Altsounds - Gear

The Wave Alchemy SFX Collection 01 [Sample Pack]

Luigi Bastardo — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:40:15 GMT

The field of Digital Sounditry (I just made that up) has come far in the last couple of decades. I still remember the fun my friends and I had with my 32-key Casio SK-1 Digital Sampler back in grade school. The 8 bit bundle of joy would hold a whopping 1.4 seconds of sampling, and it was extremely difficult at times to get the timing right in order to fart directly into the tiny microphone (grade school, remember?), just so we could hear what the intro to Depeche Mode�s �Just Can�t Get Enough� sounded like comprised of nothing but flatulence.

Let�s forgo the further embarrassing moments in Luigi�s past and jump ahead a bit. As a novice (and part-time) musician (and, by �musician,� I mean �I mix bastard pop / mash-up / bootlegs, and occasionally write my own compositions that nobody ever hears�), I have spent more than a few good dollars on several different sound libraries. A few of these �libraries� resulted in me discovering an interesting sound or two, but they were all a waste of money for the most part (although some did sound suspiciously like a kid farted into a Casio SK-1).

Fortunately, the folks at Wave Alchemy seem to take their business a bit more seriously than their no-name (not to mention nameless) competitors, and the SFX Collection 01 even manages to include a little pride with each purchase. The relatively new sound design company Wave Alchemy has been making a splash on both sides of the Pond lately with their collections of loops and samples, one of which -- SFX Collection 01 -- has already earned itself an award.

Rightfully so, too.

Assembled with dance music in mind (although I�m sure just about anyone can make use of this assortment of sounds), SFX Collection 01 features over 1.5GB of 24bit sound samples, all of which are royalty free and were manufactured with modern and vintage equipment alike -- from antiquities like the ARP Odyssey and Roland Juno, to the to the Sherman Filterbank and the Prophet 08 (you have no idea how relieved I was to learn that the Casio SK-1 was not amongst the machinery used in developing this set). Styles included in the set are Textures, Impacts, Stabs & Acid Hits, Sweeps & Drones, Short FX & Hits, Cymbal FX, Downlifters, and Uplifters.

Of course, the best way to determine whether or not you�re going to like Wave Alchemy�s SFX Collection 01 (and you probably will) is to hear some of these samples before you spend any of your hard-earned cash. And, in order to do so, you can visit Sample CDs & Sample Packs - Wave Alchemy and take a listen to a variety of free samples.

What's included in the Sample Library?

Textures - Ethereal beds, disturbing ambience & sublime pad FX
Impacts - Reverb-washed collisions & thunderous drops
Stabs & Acid Hits - Rustic stabs, chords & minimal synth effects
Sweeps & Drones - Distorted tones, drones, luscious sweeps and short transitional effects
Short FX & Hits - Over 250 short FX & processed hits
Cymbal FX - A unique collection of processed crash cymbal sound effects
Downlifters - Noise drops, synth swirls, downward transitions, essential intros and progressive sweeps
Uplifters - pitched rises, affected noise & up-rising tones

Tech Specs:

Over 1.5GB (before file conversions) of 24-bit 100% royalty free sound effects which include;

32 Cymbal Fx
97 Downlifters
80 Impacts
266 Short Fx and Hits
75 Stabs and Acid Hits
111 Sweeps and Drones
32 Textures
89 Uplifters
9 Ready to play Patches for Soft Samplers, Kontakt, Halion, Exs24, Nnxt and SFZ formats.

Overall the Wave Alchemy SFX Colletion 01 is an excellent collection of samples that would be suited for most types of music but would excel in club music and potentially for film scoring.

Buy From The Manufacturer:

SFX Collection 01 | Sample CDs & Sample Packs - Wave Alchemy

Punk and Indie Rock [Production Sample Pack]

psiruslatimer7 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:04:56 GMT

Rock samples are everywhere as artists of all genres are rocking up their music ad adding guitars etc. You can get a lot of Rock samples free with most music production magazines on a monthly basis, they come free with software you buy, as well as countless other places. I should know, I have got them scattered all over the place, and in my experience good Rock samples are usually few and far between as they always sound a little fake and processed and never as good as the real thing. Thankfully however, the nice folks at Big Fish Audio seem to be on a mission to change all that.

Along with the help of producer Dan Diaz, a man responsible for working on scores for a number of video game and movie scores, Big Fish Audio seems to be out to give Producers with no access to a real band their moneys worth.

This collection does exactly what it says on the tin and focuses on the Punk and Indie genre in particular. Boasting a massive collection and covering all instruments commonly used in these genres including Drums, Guitars and Bass, Big Fish Audio have made this production sample collection available at an affordable price and in a number of formats including Rex, Apple loops, Wav and RMX.

Dan Diaz seems to have paid fine attention to detail, ensuring every sound you pay for is the sound you want. Each sample and loop is produced to ensure you get the kick you need to make your tracks stand out and rise above the rest. If it�s an energy fueled drum kit or even a powerfully over driven guitar you are in desperate need of then look no further, Big Fish Audio's Punk and Indie Rock collection is definetly worth a purchase

What the Manufacturer Says:

Quote:

Hard-thumping punk anthems
Producer and musician Dan Diaz turns out some of the hardest-hitting punk and indie rock tracks available anywhere. Packed with tons of raw material, this DVD showcases the authentic pace and volume of today�s Southern California music scene. Raised in the Poway community of San Diego, famed by Blink 182, Diaz delivers tight, hard-thumping punk anthems and underground hits typical of middle-class Southern California suburbs. The drum and bass tracks alone are so rich that adding ��Punk & Indie Rock�� to your collection just for these elements is worth the price of admission. If you ever wanted to assemble slammin� tracks in the style of today�s hottest indie bands, now is the time to take the ��slammin� sounds of So-Cal�� in the studio with you!

Purchase Link:
Punk & Indie Rock:Slammin Sounds of So-Cal - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

SoundSense Series - Chilled Grooves [Production Sample Pack]

psiruslatimer7 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:02:01 GMT

These days 'chilled samples' are found in almost every genre of music. There are countless rock albums out there that use chilled samples in their tracks and interludes. Likewise with any pop, dance or R 'N B album. The point I'm making is that 'chilled samples' are so diversly used these days that they can't simply be pigeon holed into one specific genre and tend to be something of a universal sample collection. Consider it if you will as 'chilled grooves' just being non genre specific laid back grooves for use anywhere and everywhere!

SoundSense are constantly going above and beyond to meet the needs of the modern producer, and this massive collection of samples and loops are nothing short of outstanding. The 'Chilled Grooves' collection has everything you would ever need to add that extra layer of brilliance to your tracks. Covering instruments and sounds such as Keyboards, Drums, Bass and so much more. Not to mention an outstanding collection of Pads, Atmospheric sounds and Sound FX.

In short ladies and gentlemen, this is a must for anyone who would like to give their tracks a little something extra, a little spice if you will. Atmosphere in music can go a long way and makes all the difference between stopping a track sounding average and making it into a modern classic.

All the sounds and instruments recorded or created in this 'Chilled Grooves' collection are Royalty-Free, Which you will be glad to know as it means that once purchased, you can use them in any way, shape or form in your tracks without any legal worries or repercussions (a massive bonus if you�re actually working on a professional or commercial piece).

The SoundSense Series Chilled Grooves are given in a large range of formats including WAV, AIFF and even REX2, ensuring that they are basically ready to go as soon as you need them, in whatever software program you use.

Minimum hassle. This one is definitely a must own sample pack for all music Producers, a great collection for a reasonable price.

Sample Pack Contents:

400 Acidized WAV files
400 AIFF Apple Loop files
150 REX2 files
Over 600Mb of sounds
Drum & Percussion Loops
Construction Kits
Pads
Basses
Keys
Drum Hits
Atmospheres & FX
...and much more!

Available Versions Included:

Acid�WAV
AIFF Apple Loops
Stylus RMX�
Rex2

Purchase Link:

SoundSense Chilled Grooves - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

Loopmasters Jazz Sessions [Production sample pack]

psiruslatimer7 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:59:16 GMT

These days Audio Sample disks are plentiful. They are available in nearly every format, for almost every program and made to satisfy the music producer of any genre. To put it more simply, here in the 21st century we are up to out eyeballs in Audio production sample discs and packs. However, that being the case, these seem to be a massive range of modern music genre sample packs (such as Drum �n Bass, Rock, Dance, Trance, etc), but when it comes to the �older� genres they seem to be few and far between, and any that do exist tend to be not such great quality (speaking from personal experience). Now Loopmasters have brought us their latest Jazz offering for the frustrated producer.

Jazz has always been a style of music that is best created with live instruments and live recordings, playing what you want -when you want. That was until this Jazz Sessions collection was sent our way. The Jazz Sessions collection boasts a fantastic 3 GB of samples from some of the most commonly used instruments in the Jazz music scene including Drums and Percussion, Double Bass, Brass, Flute, Guitar, Keys and so much more. This Jazz Sessions collection definitely meets any music producer�s needs, Professional or amateur.

As already stated, Jazz is one of those genres that is usually better played by real performers, and Loopmasters have done nothing short of hiring some of the worlds top players to do just that! Not to mention produced each sample to absolute perfection, ensuring that you get the best in quality before you even load the samples.

In a nutshell, if Jazz is what you want, then Loopmasters have 100% delivered with their Jazz Sessions sample pack. This is one that is sure not to disappoint, and is guaranteed to turn your amateur and flat sonical creations into musical marvels that will make Miles Davis proud!

Genres: Jazz, Broken Beats, Chillout, Downtempo and Soul
Formats: Wav, Acid, Rex2, Apple Loops, Halion, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, NNXT and CD-DVD

Tech Specs:

5000 Copyright free Jazz samples
3042 Acidised Wav files
1858 Rex2 Loops
11 Patches for NNXT, Halion, Kontakt, EXS24, SFZ
3 Gig content Total Library

Purchase Link:

Jazz Sessions - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

IK Multimedia Amplitube Fender Amp Modelling software

houstonmusicreviews — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:19:16 GMT

In this release, IK Multimedia partnered with Fender to model their amp, effects, speaker cabinet and microphone lines. I remember the official announcement regarding this product and just as many other recording musicians, I have been anxiously waiting to hear the results.

According to Shane Nicholas, Senior Marketing Manager, Fender� Guitar Amplifiers, Fender "...made countless suggestions, changes, and tonal tweaks in the same way that we do when we develop the real amps, and many of the same people were involved." Davide Barbi, head of development explains that IK Multimedia went to great length to ensure that according to both IK Multimedia and Fender, the modellers were as close to the real thing as humanly possible.

Features
So what does the IK Multimedia AmpliTube Fender actually contain?

The package contains:

12 Amplifiers

'59 Bassman� LTD
'65 Twin Reverb�
'57 Deluxe�
'65 Deluxe Reverb�
'64 Vibroverb� Custom
Vibro-King� Custom
Champion� 600
Super-Sonic�
MH-500 Metalhead�
Pro Junior�
Bassman� 300
TBP-1 Bass Preamp

12 Cabinets

'59 Bassman� 4x10� Open Back
'65 Twin Reverb� 2x12� Open Back
'57 Deluxe� 1x12� Open Back
'65 Deluxe Reverb� 1x12� Open Back
'64 Vibroverb� 1x15� Open Back
Super-Sonic� 1x12� Open Back
Vibro-King� 3x10� Open Back
Pro Junior� 1x10� Open Back
Champion� 600 1x6� Open Back
MH-412SL 4x12� Closed Back
Vibratone 1x10� Rotary Speaker
810 PRO 8x10� Front Ported

9 Stomp Effects (before the amplifier)

Fender� Compressor
Fender� Blender�
Fender� Phaser
Fender� Fuzz Wah
Fender� Tremolo
Fender� '63 Reverb
Fender� Tape Echo
Fender� Wah
Fender� Volume

7 Rack Effects (after the amplifier)

Fender� Pitch Shift
Fender� Tape Echo
Fender� Sine Flange
Fender� Triangle Chorus
Fender� Wah
Fender� Compressor
Fender� '63 Reverb

Digital Tuner and noise gate

Like AmpliTube 2, The Fender and other AmpliTube packages (Ampeg SVX, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, AmpliTube Metal and AmpliTube 2 Live) contain the familiar 5 module layout and a standalone version with SpeedTrainer. The AmpliTube X-GEAR and StompIO provides seamless integration with other products of the range, thus letting you mix and match parts from all the rigs available.

Installation
Registration for the software was a breeze as I had already created an account with IK Multimedia. For those that do not have it, it requires you to register and then enables your software via a challenge / response validation routine. The whole thing took less than a few minutes and I was good to go. IK Multimedia knows that some studio engineers prefer to keep their machines off the web for safety so they also took into account remote validation where you can register via another machine. The software installs a standalone version and a VST / AU / RTAs plugin version in your default plug-in folder (location can be changed if desired) for use with your DAW application of choice. In my case I tested it with Cubase 4. Without any tweaks I achieved 4ms of latency which was virtually seamless and I could start using it off the bat. The latency results will vary on different systems and on the load that is put on the host, thus I would usually recommend interested users to check the hardware requirements and download the trial version before purchase, so they can be sure the software runs smoothly on their recording computer.

In Use
I'd have to say that there are plenty of models - everything that is included sounds realistic and has its uses, depending on the styles and musical approach needed. As far as sound, I have somewhat limited experience with vintage Fender gear so I am not sure how close exactly they've gotten to some of these amps. The ones that I am familiar with - the Bassman, the Champ and Blues Jr. (similar to the Pro Junior) I'd have to say are very close. The models respond and play like the real thing and behave very naturally along their whole spectrum of sounds. The Bassman sound is just as I remember it - fluid, deep and sparkling. The Champ and Pro Junior are clean when played soft and barky and semi driven when hit harder. I've recorded a few bands with the MH-500 Metalhead and although I didn't particularly like that amp then as I found it grating and lifeless, I'd have to say that IK have modelled it perfectly, as it has the same sound and response as the original.

I've played and recorded a few Fender Twin Reverb Reissues and as far as I can tell these models are also amazingly close to the real thing. The Twin Reverb patch is just as lush as the original, with some great presence and chime. What I found to be truly amazing and I haven't discovered much in hardware and software modellers that I've played previously, is the fact that these amps do great in-between tones. The ones I am referring to are the "British Invasion" and early Rock'n'Roll sound where the amps are clean but on the verge of breakup. The IKMultimedia Fender series nails these sounds and they do it beautifully without any artefacts which I've found in other competing products. If you're after the Beatles, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Elvis and other great rock guitar tones - they 're here and are available at the touch of a button. If you want Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd sounds - they're all here as well.

The AmpliTube Fender collection excels in blues, classic rock, psychedelia, jazz, funk and traditional rock sounds. It also provides some great bass patches courtesy of the Bassman, TBP-1 bass pre-amp and the Bassman 300 amp model. I found the metal and hard rock section severely lacking, not that it is any great surprise as Fender are really not well known for raging gain tones. The only useful amp in the high gain range being the Super-Sonic�, which on its own and with some help from compression and fuzz effects delivers some smooth lead tones and mild hard rock/hair metal crunch, but nothing that would be my first choice for a metal sound. The MH-500 modeller dials in some nu-metal tones and handles low tuned guitars well but it does seem to lack presence and again won't be my first pick for metal rhythm, although it could do really well on an industrial song.

The effects in this pack, although limited, are quite good. I've always loved Fender's reverb and echoes and not just on guitars, so these models are quite useful on other sources as well. Lacking from this pack was an useful overdrive and EQ pre-amp effect. I often wished for a tool to push the tubes further and bring some different tonality, like for example the SRV trick of throwing a Tubescreamer pedal in front of a clean Fender amp for some extra sustain and grit. In this pack there is a fuzz pedal that was a bit nasal sounding for that use but provided some nice lead tones. The AmpliTube Fender excels in mic models, such as the GT MD1b-FET, GT VELO-8 and Ribbon-160, probably thanks to the Fender acquisition of Groove Tubes. There is also a wide selection of Fender cabinets, with one especially notable - the Vibratone 1x10� Rotary Speaker, which is close to a Leslie in sound.

As luck would have it, this version is compatible with AmpliTube 2, as are other AmpliTube versions such as the Ampeg SVX, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, AmpliTube Metal and AmpliTube 2 Live, and can be stacked together via the AmpliTube X-GEAR software (part of package) so all effects, amps, cabs, mics and rack effects are available and joined in one common interface. I found this to be very useful as the whole collection integrated seamlessly, so I could use Fender echo on a Marshall lead patch and so on.

Bottom Line
Overall I find the IK Multimedia AmpliTube Fender collection to be very close to the original gear modelled. Highly recommended for its clean, semi driven and vintage sounds. I believe a lot of studios will supplement their plug-ins with this package as natural clean or an on the point of breakup blues tone that has been something engineers have been looking for in a plug-in for quite some time.

Pros
� Authentic Fender amp and effect modeling
� Lots of vintage and boutique hard to find Fender amps
� Authentic Fender bass amp models
� Lots of microphone model and cab choices
� Authentic Fender reverb and delay sounds

Cons
� Limited models for high gain players
� Sparse pedal and effects collection, no eq and overdrive models

Manufacturer's Site:

IK Multimedia

For more reviews visit http://www.HoustonMusicReviews.com

Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro USB 4 DAW with included UA-1G USB Audio Interface

deadletteroffice — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:18:37 GMT

This is the first gear review I've posted on Altsounds and it definitely won't be my last. Granted, a gear review required a lot more time, effort and frustration than an album review would warrant but it gave me an excuse to record some ideas I'd been playing around with for weeks and lent me a new perspective on my recording setup. It also confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, my theory that when it comes to music production, mac = win.

Never one to start off on a bad footing though lets first examine the interface.

The UA-1G Audio Interface

My first thoughts upon removing the sleek, black interface from it's protective sheath was just how light it was, surely something so slight couldn't possibly live up to the budget recording behemoth that was hinted at on the box? After some time spent carefully studying the manual (1 quick glance and back in the box) I installed the custom drivers and the DAW software with relative ease. As you would expect it was a fairly elongated affair and being used to working on a mac for so many years, the laborious install process hit a little harder for me; PC users should be used to it though.

Next I was invited to connect my interface via USB port, and I did so. Thus began a most infuriating journey / battle of wits between myself, the interface and the software program. This epic battle shall be detailed in full later but for now lets focus on the positives. Needless to say I powered down my ancient (3 years IS ancient in PC terms) PC and booted up my trusty Macbook Pro and I was instantly reminded why I switched to a mac in the first place, true plug and play functionality. In seconds I was up and running, Logic, Ableton Live and Garageband all found the interface instantly and after setting the buffer to an agreeable size (256 in this case) I was recording my first guitar parts.

I plugged my trusty telecaster into the front 1/4" line input and readied an audio track on logic....and I heard nothing. For those of you about to reach for your panic buttons, don't be afraid, for I hadn't played anything yet! What I am referring to is the almost complete absence of any interference or feedback created by the unit itself (I actually checked to see if I had engaged my noise reducer by mistake). Needless to say I was impressed and the good vibes only continued to grow once I started laying down some tracks.

Using Logic's in-built guitar amp modeller I was able to perfectly re-create tone I had previously recorded through a Focusrite interface more than 3 times the price and this was only at 44.41kHz. The high end lacks a little clarity and the bass got a little muddy when I really turned the gain up, but unless your playing death metal it should suit just about any guitarist. With just the right amount of gain, the distortion can sound really warm and almost analogue. I played my telecasters bridge pickup through Logic's Fender Twin simulator and the tone was incredible, so much so I used the exact setting in a demo I recorded earlier this afternoon! The mid range in particular sounds really sharp. I tried using my SG and Tanglewood acoustic and both sounded just as impressive (especially with the SG's neck pickup). When using Guitar Rig 3's more advanced settings I noticed that the unit doesn't handle very high-end gain too well (it crackled and popped on more than one occasion) but with a decent amount of effects (Guitar Rig 3's effects package is unrivalled in my opinion) engaged the resulting guitar sounds were almost indistinguishable from Guitar Rig 3's mp3 demos. Even the presets sounded good (and any multi-effects user will know too well that presets generally suck balls. I'm looking at YOU Line 6!).

Many of the more delicate and advanced parameters are controlled via a DIP switch located on the back of the unit. Here you can switch to 96 kHz mode (for all you audiophiles) or change the audio source from analogue to digital. This may well be unconventional and a little bit of a pain but you shouldn't have any problems (as long as you don't lose the manual). Overall I was really impressed with the UA-1G and will look forward to using it in future applications. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the software.

The Software

OK so this is where the shit really hits the fan..... but lets go over the basics first.

Quote:

"Guitar Tracks Pro 4 USB is the latest release of Cakewalk's Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that is designed primarily for guitarists and singer-songwriters. It is a multi-track recording system that provides editing tools which allow you to put together musical compositions using pre-recorded tracks and loops, as well as giving you the ability to record your own guitar or vocal tracks."

This is Cakewalks description of it's product verbatim, so what we're basically looking at is a standard DAW that closely resembles Cakewalks flagship 'Sonar' software. It's obvious from the off-set that this is a pretty basic package, a package which actually brought back fond memories at first, as the layout closely resembles that of Cubase VST, the first DAW I ever used back in the late 90's.

Anyway before we go any further here are the tech specs:-

What do you need to run Guitar Tracks Pro 4 USB?

Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32-bit)
Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz or higher; AMD Athlon XP 2800+ or higher
1 GB RAM (2 GB Recommended)
1024 x 768 with 16-bit colour (1280 x 960, 24-bit colour or higher)
500+ MB for core program (6 GB for full program and content)
Windows Compatible MIDI Interface
Windows Compatible Audio Interface
DVD-ROM, DVD+/-R, or DVD+/-RW Drive for installation CD-R or CD-RW capability for CD audio disk burning
USB Port for the USB version which includes the UA-1G Audio Interface

If you've ever used either Cubase or Sonar you'll be right at home here, the main component is the multi-track recording window. On one side you have the bus pane where the track controls exist. These expand and contract to show or hide additional functionality for controlling your composition. On the other side is the track pane that you can either drop loops on to or, using an audio interface, you can record the track. There is also a virtual mixing console that lets you take control of your mix with standard controls like mute, solo, pan, EQ etc.

It's all very self explanatory and as such should be dead easy to use right? WRONG. This is a software program that supposedly endeavours to make the recording process as simple and intuitive as possible, but Guitar Tracks Pro 4 is a painful experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. What's most striking is that this software was made with the guitarist in mind, and yet (the included light version of Guitar Rig 3 aside) there is practically nothing here that really marks Guitar Tracks Pro 4 out as a guitar centric DAW. Indeed aside from 5 or 6 guitar effects 'presets' you are pretty much left to your own devices. The tutorials are slight at best and much here just doesn't work properly. Installing the interface into the software was a complete farce; it wasn't recognised at first and I had to restart my computer at least 3 times before it would play ball.

Then came the real struggle, getting the UA-1G to work in tandem with the software. Every time you start Guitar Tracks Pro all audio inputs and outputs have to be set-up from scratch and when you DO finally have everything set-up it will only work sporadically. It can't be a problem with the interface as it worked perfectly for me in Logic, Garageband, Ableton and Cubase, so the fault must lie with Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 4. It's not unusable (at one point I was able to work for nearly 2 hours without a single fault) but the very fact that you KNOW a fault is imminent is enough to put you off. I was on tender-hooks the whole time just waiting for that fatal pop, and it always tended to happen in the middle of a take which just magnifies the intensity of the problem 10 fold.

It's not just the bugs either, it's the little things really that got to me. Here are some of the personal gripes I had with the Guitar Tracks Pro 4 software:

The piano roll, which resembles a maze of blues lines and is impossible to navigate.
The way you have to set up the inputs and outputs for EVERY track and bus every time you add a new one.
The lack of any intuitive looping features and especially the fiddley editing tools.

Basically everything you could reasonably expect from a modern computer recording package is here, but it's done in a way that would have seemed outdated 5 years ago. We've been spoiled by competitively priced packages such as apple's Garageband, Cubase Essential and Reason which understand many of it's users will be first timers. Cakewalk commit to no such hand-holding and as such, to a new-comer I would imagine Guitar Tracks Pro 4 would serve as something of a shock.

As an experienced user I managed to find my way around it quickly enough and made peace with it's faults after an hours play of so. Within 3 hours I had finished my first basic track with guitar, bass and drums and some simple keyboards. The guitar sounds were actually pretty solid, almost as sharp, full and engaging as they were in my earlier test from Logic (granted my effects selections were limited but the light version of Guitar Rig still afforded me some decent tones). There is a staff view too (which actually works pretty well) in which you also have the ability to create, edit, and print your own notation and tablature from any MIDI file or MIDI track. You can download MIDI files and learn to play along. There is a fretboard view too that makes it easy to match notes to the guitar neck, this is a novel addition and at least solidifies the software's 'guitar' prefix somewhat, so it's not all bad. The addition of simple drum, keyboard and bass instruments is welcome to and worked great when setting up backing tracks for guitar demos, the sounds are incredibly false though and thus far from usable on a professional scale.

I will say this in Guitar Track Pro 4's favour also, in terms of system performance it's actually pretty phenomenal. My ageing PC is just above minimum spec and I was able to run 34 tracks with over 100 instances of reverb easily, this is a game changer as it opens up the application as a great choice for potential music makers who are laboured with an out-dated computer. The quality of the built in effects is debatable, the modulation effects can't really be faulted but the reverb sounds false and the delay is limited to say the least. As a basic, nuts and bolts package though it just about works.

The Bottom Line

There's so much more I could say but unfortunately it would mostly be negative. What really got my goat though, after spending 2 days trying to work my way around Guitar Tracks Pro is that this software has been developed by Cakewalk, the very same Cakewalk who's Sonar DAW still stands as the best PC exclusive music software on the market. It begs belief how they managed to mess this release up so badly.

