Arturia announces the release of MiniLab MkII midi controller

Arturia are excited to announce the imminent release of MiniLab MkII: a space-saving, high-quality controller that’s perfectly suited to small home studios and musicians on the move.

The latest in Arturia’s range of game-changing controllers, MiniLab MkII combines an expressive two- octave keyboard, RGB backlit performance pads, 16 rotary knobs, and an impressive suite of included software.
Fun to use, easy to master, and superbly affordable, MiniLab MkII sets a new standard for small-for- mat controller keyboards. Musicians old and new will be inspired by the hundreds of classic keyboard presets in Analog Lab Lite and love recording their own songs using Ableton Live Lite. MiniLab MkII brings unmatched control to the project studio and provides performers with bus-powered, go-any- where versatility.
Key features of the MiniLab MkII include:

• Take it anywhere: amazingly portable and highly durable, MiniLab MkII sets new standards in the small controller market, combining unparalleled control with space-saving, small studio-friendly size.
  
• Great feeling keyboard: MiniLab MkII features a 25-note slim-keys, velocity-sensitive keyboard, striking an uncompromising balance between size and playability.
  
• Powerful performance pads: record a drum pattern, launch clips, cycle through presets; MiniLab MkII’s eight multi-purpose pads are ultra-responsive and RGB backlit, helping you easily identify the sound or function they are controlling.
  
• Useful rotary knobs: 16 rotary encoders give you full access to all of the important parameters of your favorite effects, synths, and DAW functions; two of the knobs are also clickable, allowing even deeper control of your music-making.
  
• Expressive performance controls: MiniLab MkII features incredibly responsive touchstrip controls for pitch bend and modulation, sustain pedal input to capture that authentic keyboard performance, and dedicated octave up & down buttons for full creative access.
  
• Record your songs: Ableton Live Lite — an introduction to arguably the most popular, intuitive recording & performance software on the market — is now included with MiniLab MkII, meaning you can record and produce your songs straight out of the box; thanks to dedicated pre-mapping within Ableton Live, it’s never been easier to take control.
  
• Amazing keyboard sounds: the included Analog Lab Lite software gives you access to hundreds of iconic preset keyboard sounds taken from Arturia’s award-winning V Collection 5 — from electric pianos to analog monosynths, string machines to modular monsters, and everything in between.
  
• A famous piano at your fingertips: a beautiful, ultra-realistic piano sound is always useful, and that’s exactly what you get with the included UVI Grand Piano Model D software — meticulously sampled from a classic Steinway, and yours with MiniLab MkII.
  
• Tempting upgrade paths: whether you want thousands of extra keyboard presets with Analog Lab 2 or need the unparalleled control of Arturia’s flagship V Collection 5, owners of MiniLab MkII will be entitled to exclusive upgrade offers. 
  
  Watch the introductory movie

Fun to use, easy to master, and superbly affordable, MiniLab MkII sets a new standard for small-for- mat controller keyboards. Musicians old and new will be inspired by the hundreds of classic keyboard presets in Analog Lab Lite and love recording their own songs using Ableton Live Lite. MiniLab MkII brings unmatched control to the project studio and provides performers with bus-powered, go-any- where versatility.

MiniLab MkII is priced at 99€ / 119US$.
For more information on features, specifications and dimensions, visit the MiniLab MkII page on: www.arturia.com/products/minilab-mkii/overview

* * *

About Arturia (www.arturia.com) 

Founded in Grenoble, France, in 1999, Arturia specialises in the development of music software and hardware for pro- fessional and amateur musicians alike. Focusing on innovation, the company strives to integrate the latest advances in computer music research and technology into its products. This involves working closely with partner research in- stitutions, such as IRCAM France, in the development of cutting-edge musical instruments and software, which have gone on to be used in making many hit records and Hollywood soundtracks. One of Arturia’s core technologies is TAE® (True Analog Emulation), an advanced proprietary technology allowing accurate modelling of analogue circuit- ry behaviour on personal computers. Developed by Arturia’s in-house Signal Processing team, this technology has been employed to successfully recreate the sounds produced by many classic analogue synthesizers. Having suc- cessfully launched Origin, its first hardware synthesizer (housing several synth classics and associated components in one powerful, no-holds-barred DSP-based modular system), and the hybrid hardware/software SPARK Creative Drum Machine (cleverly combining analogue synthesis, physical modelling, and samples with the intuitive workflow of a hardware drum machine), 2012 saw Arturia introducing the cost-conscious MiniBrute, an amazingly compact and bijou analogue monosynth (boasting MIDI, USB, and CV connectivity together with a host of unique features). Having already broadened its appeal further still by successfully entering the iOS soft synth market and building upon its analogue synth and hybrid hardware/software successes, 2016 sees Arturia making a new entrance into the analog synthesizer market with its Analog avant-garde MatrixBrute.

