Propellerhead has released a new funk-flavored ReFill, Soul School, that features the soul sounds of the 60’s and 70’s.

To introduce Soul School, Propellerhead put together several very nicely done videos that introduce the library and the people behind it.

The Reason Soul School ReFill is available for download through Propellerhead’s web shop for EUR €79 / USD $99.

The Soul School ReFill sample library features twelve unique soul and funk instrumentals with all their musical elements – bass, drums, guitars and horns – in Propellerhead’s tempo-independent REX format, as well as a collection of the 60’s and 70’s-sounding instruments multisampled for use with Reason’s NN-XT sampler and Combinator device.

Composed exclusively for this ReFill and recorded using vintage technology, all material was played live by funk-savvy session musicians – simultaneously, without overdubs.

Every drum fill, bass line, guitar riff and horn lick featured in Reason Soul School is in Propellerhead’s REX format, sampled in different keys for full flexibility and tempo independence.

Complementing the loops and licks are the multisampled versions of the included instruments, as well as the Reason Soul Keys ReFill, containing patches for the Reason Factory Sound Bank and Propellerhead’s free Electromechanical ReFill as well as Abbey Road Keyboards and Reason Pianos based on the Soul School sound.

Using Reason Soul School

Click here to view the embedded video.

Using Soul School with Propellerhead Record

Click here to view the embedded video.

Soul Searching – Using The Patch Browser

Click here to view the embedded video.

When Rodger Linn introduced the AdrenaLinn Sync effect last week, the plugin was criticized for its dependency on Pluggo, a Cycling ‘74 product that’s no longer being updated.

Linn has released a statement on his site that clarifies the situation on this:

AdrenaLinn Sync is based on Pluggo, which is a feature of Cycling 74’s Max/MSP program that allows programs written in Max/MSP to be saved as VST/AU/RTAS plug-ins for both OSX and Windows.

AdrenaLinn Sync is written in Max/MSP and was close to completion when, earlier this year, Cycling 74 announced that they would no longer support the Save As Pluggo feature in Max/MSP. At that time, we began working on a non-Pluggo version, while also finishing up and in November, releasing the Pluggo version.

We expect the non-Pluggo version to be available around March of 2010, and it will be a free upgrade to all AdrenaLinn Sync owners.

That said, the current Pluggo-based version of AdrenaLinn Sync runs fine (with the exception of our stated incompatibilities with Cubase and Max For Live) on OSX Snow Leopard, and the pending Windows version runs fine on Windows 7.

On a personal note, I (Roger) regret the loss of Pluggo support in Max/MSP because I find Max/MSP to be a wonderful development environment compared to other options, allowing product designers to focus more on design and less on reinventing the wheel of low-level coding.

It’s good that Linn released the statement – but because the promised version is vaporware, it really comes down to whether or not AdrenaLinn meets your needs. If you’re interested in AdrenaLinn Sync, check out the review at Waveformless, and download the 14-day demo to try it out, too.

Native Instruments today introduced the BERLIN, NEW YORK and VIENNA CONCERT GRAND as well as UPRIGHT PIANO, four software instruments that offer detailed reproductions of some of the world’s most revered pianos.

Previously available within the acclaimed AKOUSTIK PIANO, these instruments can now be purchased individually to specifically accommodate a certain sound or musical genre, or as a bundle that offers the full range of piano tones.

BERLIN, NEW YORK, VIENNA CONCERT GRAND and UPRIGHT PIANO are available in the NI Online Shop at $79 / 69 € per individual instrument. A bundle of all four instruments is available for $189 / 169 €.

Details:

All four pianos are powered by the industry-leading KONTAKT engine, and are playable in the free KONTAKT PLAYER as well as the full KONTAKT sampler. The three concert grands and the upright piano recreate each nuance and detail of the original instruments by combining elaborate multi-sampling with sophisticated emulation of soundboard resonance and pedal behavior. Making full use of the advanced sampling and scripting features of the KONTAKT engine, they remain both efficient and convenient to use for a wide range of musical styles and applications.

