Kenaxis has released version 3.1 of Kenaxis, for Mac and Windows -  the namesake product in its line of real-time audio performance software. The update adds OSC (Open Sound Control) compatibility and an FFT Phase Vocoder.

KenaxisOSC enables Kenaxis to communicate with a variety of hardware and software interfaces including consumer devices as familiar as the iPod touch, the iPhone and Wii remotes. Combining OSC with the powerful audio-design tools of Kenaxis opens a whole new range of possibilities for musicians and artists working in live audio performance.

In addition, while Kenaxis 3.1 is loaded with its trademark Granular Synthesis tools, the new FFT Phase Vocoder offers an alternative technique for sonic time stretching and freezing. The Phase Vocoder will appeal to musicians who desire more organic, analog-sounding textures in their performances and compositions, says Kenaxis Creative.

Key Features:

• Intuitive Performance Interface: 6 loop players, mixer and master mixer. Clear, compact display of all parameters allows the musician to monitor and manipulate every aspect of the performance.
• Powerful Tools: pitch modulation, delay, granular synthesis, convolution, analog synthesis, 12 band parametric EQs, automated envelopes and filters, random file players and VST support – allows for sonic possibilities not possible with hardware components, at a fraction of the cost.
• Adjustable Crossfades and Insert Silence features: allows for maximum real-time loop manipulation – eliminate clicks, create drones or sparse textures.
• Multiple Audio Sources: Drag and drop sound files, synthesize sounds or capture live sound on the fly.
• OSC and MIDI compatible: Faster and with higher resolution than MIDI, OSC (Open Sound Control) allows the musician to ‘play’ Kenaxis with the iPod, iPod Touch, Wii controller, Lemur and other OSC devices and software.
• FFT Phase Vocoder: An organic and “more analog-sounding” time-stretching alternative. Pinpoint sounds in the spectrum analysis tool to stretch, freeze and manipulate.

Kenaxis is available for Windows and Mac OS X, and is priced at $135. Kenaxis Bundle costs $185 (includes Kenaxis, Kenaxis Surround and Kenaxis Visualizer). Site License pricing is available.

U&I Software has released MetaSynth 5, an electronic music studio for Mac OS X.

MetaSynth is not intended to be a soft-synth or plug-in. It is a complete sound design and electronic music composition environment with six “rooms “that you can use to create and process sounds in a variety of paradigm-smashing ways.

MetaSynth 5 Features:

• MetaSynth 5 is universal binary, multi-threaded and fully Leopard-compatible.
• Recording available in both Sample Editor and Montage Room.
• 32-bit floating point sound buffers and 64-bit floating point math for all audio operations.
• Full support for .caf and .wav files. – MetaSynth 5 can read and write .aif, .sd2, .caf and .wav files in all rooms.
• Add output device selection to Preferences. – MetaSynth no longer uses the default output device chosen in Audio MIDI Setup. MetaSynth now allows the selection of any available output device.
• Files can be saved at up to 32-bit resolution.
• Much longer sounds can be loaded and created than previously.

MetaSynth retails for $599.

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

This is an interesting development. Since both Macs and PCs are Intel-based, the long term viability of having four or more plugin formats is questionable.

At the very least, VFX could give new life to a broad range of free plugins developed for the PC.

Suggested Minimum Requirements: 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 1 GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.5.x or later

Cool developement, or are all the plugins you need already available on the Mac?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

This is a visual demo of Future Audio Workshop’s Circle Synthesizer, a software synth for Windows and Mac.

A demo is available here

Five12 has announced the release of Numerology 2 for Mac OS X.

Numerology is a modular music sequencing and audio plugin environment. It uses an approach to electronic music composition based on the techniques of step sequencing and pattern sequencing, augmented by a modular environment that encourages improvisation and experimentation.

Numerology 2’s module library is centered around a core set of sequencing modules, each targeted for a specific task: The MonoNote sequencer for monophonic lead and bass melodies, the PolyNote and MatrixSeq modules for polyphonic sequencing and the eight-track DrumSeq for drum programming.

There are also a pair of ‘component’ sequencers, the CV (control value) and Gate sequencer modules, which can be used for a technique called Discrete Sequencing, whereby users can create melodic lines by independently sequencing the individual components of notes: pitches, rhythms and dynamics. This modular approach to step sequencing maintains the immediacy that step sequencing is known for, while greatly increasing the range of compositional techniques the composer can employ.

A full suite of companion modules can be mixed and matched with the sequencers to expand their capabilities, including LFO’s, Envelopes, CV Mixers, and MIDI generators and processors. Another key feature of Numerology is the ability of the user to quickly and easily apply modulation to almost any parameter with just a few mouse clicks. Application of this type of automation to musical parameters such as tempo, pitch intervals and pattern length opens up many new opportunities for creative composition.

In order to provide structure for this environment, Numerology’s modules live within a series of virtual equipment racks, called stacks. Typically there is one stack for each musical part in a composition. Each stack maintains an independent set of presets for its modules, which enables a very flexible way of building pattern-based compositions.