Keith McMillen Instruments innovative K-Board Pro 4 controller

KMI kickstarts cutting-edge, MPE-compatible keyboard controller capitalisation with Kickstarter campaign

“The K-Board Pro 4 is really musical because it’s the only MPE controller that you can just play like a keyboard that has a definite attack but also has all of the continuous dimensions.”
- Jaron Lanier, 2016

Innovative hardware and software developer Keith McMillen Instruments is inviting capital investment for its innovative K-Board Pro 4 — a four-octave MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) keyboard controller that is MPE (Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression) compatible with multiple dimensions of touch sensitivity in each key, and a duly desirable device which will be the next product to come out of KMI Labs (https://www.keithmcmillen.com/labs/), the R&D (Research and Development) division of Keith McMillen Instruments, further forging the appeal of the cutting-edge company — courtesy of a Kickstarter campaign kicking off.

K-Board Pro 4 is a new kind of keyboard controller that feels and responds like a musical instrument — with all the nuance and sensitivity that makes an instrument musical. Marketing-speak notwithstanding, who better, then, to put the cutting-edge, MPE-compatible K-Board Pro 4’s raison d'être into even wiser words than Keith McMillen Instruments’ namesake Founder & CEO Keith McMillen, an acclaimed audio and music technology innovator of some 30 years standing? Says the man himself: “We wanted to reclaim all of the powerful synth parameters that you can rarely access in performance and put them under your fingertips where you can play the heck out of them! Start with the familiarity of the classic keyboard and make it more responsive to take advantage of multidimensional expressivity.”
Enter K-Board Pro 4... thanks to its familiar keyboard layout, players can seamlessly transition from a traditional piano performance to a brave new MPE world — without changing their natural technique, but with the added ability to take total control over the character of their sound while playing. More meaningfully, MPE is the new standard for advanced expressive instruments. It’s a new way for electronic music controllers like K-Board Pro 4 to communicate with favourite hardware classics and cutting-edge soft synths. ‘Speaking’ MPE is becoming more commonplace amongst more modern synthesizers, so realtime plug-and-play access to control over sounds is perfectly possible — in the right hands. However, in-demand, innovative instruments from the likes of ROLI (Seaboard) and Roger Linn (Linnstrument) use MPE to allow for the type of expressive control that previous-generation controllers could only deliver with complicated mappings and middleware.
Moving MPE onwards and upwards, under each key of K-Board Pro 4 is Keith McMillen Instruments’ patented Smart Sensor Fabric technology that is at the core of all of the company’s cutting-edge MIDI control surfaces, making it immediately playable while providing an expanded range of possible expression. Each key independently outputs touch-sensitive XYZ data that can be mapped to any parameter, such as vibrato, brightness, or timbre, allowing users to play expressively in realtime with the nuance more routinely expected from an acoustic instrument. Furthermore, four touch-sensitive sliders can be mapped to anything, providing rapid access to parameters such as octave, vibrato depth, or preset to keep performers playing without interrupting their creative flow.

Watch Keith McMillen Instruments’ Kickstarter video for K-Board Pro 4e

Future-proofing music performance, K-Board Pro 4’s silicone keys’ resilience, durable aluminium frame construction, and no moving parts partnership ensures that trademark durability for which Keith McMillen Instruments is held in such high regard worldwide, while the truly desirable device itself is USB (Universal Serial Bus) powered and class compliant to ensure both portability and compatibility with Mac OS, Windows, iOS, and Android, as well as MIDI-capable hardware.