Each of the original instruments was carefully set up and recorded using a special recording technique that completely minimized room ambience, resulting in pristine sound quality:

• The BERLIN CONCERT GRAND is based on a modern masterpiece of German piano construction, and carries the original’s vitality and expressiveness throughout the entire dynamic range.
• The NEW YORK CONCERT GRAND is the authentic rendition of the standard in concert halls worldwide, especially suited for jazz and classical solo material.
• The VIENNA CONCERT GRAND replicates an acclaimed Austrian piano design, with eight full octaves of powerful, orchestral sound.
• Complementing the three concert grands, UPRIGHT PIANO offers the warm and intimate tone of one of the world’s best concert pianos.

There’s an early review of Berna – the virtual studio app that recreates a 50’s electronic music lab – at Waveformless.

They say there’s a lot to like in Berna:

The flexibility of the matrix and the vast array of unusual sound manipulators will be a breath of fresh air to those burned out on the virtual analog trance machines that seem to get released every week. The limitations present here are faithful to what the original studios were limited to, and sometimes having those kinds of restrictions can lead you down very interesting paths you might not otherwise travel.

For sure, this isn’t the most useful piece of software in the world (to most of us), but it’s really hard to find fault anywhere with the program. The sound quality is great, the tools are weird and fun to play with (it drove my cats NUTS), and you can learn a bit about the history of your craft in the process. If nothing else, it’ll certainly give you an appreciation for how easy modern electronic composers have it.

So if you’d like a break from the norm and feel up to making some crazy 1950’s sci-fi soundtrack fodder, it’s hard to go wrong for a mere 10 Euros. [9/10]

See the full review at Waveformless.

Free Music Software: Artifake Labs have released the RedTron_400, a software version of the Mellotron M400.

Features:

• Realistic user interface.
• Six sound types:
  • 3 Violins
  • 8-Voice Choir
  • Flute
  • Brass
  • String Section
  • Cello
• “Loop” and “Non-Loop” modes : as the original “Mellotron”, each sound is eight seconds long but you can switch to “Loop Mode” and allows the samples to loop continuously.
• Layer possibilities & independent parameters for layer A & B :
  • Volume, Tune, Reverb, Delay, Pan, Octave, Note, Cutoff, Resonance, Attack & Release parameters.
  • Delay effect (Amount, Time, Feedback & Pan parameters).
  • Reverb effect (Mix, Width, Size & Damp parameters).
• Global Volume control
• Global Tone control
• Global Pitch control
• Can be used as Soundfont Player to mix any .sf2 file with “Tron sounds” or to extend the sound palette.

If you’ve used RedTron 400, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Synthesis has changed a lot since the days of Switched On Bach – and it’s getting to the point that recordings of virtual instruments, and even virtual orchestras, are nearly indistinguishable from the “real” thing.

Of course, this begs the question – what is the real thing?

How close are virtual orchestras coming to traditional orchestras?

You be the judge.

I’ve embedded an example below that contains short sections from three symphonies, by Beethoven & Schumann. See if you can identify the one that is virtual – and if you can articulate why you think it sounds “virtual”.

Image: jordanfischer

This is a preview of Pocket Organ C3B3, programmed by Shinya Kasatani, the creator of Pocket Guitar. Pocket Organ C3B3 simulates the draw bar controls and Lislie speaker system of a Hammond B3/C3 organ.

While this may be interesting from a technical standpoint – it’s hard to see how a tiny touchscreen Hammond organ is going to be musically useful. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the same effort into creating original instruments, designed to make the most expressive use of the iPhone platform’s capabilities?

No release date or pricing has been announced for C3B3 yet.

via koyamatsuo

This music video demonstrates the synth side of Trilian.

via Hans-Jörg Scheffler:

The cool filters and envelopes allow for some very electrifying patterns.

Very inspiring.

It’s still October – but it’s not too early to declare the worst trend of 2009: sexy 3D renderings in ads for virtual instruments.

