Thursday, 31 August 2017

Impact Soundworks gets PC by making KONTAKT (instrument) with authentic sounds from classic computer sound chips

Audio software creator Impact Soundworks is proud to announce availability of SUPER AUDIO CART PCa virtual instrument including over 1,100 authentic sounds from eight classic computer sound chips, capturing the tones of yesteryear’s beautiful, blocky machines, making them accessible to today’s AAX-, AU-, and VST-compatible production setups via Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT platform with a powerful four-layer synth engine and 64-slot modulation matrix to create the most complete set of retro computer samples ever.

Impact Soundworks has previously given a selection of legendary sounds from classic video game consoles and handheld systems the sampling treatment with SUPER AUDIO CART, yet only sampled a single (Commodore 64) personal computer in the process — despite the fact that millions of people have been using computers to play games since the Seventies. So, as implied by its RETRO PC SAMPLES subtitling, SUPER AUDIO CART PC sees the company working with OverClocked ReMix — a video game music community with tons of fan-made remixes and information on video game music — to turn their collective talents to capturing over 1,100 sounds from eight classic computer sound chips. Why? Well, the goal with this project — even more so than with SUPER AUDIO CART — is just as much about preservation of the classic sounds involved. Indeed, computer systems from decades past are notoriously unreliable, making it almost impossible to integrate them into a modern music production setup. SUPER AUDIO CART PC, however, allows access to all those classic sounds in AAX, AU, and VST formats as a powerful four-layer synth and modulation engine — just like with the original SUPER AUDIO CART. The stories behind those classic-sounding computer chips make for fascinating reading, really helping to put SUPER AUDIO CART PC into its rightful context from both a preservation perspective and auditory analysis. Alphabetically, then, there is so much more to SUPER AUDIO CART PC than first meets the ear.
 
Released in 1979, the 400/800 series was Atari’s early line of 8-bit home computers. With a then-blazing 1.79 MHz CPU, its primary competitor was the Commodore 64, and it became a bestselling computer of the 8-bit era. Powering its sound capabilities was the Pokey sound chip, sampled by Impact Soundworks, and offering a thick sound, characterised by a detuning of individual sound channels in the system, as well as having multiple forms of distortion available for processing.

Adlib was one of the first standards for the digital music scene. The Canadian sound card is powered by Yamaha’s YM3812 sound chip, which used FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis to produce multitimbral instruments and sound effects. After the King’s Quest VI game broke the card out of obscurity with highly-praised music and sound effects, it gained popularity due to its versatility and ease of use, finding its way into most retail stores by 1990.

The Aegis Sonix software synth for the Commodore Amiga was a one-time cutting-edge digital replication of a hardware synth with various capabilities that were fairly new for the time. It sports one oscillator and one LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator), offering users an ability to draw custom oscillator and LFO waveforms, alongside an adjustable ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) envelope and lowpass filter, and an ability to add 2nd and 3rd order harmonics to those waveforms, with gritty phase distortion also on offer.
The spiritual successor to the Commodore 64, the Amiga 500 was released in 1987. Although it was popular with hobbyists due to its low price tag, it was most commonly used for gaming, with high-end graphics and audio capabilities for its time. It was eventually discontinued in 1992, replaced by the Amiga 600 and 1200, but neither product proved as popular as the 500 as the market shifted away from typical home computer models. The Amiga 500 itself uses the OSC (Original Chip Set) that was found in many late-Eighties Amiga models, using four hardware-mixed channels of 8-bit PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) audio, up to a sample rate of 28 kHz. It also shipped with a software-controllable lowpass filter.

The Commodore 64 was one of the most widely-used computers of the Eighties — the most popular single computer model ever released, in fact. The C64 was especially ubiquitous in Europe, with a huge range of games and other software available. Audio-wise, it is driven by the famous MOS 6581 SID chip, capable of a wide range of tones. Three independent oscillators, four waveforms, volume envelopes, ring modulation, oscillator sync, and a multimode filter meant that it was blessed with many capabilities not even found in dedicated synthesizers of comparable price at the time.
  Watch Impact Soundworks Lead Developer Andrew Aversa’s walkthrough
and overview of SUPER AUDIO CART PC here
 
As the starting point of many successful Eastern video game franchises, such as Metal Gear and Bomberman, Microsoft’s MSX was very popular in Japan as well as Europe, but never gained much traction in North America. Saying that, the sound chip in the MSX is the AY-3-8910, a three-voice PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) developed in 1978 by General Instrument that produced square wave tones. It is commonly used in various arcade games, gaming consoles, and a plethora of home computers, including the MSX. The PSG generates base frequencies of up to 125 kHz, enabling high resolution and pitch accuracy not found on many sound chips of the era. The MSX could accommodate additional sound chips via expansion cartridges, such as the MSX-Audio (Y8950) and MSX-Music (YM2413) chips, offering traditional FM synthesis timbres. These were also sampled for the SUPER AUDIO CART PC project.

A custom collaboration between Komani and Yamaha, the SCC (Sound Creative Chip) is a wavetable sound chip with 128 bytes of wave samples. It was used to expand the capabilities of the MSX, which only generated square waves, as the wave samples in the SCC could be used to build much more complex waveforms than anything the PSG could accomplish.
A late-Eighties Amiga tracker — which was the first platform for which trackers were developed — was also sampled by the intrepid Impact Soundworks team. The term was coined by the first tracker program, Ultimate Soundtracker, featuring a number-based interface that allows the user to program audio playback by entering codes into specific parts of a grid of time slots. Step sequenced audio sampling software only otherwise existed on the second-mortgage-inducing Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) workstation at that time. Those early trackers featured four pitch- and volume-modulated channels of 8-bit PCM samples, using the 8SVX (8-bit Sampled Voice) format.