STILL, if your computer is past it's best and your looking for a decent interface/software package you could do worse. For just under �100 more though, you could buy a lesser featured version of Sonar 8, and I'd imagine the UA-1G and Sonar 8 would make beautiful bed-fellows.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THIS PRODUCT NOW FROM THE MANUFACTURERS WEBSITE

Orange Tiny Terror Combo Guitar Amplifier

houstonmusicreviews — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:28:03 GMT

The Orange Tiny Terror combo is a no frills amplifier that plays well with pretty much anything you plug into it. The Orange Tiny Terror (TT) combo is essentially the Tiny Terror head, coupled with a Celestion G12H-30 30 watt speaker in a square enclosure, with a carry on handle on the side.

The amplifier is covered in the traditional and unmistakable Orange tolex color. On first view the amplifier seems very stylish and the feel of workmanship screams quality. For a small, single speaker combo the amp weighs at 37.5 pounds (17kgs) which is not on the light side but this is to be expected considering the fact that it is all tube, with two EL84 in the power section and two 12AX7 tubes in the preamp section.

The controls are placed at the top and are labelled "Gain", "Tone" and "Volume". There is also one 1/4 inch guitar input jack, an "On/Off" switch, a "Standby" switch (which also selects from two power modes), either 7 watt or 15 watt operation and a ruby color LED indication when the amp is on. The built-in Celestion G12H-30 speaker is connected from a 16 ohm speaker output jack which can be unplugged if an external speaker connection if it is desired. The TT can power (1) 16 Ohm cab, (1) 8 Ohm cab, or (2) 16 ohm cabs at the same time and the built-in speaker has an option to be taken out of the chain.

In Use

While diminutive in size, the Orange TT combo packs a hefty 15 watt tube punch which is enough to power a recording session or small to mid sized gig. The no frills controls are designed for musicians that rely on their guitars and pedals for tone shaping.

The "Tone" EQ is responsive and dials in some midrange grit as well as treble when moved clockwise from the center. Counter-clockwise it provides a smoother, more bass heavy tone, reminiscent to the tone used for a Santana solo.

The amplifier tone by itself ranges from a clean, slightly hairy tone to an overdrive crunch. In the middle there is enough territory with useful tones for all sort of rockers. Pushing the gain to the right gets some serious Malcolm Young rhythm snarl. With the help of an overdrive pedal I managed to get some screaming hard rock rhythm and lead tones reminiscent of Van Halen or early Metallica. The Tiny Terror also took really well to other pedals - I tried my Sansamp TRI-OD, AMD DT-2 distortion pedals and they both had tons of great setting to choose from. Chorus, flange and other pedals fared well but I found their use limited due to the lack of an effects loop in this amplifier.

For studio sessions the Tiny Terror turned out to be a real champ. I personally like my guitar tone to be as pure as possible with fewer effects in the signal chain so I just used the Tiny Terror with an overdrive in front (in this case DDyna Thinman or Voodoolabs Sparkle Drive). The 7 watt setting allowed me to get power tube saturation earlier without having to crank the amp in full, which in effect resulted in less signal bleed and fewer complaints from studio B which had a drum tracking session going on.

The sound was meaty and throaty, with a midrange that is unmistakably Orange. Some amp manufacturers are happy enough to go for a Marshall or Fender approximation when they voice their amps, but as is always the case with Orange they have gone after their own sound. Considering their pedigree this choice totally makes sense. The difference is that their tone when pushed is raunchy and smooth in the lows and has an unmistakable throaty midrange growl that is its signature. The Celestion G12H-30 speaker handled almost anything I threw at it at 7 watts. At 15 watts when pushed too hard (volume over at 3 o'clock) it started to overload but it transferred well on the recorded track as some extra fizz which I liked.

Just to try how the amp will handle an external speaker I connected it to a 16ohm 2x12 cab I have loaded with Greenbacks and that turned into one mean practice package. Not to brag but I managed to overpower a competing guitarist with a 100 watt solid state amp next to me, so I felt that the Tiny Terror would definitely be at home at a small or mid sized gig even with just its built-in speaker.

The guitars each exhibited their own character when plugged into the Tiny Terror so I really enjoyed hearing more nuance from the instrument than I am used to with other amps. I tried the amp with all kinds of distortion pedals in front, even with some effect processors and it handled everything really well, especially when set to clean or maybe slightly crunchy gain settings. It could be used as a clean amp for distortion effects and digital effects processors and it performs this job rather well, bringing some extra tube feel to otherwise somewhat clinical digital sounds.

Bottom Line

I felt that the Tiny Terror was one well built British tone machine. With 15 watt tube power, I'd be happy to take it on the road, in the studio or as a practice amp at home - it has its own character and it is one that I really like. While the effects loop and EQ might be missed at first, the tone is so sweet and so easy to dial in that I quickly lost myself in the amp's magic.

Pros

Unmistakable Orange tone
No frills design
Guitar character remains transparent throughout gain range
Plays well with pedals
7 watt / 15 watt power option
External speaker connections

Cons

No effects loop
Only one tone control

Manufacturer's Site: Orange Amplifiers

EZ Drummer / Superior Drummer 2.0 Add on Drumkit Modules

altsounds — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:51:06 GMT

Following on from our Superior Drummer 2.0 review here on Altsounds we have decided to do a group review of all the add on drum kit modules that we have used to showcase the best ones out there to be getting and why you should be getting them. There is everything from Nashville country influenced drums to drums by Meshuggah found here and if you're on a budget choosing the right drumkit for the jo is important. This is where we come in! Let us guide you through each drumkit and highlight it's strengths and where you should be using it.

The EZX expansion packs are currently Buy 1 Get 1 Free from our friends at Time & Space until 31st August. To check out this great offer go here:

Buy 1 Toontrack EZX expansion pack get 1 free! - News - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

TOONTRACK TWISTED KIT EZX EXPANSION

Twisted Kit for EZ Drummer is a collaboration between Michael Blair, Sontronics Microphones and Toontrack (the makers of EZ Drummer). For anyone familiar with the percussion and drum sounds of Tom Waits 1985 album 'Rain Dogs' will be fully aware of the sounds and playing sound of Michael Blair. On that album Micahel Blair's setup included a full kit and then some crazy percussion instruments like trashcans and rusty bike frames which Waits felt fitted in perfectly wit the sound he was trying to acheive on that album. Michael Blair has also worked with Elvis Costello and Lou Reed.

This is called the twisted kit because of all these factors and you really can setup some pretty crazy drum setups here which I would hazard a guess that you can't find elsewhere.

Twisted Kit EZX special features

Sampled through the best of outboard effects with compression, distortion, attack and reverb mics made available in the EZmixer.
Mixer presets by Webb & Collen, STS 9, Richard Devine, DJ Amp live, SUB-id and Count Bass D.
The possibility to save your own mixer presets with EZdrummer 1.1 installed.

BUY NOW LINK

TOONTRACK LATIN PERCUSSION EZX EXPANSION

If you already own the award winning pro drum sampler dfh Superior by Toontrack then you probably won't want to be buying this drumkit addition because it is simply all the latin percussion from that put on to a disk.

Granted that the sounds have been mixed further at the EZX studios and it also includes some cool grooves which don't come with dfh Superior however as previously mentioned if you own a dfh Superior then this add-on will likely not be for you. If you don't however and you are look for latin percussion instruments such as Cajons, Bongos and Shakers then this might be worth th investment.

Instrument List:

Afuche
- Meinl Afuche - LP Afuche

Shakers
- Meinl large shaker
- Meinl Medium shaker
- Meinl 8 shake large
- LP gold big
- Meinl small egg
- Meinl rytm tech cans light shaker
- Meinl 8 shake small
- Meinl Caxixi small
- Custom Caxixi

Maracas
- Meinl plastic maracas
- LP skin maracas

Bongos
- Meinl Collection series
- Meinl fibrecraft

Cowbell
- Meinl small cowbell
- Meinl Realplayer steel big

Cymbals
- Emsing custom crash
- 20�� paiste full crash
- 10�� meinl BYZANCR splash
- 16�� meinl BYZANCR thin crash
- 16�� Sabian medium thin crash
- 6�� Meinl BYZANCR splash
- 8�� Zildjian A Custom Splash
- 8�� Meinl BYZANCR splash

Cajon

Chimes
- Meinl Barchimes

Congas
- Meinl wood professional - Meinl fibrecraft

Bells
- Bells
- Small bells

Crickets

Guiro
- Meinl mini guiro
- Meinl large guiro

Timbales
- Meinl timbale high
- Meinl timbale low

Tambourine
- Emsing custom
- LP classic mounted
- Meinl wood
- 2 Row gold

Triangle
- Rytm tech triangle
- Meinl big triangle

Udu
- Meinl

Vibraslap

Blocks
- Meinl large + small blocks

BUY NOW LINK

TOONTRACK DFH (DRUMKIT FROM HELL) EZX EXPANSION

Drumkit from Hell is a great name for an addon drum pack as you instantly know that this is a drum pack add on designed with the metal drummer in mind. This drumkit addon comes courtesy of their friends Tomas Haake and Fredrik Thordendal from Meshuggah and Daniel Bergstrand from Dug-Out studios.

This add-on i so importan in fact that it actually sparked the release of both EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer so in technicality without this drum addon, you wouldn't have the drum sampler you needed the kit for! Kind of messed up but it proves the importance of this must have additional drumkit.

DFH these days comes with both the original DFH release and the Add-On pack that was released subsequently. All the sounds have been re-mixed and they�ve added custom midifiles from the diabolically gifted musician and guitar player of Meshuggah, Fredrik Thordendal plus midi played by one of the other great Metal Drummers we know, Ove Lingvall from Nocturnal Rites. Metal at its best.

Instrument List:

Kickdrums:
- Sonor Designer Series 18�22″ � damped and undamped neutral EQ, extreme eq,
- Ludwig Wood Fiber Glass 24″

Snaredrums:
- Ayotte 4�14″ Maple Shell
- Ludwig 8�14″
- Pearl Sensitone 6,5�14″ Bronze Shell
- Sonor Designer Series 6,5�14 Maple Light Shell
- Sonor Designer Series 5�14″ Maple Light Shell
- Sonor Hilite 5�12″ Maple Shell
- Tomas Haake Engineering 7�14″ Pockenholz Shell

Toms:
- Sonor Designer Series 10�10″,
- 12�12″,
- 13�13″,
- 16�16″ and
- 18�18″
Cymbals:
- Hats:
  - 14″ Sabian HH Rock HiHat
- Cymbal 1:
  - 19″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
  - 21″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
  - 21″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
- Cymbal 2:
  - 16″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 17″ Sabian HH Medium Thin Crash
  - 19″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 3:
  - 10″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 4:
  - 20″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
  - 21″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 5:
  - 18″ Sabian HH Chinese/15″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 15″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese/12″ Sabian HH Splash
  - 15″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
- Cymbal 6:
  - 8″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 7:
  - 22″ Sabian HH Power Bell Ride
  - 22″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 8:
  - 12″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 9:
  - 20″ Sabian HH Dark Chinese (Brilliant)
  - 20″ Sabian HH Dark Chinese
- Cymbal 10:
  - 21″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 22″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 11:
  - 22″ Sabian Ed Thigpen Crystal Bell Ride
  - 23″ Sabian HH Crash Ride

BUY NOW LINK

TOONTRACK NASHVILLE EZX EXPANSION

Nashville is ernowned worldwide for it's country music. With this drumkit add-on, toontrack have tried to embody this drumsound into this drumkit addon.

Nashville EZX drummer Harry Stinson is a Grammy nominated drummer and award winning producer, writer, and singer having achieved No. 1 status in all of those categories. His talents have been shared with artists like Steve Earle, Martina McBride, Johnny Cash, Faith Hill, Earl Scruggs, Etta James, Brooks and Dunn, Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett and numerous others.

Nashville EZX producer Chuck Ainlay is a Grammy winning Producer/ Engineer with a mind-blowing track record. To name but a few, artists such as Mark Knopfler & Dire Straits, George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crowe, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, The Mavericks and Dixie Chicks have all relied on his experience and expertise to guide them to the perfect sound. The Nashville EZX was recorded at Soundkitchen - Nashville.

BUY NOW LINK

TOONTRACK CLAUSTROPHOBIC EZX EXPANSION

This add on is another collaboration between Toontrack and Sontronics Microphones this time also working with Evans drum heads.

This kit leads the marketplace in percussive samples. In this edition you can even choose drumheads so this Clautrophobic Kit takes the detailof the EZX drumkits to even more geek filled haven.

The Claustrophobic EZX was sampled through the very best of outboard with distortion, reverb, compression and attack effects included in the internal mixer. This enables you to access a large number of mixer presets by Coll�n & Webb, STS 9, Richard Devine, DJ Amplive, sub-ID and Count Bass D.

The Claustrophobic EZX special features:

Sampled through the best of outboard effects with compression, distortion, attack and reverb mics made available in the EZmixer.
Mixer presets by Coll�n & Webb, STS 9, Richard Devine, DJ Amp live, sub-ID and Count Bass D.
The possibility to save your own mixer presets with EZdrummer 1.1 installed.

Credits:

The Claustrophobic EZX kit was played by Per Mikaelsson at Toontrack Studios, Umea, Sweden.
The Claustrophobic EZX was recorded, engineered and mixed by Mattias Eklund, Trevor Coley (Sontronics Microphones) and Daniel Dermes at Toontrack Studios, Umea, Sweden.
The MIDI files for the Claustrophobic EZX were played by Derico Watson at New Polyphony, Nashville, USA and Per Mikaelsson at Toontrack Studios, Umea, Sweden.
Sound editing; Mattias Eklund
MIDI editing: Henrik Kjellberg, Nils Eriksson

BUY NOW LINK

The Bottom Line

All in all I am sure you will agree that the addition of such vast drumkits for use with both EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer make both a must buy for hi-quality MIDI drum sampling. We have experimented with all of these kits and were blown away with the amount of different instruments and sounds each one had.

A must buy for all producers looking to better their drum production without the years of pactice and experience needed to perfect acoustic drum recording and micing techniques.

Superior Drummer 2.0 - MIDI Drum Production Module

altsounds — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:55:08 GMT

MIDI drums and getting them to sound both good and real has always been a hard task for most people, particularly when it came to things like Rock and Metal music where authentic sounding drums are of the utmost important. The benefits of using a V-KIT coupled with some form of digital drum module that can be called from your computer are vast, the main being the ability to quantize each individual drum hit- something that is just not possible using audio. Imagine if you will the minor inconsistencies you would experience in a blast of double kick drum pedaling over a 16 bar break. With MIDI you could easily quantize each of these hits to their exact timings i.e. 1/16ths ensuring that every hit of every drum is technically perfect from a timing perspective.

There is a plethora of options to chose from when it comes to this type of software but the problem is that most of them need a NASA super computer to work with no audio latency problems. This was kind of the case with Superior Drummer too which provided terrible latency problems on the Dual Core 3.2 GHz PC with 2.0 GB of RAM we tested it on which was working with Sonar 8.0. The same software used on a MAC using Logic however yielded latencies that were almost non existent which allowed us to record the way we wanted to.

I used Superior Drummer to record the drums of an entire Death Metal EP by Welsh band Kryophere and although, I needed to produce the audio output of these MIDI drums once it had been bounced, I was able to manipulate them to the point of not sounding like MIDI drum at all. In fact I am pretty confident that if I hadn't just told you then you probably would never have guessed.

Out of the Box

Superior Drummer comes in a DVD sized case and is simple enough to install. You will however need to have a MIDI interface to get the movements and hits from your V-KIT into your computer to be manipulated and used by Superior Drummer- that is of course in case you plan on programming all the hits. Simple MIDI interfaces are cheap enough to get a hold of I am just pointing out that the full realms of this software cannot be achieved without one and Superior Drummer 2.0 does not come shipped with an interface.

Now as mentioned above I had problems trying this on a high spec PC using Sonar in that there was such latency between hitting the V-KIT and Superior Drummer triggering that it was impossible for the drummer to play. This was only resolved by getting a Mac and using Logic which hopefully doesn't mean that this only works well on Macs. I mean I use my PC to record 40+ audio tracks with shed loads of buses and effects and it handles it all fine with no audio recording latency. I even experimented with ASIO4ALL which helped a little but did not make it work.

There was not really enough time to troubleshoot the PC problem, we just needed to get it to work and to get on with the recording of the Kryophere EP. I will also note that Superior Drummer and these issues actually cost us one day of recording time so, if you are on any sort of time constraint make sure you set everything up the day before you start.

The default kit won't really be much cop for anyone to use however there are lots of great drum kit add-ons which work with all styles. We used the Drumkit From Hell addition during our tests which contains actuall samples of the Meshuggah drummers setup so as you can imagine this was great for metal drum sounds - although they did need beefing afterward through production techniques as by default they came out a little thin.

In Use

When you load up Superior Drummer 2.0 and 'The Drum kit From Hell' drum set it really is just as it says on the tin, a drum kit from hell.

5 toms, 12 cymbals, double pedal and snare drum all face you and slightly intimidate you; that is of course unless you are used to playing a kit like this. You get all sorts of options for each drum and cymbal (including a bunch of different snare drums and cymbals), you can also adjust the mixes and the mic usage (down to the amount of bleed from other mic!) and all sorts of other great tech geek based stuff. There is literally as much control here as you would get if you were micing up a real kit. Mix that now with the fact that each of these drums come into your DAW (in our case Logic) as separate tracks and you start to realize the greatness of Superior Drummer 2.0 as almost a replacement for live drum recording.

Detailed set up of Drumkit From Hell:

Kickdrums:
- Sonor Designer Series 18�22″ � damped and undamped neutral EQ, extreme eq,
- Ludwig Wood Fiber Glass 24″

Snaredrums:
- Ayotte 4�14″ Maple Shell
- Ludwig 8�14″
- Pearl Sensitone 6,5�14″ Bronze Shell
- Sonor Designer Series 6,5�14 Maple Light Shell
- Sonor Designer Series 5�14″ Maple Light Shell
- Sonor Hilite 5�12″ Maple Shell
- Tomas Haake Engineering 7�14″ Pockenholz Shell

Toms:
- Sonor Designer Series 10�10″,
- 12�12″,
- 13�13″,
- 16�16″ and
- 18�18″
Cymbals:
- Hats:
  - 14″ Sabian HH Rock HiHat
- Cymbal 1:
  - 19″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
  - 21″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
  - 21″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
- Cymbal 2:
  - 16″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 17″ Sabian HH Medium Thin Crash
  - 19″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 3:
  - 10″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 4:
  - 20″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
  - 21″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 5:
  - 18″ Sabian HH Chinese/15″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 15″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese/12″ Sabian HH Splash
  - 15″ Sabian AAXtreme Chinese
- Cymbal 6:
  - 8″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 7:
  - 22″ Sabian HH Power Bell Ride
  - 22″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 8:
  - 12″ Sabian HH Splash
- Cymbal 9:
  - 20″ Sabian HH Dark Chinese (Brilliant)
  - 20″ Sabian HH Dark Chinese
- Cymbal 10:
  - 21″ Sabian HH Medium Crash
  - 22″ Sabian HH Crash Ride
- Cymbal 11:
  - 22″ Sabian Ed Thigpen Crystal Bell Ride
  - 23″ Sabian HH Crash Ride

In our instance we were playing a V-KIT to trigger the drum sounds that we wanted but if you were to have MIDI loops of real drummers playing real beats you could easily just import them and away you go. Imagine Superior Drummer 2.0 if you will as being completely useless on it's own. Without some form of input the software actually does nothing so you are either going to have to have a V-KIT, something like a Korg Pad Kontrol or be really good at using the MIDI grid of your choosen DAW.

The Bottom Line

Superior Drummer 2.0 is an excellent choice for producers that are looking to incorporate real drums into their recordings but don't have the right room or skillset to record live analogue drums.

The deafult Superior Drummer 2.0 drum kit is pretty blah so in all honesty when buying this I would advise buying at least one drum kit addon, in this instance we used and would highly recommend 'Drumkit From Hell' which is EXCELLENT for metal music. I would advise you to own a MAC before purchasing this software as even my beastly studio PC had latency issues making Superior Drummer 2.0 unusable for actually playing beats in live triggered via a V-KIT.

Superior Drummer 2.0 won't replace acoustic drum recording in modern music because although excellent, the final sounds are a little thin on their own and still need that expert production ear to make them commercially acceptable. However, for uping your production game without having to spend years honing in on your acoustic drum enginerring and production Superior Drummer 2.0 is a definite must buy.

Samples and Purchase Information:

Listen to Songs From The Kryophere EP that were recorded using Superior Drummer 2.0 and Drumkit From Hell:

New Songs: Kryophere | Screamadelica Studios

Price: � 215.00 inc Vat
Buy Now:

Press Reviews - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

Bugera BTX36000 "The Nuke" Bass Amplifier Head

altsounds — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:14:16 GMT

3,600 Watts of bass output? No that isn't a spelling mistake, I haven't added an extra 0 at the end by accident. WTF? Surely this can't be true? And if it is, who the hell needs 3,600 watts of power in an amplifier anyways? Well Behringer seem to think there is a market out there for an amp of such massive power output and as such they have wrapped it all up into this nice little package which is subtly nicknamed "The Nuke".

Apparently, the BTX36000 will output 1,800 watts per side which adds up to an impressive 3,600 watts when used in bridged mode. It also has the built in option to run in bi-amp mode which gives the user control of the crossover frequency and output of each channel of this beast of a bass amplifier. What does that even mean you may ask? Well, say you have a cab that is amazing for bass tone (15's) and one that is amazing for the treble bass frequencies (10s), then you can control what gets output where allowing full control over the way that the sound is output from the amplifier.

Out of the Box
Taking "The Nuke" out of the box the first thing you are likely to notice is the weight. If you have a bad back or are weak when it comes to picking things up then you will probably need a friend for this one.

Looking at the back of the unit you will notice that the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head has more options than your regular bass amplifier which will often only have speaker output and/or DI connections.

The exhaustive list of backend options are:

Effects Loop - Consisting of a Return Channel A&B and an effects loop send.
Insert Channel A - Includes a Power Amp and Pre Amp input
Insert Channel B - Includes a Power Amp and Pre Amp input
Line Outputs - These are split into the two channels again and are available as both XLR and 1/4" line outputs.
Speaker Outputs - Speaker outputs for Output A / Low or B / High and one speaker output for the Mono Bridge.
Tuner Output
Footswitch Slot

This is where my first problem springs up with the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head. It only has Speakon speaker outputs and does not have the regular and more widely used 1/4" speaker outputs. Now my bass cab has both and my previous Behringer bass amp had both but this top of the range bass amp only has Speakon connections which resulted in me having to spend the ridiculous 20 pounds for a Speakon cable to connect this amp up and try it, resulting in a delay in playing with this bad boy.

The Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head is an attractive looking bass amplifier head and is rack mountable which is a very sexy prospect for me and any other gear geek out there that loves their 19" gear racks.

The front of the unit is equally packed with settings and options and consists of the following, holes, knobs and sliders:

Input - to plug your bass guitar into of course ;)
Tuner Output
Input Controls:
- Mute Button - which is on by default allowing you to avoid someone accidentally blowing up your speakers if the thing is on 10 when you turn it on;
- -10db switch - this should be selected if you have an active bass, and this should have possibly been labelled as such;
- Gain Knob - Basically the volume control for the input;
Compression Controls:
- Active (On Switch) - turns bass compression on and off;
- Compression Knob - controls how much compression is used;
Equalizer Controls:
- Ultra High Switch - treble boost for more bass presence;
- Ultra Low Switch - bass boot for more bass boom;
- Bass EQ Knob - controls the bass output;
- Mid EQ knob - controls the mid EQ output and is coupled with the Frequency knob i.e. this knob controls the amount and the frequency knob controls the actual frequency this effects;
- Frequency Knob - selectable mid frequency control knob at the critical bass frequencies
- Treble EQ knob - controls the treble output;
- Bright Button - Adds further brightness to the sound if needed;
- Graphic EQ Button - Selects whether or not the graphic EQ is used for the tonal control or not.
Graphic Equalizer - 9 Graphic EQ sliders and one level slider for even further and more finite tonal control over the important bass frequencies.
Master Controls:
- Master Knob - Controls the master output of the bass amplifier;
- FX On - Allows the FX loop at the back to become active;
- Limiter - Add an output limiter to the output signal;
Crossover Controls:
- Frequency Knob
- Balance Knob (low, flat or high)
- Mono Bridge Switch (as previously mentioned)
- Bi-Amp switch (as previously mentioned)

As you can see, and as my fingers most definitely agree (RSI anyone!!), this amp is packed with huge features and a great amount of tonal control. The amplifier even comes with a footswitch that allows certain items to be controlled from the floor while you are playing live - my favourite of these is the ability to switch on and off the Graphic EQ which you can use for all sorts of things including a bass boost which is great for choruses etc.

Under the Hammer / In Use
This far I was very impressed with what I was seeing and although I had to patiently wait for my new Speakon cables to arrive, when they finally did it was worth the wait. Simply plugging a bass guitar into this amp resulted in a great sound. Sitting for a moment and playing with the sound resulted in some amazing bass tone and I instantaneously wanted to use this on a recording. I was mostly fascinated by the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head's ability to create full, deep and rich bass whilst offering amazing clarity on the mid range and hi frequencies. I had honestly never heard anything sound so good.