Here are a few of the most annoyingly sexy 3d renderings for virtual instruments that we’ve seen in the last year.

HG Sounds’ Black Magic Loop Generator, above, looks awesomely hands-on.

Look at all those knobs! And the matte black finish – well you know my position on that.

Too bad it’s an “artists” 3D rendering.

And how about this awesomely cool-looking D16 Nithonat vintage-style drum machine:

Give me that thing! Put it in my hands! Take my hard-earned cash!

It’s not really a gorgeous retro-styled drum machine, though – it’s a 3D rendering of a non-existent piece of hardware based on the design of the virtual instrument Nithonat.

Here’s the new Audio Damage BigSeq2 effect and gate sequencer:

It looks cool enough to make you a little disappointed when you see that it’s “available for vst and au”.

What’s with the giant, poorly lit knob, then?

Finally, MOTU really confused people this year with their ads for BPM, their cool new MPC-style drum instrument.

BPM looks like a totally badass piece of hardware – even cooler than the BoomChik.

It’s got:

• 16 MPC-style pads
• knobs galore
• a very nicely placed pair of headphone jacks and
• a generous screen….

Unfortunately – MOTU brought sexy back with the BPM, but it was just virtual sexy.

These companies are by no means the only culprits, and their apps ARE actually pretty drool-worthy.

Next year, though, how about some ads that get us excited about working with software?

Syntheway Virtual Sitar, demo’d above, is a VST instrument designed to emulate the Indian Sitar.

Features:

• Mastered sitar samples recorded with special equipment in a low noise environment. Full length sustain, no loops (natural decay).
• Includes 18 predefined sounds.
• Optimized CPU and memory usage.
• ADSR envelope generator with Attack, Sustain, Decay and Release parameters and several modulation targets.
• Multiple-Mode Filter: The values are automatically computed when you select any of the filter types. Filter switch includes: LP (Low pass), BP (Band pass), HP (High pass), notch, peak, low pass and high pass shelving filter with adjustable cutoff and bandwidth.
• Variable room simulation. Reverb effect can control the “room ambience”.
• MIDI Automation: Added complete MIDI CC#.

The Sitar is a Hindustani classical stringed instrument which utilizes sympathetic strings along with regular strings and a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very distinctive sound. It was popularized by “legendary sitar virtuoso” and composer Ravi Shankar in the 1960s.

More details at the Syntheway site.

via syntheway:

Home (intro) using Syntheway Virtual Sitar VSTi v1.0 Cover From Dream Theater’s Metropolis Part II – Scenes From A Memory, Scene Six (Released in 1999).VST instrument:Syntheway Virtual Sitar VSTi

Additonal VST Plug-ins:- Syntheway Strings VSTi

Fantasize SoundFont SF2 Player VSTi (Bass, guitar samples)

VST Host: Image-Line FL Studio 9

More demos in HQ mp3 format available at: http://demosongs.syntheway.net

Description:

Trilian’s massive 34GB core library features new Acoustic, Electric and Synth basses – as well as enhanced versions of the classic Trilogy sounds. With a brand new user interface and numerous software innovations, Trilian is the first 64-bit native software based on Spectrasonics next generation STEAM Engine, and is the first virtual instrument to feature full library integration with the flagship Omnisphere synthesizer.

Trilian is available now for PC and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS) with an MSRP of $299 USD / €229 EUR. All Trilogy customers can upgrade to Trilian for $99 USD.

I saw a preview of Trillian at NAMM, and at that point, it already looked like it was an impressive bass synth.

Details below.

