4Pockets.com has introduced Aurora a new pattern-based musical sequencing app for the Pocket PC.

This is a teaser video, no pricing or release date has been announced yet.

Description:

Aurora hides a lot of its complexity from novice users, but by switching to advanced mode you get full control over the built in instruments and effects, as well as many advanced modes such as the Atomizer and XY Mode which allows you to manipulate sound in real-time.

You can create your own instrument from recordings made using the built in microphone. Just think, a full drum kit of you beatboxing into the microphone!

Aurora allows a mixture of pattern based recording and live performance. You can piece together complete compositions, or simply improvise a performance, all of which can be captured to a file, for use as a ringtones, or to share with others.

An integrated mixer, combined with the ability to add audio effects and layer automation means that you achieve a pretty sophisticated sound in a fun and user friendly way.

Experimental Scene has released DarkWave Studio, a Windows app designed for the composition, synthesis and recording of digital music, as a free and open-source application.

Details below.

Features:

• Virtual Studio – Wire Machines Together As If You Were Using Real Hardware
• Pattern Editor – Quickly Create And Modify Musical Notes In A Piano Roll Interface
• Sequence Editor – Arrange Patterns Into A Song
• Multitrack Hard Disk Recorder – Record Multiple Tracks To Disk For Post Production
• 32-bit Floating Point Internal Audio Path – High Quality Sound Processing
• SSE and SSE2 Optimizations – Blazing Performance On Recent Processors
• Assembly Language Optimizations – Blazing Performance Even On 32-bit Systems
• Native 64-bit and 32-bit Platform Support
• VST PlugIn Support – Limitlessly Expandable With Virtual Instruments and Effects
• ASIO Audio Driver Support – Low Latency Output For Live Performance

Bundled PlugIns:

• MIDI Input – Play Instruments From A Music Keyboard
• ES Mixer – 8 Track Stereo Mixer With 2 Auxilary Tracks, For Mixing And Production
• ES DGenR8 – Synthesize Drum Beats With Roland TR-909 Flavour
• ES BassHead – Top Notch Virtual Analog Subtractive Synthesizer
• ES SpatialVerb – Realistic Reverb Effects With The Smoothest Sound
• ES Stomp – Synthesize That Classic Techno Thumping Kick Drum
• ES AntiAlias – Filter Digital Audio To Make It More Like Analog
• ES QuadDelay – For Trippy Echo Effects

Download here.

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

iSyn – a full-featured virtual music studio for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, is now available (App Store link). iSyn features two monophonic synths and a drum machine.

If you give iSyn a try, leave a comment with your thoughts!

This is a demo video for AudioRealism technoBox, an app that puts a Roland TB303, TR808 & TR909 onto your iPhone.

via jetdaisuke

AudioRealism has introduced technoBox – a complete techno music studio for your iPhone.

Description:

technoBox is a virtual techno studio on the go for iPhone / iPod touch, featuring stunningly accurate emulations of three classic boxes: the legendary 303 bass line machine, together with the smooth 808 and punchy 909 drum machines.

technoBox has easy to use sequencing capabilities which lets you tie together patterns, or use it live by improvising pattern switches on the fly!

The drum section features 11 parts with 808 or 909 sounds (for a total of 22 sounds) with variable amount of shuffle per pattern.

technoBox comes with a session manager which allows you to load/save sessions in realtime without stopping the internal sequencer — great for saving realtime improvised patterns without interrupting the audio stream.

Coming soon to the App Store.

Features:

• Authentic 303 emulation based on the ABL2 engine
• Drum module with selectible 808 or 909 sounds
  Shuffle with variable amount for drum module
• Transpose and randomizer for synth module
• 24 patterns per session (12 for 303, 12 for 808/909)
  Pattern sequencer with up to 1000 bars
• Session manager with realtime switching
• High contrast GUI for use in clubs etc.
  Supports autorotation to your preferred landscape orientation
• On board quickstart manual
• Supports multi-touch for knobs

This is a quick video demonstrating control of the HobNox AudioTool virtual studio using a giant touchscreen monitor.

