Tuesday, July 31

Buffre Bass Modulator

Peff showing off Buffre:
"Buffre Position CV acts as a saw or triangle LFO modulating FM and Filter Cutoff"

Reason Wizardry Season Two!

The second season of Nucleus Soundlab's Reason Wizardry tutorial videos is now available! Season two has over 7 hours of video footage captured at crisp 800x600 resolution (some even larger) with an accompanying 68 example patches. These videos are the best way to dive deeper into the Reason platform and create your own unique sounds! Here's the list of topics:
-Wavesequencing in Reason
-Envelope Followers
-Hybrid Modular Synths in Reason
-Advanced Thor Step Sequencer Usage
-Reason 5 New Device Tips (Kong, Combinator CV Inputs, Sampling and more)
-Sampling VST Instruments into Reason
-MultiLoop Technology (as seen in NanoSequences)
-Ear Training - for Sound Design
-Malstrom In-Depth
-Reason CPU Testing
Pick up Season 2 of Reason Wizardry today for $29 USD from Nucleus-SoundLab.com

Friday, July 27

How to mix vocals in Reason

Mattias shows you how to mix vocals in Reason:
"In this Reason Tips video Mattias gives you some valuable pointers on mixing vocals. Since vocals are often what carries the track, it's important to get them sitting right in the mix! Learn how what frequencies to pay attention to and how to make a de-esser in Reason's mixer in this video."

Guide to Reason Rack Extensions Part 3

Rob Jones from ReasonCourses.com takes a look at Buffre and Pulsar in the latest Guide to Reason Rack Extensions:

Thursday, July 26

Willits vs Sakamoto in Reticent Reminiscence

Below is a track from the Willits + Sakamoto album Ancient Future, out 7/30 on Ghostly! Dig it:

Wednesday, July 25

Reaktor Explained!

Brent Kallmer of Bluewater VST fame just released a brand new tutorial series in conjunction with Groove 3 called Reaktor Explained! This series stretches in at over 5 hours of video and delves into everything from common controls, basics, to building your very own synthesizer. And the best part - it's on sale for $29.99 right now; pick up Reaktor Explained today @ groove3.com!

Tuesday, July 24

DCAM Dynamics EnvShaper Tutorial

If you haven't checked out the new DCAM Dynamics effects plug-ins from FXpansion do yourself a favor and spend some time over at FXpansion.com checking out these new sonic tools! Here's a tutorial on using one of them:

Sound Alchemy w/ Ableton Live: 'The Singing Dunes'

I've been fascinated by the sounds of "Singing Dunes" ever since hearing the phenomena for myself in Southern Utah at Coral Pink Sand Dunes. In the first episode of Sound Alchemy w/ Ableton Live, dubspot instructor, composer, and producer Raz Mesinai attempts to recreate this sound:

Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing - Get That Sound

Future Music Magazine recreates the classic Marvin Gaye Ballad from 1982 in Logic:

Monday, July 23

Robot Koch Cosmic Waves Preview

Robot Koch has a new ep coming out at the end of August! Cosmic Waves features both new material and collaborations with other artists, including Headshotboyz, Pavel Dovgal, Kuhn, Submerse and Rain Dog. Check the preview:

MIDI Fighter 3D + Tekken Tag Tournament Mix

Reason Product Specialist, Mattias Häggström Gerdt, using a MIDI Fighter 3D with Buffre, Etch and Sugar Bytes Rack Extensions:
"With some of the new Rack Extensions in Reason 6.5 I thought I'd try some good old triggered effects! Buffre and the Sugar Bytes stuff are especially good for this.
Light buttons trigger Buffre, Blue buttons trigger Slice Arrangers, Filter Pattern, Spectralizer and The Echo
The track is a Tekken Tag Tournament remix I made for a competition, originally by Akitaka Tohyama and Sanodg. Remix can be heard here."