Unlike guitar, getting good bass tone has been slightly overlooked with the advent of all the guitar and amp simulators. Sure the Toneports and PODs have bass versions and although I have been able to output good tone I have always been left wondering where I could find that full, rich and present bass tone I had always wanted. Well luckily for me, the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head was it and I finally had it in my studio! Good times. I sampled the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head with a Behringer 15" bass cab and I also DI'ed it using an XLR cable. I found that I always ended up doing both to get the full tone I wanted as the cabinet output much more bass tone than the DI and the DI output a nicer mid/hi tone.

However, after almost forgetting about the 3,600 watt boast I wondered how, if this was true that this amp wa snot any louder than any of my other bass amps. In fact, turned up almost full you could still comfortably be in the room with it, and I would challenge Bugera as to how this amp is supposed to output this amount of power and although I appreciate this is when it is output through two cabs with the appropriate power output, my observation was that in fact my other bass amp was louder than this, although the tonal quality was nowhere near as nice. Maybe, I am wrong or maybe I am doing something wrong but I am sure this is a marketing tactic for the bass player that has a million 8x10 cabs and is all about his power output.

I also fell in love with the Compressor here and although at 10 you can here some slight treble clipping, the resulting tone is also delicious if you are looking for a nice compressed bass tone, which in this instance I was.

As far as bass tone and sound goes I am comfortable in stating that the Bugera BTX36000 "The Nuke" Bass Amplifier Head is the nicest sounding bass amplifier I have ever come into contact with. All of the bands that have used this amp on their sessions at my studio have been blown away by it and a few have even gone out and either purchased or started saving for a "Nuke" of their own. It was starting to become clear why it is nicknamed "The Nuke", because it is the bomb!

The Bottom Line
Regardless of where and how we set the tone on this amp it sounded amazing, even straight from the box which is perfect for the bass player that doesn't know how to get good tone for themselves with their current amplifier. "The Nuke" is the bass amplifier I have always been waiting for and I am amazed at how so much can be delivered here for such a low price. Bugera continue to amaze me with the quality of their products and I highly recommend the Bugera BTX36000 Bass Amplifier Head to any and all bass players out there. You simply won't find a bass amplifier better than this for the money.

Pros:

Amazing tone;
Built in Compressor and Limiter;
Included Footswitch;
Full tonal control including a Graphic EQ;
19" rack mountable;

Cons:

No 1/4" Speaker outputs;
Heavy;

Price: 550 pounds

CLICK HERE TO BUY ONE NOW!

DDyna Thinman OD

houstonmusicreviews — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:49:38 GMT

DDyna Music Co. describes the Thinman OD as a light overdrive based on the blending of 2 signal limiter types, suitable for various electric, acoustic or bass playing styles.

Features
The Thinman comes in a standard metal casing, has 3 controls:

VOLUME: Sets the output level.
BIAS: Bias limiter � clean blend to starved bias.
LIMIT: Medium-hard limiter � clean to medium limit.

The unit comes in with Neutrik 1/4 inch phone input and output female jacks, full bypass on/off switch. It can be powered via a 9v battery or a 9V AC adapter (not supplied). The battery is hard to get to as you need to unscrew 4 metal screws to get to the battery compartment and the 9v AC input pin/tip is not labelled so you can fry the pedal with the wrong polarity! In the case of the Thinman the tip is negative and the ring positive but it is not designated anywhere on the box!

The pedal design is eccentric, with a face/skull looking graphic and the pedal name caption. The controls for Volume, Limit and Bias are bare pot knobs with glued on black markers to designate the value that you've dialled in. Quite ghastly on first sight until you power it up - they glow! Actually I find the effect cool but some people might be put off by the bare pot knobs instead of say quality metal knobs as used in some of the Marshall effect line for example. I found that the look of the pedal is "boutique" and I like the fact that when you put this thing in your pedal-board you're bound to get some stares.

In Use
Since the brochure mentioned that the Thinman is an overdrive pedal I decided to test it on some tube amps first. I ran it through a Marshall JCM900 and an Orange Tiny Terror combo. In both cases the pedal added some clarity and overall levelling of the signal with some slight gain to the sound. It felt to me more of a compressor than an overdrive but it did bring up a lot of nuance in the playing and it was very pleasant. Moving the LIMIT pot too far to the right created a levelling effect as the sound didn't get louder, as in hard limiter. I found the best settings It did not force the amp into screaming overdrive as you'd expect from a traditional overdrive, so I think that the Thinman is better suited to function mainly as a compressor with a slight boost and maybe just a hair of overdrive on the signal. Either way - the sound was very pleasant and it did add some more meat to the guitar (in this case Music Man Steve Morse).

I tried the Thinman as a front end on a session where the band was going direct in the PC and using some amp modelling plugins. It did improve the signal levels and brought some more nuance into the sound that actually felt thin without it. I'd even venture to say that it imparted some tube-like quality to the signal chain. Long story short - all the guitars went through the Thinman OD first before hitting the recording chain.

I also ran the Thinman on bass and this is where the magic really happened. I don't know exactly what this pedal does to the sound but the bass guitar was suddenly there, it mixed itself! I was really blown away by the sonic character the pedal imparted, especially on cheap bass guitars - making them suddenly into professional sounding instruments ten times their price! I even managed to get some mild distortion by running the "Volume" hotter at about 9 o'clock and the bass really stuck to the track like glue. I felt that the pedal imparted a compressor/limiter feel to the sound by boosting and evening it out and adding just a hair of overdrive to it. This pedal is a definite keeper when it comes to the lower end of the spectrum and will be my #1 go to pedal when recording bass guitars!

Pros

Unique sound
Great on guitar and bass
True Bypass
Made in USA

Cons

Battery compartment hard to get to

The bottom line
I like the quirkiness and sound of the Thinman OD, from the design to the hidden magic that it imparts on anything it touches. A definite winner when you need an in-your-face bass track or some lift on the good old guitar.

Manufacturer's Site: www.ddynamusic.com

Reviewed by: A. Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

IK Multimedia Amplitube 2

houstonmusicreviews — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:37:40 GMT

With the advent of computer recording and DAW's one expects to do more and more "in the box" as opposed to hauling gear around. This applies to guitar gear as well, with guitar software modellers offering unprecedented amounts of options to the home and studio recordist. This brings us to IK Multimedia's award winning guitar plug-in software, AmpliTube 2.

Installation
AmpliTube 2 requires the user to register on their website for authentication, so I had to create a username and password, wait for an email from IK and validate the software. Fairly easy and straightforward process, I was done in about 5 minutes. The website also keeps you informed of downloadable updates to the software, you can browse the forums for help and swap preset patches with other users. Since the software installed painlessly on my 32-bit Windows XP system and was recognized straight away by my applications (Cubase LE4, Sony Acid 7, Sonar Producer 7, Riffworks 2) I was good to go.

Features

AmpliTube has several options - it can run as standalone application, providing some phrase training and functions to help the guitar player get better at a riff. You can load in a song file and then work on it with the included learning options. There is a pitch changer for transposing the file, metronome and the ability to slow down the file without changing the pitch.

For the rest of the application the standalone mode is pretty much identical to the VST plugin mode where AmpliTube loads as a VST plug-in in your DAW. When you load it as a VST plug-in it is missing the phrase training options seen in the standalone. The software comes with a comprehensive manual and getting started guide, which was very well written and shouldn't be a problem for beginners to get started.

Here is a list of Amplitube 2's features:

5 separate modules: tuner, configurable Stomp pedal board, Amp head, Cabinet + Mic, and Rack Effects
21 Stomp effects
14 Amp models
7 Power Amp models
16 cabinet and 6 microphone models
11 post-amp FX Racks
2 fully configurable rigs
Digital tuner
Stand-alone and VST/AU/RTAS plug-in for all popular DAWs
Includes SpeedTrainer� for playing along with your favorite recordings
Includes AmpliTube X-GEAR for seamless integration with all the other �Powered by AmpliTube� products, MIDI control and StompIO/StealthPedal integration
Powered by AmpliTube� with exclusive DSM� (Dynamic Saturation Modeling) technology for award-winning sound & realistic feel
Mac OS X (including Leopard) and XP/Vista compatible

In Use
In order to go in depth on this product I loaded it on my recording computer and tested AmpliTube on several mixing and recording sessions.

The default install of the application had almost indiscernible latency with very little lag. The more tracks I kept adding up in Cubase, the more I had to increase the latency and real time playing through Amplitube became too slow during tracking, but this is common fare for any amp simulation software and other plug-ins. There is an option in the "Preferences" on the program to go to lower quality by turning off "High Resolution" and "Oversampling", and I had to do that while tracking a DI guitar part during a song that was about 48 tracks strong, with a heavy load of midi and virtual instruments and external samples so I needed to conserve resources. No problem there as during mixing I put the "High Resolution" settings back on since I didn't have to worry about latency. Overall I had latency between 2ms to 6ms during tracking so that was nothing to worry about.

My first use of AmpliTube was as a re-amp device. I had recorded a budget demo for a friend's band. There wasn't much time to work on the guitar sounds and the amps we used were lacking, so we decided to take a safety DI signal of each tracked guitar for re-amping it later. During mixing I discovered that the original tracks didn't sit well in the mix and I used AmpliTube as one of the replacement options. It essentially became the left channel of a dual rhythm guitar recording, with the right channel being a tube preamp via H&K's Redbox speaker emulation DI. Both tracks sat very well together and the one created by AmpliTube wasn't inferior to the other chain by any means. As far as I am concerned AmpliTube passed the re-amping test with flying colors - I managed to get excellent high gain sounds. The noise gate was excellent as well as it was clamping down on the noise.

What I ended up using essentially was an "Overscream" stompbox (emulation of a vintage Tubescreamer) in the "Stomp A" section, and a "Modern Hi Gain" amp which is essentially modelled after a Mesa Boogie Rectifier. I also picked in "Cab A" a closed modern 4x12 cab, condenser 87 mic and dialled in a little room ambience. The sound was reminiscent of a well recorded Mesa Rectifier and it was exactly what the client was after. On the same project I also used the plug-in for most of the lead sounds - this time "British Tube Lead 2" (reminiscent of Marshall JCM900) for the amp and some delay from the rack effects. I felt that I wanted to modify that sound a bit, thus I opted to separate the amp from its matching power section and chose to choose 50watt 6L6 configuration instead.

Again - easy to dial in and in this case I ended up with a configuration that can't be done in real life.

I also ended up using the software for sounds on quite a few of my own collaborations when I didn't have amps handy and/or didn't want to use what was on site. AmpliTube 2 worked admirably on everything, from jazz to death metal, both for guitars and bass. There were enough sounds on tap and with the right amount of tweaking and I was able to create a convincing tone. In some cases I felt that the layout was too rigid - for example I wanted to use some of the rack effects in the chain before the preamp and in other cases I wanted to use some of the stomp boxes after the amp (as in fx loop) but the software didn't allow me to do that. I felt that I'd like to have more than one noise gate, or at least the option to place them in different locations as it is in real life. I managed to use some external FX pedals such as overdrive, EQ and compressor in the same manner you would in front of a real amp. The results worked out great! I also built some more complex rigs by using a dual channel parallel mode. These worked especially well for some bigger sounds reminiscent of Pink Floyd and Steve Vai. I wasn't afraid to leave these sound on record as they felt very organic and realistic, something that I didn't always associate with this type of software.

I did have some trouble dialling in a gutsy blues sound, clean amp on the verge of breakup as these are usually the hardest to do when it comes to amp simulators. I managed to get around this by using a Fender Simulator with an external overdrive pedal in the chain.

Some of the effect plug ins on tap were so good that I ended up using them on other sound sources, such as piano and vocals. Any part of the chain can be bypassed so in the case of vocals I only used the rack effects' delay and reverb.

As far as operation - the software is very easy to use and if you are familiar with amps and stomp boxes, which as a guitar player you should be, it is very intuitive to dial in the right sound for you. AmpliTube 2 offers presets based on some famous performers, which could be further tweaked to your liking and again saved as an user preset. There are plenty of options when it comes to amps, effects and even cab and mic options, that with the right amount of care you should be able to just plug in the guitar in your interface and go.

Pros

Good useful guitar sounds for any style
Standalone or plug-in option
Easy to use

Cons

Only one noise gate
Pedal FX can't be put in the signal chain after the amp
Rack effects can't go before the amp

The Bottom Line

While I might not be ready to quite give up my tube amps just yet, I feel that AmpliTube 2 is a very well built software and has a huge array of useful sounds for both bass and guitar. Whether you're trying to go fully in the box or add some extra color to your guitar and bass sounds - AmpliTube 2 delivers!

AmpliTube 2

Sony Acid Pro 7.0

houstonmusicreviews — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:27:00 GMT

As a long time Acid user (since ver. 2) I was very interested to see what the software had in terms of updates and improvements. Acid's time stretching and looping tools have always been flawless and in version 6 Sony added multi-tracking capabilities, thus making Acid Pro 6 a full recording workstation.

According to Sony, version Acid Pro 7 offers improvement of the midi and tracking sections of the software as well as some welcome additions in terms of plugins such as Garritan Aria, Acid Pro Effects Rack by iZotope, Native Instruments Guitar Combos and Submersible Music KitCore. Sony have added an audio and midi mixing console, input buses, real time rendering and midi track freeze, features that a lot of users were hoping to see in version 6. There are also a few features under the hood that enhance the user experience as well and we'll get into these details later.

Installation
Acid Pro 7 requires the user to register online and to obtain a key code via a challenge and response system. Fairly straightforward and after registering I got my codes and was good to go in under 5 minutes. The software plugins take a bit longer to load, especially the Garritan Aria for Acid since it has quite a few sample files. Overall the installation was pretty straight forward and streamlined, no surprises there and I was good to go in almost no time.

Features
Sony has kept the standard features of the older versions, so right away it feels familiar. The standard Acid layout is still there, the looping portions are also still there with Beatmapper and the Chopper. They come with some new enhanced capabilities such as elastique time stretching and pitch shifting, which adds some extra level of detail and quality to tracks that require that treatment. The Beatmapper also has some new enhanced features which allow users to edit clip properties and Beatmap songs with varying tempos and time signatures.

Acid has also introduced a new feature called Tempo Curves which allows users to set the type of transition between two tempo changes, for example slow build-up to the new tempo. These features are controlled by fade types. As earlier Acid Pro users were complaining of the lack of metronome, Sony has added a robust metronome feature in version 7, with multiple configurations and count off settings. On the audio side Sony have added the much needed signal level meters missing from previous versions, track/clip/event switches including Normalize, Invert Phase, Mute and Lock. A much needed Mixer window has been added with customizable views.

There has also been some improvement to the Plug-In management window, allowing for customizable categories, also displaying by brand and a few other views, thus making it easier to navigate.

Acid Pro 7 has added support for additional file formats such as FLAC, AAC, AC-3 Studio and MPEG-2.

Acid 7 is Windows Vista certified so it is guaranteed to work on Vista.

The package comes with vast assortment of loop content, MIDI samples with over 3,000 ACIDized music loops, over 1000 MIDI files, 90 DLS instruments and 25 DLS-based projects. The bundled software includes the Garritan Aria player sample library which alone retails for about $250, an iZotope Effects Rack with plugins such as flanger, phaser, analog delay and dynamics, Native Instruments guitar emulation software valued at about $100, and Submersible Music KitCore drums for beat creation.

In Use
To test Acid I loaded a few raw .wav tracks of unmixed material, lined it up in the software and gave it a spin. The mixing process was already familiar since I've worked in Acid before. Version 7 of the software comes with a dedicated mixer, which in previous versions the user had to create from scratch and it took some time.

Acid felt natural to use for mixing and in no time I had good working mixes of the material. Compared to some other DAWs I felt that Acid was more immediate and its layout was no-nonsense crisp and utilitarian, no cheesy color gimmicks like some of its competition, everything on one screen in front of the user all the time. Everything that I needed was there at a touch of a button.

Tracking was also a breeze as now that the software has tracking meters and several options when it comes to monitoring with effects and without effects. In some cases I used Amplitube 2 VST guitar plugin which ran without a glitch in real time, thus allowing me to record a clean DI guitar track and re-amp later if needed. The built-in plugins performed well with little CPU overhead and the new additions to the bundle by iZotope and Garritan also added some needed depth to the package.

I felt that Acid could use a better reverb plugin but that was easily supplemented in my case with 3rd party reverb plugins and my outboard effect which integrated nicely with the real-time rendering function. Real-time rendering can mix external sound modules in real time with your DAW's tracks and add that input into your finished mixdown files. So far I can't think of any other DAW that has this feature, so big kudos to Sony!

I enjoyed using the Tempo Curves feature and it did create a far more pleasant transitions and build-ups than me having to program them in real time or in small chunks of tempo changes like I did in the past. In this case the tempo changes became smoother and more refined, and let's not forget - less time consuming!

When I had questions regarding some of the new capabilities of the DAW, Sony's technical support forum turned to be an invaluable asset. All my queries were solved rather quickly by technical support and unlike some other software forums that are abandoned to the mercy of the user, Sony's techs were there helping users with a very impressive response time.

There were some minor things that seemed to be missing in comparison to other DAW software. For example the midi support could be better. I could get my job done with MIDI in Acid, but compared to the ease and effortlessness of Cubase and Digital Performer's midi editing it felt very backward. It has definitely improved from previous versions but still it is not very pleasant to work with.

Compared to other DAW's there isn't a dedicated file editor so if you want to draw and alter the track audio files directly like in Sonar and Cubase - it can't be done in Acid but it isn't hard to open the file in a 3rd party audio editor or Sony's Sound Forge, which for some users could also be a blessing in disguise as you can use your audio editor of choice. A little quirk that I found annoying was the fact that I couldn't get the tracks to scroll with the cursor when playing and recording as I was forced to keep the screen smaller sometimes than what I would've liked.

Sony have managed to improve on the file saving algorithm. Whereas old versions of Acid would just mass dump files in one directory now the user has the option to do per project file folders, this saving file when you need to back up and no need to bundle files as in previous sessions.

I am particularly impressed by the wide media support in Acid. I didn't have a problem getting any possible file format imported or exported. A nice touch is the bundled mp3 encoder, something that one has to pay in order to get in other DAWs. I didn't need to render files for surround projects at this time but it is good to know that this capability is also available at no extra cost to the user.

Pros

Uncluttered interface
Best loop stretching in the biz!
Tempo Curves
Real time rendering
Plug In bundle with Garritan, iZotope, etc.
Can use any 3rd party audio editor
Price

Cons

Midi editing not very intuitive
No dedicated audio editor

Bottom Line
I am very impressed by ACID Pro 7.0. For the price ($149 Upgrade, $314.95 Direct Box) I believe that Acid Pro 7 is a must have upgrade that makes it a worthy competitor in the DAW market. Its simplicity and ease of use, and at the same time overall robustness are a reminder that a no frills design can increase productivity as I found myself happily zipping along and having everything on the same screen only a click away.

Sonar 8 - Producer Edition

altsounds — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:27:55 GMT

Ah Sonar, my secret lover. Whatever you do don't tell me girlfriend! I have been an avid follower of Cakewalk [that are the makers of Sonar] for many years now and started music production using a computer maybe 8 years ago using Cakewalk Home Studio and thanks to my neighbour at the time forcing me to give computer recording a try.

A lot of change has happened since then including the release of Sonar which pushed Cakewalk from gimmicky cheap software makers that you could buy in Best Buy into becoming a major player in the Professional Recording DAW software market being distributed throughout the world to all the major Professional Recording stores. I have stuck to my guns solidly and stood by Cakewalk and Sonar since the moment I started recording and producing on a computer and avidly promote it to anyone asking what recording software I use.

So, when I learned a shiny new review copy of Sonar 8 was on it's way to me I was super excited. In fact, I decided that to give it a full run for it's money to re-wire my entire studio into a new layout just for Sonar 8's introduction into the realm. Since then I have used the software in a monstrous variety of sessions from full bands, to metal bands, to pop, to dance and as can be expected with a software of this type it handled it all fine and was an awesome new upgrade to my studio.....kind of. Although for new users Sonar 8 Producer Edition will be a dream come true, for me I noticed more glitches, more CPU issues etc.

So What's New in Sonar 8 Producer Edition?

From the outset Sonar 8 Producer Edition has a slightly slicker overall look and feel, with the interface looking smoother and the overall graphical representation being improved etc. With any new release there are always new toys under the hood and boxed in. The most notable of these for me was some of the new VST plugins that come as standard. Listed below are the new VSTs I loved and used, what I used them for and why:

LP-64 EQ - This bad boy has proved really useful and I have found myself using this as my main EQ going forward due to the quality of the sound output from it.
LP-64 Multiband - Excellent Multiband Compressor that will allow even novices to get mastered mixes at levels expected.
Boost 11 - Another mastering tool that helps your mixes to achieve the maximum punch and volume.
TL-64 Tube Leveler - Awesome for adding Tube Warmth to your mixes or too individual entities in a mix.

Also included are shed loads of other plugins, the intention of being a complete studio in a box. I must say the included plugins and instruments are the best I have ever seen, particularly if you get the Producer Edition version of Sonar 8. Everything you could ever need, Amps Sims courtesy of Guitar Rig, shed loads of Reverbs, Compressors, Delays, Mods, EQs, Dynamics Processing etc.

There are also new VSTi instruments included with Sonar 8 Producer Edition aswell including Beatscape, Dimension Pro, True Pianos Amber and all the other VSTi instruments you already would expect and more [full list below]! There is so much packed into Sonar 8 in fact that even a seasoned user such as myself never really touches the surface of what it can do although I am quite an advanced user and use A LOT of the features within it! Future growth for EVERYONE. Woop.

Also a new and major re-working is their audio engine. This new and improved engine allows you to make audio settings changes without having to restart Sonar and it works much better now with multiple applications being open at the same time. The Transport functionality has also been slightly improved and now includes a Pause, Rewind and Fast Forward button and more importantly you can now arm and disarm tracks during playback and recording allowing you to record things pretty much on the fly.

Sonar 8 Producer Edition can also now assign audio tracks/buses to be routed to hardware outputs allowing you to incorporate your rack gear VERY easily although there is still the presence of the annoyance that is Sonar groups ASIO drivers into pairs meaning that if you have an 8 input interface you can only select four stereo pairs. Fix this already!

Full List of Included Plugins and Instuments in Sonar 8 Producer Edition

Plugins and FX
Amp, Tape & Tube Simulation

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 LE
Amp Sim
Tape Sim

Dynamics Processing

Sonitus:Compressor (sidechaining)
Sonitus:Gate (sidechaining)
Sonitus:Multiband
Sonitus:Surround Compressor
DSP-FX Compressor

Channel Strips, Stereo & Panning

VC-64 Vintage Channel 1.5 (sidechaining) powered by Kjaerhus Audio
Channel Tools L/R�sample delay and Panwidth control, MS Decoding
Sonitus:Surround

Delays & Modulation

Sonitus Delay
Sonitus Modulator
Sonitus Phase
DSP-FX Delay
DSP-FX Flanger

Sonitus:Equalizer
DSP-FX Equalizer

Mastering

LP-64 EQ linear phase mastering EQ
LP-64 Multiband linear phase multiband limiter/compressor
Boost 11 peak limiter
TL-64 Tube Leveler

Reverbs

Lexicon Pantheon (Studio includes SE version)
Perfect Space Convolution Reverb powered by Voxengo
Sonitus:Reverb
DSP-FX Reverb

Signal Analysis

Analyst�spectrum analyzer
BitMeter�monitor digital activity of audio

Synth & Specialty Effects

TS-64 Transient Shaper
Z3TA+ FX (synth that can be used as a multi FX unit)
Roland V-Vocal 1.5
MPEX Time/Pitch Processor
Pentagon I (synth that can be used as a vocoder)
SurroundBridge� enables any effect as a surround effect

More

42 Effects in Producer
31 Effects in Studio

= SONAR 8 Producer Exclusive, feature not included in SONAR 8 Studio

Virtual Instruments
Beatscape - New to SONAR 8

16-pad looping/performance instrument
Great for layering and triggering audio clips and creating beats and grooves
4 GB of custom-designed loop construction kits

Dimension Pro - New to SONAR 8

Wavetable based synthesizer
Electric pianos, organs, basses, orchestral, strings, woodwinds, brass, ethnic, pads/layers, and other real-world instruments
Over 1500 patch presets, 8 GB of content

TruePianos Amber - New to SONAR 8

Award-winning piano model designed to transparently integrate with your hands and playing style for even more realism
7 model variations
Reverb and velocity controls
SONAR customers are eligible for a 30% discount on 4Front TruePianos

Rapture LE

LE version based on the award-winning Rapture wavetable synthesizer
Searing synthesized sounds, leads, basses, pads, sequences, and more
Nearly 200 patch presets, expandable

Session Drummer 2

Drum and Percussion Sequencer
Programming multi-layered, realistic drum parts either a la carte or using included patterns
4 kits with over 55 drum presets in varying styles: Rock, Swing, Shuffle, Reggae, more

Z3TA+

Waveshaping synthesizer
Analog synth modeling, leads, basses, synths, pads, and more�even use it as an FX
6 banks, with 750+ patches

Cyclone

16-pad groove sampler
Perfect for drums and other loop-based music
Load, edit, and trigger your own Groove Clips and ACID�-format loops

Roland TTS-1

16 channel multi-timbral GM2 instrument
Keys, horns, strings, guitars, drums, more
256 patch presets, 9 drum kits

Pentagon I

Vintage analog sounds
Sound design, all the controls you need to replicate virtually any analog synth
6 banks, with 550+ patches

PSYN II

Subtractive synthesizer
Bass, leads, pads, more
8 banks with 550+ patches

RXP

REX loops/sample player
Programming and sampling drums and other pattern/groove based content
Over 250 MB of REX loops included

SFZ

SFZ SoundFont sampler
High Quality band limiting sample-playback engine for SF2 files
256 voices of polyphony, unlimited layers per voice

Roland GrooveSynth

Groove synthesizer
Genuine Roland� synths and beat boxes including the legendary 808 and 909 sounds
30 different instrument categories

DropZone

Drag and Drop Sampler, REX editor
Bass, piano, pads, drums, vocals, REX-format loops, and more
Nearly 300 MB of programs, REX files, and multisamples

= SONAR 8 Producer Exclusive, feature not included in SONAR 8 Studio

As you can see from that exhaustive list there really isn't anything more that could be packed into Sonar 8 Producer Edition without your computer and the whole world in fact exploding! A true studio in a box. Each and every single one of the products listed above is a solid plugin in their own right. Imagine the beauty of Sonar being all the amazing tools, well with Sonar 8 Producer Edition you get a mechanics toolbox worth of useful tools, fx and instruments. An audio mechanics dream.