Having already put highly-functional prototypes in the hands of professional keyboard players and received an abundance of feedback that has helped Keith McMillen Instruments dial in the final design, quite how long supportive purchasers might have to wait to get their eager hands on a production model is dependent on the outcome of this Kickstarter campaign, though if all goes to plan — scaling up working prototype units to full production, paying for tooling, materials, and assembly in large quantities — then estimated delivery is September 2017. Keith McMillen himself is highly confident, concluding, “Our recent campaign for the BopPad Smart Fabric Drum was a huge success because of the support of the Kickstarter community. There really is no better place for a small company to launch a new idea than on this platform.”

Playing K-Board Pro 4 is like playing no other instrument on earth... just ask Jaron Lanier — himself no stranger to innovation as an American computer philosophy writer, computer scientist, classical composer, visual artist, and virtual reality pioneer par excellence! Explore and support the Kickstarter campaign for Keith McMillen Instruments’ K-Board Pro 4 project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kmi/k-board-pro-4-smart-fabric-keyboard 

For more in-depth information, please visit KMI Labs’ K-Board Pro 4 project webpage here: https://www.keithmcmillen.com/labs/k-board-pro-4/ 

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.

SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS by Spitfire Audio

Spitfire Audio announces availability of optimum compendium of symphonic strings sampling

Spitfire Audio, purveyors of the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world, is proud to announce availability of SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS — quite literally the ultimate encyclopaedic compendium of symphonic strings sampling, with blockbuster content originally recorded with no expense spared via the finest signal path at Lyndhurst Hall within London’s legendary Air Studios, playing host to the same 60 star string players performing on the same instruments featured on so many memorable scores recorded there for films that have grossed billions between them.
Spitfire Audio was built upon a very simple core concept: the best way to create samples that enable some of the most successful, award-winning recordings of recent times to be successfully recreated is not to imitate but rather simply replicate where and how they were recorded. Results dictate, therefore, that if there was ever a single product that should surely sum up the foundations of Spitfire Audio’s affluent approach to sampling then it would, without doubt, be SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS. After all, if you want the blockbuster sound then you have to boldly go where no sample-based virtual instrument-maker has gone before; if you want to sound cinematic then, simply speaking, you have to go big.

By its very nature, then, when it comes to symphonic strings sampling, it doesn’t get much bigger than SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS. But boasting no fewer than 60 star string players to its notable name — namely, 16 1st VIOLINS; 14 2nd VIOLINS; 12 VIOLAS; 10 CELLOS; and eight BASSES, beautifully recorded in-situ (in the positions that they occupy in a scoring session) at Air Studios to two-inch Studer tape using a stunning selection of vintage valve and ribbon microphones via Neve ‘AIR Montserrat’ preamps and a Neve 88R large-scale console before being digitally stored at 96k is only the start of that admirable approach to this latest long and winding road to sampling glory.
Get this, though: SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS is actually a consolidation of almost a decade’s worth of sampling experience, befriending London’s finest string players and through a process of kaizen — that can be tracked through over 20 unique strings libraries that Spitfire Audio has created during that time, perfecting the ideal balance of life, realism, and soul with the accuracy, playability, and scripting innovations that the company’s customers have collectively come to expect from a library containing a component that was named MusicTech Platinum Award Winner in the Best Library category in that British music technology magazine’s Gear of the Year 2014 list.
Fortunately for all, by rationalising what was previously provided across four separate volumes, SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS is now an encyclopaedic compendium of symphonic strings sampling — hence its appropriate appellation that leaves little doubt as to its raison d'être. Every articulation for every section (plus ensembles) formerly featured in the ‘tongue-twisting’ BML308 MURAL - SYMPHONIC STRINGS VOL. 1, BML309 MURAL - SYMPHONIC STRINGS VOL. 2, BML310 MURAL - SYMPHONIC STRINGS VOL. 3, and BML311 MURAL - SYMPHONIC STRINGS - ENSEMBLES are all present and accounted for in SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS — that’s those 16 1st VIOLINS; 14 2nd VIOLINS; 12 VIOLAS; 10 CELLOS; and eight BASSES, super-deep sampled with over 175 articulations, including 59 shorts, 94 longs, and five phenomenal legato patches programmed by UK composer Andrew Blaney.

