Wednesday 27 September 2017

Softube Launches Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator


Softube is proud to announce the first ever officially licensed Buchla plug-in: The Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator for Modular. Unique and desirable, this dual oscillator is guaranteed to add some real spice to your Modular patches. The module is $99, with an introductory price of $79 until October 31, 2017.


The Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator plug-in for Modular features all the digital waveshaping, aliasing noise and fold over frequencies of the original hardware. Enjoy the self-modifying, screeching, snarling responses from the original’s downright odd inner workings. The 259e is truly a unique addition to the Modular ecosystem.
What Is a Twisted Waveform Generator Anyways?
The 259e consists of two separate oscillators—Principal and Modulation—where Modulation can be used either to modulate the Principal oscillator or as a separate generator of audible notes. Furthermore, the sine wave generated by the Principal oscillator is simultaneously applied to two of the eight available waveshape tables. A morph voltage pans between the two tables and a warp voltage varies the amplitude of the sinusoidal (driving) waveform. Both these functions can be modulated by the Modulation oscillator. Three of the waveshape tables are actually not tables in the classical sense—they are simply portions of the 259e operating program, full of unpredictable noise and frequent silences. This is the innovative Mem Skew mode, possibly the most unique feature of the Buchla 259e. When these tables are selected, the FM controls are re-assigned to table scanning functions and the FM inputs become table modulators.
 In short, while the Buchla 259e can certainly be used for more traditional sounds, it excels at creating otherworldly twisted digital sonic landscapes. Which is why it is one of the most coveted synth modules on the market.
Requirements and Availability
Buchla 259e is an add-on for Softube’s popular virtual Eurorack synth Modular, and using the 259e requires a Modular license. While the hardware unit is typically sold for $1599, the plug-in is only $99—with an introductory offer of $79 until October 31, 2017.
Web page with more information: https://www.softube.com/index.php?id=buchla_259e
About Softube (www.softube.com)
Founded by Oscar Öberg, and aptly dubbed “…the Swedish rock ’n’ roll scientists,” Softube has developed high-end software for the music market since 2003. Its own product roster ranges from modeled guitar amplifiers to professional audio mixing plug-ins and also includes the award-winning Console 1 hardware/software mixing system, as well as software instruments (Hearbeat and Modular). The company has received several awards — including, most recently, two TEC (Technical Excellence & Creativity) awards at the 32nd Annual event for the Marshall JMP 2203 and Marshall Bluesbreaker 1962 plug-ins (both developed by Softube exclusively for Universal Audio’s UAD/Apollo platform) — and award nominations in recognition of its innovative products. Productive partnerships have been formed with an assortment of pro audio companies held in high regard around the globe — including Abbey Road Studios, Mutronics, Solid State Logic, Summit Audio, Tonelux Designs, Tube-Tech, and Trident Audio Developments — to fashion faithful models of their analog hardware units. These third-party companies have happily lent their names and logotypes to the resulting plug-ins. Above and beyond its impressive namesake product lineup, Softube has also developed software products for other notable companies, such as Ableton, Fender, Cakewalk, Marshall Amplification, Native Instruments, Propellerheads, TC Electronic, and Universal Audio.
© 2017 Softube AB

Keith McMillen Instruments announce availability of BopPad smart sensor electronic drum pad controller

“For years we’ve been asked to make a drum pad with our patented Smart Fabric Sensor technology — a control surface that would integrate seamlessly into a standard drum kit or work perfectly on its own, so we made BopPad, the smart sensor electronic drum pad controller... time to give the drummer some!”- Keith McMillen Instruments Founder & CEO Keith McMillen, 2017

Having successfully smashed its Kickstarter campaign goal several times over to help bring the thrilling project to life, innovative hardware and software developer Keith McMillen Instruments is proud to announce availability of the production version of BopPad — broadening the company’s considerable product appeal as a smart sensor electronic drum pad controller like no other with an appealing price point to match.

BopPad is a USB (Universal Serial Bus) powered expressive electronic pad controller for drummers, percussionists, and producers alike. As such, it advances accurate hit detection via velocity, continuous radius, and pressure sensitivity with a fast playing surface to die for. Faster than you can shake a stick at? Absolutely — as attested to by its incredible latency of under 3ms! BopPad’s advanced architecture allows for an innovative instrument that ‘sees’ every gesture, hit, or tap to truly respond to the nuances of any percussive performance, perfectly measuring strike velocity from the softest hand-drumming actions to the most brutal percussive assault.

At its core is a robust tuned elastomer surface covering a 10-inch circle of Keith McMillen Instruments’ patented Smart Fabric Sensor technology. Independently programmable Quadrants — helpfully highlighted by clearly visible guide lines on the production version — output MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) notes, velocity, pitch bend, pressure, and location CCs (Control Changes). Creatively, this serves to provide performers with a traditional feel and adds a dimension of expressivity, enabled further by BopPad Editor. Available as a desktop download and a web-based editor that uses new Web MIDI API technology to create and save presets from the browser, this allows each of those simultaneously-playable Quadrants to be assigned to play up to six simultaneous notes with six expressive timbre maps, meaning that BopPad can not only be played like a traditional drum by triggering a single sound from its entire surface but building out a drum kit by assigning a different sound to each of those Quadrants so that a single BopPad can comfortably handle several simultaneous percussive goals. Get this, though: smoothly varying radial sensing from centre to edge along with continuous pressure response can be mapped to any parameter, allowing for both traditional and experimental playing styles like no other! Once a preset has been saved to the BopPad there is no need to run the BopPad Editor software while using it.
Watch Keith McMillen Instruments’ intriguing BopPad overview video
It is easy to get started; simply plug and play via USB with any mobile device, laptop, or desktop computer. Critically, as a class-compliant MIDI device, BopPad works with all music software. Speaking of which, with the production version of BopPad, Keith McMillen Instruments has integrated full MIDI five-pin DIN hardware compatibility courtesy of its own MIDI Expander, enabling BopPad to be used in a standalone capacity with external drum machines, hardware synths, or rack effects by providing power and connectivity. No computer (necessarily) needed!