Developed by Hiroki Nakayama in 1995, WinGROOVE was a PC application that enabled higher-quality playback of MIDI files. It came complete with its own set of WAV samples, rather than using synthesis, and although the software has not been officially distributed for a long time — nor is it supported by modern versions of Windows, Impact Soundworks worked with its creator to retrieve the source files and loop data to provide an authentic sound set in SUPER AUDIO CART PC!

Put it this way: with access to such classic-sounding computer chips and software developers, SUPER AUDIO CART PC faithfully reproduces a wide range of tones, and all such sounds can be used ‘dry’ to create authentic chiptune music or layered in Impact Soundworks’ powerful four-part synth engine for endless tweaking, inspiration, and sound design! Do what you will with them, though the company kindly created a bank of 150-plus modern and reimagined sounds to help jumpstart creativity, as well as including five custom FX (EQ, COMPRESSOR, BITCRUSHER, SCREAM, and DELAY) racks — one for each layer, and one for the global insert bus — and even throw the standalone SNESVerb (AU/VST) plug-in into the fully NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD) supporting musical mix… for free!

SUPER AUDIO CART PC can be purchased and digitally downloaded (as an authentic-sounding library totalling 8,000-plus samples) directly from Impact Soundworks for $99.00 USD from here: https://impactsoundworks.com/product/super-audio-cart-pc/#purchase (Owners of SUPER AUDIO CART can crossgrade for $79.00 USD.)
Note that SUPER AUDIO CART PC requires the full version of Native Instruments KONTAKT or KONTAKT PLAYER (5.5.2 or higher).
For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated SUPER AUDIO CART PC webpage here: https://impactsoundworks.com/product/super-audio-cart-pc/
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

Monday, 28 August 2017

Audified announces availability of authentic Klangfilm valve EQ module models as RZ062 Equalizer plug-in bundle


Host application and audio effects developer Audified is proud to announce availability of RZ062 Equalizer — a plug-in bundle based around authentic namesake models of the now-scarce and sought-after, Sixties-vintage Klangfilm RZ062a and RZ062b valve EQ modules made by German giant Siemens for installation in its film sound-centric Universal Mixing and Control Console (Klangfilm System), served up as AU-, AAX-, and VST-compatible RZ062A and RZ062B plug-ins that simply sound as stunning as they look when mixing and mastering with suitable DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) worldwide.
“In the field of studio equipment, the position occupied by the Mixing and Control Console is one of key importance, since the facilities with which it is equipped largely determine the extent to which the sound engineer is able to cope with the manifold tasks of effective tone control… This console is eminently capable of meeting the various requirements of film, TV, and radio broadcast studios.” So states Siemens’ Sixties-vintage Klangfilm System sales blurb, before continuing: “It can be supplied initially equipped with a minimum of facilities, and built out later to increase its flexibility or adapt it to changed working conditions (e.g. for stereophonic recording). Fully equipped, the Mixing and Control Console for 6 x 1 channels with 6 x 2 selective inputs contains… 1 adjustable equalizer (exchangeable)… for individually boosting or suppressing the high and low frequencies (+12 db to -24 db at 40 and, respectively, 10,000 c/s), or for rotation around the middle frequency…”
Freed from such (translated) technicalities, the Klangfilm RZ062a and RZ062b valve EQ modules made by the German giant were designed to allow arbitrary modification of frequency response in sound recording and reproduction in order to eliminate undesired studio acoustics, noise, or create certain acoustic impressions or tonal colouring. Creatively, each module differed in its implementation of the central knob. The RZ062a’s mid control rotates the entire frequency curve around a central (650 Hz) point — treble frequencies are simultaneously lowered when the bass frequencies are raised, while the RZ062b module is even more complicated; its presence knob lets users choose one of four frequencies (1.4, 2, 2.8, and 4 kHz) and adjust their gain simultaneously. Soon both modules made themselves seen and heard in high-end European studios of the time.

Times change, however, as does technology. Today those 300V-powered, 6lbs (2.75kg) hardware heavyweights still carry with them a valve-driven sound that is as distinctive as it is desirable, thanks to their idiosyncratic implementation, and are extremely hard to source — so much so that a rare working pair recently changed hands for $12,000 USD! Ultimately, thanks to Audified’s accurate circuit modelling technique, that distinctive, desirable, and different way of working — with present-day producers tending to surf through various frequencies, spending hours trying to find the ‘sweet spot’ in their mix — means mastering and music production projects can creatively benefit from the RZ062 Equalizer bundle’s self-explanatory RZ062A and RZ062B plug-in namesakes from the comfort of their chosen DAW — and all without breaking the bank!

RZ062 Equalizer can be seen and heard in this informative introductory video

Better still, the heart of each plug-in is modelled after the original device. Both let the user adjust treble and bass. Just like their hardware namesakes, the two EQ modules differ in the function of the mids control. The mid handle of RZ062A rotates the entire frequency curve around the central point. RZ062B is equipped with a presence knob that adjusts one of four preset frequencies. This helps the sound to cut through very gently and sensitively. RZ062 Equalizer is also equipped with INPUT and OUTPUT level knobs, and a Set Calibration function to give the user complete control over its pleasant-sounding SATURATION. RZ062 Equalizer sounds superb on vocals, bass, and drums. It also allows users to work in LINKED mode, control LR (left and right) channels independently, or switch to the MS (mid-side) mode that makes it a great tool for mastering.