Watch Spitfire Audio co-founder and Director

Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS video walkthrough

But that’s not all. Also included in addition to each individual string section is a comprehensive selection of articulations and techniques presented in an ENSEMBLES format for sketching and composing with ‘out of the box’ satisfaction guaranteed. Go as detailed as musically desired with each section individually or dive in with those carefully curated ENSEMBLES tools to allow for broad brush strokes. The choice is in there, that’s for sure! So there you have it. In a nutshell, SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS is Spitfire Audio’s shot at creating the definitive compendium of symphonic strings sampling, recorded with a no-holds-barred approach. All and everything from classic, elegant vibrato, and expression-controlled ‘dolce’ samples (allowing music to be performed gently and sweetly) to the company’s own up-to-the-minute techniques duly designed by its award-winning team of composers and producers — highlights of which include the hugely popular Long Flautando (directive to create a flute-like sound with a bowed stringed instrument) and Long Super Sul Tasto (directive to keep the bow over the fingerboard so as to produce a soft thin tone with a stringed instrument) articulations — are available for all to access and use via a new and intuitive GUI (Graphical User Interface) with an accompanying inline help system that’s as easy on the eye as it is easy to use. Users can choose from the three essential, diverse, and most favoured mic positions — namely, C(lose), T(ree), and A(mbient). 

 Watch Spitfire Audio’s newly-initiated In Action presentation feature
for SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS

Owners of Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT PLAYER platform — included for free with SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS — seeking to join A- list composers and producers around the world who are already accessing Spitfire Audio’s affluent approach to symphonic strings sampling surely owe it to themselves and their musical endeavours to embrace the company’s latest and greatest sample-based virtual instrument library to offer full compatibility with NKS® (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD), an extended plug-in format allowing advanced integration with NI’s KONTROL keyboard controllers. Cross-grading or buying into this core set of samples also affords an opportunity to purchase expansion packs with more mic positions and stereo mixes — namely, SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS (EXPANSION PACK), as well as additional add-ons like the exclusive SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS (EXPANSION PACK II).

SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS can be purchased and digitally downloaded (as 147.6 GB of uncompressed .WAV files, featuring 89,365 samples) from Spitfire Audio for a time-limited introductory promo price of £525.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$589.00 USD/ €599.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until 08:00 GMT on November 30, 2016 — rising thereafter to an RRP of £699.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/ $789.00 USD/€799.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com//shop/a-z/spitfire-symphonic-strings/ (Past purchasers of BML MURAL libraries are all entitled to a discounted upgrade path to SPITFIRE CHAMBER STRINGS.) 

Note that Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT PLAYER is included with SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS, while Spitfire Audio’s free Download Manager application for Mac or PC allows anyone to buy now and download anytime.
For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com//shop/a-z/spitfire-symphonic-strings/

About Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com) 

Spitfire Audio produces the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world. It 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. (The fact that the company has become the second-biggest contributor to UNICEF via JustGiving.com by giving away samples in return for donations speaks louder than words.) 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. 

* * *

Wavesfactory makes KONTAKT (VI) with Freddie Mercury’s favoured Fazioli F228 grand piano

Wavesfactory makes KONTAKT (VI) with Freddie Mercury’s favoured Fazioli F228 grand piano

Spanish sample libraries and audio plug-ins developer Wavesfactory is proud to announce availability of Mercury — an aptly-named sample-based grand piano virtual instrument for Native Instrument’s industry-standard KONTAKT PLAYER platform featuring Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s favoured Fazioli F228 grand piano, professionally recorded to the highest standard possible in Studio A at London’s leading Metropolis Studios, carefully crafted to perfection during a one-year production period.

This long and winding road to sampling glory began before then, though, so who better to lead us into temptation than Wavesfactory founder Jesús Ginard. “I’ve been a Queen fan since I was a little boy,” begins the perfectionist. “I remember listening to the Made In Heaven album on cassette and being absolutely amazed by it. That album totally changed my musical perspective. Fast-forward to 2014, I saw that Metropolis Studios had uploaded a photo of a nice Fazioli piano in one of their studios, stating that it’s ‘...the Freddie Mercury piano.’ I know Queen recorded their last albums there, so I asked, ‘Is this a regular piano named after Freddie Mercury or was it actually his piano?’ They answered: ‘This was his piano.’”