Why Sonar 8 Producer Edition?

Choosing your DAW software is all down to personal preference. Some people turn their nose up at anything that isn't Pro Tools, Mac Users are all commited to Logic and Cubase has a right royal following. Sadly, in many cases when professional DAWs are mentioned Sonar is not even mentioned.

I am here to try and change that though as everything that I do at my studio (Screamadelica) is produced using Sonar and I am whole-heartedly happy with it even with it's minor flaws and occasional crashes. It does everything I want and more and I can grow with it as my skill-set improves.

Why should you buy Sonar 8? Because when you do, you will quickly start producing quality mixes and will be on your road to making a living out of music production. The only other things as equally important to a recording studios start-up [regardless of size] is good studio monitors, a good mic preamp, a Toneport, a MIDI controller and one good microphone. That is literally all you will ever need to make mixes that are as good as anything you hear on the radio, the only real limit is your creativity because Sonar 8 Producer Edition has all the functionality, FX and Instruments you will ever need (and then some).

Sonar 8 Producer Edition Setup, Use, Bugs and User Experience

Sonar 8 Producer Edition Setup
Setting up Sonar is completely self explanatory although it does take a while to install. Can't moan at that though as it's filling your computer full of audio making goodies! So get the installer started and go make yourself a cup of tea or something. One thing that did come up during my trial of this was the need to get Sonar installed on a Mac to see if the MIDI to audio Latency we were experiencing using Superior Drummer was a PC or a Sonar problem. Turns out the install disc does not contain both versions so once you have bought it for one platform you are stuck with it! How freaking annoying.

Sonar 8 Producer Edition Use
When you load it up for the first time it checks your hardware and gets everything semi setup for you. I had to go in and program my FW1884 Mixer and FE8 Fader add-ons to work with Sonar 8 Producer Edition but that took very little effort. The audio was setup to work right away and as such you could literally start recording within a couple of minutes after install.

I could easily load in and open Sonar projects from previous versions and it appears new Templates have been added to make the Producers life easier. Everything you are used to in Sonar was where it used to be and it looks better generally and comes over more than ever as a serious Professional Audio product. Whenever I create a new project in Sonar I always use the built in Stereo Mastering template because a) it has all the Mastering Effects on the Master Bus and it is setup so that you can mix and add effects all within the tracking window which for me negates the need to use any of the other views 99% of the time.

As with anything, getting used to Sonar is going to take a while but it is definitely worth putting that time aside because once you know it you will be making professional, record label quality, radio friendly mixes in no time. On the other hand basic use of Sonar is pretty self explanatory and if you ain't afraid of clicking and breaking things then you will find your way around it quickly!

Noteable Sonar 8 Producer Edition Bugs
Split Track Annoyance
Whilst producing my first track since the upgrade I noticed my first Sonar 8 change to the basic functionality which I didn't like and that ended up costing me time and having to change the way I approached things. Before, you could select an audio clip, right click, split it into two and it would keep the left side highlighted and not the right. I would use this to place my cursor where I wanted the sounds to begin and then split them and press Del. What was left would be what I wanted and the excess would be removed. With Sonar 8 when you split a clip everything stays highlighted which means you need to reselect what you don't want AGAIN to delete it. REALLY annoying if you are doing a stop start guitar part with 6 or 7 guitars.

Audio Engine
The first bug I noticed with Sonar 8 was, although it claims everywhere that the Audio Engine has been improved for efficiency (including here) that in fact it seemed to not work quite as well for me and all of a sudden my 3.2 GHz Dual Processor with 2 GB Ram started struggling to play and had CPU issues with some of my bigger projects [24+ tracks]. Of note here is prior to upgrading, Sonar 6 played those same files perfectly fine and they didn't incorporate anything new to Sonar 8. Me an my friend kindly refer to it no as C'PISSUES - CPU Issues.

For the regular Joe though this won't be a problem at all but for your Power User [like myself] I did [and still do] find this very annoying. It is of course partially down to my excessive use of Plugins to get the sound I want and I found my best resolution was to get a good mix on, export the WAVs, create a mix version of the same song, import all the WAVs and then carry on, this pulled the CPU down from 90+ percent to about 10 and I found for some songs unfortunately that I had to do this 3 or four times [48+ tracks]. It is important to note when doing this that you should name the new file something different as the bounce down is a destructive edit as in the effects etc can't be removed afterwards.

SONAR TIP: Not sure if this is new with Sonar 8 or not but I have found a speedy way to import multiple audio tracks into a file with ease. Create a New Project, Highlight all the Audio Files and drag them to a space underneath Track 1. This will import all audio tracks and will physically create it all for you. This find has taken my mix import times down A LOT!

Crashes and Unexpected Errors
I also have experienced quite a few crashes/unexpected errors since the upgrade to Sonar 8. Most scary of these meant that it would crash again before it could write the recovery file so, if you were not good with your save finger and versioning that you could potentially have a completely corrupted project with no working recovery file. All that is left to do at that point would be cry probably! Luckily for me this was no worries as I have a great Save finger and am good at versioning.

PRODUCTION TIP: There is nothing more important than saving. You should get into the habit of clicking save just before you do anything and everytime you add a major change or instrument add a version. For Example add a number at the end. This does increase your hard drive usage but for a professional studio losing a project to corruption is not an option.

Save Errors
Another annoyance that kept happening out of the blue and I could never put my finger on why would be a difficulty in saving. Unfortunately I did not write the exact error down but basically at a point it would not allow you to save your file at all as it would show this error. Sometimes bypassing the effects bin would allow a save to be made but other times you couldn't save it at all. This is a MAJOR headache and resulted in A LOT of waste work for me.

Grid and Select Errors
I also found a bug when trying to move audio data between tracks. When working on grid, in previous versions of Sonar even if the file wasn't trimmed it would still stay on grid. In Sonar 8 it would move it off the grid weirdly and the only wy I found to resolve it was to split the audio file at a bar move it up and then expand the audio back out (i.e. drag the missing audio back). Super annoying and apprently fixed in Sonar 8.3.1 which is available as a free update here:

SONAR 8.3.1 Update

A similar grid based issue I found was with trimming groups of audio files. My main reason with sticking with Sonar for this many years is their non destructive audio splitting tool. Basically you can highlight a track, split it and remove the audio before or after the split BUT that audio NEVER gets removed [unless you bounce down or bounce to clip]. What this means is that if you remove something and then later on wish you hadn't you still have it by dragging the audio file back out. I came across a bug when doing this with groups of tracks. Even though multiple were selected you would still have to do the drag ins on each individual track! How annoying.

The Final Mixdown!

NOTE: This is a graphical representation and the hardware shown does not ship with Sonar 8 Producer Edition!!

Honestly I could go on and on about Sonar 8 Producer Edition and I have literally only just scratched the surface. Sonar 8 Producer Edition is a complete recording studio in a box that has a vast array of powerful tools, FX and virtual instruments in one easy to use and inspirational package.

Sonar 8 Producer Edition is intuitive and makes complete sense straight out of the box but is MUCH deeper than meets the eye and holds gems for users as their skills progress [think automation, buses, audio quantization etc].

Sonar 8 Producer Edition is all you will ever need to professionally record, mix and master and that contains the type of instruments and content that will actually inspire you to create new things an try new sounds right within the box, no further purchase necessary.

Sonar release a new version every year. For whatever reason I missed Sonar 7 completely so jumped from 6 straight to 8. At this point regardless of the previously stated minor bugs I would like my final statement to be:

Quote:

Sonar 8 Producer Edition is the best version of Sonar to date and will gain them a lot of recognition with more Music Makers and Producers the world over. If those guys are smart they will move to Sonar for it's sheer brilliance.

Get My Hands on It Now! [Where to Buy Sonar 8 Producer Edition]
UK, Scotland, Wales & Ireland
Edirol Europe
Studio 3.4, 114 Power Road,
London W4 5PY
United Kingdom
Tel: 0870 350 1515
Web: Edirol Europe Ltd.

The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three

altsounds — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:05:29 GMT

Information is the key to everything. Knowledge is power and everyone knows it. If you are an artist or you are in a band the one single key to your success is getting your music in the right hands and with a new slew of bands popping up daily it is never more important to be able to stand out from the crowd. Part of this is up to you, you need to make sure your music is more original than anyone else's and you need to have an image and a vibe surrounding your band. The other part is down to contacts and, I would imagine 90% of the world has little to no connections in the music industry.

This is where The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three comes in for all you lovely people. The team over at The Unsigned Guide have scrupulously scoured the web, the yellow pages and all their own personal databases to give every artist and band the contacts they need to propel themselves into superstardom. I mean it too, this book has EVERYTHING you could ever need even a diary and UK maps. The idea is that this book becomes your musical bible that you turn to for guidance on what to do in your musical career next.

The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three begins with some editorial discussing the music industry and current trends etc. If you were to buy this book yearly I would imagine that even this would be all you would need to learn about what is happening in the music industry this year. The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three is made up of 33 sections of contacts that are nicely placed into geographical location where applicable i.e. recording studios.

Some of the best and most useful sections I found to be:

Record Companies
Publishing Companies
Music Services which includes photographers, studios, distributors, PR companies etc (this is the most comprehensive section)
Live Performance which includes venues, promoters, festivals, uk road maps and is great for DIY bands to organize tours
Management Companies
Radio and Press

There are other sections but I skimmed over them as they didn't really apply to what I was doing. Just looking at the list above imagine the uses for this. I am confident that if you invested the right amount of time, money and effort into your band and used nothing but this book that you could become the UKs next superstars (that is of course if your music doesn't suck ass!). Over the coming months I will personally be using this book for my band Bleed Electric . We will be utilizing it to see if we can organize ourselves a bigger record deal, to get press and to find a management company, so I will keep this updated with any status on that.

EXAMPLE INFORMATION:
Location: Wales - RECORDING STUDIOS
Name: Screamadelica
Address: Unit 1 Royal Stuart Workshops, Adelaide Place, Cardiff, CF10 5BR
Tel: 02920 161534
Email: chris at screamadelica.co.uk
Contact: Chris
Desk: Tascam FW1884
Monitors: Tannoy Reveal 8D / RolandDM 20
Info: This shows related info

As you can see from the above example the information for each entity is VERY detailed. I mean they even listed the studio monitors and desk we use at the studio and quite how they got that information I will never know, but it impresses me greatly. I mean what more info could you want if you were looking for a Welsh Recording Studio to use? That's right none. You could quite confidently abandon the internet and replace it with The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three and would be fine!

There is not really that much more to cover to be honest. In a nutshell, if you are serious about your musical career then The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three is an ESSENTIAL part of this success. I would even go as far as to say that if you don't have this then you are ultimately not that serious a band. Let me re-iterate my comments earlier. Knowledge is power and The Unsigned Guide Edition Three is the equivalent of a musical Yellow Pages, use it right and we will be seeing you on the TV sooner rather than later. Good luck and follow the link below to buy The Unsigned Guide UK Edition Three right now so you can move your band in the right direction.

BUY THE UNSIGNED GUIDE UK EDITION THREE

Bugera 333 XL -Hi-Gain Guitar Amplifier Head

altsounds — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:02:41 GMT

Prior to reviewing this guitar amplifier head I was unfamiliar with Bugera as a brand. I usually have my finger on the pulse and was disappointed at myself for not finding out about these guys a little sooner. It seems that the Bugera R&D department have all come from various Amplifier manufacturers as each model seems to be an almost identical copy of another amp. The Bugera 333XL is a copy of Peavey's JSX and the Triple XXX models.

Features & Under the Hood
The Bugera 333XL when taken from it's packaging is a very attractive amplifier; nice grills and touches that really show off the tubes and help to make everyone that sees it fall in love with it. The one single aesthetic missing from this is some colour changing LEDs so that when in the studio or on stage this amplifier looks the most attractive of all other amplifiers around [not having this feature didn't stop me from installing some though and it looks fly!]. So before I have even plugged this in I was falling in love with it. HARD!

The Bugera 333XL outputs 120 Watts of power has three selectable channels- Clean, Crunch and Lead. It also features Reverb and Noise Gate controls which are likely to come in very handy both live and in the studio. Each of the three channels have their own EQ, presence and gain controls and an XL switch is present on the Crunch and Lead channels. There is a Hi and Lo Gain guitar input available although I imagine that the Lo slot will rarely [if ever] get used. Flip the amp around and on the back the FX loop has send and return volume controls, 2 speaker outputs (4, 8 and 16 Ohm) and a line out (un-balanced) with volume control. The Bugera 333XL also comes with a sexy little footswitch that allows you to control channel selection (clean, crunch, lead) and fx loop/boost.

If you don't use the FX loop the latter option can be used as a volume boost which is particularly handy for leads and solos. Sitting within the beautiful Bugera 333XL amplifier are 4 12AX7/ECC83 preamp tubes and 4 EL34 power tubes (convertible to 6L6's). Bias selection switch (EL34/6L6), a bias adjust control and a bias test are on top of the metal chassis for easy biasing. There are two plastic hooks on the back for wrapping your power chord/speaker cable around and an easy one top handle for carrying.

Features:

Hand-built 120-Watt amplifier driven by 4 x EL34 valves (convertible to 6L6)
Classic 3-channel preamp design (Clean, Crunch, Lead) featuring 4 x 12AX7 valves
Integrated high-class reverb with dedicated Reverb control
XL switches on the Lead and Crunch channels for absolute killer sounds
Independent Equalizer sections for each channel with dedicated Bass, Mid and Treble control
Classic Presence control for awesome sound shaping
Impedance switch (4, 8 and 16 Ohm) to match virtually any speaker cabinet
FX Loop with independent Send and Return level controls also serves as Boost function
Heavy-duty footswitch for Channel selection and FX Loop/Boost function included
Line output with dedicated Level control

Under the Hammer / In Use
The Bugera 333 XL is designed as a Metal Amplifier. Not necessarily Heavy Metal but any band that relies on that modern, scooped, hi-gain sound should just stop reading and go out and buy this amplifier. The tone that screams out of the Lead channel on this is unlike anything I have ever heard in a physical amplifier because my prior experience had been limited to the norm i.e. Marshall etc. The Noise gate really becomes a useful feature when using the amplifier at such Hi-Gain levels and is a useful tool for both studio and live applications and to be honest a built in Noise gate should become the norm for guitar amplification heads.

The Crunch channel is equally as nice sounding as the Lead channel particularly with the XL switch on. It allows for some nice rhythm based tone that will sit a little bit more in the mix and works perfectly as a lead up or lead down to the Clean channel. The clean tone sounds very West Coast and is a really nice clean tone. I have used this amplifier on a multitude of recording sessions and each of the bands I have persuaded to abandon their amplifiers has ended up wanting or buying a Bugera amplifier of their own.

It should also be noted that as with many amplifiers, the Bugera 333XL sounds best when it is cranked and is not designed to be used at low levels. If you can't whack it up to at least 5 then you probably shouldn't own it. That being the case it makes a perfect purchase for a serious touring musician that can really let loose the power and tone that this outputs otherwise it's like owning a Ferrari and driving it at 30mph, not what it was designed to do, and many other and cheaper alternatives. The built in Reverb on the Bugera 333XL is digital and is probably one of the best sounding digital Reverbs I am yet to hear.

I tested the amplifier with a plethora of guitars and cabs, performed by a multitude of bands of varying genres. Each and every scenario I gave the Bugera 333 XL worked great and I would be comfortable in any band plugging in almost any cab or guitar and being able to make the Bugera 333XL sound great. I use this amplifier in the studio so often that it sits permanently between my studio monitors so that I can quickly plug a guitar in and get recording.

Reliability / Build Quality
I have been using this amplifier for 3 months now and it has been heavily used. I have never experienced a problem although I have read the horror stories some have experienced on the internet. Now let me do my best to set the record straight on this as it is actually [more than likely to be] user error not an amplifier or reliability flaw of these amps.

I would suggest 99% of the previously mentioned issues people had experienced all comes down to Bias and/or Impedance. Improper biasing can cause all sorts of problems at various sides of the scale in tube amplifiers. It can make your power tubes burn out and blow up if it is set too high, or the opposite [low bias] which results in bad or no sound. I would also assume that considering the price, it is likely that the Bugera 333XL is the first tube amplifier that the user will have owned and are unfamiliar with the extra care that needs to be given to a tube amplifier. The other thing that is uber important in tube amplifiers is the "impedance". The impedance in normal [transistor] amps is nowhere near as important as it is with tube amps. In a tube amp if your speaker impedance is higher than that of the amplifier, it can cause the excess load to build up in the amplifiers output stage, which more often than not will blow the power tubes and/or the output transformer.

Before plugging in the guitar and using this amplifier for the first time, check and correctly set the bias. In 6 months, check it again (as tubes are used and worn, their ideal bias voltage can also change). For help and advice on setting the bias for this amplifier please download the PDF listed below:

Bugera Valve Bias Instructions (EN) [PDF 2.8MB]

PDF files can only be viewed with Adobe's Acrobat Reader. You can download the latest version of the Acrobat-Reader here.

Poor Bugera seem to be bearing the brunt of user error and their improper use of the hardware, causing the amplifier to break in the first place. If you know what you are doing and treat the amplifier with the love and respect it deserves you should be fine and dandy and the Bugera 333XL and it will quickly become a staple part of your guitar based diet for many a year to come.

In Conclusion and Where to Buy
If the Bugera 333XL is anything to go by then all the major Amplifier manufacturers should start worrying because Bugeras R&D department are likely in their labs putting together an exact replica of their most prized amp that will go on sale as a Bugera product for a fraction of the cost. Imagine Bugera [if you will] as the Wetherspoon Pub Chain of the amplifier world. All pubs sell alcohol but Wetherspoon sell the same quality product cheaper than their competitors which results in more people buying from them which, [in turn] allows them to sell the same product even cheaper again. If Bugera continue on their current road then you will be seeing and hearing A LOT more about them over the coming months and years.

Well done gentlemen.

Drumsound & Bassline Smith: Studio Technique [Sample DVD]

altsounds — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:14:57 GMT

Drum and Bass is an odd genre. When used in a unique way it can be amazing but A LOT of it seems to sound quite similar. Everyone these days just tries to make it faster and when I hear Drum and Bass I just imagine a plethora of kids in the clubs popping their heads off on pills whereas I find it hard to imagine someone sitting in their house chilling out to it. Kind of a crap example but the point was to demonstrate the sheer limitations of it as a genre and I found this to be exactly the same with the Studio Technique sample DVD.

Putting together a new song using these samples I did my usual and patiently sat through the hundreds of WAV samples, carefully putting aside the ones I liked and knew would work well with what I was doing that day. The problem I found was that I had enough samples to use in one song but after that I was about done. A DVD full of samples and for me the disks usage was over after I had crafted just one song which when spending 40 quid is highly disappointing. I am sure that specific Drum and Bass Producers might have a bit more use out of this sample disk than I or other chameleon producers but a lot of the samples on this disk seem like repetitions of something already past and they all seem to kind of blend into each other a little. My personal favourites were the heavier synth sounds a la The Prodigy and some of the beats and glitches. My biggest let down on the entire sample disk was the basses that just didn't feel bassy enough for me. That's what was most disappointing. Imagine it being like an 11 track album. 3 of the tracks are mind blowing and the rest just sound the same and that's about where you are with this disk, it just falls shy of greatness even though there are moments of brilliance.

Tech Specs:

Over 600Mb of Original Content
385 total samples
150 Loops available in multiple formats such as Refill, Apple Loops, Acidised Wav, Rex2.
18 Bassline Loops
63 Drum Breaks
10 Pad Loops
18 Phantasm Loops
39 Music Loops
96 Bass Sounds
8 Drones
32 Drum Hits
52 SFX Samples
27 Hard Leads
17 Pad Sounds,
130 Ready to play patches for NNXT, Halion, Kontakt, SFZ, EXS24, and compatible soft samplers.

Genres: Drum and Bass, Breakbeat, Breaks and Artist Series

Formats: Wav, Acid, Rex2, Reason Refill, Live Pack, Apple Loops, Halion, Kontakt, EXS, SFZ, Stylus RMX, Live Presets and NNXT.

This disk is an ideal buy for anyone looking to work with BPM's greater than 160. If you never raise your tracks that high from a techno perspective then this might not be for you. Top quality stuff from Loopmasters as always just very niche in it's purpose and usage.

Where to Buy?
Drumsound & Bassline Smith: Studio Technique - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

Sample Magic Tech-Funk Breaks [Sample Pack]

altsounds — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:42:56 GMT

Tech Funk Breaks is the new Sample Disc by Sample Magic. This CD and DVD double disc combo is produced by Simon Carter (Crystal Distortion) and Steve Young (Hedflux). Coming packaged in a nice looking two disc set there are A LOT of loops, hits and samples crammed onto one DVD. Under the hood you have the ability to play with the sounds in the following formats:

Audio
Acid
EXS24
HALion
Refill
Rex
Wav

Setting Up
I just stuck with simplicity for this review and used the raw WAV samples which are all 24-bit 44.1khz WAV quality. It seems to me this is the best way anyway as there are more WAV samples on the disk than anything else. What I did find with the 24 bit format however, is that Windows Media Player by default does not play 24bit WAV files and as such I had to make a change to my Windows system to be able to listen to the samples before choosing the ones I wanted to use. It wasn't a major deal though and was found easily by searching Google.

Under the Hood
There is a lot of technical and a lot of funk on this disk so the title is uber apt. A lot of it is tailored to the more electro break sound and the samples are produced very well. Add one of the drum loops to your song to instantly turn it into a masterpiece! The sounds are also very now, so if you're looking for the commercial, popular, more pop oriented electro sounds, this will be the disk for you to buy.

What is really great is the sheer range contained on the disks that all fall within the electro, tech break sub genre. Often you find that some of these sample disks feel like they are cutting room floor stuff [left overs] the artists didn't want to use themselves. This is not the case here, with each sample and hit sounding so great that it feels like the guys approached the recording session as if they were writing songs for their newest album, and then sampled them to allow bedroom producers the world over to collaborate with some of the best producers in the business without having to pay the hundreds / thousands in studio time it would normally cost you to work with these guys. What I really found fun was the detail involved in the booklet. A full equipment list including classics such as Korg ESX1 and Korg MS20 amongst many others there are even some Production tips for people to learn a little from. I found I took some stuff away from their tips so they were defo worthwhile!

The samples are broken down on the disk into the following categories:

Drums > 300+ deep fried, glitched-out, ball-busting breaks, beats and tops. Guaranteed dancefloor mayhem.

Bass > Bit-reduced bin-blitzers, cone-creaking monoruns and screaming all-analogue funklines.

Synths > Circuit bent acid riffs, chaotic sawfests and seductive pads � all key named for your convenience.

Voxmash > Up-to-the-moment vocal mash-ups; sliced, diced and recycled. 100% copyright clear.

Combis > Unique song starters and pared down musical elements to be used, bruised and abused.

More > Scratches, fills, booms, sweeps, dives and a painstakingly selected single-hit drum archive.

Within those categories you will find samples from Dubstep, to straight up house grooves, all the way forward to acid electro and everywhere in between. What's blatant here though is that these samples were put together with the aim of appealing to the clubbing, more dance oriented producers as the tempos all fall within the stereotypical dance music tempo range (125-140 bpm). Bear this in mind when purchasing the disk as if you're looking for more Old Skool breaks this won't be your disk.

Buy this disk if your looking for glitches, vox mashups, razor tight bass lines or more particularly hard hitting electro beats. The beats are what tips this pack over the edge and will make all electronic music producers happy. The only down side is the price tag which is 20 pounds or so more per sample pack than other sample manufacturers. However, if like me you prefer quality over price that won't matter an iota.

Where to Buy?
Tech-Funk Breaks - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software

Behringer RSM Guitar and Bass Effect Pedals

altsounds — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:22:46 GMT

Since the beginning of time Boss were known for their Guitar and Bass effect pedals. Every wannabe guitarist had used some form of their pedals and in most cases Overdrive or Distortion pedals. A lot has changed since their reign though and Behringer with their new range of RSM Stomp Boxes are set to "stomp" all over Boss in both price and sound. The Behringer effect pedals are cheap, dirt cheap in fact for what they are and quite astonishing probably to the people that used to be comfortable letting go of 60-100 quid for a Boss pedal. Each behringer pedal is about 12-30 quid which is nothing for what you get in terms of sound quality.

The Build Quality of the Behringer RSM pedals is not as sturdy, solid and robust as the Boss pedals. Where as the Boss pedals are made from solid metal and can literally be dropped off a skyscraper and still work, the Behringer pedals have a plastic casing and the first time I tried to put a battery in I kind of worried I would break the thing. Staying with this for the moment, the battery compartment is not as easy to get into either and a screwdriver is needed making quick changing of batteries on stage not so easy. Plus, what happens if you forgot your screwdriver? Who knows. So, to a point you get what you pay for, however in this instance it isn't as simple as that because if you look after your stuff the severely budget price tag is likely to make a budding guitarist just go out and buy a Behringer Pedal board and then subsequently fill it with Behringer RSM Stomp Boxes. I mean you can do all that for less than 200 quid, which by my calculations would get you 3 Boss pedals (sorry Boss).

