Native Instruments has released Maschine 1.1, a free software update for its groove production studio.

The new version optimizes the workflow and increases the creative potential of Maschine through new MIDI I/O capabilities, support for the REX loop format, enhanced controller interaction, and more.

To allow producers to easily incorporate external gear into their Maschine projects, the new version adds MIDI I/O functionality. Hardware synthesizers and similar devices can now be controlled from the Maschine sequencer both through polyphonic tracks and from individual monophonic sounds within a Group, while a special “Batch Setup” function makes it easy to set up MIDI input configurations in existing projects. Maschine 1.1 also adds support for REX files, enabling users to include pre-sliced loops in their projects that sync to tempo automatically. Any pattern in Maschine can also be directly exported as an audio file into a host sequencer or other audio software through a convenient drag-and-drop feature.

Further enhancements in Maschine version 1.1 include additional slicing options, advanced scene triggering, new metronome and record count-in options, extended controller integration for parameter adjustment and file saving, and a wide range of minor optimizations.

The 1.1 update is now available as free download for all owners of Maschine.

OpenLabs

Open Labs is going to release a new product November 18, 2009. Now is your chance to win one free of charge by guessing what it is.

The rules are simple: (1) register in our online forum to post your guess (one per person), (2) describe what you think the product is, (3) the first person to correctly describe the unreleased product will win, (4) If you were involved in the development process or pre-release surveys, you are not eligible to enter and cannot tell someone else to enter for you, (5) Open Labs reserves the right to disqualify anyone it deems has violated the rules, (6) All entries become the property of Open Labs, (7) Open Labs may send you additional information about its products and special announcements, (8) winner will be announced on the Open Labs Live Interactive webcast O-Live November 18, 2009 at 4:00pm CST, (9) Winner receives one of the new product free of charge, (10) All decisions by Open Labs are final.

Note #7 – It appears that OpenLabs plans to sign up everybody that enters to get product info.

If that’s OK with you – go win whatever it is.

Native Instruments has released an excellent free video tutorial series (above) on Maschine, their hardware/software music production workstation.

The Maschine tutorials cover:

• An overview
• Live recording
• Step recroding
• FX and automation
• Sampling with Maschine
• Beat slicing
• Scenes & performing
• Exporting audio from maschine
• Software sequencer integration
• Using Maschine as a MIDI controller
• Controlling Traktor Pro with Maschine
• Controlling Ableton Live with Maschine

This series of seven videos looks at using Ableton Live 8 with Open Labs’ DBeat music production workstation.

Native Instruments has announced that Maschine version 1.1 is on the way, and it’s now in public beta test stage.

The upcoming 1.1 version of Maschine adds several features including MIDI control of external gear, Rex support, extended scene triggering and more. Details below.

New and improved features:

• MIDI Out Mode for sounds
• MIDI In for sounds and groups
• Drag-and-Drop audio export for scenes and patterns in host
• Record and trigger scenes switches via MIDI notes in host
• Scene retrigger option in plugin mode
• Loading groups without patterns
• Additional slicing sizes (1/8th etc.)
• REX file import
• Scene naming
• Adjustable metronome volume
• Record Count-In option
• Quick adjustment of group and sound volumes on controller

Fixes:

• Several fixes and stability improvements

This list is subject to change, and does not necessarily list all features and fixes that will be in the final update.

Open Labs has announced that it is now offering Digidesign Pro Tools on their NeKo, MiKo, and DBeat instruments.

Description:

The option to have Pro Tools software fully installed, integrated and supported by Open Labs engineers provides producers and musicians with industry-leading studio recording software running seamlessly on Open Labs gear.

You can produce a track in Pro Tools right out of the box!Now, you may choose to purchase Pro Tools LE 8 with an Mbox 2 Mini, Mbox 2 or a 003 Rack at the time an Open Labs Gen 5 product is purchased.

Eligible Open Labs products include NeKo XXL, NeKo LX5, MiKo LXD, NeKo EX5, MiKo EC5, DBeat and DBeatPRO.

Pro Tools M-Powered software is available with the purchase of the Open Labs NeKo XXL, which includes M-Powered hardware natively with no need for additional hardware or audio interface.