Fast-forwarding this significant sampling story a little further finds Jesús Ginard travelling to London in November 2015 to sample Freddie Mercury’s Fazioli F228. “It was a dream come true — a dream I didn’t want to become a nightmare,” notes the talented Queen fan, before adding: “Apart from the fact that this was Freddie’s, the studio and the sound was really magical. If done well, I thought that this could be the perfect piano library — not only for Queen fans, of course!".

Watch Wavefactory’s Mercury video walkthrough.

Fortunately for Wavesfactory, Metropolis’ renowned recording engineer Paul Norris helped make sure that Jesús Ginard’s dream was well on its way to becoming true at the recording stage alone, as evidenced by being captured on candid camera, talking through his technical approach to capturing that famous Faziolo F228 sound: “We’ve got three sets of close mics. The first is our ‘pop’ pair — Sennheiser MKH 40s into API mic pres; our second is a pair of [Neumann] KM 84s — sort of outside the lid, which are our sort of classical pair — into a pair of Neve 1081s; and our third is a mono Coles mic, for a sort of retro sound, using a Meris mic pre, which is based on an older API mic pre. Then there are two sets of room mics — first, we’ve got a closer pair, which are Neumann U87s, and then a longer, further away pair, which are Telefunken AK-47s. We also have two plates here at Metropolis that we’re using — one is solid state and one is a valve plate, and we’ll take an impulse response of them as well to have them available as different reverbs.” 

Recording a total of 80GB of content at Metropolis, Jesús Ginard’s return home heralded working long and hard to perfect Mercury. “I put as much care into the editing, design, and scripting process as I was capable of,” he explains. “Everything needed to be perfect. The library couldn’t just score 7/10; it had to be 10/10.”

One year later... the magical-sounding Mercury is ready. After the editing process was completed by sample-cutting supremo Elan Hickler of Soundemote, the final file size was 60GB — down to 34GB when finally served up as 38,000 superlative samples in Native Instruments’ NCW (Native Compressed Wave) format (designed to save an imported .WAV audio file using compression so the file uses less disk space). Scripting alone took around nine months to complete, bringing about some features not yet seen on other sample-based virtual instruments, paying particular attention to the most minimal details to make it the perfect piano library, as had been Jesús Ginard’s dream from its inception.

Meanwhile, Mercury looks as amazing as it sounds, thanks to a gorgeous GUI (Graphical User Interface) created and rendered in 3D by Voger Design, designers of high-end, user-friendly interfaces for audio applications. Accessible via its inspirational MAIN page — replete with a knowing nod of 3D rendered reverence to Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s classic crown and king’s robe stage outfit, Mercury’s MIXER page permits independent control of each of those perfectly-positioned (ULTRACLOSE, CLOSE, MONO, MID, and FAR) Metropolis mics with parameters usually associated with an audio mixing console for ‘position enhanced’ mixing; the EFFECTS page allows four DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects to be added to the sound, including two (EMT 140) METROPOLIS PLATES — switchable between Valve and Solid State settings with Pre Delay, High Pass, Low Pass, and Wet controls, together with switchable settings for Short, Mid, and Long reverb times — alongside controllable COMPRESSOR, EQUALIZER, and CHORUS; and, finally, the SETTINGS page permits creative control of any parameter any user might conceivably choose — from ROUND ROBIN settings (up to 12x with Neighbour Borrowing) to NOISES, such as sympathetic resonance (Reso) and Pedal, plus much more besides!

Watch Wavesfactory’s Mercury-making video

But sound is where the art is, surely, so how does Mercury sound? Sophisticated, delicate, yet with a very rich bottom-end and a lot of body resonance — just like its inspirational namesake Fazioli F228 grand piano, put through its paces by musical maestro Freddie Mercury on a number of notable recordings. Thanks to Richard Norris’ sterling engineering work at Metropolis and subsequent months’ multi-talented editing to perfection, it has been captured with so much detail and depth that Mercury users can change its sound in so many different ways while always retaining natural-sounding characteristics. Clearly, Mercury sounds warm and emotional — perfect for intimate, low-key compositions, but it is also very punchy and aggressive on high velocities, a contrasting combination not usually found on other sampled-based virtual instruments, as audibly evidenced by its impressive 42 presets.