WTF is RSM?
RSM is a new digital pedal format designed by Behringer. Each of the pedals are 24-bit. RSM stands for Real Sound Modeling and all the pedals utilize advanced DSP algorithms developed by Behringer's team of acoustic, hardware and software engineers.

The RSM 24-bit hardware, firmware and software system allows Behringer to model many acoustic spaces, instruments and electronic modifications. Under the hood of the Behringer RSM processors you will find a lot of substantial FX for DJ's, keyboardists and guitar amp effects loops alike.

Overview
Unlike most critics, I welcome a bargain and being very familiar with Behringer I knew what to expect from their pedals - quality at a cheap price. Luckily for me I was sent the whole RSM rnage of pedals for review and I slowly and surely cabled them altogether in my Behringer Pedal board and went through the pedals one by one. There were some of the usual suspects (delay, reverb, phaser, flange etc) and some more fun ones to play with too (pitch shifter, dynamic wah and bass synthesizer [which is FUN!]). What I did quickly notice and I don't know if this is due to market share but there were no overdrives or distortion pedals at all and I wonder whether this is just because Behringer understand that when it comes to that sub genre of guitar pedals that they do it just right. Not sure, but it was a slight shame none-the-less. It is worth noting however that Behringer do offer some distortion pedals in their non-RSM range.

In Use
When you plug the pedals in and start using them in sessions with all sorts of instrumentalists you start to appreciate the quality of the sound that they output. Each of the pedals have lots of controls that allow you to easily firm and fix the sound as you wish allowing you to find the perfect sound for your session. The pedals all sound equally as good as pedals that cost a lot more leaving me personally worried for these other manufacturers. My personal favourite of them all was the Bass Synthesizer. This pedal, coupled with the right bass player allowed for all sorts of fun and wet synth bass sounds using a real bass guitar. Other highlights for me included the Echo Machine, Space Chorus, Ultra Acoustic Modeller and the Rotary Machine which all performed amazingly under the studio pressures.

My major general criticism was that in some of the pedals there was so much functionality and tweakability crammed into the pedals that if you had big hands you would probably be finding it hard to set. Although the knobs are sturdy than other pedal manufacturers, I found that this made them slightly harder to setup and fine tune as you required although at the same time it wasn't a major issue. Also because these pedals are housed in plastic casing I do see that this might make some problems with lastability for the true touring musician however if you buy yourself a nice pedal board and look after your gear you should be fine. What's cool too and to calm the nerves of people dubious about Behringer's cheap prices is that they offer to replace any faulty pedals with no qualms giving you 100% piece of mind when investing in their product.

In a turbulent economic climate, the Behringer RSM pedals offer a cheap, flexible and versatile pedal set that sonically sound as great as the more expensive counterparts for a fraction of the outlay. Sounds good to me! Leaves me with a little more money to get some beers to enjoy while I play with my name pedals.

Where to Buy
Behringer +49 2154 9206 6441.
Altsounds.com | Independent Music Journalism

Reason 4 Premium Edition

altsounds — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:13:06 GMT

Ah Reason. Me and her have had a love affair for a few years now! Reason coupled with a MIDI controller is simply put all you would ever need to create your own music. If you are billy no mates you can still make music with Reason. All done using MIDI you can perform a synth line and then convert it to another sound later if you don't like it. You can use it with or without a controller and it features the ability to lay down drums, bass, synths strings and whatever else you can imagine. My band Bleed Electric are releasing our debut album and a grand majority of it was crafted in Reason. Go to the Myspace Page and listen to "IV. Birds as High as Planes" and all the instrumentation and sound effects that you hear were done in Reason.

The Reason 4 Premium Edition that I have is the ultimate Reason's "studio in a box". So what is different between regular Reason and the Pemium Edition? The premium edition not only includes the Reason software but bundles of Refills Sound Libraries (additional instruments and sounds). Included Refills are:

Abbey Road Keyboards,
Reason Drum Kits 2,
Reason Electric Bass and
Reason Pianos

This version has blatantly been put together for the waivering purchaser or the hardcore user that has crafted so much material in Reason that the Refills will be a god send in ensuring their compositions always remain up to date and fresh. I know the refills have really been good for me, particularly the Reason Drum Kits 2.

Reason 4 sees some slight interface differences although from a far it looks fairly similar. There is a new Synthesizer Thor which the name aptly describes very well - a beast of a synth. Each track now has multiple sub tracks (lanes) allowing you to easily layer tracks with one instrument. This is a nice new feature and a godsend for me who, previously would have to double the instrument and would end up with 9000 different instruments running at the same time. You can now Quantize drums and synth lines you play as you record them too which is fairly nifty, the RPG-8 Arpeggiator and there are all sorts of new automation settings and a Re-Groove "unquantize" feature.

All four Refills contained within the premium edition are top notch and really help someone like myself to build their sound arsenal. Reason Drum Kits 2 is my personal favourite as I found after producing a lot of work with Reason that the drum-kits included with it became very old and boring very quickly. By that I mean it would be hard to get fresh sounds because you had already used a particular kit. Included in Reason Drum Kits 2 are 96 Re-drum kits that like before are organized by musical style i.e. "Hip Hop". Each kit piece has it's own channel and kits can be mixed and matched easily to make your own custom kits. Velocity and detail in these kits are great and with this alone I found myself back in to Producing with Reason and making brand new, fresh and original beats again. Abbey Road Keyboards does what it says on the tin and features a shed load of keyboard based instruments from Abbey Road studios. There are Pianos, Harmouniums, Mellotrons and more and they were all sampled using the Abbey Road microphone collection, which is disputedly the best microphone collection of any studio in the world. As you can imagine the quality is perfect and again I am loving this Refill.

Reason Pianos extends the piano functionality of Reason and includes two grands (Yamaha C7 and Steinway D). Each of these grands were miced using 6 different microphones and placements (some stereo, some mono) all of which show up in Reason seperately so you can get the perfect mixes you want from them. Reason Electric Bass adds functionality to Reason that was not really there in too much detail before and that is the ability to have real sounding bass. There are eight of the worlds most famous bass guitars sampled, some plucked and some fingered, with different string types and a plethora of other options allowing you to truly find the optimum real bass sound for your song. The samples are excellent quality and even include things like ghost notes and finger slides to give the real feel of a human bass player.

All of that is packed into one nice little bundle that is a worthwhile buy for anyone. Some of the previous bugs and jitters I hated about Reason still exist though unfortunately, hopefully they will take heed to this and make these changes in Reason 5! The window still can't be maximized and as such sits oddly on your screen. Songs cannot be exported as individual WAV files and, although you can acheive this using Re-Wire it would be nice to be able to have a multiple WAV file output for your finished songs. YOu can't bounce down directly to MP3 either which is a pain too. I still love the wiring ability and functionality you can get from Reason by pressing TAB. It literally allows you to see the back of all the instruments and to route anything you want to anywhere, this allows for some great new Combinations of instruments and effects to make new sounds.

If Reason could be graphically scaled to work over multiple monitors it would be the greatest "studio in a box" product on the market at the moment. Even without it Reason is the best but with a few little flaw fixes and I would be recommending the whole world go out and get this so they can start making their own music in their house, shed, boat or wherever else a real full fledged studio won't fit. Hell, you could do like I do and use it in a real recording studio!

Reason 4 is the best version of Reason so far and continues to get used daily. If you are serious about making electronic music then you should just go and buy a copy of the software right now and get moving. I do find however that from a mixing standpoint I do need to use another sequencer (Sonar for example) so that I can also add on some 3rd party effects to each Reason track. If Propellerhead were to concentrate on this aspect of Reason a little more they would be able to better their product. That being said though, with the functionality they introduce through Re-wire this can be done anyway but relies on you having another sequencer and as with everything in life that means more $$ you need to spend to get the full functionality.

I would recommend that you get both a keyboard based MIDI controller and a pad based one so that you can use one to put in synth lines and the other to slam down some beats and, although you can do both without any MIDI controller at all, you will likely be ripping your hair out or going blind if you try to do so.

I can't say enough how much I love and recommend Propellerhead's Reason 4 and although I have laid down some flaws don't mis-intepret that. I am merely a power user and certain things frustrate me so my moaning here is more an attempt at getting the developers to start considering my moas as features. Not one of these moans stops you from working either which is blatantly where Propellerhead's develeopment priority lies.

Did I say how much I love Reason 4 and how much you should buy it?? I did? Oh ok.

Go and buy Reason 4 now. You WILL NOT be dissapointed although you have to be prepared to spend a bunch of hours learning the software properlly before you can get some gold out of it. If you put the time in, the results will follow.

Go and buy Reason 4!
Bleed Reason 4 - Sample Song to showcase Reason Functionality

Propellerhead Reason 4 Premium Edition Bundle Specifications:
Reason 4

Windows:

Windows XP or Vista
Processor: Intel P4 / AMD Athlon XP or better
Memory: 512 MB RAM minimum 1 GB recommended
Screen resolution: 1024 x 768
2GB free hard disk space
DVD reader
16-bit windows compatible audio card preferably with DirectX or ASIO drivers
Recommended: MIDI keyboard with built-in MIDI interface or MIDI keyboard and MIDI interface

Mac OS:

Mac OS X 10.4
Processor: G4 1GHz and up or Intel Mac
Memory: 512 MB RAM minimum 1 GB recommended
Screen resolution: 1024x768
2GB free hard disk space
DVD reader
Recommended: MIDI keyboard with built-in MIDI interface or MIDI keyboard and MIDI interface

Preminum Edition requirements
System requirements

Minimum

Windows:
Intel P4 1.4GHz/AMD Athlon XP
1GB RAM
DVD drive

MacOS:
Macintosh Intel
1GB RAM
DVD drive

Recommended

Windows:
Intel P4 2.4GHz
2GB RAM
Low-latency ASIO compatible soundcard
DVD drive
4-octave MIDI controller capable of transmitting aftertouch
Sustain pedal

MacOS:
Macintosh Intel
2GB RAM
DVD drive
4-octave MIDI controller capable of transmitting aftertouch
Sustain pedal

Propellerhead Reason 4 Premium Edition Bundle Features:

Package includes 7 DVDs which give you Reason 4 and 4 Reason ReFills: Reason Drum Kits 2 Reason Pianos Abbey Road Keyboards Reason Electric Bass
ReFills come in both 16- and 24-bit versions

Reason 4
Sound Modules
Thor Polysonic Synthesizer
NN19 basic sampler
NN-XT advanced sampler
Malstrom granular synthesizer
Dr. Rex loop player
Redrum pattern-based drum machine
Subtractor analog subtractive synthesizer
Combinator unit for building chains of instruments effects and pattern sequencers

Effects units
RV-7 digital reverb
DDL-1 digital delay line
D-11 foldback distortion
ECF-42 envelope-controlled filter
DF-101 chorus/flanger
PH-90 phaser
COMP-01 compressor
PEQ2 2-band EQ
RV7000 advanced reverb
Scream 4 Sound Destruction Unit
BV512 vocoder with 4 to 512 bands and equalization
UN16 unison

Sequencer Mixer and Utility modules
RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator
ReGroove Mixer real-time groove console
Matrix pattern-based sequencer
Fully featured high precision multitrack sequencer
14 x 2 mixer w/ EQ and effects send/return
6:2 channel stereo line mixer
Spider Audio Merger & Splitter
Spider Control Voltage Merger & Splitter
Remote mapping to external MIDI controllers and hardware control surfaces
Enhanced browser for searching previewing and loading sounds and patches

Mastering tools
4-band professional-level mastering EQ
Stereo imager control with independent high and low band control
Stereo compressor with sidechain input, soft-knee mode, and CV out
Loudness maximizer with switchable look-ahead and soft clip controls

PreSonus Firestudio Tube

houstonmusicreviews — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:40:38 GMT

The Bottom Line

I am very impressed with this product as it allows a full band to record together at the same time. It has enough features that it could also appeal to a small studio owner. The SuperChannels are a definite winner and I like the fact that PreSonus have created an easy to use out of the box package that can keep musicians, home recordists, and small studios happy for a long time.

Pros:

2 SuperChannels
16 inputs
10 mic preamps
8 outputs including headphone out
Phantom power switchable by pairs of 2
FireControl software mixer
Ready to start recording software bundle & Cubase Demystified DVD
built in power supply running at both 120 and 220 volts!

Cons:

No digital in/out
No combo jacks on XMAX preamps
Crammed midi inputs
No 64-bit driver support

PreSonus have been known for affordable quality products for musicians that get the job done. According to PreSonus:

Quote:

"the FireStudio Tube is a world-class 24-bit/96k professional FireWire recording system loaded with the perfect combination of inputs and outputs for bands, producers, musicians and engineers to produce commercial-quality recordings."

To see if this is true, this month Alexander Dorian puts the Firestudio Tube through the paces of a full rock band production and reports back the results.

The Firestudio Tube is a one rack space firewire (IEEE 1394) recording interface capable of recording at up to 24-bit/96K. It allows for 16 channels of simultaneous record and playback using ten microphone pre-amps, six line level inputs, 6 line level outputs and a headphone output.

It features 16 inputs and 6 outputs simultaneous record/playback channels. Two of these inputs are what PreSonus calls SuperChannels (tube microphone/instrument preamplifier with analog limiter), 8 XMAX microphone preamplifiers, 2 PreSonus microphone/instrument preamplifiers, 6 balanced TRS line outputs, MIDI Input/Output. It also features a 16x8 FireControl DSP mixer/router, JetPLL Sync and high performance A/D/A converters (114 dynamic range). The Firestudio is Windows and Macintosh compatible. Multiple FireStudio Project and FireStudio Tube audio interfaces can be chained for expanded capability and to allow flexibility for different setups. According to PreSonus, you can daisy chain up to four Firestudio Projects or Firestudio Tubes together in any combination. The Firestudio Tube package also comes in with the ProPak Software Suite including Cubase LE 4 audio production software and other light versions of popular programs and plugins ( Reason Adapted, Drumagog, Camel Crusher, etc.). and a getting started DVD called "Cubase LE4 Demystified" which has a great tutorial to get you started on the system. A driver CD is included with drivers for Mac OSX 10.4 or later and Windows XP and Vista (only 32-bit drivers). According to PreSonus, a 64-bit driver is due towards the end of 2009. For running on Windows, PreSonus recommends a CPU of 1.5 GHz. although they say it will run on a 900 Mhz machine. Minimum memory (RAM) is 1 GB. On the Mac, PreSonus say that you'd need a CPU PowerPC G4/Dual 1 GHZ or faster, and it will also run on all the newer all Intel-based Mac models. Again, minimum of 1GB of RAM is recommended. The supported FireWire port is IEEE 1394/400 Port.

Installation

The Firestudio Tube was a breeze to install on my AMD X2 4200+ dual processor machine loaded with 4Gb RAM. All I needed in Windows XP was to run the provided driver CD, shut down the system, connect the device to the firewire port on my PC, power back up. Windows automatically recognized the audio interface and proceeded to install the drivers. Cubase LE 4 took some time to install as it required registration via Cubase and a validation process via Synchrosoft (validation software package). After the install, I managed to configure the Firestudio Tube as per the provided DVD instructions in LE4 and start recording right away. On my first session I got some erratic behavior in LE4 when trying to normalize a track. It turns out LE 4 had a release version bug that was fairly common so I had to download the latest patch. After updating LE4 to version 4.1.2 it also turned out the Syncrosoft software needed to be updated, so yet another download was required from Synchrosoft before I was ready to go.

Features

The Firestudio Tube front accommodates the 2 tube channels which come on Neutrik combo inserts, so you can use them with XLR or 1/4 inch inputs. Each channel has rotary controls for Gain, Drive, Limiter and Gain Makeup. A button to turn on phantom power and a meter with 80Hz low cut filter button and a limiter on/off button. Next to these are the rotary controls for the 8 mic XMAX preamps and on/off buttons that engages phantom power by each two channel pairs (channel 1 and 2, etc.). Next to that these is a mic input jack (1/4 inch stereo) and rotary controls for Phones and Main, power on button and a LED light indicating sync status.

On the from right to left one can find the 8 mic inputs (XLR) numbered 1 to 8, line inputs (1/4 jacks) numbered 9 to 14, and the output pairs on 1/4 jacks 1 to 6. On the left of these is the midi jack with the FireWire 1 and 2 ports underneath it and the built in power supply.

The top of the unit has one vent hole through which one 12ax7 tube gets cool air and I also suspect because they wanted to accent the fact that this unit has a tube preamp section. According to PreSonus the 12AX7 is a dual-element tube and they use each element separately to run both preamps. Changing the tube doesn't void the warranty, so that is good news for those that like changing tubes to get a different character.

The PreSonus Firestudio comes with a FireControl mixer which lets you adjust latency settings, assign monitor mixes to 3 output stereo busses and a headphone mix. All inputs can be monitored in real time without latency on all inputs and outputs. The mixer software can also save different mixer settings so in case you have a session that you need to recall - you can easily recall from your presets.

The Firestudio Tube offers a built-in power supply, which operates on US or European voltage! PreSonus has also improved the phantom power switching compared to the FP10, which now turns only 2 channels at a time on the XMAX preamps and separately on each front SuperChannel tube preamp. The midi connector is very close on top of the firewire ports. Apparently in order to be able to fit the power supply transformer inside the unit PreSonus had to extend the midi in/out jacks via a proprietary patch cable which then hooks at the midi port. Considering that the firewire ports are essential for this unit's operation it is possible that during a session connecting a midi device could knock off your firewire cable. Also losing the midi extension could mean waiting a few weeks for a replacement.

In Use

Tracking:
For the recording trials I conscripted a friend's band who wanted to record a few songs. They already had a PA and drum mic setup at their studio so I pretty much needed to just bring in a PC, the Firestudio, a few mics and cables. I had to track on headphones as the room did not have any separation for a recording setup so I used a pair of AKG K240 headphones and a pair of isolation headphones for the drum tracking. The band was going to record drums first with scratch tracks of guitar and bass, replace these with the keeper tracks later and overdub vocals last. This particular drummer uses triggered kicks so I was looking forward to record a safety midi take of his performance. However, it turned out that the midi cable didn't work with the interface. Apparently there was a recall of these cables and PreSonus shipped a replacement immediately. Since midi was out of the question I plugged in the somewhat dull triggered kick signal to the front tube preamp, dialed in about 60% "Drive" grit from the tube and made it a bit livelier. The limiter also let me increase the input amount and get a more consistent recording. I used the second tube preamp for the snare, again dialing in some tube grit and using the limiter option to squash the level up a bit. The rest of the kit (4 toms, overheads) went to the XMAX channels on the back of the unit. The scratch guitars I recorded via a DI in case we wanted to keep anything to be reamped later, and via a Hughes and Kettner speaker emulated DI box so we can keep the volume low but still provide a live feel. The bass I recorded direct from the amp out to an XLR input on the Firestudio. At this point I had still all 6 line inputs open if I needed to record more sources.

Monitoring:
For monitoring I sent a few separate headphone mixes - line out 1and 2 went to the bass player and guitarist via a small mixer, line out 3 and 4 went to the drummer via their PA mixer. I was monitoring the band via headphones. Thus, I was able to quickly supply them with a custom monitor mix on the spot and save the session settings in the PreSonus FireControl mixer software for recall. From there on I powered up Cubase LE4 and the session ran smoothly. For the rest of the sessions I took even less equipment since we were tracking only guitars and bass so just a PC, the Firestudio, few mics and cables. When recording the overdubs I found myself reaching out for the 2 SuperChannels as they definitely had more mojo than the XMAX preamps. I especially liked the interplay between the gain, drive and limiter knobs as these allowed me more tonal control and sounded more musical.

The XMAX preamps sound clean but were a bit underpowered on some of the mics I used and I really had to increase the gain almost to maximum which introduced some noise on the channel.

Mixing

So, after finishing overdubs I proceeded to mix in my home studio which consists of a few outboard fx, preamps and a monitoring system. For this band I felt that my outboard Roland SRV-3030 reverb was a better match than the CubaseLE4 reverbs so I set up a reverb send/return in LE4 which then went to the outboard unit. I also wanted to reamp some of the guitar so I ran outs from the DI guitar tracks in turn to outboard guitar preamps which then I recorded back in Cubase. I tried to add some more dimension to the kicks which were triggered and sounded a bit stale at the mixing stage again so I loaded Drumagog which worked for a bit but sadly started to glitch on me with audio cutting out so I had do give up that idea. Instead I used the provided Camel Crusher plugin which generated some extra harmonic content. I quickly found out that my system was becoming maxed out due to some guitar reamp plugins so I had to use the highest latency for a smoother operation. While on this subject I was pleasantly surprised to see that the mixer software also offers "Operation Mode" settings which can be changed depending on how much processing power you want the audio card to keep control of. In my case I settled on Safe Mode 2. I then proceeded to commit to tracks the DIed guitar parts so I can free processing power. Overall, I found LE4 to have the essentials for completing the mix, so it would be enough for seeing a project from start to completion in most instances. I would probably supplement it with a few paid or freeware plugins as especially the modulation and time effects in LE4 were a bit lacking.

While at it I decided to try and see how the Firestudio Tube will perform with other recording programs I had installed. It worked great with my main recording software, Sonar Producer 7, with only very rare audio dropouts. My scratch practice software/recorder is Riffworks 2. It wrecked total havoc on the soundcard driver and Cubase by locking it out and apparently doing some damage to Cubase, so I had to reinstall the drivers and LE4 again. Riffworks are aware of the problem but apparently I am the only one using this audio interface and so far they haven't been able to fix the issue.

Conclusion
I am very impressed with this product as it allows a full band to record together at the same time. It has enough features that it could also appeal to a small studio owner. The SuperChannels are a definite winner and I like the fact that PreSonus have created an easy to use out of the box package that can keep musicians, home recordists, and small studios happy for a long time.

Reviewed by: A. Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Coldcut: Sound Science Sample Pack

altsounds — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:53:52 GMT

Coldcut have been making electronic based music since about 1986. Their most notable chart position to date was under the guise "Yazz and the Plastic Population" featuring Yazz on vocals. They have done tracks with Junior Reed, Lisa Stansfield, George Jetson and Mark E Smith. They own the very legendary Ninjatune label and are still doing music and remixes with people even to this day! So imagine my joy when I first heard Coldcut would be releasing a sample disc. It was like my way to get a day in the studio with Coldcut without having to pay them thousands. A dream come true.

The Disc.

The sample pack comes as a one DVD package. On putting it into the computer you are faced with a bunch of directories. In this instance I decided I was going to go back to the way I used to work with samples and just used the tempo based WAV loops. There was a selection of BPMs to chose from [70, 88, 133 or something like that]. The selection of tempos is excellent and allow a large array of different genres to be squeezed on to this DVD [drum and bass, electro, hip hop, breakbeat and even jazz].

The beats on this disk are excellent and are probably the highlight although the horn work is also quite amazing. The samples have been done using varying equipment including tape as you can hear the tape hiss on some of the loops but that seems to just add credibility to them. The weakest aspect of the disk is bass loops with not much of a selection being available. Had the bass been as good as the drums this would be the ultimate sample pack.

I am working on a Hip-Hop album for my band Bleed Electric and during our last session we decided to sample this pack [no pun intended] for one of our songs "VI. I Wish I Had Brought My Binoculars" - track can be heard on the OpenDNS. Six tracks in to the album and we hadn't sampled so this felt like THE perfect point to put in some sampling into a Hip-Hop album that will be transcending the realms of Hip-Hop. I am also working on a track with a Welsh Language Pop artist that will utilize samples from this sample pack. This alone should demonstrate the quality contained within, if I am willing to put it into my projects. The �40 price tage is well worth it when you consider there are enough samples here to probably put together 2-5 tracks depending on how heavily those tracks revolve around the samples.

What's also cool is that the pack also contains single hit samples that could be linked up to a MIDI controller allowing you to play those sounds in any way shape or form yourself. Essentially loops and instruments all on the DVD. You can be confident that if you have any music making software at all that you can get something out of this disc even if you use it in the simplest form [as I did] and just use WAV loops in a sequencer.

I really like this artist series sample pack and think that more artists should do this as people would be very much up for buying it. Hopefully it won't be too long before Coldcut do another one as I will be first in the line to get it. For a small moment in time there was nothing more important in the world to me than this disk. If you are looking for vocal samples, this disk is probably not a good choice, this disk is for use musically and the vocals [for want of a better term] are sold seperately!

Pros:

Excellent drum loops especially for Breakbeat, and Hip-Hop
Nice synthesizer and orchestral sounds
Excellent horns and flutes
Nice tempo choices and genre span

Cons:

Not enough good bass samples on the disk
More tailored for instrumentals

BUY FROM TIME & SPACE

Minimal Electro Vibes Sample Library

jack s — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:10:06 GMT

Background:

Introducing Minimal Electro Vibes, developed for Ueberschall's total fidelity Nouvelle Series. Minimal Electro Vibes covers progressive electro techniques used by top trend innovators from the dance floor. This set includes 20 Construction Kits (1.5 GB of new material) which have been embedded into the Elastik Player for lighting access. Each kit includes all solo parts and drum shots used in the mix for extended individualization.

Pounding bass loops and grooves dedicated to the club scene, deep atmospheres and animated sound fx. These loops zoom into standard electro grooves and magnify synthetic elements from core sounds. Resulting magnified tones provide more access to a grooves inner textural composition. Minimal Electro Vibes offers an overdrive ready arsenal for multiple High-Tech mixing and production environments. Sounds can be fused to various genres for extended exploitation. All samples have been specially designed for Minimal Electro, Techno and Tech House.