By breathing new life into old Klangfilm RZ062a and RZ062b valve EQ modules at the heart of the RZ062A and RZ062B plug-ins — perfectly executed to perfectly suit present-day production workflow needs, Audified authentically emulated over 200 circuit components, including three triodes, plus input and output transformers. This was no easy task, though, as Audified Lead Programmer Jarda Mačák maintains: “We used so-called white box modelling. This means that we described the whole circuit with math equations based on the circuit analysis. Eventually, the overall model was fine-tuned by measurements and a component values-fitting algorithm to find the closest model to the real device as possible. That's the trickiest part — finding a suitable realtime implementation of the model. We’ve got a really precise model, but no-one would be happy if it sucked up all available CPU resources to run just one instance of the plug-in in any given session!”

Happily, that is far from the case with RZ062 Equalizer. Enter Czech composer/producer Boris Carloff, the creative driving force behind pushing the plug-in into production, for some final words of wisdom: “I would put it anywhere where there is a need to add more bass, highs, or mids. It is wasting its potential to use it for cutting frequencies since this is mastering-quality EQ. Its colouration is what makes it so unique. You can really sweeten things, and it is well known as the best voice EQ ever.

Louder than words, then, the end result clearly speaks volumes: RZ062 Equalizer… the sweetest EQ of all times! Just ask Boris Carloff.

RZ062 Equalizer is available to purchase at an introductory promo price of $149.00 USD until September 10, 2017 — rising to $199.00 USD thereafter — from Audified’s online shop here: https://shop.audified.com/products/rz062-equalizer

RZ062 Equalizer can be directly downloaded as a multi-format (AAX, AU, VST2, VST3), 32- and 64-bit native plug-in bundle for MacOS (10.9 and above) and Windows (7 and above) — alongside a fully-functional, 30-day trial version — from Audified here: http://services.audified.com/download/rz062

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated RZ062 Equalizer webpage here: https://shop.audified.com/products/rz062-equalizer

About Audified (www.audified.com)
Audified is the premier brand of privately-owned Boskovice-based DISK Multimedia, s.r.o. in the Czech Republic, created to develop specialised audio applications, as well as handling the company’s high-end hardware product portfolio. Pioneering the development of audio applications for live (realtime) performance, as well as developing the first audio effects plug-ins for Apple’s Mac OS X, the company created some of the first plug-ins for Power|Core, TC Electronic’s hardware-accelerated DSP platform, prompting the Danish developer’s then-PR Manager Thomas Valter to comment, “Our two companies have been working closely together on various projects, and we are very satisfied with the products that have been a result of our cooperation.” Consequently, the company returned to its host application and audio effects developmental roots in 2007 by branding itself with the Audiffex appellation to resourcefully reflect that directional change with an award-winning array of innovations, including MixChecker — a must-have mixing assistant plug-in that transforms studio monitors into classic reference monitors or one of several consumer devices to instantly improve mixes. Moreover, Audified is not just a for-profit business, however; its parental company clearly cares about the future of audio software/hardware development, developing partnerships with both Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, Czech Republic — realising a research project to bring modern audio engineering technologies to music education, and also Brno University of Technology, one of the Czech Republic’s leading research and teaching institutions — working with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Technologies on scientific projects. Participating in organising entry exams and teaching at these highly-respected higher education establishments has helped establish the first specialised studies of audio engineering in the Czech Republic. In keeping with spreading the (audio engineering) word, Audified has helpfully seen fit to recently release a range of free plug-ins, available from here: http://shop.audified.com/collections/products/free#tags
© 2017 Audified

Rob Papen pushes further into space with RP-VERB 2 boldly going where no reverb has gone before

Virtual instrument and effect plug-in developer Rob Papen Soundware is proud to announce availability of RP-VERB 2 — updating its original RP-VERB effect plug-in, a firm favourite amongst many famous producers globally and a go-to reverb for many not-so-famous users, to boldly go where no reverb has gone before.

Space: the final frontier. The dedicated development team at Rob Papen are always on a continuing mission to explore creative new worlds… and boldly go where no one has gone before. But space is quite literally the final frontier, with RP-VERB 2 deftly delivering some truly thrilling tools to explore within its resonating realms, not least its individualistic REVERB spaces, including Room Storm — superb on drums and percussion! Put it this way: with RP-VERB 2 it is easy to (re)create the famous Phil Collins drum sound from his hit single ‘In The Air Tonight’ — and all without resorting to the technical talents of engineer/producer Hugh Padgham, a modified SSL large-format console… and, of course, Phil Collins himself!
However, many more enhancements are available in RP-VERB 2. As implied by name, pre-reverb DISTORTION adds additional bite to the room sound, for example — excellent for drums and percussion, too, but equally at home on vocals for creating a more edgy sound before the reverb itself is applied.

Alongside its superb sound, of course, maybe most intriguing is RP-VERB 2’s recently-added REVERSE section. In playing back the reverberated sound in a most creative way, while doing so it SYNCs to the tempo of the host DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and is easy to control. REVERSE is an awesome tool for creating some uniquely fresh sounds — works well on any sound source, from vocals to drums and loops… you name it! Various Rob Papen-programmed presets are included in RP-VERB 2 to showcase REVERSE in action.