This release of Numerology 2 also includes a pair of sample-based synthesis modules, a polyphonic AudioSample module and an eight-part DrumKit module. Although simple in design, their integration with Numerology affords them some unique benefits, including the ability for the user to customize their settings for each preset pattern, the easy application of modulation to any parameter, and individual outputs for each part in the DrumKit.

Numerology 2 requires an Apple Macintosh computer with a CPU speed of 1Ghz or better, and 1GB or more of RAM, running Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or later, and a screen resolution of 1024×768 or better.

Numerology 2 is currently available for purchase from the Five12 Web Store for an introductory price of $99 (USD). After January 4th, the price will be $119 (USD).

Features of Numerology 2:

• A modular step sequencing music composition environment.
• MIDI-based Note Sequencing modules for monophonic, polyphonic and drum sequencing.
• Flexible CV & Gate Sequencer modules for ‘component-based’ sequencing.
• GrooveClock module for building custom grooves.
• A variety of analog-synthesis-style modules for generating and processing streams of control (CV) data, including LFO’s, Envelopes and XY controllers.
• Several MIDI processing and filtering modules.
• Audio Unit hosting.
• An eight-part sample-based DrumKit synthesizer.
• A polyphonic sample-based AudioSample module for audio synthesis.
• A flexible virtual-rack system for organizing modules into musical parts, called Stacks.
• An integrated preset system for coordinating all module settings within a stack.
• An easy to setup parameter modulation system for modulating almost anything from anything else.
• MIDI remote control of almost any parameter.
• A timeline-based playlist arrangement system.
• A dedicated audio mixer with 8 stereo aux sends per stack.
• Custom routing of CV, Audio & MIDI data streams.
• Stereo audio recording of the Master and Alt output busses.
• Flexible synchronization via MIDI Clock, MTC or ReWire.
• Universal binary for Mac OS X, 10.4.11 or later.

Here are a couple of videos that demo Matt Mower’s Elysium, a new visual generative sequencer. 

Here’s how he describes it:

1. Elysium is a sequencer, that means it’s designed to produce sequences of notes that can be layered to form music.
2. Elysium uses MIDI which means that it doesn’t make sounds itself but can drive MIDI based synthesizers, samplers, and other instruments. It also means that Elysium’s output can be recorded, and manipulated, in a DAW such as Logic or Ableton Live.
3. Elysium is generative which relates to the way the music is created by building up a “system” composed of layers, cells, tokens, and playheads that combined, when “played”, to produce a sequence of notes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In this piece Elysium is played through Logic 8 with the Sculpture synth patch “Classic Marimba” loaded.

Bill from Gearwire demos Sugar Bytes’ Robotronic.

Robotronic is a vocoder which can process mono and stereo input signals, includes sampler and synthesizer and offers Frequency Focussing and Formantshifting.

Robotronic is available in Mac VST and AU, and PC VST for 79€ / 99$.

Mixed in Key is Windows and Mac OS X software which analyses MP3 and WAV files. It identifies the musical key of every track, and highlights which other tracks are harmonically compatible. Designed to quickly analyze music files, Mixed In Key shows which tracks can be mixed together without a key clash.

Pricing is $58.00 USD.

New features:

• Improved algorithm to find the key of every track
• Improved graphic design
• A fast way to create playlists in “Browse Collection” to organize music files
• New quality-control feature: While scanning music files, Mixed In Key detects if the volume is too loud, the song is off-key or there are too many clipped peaks. Version 4.0 suggests how to improve those audio files to make them sound better for a live DJ performance
• Ability to add custom keywords to each track for quick searching

Mixed In Key software users include Pete Tong from BBC Radio 1, Dubfire from Deep Dish, Nick Warren, David Guetta, High Contrast, BT and Kaskade.

Version 4.0 is available in two styles: The original theme and Allen & Heath XONE theme. The original theme is available from http://www.MixedInKey.com. The Allen & Heath theme is available from http://Xone.MixedInKey.com.

Artificial Audio has released Obelisk, a spectral multi effect designed to raise the area of spectral sound processing to a new level.

Obelisk combines a Spectral Delay, a Spectral Filter and a Spectral Gate into a multi effect that enablesintuitive operation. With Obelisk you can draw your effect and with the aid of graphic lines control a multitude of effect parameters in a very simple and descriptive manner.

Video demos are available. 

Obelisk retails for 99 €.

Here are the details:

 
MellowMuse Mellowhead is a guitar and fx modeling plug-in for OSX.

Description:

The emphasis here is on creating the raw organic sound of a miced tube amp. There are 10 convolution based speaker cabinets and 10 different pre-amp/tone settings, ranging from clean to brutal distortion, as well as 3 band tone controls. The 5 effects pedals, reverb and cabinet bypass allow further creative shaping of your guitar sound. Mellowhead produces no additional latency to hamper your playing.

Features:

• 10 pre-amp/amp settings
• 10 convolution based guitar cabinets
• 4x Oversampling
• 5 effects pedals, Tremelo, Delay, Chorus, Phaser and Tone Booster
• CPU efficient design
• Capable of a wide range of tones from clean to heavy overdriven tube amp sounds
• Bass, Mid, Treble tone controls
• Separate master and pre-amp gain controls
• Reverb
• Cabinet bypass

Price: $69