbs, and offer 5W to 25W—are all the rage.  And it makes perfect sense; more guitarists are “bedroom players” and don’t need a raging 100W amp in their closet, or are playing small local clubs and don’t want to haul around a 100lb beast.  Vox’s NightTrain has been a runaway hit, as has the Orange Tiny Terror and the Egnater Rebel 20.  Moreover, both sound excellent.  So it was only a matter of time until Mesa Boogie jumped in with their own offering, the TransAtlantic 15.

I’m not going to go over all it’s features—go check out the website, it’s pretty complete.  At $899, it’s on the pricier side for a lunchbox amp, but the TransAtlantic does have a lot more switches and tone controls and channels…and neon blue lights!  Look, what can I say?  I’m a sucker for amps with neon blue lights.  I’m also a sucker for that scooped metal Boogie tone, so it will be interesting to see if this can deliver something near Recto-punch in only 5W mode.

Dave Smith Instruments Mopho Keyboard

Hi…I’m Orren, and I’m a Dave Smith Instruments junkie…I’ve owned probably half of their line, and still use my Prophet ’08 and Mopho on nearly every song since I’ve purchased them.  I love the Mopho, it’s a lean mean mono fully analog bass/sequenced squelch machine, but it’s UI is…well, let’s just say that it does the most it can with it’s 11 encoders, but that’s not nearly enough for a synth this deep.  This puppy has double the knobs (and they’re true potentiometers), but it also has switches, and of course, a 32-key keyboard with full velocity and aftertouch sensitivity.  And USB!  This is DSI’s second device with USB MIDI, no more USB MIDI interface needed for sequencing.  Praised be!

32-keys is a bit on the light side (most monokeyboards have 37-keys) but that does make this a really compact synth, which could make it an ideal second synth or controller if you don’t need a full keyboard.  Also, this has a poly out jack, so you can connect this to another Mopho for a two-voice Mopho, or two a Tetra for a compact five voice fully-analog synth.  This won’t be out for a few months, and should hit shelves at about $799.  I’ll be watching this one carefully…

Virus TI OS 4.0

Other than my DSI synths, the only other synth I’ve been using recently is my Virus TI Snow.  What a dream!  It has all the quality and power of a dedicated virtual analog hardware synth, while it can be integrated into Logic Pro (my DAW of choice) just like an AudioUnit plug-in.  Perfect for the way I work, and the Virus has a unique sound all it’s own.  Access was showing version 4.0 of the OS, brings new modeled distortion stompboxes, a vowel filter, a comb filter, and new arpeggiator modes which really take it’s arp to a whole new level.  The arpeggiator pattern can now modulate any parameter available in the modulation matrix, which really makes it’s arp a sort of step sequencer.  I can’t wait to load this onto my Snow!

Kieth McMillen Instruments StringPort

I actually saw the Kieth McMillen Instruments StringPort last NAMM, but it was basically a proof of concept.  Since then, they released the violin version, and the guitar version is finally just about finished with it’s beta stage and out the door.   This product is one of the few really new things to hit the market in a very, very long time.  This takes a 13-pin hex pickup output (in other words, a Roland GK, Axon, RMC, or Graph Tech magnetic or piezo hex pickup) and sends six strings of audio down a USB cable to your computer.  That’s right folks, audio, not MIDI.  This means that you can send six individual strings to individual outputs in your DAW of choice and process each string separately for crazy wild stuff, with no tracking delay, since there’s no conversion to MIDI (it can also do conversion to MIDI if you want).

And speaking of processing, the designer is a MAX/MSP wonderkind, and this puppy comes with some absolutely amazing processors—polyfuzz, dynamics processors, delays, and more, all with no latency, and you have the choice of applying each process to all six strings, or to only one string (in other words, each processor is basically seven in one, as you can have unique settings per string and global settings).  Moreover, it comes with synthesis as well!  And I mean real audio synthesizers, not MIDI synthesizers, so they process the audio signal with zero latency, as there is no MIDI conversion at all.  The sounds, by the way, are excellent, and I can’t wait to own one of these puppies! (and trust me, I will have one, oh yes…)  $499 out the door.  Not expensive for all that you get.

FXpansion DCAM: Synth Squad

Okay, FXpansion’s DCAM: Synth Squad came out before Winter NAMM 2010.  But Angus of FXpansion was good enough to show me this synth last NAMM when it was still a work in progress, and it was already something to behold.  Now that it’s all shiny and the bells and whistles are all in place, it’s really quite amazing.  Sure, there’s a lot of virtual analog instruments out there.  Sure, they all claim to be phatter than the rest, offer the best step sequencer/effects/filters/kitchen sink.  The difference is that this one really is.  And I’m a real analog guy, I honestly don’t use that many softsynths—but this is one of the few I’d use.  It’s that good.

Redmatica Compendium Pro Bundle 2.1

Again, Redmatica released the Compendium Pro Bundle 2 before Winter NAMM 2010, and 2.1 (with more enhancements, including 64-bit support) isn’t out yet.  But I’m still mentioning it here, since it’s still new.  Basically, anyone involved with sampling needs this.  It has applications to sample your hardware.  To build sample instruments.  To organize and manage sample instruments.  And each application in the compendium (Keymap Pro 2, AutoSampler 2, and ProManager 3) is absolutely the only application of its kind.

New features are too numerous to mention—amazing new algorithms to automatically record, build, and create sample instruments, network recording, all sorts of sound design processes, processors, and AudioUnits support, support for the major sample formats (EXS, Kontakt, Structure)…and the forthcoming 2.1 adds 64-bit capability.  Not only is this bundle a requirement for serious sample users, but this bundle is worth buying a Macintosh to use, if you not already Mac-based.  Seriously.  Read about it.  Try it out.  You’ll agree.

Egnater Armageddon

METAL BABY!!!  YEEEAAAAHHHHH!

That may not be the most literate description of an amp I’ve ever written, but if you hear it, you’ll get it.  This is not your daddy’s classic rock amp.  It’s very versatile, like all Egnater amps, and can get lots of “in between tones” for nice cleans, rock tones, and so on.  But that’s not this behemoth’s claim to fame.  This is an all-out gainiac, thermonuclear bone crushing amp.  It’s also a modern amp, with MIDI control, a built-in noise gate, digital reverb, etc.  As readers know, I love Egnater amps and use my MOD50 on every Ember After song, so I’m really looking forward to this one!  This amp should retail about $1500, which to put that in perspective, another classic metal amp, the Bogner Überschall, is nearly double that.  Unfortunately, this amp is about six months out.

Then again, maybe that’s enough time for me to lobby for neon blue lights…and thus, we end as we began, talking about my fetish for neon blue lights!

It’s a nice idea.  We music producers like to record music at the highest resolution possible.  We’d love it if there was an HD codec that really caught on.  But will this one catch on?  Fraunhofer hopes so, as they will make more money off encoder sales!  But there are a lot of free encoders for existing formats, and HD-AAC is not surround, which would seem to make it even more valuable for movies.

It would be nice if some form of high resolution compressed music would take off, but we’ll see.  Consumers seem to think that the current compression is good enough, so there’s not a lot of pressure to improve…