 RP-VERB 2 can be seen and heard in this informative introductory video
 Additionally, there is an ENV (envelope) FOLLOWER on board RP-VERB 2 to effortlessly enable gated reverbs ringing out (‘In The Air Tonight’). This can also be used to control other RP-VERB 2 parameters at the same time. That said, more modulation options are available, including an additional ENVELOPE, LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator), and a modulation matrix.

Many more RP-VERB 2 parameters are available to enable deep space exploration. Enjoying the creative spaces within RP-VERB 2 is audibly a continuing musical mission in itself, so why not boldly go where no reverb effect plug-in has gone before? Space is the final frontier, after all!

RP-VERB 2 can be purchased in a boxed edition — as an AAX (32-/64-bit), AU (32-/64-bit), VST (32-/64-bit) compatible audio software plug-in for Mac OS X (10.6 or higher) and Windows (Vista, 7, 8, and 10) — from authorised Rob Papen dealers worldwide or as a download directly from Rob Papen for €149.00 EUR/$149.00 USD from here: https://www.robpapen.com/rp-verb-2-buy.html (Owners of RP-VERB are eligible to upgrade to RP-VERB 2 for €39.00 EUR/$39.00 USD, while RP-VERB 2 is included in eXplorer4, the latest incarnation of Rob Papen’s all-encompassing software bundle, so owners of eXplorer4 can download the RP-VERB 2 installer for free.)
For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated RP-VERB 2 product webpage here: https://www.robpapen.com/rp-verb2.html
About Rob Papen (www.robpapen.com)
Self-confessed synth freak and world-renowned sound designer Rob Papen started working with synthesizers at the tender age of 15 when purchasing an analogue Korg MS-20 semi-modular monosynth and accompanying analogue SQ-10 sequencer. Suitably inspired, he subsequently released several albums as part of Dutch electronic music groups Peru and Nova — the latter featuring the same members as Peru, but with a more commercial slant — with whom he enjoyed number one hit singles in The Netherlands (Nova) in 1982 and Austria (Peru) in 1988. Peru disbanded in 1993, by which time Rob had already established himself as a sought-after sound designer, creating presets for the likes of Waldorf, Access, Ensoniq, and E-mu, before going on to found his namesake company in pursuit of creating a sound designer’s dream synth. That software dream soon became reality when Rob formed the RPCX (Rob Papen ConcreteFX) partnership with music software developer Jon Ayres to develop new Rob Papen virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, starting with BLUE — an exciting-sounding, self-styled ‘Crossfusion Synthesis’ affair (combining FM, Phase Distortion, Wave Shaping, and Subtractive synthesis into one powerful dream synth) — in 2005. Today Rob Papen soundware defines cutting-edge contemporary music production: powerful virtual instruments and plug-ins that intermix innovative design, uncompromising sound quality, and musical, production-grade presets to make tracks truly shine, whatever the musical genre… Inspiration Soundware, indeed!
© 2017 Rob Papen Inspiration Software

Saturday, 26 August 2017

VERMONA ups Eurorack attenuation ante with flexible four-channel quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator

Electronic sound tools creator VERMONA is proud to announce availability of the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator — a four-channel polarizer module for the popular Eurorack small-format modular system, capable of attenuating any incoming signal, in-phase or out of phase, plus providing additional functionality for further flexibility.

Eurorack has been nicknamed ‘Eurocrack’… and for good reason. It’s certainly addictive! As any enlightened Eurorack small-format modular system user would surely say: you can never have enough modules that influence levels, be that for audio signals or control voltages. VERMONA’s quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator helps fill that void — or, indeed, any empty Eurorack rack-space (assuming that potential purchasers have 10 HP to spare in their system) — as a four-channel polarizer module, capable of attenuating any incoming signal, in-phase or out of phase. Putting it ahead of the Eurorack pack, the way that each of those four channels work is one of its most distinguishing features. Fortunately, instead of only having one dedicated zero-point, it has a ‘dead-zone’ where the input signal will be completely suppressed, so users can easily locate the off position — even without a centre-click — while simultaneously being able to create extremely sensitive level increases.


Further flexibility abounds as the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator realises a number of other outstanding features. Firstly, any channel’s OUTPUT signal is optionally forwarded to the next one, allowing the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator to be used as a mixer module, as implied by its full appellation; as such, users can sum up to four signals. Secondly, the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator can also be controlled via control voltages, with each channel boasting a CV IN alongside its INPUT; so, setting the level manually apart, users can also use each channel as a VCA (Voltage-Controlled Amplifier)… and — Eurorack being ‘Eurocrack’ — you can never have enough VCAs in a modular system, now, can you? Yet more functionality comes courtesy of the fact that the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator has one four-quadrant multiplier per channel, allowing the module to also act as a ring modulator without any compromises — in fact, four ring modulators!

Mind the (10 HP-wide) gap. As flexible as it is functional, then, owners of any Eurorack small-format modular system should surely consider adding a quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator to their setup. After all, once you’ve got your hands on one, it’s hard to live without it. Indeed, once you’ve got your hands on one, you might need to satisfy your addiction with another!

Shipping now, the quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator is available to purchase through VERMONA’s growing global network of dealers (http://www.vermona.com/en/dealer/) with an RRP of €269.00 EUR (Europe) and $309.00 USD (USA).

