Vir2

At the 2009 NAMM Show, Vir2 introduced Mojo a horn virtual instrument.

Inspired by legendary groups like Tower of Power and the big bands of decades past, MOJO is designed for emulating everything from a sultry sax solo to a screaming full big band.

More than a dozen articulations are instantly loaded and intelligently handled via performance features and keyswitches. Behind the scenes, a humanizing function, smart release layers, and custom legato and vibrato tools assist the player in reproducing the sounds of horns with realism. Crescendos and swells sync instantly to host tempos and can be triggered in real time.

Included in the instrument collection are: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet (open, muted, and piccolo), flugelhorn, trombone (open and muted), bass trombone, and clarinet. The articulation list varies for each instrument, but generally includes sustains, stabs, staccatos, trills, slurs, shakes, octave runs, rise to hits, falls (including four different lengths), doits, bends, stylistic riffs, special effects, and tempo-synced swells and crescendos.

All samples are recorded in 24-bit stereo using the finest preamps in the world, including a vintage Neve 1073 and a LaChapell Audio 992EG, and mics by AKG, Neumann, and Coles.

MOJO is powered by the  Kontakt engine, offering integration into all major sequencers via its AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS plug-ins, as well as standalone operation.

MOJO is expected to ship in March, 2009 for 499.94

Vir2 Instruments has introduced two new virtual instruments – Elite Orchestral Percussion and BASiS.

Elite Orchestral Percussion offers 19 gigabytes of sterling orchestral percussion with a sophisticated script engine, and BASiS fills the low end with a large collection of electric, upright, fretless, and synth basses.

Elite Orchestral Percussion

Vir2 Instruments’ Elite Orchestral Percussion is a  19GB library filled with both traditional and unusual orchestral percussion. The collection features over 250 distinct orchestral percussion instruments across the full span of categories: bass drums, snare drums, cymbals of every type, chimes, gongs, handbells, mallets, tambourines, timpani, triangles, wind chimes, wood blocks, accessories, FX, and ethnic and world instruments.

Elite Orchestral Percussion features a number of cutting-edge techniques to maximize and enhance the playability of the library, including a randomization engine which utilizes a variety of advanced techniques to maximize realism. A full performance view is available in all instruments, enabling instant triggering and programming of various common percussion articulations such as flams, 3-stroke ruffs, chokes, rolls, and realistic rhythmic pattern generators.

Elite Orchestral Percussion offers dozens of different room and reverb options via a custom set of convolution impulses implemented in EZRoom. EZRoom is a drop-down menu in the interface that, with one click, allows you to place the percussion in everything from the world’s greatest chapels and concert halls to caverns, chambers, and small rooms, all with minimal processor hit and no additional RAM usage. Unusual sonic spaces are also included for esoteric effects. EZRoom multiplies the different sonic options available to the discerning orchestral writer.

FORMAT: Plug-In
RETAIL: $399.95

BASiS

Featuring a comprehensively sampled collection of acoustic, upright, electric, and synth basses, BASiS offers 24-bit sampling, DI and amp blending control, multiple velocity layers, seamless humanizing, custom legato and vibrato tools, release layers, harmonics, hammer-ons, pulloffs, slides, slaps, rakes, falls, and more.

BASiS includes more than 7 gigabytes of the most diverse collection of basses available in the world of virtual instruments: classics like the Jazz Bass, P-Bass, Rickenbacker, and Musicman basses are presented alongside personality and genre tributes such as a classic Motown bass, a gospel bass, Jaco’s Fretless, and Macca’s Hofner. One upright bass and three slap basses are also included. In the synth bass category, more than a hundred patches are provided, ranging from thumping vintage synth basses to techno basses and esoteric fresh creations to spice up your tracks. Each instrument has been meticulously mastered and programmed for maximum musicality when placed in a mix.

All electric basses have been sampled from both the direct input (DI) and an amped perspective. A knob on the interface allows phase-aligned blending of the two, or the selection of one or the other. For the upright bass, the same knob allows mixing of the direct input and a phase-aligned tube mic output capture of the same sessions. Other onscreen controls allow pitch bend range adjustment, pick noise and fret noise controls, release layer controls, adjustable velocity curve, and instant and detailed control over EQ. A comprehensive selection of effects is included, including an octaver, compression, saturation, lo-fi, distortion, limiter, phaser, flanger, chorus, reverb, and delay.

Performance features include an innovative legato tool designed for true finger-smooth playing, and a customizable vibrato engine with control over vibrato types, speeds, and depths. Rather than opt for traditional LFO-based vibrato, BASiS uses a sophisticated character vibrato modeled after real bass players, completely controllable from the keyboard and onscreen interface. Randomized pick noises, release samples, and fret noises add to the realism of each instrument.

BASiS is powered by the popular Kontakt Player 2 engine, offering total integration into all major sequencers via its AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS plug-ins, as well as standalone operation. It also works perfectly within both Kontakt 2 and Kontakt 3.

FORMAT: Plug-In
RETAIL: $299.95

Vir2 have announced syntAX, a Kontakt Player 2 based virtual instrument described as ‘part synth, part interactive sonic revolution’.

The core of syntAX is a 2000+ patch synth library covering an immense amount of synth territory, including soaring leads, evolving pads, thick basses, harsh distortions, unusual textures, other-worldly atmospheres, FX, hits, blips, and more.

Then syntAX blazes into new territory with its custom scatterFX engine which allows real-time manipulation and interaction with the syntAX core library. scatterFX is made up of two components: scatFX and stepFX. scatFX gives you unprecedented control over rhythmic stuttering, allowing you to program, play, and command rhythmic patterns of syntAX. stepFX functions as an advanced step modulator allowing you to melodically animate pattern-based arpeggiations. Both scatFX and stepFX lock to tempo and can be controlled by numerous external MIDI controllers, making the synth completely interactive.

Read more…