Do you think this represents the future of music studios?

via martinrichardking

In this IndaMixx walkthrough, GearWire’s Bill Holland takes a look at sequencing drums and using effects. 

The IndaMixx looks very cool – but its tiny size seems like it could be a barrier as much as it is a benefit.

HobNox has updated their Audiotool browser-based virtual studio so that you can now record electronic music right in your browser.

The Hobnox Audiotool update provides some new features like more robust audio signal processing, dynamically adding plugins and live recording.

Here is a detailed list of the new features:

Flashplayer 10 support

Adobe now provides a ew Sound API to stream audio to the sound card. Now, entirely processed in Flash, the audio latency is more satisfying and the output more stable. You simply get a better experience.

Live Recording

The tool will also now allow to record a live audio session to your harddrive: WYHIWYG (What you hear is what you get):

We transcoded a Vorbis Encoder (better quality than MP3) to Actionscript to shrink the filesize of the recorded audio in order for you to upload it into your user profile library. We can’t wait to hear what you guys will be producing and are really excited about this development. 

Plugin Shelf

At the bottom of the screen shot above, you will see a ‘Dock’-like shelf. With this you’ll have full control of the plugins you want to use. You’ll be able to drag & drop plugins into and from the shelf. You’ll only see the devices you want to use and not the full inital setup like before. 

New stomp-boxes

Hobnox has added some new effect devices, like Compressor, Gate, Phaser and a Slope (Filter unit) as well as a Merger and a Splitter.

via David

Developer Andre Michelle has announced the first recording made with the HobNox AudioTool, the browser-based virtual studio:

I admit: My session is actually boring. I quickly setup some beats and just one 303 without any effects to test the Streaming and Encoding. Download the OGG-file here. The next update is scheduled for September, 1th. This may shift as we need to wait for FlashPlayer 10. The current version of the AudioTool works with a Java applet to stream the AS3 generated audio to the sound card. We are looking forward to get rid of it.

It’s amazing to see Michelle and others pushing the limits of what can be done with Flash.

DSP Music has released version 3.0 of PSPSeq, a free homebrew application for composing music on the Sony PSP handheld game system.

PSPSeq contains both realtime synthesis and sample playback capability, along with multiple FX modules of widely varying types for modifying instruments in countless ways. PSPSeq also has a powerful and unique step sequencer for triggering samples and arranging loops into full songs.

Key features of PSPSeq:

• up to 16 independent audio tracks per song
• a wide variety of synthesizers from traditional virtual analog and FM to Karplus-Strong
  and unique digital oscillators with parameter controls rarely seen in commercial synths
• WAV file playback with looping, pitch shift, and configurable start/end points
• many FX algorithms from digital filters and waveshapers to bitmasks and decimation
• all synthesizer parameters can be set to unique values on a per-step basis
• step sequencer with configurable step length, swing, highly accurate BPM, and tap tempo
• probabilistic sequencing: the decision to retrigger to be based on a 0-100% probability
  rather than a boolean yes/no operation
• song sequencing with 100 different loops per song, 1000 measures per song, and loop
  repeat capability
• load and save of synthesizer presets between songs
• record loops and songs to WAV

Some of the improvements over PSPSeq 2.11 include:

• fixed dc offset in humanize and delay cases
• synthezier presets
• load to step, loop, all loops, save current step, preview preset data,
  multiple preset files per synth comp
• fixed wav save bug
• add exponential decay on freq to all synths
• 7Mbytes of memory for samples
• global configurable sensitivity on apad
• START always exits menu entirely
• fm feedback for BFM and FM synths with configurable routing
• shortcut to synth params from sequencer screen (triangle+L-trig+R-trig)
• per step pan, pan and vol moved to ENV as well as Stepedit Mode
• faster load/save and more compressed SEQs
• configurable stepping through sequencer with apad
• randomize parameters with ranged setting, start/end points for random values
• configurable colors
• namable loops, display next loop jump point
• better DADSR controls
• edit a subset of steps in a loop (latched mode)
• jump by 8 through seq load list (triangle+D-pad up/down)
• enhance clear track to clear from an arbitrary step
• enhance shift track to keep old hits for copy/paste functionality

PSPSeq 3.00 can be downloaded here.