Whatever way users choose to work with BopPad, percussive performance is where its innovative heart is. It can comfortably operate as a conventional practice pad with realistic feel and a portable, lightweight design — robustness that has been made even more so, thanks to improvements in its production version such as an anodised aluminium USB guard with a finish that is as tough as the guard itself, so there is no chance of paint abrasion due to impact, never mind accidentally hitting the USB cable itself! In every sense, then, BopPad is rugged, ready to go anywhere and be played however hard the user sees fit.

For Keith McMillen Instruments, bringing BopPad to life in its final form is a proud moment — making something this sensitive, this rugged, and at such an appealing price point is very demanding. So who better to have his final say on what could conceivably be the last word in expressive electronic drum pad controller design than company Founder & CEO Keith McMillen, himself an acclaimed audio and music technology innovator of some 30 years standing: “For years we’ve been asked to make a drum pad with our patented Smart Fabric Sensor technology — a control surface that would integrate seamlessly into a standard drum kit or work perfectly on its own, so we made BopPad, the smart sensor electronic drum pad controller… time to give the drummer some!”

BopPad carries an MSRP of $199.00 USD and is available to purchase from any authorised Keith McMillen Instruments dealer or directly from Keith McMillen Instruments here: http://www.keithmcmillen.com/shop/

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated BopPad product webpage here: https://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/boppad/

About KMI (www.keithmcmillen.com)
Keith McMillen Instruments develops innovative hardware and software technologies that allow musicians to interface with computers in exciting new ways. Based in Berkeley, California, its products provide today’s musician with the tools needed to bring new dimensions of expression and control to their performance. The company collectively believes that when a computer is played as a musical instrument it should feel and respond like one — with all the nuance and sensitivity that makes an instrument musical.

© 2017 Keith McMillen Instruments

ESI provides perfect playback volume control of studio monitors with aptly-monikered MoCo

Leading professional and semi-professional audio equipment vendor ESI is proud to announce availability of MoCo — as implied by name, a fully-passive monitor controller designed to help provide perfect playback volume control of studio monitors.

There are no active components involved in MoCo’s minimalist design that could in any way alter the audio signal sound quality for connected studio monitors, meaning playback control volume is kept at maximum. MoCo provides two separate stereo INPUTS — one with balanced 1/4-inch TRS (Tip-Ring Sleeve) connectors, the other with both unbalanced RCA (Radio Corporation of America) and unbalanced 1/8-inch TRS connectors — and two separate stereo OUTPUTS — one with balanced XLR (Canon X Series, Latch, Rubber) connectors, the other with balanced/unbalanced 1/4-inch TRS plus unbalanced 1/8-inch TRS connectors. Users can quickly select the INPUT signal via an A/B switch and enable each OUTPUT with separate (A and B) buttons. There is also a MONO signal-activating button as well as an ability to quickly MUTE the playback audio signal at the press of another appropriate button. It is also possible to speedily swap the left and right audio signal channels. Last, but not least, the stylish big knob at the centre of MoCo’s delightful desktop design controls the all-important, actual playback volume — after all, that is what it’s all about!
As such, perfect playback volume control of studio monitors could not be simpler or speedier than working with MoCo, making for a sensible studio addition anywhere… and at a perfectly-positioned price point to match, making a purchase decision equally easy!

MoCo is available to purchase at an MSRP of €89.00 EUR/$89.00 USD. (For availability and pricing internationally, please visit ESI's dedicated distributor webpage: http://www.esi-audio.com/company/distributors/)

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated MoCo webpage here: http://www.esi-audio.com/products/moco/
About ESI (www.esi-audio.com)
ESI Audiotechnik GmbH is one of the world’s leading vendors of professional and semi-professional audio equipment, noted for its intelligent and innovative products. With distinguished designs dating back to 1998, both branded and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) products developed by the esteemed ESI engineering team in Germany are appreciated on a daily basis by hundreds of thousands of customers in every corner of the globe.
© 2017 ESI Audiotechnik GmbH

Spitfire Audio announces availability of ultimate drum sample library in percussive partnership with Hans Zimmer

Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION — partnering with the biggest name in film scoring to produce the ultimate drum sample library for cinematic percussion.


HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION is a perfect fit for Spitfire Audio’s established ethos of producing the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world. Why? Well, with Hans Zimmer — one of the most successful, influential, and prolific film composers of his generation — generously giving not just his notable name to this authorised take on his trailblazing approach to cinematic percussion production but also overseeing every detail of its recreation using the same studio, musicians, instruments, signal chain, and talented engineering experience, innovation, and refinement — right down to personally mixing the resultant superlative-sounding sample-based virtual instrument’s C (close), R (room), and S (surround) HZ MIX perspectives, rest assured that this is the real deal!

Digging deeper, HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION combines the output from two extraordinary recording blocks. Material from the first features four of Hans Zimmer’s go-to percussionists — Paul Clarvis, Stephen Henderson, Gary Kettel, and Frank Ricotti — performing on a variety of instruments in various styles in what is essentially a distillation of over a decade’s worth of musical experimentation and innovation, including the composer’s classic selection of drum ensembles and solo instruments: TAIKO ENSEMBLE, BOMBO ENSEMBLE, SURDO ENSEMBLE, LOW BOOM, LOW BOOM GALLERY, BASS DRUM GALLERY, GONG DRUM, DHOL ENSEMBLE, TOMBEK ENSEMBLE, BOOBAM, TAMTAM, METAL (Piattis, Anvils, Crusher), and TIMPANI. The remainder of HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION makes much use of longterm Hans Zimmer collaborator and acclaimed percussionist Paul Clarvis (Spectre, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, Star Wars) with played instruments including PAPER DJUN, DARBUKA, SNARE, and BUCKETS.

Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION video walkthrough
Bite, clarity, detail, and nuance are all brought to bear upon this epic-sounding sample library. However, Hans Zimmer is especially enamoured with the softer things in percussive life so HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION puts whisper-quiet lower layers in the hands of its users by way of potential for delicate drum programming to help keep their cues ticking along — alongside the thunder that Hans Zimmer’s notable name conjures up musically for many, of course.
Spitfire Audio ‘composer in residence’ Oliver Patrice Weder’s
HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION ‘In Action’ video
Clearly, HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION is impeccably recorded at London’s legendary AIR Studios via an impressive signal chain: 96 rarefied microphones into Neve ‘Montserrat’ preamps into the world’s largest Neve 88R large-format console — which was exhaustively regained at every dynamic layer for optimum signal quality — via a dual chain to HDX and Prism convertors running at 192 kHz. In close collaboration with Hans Zimmer and his GRAMMY® Award-winning team of engineers, musicians, and technicians, Spitfire Audio recorded the drums and articulations each with up to nine round robins and six dynamic layers per hit with well over 30 TB of raw material from those superlative-sounding sessions alone!
Spitfire Audio’s helpful ‘How It Works’ video showing the Kickstarter interface
used in HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION
Anyone looking to get started in epic drum composition needs look no further than HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION. After all, Hans Zimmer has defined not only a compositional style, but also a production approach and sonic innovation that has influenced a generation of composers. Convincingly composing cinematic percussion parts like a Hollywood hotshot has become perfectly possible, thanks to this ultimate drum sample library from Spitfire Audio!
Spitfire Audio’s persuasive promo video for HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION
HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION can be purchased and digitally downloaded (as 48.5 GB of uncompressed .WAV files, featuring 12,225 samples) for a time-limited introductory promo price of £259.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$299.00 USD/€299.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until October 26, 2017 — rising thereafter to an MSRP of £349.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$399.00 USD/€399.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/hans-zimmer-percussion/

Note that HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION needs Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT PLAYER (5.6.8) — included in the purchase — to run as a fully NKS™ (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD) supporting plug-in instrument for Mac (OS X 10.10, 10.11 or macOS 10.12 — latest update) or Windows (7, 8, or 10 — latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), while Spitfire Audio’s free Download Manager application allows anyone to buy now and download anytime.

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/hans-zimmer-percussion/

About Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com)
Spitfire Audio produces the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world. It is a beacon of quality — not just for its own productions, but also for the endorsements it offers to third-party sample developers and fellow sound-smiths it goes into partnerships with. At the heart of the company’s evolution is the greatest recorded selection of orchestral samples on the planet thus far, alongside a recent expansion in scope to cover all areas of the music spectrum. Spitfire Audio was set up by a British group of composers, sound-smiths, producers, engineers, and technologists wanting to revolutionise sampling and bring it back to the centre of the music industry. Like any new music technology — from radio to synthesisers, sampling was (initially) perceived as a threat to music-making and music-makers. Spitfire Audio is at the vanguard of changing that perception; its main goal is to promote British music-making the world over while distributing royalties via an ever-growing distribution chain to its contributors — musicians, engineers, technicians, producers, and artists alike — based on sales. Spitfire Audio puts millions of pounds back into the British music industry while supporting charities and initiatives, both in the UK and beyond. By doing this, Spitfire Audio gets to work at the best places with the best people to make the best sounds on the planet today.

© 2017 Spitfire Audio Holdings Limited

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Newfangled Audio partners with Eventide to release novel EQuivocate auditory graphic EQ plug-in

New audio tools creator Newfangled Audio is proud to announce availability of EQuivocate — entering the EQ fray for free (initially) with a plug-in premiere based on the critical bands of the human ear.



EQuivocate is the ideal EQ for naturally changing the tone of any sound, so it is perfect for mixing and mastering applications. As EQuivocate uses filters that are modelled on the human ear, each of its 26 bands tickles a different part of the inner ear, making any combination of settings sound as natural as ‘humanly’ possible. Combining this with a linear-phase filter shape that reduces pre-echo makes EQuivocate an EQ with a difference that can clearly be heard.

Use EQuivocate’s Match EQ feature to make the sound of your track match or complement the audio signal streamed to its sidechain. You can also use it to make a final master match the tone of a reference track, or help fit a sound into a dense mix. Unlike other match EQ plug-ins, EQuivocate provides a transparent match without trying to model imperceptible differences which can cause a match EQ to sound unnatural. Feed your favorite song or individual track into it and instantly morph your tone to match.
 
Features:
 • Simple yet musical, the 26 linear-phase auditory filters are shaped to approximate the critical band filters in your ear.
 • Match EQ feature matches the tone of one track to another. Blend two tracks to sound like they came from the same source, compliment each other for better separation, or make a final master have a similar tone to a reference track!
 • Click and swipe your mouse across the gain slider field to draw an EQ curve. Then toggle DRAW CURVE off to fine tune.
 • Use the OUTPUT level AUTO button to automatically compensate for level changes introduced by the EQ.
 • Solo the output of one or more bands to easily find problem frequencies.
Add or remove filters to customize your sound.
 • Includes artist presets from Richard Devine, Jeremy Lubsey, Alex Saltz, Sebastian Arocha Morton, Richard X, and John McCaig.
 • Start with the presets or create your own. Use the COMPARE button to toggle between two unique settings.

EQuivocate is exclusively available through Eventide (as an AAX/AU/VST plug-in for Mac OS X 10.7+ and Windows 7+) for free until October 31, 2017 — rising to an MSRP of $99.00 USD. Visit: https://www.eventideaudio.com/equivocate for more information.
About Newfangled Audio (www.newfangledaudio.com)
Newfangled Audio was started by former Eventide DSP engineer Dan Gillespie. By combining traditional signal processing techniques with advances in the field of machine learning the forward-thinking startup is creating the best-sounding audio tools available.
© 2017 Newfangled Audio

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Unfiltered Audio launches out of this world-sounding SpecOps spectral effects processing plugin with Plugin Alliance


“SpecOps is one of the most unique plugins I have come across. The modular automation control over the 30 spectral transformation modes is absolutely insane! The sounds are completely out of this world!” - Richard Devine, electronic musician and sound designer, 2017

Plugin Alliance, a new ‘Über-standard’ supporting all major plugin formats and uniting some of the best-known international audio companies under one virtual roof, is proud to announce availability of SpecOps — extending Californian coding masterminds Unfiltered Audio’s Plugin Alliance partnership with complex and powerful processing packed into an easy-and-fun-to-use plugin possessing 36 diverse and flexible spectral effects, ranging from subtle to extreme, so sound designers and electronic music producers can easily access a multiverse playground of special effects and sweeteners that can deconstruct sounds at the spectral level and reconstruct them in new and exciting ways.