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated quadroPOL polarizing mixer / ringmodulator webpage here: http://www.vermona.com/en/products/modules/product/quadropol/
About VERMONA (www.vermona.com)
VERMONA is located in idyllic south-eastern Vogtland in Germany, well known for its extraordinary musical instrument-building skills since the 18th Century, where it has manufactured electronic musical instruments and processors displaying the highest level of craftsmanship for over 25 years. Since its revival in 2001, the traditional established VERMONA brand name is synonymous with realising its sonic vision with uncompromising clarity, creating electronic sound tools in close cooperation with experienced musicians and dedicated sound smiths. From initial design concepts through to final polish, perfected engineering art goes hand in hand here with fulfilling creative users’ dreams and demands!
© 2017 HDB electronic GmbH

VERMONA with uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator module ventures further into populating popular Eurorack

Electronic sound tools creator VERMONA is proud to announce availability of the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator — a six-waveform VCO (Voltage-Controlled Oscillator) module for the popular Eurorack small-format modular system with an outstanding feature set that is all set to help it stand out from the sound of the crowd (to partially paraphrase the early-Eighties British breakthrough hit from synth-pop pioneers The Human League, no strangers to Eurorack today themselves) .

Audio-oscillators are probably the most widespread modules found in Eurorack small-format modular systems today — hardly surprising since they are fundamental for generating synthetic sounds, both tonal as well as percussive. Oscillators, of course, are at the musical heart of VERMONA’s sought-after synthesizers, such as the flagship ’14 ANALOG SYNTHESIZER, so the company clearly knows how to design them. That said, instead of applying a ‘copy and paste’ procedure, it reworked many aspects, adapting its oscillator circuits to Eurorack small-format modular system usage. After all, what works well for closed systems might not necessarily be perfectly suited to modular systems. Such ‘due diligence’ displayed during research and development resulted in the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator, a compact (10 HP-wide), high-performance, and stable oscillator offering all the common features that the discerning Eurorack small-format modular system user might easily expect… and, arguably, much more besides.


Besides classic sawtooth, triangle and square offerings, the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator generates sine, even, and a special sawtooth with doubled frequency for a total of six waveform OUTPUTS. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is not only available for that square wave, but also even — a shape that only has even-numbered harmonics — can be transformed into a sine-like wave, while the doubled saw turns into half-pitched triangles. There are also six OUTPUTS, including LIN FM (Linear Frequency Modulation) and EXP FM (Exponential Frequency Modulation) as well as H - SYNC - S (hard and soft sync).

Saving space, one knob allows access to the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator’s frequencies in three different modes. TUNE either controls the low frequency or audio range, respectively adding or subtracting exactly one octave. In this calibrated mode it provides a ‘dead-zone’ around its centre position, making it easy to access all three octaves without needing a centre-click.


Care was taken to make the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator suitable for use in a musical context when VERMONA made its design decisions. Delivering superlative sound quality with rock-solid, stable tuning, the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator obviously fulfils those all-important criteria, handling huge tuning ranges with the greatest of ease while strictly following the 1-volt-per-octave convention.

Clearly, then, the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator makes a strong case for anyone to embrace Eurorack… and at least one such module should be in every Eurorack small-format modular casing!

Shipping now, the uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator is available to purchase through VERMONA’s growing global network of dealers (http://www.vermona.com/en/dealer/) with an RRP of €289.00 EUR (Europe) and $339.00 USD (USA).

For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated uniCYCLE voltage controlled oscillator webpage here: http://www.vermona.com/en/products/modules/product/unicycle/
About VERMONA (www.vermona.com)
VERMONA is located in idyllic south-eastern Vogtland in Germany, well known for its extraordinary musical instrument-building skills since the 18th Century, where it has manufactured electronic musical instruments and processors displaying the highest level of craftsmanship for over 25 years. Since its revival in 2001, the traditional established VERMONA brand name is synonymous with realising its sonic vision with uncompromising clarity, creating electronic sound tools in close cooperation with experienced musicians and dedicated sound smiths. From initial design concepts through to final polish, perfected engineering art goes hand in hand here with fulfilling creative users’ dreams and demands!
© 2017 HDB electronic GmbH

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Unfiltered Audio announces availability of overhauled Dent 2 and Indent 2 plugins exclusively from Plugin Alliance


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 Dent 2 and Indent 2 — all-new and advanced versions of Plugin Alliance partner Unfiltered Audio’s different distortion/waveshaping plugins par excellence.
Unfiltered Audio’s original version of Dent was a very different kind of distortion plugin, produced by the cutting-edge Californian company to enable every engineer and sound designer who had ever longed to manipulate waveforms on a molecular level to do just that. Now, with the release of Dent 2, audio control freaks can really rejoice since this time its creators have gone subatomic… we’re talking about a let’s-sharpen-the-peaks-on-the-negative-half-of-the-waveform level of control here! However, those seeking sweet analog hardware emulation are advised to look elsewhere since those mad scientists at Unfiltered Audio are digital to their core… collectively, they truly know how to turn those ones and zeros into musical magic!

Any audio making its way into Dent 2 is first met by the plugin’s freely-adjustable and highly-customizable sample reduction engine. Next, the signal passes through as many as three different distortion types in series, selectable from among ten unique clipping algorithms. Within those gain stages, users can add or subtract a DC (Direct Current) BIAS, adjust the waveform’s SHAPE by flattening or sharpening it, and independently adjust the positive and negative (UPPER X and LOWER X) halves of the waveform. Thereafter, the bitrate engine is a continuous and automatable parameter with six different Bitcrush algorithms. After that, the audio finally passes through one of four different resonant filter types — that is, unless, of course, the user opts to position the filter at the beginning of the signal path, rather than at its end. Even making the filter position dynamic is perfectly possible — alternating on dotted eighth notes between placements at the beginning and the end, for example. End users can freely witness creative possibilities really starting to unfold before their eyes and ears!