Dataline - Last One...Elektron Trinity + OP1

There's a lot of people posting videos of live jams with Elektron devices on youtube, but for my money Dataline is one of the best! Check out "Last One", featuring the Elektron Trinity with a Teenage Engineering OP-1:

Roland SRE-555 Pro Audio Chorus Echo Demo

zibbybone shows off his Roland SRE-555 Chorus Echo Unit:
"Just got this unit back from my tech and thought I'd make a quick demo for y'all. I've got an arpeggio playing on the Arturia Minibrute analog synthesizer running into the Roland SRE-555 Chorus Echo."

Thursday, July 19

Predator RE First Look!

Coming soon from Rob Papen - Predator Rack Extension:
Update - Backside of Predator RE:

macprovideo Buffre teasers

macprovideo.com's new Reason 6 videos have a whole section on the Buffre Rack Extension! The Buffre videos clock in at 58 minutes and were produced by G.W. Childs. Check out www.macprovideo.com for more information and take a sneak peak at the series below.
5. Looking at Octave 0:
13. Buffre for Leads - Part 1:
19. Intro to Master Section Combinator:

Wednesday, July 18

Computer Magic x Novation

Computer Magic showing her live set up and origin in music:
"Computer Magic (aka Danz) talks to Novation TV about how her music happened by accident, and how she uses her Launchpad and Impulse 61 to make music in the studio and perform it live on stage."

Tuesday, July 17

Lemur - Unique Modulations

The Lemur app for iPad is on my must buy list! Check out this new video from Liine:
"Contributor Martin Delaney, aka mindlobster, presents a tutorial on novel modulation templates for Lemur: LFO Studio, Kontrolab 2 and CCell. You can use these templates to control any synth module, whether hardware or software."
All three templates are free downloads @ liine.net

pnortnaomi - S-Layer Transitions

pNORTNAOMI running Twisted Tools new S-Layer Reaktor Ensemble with an Elektron Machinedrum:
"Scanning through a selection of sounds created in Twisted Tools excellent S-Layer. Time flew by while recording and ended up with a 50min video in which I edited it down. I created the sounds using the included sound bank. I'm using an Elektron Machinedrum to trigger the scenes and program changes as well as a few parameter locks on certain midi cc's. In the short time I've been using S-Layer I have come up with an astonishing amount of material to use in projects and is a lot of fun."

Monday, July 16

Deconstructing Hip Hop 013: Remaking Black Moon's "Who Got the Props?"

Roger Gil kicks out another classic with Deconstructing Hip Hop 013:
"Today we cover a classic Black Moon track: "Who Got Da Props". We also talk about why getting modern equipment to sound like old gear is almost impossible."

ProducerTech Guide to Rack Extensions Part 2

ProducerTech.com turns out the second episode of Guide to Rack Extensions, this time looking at Audio Damage's Rough Rider and Softube's FET Compressor:
"showing how they cope in extreme compression situations, how they differ and their various merits."

Bob Dylan's Guitar | History Detectives | PBS

One of my favorite shows on television is History Detectives. Wes Cowan, Tukufu Zuberi, and Gwen Wright are my favorite investigators... Tomorrow's episode looks fantastic:
"Bob Dylan made Rock 'n' Roll history when he plugged in an electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Now a New Jersey woman thinks she may have that very guitar in her attic. The HISTORY DETECTIVES think so too! See the investigation unfold Tuesday, July 17th at 9/8c."

FXpansion DCAM Dynamics

New from FXpansion - DCAM Dynamics:
"FXpansion DCAM Dynamics offers a variety of different flavours of high-quality circuit-modelled dynamics processing. The included plugins are perfect for everything from taming tricky transients to heavy, creative sculpting effects and everything in between. Classic console bus compression and channel limiting amp processors are provided alongside a transient shaper and frequency-selective compressor making DCAM Dynamics a great all-purpose dynamics toolbox."

NovaDrone v1.3

Casper Electronics new NovaDrove v1.3:
"This video is of TWO linked NovaDrones WITH REVERB. I don't normally add effects to my instruments for videos but it sounds so good that I couldn't resist. I'm currently looking into methods of building reverb into future models. This is the third iteration of the NovaDrone I have designed over the past few months. One of the main developments over the last version is the addition of a link port which lets you plug multiple units together to share power and mix the audio to a single output.
The NovaDrone is an analog sound and light synthesizer. It is completely open source and hackable. I will be selling (as of august 2012) PCBs, kits and assembled units or you can just use the plans to build your own."
More information on the NovaDrone at CasperElectronics.com

Dataline - Drop Down...Elektron Trinity + OP1

Dataline showcasing the holy trinity of Elektron with an OP-1:

Friday, July 13

Happy 100th Birthday Woody!