As implied by name, SpecOps allows application of frequency-dependent gain, compression, or distortion to complex sources such as drums or vocals with spectral accuracy and a unique workflow to offer a fresh approach to conventional practices. Putting FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis at its creative heart, the plugin splits audio into hundreds — or even thousands — of frequency slices (or ‘bins’), which can then be manipulated by a slew of onboard spectral effects. End users can select from 36 effects — including more usual suspects (such as Filter, Freeze, and Clip) or from more unique-sounding selections (such as Contrast or Decapitate) — to apply on one of three fully-adjustable bands that can zero in on parts of the source’s spectra at extremely high resolutions. Reality dictates that this can be used to boost/cut, add distortion, or compress with surgical precision — or even dissect and demolish audio parts to create a totally new sound!
Still better, the onboard Spectral Compander compresses or expands per-frequency-slice (per-bin), so dynamics of anywhere between 128 to 32,786 slices (based on the FFT Size setting) are individually analyzed and treated simultaneously! Source- and resolution-dependent dynamics uniquely transform timbres to reveal sonic character that the user never knew was there!
There are also a number of global parameters equally worthy of deeper exploration, including a super-clean Pitch Shifter that goes up or down an octave — great for vocal effects; Speed and Freeze controls that smear and lock SpecOps’ sample analysis, delivering anything from sweet and subtle ambient pad effects to powerful spectral synthesis; and a powerful, 2-pole analog-style lowpass Filter.
 Watch Plugin Alliance’s tantalizing trailer for SpecOps
Furthermore, Unfiltered Audio’s flagship, freely-assignable MODULATION system sees SpecOps through to a higher state of interaction, including seven built-in modulators — namely, a powerful ,16-step sequencer; input follower; sample and hold noise; four different LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators); macro control (can be used with any MIDI controller); and a ROLI Lightpad module (for hands-on control courtesy of ROLI’s revolutionary Lightpad Block controller)… all of which can be routed simultaneously to any and all control knobs and sliders, thanks to intuitive drag-and-drop-style ‘cables’ connecting those modulators to almost any parameter.
 Watch Urban Sound Studio’s Todd Urban’s SpecOps tutorial
Put it this way: the applications are truly limitless with SpecOps, spanning moderate processing for music production to severe mangling for sound design. It is truly an interstellar transporter to new worlds in electronic and experimental music, so putting all those creative options into their rightful perspective is an enlightening experience. Tired, static synth pads come alive when modulating the levels, filtering, pitch, noise, or distortion in different frequency bins, creating ever-shifting timbral patterns that user preset libraries could only dream of. Don’t own a synth? Don’t worry. Why not freeze audio on an acoustic instrument track and apply pitch shift to create a spectral synthesizer? Either way, experimental music producers and sound designers can use SpecOps’ train-wrecking effects to brutally transform a hi-hat track into bursts of alien static or make pristine vocal tracks sound like R2D2 with a sore throat! That said, SpecOps is also an industrial music producer’s destructive weapon. Why not modulate a frequency-dependent clipper on an electric bass guitar track to add nasty bottom-end distortion that pulsates perfectly in time to the music’s tempo? Why not, indeed!

Intriguingly, for all its brute strength, SpecOps can conversely be polite — problem-solving to boot. Brittle electric guitar tracks can be warmed up by using the envelope follower to modulate SpecOps’ Reverse algorithm. At the other end of the musical scale, SpecOps can automatically find and attenuate the weakest bass frequencies on a full mix, clarifying and bringing focus to the bottom end. Add more power and punch to mixes while automatically taming unbalanced frequency peaks by using SpecOps’ Spectral Compander to independently compress thousands of frequency bins at once. Or use the spectral lowpass and noise filters along with pitch modulation to temporarily create thin, flanged breakdowns on full mixes to startling effect.

Effectively, then, the choice is in there… just ask Richard Devine, an acclaimed sound designer who has contributed patches for prominent products by a number of notable hardware manufacturers and software developers over the years. After all, his name features prominently amongst the hundreds of out of this world-sounding presets included with SpecOps!

SpecOps is available for purchase — as AAX AudioSuite-, AAX Native-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plugin formats for Mac OS X (10.8 through 10.12), Windows (7 through 10), and Pro Tools 10.3.10 (or higher) — exclusively from Plugin Alliance at an introductory promo price of $89.00 USD until October 20, 2017, rising to an MSRP of $129.00 USD thereafter.

Fully-functional, 14-day trials are available to anyone registering for a free Plugin Alliance account here: http://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/registration.html
Note that the proprietary Plugin Alliance Installation Manager means users can select, download, and install only the products and formats needed for their system.

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated SpecOps webpage here: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/unfiltered_audio_specops.html
About Plugin Alliance (www.plugin-alliance.com)
Santa Cruz, California’s Plugin Alliance offers industry-leading pro audio plugins and plugin bundles from acclaimed developers such as Brainworx, Chandler Limited, elysia, Black Box Analog Design, and SPL with customer-friendly prices, licensing procedures, and financing options. Far more than just a website, it is a new ‘Über-standard’, supporting all major plugin formats and uniting some of the best-known international audio companies under one virtual roof.
About Unfiltered Audio (www.unfilteredaudio.com)
Southern Californian music software company Unfiltered Audio was founded upon the simple idea that music software should be created by musicians. Joshua Dickinson studied composition at Columbia University in New York City; after stumbling into a full-wall RCA Mark II at the Computer Music Center, he became obsessed with signal processing, custom instruments, and computer-aided creativity. Michael Hetrick, PhDC, studied digital media at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee while working as a Pro Tools tech for local studios; his passion for modular synthesizers and experimental sound design led him towards a goal of developing performance-focused interfaces for feature-rich audio processors. They joined forces with Dr. Ryan Michael McGee at UC Santa Barbara while working on their Masters degrees in the prestigious Media Arts and Technology department; there, they trained under some of the greatest minds in DSP and music technology while receiving guidance in developing their own cutting-edge algorithms. After releasing their first two plugins, Sandman and G8, they have received awards from many sources, including the Audio Engineering Society.
© 2017 Plugin Alliance LLC

Monday 18 September 2017

Embertone engages with Grammy® Award-winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell on sampled virtual instrument namesake


Virtual instrument sampling company Embertone is proud to announce availability of Joshua Bell Violin — a creative collaboration with Grammy® Award-winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell that enables composers, hobbyists, musicians, and performers alike to harness his celebrated sound as an advanced virtual violin for Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT Player platform that is simple to use, producing expressive and realistic results representing Embertone’s most ambitious release to date .