Even experienced sound designers would be hard-pressed to dream up a wave-shaping scenario that cannot be customized by Dent 2 with exacting precision. Put it this way: what about a broken guitar amp that has an interesting sound? Easy. Emulate it by adjusting the PROBABILITY controls so that Dent 2 randomly applies distortion to only 70% of the audio signal’s wave cycles. Or take things a step further forward by flipping on the Drop switch to silence all the undistorted waveform segments. Subsequent setting of the clipping type to Tape and the filter type to Low Pass puts things into the realm of emulating the sound of an cassette that has been chewed by a tape deck. Dent 2 does it all.

Watch Plugin Alliance contributor Charles Stella & artist/producer Logan James showing how to use Dent 2 and Indent 2 to get anything from gritty saturation and attitude on drums to reality-defying wave modulation and harmonic destruction on vocals in this demo video
And here is the best part: almost all of those parameters can be modulated with Unfiltered Audio’s unique and intuitive modulation system. Simply assign a parameter by using a virtual patch cable, then select from eight different modulators, including LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators), a randomizer, and even a user-programmable step sequencer. So using a sine-based LFO on the filter frequency, for example, can produce a conventional wah effect, or setting the filter to Band Reject mode and applying the step sequencer can create a Leslie effect with syncopated rhythms. Moreover, modulating DC offset with an input follower makes a snare drum track with hi-hat bleed sound like heavy machinery pounding away on a demonic assembly line!

Letting loose with more hands-on control options in Dent 2 is perfectly possible, too, thanks to Unfiltered Audio’s recently-developed ROLI Lightpad modulator making for seamless integration with ROLI’s latest controller, users of which can creatively apply simple gestural controls to modulate Dent 2 parameters in real time. The Lightpad’s three-dimensional interface is in a class by itself, so can easily be used to modulate multiple parameters or even modulate other modulators! Alternatively, apply a step sequence modulator to the sample rate, then use finger pressure to scale the modulator’s amplitude. Applying the X and Y axes to the filter’s CUTOFF and REZ (Resonance) parameters to ‘draw’ filter envelopes on the Lightpad’s surface during live performances likewise puts this killer creative combination into its rightful perspective.

Indent 2’s signal path, meanwhile, consists of a customizable multimode filter, sandwiched between two different clipping stages, both of which offer the same ten different user-selectable saturation modes found in Dent 2: Hard Clip, Soft Clip, Wavefold, Overfold, Harsh Fold, Distortion, Tube, Tape, Gloubi, and Cubic. Including a filter in the plugin’s internal signal path dramatically expands its versatility, so it is easily adaptable to a broad range of wave-shaping tasks. Try adding a modulated, resonant High-pass filter after the first clipping stage to get an old-school techno sound on a synth bass track, then set the second clipping stage to Wavefold to smooth out the signal and bring back some of the harmonics that were cut off by the filter. Further experimentation shows that Indent 2 can imbue an almost endless range of tones and emotions for any musical genre, and — like its Dent 2 bigger brother — almost all of its parameters can be modulated by that same intuitive and unique Unfiltered Audio modulation system, supporting seamless integration with ROLI’s Lightpad controller.

Dent 2 and Indent 2 both benefit from several key upgrades since v1, including two new modulators added to the modulation section (Step sequencer and ROLI Lightpad); six new saturation modes; new Complex Mode (gives Dent 2 users the option to apply a different saturation algorithm to each of the three clipping stages); multimode filter; AGC (Automatic Gain Compensation); and OpenGL toggle switch.

So, whether working with a toolkit that can expertly soothe, saturate, or strangle sounds beyond recognition (Dent 2), or an intuitive and sleek saturation/tone box with a powerful modulation system (Indent 2)… don’t just distort it, dent it.


Dent 2 and Indent 2 are available for purchase — as AAX Native-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-supporting plugins 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 $99.00 USD and $49.00 USD, respectively. (Owners of Dent can upgrade to Dent 2 for free at any time, while a time-limited promo offer allows owners of Indent to upgrade to Dent 2 for $29.00 USD until September 30, 2017; either way, customers upgrading to/purchasing Dent 2 will receive Indent 2 for free.)

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

Through the  proprietary Plugin Alliance Installation Manager 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 Dent 2 webpage here:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/unfiltered_audio_dent_2.html

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated Indent 2 webpage here:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/unfiltered_audio_indent_2.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.

Saturday, 19 August 2017

Spitfire Audio applies evolutionary Evo Grid technology to blockbuster-sounding symphonic strings

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 EVOLUTIONS — a world where pristine symphonic sampling meets Spitfire Audio’s more progressive Producer Portfolio range to create an evolutionary experience by applying the company’s cutting-edge Evo Grid technology to the same no-expense-spared session recordings responsible for its sought-after 60-star-string-player-performing, blockbuster-sounding SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS library like no other .
With PP017 EVO GRID 1 and PP020 EVO GRID 2 — respectively subtitled EVOlving Stringscapes and Second EVOlving Strings, Spitfire Audio unleashed upon an unsuspecting musical sampling world a whole new way of working with long string articulations. By recording a number of very long notes that change or mutate over time across the entire range of the keyboard, and allowing different evolutions — Evos in ‘Spitfire-speak’, A-listers and amateurs alike could create profound end results in hitherto unheard ways. What’s more, those note lengths are different across each Evo to increase the randomness of what the user creates.