All Open Labs instruments come with either Platinum or Gold Support Services , which include technical support for Pro Tools hardware and software, allowing you to receive all your technical support from one source — Open Labs.

via OpenLabsInc

Atlantic City, New Jersey Hosted the 2009 DJ EXPO where Beat Kangz Electronics demoed The Beat Thang Virtual for the godfather of hip hop dance music, Afrika BamBaataa.

The Beat Kangz have also announced a promotion – purchase a copy of The Beat Thang Virtual and the Beat Kangz will send a copy to the school of your choice.

Best quote: “What company has rappin prez & VPz bangin beatz???”

The CC-1 can perform very complex algorithms and lots of them, with almost no latency. So yes, we are modelling the quirky hardware of the CMI. The sound of each CMI was subtly different, due to their analogue bits, so it won’t sound exactly like any one CMI, but lined up with a few CMIs you won’t be able to tell the difference.

The sound will be user selectable, to be like a series I,II,IIX, III etc. Or you can dig deeper and make it sound like nothing else.

One of the many nice things about the CC-1 is that it has no inherent bit width. “Normal” processors generally offer say 32 or 64 bit operations, where as the CC-1 can be configured to any number of bits. So if something works most effectively as 33 bits, so be it. And the bit widths can be mixed within the one signal path.

The “n” polyphony is achieved by “n” individual circuits set up in the FPGA working in parallel, as opposed to the software emulation model which is necessarily sequential. The channels can have different configurations is required; in any case there will be subtle coefficient differences between channels to reproduce the individuality of outputs that has often been cited.

How much polyphony? All we know at this time are the extremes – it will certainly be at least 16 like the original Series III but given that the Crystal Core when used in a DAW delivers up to 230 channels of mixing ALL of which have full processing (8 bands EQ, 3 stages Dynamics), you can safely assume a lot more than 16 will be possible.

Re pricing: yet to be finalised, but the choice to go with the CC-1 does come at a price. Although the CC-1 is not sold currently as a separate card (it would be no use without the software etc that goes with it), the retail price would be around the $5,000 mark. So you can do the sums, the CMI 30-A is not going to be price competitive with the mass-market synths which abound.

In case you’re wondering why anyone would get excited about a $5,000 recreation of a 25 year old synth, check out this video of Herbie Hancock jamming on the Fairlight CMI.

via Peter Vogel in the Fairlight User Group, via Failed Muso.

This is a demo of Beat Thang Virtual, the Beat Kangz’ new virtual music production workstation.

If you’ve had a chance to try out Beat Thang Virtual, leave a comment with your thoughts!

via griffinavid:

In this vid, we chop up a sample and make a beat within 10 minutes.

Doesn’t get any easier than that.

FunkyBeat gets busy with the NeKo LX5 and takes you on a ride to make a funky beat.

via MakeItFunkyProds

Check out this insanely fun, MPC-inspired orange juice commercial.

Ingredientes: Laranjas fresquinhas, funk carioca e uma pitada de bom-humor.

Art direction and Creation
Hardcuore – hardcuore.com

Design and Animation
Breno Pineschi e Rafael Cazes

Audio Effects and MPC Tropical Soundtrack
Joao Brasil

Colaboration / Thanks
Joana Angert

via apc

MOTU BPM was one of the hotter pieces of music software to come out of the 2009 Winter NAMM Show, because it is designed to turn your computer into an advanced MPC-style virtual instrument.

MacMusic has an early review of MOTU BPM, and they’re impressed:

BPM is a force to be reckoned in the drum machine world. With its huge library and strong feature set, BPM can easily hold its own compared to hardware drum sequencers. BPM’s compatibility with all major DAWs deserves bonus points. I would have liked to have seen a MIDI programmable sound repeat button as well as a hi-hat decay slider as on MPC drum machines- perhaps in a future update.

Nonetheless, BPM is by far the strongest software drum machine currently available. I’ll be looking to see how musicians find creative ways to use BPM, much like the MPC, but in my opinion, MOTU may have officially put all hardware drum machines on notice.

No faint praise!

Have you used BPM? If so, leave a comment and let us know if you think it’s the strongest software drum machine currently available!

More on MOTU BPM.

Musikmesse 2009: In this official video, Open Labs‘ Sean Anderson gives a brief overview of the MiKo LXD keyboard workstation.