Several key components combined to transport the tone of a priceless Stradivarius and the musicality of an acclaimed violin virtuoso to the KONTAKT Player platform, producing super-intuitive playability available to all who work with the resultant Joshua Bell Violin namesake plug-in instrument literally like no other in any AAX-, AU-, RTAS-, and VST-compatible host application or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), with Grammy® Award-winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell surely first in line to take a virtual bow. But Bell surely needs no introduction as one of today’s most celebrated violinists… but his lengthy list of achievements make for fascinating reading regardless. Restless curiosity, passion, and multi-faceted musical interests maketh the man — a recording and performing artist unparalleled in the classical music world. With more than 40 CDs of recorded classical repertoire to his notable name, alongside standout soundtracks such as the Oscar®-winning score for The Red Violin, he has been warmly embraced by wide-reaching television audiences with appearances ranging from The Tonight Show, Tavis Smiley, and Charlie Rose to CBS Sunday Morning and Sesame Street. Bell was one of the first classical artists to have a music video on VH1 and also the subject of a BBC Omnibus documentary. He has appeared in publications ranging from The Strad and Gramophone to Time, The New York Times, People Magazine (50 Most Beautiful People), USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Vogue, and Reader’s Digest to name but a notable few. Furthermore, Bell regularly performs on the world’s most prestigious stages — from Carnegie Hall (33 times) to the Hollywood Bowl — with his 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and his late-18th Century French bow by François Tourte.
That 1713 ‘Huberman’ Stradivari violin now owned by Bell has a thrilling history, however. Formerly known as the ‘Gibson’ Strad, the violin was twice stolen from the Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman and for nearly 50 years remained undiscovered in plain sight, disguised by its thief — a café violinist by the name of Julian Altman, who made a deathbed confession to his wife. After Altman’s death, his wife had the violin authenticated and reported to the proper authorities. An acclaimed English violinist, Norbert Brainin, bought it, subsequently selling it to a dealer who had an investor eyeing it as a museum piece. But Bell intervened, showing great empathy for the instrument in question — which he felt must be played — and also for its rightful owner, Bronislaw Huberman — who had passed away in 1947, by buying the violin for nearly $4 million, selling his own $2 million 1732 Tom Taylor Strad in the process. Put it this way: “The connection between violinist and violin, it becomes almost like your soul mate.” So says Bell, before adding: “Some people compare it to getting married.”
 Watch Embertone’s sneak peek-style preview of Joshua Bell Violin
The rest, as they say, is history, and Bell uses the historic instrument in question exclusively to this day! But better still, the fact that a musician of Bell’s pedigree plumped for creatively collaborating with Embertone — esteemed as they are in their chosen field of virtual instrument sampling — surely speaks volumes. Both teams met at Avatar Studios — a world-class recording studio complex (formerly known as The Power Station) — in Hell’s Kitchen, New York for two intense six-hour sessions over two days. During that time, Bell was rigorously recorded making more than 12,000 unique samples across a diverse set of articulations. Those two sessions were engineered by Richard King, himself a Grammy® Award-winning sound artist. Alex Davis and Jonathan Churchill — Embertone co-founders and instrument producers — sat in the room with Bell, holding their collective breath for the entirety of each session — hardly surprising, given that they had prepared 400-plus pages of score, and Bell had played every note on every page with astonishing artistry and energy. Embertone worked hard over the following year, harvesting each and every musical moment, refusing to waste any creative content. Clearly the result is an enormous treasure trove of inspired, expressive samples!
 Meet the teams behind Joshua Bell Violin here
Setting out to create a new standard in virtual solo strings, offering an abundance of flexibility without sacrificing inspiration — and all with the unmistakable, iconic sound of Joshua Bell himself, Embertone has achieved all that and more with Joshua Bell Violin. Indeed, it offers a huge variety of standard articulations — such as sustains, pizzicatos, staccatos, and spiccatos — alongside a number of sample sets unlikely to be found elsewhere besides… Bell recorded an amazing-sounding set of eerie harmonics transitions, for example, and also a set of super flautando, a special technique he can harness from his 300-plus-year-old violin.
 Watch Embertone’s teaser trailer for Joshua Bell Violin here
As an advanced virtual violin for Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT Player platform, Joshua Bell Violin is incredibly complex, featuring almost 20,000 individual samples. Yet it is designed to feel simple, thanks to the intelligent and predictive programming using a diverse array of musical properties and rule sets. And with 12 true legato/transition styles, Joshua Bell Violin allows users to play at various tempos, dynamics, and in different styles — all the while sounding authentic… akin to stepping into the shoes of one of the world’s greatest violinists and experiencing a priceless Stradivarius at their fingertips, courtesy of those thousands of rigorously-recorded samples perfectly performed by the virtuoso himself!

Whether warranting marriage is open to question, but one thing’s for sure: Joshua Bell Violin is a musical match made in heaven for composers, hobbyists, musicians, and performers alike. Anyone adding it to their KONTAKT Player instrument collection will surely be far from disappointed that Embertone engaged with Grammy® Award-winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell on this sampled virtual instrument namesake!
 
Joshua Bell Violin is available to purchase and digitally download as a fully NKS™ (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD) supporting plug-in instrument for any AAX-, AU-, RTAS-, and VST-compatible host application or DAW running on Mac (OS X 10.10, 10.11 or macOS 10.12 — latest update) or Windows (7, 8, or 10 — latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit) directly from Embertone for a one-week introductory price of $179.00 USD (rising to $199.00 USD thereafter.)

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated Joshua Bell Violin webpage here: http://www.embertone.com/instruments/joshuabellviolin.php

About Embertone (www.embertone.com)
Embertone is a virtual instrument sampling company whose mission is simple: sample the heck out of great instruments, and bring them to the composing community to inspire and create awesome new music! As such, their goal is to capture the essence of an instrument and its performer, and program it into an intuitive, musical, and affordable package. This approach paved the way for a next-gen collaboration with Grammy® Award winner Joshua Bell, one of today’s most celebrated violinists.