Creating such randomness is simplicity itself, however, thanks to the onscreen Evo Grid that lent its name to those trailblazing libraries and carries through to the latest SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS. There are 48 Evos available across the top of the grid while the keyboard range is listed on the left-hand side, split up and notified by the Note Centre in each range. To assign an evolution to a note range, place a (virtual) peg in the relevant hole on the grid itself — inspired by the breakthrough British EMS VCS3, which made musical history upon its introduction in 1969 by being the first commercially portable synthesiser available anywhere in the world, thanks to its innovative modular matrix-based patchboard dispensing with the telephone exchange-like cabling of other (much larger) modular systems in favour of making space-saving connections with (removable) coloured pegs.
Watch Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS video walkthrough
Putting that Evo Grid technology, based on an easy-to-use evolution engine, into its rightful perspective within SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS, Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson — an in-demand media composer himself — has this to say: “The idea behind this was that quite often you need to create music which has a feeling of evolution — a feeling of movement and excitement, shimmer, and all of that kind of stuff, but the director doesn’t want you to do anything. They say, ‘We want music that doesn’t really do anything, but want it to evolve — want it to feel like there is a growing tension or some pressure or something.’ So these evolutions have been orchestrated by Ben Foskett. Each of them have an individual concept, and then they’re recorded over the entire keyboard in groups — Cells — with a 60-piece string orchestra in the hall at AIR Lyndhurst — beautiful, massive, lush sound. You get a really interesting texture developing, so these do sound quite different from our other Evo Grid products, which are smaller string sections, so sound a bit more gritty and in your face. This is a more widescreen and a kind of lush sound, but yet you still have those really interesting textures that develop when you have a group of players who are all following the instructions, but all timing things slightly differently.”
Watch Spitfire Audio ‘composer in residence’ Oliver Patrice Weder’s SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS ‘In Action’ video
Do not forget, though… since SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS was recorded during the same session as its SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS sibling, it features the same 60 star string players (16 1st VIOLINS, 14 2nd VIOLINS, 12 VIOLAS, 10 CELLOS, and eight BASSES) — all handpicked from the best orchestras in London — performing 48 Evos orchestrated by established contemporary concert composer Ben Foskett. All are performed in situ as they would be in a major scoring session, captured in the revered acoustic of Lyndhurst Hall within London’s legendary AIR Studios using the same high-class equipment — priceless valve and ribbon mics, Neve ‘AIR Montserrat’ preamps into a Neve 88R large-scale console, all recorded at 96kHz via a 2-inch Studer tape machine — to create an emotive and musical library that is rich in both beautiful and tense symphonic string parts.

Watch Spitfire Audio’s alluring promo video for
SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS
 Put it this way: “SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS is an incredibly creative tool, and a lot of fun to use; it can really bring a lot of texture to your compositions.” So says Paul Thomson by way of an appropriate closer. Can’t say fairer than that!

Watch Spitfire Audio’s informative introduction to Evos video
SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS can be purchased and digitally downloaded (as 36.6 GB of uncompressed .WAV files, featuring 4,703 samples) for a time-limited introductory promo price of £229.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$249.00 USD/€259.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until Thursday, August 31, 2017 — rising thereafter to an MSRP of £269.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$299.00 USD/€309.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/spitfire-symphonic-strings-evolutions/

Note that SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS EVOLUTIONS needs Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT PLAYER (5.5 and above) — included in the purchase — 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 EVOLUTIONS webpage

 
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.

© 2017 Spitfire Audio Holdings Limited

Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Fiedler audio plugin premiere takes center STAGE with exclusive Plugin Alliance availability

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 stage — seriously enhancing the inherent ambience in any source signal by applying advanced spatial and stereo panning algorithms, adding valuable texture, depth, and nuance to stems, mixes, or masters as the plugin premiere from Plugin Alliance partner fiedler audio.
 stage utilizes sophisticated spatial processing techniques to take a good mix or master and make it better. By using sophisticated stereo panning, delay lines, and phase modulation, stage smoothly serves up what would otherwise require routing schemes of a confusingly complex nature and multiple plugins to achieve. As such, stage waves goodbye to copying tracks and setting up the Haas effect delay — when a sound is followed by another sound separated by a sufficiently short time delay (below the listener’s echo threshold), the listener perceives a single fused auditory image with a perceived spatial location dominated by the location of the first-arriving sound while the lagging sound also affects the perceived location (though its effect is suppressed by the first-arriving sound) — or panning stereo tracks within a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) while using another plugin to control stereo width. By bringing these tried and tested techniques under one virtual roof, stage enables efficient stereo workflow with maximum flexibility and accuracy… all of which yield greater perceived width with new levels of musical clarity.