DarkWave Studio is a modular virtual studio that lets you load various virtual instruments and effects and connect them in a modular fashion.

DarkWave can load VST instruments and effects and it can also load machines using the DarkPlug API, which was custom made for DarkWave.

The program currently supports sound output via Windows Sound and ASIO. DarkWave natively supports both x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) versions of Windows with native binaries compiled for each platform. The x86 and x64 versions can each only load plugins for that platform, i.e. the x64 version only loads 64-bit VST and DarkPlug plugins

The following plugins are included with DarkWave: MIDI Input, ES SpatialVerb (Room Modelling Reverb Unit), ES Kick (Rave Kick Generator).

DarkWave Studio retails for $38, as a digital download.

This gets my vote for the coolest thing you’ll see this weekend.

It’s a live performance using the Hobnox AudioTool – the new browser-based virtual studio – using a MIDI controller and Percussa AudioCubes.

See the tutorial at the Hobnox site, too!

Joa Ebert & Kai-Phillip, via David

If you check out one thing this weekend, check out Hobnox AudioTool.

It’s like Reason for your Web browser – a collection of Web-based audio tools that you can patch together in play, including a TB303, TR808, TR909 and a variety of effects pedals.

It’s just a demo, but I’m impressed. Let me know what you think!

If you’re not up on the new version yet, check out our in-depth first look at Reason 4.

“We’ve always strived to help artists take their musical ideas and turn them into great sounding tracks fast,” says Ernst Nathorst-Böös, CEO and founder of Propellerhead Software. “We believe Reason Version 4 comes closest to achieving that goal, and in a fashion that makes music creation truly enjoyable.”

Here are the highlights….

Thor, Polysonic Synthesizer, takes sound creation to a new level delivering a veritable “museum” of synthesis techniques wrapped into one instrument. With six open “slots,” Thor brings together six different oscillators with four different filter modules plus wave shaping, enveloping and effects. Thor offers a plethora of modulation routings that enable users to exchange audio and control signals just like original analog synths. The result is a fantastic, full-sounding instrument that is extremely light on CPU usage.

The ReGroove Mixer takes traditional groove and swing quantization from sequencers to a more flexible, user-friendly paradigm of a mixing console. Using the ReGroove Mixer, users can apply in real-time varying amounts of swing, shuffle and groove to tracks. This revolutionary hands-on approach gives users 32 “groove channels” that can be assigned to sequencer lanes, providing individual settings for groove strength, timing shift, velocity, duration and other parameters nondestructively. Users can create their own templates. In addition, Reason ships with a large selection and variety of grooves-extracted from live recordings, famous beat boxes and even vinyl funk gems of the 70s.

Reason’s sequencer has been completely redesigned and rebuilt into a more intuitive and powerful tool, giving users unprecedented control while maintaining Reason’s simple streamlined workflow. Users can quickly make global edits using “clips,” assign notes and controller events to different “lanes,” manage multiple takes, and edit events numerically-to name but a few of the hundreds of enhancements. Controller data now uses vector automaton for the smoothest of transitions. Users can manage tempo and time signature changes through a transport track.

The RPG-8 monophonic arpeggiator device provides a wide away of controls for arpeggiation. Very easy to use, yet deceptively powerful, the RPG-8 provides endless creative possibilities for each of Reason’s sound sources.

Reason version 4 features a number of other improvements and enhancements. Reason is now fully localized into English, French, German and Japanese, including all menus, interface items, help files and documentation. The transport control and hardware interface have been redesigned for easier use. A floating tools window lets users access devices, editing commands and groove controls without having to invoke menus or dialog boxes. The included Factory Sound Bank has grown considerably including over 200 “signature” Thor patches from well-known artists and sound designers. The Combinator and NN-XT devices have received enhancements especially useful for sound designers and live musicians.

Pricing and availability Available today, Reason version 4 is priced at MSRP is EUR €449 / USD $499.

Upgrades from any prior registered version of Reason are MSRP EUR €99 / USD $129. All users who purchased Reason after June 1, 2007 are entitled to a free upgrade with proper invoice/receipt documentation. Users should contact their local in-country distributors to for details on getting the upgrade.