Friday 15 September 2017

Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer thoroughbred back in black (and white) with third 25-unit batch beckoning


Schmidt-Synthesizer, makers of the no-expense-spared namesake Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer thoroughbred, is proud to announce that it is taking orders on a third batch of 25 units — with upcoming availability in both black and white colour finishes.

That no-expense-spared Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer was, without doubt, a showstopper when namesake hardware and software designer Stefan Schmidt’s hand-crafted first prototype unit debuted at Musikmesse 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany. Subsequently supported by e:m:c (electronic music components) — German distributor of several key electronic musical instrument brands (including Mellotron, Moog, and Vintage Vibe), Stefan Schmidt’s ‘one-off’ dream machine made it into production as a sound designer’s dream — albeit bravely built as a limited 25-unit batch of what was quite possibly the most expensive analogue eight-voice polyphonic synthesizer the world had yet seen and heard! However, a cursory glance at its complex four-oscillator structure clearly convinced even the most skilled synthesists that the Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer was capable of creating complex timbres that go way beyond the capabilities of conventional analogue synthesizers, so Schmidt-Synthesizer's first batch (slowly) sold out… onwards and upwards, ultimately, a second 25-unit batch was billed as being the last.
Who better to put this third batch of 25 (unplanned) units into its rightful perspective, then, than Schmidt-Synthesizer Product Manager Axel Fischer: “Last year we assumed that the second batch would also be the last. The Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer’s sound engine electronics are mainly of ‘old school’ stock, with through-hole mounting technology, and pricing for those components have been rising steadily for years. Yet since the second batch of 25 units — ultimately, we ordered some extra components, so there were actually 27 — sold out within 14 months, those component prices are acceptable. So since the Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer still enjoys serious support, we’re happy to announce that additional units of this wonderful instrument will be available in 2018. At the moment, we're still finishing fulfilling orders for the second batch, but orders for the third batch can be placed as of now.”

No need to necessarily order one (or more) in black, though. This time the Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer is back in black, but also available to order in white, which looks stunning — sounds stunning, too, with the same seriously well-specified feature set as the original. Oscillator 4 is worth highlighting, however; thanks to its chain of five ring modulators fed by six pulse-waves, each with different pulse-widths, it can create colder, wavetable-like sounds — despite being fully analogue! These truly unique features are unavailable in any alternative analogue synthesizer out there, let alone any alternative analogue polysynth! Subtractive synthesis clearly knows no bounds here, helping to make the Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer a shining example of no-expense-spared synthesizer design, deploying discrete sound generation circuitry throughout — no integrated oscillator/filter circuits on a single chip, for instance, in keeping with the highest possible production standards. Still better, each and every parameter is directly accessible via dedicated controls on a seriously spacious front panel with adjustable angle and user-adjustable coloured LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes).

Back in black and white, the Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer sounds and looks like the sum of its pricey parts. Put it this way: this is synthesizer history in the making. Making one is a tall order. Making 25 more is subtractive synthesis manna from heaven!

Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer pricing remains stable at €19,900.00 EUR (including German VAT) for a black unit, with white weighing in at €20,900.00 EUR (including German VAT). Either way, e:m:c (electronic music components) are accepting orders here: info@emc-de.com

For more detailed information, please visit the dedicated Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer website here: http://www.schmidt-synthesizer.com

About Schmidt-Synthesizer (www.schmidt-synthesizer.com)
Back in the techno music-driven Nineties, German company MAM’s MB-33 Analog Retro Bass Synthesizer — an authentic-sounding clone of Roland’s reverential TB-303 Bassline that was commanding crazy money on the second-hand market at the time — represented Stefan Schmidt’s first foray into serious (and successful) electronic musical instrument design. Its planned successor — a clone of the majestic Moog Taurus bass synthesizer, much loved by the likes of Canadian prog-rockers Rush — remains at a prototype stage only. Instead, its instigator took a radical detour, spending some serious time thinking about and developing what would become his namesake dream machine, the no-expense-spared Schmidt Eightvoice Analog Synthesizer — surely one of the most ambitious analogue synthesizer projects ever undertaken. After a show-stopping showcase at The NAMM Show 2013, Stefan Schmidt’s hand-crafted first prototype unit was promptly purchased by a suitably captivated customer directly from the show floor… the rest, as they say, is history. Here today, but not gone tomorrow, Schmidt-Synthesizer sees Stefan Schmidt continuing to turn his dream machine into reality with a dream team triumvirate: Achim Jerominek (production), Axel Fischer (product management), and e:m:c (electronic music components) President Stefan Hund (manufacturing)

© 2017 Schmidt-Synthesizer

Wednesday 13 September 2017

Impact Soundworks shreds SHREDDAGE bundle pricing in association with Audio Plugin Deals

 

Audio software creator Impact Soundworks is proud to announce availability of SHREDDAGE GUITAR BUNDLE — comprising SHREDDAGE 2, the ultimate rock/metal electric guitar virtual instrument; SHREDDAGE 2 IBZ, featuring the ultra-aggressive sound of a legendary seven-string heavy metal guitar paired with the company’s most powerful KONTAKT engine yet; SHREDDAGE 2 SRP, featuring an all-American seven-string guitar perfect for rock, metal, and beyond, as performed by metal hero and YouTube star Jules Conroy (FamilyJules7x); and SHREDDAGE 2 CLASSIC, the brutal SG Standard sound of the original SHREDDAGE, supercharged and ported to the advanced SHREDDAGE 2 engine — at a time-limited 81% saving (including two ‘mystery’ products) in association with Audio Plugin Deals, an amazing web store dedicated to providing high-quality, high-value audio software at deeply-discounted, no-brainer prices.