Performance features

• Designed for expressive, real-time performance
• Trilian’s new sounds feature:
  • Intuitive, automatic selection of dynamic legato and release articulations allows for highly realistic hammer-ons, pull-offs and trills.
  • Extensive ‘Round-Robin‘ articulations for natural sounding bass lines with repeated notes.
  • Multisampled dynamic slides – realistically slide from one note to another.
  • Multi-channel mixing between Microphone/Amplifier and Direct outputs of each bass.
• Articulations for Acoustic and Electric basses include: staccato, legato, sustain, vibrato, slide up, slide down, slide up & down, gliss up, harmonics, FX squeaks, X-notes, at multiple velocities with extensive Round-Robin.
• Pitched Release samples triggering , with up to 16x Round Robin samples for ultimate realism.
• Live Mode offers intuitive key switching approach for multiple articulations.
• Stack mode allows user configurable key/velocity/controller mapping for custom patch zones and splits.
• Custom Controls bring instant, useful and exciting synth bass patch editing attributes right to the users control.
• Arpeggiator with Groove Lock™ for instant bass line syncing to any Stylus RMX groove or MIDI file.

Sound Library features

• Vast Core Library — over 34GB with a wide variety of bass sounds, — 10-times the size of Trilogy’s library.
• Includes over sixty Electric Bass sounds – including 4, 5, 6 and 8-string Electric Basses played by 6 different bassists.
• Includes all types of playing techniques: Fingered, Picked, Fretless, Slapped, Tapped, Muted.
• Amazing new acoustic bass with extremely detailed articulations built-in to each patch – over 21,000 samples!.
• Inspiring brand new Electric Basses include: 5-string Music Man™ Studio Bass, Clean Fender Jazz Bass®, Epiphone™ Retro 60’s Bass, Hardcore Rock 5-string, Lakland™ Rock P-Bass and Chapman Stick®.
• 333 Synth soundsources include brand new sounds: Novation™ Bass Station, Yamaha® CS-80, Cwejman™ Modular, Moog Minimoog™, Little Phatty™, Voyager™, Taurus™ Pedals, Korg MS-20, Oberheim 2 voice, ARP 2600, Roland Juno 60/106, Waldorf Pulse™, DSI Mopho™ & Tetra™, Roland TB-303, SH-101, Metasonics KV-100 Assblaster, SE-1, Omega, ATC-1 and many more.
• Newly developed ‘Juicy Filter’ and ‘Power Filter’ algorithms are ideal for thick, resonant synth bass sounds.
• Enhanced, remastered versions of original Trilogy core library.
• Bonus section of remastered classic ‘Bass Legends‘ library; featuring Abraham Laboriel, John Patitucci & Marcus Miller.

System features

• Powerfully simple interface design makes key features accessible to every user.
• ‘Custom Controls’ bring the most useful editing capabilities for each patch right to the front panel.
• State of the art Browser with Searching, Attributes/Tags, Images.
• Advanced MIDI Learn and Automation parameter handling.
• High Definition streaming sample playback STEAM Engine technology.
• Integration with Omnisphere: Trilian patches open inside Omnisphere for editing & live performance stacks (Omnisphere version 1.1 or higher required for Trilian library integration).
• Edit page offers powerful sound manipulation features: dual filters, advanced envelopes and full modulation matrix.
• 8-part multitimbrality allows multiple articulations in a single plug-in with instant, seamless key-switching.
• Expandable sound architecture allows user customizable patches and unique new Bass sounds.
• Comprehensive integrated Reference Guide with search.
• Free Tutorial Videos available online to registered users.

Effects features

• Integrated, full-featured FX Racks – just like Omnisphere and Stylus RMX.
• Over 32 original FX Processors covering the full spectrum of signal processing including amp simulators and compressors, EQ and reverb and delays, unique processors and more.
• FX can be modulated, automated and MIDI Learned for powerful synthesis and real-time control options.

This tutorial video shows the key features of the Impulse drum sampler in Ableton Live 8 and how some of these features operate.

This video is ideal for the novice to intermediate level Music Technologist wanting to learn Live 8.

The Beat Kangz have announced that Beat Thang Virtual – a virtual music production system for Windows and Mac, is now available.