Saturday will be the 100th birthday of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie! Famous for songs like "This Land is Your Land", "Vigilante Man", "A Picture From Life's Other Side" and "Do-Re-Mi", Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14th, 1912. Guthrie spent most of his late teens and twenties traveling with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California learning traditional folk and blues songs, which earned him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour".
"Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me. Was a great big sign there said private Property but on the back side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me." - Woody Guthrie, fourth verse of "This Land is your Land"
The Making of Woody at 100
Live July 7, 1944

Strawberry Fields for Reason

GForce Software has released the Re-Tron Rack Extension for Reason with a special introductory price of $75 USD:
"Inspired by the legendary Mellotron® tape replay keyboard, GForce Software's Re-Tron brings a unique and highly evocative set of Mellotron® tones to Reason users in an intuitive, musical and flexible instrument."

Koshdukai's The Remote side of Rack Extensions P.2

Koshdukai has a follow up to his fantastic blogpost on Remote mapping for Rack Extensions, read it at Rack Extensions: The Remote side of Rack Extensions... Part 2.

Wednesday, July 11

PROJECT PRESET: Twisted Tools S-Layer

Torley, everyone's favorite watermelon obsessed monk, is back with a brand new Project Preset, this time on Twisted Tools exciting new S-Layer Reaktor Ensemble:
"Torley believes an instrument should be awesomely playable from the start, and uses PROJECT PRESET to highlight the craft of instrument + sound designers."

FXpansion Etch Red: Quick Tip 02

The second FXpansion Etch Red quick tip, this time on advanced modulation routing:
"FXpansion Etch Red: an exciting and great-sounding filtering effect based on DCAM circuit-modelled technology and now available as a Reason Rack Extension.
Etch Red features dual filters with 38 available filter responses, realistic audio-rate FM, flexible routing, additional drive & compression stages, and our unique TransMod modulation system with 2 LFOs, envelopes and more."

Buffre Beat Repeater - Keyboard Triggering Tips

Peff demonstrates how to "play" his fantastic Buffre Beat Repeater Rack Extension with a midi keyboard:

Tuesday, July 10

Twisted Tools' Undisputed Attitude


Twisted Tools has a brand new Reaktor ensemble available today:
"S-LAYER is a sample layering sound creation tool that allows you to create, edit and play new sound combinations by taking samples and layering them together using an eight part sampler and an intuitive cell layout.
By combining sounds from the included sample map or your existing sample library, S-LAYER facilitates the discovery of new oneshots, sound effects and loops from pre-existing sample content. Whether you’re looking for a new way to create thick drum samples for hip-hop or a massive impact sound effect for game, S-LAYER delivers."
S-Layer looks absolutely awesome, here's a slew of videos unleashed upon youtube this morning from the likes of Richard Devine, Jedsound and Matt Cellitti of dubspot:
Pick up S-Layer today from TwistedTools.com

Monday, July 9

And All Is As It Should Be

Sound Designer, Composer and all around smashing soul Adam Fielding has a new ambient album just released on Lost Language Recordings called And All Is As It Should Be. The album contains music written by Adam at the end of 2011 and features additional programming from legendary Reason Sound Designer Tom Pritchard. How cool is that?!?
Check out some clips:

Ableton Live Slice by Grid

Here's a quick tip from Berklee College of Music Professor Loudon Stearns on audio slicing in Ableton Live:
"This video shows how to repeatedly slice on a grid setting in Ableton Live. This is not the Slice to new MIDI track feature. In this process follow actions are used to slice up an audio clip into repeated 1/8th note regions."