SHREDDAGE 2 covers the entire range of lead and rhythm guitar playing — every fret, every string, and tons of articulations. A powerful interface allows for easy playing and deep customisation. With Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT PLAYER platform included alongside Peavey's ReValver HPse amp modelling software, SHREDDAGE 2 has everything needed to shred!
Saying that, literally and figuratively there’s much more virtual shredding to be had with Impact Soundworks’ SHREDDAGE GUITAR BUNDLE, boosted further still thanks to those two ‘mystery’ products (valued at $78.00 USD) included alongside SHREDDAGE 2 IBZ, SHREDDAGE 2 SRP, and SHREDDAGE 2 CLASSIC courtesy of that time-limited saving in association with Audio Plugin Deals — tens of thousands of samples in total with stunning realism and tons of articulations to pick and choose from!
Features worth shouting about — above and beyond SHREDDAGE GUITAR BUNDLE’s bargain pricing — include: 12GB total download size; MIDI guitar pickups compatibility; works with any amp/cab sim; multiple picking modes/behaviours; dozens of playing techniques; double- and quad-tracking capabilities; virtual fretboard display with deep tweaking; custom-built FX rack with amp + cab sim; hi-gain FX presets for instant gratification; completely customisable articulation mapping; and all-new ADVANCED tab to allow under-the-hood-style editing… the list goes on.
On the face of it, then, there has never been a better time than now to take advantage of this unmissable deal and add virtual shredding to today’s software-centric setups. Best be quick, though… this Audio Plugin Deals-driven discount ends on September 20!

The time-limited SHREDDAGE GUITAR BUNDLE bargain can be purchased and instantly downloaded directly from Audio Plugin Deals for $99.99 USD until September 20, 2017 from here: https://audioplugin.deals/ref/18/?campaign=HHDR (Note that purchasers are then redirected to complete their order here: https://impactsoundworks.com/product/shreddage-guitar-bundle/)

While SHREDDAGE GUITAR BUNDLE is completely compatible with Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER (version 5.5 or higher), note that the ‘mystery’ products require the full version of KONTAKT.
About Impact Soundworks (www.impactsoundworks.com)
Impact Soundworks creates audio software designed with composers in mind: sample libraries, virtual instruments, and plug-ins. As passionate about creating music tools as its customers are about making music, the company was founded in 2008 by composers Andrew Aversa and Will Roget, II at a time when there were several large virtual instrument companies already around, but few developers creating affordable, flexible, and focused libraries featuring more unusual and unique sounds. Shrewdly, the dynamic duo noticed much in the way of in-depth orchestral offerings, but more unusual instruments were not being sampled with much detail at all. As such, the company’s first two releases were Impact Steel, a collection of found metal objects played as percussion, and Sitar Nation, a set of instruments from North India. It has since been collectively working hard to address the needs of modern composers, successfully striking the balance between depth and ease of use. Ultimately, Impact Soundworks is proud to call tens of thousands of musicians around the world its customers, intelligently investing time to study suggestions and review requests. After all, that is how a number of its best-loved libraries started… from the smallest seed!
© 2017 Impact Soundworks

Thursday 7 September 2017

NUGEN Audio announces two new encoding flavours for updated MasterCheck Pro mix-optimising solution

“MasterCheck Pro feels like a gift from the future. For essential, realtime loudness and codec referencing, nothing else comes close.” - Mandy Parnell, GRAMMY® Award-winning mastering engineer (Aphex Twin, Bjork, White Stripes), 2017

Innovative, intuitive professional audio tools creator for high-end music producers, post-production engineers, and broadcasters NUGEN Audio is proud to announce availability of v1.4 of MasterCheck Pro — placing FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and Opus encoding flavours in its indispensable, award-winning loudness, dynamics, and codec toolset to enable mix-optimising music professionals to hear and visualise yet more popular playout encoding and loudness matching techniques increasingly in use by music streaming services such as Apple Music® and Spotify.

The term codec is an acronym for coder/decoder. Music streaming services such as Apple Music® and Spotify use codecs to reduce the data bandwidth required to stream audio to the consumer. Codecs affect audio quality, sadly, so it is important to be able to audition them in realtime in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) in order to mitigate side effects caused by intersample clipping and bit depth reduction. Which is exactly where NUGEN Audio are able to offer assistance.
As implied by name, that all-important auditioning is all accomplished within the company’s award-winning MasterCheck Pro loudness, dynamics, and codec toolset. Today, the latest update brings two new encoding flavours, FLAC and Opus, to the music production table. Opus is one of the YouTube formats; FLAC is often used for downloads as it is a high-quality (lossless) format — for example, exploited by self-styled High Fidelity Music Streaming service TIDAL.
That said, all is not necessarily as it might first appear. As another acronym, FLAC, for instance, is literally lossless. Like other lossless formats, it uses compression algorithms that preserve audio data so the audio is exactly the same as the original source (input=output). On the face of it, this is true… when encoding within the same bit depth, like for like. This is not what happens, however, when audio exits a DAW destined for FLAC; for FLAC is usually used to encode at 16 bit, but this conversion from 32 to 16 bit is not guaranteed lossless. Looking into it further, FLAC also uses integers while DAWs deploy floating-point representations, so there is an additional complication even when producing a 32-bit FLAC stream. So MasterCheck Pro can be used to audition those conversions while an upcoming update to ISL — NUGEN Audio’s transparent look-ahead limiter for true-peak compliance — can soon be used to add suitable dither to mitigate the effect of quantisation errors if necessary.

Watch GRAMMY® Award-winning mastering engineer Howie Weinberg wax lyrical
about mastering for the internet age with MasterCheck Pro
NUGEN Audio are clearly continuing to support MasterCheck Pro as a complete solution for optimising mixes for today’s music delivery services. Streaming apps, download stores, websites, and podcasts all use data compression, loudness matching, or both. These processes can affect mixes in various undesirable ways with what once sounded loud and punchy possibly ending up quiet and flat, or suffering from clipping or distortion. Don’t just mix for CD and hope for the best. By using the updated MasterCheck Pro problems are revealed ahead of time, enabling engineers like the GRAMMY® Award-winning Mandy Parnell to deliver masters perfectly tuned for online playout systems — including TIDAL and YouTube. Added appeal abounds, then, thanks to those two new encoding (Opus and FLAC) flavours.

Hearing how tracks are affected by loudness matching algorithms on different devices and services so knowing how masters respond to different codecs and bandwidths just became better with MasterCheck Pro v1.4… just ask Mandy Parnell.

MasterCheck Pro is available to purchase as a 32- and 64-bit-supporting AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible plug-in for Mac (OS X 10.7 and above) and Windows (Vista and above) directly from NUGEN Audio for £126.00 GBP (ex. VAT)/$199.00 USD/€155.00 Euro (ex. VAT).