Features:

• One octave pad layout with 8 banks so you can bang out beats or play the keys.
• 16 tracks so you can create patterns that can be performed and remixed on the fly.
• 16 layers of velocity sensitivity for emotive performance.
• High Quality Sampler & waveform editing. Sample your own sounds using your computer’s built in mic or line input.
• Edit sample start and end times. Process samples using features like normalize, reverse and resample.
• Easy to use Realtime Sequencer. Create patterns in real time using quantize, swing, individual bar lengths, tap tempo then string them together in SONG mode.
• Mixer with built in FX Change track, pad and pan levels.
• Add 24bit reverb, delay, flange, phaser, pitch shift, old record and many more.
• Add BANG with onboard mastering.
• Export your songs as .wav files or save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Connects seamless with Beat Thang Hardware.

Beat Thang Virtual retails for $149 USD.

Boston based virtual instrument manufacturer SONiVOX has introduced Sampla – Hip Hop Production Sampler, a new virtual sampler plug-in for MAC and PC designed for fast sampling and beat creation for hip hop producers.

Features:

• MPC style editing & slicing for easy instrument & beat creation
• Imports Wav, Acid, Broadcast Wav, Aiff, & MP3 Format Files
  Easy to use record functionality for real time sampling
• Over 250 factory preset instruments and pad layouts
• 16 user assignable pads
• Tempo Sync Stereo Delay, EQ, and Chorus Effects
• Assignable filter section with 10 filter types
• Graphic waveform display with zoom, click, and drag functionality
• Midi Learn & Save functionality, Sampla is instantly compatible with any
• MIDI keyboard or pad control
• Pad-Specific Variable Resolution Note Repeat and Pattern Arpeggiation Mode
• PC Standalone, VST and RTAS Compatibility.
• MAC Standalone, AU, VST, and RTAS Compatibility.

Sampla is available now with a MSRP of $149 and an introductory street price of $99.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Description:

Sampla’s unique design bridges the gap between MPC style sampling and the computer based virtual instrument environment. Sampla allows users to easily record, slice, loop, and assign (keymap) their ownrecorded samples as well as any of their own wav, acid, aiff, and mp3 samples.

In addition to the flexibility provided by Sampla’s sampler engine, Sampla’s “Learn Mode” allows users to interface their MIDI pad controllers and controller keyboards directly with Sampla.

Sampla is packed with a diverse and extensive factory sound bank, all recorded and programmed by SONiVOX’s award winning sounddesign team, with over 250 high end instrument presets and pad layouts.

Included are acoustic and electronic drumkits, basses, keyboards, leads, guitars, strings, brass, pads, vocals, symphonic construction kits, scensorship bleeps and blips, as well as a selection of loops from the SONiVOX LoopLine series.

Pettinhouse

Here’s a preview of WarmJazzFree:

Features:

• 7 Kontakt patches ready to use: 1 patch is dry for amp simulators and 6 patches are amped with the Kontakt effects processor emulating some of the popular guitarist sounds.
• 129 unique samples.
• 3 layers.
• Round robin played – upstroke/Downstroke.
• Release samples for each note.

You can download WarmJazzFree at the Pettinhouse site.

via rekkerd

Glass Works is the first SC product to be packaged in Native Instruments’ Kontakt Player, meaning that non-Kontakt owners can enjoy the enhanced scripting and control that Soniccouture instruments have become renowned for.

Glass Works is a sampled collection of 3 instruments which generate sound from glass.

These are :

• Le Cristal - A bizarre ’sound sculpture’ designed in 1952 by Bernard and François Baschet. It consists of about 4 octaves of chromatically tuned glass rods, which are rubbed with wet fingers. The vibration of the glass is passed to a heavy block of metal, which itself is tuned and in fact determines the final pitch. The entire mechanism is amplified by a large steel plate, called the “fiame”. There are also three small fiberglass cones that amplify the higher frequencies.
• The Glass Armonica – A musical instrument that uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction (instruments of this type are known as friction idiophones ). The instrument was invented by Benjamin Franklin, who called his invention the “armonica” after the Italian word for harmony. He worked with London glassblower Charles James to build one, and it had its world premiere in early 1762, played by Marianne Davies.
• Cloud Chamber Bowls – The Cloud Chamber Bowls are Soniccouture’s recreation of an instrument built in the 1960s by maverick American composer Harry Partch. It consists of hanging “bowls” which are sections of 12-gallon glass carboys. Both tops and bottoms of the carboys are used. Partch had 14 (later 13) bowls hanging from a large wooden frame he called a “tori”. The name “Cloud Chamber Bowls” arose from the fact that Partch found the original tops and bottoms at a Radiation Laboratory at UC Berkeley in 1950. The bowls were originally used for cloud chambers used in tracing paths of subatomic particles.