For Excessive Use In

Clubs Sets
Jingles
Cues
Film Score
GameAudio
Online Videos

The Product:

highspeed timestretching and pitchshifting in best quality
innovative "LoopEye" for fast loop variations
all parameters midi controllable
multiple content management
each product separately installable
mapping tools (automatic slice- & chromatic-map)
save audio of original and modified loops
creation of user presets
filter with "kill function" (-72db)
adaptable to tempos from 10 to 480 bpm
audio engine for quick adaptation
and many many more

Loops & Samples: 750
Packaging: 1 DVD
Overall size: 1.5 GB
Interfaces: AudioUnits, VST, StandAlone, RTAS
System requirements:
MacOS X: 500 MHz / 512 MB RAM / 10 MB
Windows XP / Vista: 1000 MHz / 512 MB RAM / 10 MB

*Info taken from the Uberschall website

Setting up:
To the untrained eye the set-up can be abit of a pain. There is no initial instructions on how to go about using the samples. The autorun is none existant (I know this is the case for many Mac programs) as there is only an icon that appears on the desktop. The Minimal Electro Vibes construction pack is part of the Uberschall range that uses a player named �Elastik Player�. Having no previous knowledge of this, I was slightly dumb-founded upon trying to install the darn thing.

The Elastik player acts as a loop facility, enabling you to manipulate looped samples to different tempos, tone change, volume, panning etc. within a few mouse clicks. All future libraries compatible with Elastik can be taken care of in this one simple player.

At first glance, the player is a little scary. With the aptly named �Loop Eye� staring at you with a sense of aggression. This a �new, innovative waveform representation� is very swish. When a sample is played the Loop Eye changes waveform to represent the one being played (cool huh?) and also has a pointer that follows the eye clockwise. The control allows you to change where the sample starts, saving time and he ability for easy sample manipulation. There are a few options for installing the player; Stand-alone, RTAS, AU and VST. I personally used AU as Logic is abit of a bitch when it comes to VST�s sadly. For simple sample simulation, the stand-alone player is the most efficient and easiest option

With the installation out the way, you can get started with playing around with the sounds, although there still is no real indication on where to start. The PDF�s included on the disc have some easy-to-use guides for the stand-alone version of the player. Loading the MEV (Minimal Electro Vibes) production pack into the player is pretty easy; a couple of clicks and it�s ready to rumble.

Annoyingly after two times opening the plug-in, a stupid register box appears, easily solved though.

Usage:
The player itself runs very smoothly, it features its own render cache. This means samples that have been loaded at a previous session will load extremely fast, saving a lot of time and memory. After a few minutes working with the player you begin to understand the aesthetics, and they work well. The Loop Eye is a breath of fresh air so to speak, it provides something very new and looks bloody cool.

Upon saving the project file for the first time I did experience a problem.

This could have been due to my own technical problems, as I wiped my Mac a few days before writing this review, thus re-installing all my software. After a restart there wasn�t any problems to follow, Logic never crashes, I�m sure of it!

The MEV soundbank features a diverse range of sounds to play with. There are 20 different construction kits with samples split into notation and BPM�s. With 750 samples to choose from, you will not struggle to put a great piece of music together. The drum kicks are tight and punchy that drive through your mix like knight rider (not sure what I mean by that!). They are split across the keyboard within the player, along with the different sections of the main sample. For example: If the main sample is a bass drum, snare, piano and guitar altogether as a mix, then the player spreads each one across the keyboard. Thus enabling you to take the part you want from the sample. It�s a great idea and obviously this can be created on many different plug-ins like ESX24, but it would be a lot cooler if you could use any sample, from anywhere, not just the set ones provided in this production pack. Maybe one day someone will invent software capable of doing this though?

The bottom line:
With a wide range of samples, different editing techniques and a new exciting innovative player. What more could you ask for from a sample library? The Minimal Electro Vibes soundbank fills your ears with a lot of options. This pack is more suited to the electro dance producer, but can still diverse onto other genres.

Key benefits include:

Very low system resource imprint
No need to setup special streaming technologies
No Dongle
Gigantic range of commercial sounds available

Credits:
All ideas production and mixing by:
SFYM (Danilo Rispoli & Walter Tumminello )

Websites:
http://www.ueberschall.com/en/produc...chreibung.html

Minimal Electro Vibes*|*ueberschall.com

The Uberschall website is very handy as it includes some online tutorials.

Mastering by:
Danya Vodovoz

Buy this now from Time and Space

Behringer Pedal Board PB1000

altsounds — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:14:04 GMT

Lead guitarist's are constantly on the lookout for new sounds and tones to upgrade their guitar playing skills onto the next level. One of the ways they achieve this is through purchasing various stomp box, foot controlled effect pedals. There are a bunch of manufacturers making stomp box pedals, so your choice is unlimited. As it becomes more and more important than ever before to make sounds unheard before, stomp box effect pedals seem a natural way forward for a guitarist. The main problems faced with effect pedals are, after buying more than one pedal, you are faced with the hassle of cabling, and powering each pedal each and every time you play a gig. As these stomp box effect pedals are chained, if the battery goes during a show in one pedal, then you lose your guitar sound all together due to it being on big effects chain. As you slowly but surely buy more and more pedals, it offers the potential to be one massive cabling-powered nightmare that could cost you and your band the show you are playing on the night. Something that everyone will agree is not worth the risk. So what can you do? You can stop reading this and go out and buy yourself the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000! as it will be the best investment you have made in a long time.

For all the guitarists that heavily rely on effect pedals, the Behringer Pedalboard PB1000 is here to save your life. The Behringer Pedalboard PB1000 is a roadworthy, has a solid build, plastic pedalboard that has space to house up to 12 pedals in one, closeable, easy to carry case. It has it's own dedicated power supply that can power up to 13 pedals without the need for any batteries at all and also comes supplied with an 1/8" jack lead chain to connect them altogether from an audio input and output standpoint. Whereas before it would take you 20 minutes to setup your intricate pedal config, now with the Behringer Pedalboard PB1000 you just unhook the lid, plug it into the mains, connect two jack cables and voila, all 12 of your precious guitar stomp box effect pedals are ready to be used at the push of your foot. All of this simplistic functionality is crammed into a heavy-duty, yet lightweight case designed to withstand the heavy impact it will see on a tour. In a nutshell, the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 is a must have for all bands that utilize multiple stomp box effect pedals.

Features

Ultra-compact and lightweight pedal board for transporting up to 12 effects pedals
Generous 1.7 A power adapter included for powering more than 12 devices. Includes all cabling
Ultra-rigid plastic design withstands even heavy impact
High-quality components and exceptionally rugged construction ensure long life
Pedals link together to make it very easy to use

NOTE: Pedals are not included

Setting Up the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000
Unpackingthe Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 you are faced with the pedal board itself and a bag of cables. One is an 1/8" jack lead cable chain and the other is a 9V power chain. Everything you need to get this up and running is included, which is always nice to see and far away from the batteries not included bullshit you get with some manufacturers. It is at this point that I discover a design flaw with the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000. I would like to add that this is my only gripe with this excellent product and is the reason it didn't score 10 out of 10.

Sturdy carry case

There are 12 pre-cut slots within the pedalboard that will house your regular sized pedals (i.e. Boss or Behringer pedals) and blatantly the aim here is to fill the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 up to the brim and use all twelve. I have and now need another Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 to house the other five stomp box effect pedals I already have, so that I can chain them both together!! Man I am gonna need some more stage space. Every pedal has a couple of requirements that always stays the same. They a) need power and b) need a jack lead on both the input and output.

In my humble opinion, Behringer would have really benefited from spending a little extra on the R&D design of this product, by having both the audio and power cables pre-wired underneath the board, so you can literally just put a pedal on and plug in the cables. That one extra feature would have made this a 10 out of 10 flawless product. Unfortunately for me this was not the case, and instead I have to toil here cabling the audio and power jacks one by one for about 30 minutes, making it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible before I can even start using it (alot of ducktape to tidy the cables i think!). What makes no sense is that the main inputs, outputs and power are all pre-cabled making them literally plug and play, so why not the connectors for all the other pedals? Not particularly sure, but hopefully a Behringer R&D staff member will see this and take it to their next meeting, pretending it is their idea so that they get a raise! I don't care, I just want to see this functionality in the next Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 that I buy.

After 30 minutes I have completed my setup job, cabling the audio and power to all twelve pedals into place whilst attempting to keep it looking as nice, tidy and visually pleasing as possible. Behringer have also included a section of the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 that can be removed allowing the space to the right for an expression / wah pedal that (as everyone knows) are much bigger than the normal foot pedals that the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 is designed for. Very well thought out and multi-functional!

Using the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000
After the arduous setup task, using the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 is super simple! Plug one 9V power adapter into the wall, put a cable into the slot saying "to amp" and do as it says. Finally plug your guitar jack lead into the "input" hole. And that's it! As long as your setup job was good you will now be up and running and will be able to use and abuse the 12 effect pedals that are all handsomely staring up at you. You can use them singularly or in conjunction with one another and can fiddle with setting combination's to your hearts content. Then, when you are done, you just unplug the power, put the cover on and store the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 somewhere until you are ready to use it again.

The Bottom Line
The Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 is near a perfect product. One major oversight stops me making this a 10 out of 10 review. The Behringer Pedal Board PB1000's signal chain appears to be nice and clean allowing for an uncoloured sound. Use this with a noise gate pedal at the end of the chain and you can probably kill any unwanted noise that does occur.

After initial setup, the Behringer Pedal Board PB1000 is an ultra simple, plug and play product. Housed in a plastic, heavy duty case means that will withstand the pressures of even the hardest touring bands and will last for many years to come. With the price a mere 75 quid, it is worth the investment alone for the time it will save you in the future and, as everyone knows "time is money".

Pros:

Houses up to 12 pedals in one sturdy housing
Power and Audio chain cables included
Changeable right side to allow for the addition of an expression . wah pedal
After setup, simple plug and play operation
Value for money

Cons:

You have to cable all twelve audio inputs, outputs and power cables yourself

Information:

COST: �72 each
WEB: :: Altsounds.com :: | Alternative Music and Press Online

M-Audio Studiophile BX-8a Studio Monitors

altsounds — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:41:05 GMT

Studio Monitors are the heart of any studio. Be it a project studio or the top end studios found across the world, the single most important item in that studio is the studio monitor possbily second [maybe] to the microphone cabinet. As such, it is highly important that the right choice is made with regards to what to purchase for your studio. M-Audio have just released the BX8a Studiophile which is quickly taking the studio monitor world by storm due to it's quality of build, sound quality and low price. I seem to be hearing more and more about M-Audio these days and this is obviously for a good reason. They have a clear brand and identity and, as a fan of black, they have hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned with regards to their choice of colour across ALL their products. The M-Audio BX8a was originally released under the name SP-8 which was fairly similar looking but did not contain any switches or roll-offs. The SP-8s were good monitors but didn't really stack up as well as it should have against the other audio monitoring solutions in the pro audio field. So, back to the drawing board M-Audio went and they came out with this highly refined, re-branded and re-labeled product - the BX8a. I must say the improvements are vast and well worth the time and monetary investment because the M-Audio BX8a is a studio monitoring solution not to be reckoned with!

Inside the speaker cabinet, you will find an 8� low frequency driver and a 1� high frequency driver. The M-Audio BX8a's are bi-amplified which means that instead of having one amplifier to drive everything they have split the 130 Watt power output across two amplifiers, one 65 Watt powering the bass and one 65 Watt powering the rest which offers great evenness of sound. On the back of each monitor there is a large sub-frequency port that discharges the sub-sonic frequencies (3oHz and less). The M-Audio BX8a's allow you to connect into your setup through either an XLR cable or TRS / unbalanced �� TS cables, there is also very nicely a volume control allowing you to control the output of the monitors.

The first thing I found to be missing, is a front mounted on/off switch. Now, this might not sound like much of a big deal to you, but when you have multiple monitors and you want to "hotswap" the cables so you can hear your mix through different sources almost instantaneously, not having this option becomes a pain.

The main features of the M-Audio BX8A monitors include:

Incredible sounding yet affordable, two-way magnetically shielded studio reference monitors with a stylish design
130 Watts of bi-amplified power
8 inch low-frequency drivers with curved Kevlar cones, high-temperature voice coils and damped rubber surround
1 inch natural silk high-frequency drivers
Magnetically shielded
XLR balanced and 1/4 inch jack balanced/unbalanced inputs
Power indicator
Volume control
Frequency response: 40Hz-24kHz
Low-frequency amplifier power: 70 watts into 4 ohms
High-frequency amplifier power: 60 watts into 6 ohms
Crossover frequency: 2.2 kHz
Crossover filter network: 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley
Amplifier type: class AB monolithic
Signal-to-noise ratio: >100dB (typical, A-weighted)
Input impedance: 20k ohms balanced, 10K Ohms unbalanced
Input sensitivity: 85mV pink noise input produces 90dBA output SPL at one meter with volume control at maximum
Power: factory programmed for either 115V ~50/60Hz, 230V~50/60Hz
Protection: RF interference, output current limiting, over temperature, turn-on/off transient, subsonic filter, external mains fuse
Cabinet: vinyl laminated MDF (enclosure natural Helmholtz resonance frequency: 30 Hz)
Size: 30.48cm x 25.4cm x 38.1cm
Weight: 26.4 lbs./unit; 11.97 kg

The Road Test

As with any 8-inch driver studio monitor, they come in big boxes as the monitors themselves are pretty hefty. Unpacking was easy enough as was setup. Until this point, my staple studio monitor was the Tannoy Reveal 8Ds. I have owned these since opening my recording studio and have loved them and trusted them. That was until this precise moment. Plugging the Tannoy Reveal 8Ds into the same audio feed and using the on/off switches on the Tannoys I could almost instantaneously listen to the difference between the two. What I used to love and trust was quickly sounding quite muffled in comparison particularly on the bass and treble frequencies.

The M-Audio BX8a studio monitors offered much more clarity across ALL frequencies particularly the treble and bass. The Tannoy Reveals do offer more bass boom, however as my time with the BX8a's has gone on I have come to realize that this lack of bass boom results in more bass clarity, which ends up being mixed to the correct levels to sound good on all systems. In the past, mixing with the Tannoy Reveal 8Ds I had found in some cases that when you played it on a hifi, the bass was too quite due to the Tannoy's pushing too much bass end out during the mixing process which resulted in the wrong mix level of the bass instruments (kick and bass guitar). Next to each other the BX8a sounds thinner than the Tannoy Reveal 8D's although you quickly forget this due to the crispness and clarity of the BX8as. Without even realizing it I found myself "cheating" on my long term relationship with the Tannoy Reveal 8D. To begin with though I held onto this relationship by running both together but now I rarely use the Tannoy Reveal 8D's at all, basically what was a love ended up becoming bin fodder for me due to the sheer quality of the M-Audio BX8s.

Figure 1: The Back of the BX8as

Other observations whilst using the M-Audio BX8a's is their stereo imaging. Good stereo imaging is one of those things that doesn't usually come across that well with near-field monitors. The clarity and three dimensions of the sound are great allowing you to pick out clearly even things turned down in a mix quite considerably. So after just listening to a couple of my favourite albums through these to test it was on to mixing. Since I have mixed music of all genres on the M-Audio BX8a's [from heavy metal all the way to pop and electronica with everything in between] I found it stands it's own with even the most brutal, heavy music.

In a nutshell for me, although the sound appears slightly colourized I feel these studio monitors are PERFECT for recording, mixing and producing digital based recordings and I fully trust how things sound, and will transcribe to other systems. If your mix sounds good on these, it will sound amazing on any other systems you try it on [even shitty laptop speakers]. It is good to trust your monitoring equipment and the M-Audio BX8a's are to be fully trusted. No more secondary source tests needed, confidently give your clients their master and move on to the next job!

My next test was to experiment with these studio monitors in different monitoring environments. I firstly took the monitors and my laptop from my acoustically treated control room into my big live "green" room which has no acoustic treatment and has a big echoey sound. The second place I took them was my open planned apartment, the idea being to put them in bigger rooms, so there would potentially be more problems. No problems were experienced and mixes were successfully completed in both rooms that transcribed excellently across other systems. This robustness is why I recommend the M-Audio BX8a's for all home and project studios. Not only do you get a great quality studio monitor but you can be comfortable in the fact that it will sound good in even the strangest of rooms and that's the single most important thing.

Summary
The M-Audio BX8a studio monitors offer superior sound quality at a price that makes it affordable for even the home user. The clarity is so good that I left my last studio monitors and shacked up with the BX8a's. My mixes just get better and better and that's all thanks to the BX8as. Check out the link below to hear for yourself, but by purchasing yourself a pair of these [and with of course sound engineering skill] you could be making record label quality recordings very quickly and without breaking the bank. Last minute Christmas present? I think so.

Pros:

Excellent, crisp and clear sound with a great 3d stereo image
Tight Bass
Great Value for Money
Works well monitoring all music
Works well even in non acoustically treated environments.

Cons:

No front mounted power switch
No protective cover for the tweeters

Information:

COST: �199.99 each
WEB: M-AUDIO
SAMPLES OF MY MIXES USING THESE MONITORS: MySpace.com - Screamadelica - Recording Studio Cardiff - 29 - Male - Cardiff, UK - www.myspace.com/screamadelicastudio

Marshall Jackhammer JH-1 Pedal

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:57:32 GMT

The Marshall Jackhammer JH-1 is built in a tough roadworthy light gray enclosure which is shared across the whole Marshall line of stomp-boxes. It has 1/4 inch input and output sockets, on/off switch with LED indicating "On" position. There are controls for "Mode", "Gain", "Volume", "Treble", "Bass", "Contour" and "Contour Frequency". The Marshall Jackhammer JH-1 can be powered via a 9 volt battery or a 9 volt adapter (not supplied).

The Marshall Jackhammer JH-1 is a dual mode stomp-box, it can operate either as an overdrive or as a distortion pedal. According to the manual the overdrive mode gets close to the character of a JCM800, while the distortion is close in voicing to the JCM2000 series Marshall amps.

Manufacturers Quote

Quote:

The Marshall JH-1 JACKHAMMER Guitar Effect Pedal, Ultragain Overdrive. Create your own truely awesome, extreme Marshall distortion tones.

The Marshall JH-1 JACKHAMMER delivers the extreme distortion effects you crave. Since Marshall began in 1962, the Marshall name has been synonymous with high quality distortion tones. Initially, the way to get classic Marshall distortion was to naturally overdrive one of their valve amps by cranking it up to full volume. As time went by the Marshall Master Volume heads allowed the generation of more extreme levels of distortion as the pre-amp valves were driven into overdrive. Marshall's first generation pedals simulated these various valve amp type distortions in convenient, cost effective stomp boxes. The Jackhammer is the next step on from previous Marshall distortion pedals. The JH1 pedal contains Marshall's most extreme distortion levels to date, combined with a Contour section that allows you to not only scoop out the mids, but also choose the frequencies at which the scoop occurs. This means that you can tailor your sound to your own individual requirements. Although the Jackhammer has more aggression and gain than any other Marshall pedal, thay never forget their heritage. The sounds contained are always natural and realistic, like a super high-gain valve head pushed to the max.

In Use
The Gain and Volume controls are stacked on top of each other, as are consequently the bass and treble controls, and the contour and contour frequency knobs. This makes the operation a little cumbersome at first but looking at the size of the unit it is amazing that Marshall have managed to put so much tonal control in a box of this size. The controls are little hard to get used to, due to their diminutive size, especially when a minor adjustment might need to be made in the middle of a show.

The build quality seemed tough and this enclosure is the same as the others from Marshall's line of pedals - metal enclosure with quality jacks. The review unit could not power from batteries but worked via power supply - a manufacturing defect that should not be a problem considering the pedal's warranty.

I was actually amazed how "Marshall" this small box sounded - right after plugging into it the Marshall character was instantly recognizable. The overdrive provides plenty of tonal options from blues to hard rock, while the distortion takes things further into metal territory. The overdrive works wonderfully for juicing up a tube amp - in this case my Marshall JCM900 and Marshall VS8100 amps benefited from the extra boost and sustain from the overdrive setting. The distortion mode also sounded great through an amp's clean channel and the contour allowed enough control that there was always enough flexibility to dial in a convincing sound. On certain amps the pedal on the distortion setting felt a bit bass heavy, but again - most of the time I managed to dial this out by using the amps' and pedals' eq control.

The Bottom Line
Overall the JH-1 is a very versatile unit and for those musicians looking for a distortion unit and an overdrive at the price of a single pedal this unit is a definite must!

Pros

Overdrive and Distortion in a Single Pedal
Marshall sound
Versatility
Price

Cons

Small Control Knobs
Could sound overly bassy on some amps
Manufacturer Defect on review unit

Information:

COST: �29.99 each
WEB: Marshall Amps :: Jackhammer

Funky House Grooves 2 Sample Library

jack s — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:42:11 GMT

Funky House Grooves 2 is the follow up to Sample Magic�s original release �Funky House Grooves� that featured over 1000 house samples. The Funky House Grooves 2 version covers a wide range of genres and styles making it a must have for producers/remixers and artists a-like.

The Product:
Funky House Grooves 2 can be described as inspiration in a CD/DVD package. It is one of those perfectly put together sample packages that you will find yourself reaching into your sample collection for again and again. If you are looking to make a house beat in either 125, 127 or 130 BPM then Funky House Grooves 2 should be your first port of call due to the quality of the workmanship that has gone into making these samples. Found within the disk, neatly organized in folders by tempo are the following sample types that can be used:

Drums - Slickly programmed, punchy and percussive 4x4 floor melters - all tweaked for maximum impact.
Keys - Soulful Rhodes, funked-up clavs and classic analogue sequencers from the instruments that defined an era.
Bass and guitar - Jazzy live bass runs and afro-infused mute guitar licks, expertly played and recorded for instant inspiration.
Percussion - Authentic African ensembles, conga, bongo, shaker and sabar loops to get the groove rolling.
Brass - Tight and punchy disco-tinged 3-piece sections, offering an array of all-original riffs and runs.
More - 100s of single drum hits, FX, filtered musical stabs and much more - all in crystal-clear 24-bit.

Format
Funky House Grooves 2 is delivered as a 2.52GB CD/DVD multipack that between them holds 3,551 files. These sample files are held in various formats which includes Audio, 24-bit Wavs (802MB, 1,207 files), Stylus RMX compatible Rex files (427MB, 688 files), Apple Loops (669MB, 688 files) plus EXS24, Reason NNXT, Kontakt II and Halion patches. So many formats are included that I'm sure regardless of your studio setup you will be able to just slip on the CD/DVD and be making music is minutes.

Key Features:

2.5 GB of original vocal material
Multi-format vocal library
Over 700 patches
850 samples
24bit quality recordings
Pop, Dance, Folk, Downtempo, RnB, HipHop & Urban vocalists
Tool box loaded with different effect loops, scratches simulated radio samples and more
100% royalty free

Setting up
The package includes various plug-ins available for different VST�s. FHG2 covers Apple Loops, Esx24, Halion, REX, Reason and stylus. The easiest form of using samples is the raw files, this is the way I personally make a track. I took the sample I wanted and manipulated the raw file to make it into something completely different, but left elements of the original file. The Esx24 set-up was very easy to complete, basically just a drag-drop situation. I assume the same/similar process is required to use in the other programs.

Usage
The samples are very well organised into different BPM folders. Giving you more time to listen through to the appropriate tempo and get working on the next big hit! For the sample track I prepared I used the drum samples, each one is produced very well with some very punchy kick drum compression and creative beats. Making a listen-worthy track has never been so easy, you can drag and drop the samples to create a dance floor classic in no time at all. The DVD features one hit samples that are very handy. This saves a lot of time cutting and moving around audio files and reducing the audio quality. These samples provided on the DVD are very high quality, they are not only high quality from a sound perspective but also from a usability angle. Kind of makes you mad not being able to create samples of similar creativity and quality yourself! The format is 24bit and is top of the range.

The Bottom Line
The Funky House Grooves 2 sample package is definitely worth the money, the samples are excellent and there is so many creative possibilities to keep you entertained for hours on end. Any budding producer or remixers music will benefit 10 fold from the purchase of this little gem. Combine this with the originalFunky House Grooves package and you will probably have a song in the clubs before you know it! If you make House music then this is a must buy for your sample collection.

Pros:

24-bit high quality samples
Well Organized Folders
Amazing house beats
Handy One Hit Samples
Easy Install and Excellent Instructions

Cons:

You will spend more of your life producing and/or remixing!
You will become jealous that you can't make loops as good as this.

Information:
Multiformat DVD/CD Version

COST: �59.95 GBP
WEB: http://www.timespace.com/product/FHG...grooves_2.html
SAMPLE TRACK: http://hangout.altsounds.com/attachm...1&d=1228498883

Hughes and Kettner Tubeman II

houstonmusicreviews — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:23:29 GMT

The H&K Tubeman is a floor guitar preamp. It has 3 channels - Clean, Crunch and Lead, all foot-switchable with its own dedicated switch. All 3 channels share the same eq controls and master volume control.

The controls are as follows:

Clean channel has only a Volume control knob
Crunch channel has Gain and Volume controls
Lead Channel has Gain, Voicing and Volume controls
Eq = low, mid, high

The unit houses one backlit preamp tube (12ax7) which according to H&K injects some non-linearity (analog feel) to the sound. There is one guitar input unit on the amp and 2 outs - one is a mixer (speaker emulated) output while the other one is for use with a guitar amp. The unit is housed in a roadworthy metal case that looks like it can take some beating and still perform well. The H&K comes with an included proprietary power supply and cannot operate on batteries.