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated MasterCheck Pro webpage here: https://www.nugenaudio.com/mastercheckpro-playout-loudness-dynamics-codec-metering-aax-au-vst_60
  
About NUGEN Audio (www.nugenaudio.com)
NUGEN Audio creates innovative, intuitive professional audio tools for high-end music producers, post-production engineers, and broadcasters. Reflecting the real-world production experience of the design team, the company’s products make it easier to deliver better quality, save time, and reduce costs. NUGEN Audio’s tools for audio analysis, loudness metering, mixing/mastering, and tracking are used by the world’s top names in broadcast, music, and audio production. NUGEN Audio is pleased to support the goal of fairtrade and donates a minimum of 3% net profit to the Fairtrade Foundation’s work.

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Brainworx hits home run replicating renowned British console sound with bx_console G plugin

“Growing up in the industry on both E and G Series consoles, I was eager to take the new Brainworx bx_console G for a spin. Having used other companies’ emulations of the same console, I am incredibly happy and impressed with Brainworx’s attention to detail — the channel strip compressor finally has the proper ‘snap’ I’ve been missing from the real console, and all the added features are fantastic… another home run!”- Marc Nelson, GRAMMY®-nominated music producer/mix engineer (Fleetwood Mac, Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat), 2017

Industry-leading pro audio plugins developer Brainworx is proud to announce availability of bx_console G — an accurate channel strip model of the renowned British G Series large-format mixing console, including both ‘Pink’ and ‘Orange’ EQ revisions, and featuring 72 distinct channels that use Brainworx’s TMT (Tolerance Modelling Technology) for the most realistic analog experience in the box .

Hot on the heels of Brainworx’s acclaimed bx_console E — their trailblazing flagship plugin that pairs a 72-channel emulation of the high-end, hit-making British E Series console complete with comprehensive COMPRESS (compressor/limiter), full-featured EXPAND (expander/gate), powerful four-band parametric EQ, and wide-ranging (high pass and low pass) FILTERS, together with incredibly flexible signal routing (just like the original console), and much more besides — comes bx_console G, growing the company’s collection of TMT channel strip plugins.
Powerful yet different, those true-to-life E Series- and G Series-modeling plugins are distinguished by their respective filter sections — both ‘Pink’ and ‘Orange’ revisions — that deliver a totally contrasting character when treating frequencies. The G is largely known for its more mellow character while the E is more aggressive, but both G Series filters feature proportional-Q behaviour, allowing for more precise gain adjustments while leaving the surrounding frequencies intact. The ‘Pink’ revision also allows the HMF and LMF (midrange) bands to be multiplied (x3) and divided (/3) by a factor of three to allow for an extra-wide range of tone-shaping capabilities. The G Series VCA (Voltage-Controlled Amplifier) also has a lower THD (Total Harmonic Distortion), making it a cleaner compressor option as well.
Watch Plugin Alliance’s tantalizing trailer for bx_console G

When designing bx_console G, Brainworx Owner Dirk Ulrich — an acclaimed producer/engineer in his own right — and his award-winning development team tossed tons of useful extras not found on the original hardware into an already exciting-sounding mix. Mods include: continuously-variable THD control (adds saturation); secondary release time (REL2) compressor control (prevents pumping); dry/wet (MIX)  compressor control; mid (Solo M) and side (Solo S) channel monitoring; and virtual noise floor (V GAIN) control.
Watch Plugin Alliance’s teaser trailer for bx_console G
Channel strip plugins typically only model one channel of a mixer. Applying that same cloned channel across all tracks in a mix — even using different control settings — makes for a flat, narrow, two-dimensional digital sound. But bx_console G avoids this, thanks to TMT taking into account the real-world variation between channels of a hardware console, which lends itself to the complexity and nuance that analog hardware imparts on mixes. Meanwhile, bx_console G’s gorgeous GUI (Graphical User Interface) and acutely low CPU (Central Processing Unit) load lets users instantly recall up to 72 slightly different-sounding channels across all plugin instances on their tracks to create that mixed-on-a-large-format-analog-console sound so sorely missed when working on a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). When working with bx_console G, however, DAW users can use its RANDOM CHANNEL buttons to easily invoke the random nature of this variation on a single instance of bx_console G, and also randomize the channels across every instance in a mix in one simple click.
Could it be that Brainworx has hereby answered the prayers of anyone yearning to mix their projects on a large-format analog console yet does not necessarily possess the necessary means — monetary and/or room — to do so? So much more than just a channel strip model, bx_console G’s potent modern features clearly create a G Series console on steroids! Indeed, it is hyper-realistic analog large-format console sound for your DAW… just ask Marc Nelson!

bx_console G is available for purchase — as an AAX Native & DSP-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plugin for Mac OS X (10.8 through 10.12), Windows (7 through 10), and Pro Tools 10.3.10 (or higher) — exclusively from Plugin Alliance for an introductory promo price of $179.00 USD until September 30, 2017,
rising to $299.00 USD thereafter.
(A permanent crossgrade to/from bx_console E for $99.00 USD is also available.)

A fully-functional, 14-day trial is available to anyone registering for a free Plugin Alliance account here: http://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/registration.html

Note that the proprietary Plugin Alliance Installation Manager means users can select, download, and install only the products and formats needed for their system.

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated bx_console G webpage here:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/bx_console_g.html

About Plugin Alliance (www.plugin-alliance.com)
Santa Cruz, California’s Plugin Alliance offers industry-leading pro audio plugins and plugin bundles from acclaimed developers such as Brainworx, Chandler Limited, elysia, Black Box Analog Design, and SPL with customer-friendly prices, licensing procedures, and financing options. Far more than just a website, it is a new ‘Über-standard’, supporting all major plugin formats and uniting some of the best-known international audio companies under one virtual roof.
About Brainworx (www.brainworx-music.de)
Since 2007, Brainworx has developed a reputation for creating sonically-advanced plugin tools at its German HQ. Highlights include the Brainworx-branded M/S-standard EQ, bx_digital V3, and game-changing bx_console channel strip. As the founding development partner of Plugin Alliance, Brainworx has also developed partnerships with SPL (Germany), Shadow Hills Industries (USA), Dangerous Music (USA), Ampeg/LOUD Technologies (USA), Friedman Amplification (USA), and many more besides.
© 2017 Plugin Alliance LLC