Glass Works is available now on DVD and Download, priced GBP 99 / USD 159.

Luca Capozzi’s Modular Piano is an acoustic piano simulation created using traditional subtractive synthesis.

Details below.

via zioaxiom:

While programming my first library I ran into the need to have an acoustic piano sound. Since I don’t have a real piano to sample, I decided to synthesize it from scratch using “traditional” subtractive synthesis technique.

This is my first good result and has been achived only by using basic oscillators, filters and so on. The only downside is the limited polyphony due to heavy CPU usage, so I sampled almost every key and mapped them into a sampler in order to make this sound more usable.

Leave your appreciation on Behance Network.

Sunday Synth Jam: This is the latest video demo of Christian Bannister’s work in progress, Touch Loop Navigator (name subject to change!) – a multi-touch sound manipulation program.

A few months back, we featured Bannister’s Low Frequency Entity. He’s been busy since then.

I love how this combines VJ and DJ concepts, with some hardcore sound manipulation, in an interface that not only looks like it would be fun to use, but would be fun an audience, too.

New in this build of the app:

• 3D sound visuals for the texture of the sound.
• Switching between song segments with controller (old Kaoss pad in front of screen) and no I am not using Live (yet)
• Random color when new sound is selected
• Integration of the joystick array (my Costa Rica project 2007.12.28)
• Real-time effect controls (distortion, bitcrush, delay/feedback, timestretch FX)
• Zoom and rate control of the sound
• One shot effects on USB keypad next to the controller

“The essence of a new instrument is simply an elegant and effective method for manipulating sound,” says Bannister.

This is one of the most interesting new electronic music interfaces in a long time – and, it looks like a taste of the future.

Free Music Software: The free audio looping application Mobius, available for Mac and PC, has been updated to version 1.4.

Changes in Mobius v1.4

• The following features were added:
  • PACMANS ARE BACK!
  • Shuffle now supports complex patterns in scripts
• The following bugs were fixed:
  • Threshold recording broken, could never stop recording
  • loopCount variable always returns zero
  • script lines ignored if they didn’t end with a newline
  • VST edit window not remembering the last location

Description:

Mobius is based on hardware devices such as the Echoplex Digital Pro and the Electrix Repeater, and moves beyond these in many powerful exciting ways. You can think of Mobius as 8 synchronized stereo hardware loopers with with the ability to copy loops and timing between them. Extensive MIDI and computer keyboard control is available. Audio content may be saved to and loaded from files.

Download here.

Chris Randall of Audio Damage has announced Tattoo, a percussion synthesizer for Mac & PC:

With the caveat that the UI isn’t 100% finalized, here you go. Have a gander at Tattoo, our first instrument. Some salient points:

1. No samples. This is a drum synthesizer. Each voice is purpose-built, as well, rather than just having a general percussion synthesis voice.
2. Every synthesis control has a sequencer attached to it.
3. If you own Replicant, you can immediately see how the randomization/likelihood works for each channel/voice.
4. The sequencer also outputs MIDI (in the VST only, of course) so you can use the randomization features in other drum synths or external hardware.

So, there you have it. We haven’t decided on a price, and I have no idea whatsoever as to when it will be done. We’ve got the synthesis all in place, but not “tuned,” and the sequencer is about 80% complete, but the hardest parts haven’t been done yet.

It’s just a teaser, at this point, but it looks like an interesting mix of old-school drum synthesis and modern features.