See and hear Plugin Alliance’s stunning stage trailer here:
 
With stage, stereo imaging is fatter without sacrificing dynamic range, and individual tracks can be positioned with extreme precision — perfect for instantly intensifying substance and adding tactility to the user’s sound. Stylish, thanks to its gorgeous GUI (Graphical User Interface) implementation, and benefitting from low CPU (Central Processing Unit) consumption, stage seeks to take center stage as a go-to plugin for satisfying spatial augmentation and manipulation needs. Needless to say, stage is needed by anyone and everyone involved in music and audio production… professional or otherwise!
 Features:
* IN (input) section with stereo corrective tools like MS blend and L/R tilt.
* PANORAMA section with two sophisticated algorithms that place both mono and stereo sources precisely  within the stereo panorama (pan) while adjusting for width.
* AMBIENCE section for subtle stereo width enhancement, additional perceived depth, size and texture, tone coloration, or creative LFO frequency modulation effects.
* Dedicated wet and dry bypass functions for accurate monitoring of added effect.
* OUT (output) section optimized for mastering workflows.


stage is available for purchase — as an 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 $99.00 USD until August 31, 2017, rising to $179.00 USD thereafter. (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 stage webpage here: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/fiedler_audio_stage.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 fiedler audio (www.fiedler-audio.com)
fiedler audio was founded in Germany in 2013 with the goal of developing the highest quality products for sound and sound design. Dedicated to the creation of professional music and audio software that expands the horizons of musicians, DJs, audio engineers, and producers, its ongoing mission revolves around allowing amateurs and professionals alike to realize their dreams and ideas at the highest level possible — whatever they are and wherever they may take them… in the studio, at a gig, in the comfort of their living room, or even down in the park, fiedler audio’s software showcases new and innovative ways to evolve.

Brainworx celebrates 10 years of premium plugins

“The guys… were using a custom-built M/S matrix with some decent, regular EQs, and I was blown away by what they could do with it.” - Brainworx CEO Dirk Ulrich, 2017

Brainworx is proud to kick-start celebrating its 10th anniversary at the forefront of industry-leading pro audio plugins development by announcing an appropriately-titled 10 Years/10 Deals promotional campaign sale starting on August 11, which will be the first of a number of ‘10-themed’ events that the cutting-edge company has planned, so stay tuned.
 Brainworx plugins are the result of an analog and digital DNA
10 years is a long time in the fast-paced pro audio plugins development world and Brainworx has clearly come a long way during that time, finding favour with many notable recording engineers, producers, and artists around the globe. Getting there, though, was a stroke of genius. Who better to put that trailblazing 10-year journey to glory into its present-day (plugin) perspective than Brainworx CEO Dirk Ulrich. “10 years ago I was producing music for a living, and I was at a big studio in Cologne to have some of my mixes mastered,” he recalls. “The guys there were using a custom-built M/S matrix with some decent, regular EQs, and I was blown away with what they could do with it. This is when I decided I wanted to build a hardware analog EQ with an M/S matrix built in, so I started working on this with a friend of mine. To prototype we worked with a software development kit from a German company, Creamware. Once we had a functioning prototype of an M/S EQ inside the box, we showed it to the Creamware guys and they said, ‘Wow! You should absolutely make a plugin out of this.’ Funnily enough, the hardware never went into production because we had a plugin ready, took it to some trade shows, and it completely took off, so we’ve focused on developing software ever since. We began to create more plugins based on M/S technology, and people seemed to really dig what we did with each new release.”


The rest, as they say, is history… with the Brainworx-branded M/S standard EQ, bx_digital V3, really representing where the company is at today. “This is the third generation of bx_digital, the EQ plugin that basically started Brainworx as a plugin company,” continues company owner Dirk Ulrich, before adding: “Seeing the V3 come to life… daddy couldn’t be prouder!”

Black magic meets passion and power
Perhaps he could. Cue bx_console E, the latest trailblazing flagship plugin from Brainworx that truly represents its past, present, and future. bx_console E 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. Brainworx’s brainchild is much more than a channel strip plugin with multiway routing, representing 10 years of refinement in its development of EQ and dynamics processors with cutting-edge circuit modeling of the analog domain to reset the bar for creating an authentic large-format mixing console experience in-the-box. Brainworx’s patent-pending TMT (Tolerance Modeling Technology) simulates the channel-to-channel variances of the E Series’ electronic components on each and every instance of the plugin. After a decade of technological advancement and refinement, establishing itself as one of the world’s premier plugin developers, and trailblazing technologies like TNT, bx_console E clearly demonstrates that both Brainworx and its far-flung customer base have a bright future ahead of them.
 
The technical achievements of the last 10 years alone are noteworthy enough, but Brainworx’s success is also deep-rooted in Dirk Ulrich’s extensive experience as a producer and audio engineer, work which continues to this day. His desire to build better tools for his chosen profession has driven the company’s capacity to create tools that just work for professionals. Professional through and through, his enduring enthusiasm comes through loud and clear when talking about bx_console E and TMT: “It’s hard to describe the excitement of sitting at a real analog, large-format E Series console, comparing it to our bx_console E plugin emulating the exact same console, and not being able to tell the difference. Other emulations miss the most crucial part of what makes those big boards so desirable, which is the depth and width of the sound; you can only get that from many slightly different channels together, working their magic on the music.”

10 Years/10 Deals celebratory sale
Music is assuredly at the heart of everything ‘Made by Brainworx’… but Dirk Ulrich’s company has clearly come a long way during its 10-year tenure. What better way to kick-start celebrating its 10th anniversary at the forefront of industry-leading pro audio plugins development, then, than by offering 10 hand-picked Brainworx plugins — ranging from that third generation of the plugin that started it all to its innovative entry into the wonderful world of reverb, bx_rooMS, and also including a must-have ‘mystery’ plugin at a must-have-drunk-too-much-at-the-anniversary-party price of only $19 USD — as part of that appropriately-themed 10 Years/10 Deals sale, starting on August 11.

Brainworx’s appropriately-themed 10 Years/10 Deals celebratory sale starts on August 11 and runs through to August 27 with 10 hand-picked plugins available at attractively discounted pricing available exclusively from its US sister company/distribution partner Plugin Alliance here: https://www.plugin-alliance.com
 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.