Oscillicious has released BeatCleaver 1.3.0, an update that they promise will let you ‘cut up beats beyond recognition’.
New features include:
Here are the details: Continue reading
Native Instruments has released an update to Maschine, version 1.8.
Here’s what’s new in Maschine 1.8:
See the NI site for details.
Sunday Synth Jam: Here’s a sampling synth jam, via Aaron Apter, that uses only a ‘broken weight plate’ as a sound source.
Here’s what he has to say about it:
During a Labor Day group workout my gym, someone dropped a bar and accidentally broke in half a well-worn 25lb plate. Half-jokingly, I asked if I could take home the remains and attempt to put them to musical use.
While permission was granted, I definitely got the vibe that others thought I either was up to my antics or a fool to think I could make music out of such a dull and lifeless looking/sounding piece of rubber. That perceived slight was both the motivation and boundaries I had been desperately seeking!
Propellerhead today released an update to Figure, its beatmaking app for the iPhone.
Here’s what’s new in Figure 1.2:
Propellerhead Figure is available for $.99 in the App Store.
Check it out and let us know what you think of the new version of Figure!
We’ve shared several beatmaking video tutorials before. This video, though, by Zachary Bennoui Taibi explores the challenges and opportunities of blind beatmaking with Propellerhead Reason.
Reader Karl Sholz let us know about this synth jam/demo that combines the analog drum synth goodness of a late 70′s Synare 3 (best known from its appearance on countless disco tracks) with WerkBench for the iPad:
The Star Instruments Synare is most famous for its use on disco records as a simple ‘tom-tom’ sound (the first sound I play in this video). Despite its cheesy historical use, the Synare actually a beastly little analog synth with two oscillators (with noise and LFO modes respectively), a self oscilating low-pass filter, and envelopes for filter and volume. I only scratch the surface in this video.
WerkBench is a tool for crafting rhythmic loops from any source material in real-time. WerkBench is great for grabbing sounds on the fly from analog synths that lack patch memory (like the Synare, Monotron, or any modular rig).
Check this out and let us know what you think!
WerkBench is available for $4.99 in the App Store.