Sunday, July 8

Reason Rack Extensions Guide Part 1 - Korg Polysix

Rob Jones from Reasoncourses.com takes a close look at the Korg Polysix Rack Extension:
"This movie is the first of a series of mini tutorials, exploring the range of instruments and effects available in Reason's new Rack Extensions feature. Korg's Polysix is the first instrument made by an external manufacturer to be included in Reason, so this is an exciting development! The movie takes you on a brief tour of the instrument, giving an outline of its controls and synth engine."

Saturday, July 7

Figure 1.1

 

Propellerhead's Figure app has been updated to version 1.1! This new update includes the ability to save songs, export, set loop lengths and touch start recording. Download the latest update today from iTunes.

Switched On Austin

Sweet looking shop in Austin, Texas callled Switched On, which features a diverse selection of vintage synths and electronics available for "sampling rental for only $25/hour!" Time I take a trip to Austin:

Clark - Fantasm Planes

Clark's Fantasm Planes coming out in September on Warp:

Ametsub - All is Silence (Album Sampler)

Gorgeous sounding new album from Ametsub available now on Nothings66, dig it:

Using SliceArranger in Reason 6.5

Here's a quick video from the folks at Sugar Bytes on using their Slice Arranger Rack Extension in Reason 6.5:

Thursday, July 5

Minimal System Instruments - DarkStar - Overview

Andre Touhey explores the DarkStar Synth VST Plug-in from Minimal System Instruments for Loop.tv:
"DarkStar is a monster analogue modelled synth. With its 4 oscillators you can easily create the sounds you need.

In this video Andre gives us an overview of the DarkStar synth's main features, with a examples of the synth at work in a track."

Sugar Bytes Cyclop Bass Tutorial from Vespers

Ableton Certified Trainer Vespers takes an in depth look at Sugar Bytes new Cyclop Bass Synthesizer:
"In this tutorial video I do a full review and tutorial on the main features of the new Sugar-Bytes monophonic bass synth, Cyclop. Cyclop is a modulation monster, with the huge wobble knob, fx knob, sound knob and effects sequencer. You can choose from 9 distortion modes and 6 oscillator / synthesizer types including super saws, analog sync, fm, transformer (wavetable / granular engine), the additive spectromat, and the phase stressor phase distortion sound engine.
Anyone who's a fan of dub step and video arcade games will love this one! It has a built in video game and the whole interface looks very Atari.
It's certainly found a place in my plugin library, which is a hard thing to do these days. I'm enjoying getting to know it better and mangling sounds with it in my tunes. Enjoy!"

Wednesday, July 4

Andy Griffith R.I.P.

I don't usually get torn up over celebrity deaths, but the passing of Andy Griffith yesterday really hit home for me. You see, The Andy Griffith Show was watched religiously by my maternal Grandfather who tended to me as a child. Now, I couldn't fully understand why a show about a sheriff had so little action, but I always enjoyed the episodes where "Ange" would play the guitar, especially when the Darlings would come to town and jam - or as they called it "pickin". R.I.P. Andy.

Nektar Panorama P4 Mix Mode: Part 1 (Reason 6.5)

Brandon Peoples with a first look at using the Nektar Panorama with Reason 6.5!
"Learn about how Reason sees the Nektar Panorama as two separate devices and communicates with Reasons main mixer.
And a HUGE thanks to Nektar for sending me a unit and allowing me into beta testing!"

Monday, July 2

Sunday, July 1

Nucleus SoundLab Canada Day Sale!

 

Canada Day is a Canadian national holiday celebrating the July 1st, 1867 enactment of the British North American Act, which united three colonies into Canada! Of course today we primarily celebrate July 1st for the annual Nucleus SoundLab Canada Day Sale:

"Today Nucleus SoundLab celebrates the birthday of this great nation. Not Canadian? As always, we Canucks are a notoriously friendly bunch - so feel free to join in the celebration by reaping the savings below!

Viral Outbreak, GuitarScapes, ReCombination and Vast are all at least 40% off until July 10th, 2012. And if you want to join the party in the biggest way possible - our complete package of quality ReFills is available now for just $299 in the Ultimate ReFill Bundle! That includes absolutely everything we sell for Reason - even the Reason Wizardry Season One video tutorials."