Justifiably, Jesús Ginard concludes: “This is not a regular sample library; this is something bigger. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a whole year. Now it’s time for you to play it, and I hope that you like it as much as we do.” Notably, Mercury is fully compatible with Native Instruments’ NKS® (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD), an extended plug-in format allowing advanced integration with the company’s cutting-edge KONTROL keyboard controllers. If Freddie Mercury himself had played this killer combination, he would hopefully have approved. And rightly so. Indeed, it’s a kind of magic, as Freddie Mercury sang so amazingly — an appropriate and touching note to end on if ever there was one... and a fitting tribute to the man with the musical Midas touch to whom this tempting sample-based virtual instrument owes its inspiration and notable name.

Mercury can be bought directly from Wavesfactory as a Native Instruments KONTAKT PLAYER (version 5.2.2) powered sample-based virtual instrument for an introductory promo price of €99.00 EUR (incl. tax) — rising to an RRP of €149.00 EUR (incl. VAT) on December 5, 2016 — from here: https://www.wavesfactory.com/mercury/
 

About Wavesfactory (www.wavesfactory.com) Jesús Ginard is the talented individual behind Wavesfactory. Born in 1987 on the beautiful Spanish island of Mallorca, he studied classical and modern music and audiovisual media. He has composed original music for cinema, television, and documentaries.Wavesfactory itself was founded in March 2010 in Artà (Mallorca) with a goal of delivering high-quality audio tools for musicians and engineers.Today it strives to live up to that goal by improving each and every release in terms of audio quality, ease of use, and powerful — but simple — features: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” (Leonardo de Vinci)

Arturia announces "Sense of Sound" seasonal promotion: fundamental instruments at a bargain price!

Arturia is thrilled to announce its Sense of Sound promotion this winter — a celebration of sound in its purest sense. Music and sound have the unique ability to transcend our sense of hearing and create images and textures in our minds that are so real you could touch them. Through the artistry of sound design, musicians are able to create emotions in their audience — from the glowing, warm memories of carefree youth to rasping, fractured tones that send shivers up your spine.
To celebrate this magical quirk of the senses, and to bring the wondrous potential of soundl to as many people as possible, Arturia’s award-winning virtual instruments will be available at amazingly attractive prices for a limited time. 

Between 18 November 2016 and 10 January 2017 Arturia will be offering the following deals: 

V Collection 5
399€/US$
Save 100€/US$ on Arturia’s critically acclaimed suite of beautifully emulated classic keyboards. 

Individual instruments
Half price
Save 50% on any of the award-winning instruments that make up our flagship V Collection. This includes:

Analog Lab - now 44 €/US$
The modern musician’s secret toolkit, filled with over 5,000 presets from V Collection 5. 

Analog synths
Matrix-12 - now 99€/US$
Mini V – 74€/US$
Modular V – 74€/US$
SEM V – 74€/US$
ARP 2600 V – 74€/US$
CS-80 V – 74€/US$
Jupiter-8 V – 74€/US$ 

Digital synths
Prophet V – 74€/US$
Synclavier V – 99€/US$ 

Organs & String machines
Vox Continental V – 74€/US$
B-3 V – 99€/US$
Farfisa V – 99€/US$
Solina V – 74€/US$ 

Electric & acoustic pianos
Stage-73 V – 99€/US$
Wurli V – 74€/US$
Piano V – 99€/US$ 

Arturia has also arranged some special offers for its existing customers — exclusive deals will be available to them in the MyArturia section of the Arturia website.
For more information visit the dedicated promo page: www.arturia.com/sense-of-sound

* * *

A wonderfully working brand new reverb plugin: FabFilter Pro-R.