Musikmesse 2009: In this official Open Labs video, Morris Hayes, keyboardist for Prince, gets his hands on the Open Labs DBeat and does his thing.

Hayes has been using Open Labs gear in the studio and on the road with Prince.

via OpenLabsInc

Musikmesse 2009: Open Labs co-founder Victor Wong visits The Crystal Method at their studio in LA, and shows them DBeat, which was released at this year’s Frankfurt Musikmesse.

They talk analog synths, partying in Austin, virtual synths and, of course, Open Labs’ new DBeat workstation.

via OpenLabsInc

Musikmesse 2009: Multi-award winning producer Teddy Riley tests out the Open Labs DBeat.

Riley has worked with Blackstreet, Michael Jackson and other A-list musicians. Riley has owned a MiKo T.S.E. for years, and is a demonstrator of Open Labs products.

via OpenLabsInc

Musikmesse 2009: Open Labs introduced the DBeat – a new portable music production workstation that offers iPod integration, a multi-touch touchscreen interface and traditional MPC-style pads.

The DBeat will be available for $3,999 USD ($3,499 for pre-orders) in June 2009, directly through here at www.openlabs.com or through an authorized reseller listed on the Web site.

Check it out and leave a comment with your thoughts!

Description:

Encased in an ultra-light aluminum chassis and weighing only 20lbs, the DBeat boasts more than 10,000 sounds with an additional 14GB of sounds that come with the included, full feature version of AbletonTM Live 7. Live DJ performance capability is taken to the next level with the inclusion of Open Labs’ edition of GURU and the proprietary virtual instrument host Riff.

DBeat comes loaded with a plethora of fully mappable real-time controllers, including Open Labs’ exclusive Bump MP drum pads, the Mix/Edit digital audio workstation panel, and comprehensive DJ controls including a cross-fader. DBeat puts “the feel” back in making music by including an integrated trackball, iPod-compatible cradle and 12-inch capacitive touch screen, which will be multi-touch capable with Windows 7 update.

The ability to directly connect USB turntables and the compatibility with virtually any software, including DeckadanceTM, Serato Scratch LiveTM, TraktorTM, Pro ToolsTM, Reason and many more, make DBeat the ultimate DJ solution for studio, stage and club use.

DBeat Technical Specifications

CPU
Intel® Core2 Duo ® (3GHz)

Control Surfaces
Trackball with 2 buttons
Mix/Edit Controls
BumpMP
DJ Panel

Memory
4 GB

Audio I/O
(1) High Performance Audio I/O Card with Low Latency including 24-bit/96kHz professional 4-in/6-out : (2) mic/instrument preamp inputs (with Phantom Power 48V), (2) analog line inputs, (6) analog line outputs, S/PDIF digital I/O (coaxial)

Storage
320 Gigabyte

Drive
High Speed Dual-Layer 8.5GB/disc CD/DVD Burner

Display
12-inch capacitive touch screen (multi-touch capable with Windows 7 update)

Connection
Comprehensive I/O capable of up to 24bit/96KHz audio with 4 in / 6 out including 2 phantom-powered mic-pres with DI’s, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O

Software
Open Labs Riff®
Abelton Live®

Factory Sound Library
Over 7,500 presets and 1,000 song presets loaded into RiFFTM. (Check our Software Bundle webpage for more information)

Dimensions:
26”(W) X 14”(D) X 5”(H), Weight (base configuration) 20 lbs.

Specifications subject to change without notification.

This video takes a look at some of the (very) basics of getting started with the Open Labs NeKo.

via MakeItFunkyProds:

This video explains how to:

1. Turn on your NeKo / Miko studio.

2. Connect your external VGA monitor.

3. Play the Open Labs vsti’s in your software.

(BONUS: How to exit the Open Labs Shell.)

The PCKEY is a new keyboard workstation that looks to be inspired by the Open Labs NeKo.

Details here, but in Italian.

If you’ve used the PCKEY, leave a comment with your thoughts.

Open Labs Bump MP Overview

via OpenLabsInc:

Open Labs Research and Development employees Chris Brown and Mike Zawodniak give a brief overview of the GEN5 Bump MP panel. Bump MP is a feature that is exclusive to Open Labs GEN5 gear, and brings MPC-like functions to the Open Labs instrument line.