I've found that the H&K has some great sounds - from clean country and ballad to mild and rock overdrive to some searing metal tones, all in one box and at the tap of a switch. The clean channel is pretty much whatever they've given you - all you can control is its volume. Although, it doesn't have a lot of control features it sounds as it says, in other words, clean. It is very useful for some chord work or a clean ballad solo. The Crunch channel goes from mild bluesy overdrive when the Gain is low to some more aggressive rock tones, close in sound to something like the rhytm work in AC/DC albums. The Lead channel is the star of the show - it roars like James Hetfield or gets smooth like a Santana solo. When the Gain is more backed up it can get close soundwise to the Crunch channel. Increasing the Gain can put you in metal territory. The Contour switch is something akin to a Marshall Presence control - it controls the amount of bite in the mid frequency.

The H&K has designed this pedal mainly for the home studio recordist so they've put their famous Redbox amp/speaker simulation technology in the mixer output on this pedal. I can say that it is probably the closest in amp simulation that anything hardware has gotten to the real thing. The other output of the Tubeman can go to a guitar amp so this pedal also feels good on stage. You can think of it as becoming a three channel preamp when in that capacity. A setback in this situation is the lack of full bypass switch - you cannot turn it off as it has to be always on. Another small minus for me was the fact that it comes only with one dedicated eq that controls the whole unit. I didn't find this as bad because usually most of the sounds worked well with one EQ and the Contour switch on the Lead channel is so well designed that you don't really feel this box lacking in the EQ department. The EQ itself is responsive and very well voiced.

Another aspect of the design that seemed a bit strange was the use of a proprietary power supply. In this case if you lose it while you're going to a gig or leave it at home on your way to the studio you're pretty much in trouble. I am sure H&K would be happy to sell you another one but it could definitely be a problem if you need to use your Tubeman right away. I think the main thinking behind the proprietary design on the power supply was the fact that it runs the juice slightly hotter at 12 volts instead of 9 volts probably because of the included tube. Again - not really an excuse because Radio Shack also sells power supply that goes all the way up to 18 volts!
Another thing that is a bit strange is that the guitar input on this box is on the back left hand side making it a bit harder to incorporate into a pedal-board.

This pedal overall screams quality and versatility, and it should considering its price. It is not cheap but you definitely get the signature H&K sound for a fraction of their amplifier price. As far as direct competition I can see the Sansamp TRI-AC as a close contender for half the price but it cannot dish out as much gain as the Tubeman, yet has 3 preamp voicings opposed to H&K's one.

Pros:

Versatility
Excellent Tone
Speaker simulation

Cons:

No bypass switch
One EQ for all channels
Pricey

Bottom Line:
Flexible pedal in the studio and on stage.

Information:

COST: �370 each
EMAIL: Guitar amps by Hughes & Kettner - Contact
WEB: Guitar amps by Hughes & Kettner - Technology of Tone

Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone

altsounds — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:14:59 GMT

The Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone can simply be described as "the ultimate kick drum mic". The Audio Technica AE2500 consists of two microphones that can be combined or used independently that sit comfortably within one microphone housing. There is a dynamic capsule and a cardoid condenser, one being designed to perfectly capture the attack of the beater (dynamic) whilst the other picks up all of the wonderful tonalities that exist post beater within the kick drum shell (condenser). It has been a well known production trick for a while to use both a dynamic and condenser microphone to get amazing kick drum tone however, until now, nobody was clever enough to think about housing both in one microphone. All hail the Audio Technica R&D Department and their ground-breaking transducer achievement! They have managed to minimize drum micing set-up times by putting two microphones (and two cables) into one sexy and very versatile package. From a scientific perspective a lot of thought has gone into the design of the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone with two layers of resistive, multiple density mesh over the dynamic element that exercises precise timing at which the off-axis signals arrive at the diaphragm helping to create a perfect phase relationship, something practically unachievable with two separate microphones!

What makes the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone most special of all is that this unique design gives Producers perfect control pre and post recording by allowing them to control how much depth and how much attack is available at all times allowing for the perfect kick drum sound, which, in the heavier music I usually produce is a VERY important, if not THE MOST important aspect of the song. During my in the field testing I (as usual) decided to test this on other instruments and it works great on bass cabs, floor toms, double bass and even (at a push) lead vocals making the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone a perfect and very robust microphone choice for all serious producers. In fact I would even go as far as to say that purchasing this microphone will instantly make you a better Producer.

Design and Build
The build quality of the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone is top notch, I imagine this microphone will stand up to a lot of "beatings" for many a year to come. So what's in the box?

Figure 1 & 2: The Dynamic and Condenser Capsules; the 5 pin XLR cable

Included with the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone is a nice, fairly heavily padded microphone case that is bound to keep your new favourite microphone safe at all times, a very special 5-pin XLR connector which at the end of a 16.5 foot cable, splits off into two standard XLR connectors at the other end for plugging into your pre-amps and an AT8471 isolation clamp that, although not the best looking isolation clamp I have seen does the job well. In a small bout of design genius Audio Technica have marked up and colour coded which XLR connection is dynamic and which is for the condenser so that even the dumbest audio engineer knows which one to give phantom power to and which one not to. On-board electronics include a switchable -10dB pad and a -12dB/octave, 80Hz high-pass filter (NOTE: these electronics only apply to the condenser).

Although this isn't really documented, it is my opinion that both the condenser and dynamic capsules appear to have been "tuned" for it's purpose. By this I mean the diaphragms seem to have been designed to tune out certain frequencies more than any other mic I have thus far experienced. When tested, it was found that for example there was significantly less hi-end bleed (snare and hi-hats) whilst at the same time the specific frequencies used for the punch and click of a kick drum are blatantly present. This was also found to be the case when recording lead vocals - they sounded not quite right without some specific EQ'ing to bring it "back on track" meaning that even the condenser has been "tuned" for it's purpose. The Audio Technica engineering team have carefully designed and developed an amazing product that is specifically "tuned" to it's uses from an equalization perspective, taking even the most finite details and equalization frequencies into consideration. All of this combined into one excellent package makes this microphone stand out a mile from the competition. It also means that you could even consider this a "plug and play" microphone that can just be turned on to acheive excellent kick drum and bass tone.

SPECIFICATIONS:

ELEMENTS: Condenser, dynamic
POLAR PATTERN: Cardioid
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20-17,000 Hz (condenser) 30-10,000 Hz (dynamic)
LOW FREQUENCY ROLL-OFF: 80 Hz, 12 dB/octave (condenser)
OPEN CIRCUIT SENSITIVITY: -51 dB (2.8 mV) re 1V at 1 Pa (condenser)
-54 dB (1.9 mV) re 1V at 1 Pa (dynamic)
IMPEDANCE 100 ohms (condenser) 600 ohms (dynamic)
MAXIMUM INPUT SOUND LEVEL: 148 dB SPL, 1 kHz at 1% T.H.D. (condenser);
158 dB SPL, with 10 dB pad (nominal)
DYNAMIC RANGE: (typical) 124 dB, 1 kHz at Max SPL (condenser)
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO: 70 dB, 1 kHz at 1 Pa (condenser)
PHANTOM POWER REQUIREMENTS: 11-52V DC, 3 mA typical (condenser)
SWITCHES: (Condenser Only) High-pass filter; 10 dB pad (nominal)
WEIGHT: 13.8 oz (390 g)
DIMENSIONS: 6.50" (165.0 mm) long, 2.17" (55.0 mm) maximum diameter
OUTPUT CONNECTOR: Integral 5-pin XLRM-type CABLE 16.5' (5 m) dual shielded, 8-conductor cable, 5-pin XLRF-type connector at microphone, two 3-pin XLRM-type output connectors
ACCESSORIES FURNISHED: AT8471 isolation clamp for 5/8"-27 threaded stands; 5/8"-27 to 3/8"-16 threaded adapter; soft protective pouch
AUDIO-TECHNICA CASE STYLE: R8

In Session
Since receiving the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone I have experimented with it recording different instruments in varying sessions of varying genres. The two instances that, going forward this microphone will ALWAYS be used for in my sessions are the obvious - kick drum and bass cabinets. This microphone is so well designed for bass purposes in fact that I would be confident that I could take it to any local gig and I would finally hear the kick drum presence and power that always seems to be missing from these in-experienced, local sound engineers. You can literally plug this in, leaving it unprocessed completely and you acheive an excellent sound. If Audio Technica were to make one of those "dummies" range of books for this microphone it would be entitled "Kick Drum and Bass Sounds for Dummies" which would simply have "Plug in the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone and give phantom power to the Condenser" written within it! Whether you want a clicky, a thuddy or a full kick drum tone, the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone does the job and you can freely change this in the mixing process making it completely robust at all times.

I have tried the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone on varying bass amps and cabinets and I must also applaud it's excellence when used for this studio task too. The dual microphone combination is excellent for bass cabinets as it really captures both the depth and punch of the bass providing unrivalled bass tone. I now use the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone almost every time I have to mic up any form of bass equipment and to this day I am yet to be disappointed. The combination of the two mics allows so much flexibility post recording ensuring you get the perfect sound every time.

I decided to test the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone against two other really good dynamic kick drum mics - Shure Beta 52 and
Sennheiser e602 II. Compared to both, the first thing I noticed is how much less snare/hi-hat leakage that existed whilst at the same time offering a much greater output from the dynamic portion of the microphone. The Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone had a better upper-bass response and presence than both the comparison microphones. The Beta 52 does offer more sub-sonic frequencies than the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone although this is where the condenser comes in handy! Plug that in and the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone literally knocks the other microphones out of the mic closet for good! The condenser gives all the sub-sonic frequencies and offers a much deeper, rounder and more full sound. It is at this point that I realize that although you can use just one of the capsules to get different sounds, you should use both at all times for your mix to fully appreciate the complexity, depth and beauty of the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone's sound.

I got so confident with this microphones abilities that I went crazy and decided to try it on the toughest of all - lead vocals! Now, blatantly it was not made for this purpose however, I was eager to see how it would work in this situation. The answer is pretty good however, you do need to EQ certain frequencies (particularly the high end) quite heavily to compensate for the bassy characteristics and tone of the microphone. Although it worked great for me and the song I was making that day, it is probably not a good idea to use this microphone for vocals unless you really know what your doing and can counter balance the sound. But hey, you can't say you've road-tested something until you've also tested it out of it's element.

Conclusion
Every time a band comes through my door, regardless of genre I put my hands on the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone to mic up the kick drum and the bass cabinets. I really and truly don't think that will change for a long time as I am more pleased with this microphone and it's bass instrument recording niche than any microphone I have worked with before. The post recording (mixing) control that the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone offers when both capsules are used, surpasses any other bass microphone I have come across and as long as you always use both the condenser and the dynamic capsules in parallel you will find that you can endlessly control two of the most important facets of any mix (the kick drum and bass) so that they form a distinct juxtaposition that will make your mixes shine.

The sheer design excellence and cleverness brings a new dimension of simplicity into microphones due to it's precise microphone purpose and use. Put simply, if you have any form of bass instrument you want to record there is only one choice - the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone. Your other bass microphones will from the point of purchasing the Audio Technica AE2500 Dual-element Cardioid Instrument Microphone only have spiders as company in the cold mic closet as they will never again see the light of day! The retail price of this microphone is more than other comparison microphones however, it is worth the extra cash and as with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for, making the extra cost very much worth it.

Pros:

Great unprocessed "plug and play" sound, helping even the newest sound engineers get a great kick drum or bass sound
A robust microphone that excels at capturing ALL bass instruments, particularly kick drums and bass cabinets
Complete pre and post recording choice and control. Can be used as dynamic, condenser or at it's best as a combination
Ingenious 5 pin XLR connection on the microphone that breaks into two standard XLR connections that plug into your mixer or pre-amp

Cons:

The included cable, although ingenious is completely proprietary to this microphone and if a replacement is ever needed is likely to be costly
Slightly higher cost than other bass microphones although that is outweighed by it's excellence

Information:

COST: �399.95 each
TEL: Audio Technica + 44 (0) 113 277 1441
EMAIL: sales@audio-technica.co.uk
WEB: www.audio-technica.co.uk
SAMPLES OF THE MIC IN ACTION: MySpace.com - Screamadelica - Recording Studio Cardiff - 29 - Male - Cardiff, UK - www.myspace.com/screamadelicastudio

Vocal Foundry Urban Dance & Pop Vocal sample library

jack s — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:30:41 GMT

Background
In the modern world of music every day sees the rise of a new bedroom producer or DJ, crafting tunes they want to hear and some garnering massive success from it. The single most sought after thing by these guys would have to be good quality vocals and this is where Vocal Foundry from Time & Space comes in.

I often conduct remixes for competitions and for fun and when remixing, I am always on the look out for new exciting vocal snippets I can steal and sample for my own music. Finding top royalty free vocals samples is an absolute nightmare, unless you have some very good contacts or you can actually sing. Personally I sound like a mole being run over by a lawn mower, so other peoples vocal samples will do me perfectly!

The Product
The new Vocal Foundry sample library DVD has everything to offer the budding music maker. The samples cover dance, pop, r�n�b and urban genres. The DVD has over 2.5gb of brand new, royalty free vocal samples for you to play with. Each sample is recorded at 24bit providing a very clean sound, essential when working with vocal stuff.

Vocal Foundry is made by the same producers as the sample library; Vocal Forge which was a very successful vocal sample disc. They offer a more diverse approach to this sample pack, covering different genres and providing a greater quality.

Key Features:

2.5 GB of original vocal material
Multi-format vocal library [Acid, Wav, EXS24, HALion, Kontakt, Reason NN-XT]
Over 700 patches
850 samples
24-bit quality recordings
Pop, Dance, Folk, Downtempo, RnB, HipHop & Urban vocalists
Tool box loaded with different effect loops, scratches simulated radio samples and more
100% royalty free

Setting up
Being a Mac user, software is an absolute doddle to install. None of this Windows XP/Vista, wishy washy, stall my computer at every opportunity malarkey. Simply insert the disc, then depending on what format you are using (I used ESX24 running with Logic Pro 8) :

Drag and drop the Vocal Foundry EXS24 Instruments folder which is in the same folder as this readme file, into the "Sampler Instruments" folder located at Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler Instruments.
Drag and drop the Samples folder into the Sampler Files folder also located at Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler Files.�

As easy at that, now upon loading the ESX24 plug-in everything is there and ready to rumble.

Other formats available:
Acid�WAV 
Kontakt 
EXS24 
HALion 
Reason NN-XT

Similar instructions for these other formats are given on the DVD.

A separate folder included on the DVD, aptly named �Samples�, includes all the relevant samples as raw files. This means that even if you have none of the above software readily, available you can still use the samples in their original state!

Usage
The process of actually using the samples for your material is very straightforward. I had a few tracks I had previously been working on and decided to try out what Vocal Foundry had to offer. By simply opening the plug-in, finding your setting (for the sample track I used �Right Back 80bpm�) and simply play along with a midi keyboard to the track. The tempo adjusts itself, the tuning obviously follows suit with the notes you are playing, it honestly couldn�t get any easier than this. Within a few minutes you can structure a full vocal song with harmonies and everything. There are left and right vocal harmonies provided, choruses and verses. The vocalists are very talented, all of the melodies are brilliant and most importantly well produced.

The Bottom Line
The Vocal Foundry sample package is definitely worth the money, the samples are excellent and there is so many creative possibilities to keep you entertained for hours on end. Plus, as previous mentioned this becomes a lifesaver as it fills the biggest gap for producers and remixers which is good quality, royalty free, vocal samples for their tracks. Any budding producer or remixers music will benefit 5 fold from the purchase of this little gem.

Pros:

24-bit high quality samples
Multi genre samples
Excellent Vocalists used
Samples also include harmonies!
Easy Insatll and Excellent Instructions

Cons:

You will spend more of your life producing and/or remixing!
Experience is needed to use the plug-ins successfully

Information:
Multiformat DVD/CD Version

COST: �79.95 GBP / $159.95 USD / 119 Euro
WEB: Vocal Foundry - Time+Space | Virtual Instruments, Sample CDs, DVDs, Hardware and Software
SAMPLE TRACK: http://hangout.altsounds.com/attachm...1&d=1226417309

Hercules DJ CONSOLE RMX DJ Controller / DJ Mixer

jack s — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:12:50 GMT

As a home producer and music fanatic, it has always been my ambition to get the old vinyl out the loft and start manipulating music as a DJ. Space, money and time has always been the main factors effecting my decision to actually going ahead with this ambition. Having previously played around with Virtual DJ Pro software on my laptop, I had become accustomed to guessing where the mix will come in, and going in blind. This is all very well in my bedroom with no-one to listen to my absolute disgrace of a mix, but in the real world it just doesn�t work Research was the key into finding the appropriate agent for my new found DJ cravings.

I had previously looked at the Behringer 3000 console, which looked like it would play the part, but it is Behringer after all. Then luckily a good friend of mine purchased this little puppy and hasn�t looked back since. He now DJ�s in Manchester with some well established DJ�s at some very swanky places. After around 2 or three months of debating whether to tie the knot on the purchase I decided to go through with it, and I�m very pleased I did.

Setting up:
Being blonde (not natural) and a bit of a dumb-ass, I expected this to take a while. The console arrived within three days of purchase from �DJstore.com� with no hassle. On the morning of delivery I greeted the postman with a massive smile as I knew what was in the package. I unpacked the box quicker than a present hungry child on Christmas morning.

Inside the box I was surprised to find a black carry case for the console (absolute bonus!), this is very handy for keeping Mr RMX in perfect condition when travelling. I then preceded to open the case and unveil the console. It was beautiful. Even the box it came in looked stunning. It�s silver casing, blue lights and sleek design are well worth the money. The question was, will it perform? Installing was easier than kicking a ten foot football, it was three simple stages.

Insert the disc provided and install the Virtual DJ software & drivers
Plug USB into console, then into the laptop
Plug RCA cable into console, then the amplifier

Done. As soon as you fire up the Virtual DJ software provided you are good to go.

There are many options for the set-up, I have just explained a plain and simple plug and play option. The 4 audio input and 4 audio output channels have a choice of RCA or 1/4 jack. Both the RCA & 1/4 jack can be used simultaneously for extra monitoring or recording. The inputs are switch-able from line-to-phono, meaning no separate phono pre-amp is necessary when running with turntables. You can switch between mp3 and vinyl by using the source button.

Included Software:
Easy, easy, easy. The Virtual DJ software does leave a lot the imagination aesthetically, but the performance is brilliant. You can drag and drop songs from your library, make play-lists, sort folders, find BPM�s, the whole shebang. The only downside is you cannot run the software without the RMX console attached, but that isn�t a major issue and is probably a clever thing added in by the manufacturer to stop illegal software downloads of their software.

Technical Specifications:
Precise jog wheels and faders for mixing 2 JOG WHEELS

Functions
- Emulate vinyl turntables so that turning the jog wheel moves the cursor backward or forward within music tracks to select the cue point where playback will start for the audience.
- Add effects to music playback such as instant speed up, instant slow down, and scratching.
Settings
- Adjustable resistance: makes the jog wheels more or less resistant, according to the DJ�s preference.
- Adjustable accuracy: mix with jog wheels set at their default accuracy, or divide it by 2 or 4.
Use with
- Scratch On/Off button: changes the jog wheels� function
- - Fine tuning: slow down or speed up playback, like when a DJ gives a record a push.
- - Scratching: makes a scratch sound, like when a DJ puts his hand on a record during playback (stopping the record�s rotation) and moves it backward and forward.

6 FADERS (SLIDERS)

1 Cross fader
- DJ Console Rmx plays 1 stereo music track per deck (2 stereo music tracks simultaneously). The cross fader moves between the left and right decks, allowing the DJ to adjust the mix between the 2 tracks.
- - Setting the cross fader completely to the right means that the mix (the music the audience hears) comes 100% from the right deck: the audience doesn�t hear the music played on the left deck.
- - Setting the cross fader in the center means that the music comes 50% from the left deck and 50% from the right, and so on.
2 Pitch faders
- Change the pitch = change the playback speed of a track, increasing or reducing its BPM (Beats Per Minute) rate, in order to make dancing easy by setting new music tracks at the same BPM as the previous track so that dancers don�t need to change their rhythm during the transition from one track to another.
- Changing the pitch changes the music�s speed and tone: faster means higher tone, slower means lower tone. The DJ can keep the same tone by enabling the master tempo effect before changing the pitch so that the pitch slider only changes the tempo instead of the pitch.
3 Volume faders
- "Deck A volume fader" controls the volume of the music played on deck A.
- "Deck B volume fader" controls the volume of the music played on deck B.
- "Main volume fader" controls the master volume.
- Changing the volume on deck A or deck B lets the DJ adjust transitions between the 2 decks.

Rotary controls for adjusting audio
EQUALIZATION

6 rotary equalization potentiometers (3 per deck: Bass, Medium, and Treble)
- Add color to your music with customs settings:
- - Make dancing easier by enhancing the bass (the bass provides the tempo for dancing).
- - Remix songs by boosting the mids (the mids contain the singer�s voice) on 1 track and mixing it with another track on the other deck, where you�ve cut the mids.
- Make transitions between 2 music tracks using bass:
- - Synchronize the 2 tracks: move the pitch fader to set both tracks at the same BPM.
- - Cut off the mids and treble on both decks, keeping only the beat of the bass.
- - Move the cross fader from the first deck to the second, while restoring the mids and treble.
6 kill buttons (3 per deck: Bass, Medium, and Treble)
- Push the buttons to cut off or restore the frequency band.
- This is a faster way to cut off or restore a frequency band than using the rotary potentiometers.

GAIN

2 rotary gain potentiometers (1 per deck)
- Increase or decrease the level of the tracks on each deck to put the track played on left deck at the same volume as the track played on the right deck, even if they were recorded at different levels. Gain lets the DJ compensate for different levels between tracks so that the volume is the same on both tracks when the volume faders for both tracks are set to the maximum levels.
- When the DJ connects external sources to Deck A (left deck) or B (right deck), setting the gain makes it possible to compensate for differences in volume between external sources and computer audio files.

BALANCE

1 rotary balance potentiometer
- Sets the balance of the main output (1-2) between the left and the right channels.

HEADPHONE CONTROLS

1 rotary Monitor Select potentiometer
- The Monitor Select potentiometer lets the DJ select the music played on the headphone output, either:
- - Previewing (the track selected with the Cue Select buttons), or Deck A + Deck B,
- - Or a mix of the 2 tracks, when the Monitor Select position is between these 2 settings.
2 Cue Select buttons (1 per deck)
- Selects the deck the DJ previews on the headphones: Cue Select Deck A or Cue Select Deck B.
1 rotary Headphone volume potentiometer
- Sets the volume on the headphone output, whether the headphones are plugged into the top or front panel of the controller.

MICROPHONE CONTROLS

1 rotary Microphone volume potentiometer
- Sets the volume of the microphone input.
1 Microphone On/Off button, with talk-over control
- Enables/mutes the microphone, and simultaneously attenuates/restores the background music level.

DJ buttons for instant DJing controls
BROWSER PUSH BUTTONS

4 buttons for browsing within music libraries (Up, Down, Left, Right)
- Up/down buttons: move to the previous (Up) or next (Down) music file/directory.
- Left/right buttons: switch the root directory (Left) or enter a directory (Right).
2 load buttons (Load Deck A, Load Deck B)
- Load the highlighted music track on the left deck (Load Deck A) or the right deck (Load Deck B).

SOURCE BUTTONS

2 buttons: Source 1 and Source 2
- Replace the computer track played on Deck A with the audio source connected to inputs 1-2 when you push the "Source 1" button. Return to the computer track when you push the "Source 1" button again.
- Replace the computer track played on Deck B with the audio source connected to inputs 3-4 when you push the "Source 2" button. Return to the computer track when you push the "Source 2" button again.
Enabling an external audio source requires adjusting the gain control for the deck in question.

PITCH SETTINGS

6 buttons (3 per deck) in addition to the pitch faders
Pitch Reset (1 button per deck):
- Gradually resets the pitch of the music to the original pitch, whatever the pitch fader position.
Beat Lock (1 button per deck)
- In VirtualDJ 5 DJC Edition, this button switches the Master Tempo on/off. Master Tempo locks the music to its current tone, allowing the DJ to change the tempo without changing the tone.
Sync (1 button per deck) = Synchronization
- Pushing the Sync button on a deck adjusts the speed (BPM) of the music played on the deck to the same speed (BPM) as the music played on the other deck.

PLAY/PAUSE, CUE AND STOP

6 buttons (3 per deck)
- Play starts the music playback, pause stops it at its current position in the track.
- Cue places a cue point (a marker where playback should start) at the current position in the track.
- Stop halts playback and places the cursor at the Cue point.

BACKWARD/FORWARD

4 buttons (2 per deck)
- Quickly move the cursor within music tracks.

EFFECTS AND LOOPS: BUTTONS 1 TO 6

12 buttons (6 per deck)
- Loop In/Loop Out buttons (Buttons 1 and 4): Loop In button places a marker at the start point of a loop, Loop Out button sets the end point of a loop.
- Buttons 2, 3, 5, 6: special effects buttons to apply effects such as Flanger, Beat-grid, Flipping Double and Reverse to music tracks.