Press News:

FabFilter releases FabFilter Pro-R reverb plug-in 

FabFilter is proud to announce availability of FabFilter Pro-R, a high-end algorithmic reverb plug-in with musical controls and a very natural sound. Its advanced algorithms have been carefully designed to blend well with the source and fit easily into a mix. FabFilter Pro-R is bursting with innovations like the intuitive Space control that seamlessly switches between dozens of room models with automatic decay time adjustment, and the industry-first Decay Rate EQ concept that introduces free adjustment of the decay time over the frequency spectrum. Together with the built-in Post EQ and an abundance of high-quality factory presets, FabFilter Pro-R delivers pristine sound quality and maximum ease of use.
A musical approach
FabFilter Pro-R takes a musical approach to reverb, offering user-friendly, non-technical controls like Brightness, Character, Distance, and Stereo Width to tweak the reverb sound. The stepless Space control lets the user fade between dozens of different, carefully-tuned room models, and automatically chooses a matching decay time for a natural-sounding result. Behind the scenes, each of these settings influences the internal algorithms in multiple ways to deliver exactly what was intended — without requiring a degree in reverb science.
Shape the decay time
The decay time of a real room often varies wildly over the frequency spectrum, which is one of the key ingredients of a room’s reverb character. To simulate this, the industry-first Decay Rate EQ concept in FabFilter Pro-R offers completely free adjustment of the decay time over the frequency spectrum. Since it uses parametric EQ bands instead of a traditional crossover system, it provides much more flexibility to shape the decay time characteristics. Together with the integrated six-band Post EQ, designing reverbs of any character has never been easier. 

Key features:
• Beautifully designed room models, ranging from small ambiences and rooms to large concert halls and huge cathedrals.
• Carefully developed to easily sit in the mix, without causing undesirable coloration, density or phase problems.

• Gorgeous Retina interface with large interactive reverb display featuring Decay Rate EQ and Post EQ curves.
• Very easy to set up, with user-friendly, non-technical controls.
• Space control, which smartly and smoothly combines the room model and decay time of the reverb — choose from over a dozen carefully designed room models and seamlessly vary between them, without hearing clicks or unwanted artifacts.
• Decay Rate control, changing the overall decay time from 50% to 200% of the current Space setting.
• Intelligent Stereo Width control, ranging from pure mono to true stereo and beyond.
• Distance control to adjust the proximity to the sound source in the selected space.
• Character control that changes the sound from a clean, transparent decay to a lively reverb with pronounced reflections and echoes — all the way to an over-modulated chorus-like effect.
• Perfectly tuned Brightness control, affecting not only brightness, but also the decay of high frequencies.
• Predelay control via the bottom bar, ranging from 0 to 500 ms, with optional tempo sync.
• Innovative six-band Decay Rate EQ with Low/High Shelf, Bell, and Notch filters. (Compared to the commonly used low- and high-crossover system, the Decay Rate EQ opens up a world of possibilities by giving users full control over the decay rate at different frequencies.)
• Six-band Post EQ to equalize the final reverb sound with Low/High Cut up to 96 dB/oct, Low/High Shelf, and Bell filters. (Together with the Decay Rate EQ, this lets users design reverbs of any style or character.)
• Real-time spectrum analyzer that also visualizes the decay time at different frequencies.
• Full Screen mode, offering a large analyzer display and Decay Rate EQ and Post EQ controller.
• Multiple interface sizes: Medium, Large, and Extra Large.
• Retina support on OS X and High DPI support on Windows.
• GPU-powered graphics acceleration.
• Supports common Pro Tools hardware control surfaces. 
  
   

  

FabFilter Pro-R is now available for EUR 169, USD 199 or GBP 149, supporting both Windows and Mac OS X in VST and VST 3, Audio Units, AAX, RTAS, and AudioSuite plug-in formats. Bundles with FabFilter Pro-R and other FabFilter plug-ins are also available at: www.fabfilter.com/shop
Existing FabFilter customers can purchase FabFilter Pro-R with very attractive discounts by logging in to their online user account at: www.fabfilter.com/myaccount
System requirements on Windows are either Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP and a VST 2/3 host, or Pro Tools, or Mac OS X 10.6 or higher with Intel processor, and an Audio Units host, VST 2/3 host, or Pro Tools. Both 32-bit and 64-bit hosts are supported.
Evaluation copies are available at: www.fabfilter.com/download.

About FabFilter
Beautiful sound. Fantastic workflow. These are the foundations of FabFilter. Continually challenging and rethinking industry standards, FabFilter creates powerful audio plug-ins with superb sound quality and innovative interfaces. FabFilter was founded in 2002 by Frederik Slijkerman and Floris Klinkert, and is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

* * *