Music Production Center

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. Read more…

2009 Summer NAMM Show: Beat Kangz Electronics has announced a shipping date for the much-hyped Beat Thang, an MPC-like, Hip-Hip production center. The Beat Thang is expected to ship in October 2009, with a list price of $1,299 and retail of $999.

The Beat Kangz are also putting the finishing touches on The Playa Thang, an iPhone app and a software version of the Beat Thang. By July 17, The Beat Thang Virtual software system, $149.00, will be available for purchase on the company’s website. Read more…

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.

Kenny and Noel of producer duo NuVintage show some of the real-time capabilities of Native Instruments’ new groove production studio Maschine at NAMM 2009.

The Beat Kangz overview of their new beat box/workstation, the Beat Thang.

This may be the best presentation out of the 2009 NAMM Show.

Best quote: “SD cards. What? How many of them? What? I think there’s two of them. What? 16. What? Gigabytes per card.”

Let me know what you think of the Beat Kangz Beat Thang in the comments!