Audio interface tailored for DJing
4 AUDIO INPUTS

2 stereo audio inputs: 2 pairs of dual RCA connectors
- The DJ can replace the computer audio track played on deck A with the music played on inputs 1-2, and replace the audio track on deck B with the music played on inputs 3-4.
- With these 2 stereo inputs, Hercules DJ Console Rmx provides hybrid mixing: the DJ mixes computer audio tracks on 1 deck with the analog audio source on the other deck.
- The DJ can equalize the external audio source or set its volume as with a computer audio track.
2 Phono/Line switches with a ground for each phono input
The DJ can set the preamp level for each stereo input to line (CD/MP3 player) or phono (turntable) level.
- In addition to mixing analog vinyl records, the phono/line level lets the DJ mix time-coded vinyl/CDs.
Use in conjunction with 2 Source buttons (1 per deck)
These buttons enable/disable the audio inputs, replacing the computer audio track on each deck.
Use in conjunction with 2 gain potentiometers (1 per deck)
- The DJ can adjust the level of the external source to match the level of computer audio playback.

4 AUDIO OUTPUTS

4 x �" jack mono connectors (Outputs 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Play the mix at +4dBu on outputs 1-2 and the preview on outputs 3-4 with VirtualDJ 5 DJC to connect DJ Console Rmx to a PA system.
4 RCA connectors (Outputs 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Play the mix at -10dBv on outputs 1-2 and the preview on outputs 3-4 with VirtualDJ 5 DJC to connect DJ Console Rmx to a hi-fi system.
- Connect the �" jack outputs to a PA system to play the mix for the audience while simultaneously connecting the RCA outputs to the audio line input on another computer to broadcast the mix online.
- Play Deck A on outputs 1-2 and Deck B on outputs 3-4 (with VirtualDJ 5 Pro or another application) and export the mix to an external mixer.

HEADPHONE OUTPUT

1 headphone output (2 stereo �" jack plugs, located on the top and front panels of the controller)
- Preview music on your headphones.
- Set the headphone volume using the volume potentiometer located on the top panel.
- Made for DJ headphones (stereo, impedance from 16 to 64 Ohms).

MICROPHONE INPUT

1 microphone input (2 mono �" jack plugs, located on the top and front panels of the controller)
- Talk over the music (mix the microphone input with audio outputs 1-2)
- Use the microphone as a music track: replace the music on Deck A with the microphone input.

On Test:
Creating an average mix has never been so easy. Simply load two songs, make sure the BPM is within mixing distance (Virtual DJ finds the BPM�s for you) and start playing. The console has one button that is the god of all DJ buttons, the �Sync� button. Whilst two songs are playing all you have to do is crack that �Sync� button and both the tracks are in time with each other. Creativity is obviously the most essential part of being able to DJ, but this �Sync� button opens up a whole new world. Tracks you thought would never mix, will, somehow. The console makes it so much easier to get creative, with a well laid out interface. The cross-fader does feel a little flimsy at times but only time will tell how long that will last.

The Bottom Line:
This product is definitely worth the money. Easy to install, easy to use and opens up a whole new level of manipulating music as a DJ.

Pros:

Very good value for money and easy to set-up
Nice aesthetics
Included carry case
Sync button to make any mix a breeze!
Doubles as a good quality audio soundcard

Cons:

Cross fader feels slightly flimsy and may break with extended use.

Information:

COST: �249 each;
CONTACT: Contact us - Hercules
WEB: - Hercules

Digitech DF-7 Distortion Factory

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:26:16 GMT

The Distortion Factory (DF-7) pedal by Digitech is part of their new offering of X-Series modelling stompboxes, combining simple stomp box design with tonal options usually found in more expensive modelling designs.

Features:
The DF-7 comes in a sturdy metal box, with somewhat of an 80s style silver snake pattern on black. The pedal has one � inch input on the right and two � inch outputs on its left. In the default setup the output 1 can feed an amplifier while output 2 is a speaker emulated output either for a mixer or a recording device. The pedal is powered via one 9 volt battery, housed under the rubber padded on/off switch. It can also be powered by a 9 volt adapter (Digitech part # PS200, not supplied). According to Digitech battery life is 6 hrs which definitely makes a case for having an adapter as this puppy definitely drains them fast! The battery can be swapped by spring loaded hinges that release the top part by pressing either side of the pins with a � jack socket. The battery is easy to replace and a � inch jack is something musicians will always have handy. The Distortion Factory has the following controls � LEVEL, LOW, MID FREQ, MID, GAIN, HIGH, Distortion Model. The pedal is illuminated by a red LED when active.

The DF-7 provides a myriad of tonal options which initially can be a bit intimidating. The heart of this unit is the X-Series distortion modeling which gives you access to seven distinct distortion sounds. The distortion models are based upon popular models by Digitech and other stomp box makers.

Manufacturers quote:

Quote:

'Distortion pedals are as important to the world of guitar playing as guitar playing is to modern music. How do you get a whole spectrum of distortion tones? You can spend a fortune on individual stompboxes (and have a pedal board the size of Delaware)� or you can put our new X-Series� DF-7 Distortion Factory� to work.

You not only get DigiTech quality models like the Ibanez� TS-9 Tube Screamer�*, EH� Big Muff� π*, Pro Co Rat�*, Metal Zone�* and DOD� Overdrive/Preamp 250, you also get a ton of EQ control. That�s because the DF-7 features three dual concentric tone controls so you can customize each model with High, Mid, Midrange and Low semi-parametric EQ. If you�re a distortion freak (and who isn�t?), check out the new X-Series� DF-7 at your DigiTech dealer today.'

Options:
The Distortion Factory has the following distortion options:

Based on Ibanez TS-9
Based on DOD Overdrive/Preamp 250
Based on Boss DS-1
Based on ProCo Rat
Based on Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Based on Digitech Metal Master
Based on EH Big Muff ∏

The DF-7 also has a very versatile eq section, with parametric eq on the mids which allows for further tone control and sound tailoring. Models 1 to 4 are more on the lighter side, and they can be used in combination with a overdriven amp to push the gain further. If you run them in front of a clean amp you can also get bluesy or hard rock sounds that come very close to the pedals being emulated. Models 5 to 7 go more into meltdown territory and can be used for metal or smoldering lead sounds.

While testing this pedal I found myself drawn to the MT-2 emulation (distortion #5). This distortion setting can easily achieve screaming sustain leads and a focused metal sounds. The Rat emulation (#4) sounded a little dull and lacked some of the original's bite and transparency. Unlike the original, however the DF-7 had the extra eq options which let me get a more focused lead sounds with it. I personally would've been happier if Digitech included some other emulations instead of the SD-1, Metal Master or Big Muff, as these seemed harder to get a sound that I was happy with. After some tweaking I was rewarded with some usable lead sounds but it definitely wasn't something I'd consider using for a long time.

The output section of this pedal has very flexible routing options, usually not found in stomp boxes of this size. The player can use amp out (output 1) to feed an amp and output 2 to feed a mixer or recording device. Alternately output 2 can be assigned as an amplifier output as well, which can then feed two amps in stereo configuration. As another option the player can also assign output 1 as an amp simulation thus getting a stereo feed to a mixer or recording device. The speaker emulation is also active when the pedal is not engaged, so in essence another overdrive or distortion unit can use the amp simulation for direct recording as well. These routing options can come in very handy when one wants to travel light or is on a budget and needs a device to plug in a guitar for recording.

The Bottom Line:
The DF-7 is a very flexible pedal for players that need more than one sound, for either recording or live work, or for players that are not sure what will work for them. There is lots of room for experimentation on this unit and plenty of useful studio and live sounds to keep guitarists happy for a long time.

Pros

7 distortion sounds in one
Rugged build
Speaker sim outputs
Very precise and flexible eq
Price

Cons

Short battery life
Output options confusing to beginners

The Bottom Line
Very flexible pedal for all genres and guitarists

Sounds
listen to sample
Clean Amp

Information:

COST: �65.00 each
WEB: DigiTech�

Reviewed by: A. Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Carl Martin PLEXITONE, Guitar Effects Pedal

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:14:14 GMT

The Carl Martin PlexiTone, is as the name might indicate an unusual high gain three step rocket of an overdrive. The PlexiTone offers two step overdrive, the crunch channel and the high gain channel, on top of that it gives you an up to 20dB clean boost channel.

The crunch channel goes from subtle overdrive to hard rock gain stage, the high gain channel goes from rock gain stages to absolutely meltdown, with loads of gain and low end, and all in a tone that brings the memory back to the early 80's high gain guitar hero's.

The PlexiTone has as most Carl Martin pedals a built in regulated (+-12V) power supply, to secure the necessary headroom that gives you the great tone.

Features
The build is amazing � really strong metal chassis with �chickenhead� retro style knobs. This pedal is full bypass so it doesn�t degrade your sound when not in use. Another useful extra is that Carl Martin has built the power supply inside the box itself, so you will never forget your adapter last minute before the gig. The downside of this design is that the unit has to be used on US electricity alone and cannot be taken to say Europe while you�re on tour. If your power supply blows up due to a clubs� power failure (happened to me before) you�re toast. You cannot use batteries due to the fact that this pedal requires higher voltage to run. With these cautions aside I find the benefits outweigh the cons and it is more likely that I�d forget the power supply than blow the pedal so I am happy in regards to the design. The CM Plexitone has a guitar input and output � in. jacks, 5 chickenhead knobs labeled �Boost�, �Level�, �Tone�, �High Gain�, �Crunch� and 3 on/off momentary switches labeled �Boost�, �Select� and �Drive�.

Road Tested
To test this unit I used an Ibanez mid-grade guitar ($500) with Seymour Duncan distortion pickup upgrade and a Dean Z with PAF Joe Satriani humbuckers. The amps I tested it with were: Fender Princeton 112 (clean solid state amp), Marshall VS100 head amp, Laney AOR 50 Head (tube) running into a 2x12 speaker loaded with Celestion greenback speakers. To top it all off I also ran it into an H&K Redbox (speaker emulation device). On all tested the CM Plexitone had a very distinct sound to it and one thing that always came through in the sound was �quality�. The pedal has 3 switches � �Drive�, �Select� and �Boost�.

The manual provided with the pedal was too busy boasting Carl Martin�s other products and offered little insight on this pedal, besides showing some presets. It took me a while to figure out why the �Select� button by itself did not change the sound. It turns out �Drive� has to be first on in order for �Select� to work by adding the second distortion section! It would�ve been nicer to at least have a diagram or a simple explanation on how this ting works � I was about to ship the unit for servicing until I remembered the usual operation on the Plexi amp, which required you to hot patch one channel to the other in front of the amplifier itself.

So in essence, �Drive� engages the �Crunch� section, which can be described as ranging from bluesy Clapton sounds to AC/DC distortion. By engaging the �Select� button while �Drive� is on, the player engages a second overdrive channel on top of the first one adding yet more gain which brings the sound closer to Van Halen 70s and 80s sounds. The �Tone� control basically changes the tone of the unit and the contour as well. From the left you can dial in a smoother bassier sound with the highs rolled off and as you move towards the right the sound gets grittier and the high frequencies start to become more predominant.

The �Boost� pedal engages a signal boost which is very useful for soloing, and the �Level� knob controls the output of the pedal. There are lots of useful sounds to be found on this pedal, by playing with the two OD sections (�Crunch� and �Drive�) and varying the �Tone� control. One thing that I missed on this unit was a dual eq for each channel or at least a bass and high eq control for the whole pedal. Regardless of that omission the pedal sounded great with pretty much anything I threw at it. It kept is character on all amps but sounded best on the solid state units, where it got almost identical to a cranked Plexi. I tried to also run it as OD pedal in front of the tube amp but it didn't work in that capacity . The boost can still be used in the fx loop for your leads so that is an extra bonus if say you needed the Plexi sounds for the studio but also need a boost pedal for another amp.

Another setback was the fact that the distortion was voiced on the cold side � basically high gain shredders and uber thrash and death dealers need to look elsewhere for their sounds. It was a bit of a disappointment that the unit could not do gainier sounds, because it would�ve been great to be able to get a raging shred distortion sound out of this unit, because it is voiced so well. As far as I am concerned, CM could�ve added more gain to the second knob and made the pedal more versatile. As of now it strictly stays in the retro category and it doesn�t deliver higher gain sounds than say Metallica circa �Kill �em All�. If you�re looking for a great blues, classic rock or hard rock distortion with the true sound of a Plexi amp � this thing totally delivers, but there is a reason why so many people stuck overdrive pedals in front of the Plexi - it was a loud beast but it just didn't have enough gain. For the money it might seem expensive at first but for around $220 you get CM �Made in Sweden� durability, 2 gain channels and a boost. When you compare it against boost pedals nowadays running at $120 alone this stomp box at its current price is not such a bad deal.

Pros

Very "tuneful" effect
Boost included
Built in power supply
Styling/ruggedness

Cons

Could use more gain
Manual/operation confusing
Only one tone knob
Built-in power supply

The Bottom Line
The Plexitone is a great pedal for those players that need the boutique sounds found on Marshall Plexi heads plus boost without the hefty price tag of owning one.

Sounds
Plexitone
Clean Amp

Manufacturer's Site: home

Reviewed by Alexander Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Hughes and Kettner Red Box Classic Guitar Cabinet Simulator

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:02:23 GMT

Features
The unit is a red box the size of a regular guitar pedal or a DI. It has a 1/4 inch "Line In" input and a 4x12 or "Combo" selector on one side. The other side is the "From Speaker Output" and "To Speaker Cabinet" 1/4 inch jacks. At the top there is a XLR Output which can power the unit via phantom power. If there is no phantom power the unit can also take power from any adapter from 6 to 12 volts. On the bottom of the unit there is a ground lift switch which is not labeled.

In Use
What the Redbox does is provide a DI box with speaker emulation so it can be used to either plug in a distortion pedal, an amp's line out or could be inserted between a speaker out and a real speaker. It could also be used on bass as a DI if you like to have a bit livelier "cab" sound to the bass. You have to be careful with tube amps as speaker has to be connected as well since the Redbox doesn't provide a dummy load like an attenuator would. I mainly use this for guitars when I get a band with a single guitarist and they need two guitar tracks or when I need the guitarist to remain quiet in the tracking room so there is no bleed on the drum tracks.
Some of the features are not well explained in the manual and I had to contact H&K about them. For one - the ground lift switch on the back of the unit that is not labelled. Also the way to hook up a tube amp to the simulator is not very well explained either. Again - easily clarified by H&K, apparently you can hook the speaker out of a tube amp to the "From Speaker Output" on the H&K Redbox and then run another speaker cable "To Speaker Cabinet". This unit is also lacking a DI output - it would've been very beneficial if you can get a DI signal out of it and your colored signal separated, in the present design you only get the colored sound out which limits the Redbox's useability.
Regardless of these shortcomings the unit provides a great sound and has 2 speaker emulations - one is a 2x12 and the other a 4x12. Both very useful and different in sound. The 2x12 sounds like a Fender or Vox amp - it is brighter in nature and a bit sparkly on the high end. The 4x12 sounds closer to a Mesa Boogie cab as it is darker and a bit airier.
So far the Redbox has worked great on sessions as a second sound option or as a single sound option when the amp in question is something so cheap that you rather not track it or if the guitarist brings in a digital fx unit with a harsh sounding speaker sim. I also use it to DI any kind of pedal that I have and can't crank up through an amp for various reasons.

Manufacturers Quote

Quote:

Red Box� Classic is the latest version of Hughes and Kettner's industry-standard DI box with speaker simulation. Particularly for live applications, this amazing tool warrants consistent sound quality at every gig and puts an end to crosstalk. Thanks to its clear, direct sound, the Red Box will endear you to every seasoned PA tech � total tonal satisfaction guaranteed. And in the studio, it saves precious time by sparing you the hassles of experimenting with microphone placement. The secret behind many of today�s bestsounding guitar tracks is that they are double-tracked with a microphone and a Red Box Classic. This enables a perfect mix of room ambience and ultra-direct attack. Red Box Classic � the �toneful� way to get the full tone!

Value
A little pricey for a little box, but there is nothing else quite like it on the market.

Sound
This product is a cab (speaker) emulator and it does the job well. It basically has two distinct sounds - one is 4x12 which to me feels like a cranked Marshall 4x12 stack and the other mode is a 2x12 which seems like a nice combo, say Fender or Vox. After owning the H&K Tubeman with Redbox simulation I decided to get teh Redbox alone to pair with some other effects for more tonal options and this thing rocks.

Ease of Use
This unit is pretty much plug and play. Some care has to be excercised not to blow up the tube amp (speaker always needs to be connected!) otherwise it is pretty simple to setup and use, and in cases where your situation doesn't allow loud sounds the Redbox is a must. Support: I contacted H&K on some questions I had regarding the manual - received answers within a day so that is outstanding in my book.

Overall
There's really nothing else on the market quite like it. I personally love the fact that H&K made sure that this unit can use all kinds of power supplies (from 6 to 12 volt!), phantom power or battery. Great design and great sounds.

The Bottom Line
The best speaker emulation I've heard so far.

Pros:
-Simple to use
-Great sound
-can use all kinds of power supplies (from 6 to 12 volt!), phantom power or battery.
-2 cab options

Cons:
-Manual doesn't mention ground lift
-No direct DI sound out, only speaker emulated

Information:

COST: �59.99 each
WEB: Guitar amps by Hughes & Kettner - Technology of Tone

Reviewed by Alexander Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Tech21 DOUBLE DRIVE 3X Distortion Pedal

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:05:23 GMT

The Double Drive 3X is housed in a sturdy metal box that looks like it can take some serious road abuse and still dish out the goods. The unit can be powered via a 9 volt battery, changeable from the bottom of the unit, or via an adapter (not supplied). The Double Drive 3X has one 1/4 input and one 1/4 output, 3 stomp-type switches, each illuminated by a corresponding LED to indicate when it is active.

This unit has two drive controls - Drive A (output stage distortion) and Drive A/B ( blend between output and preamp stage distortion). The unit has 3 tone controls (bass, mid and treble) and an output level control.

The Double Drive 3X is not just an ordinary stompbox but in essence a cascading distortion pedal with 3 footswitchable presets. Like Sansamp's TRI-AC the Double Drive 3X runs on a 100% analog signal path but uses digital switching and knob memory to "remember" 3 user settings. This results in the ability to store 3 preset sounds and seamlessly change between them by stomping on the corresponding switches. In order to save a setting the player needs to select one of the three channels by its corresponding switch, then dial in a sound that he/she likes and quickly tap twice on that pedal's switch, which results in saving that patch. The LEDs also let you find your preset patch's parameters by blinking faster the closer to the setting you get. When you're right on the money, the LED illuminates solid red. Then you can write down the parameters in the blank settings pages provided with the unit's manual. This is extremely helpful on a recording session where you need more than 3 sounds.

The Double Drive 3X also has another patented Tech21 function - the LAZY POT. What this does is save you some earache when you turn the volume or drive settings from a preset patch by gradually increasing the sound change so you can react if it happens to be too loud. I can't recall how many times that has happened to me, especially in a studio situation, so that that little feature comes in rather handy. The Double Drive 3X can go into bypass from its active preset switch by pressing it again.

I found this unit to sound best when used in front of a neutral sounding clean amp, whether tube or solid state. The best sounds I got on it were when bypassing the Marshall JCM900's preamp section and going through the FX loop return, thus only using the Marshall's power amp section. The Double Drive 3X also performed like a champ when plugged into my Peavey 50/50 tube power amp or in front of my Fender Princeton solid state amp. The Double Drive 3X can provide some heavy distortion but I felt like it lacked some focus for really heavy high gain metal sounds. It seemed better suited for classic and hard rock, or for some sweet sustaining lead work. It was especially handy when I needed to get "the brown sound" - clean sound with some very small touch of breakup. There are tons of tonal variations considering the cascading distortion effects that can be achieved by working with the different distortion blends of Drive A and Drive A/B and combining these in different amounts. I found the eq of this unit to be rather touchy - it was easier to cut than boost and a very small change went a long way. I cannot quite describe it but both this unit and the TRI-AC's eq section felt cumbersome and hard to work with compared to other overdrive/distortion units. Another small issue I had with this unit was the sound lag when pressing any of the settings. The unit seemed to cut off for a millisecond while switching. The lag wasn't as bad as some older pedal designs but it was noticeable. The battery compartment lid also seemed a bit fragile and I can see where that could be an issue down the road.

Overall the Double Drive 3X seems like a great addition to almost any guitar player's arsenal. There are tons of tonal options by working the two drive voicings and the switching system is unlike any other brand's product in this price range.

Pros

Revolutionary switching and preset memory system
3 programmable preset sounds
100% analog path
LAZY POTtm technology
in-depth manual
made in USA

Cons

battery lid fragile
hard to dial eq

Sounds
listen to sample
Clean Amp

Information:

COST: �132.99 each
WEB: WELCOME TO TECH 21 NYC - GUITAR AMPS - BASS AMPS - SANS AMP - EFFECTS AND MIDI

Review By:
Alexander Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Boss ME-50 Guitar Multiple Effects Processor

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:57:28 GMT

The Boss ME-50 comes in a rugged metal housing, about the size of 4 pedals put together. The build is solid, looks and feels roadworthy so that is a definite plus. The unit has 2 inputs on the back - one is 1/4 mono input for guitar and a 1/8 stereo jack for a jam-along device such as an mp3 player, CD player, etc. On the back there are 3 outputs - one pair amplifier outs (L and R output, the left doubling as mono), and a 1/4 inch stereo headphone output. There is an input jack for an external Boss FS-5U switch or 2 when using a Boss PCS-31 cable on the back as well. There are 3 stomp type pedals and one expression pedal on the top of the pedal, which can be controlled by foot.

The ME-50 could be powered by Boss PSA-120 power supply (not included) or 6 AA batteries.
The test unit arrived with a paper manual (thank you Boss!) and 6AA batteries. The manual is quite straightforward and at about 45 pages covers pretty much everything you need to know about this pedal.

The effect section of the consists of Tone Modify, Expression, Compressor, Overdrive/Distortion, Noise Suppressor, Volume Pedal, Modulation, Delay and Reverb.

Features
Tone Modify Feature:
Tone Modify changes the characteristics of the connected guitar. It can be bypassed or when engaged work as what I would probably call an eq section and an exciter section. Its settings are:

-Off (effect bypassed)
-Fat (fat tone with boosted mid range)
-Presence (bright tone with boosted high mid-range)
-Mild (mild tone with high end rolloff)
-Tight (tone with low frequency cut)
-Enhance (tone with high frequencies boosted)
-S->H (single pickup tone is changed to humbucker sound)
-H->S (humbucker sound is changed to single coil mode)
-H->HF (changes humbucking tone to a single coil pickup half tone)
-Hollow (adds body resonance to create a full acoustic guitar sound)
-Acoustic (changes guitar tone to that of acoustic guitar)

The ME-50's Tone Modify section can be switched on/off via an external footswitch (not provided).

On-board Compression:
The Compressor comes with two knobs - Sustain and Level. The Sustain knob adjusts the depth of compression. The Level knob adjusts the volume level. The compressor can also be used as a limiter when the Sustain knob is to the left of the 12 o'clock position. This function could also be switched via an optional external footswitch.

Overdrive / Distortion:
The Overdrive/Distortion consists of Type selector switch, a Variation push switch, and 4 rotary switches - Drive, Bottom, Tone, and Level. The Type switch selects the distortion types, 22 types in total:

OD-1 - models Boss OD-1
OD-2 - models Boss OD-2
BD-2 - Models Boss BD-2
DS-1 - Models Boss DS-1
SCREAM - models Ibanez Tubescreamer TS-808
DST+ - models MXR distortion +
GUV - Models Marshall Guvnor overdrive
RAT- Models ProCo Rat distortion
MUFF - models Electro-Harmonic Big Muff Pi
FACE - Models the Fuzzface
MT-2 - models the Boss Metalzone II distortion
metal - metal distortion
loud - heavy distortion with boosted low end
lead - smooth lead distortion
crunch - mild overdrive usually heard in classic rock
natural - smooth bluesy type of distortion
modern OD - overdrive with boost in the midrange
stack - sound of a full stack distortion
hi gain - overdrive through a stack amp
modern DS - large high gain amp distortion
square - synth square wave sound
oct fuzz - fuzz sound produced by octave harmonics

The Variation knob select the variation which give the user a choice 22 distortion settings in total. The Drive knob dials in the amount of distortion, the Bottom knob acts as low eq, the Tone knob acts as high eq while the Volume knob adjusts volume.

Other Effects (Modulation, Delay, Noise Gate):
The Modulation section is also similarly laid out. The Type button select the types of modulation effects - from chorus to rotary speaker. It comes with 3 knobs - Rate/Key, Depth/Harmony and E. Level/Resonance which have different functions depending on the effect. The Modulation section is capable of syncing an effect to a given tempo.

The Delay section consists of Type selector which chooses the kind of delay, Time the lenght, Feedback the amount of feedback introduced into the signal and E.Level the effect level. As the Modulation section, a delay can be synced to tempo as well.

The Noise Suppressor (NS) is a single knob with a LED indicator showing when it is activated.
The Reverb pedal also has one control which selects between off mode and 4 modes of reverb - Room, Hall, Spring, and Mod.

Expression Pedal:
The Expression Pedal usually works as a volume pedal unless when strongly pressed it activates the expression mode switch. The expression modes available are Wah (wah pedal), Resonance (synth filters), Voice ("talking" modulation akin to a human voice), Ring Modulation (metallic, robotic sounds), +1 Octave (raises pitch up by octave) and -1 Octave (lowers pitch by octave).

Manual/Memory Modes:
The ME-50 uses two modes - Manual and Memory Mode.

Memory Mode allows the user to store and call up presets, 3 presets per bank, there are 10 banks so the user can have 30 presets in total. Manual mode makes the ME-50 function in pedal mode - basically the three pedals become on/off for distortion, modulation and delay, and the foot controller functions as a volume control or expression pedal, depending on the user selection.

The user can navigate between memory and manual mode by pressing pedal 2 and 3 together.

Tuner:
The ME-50 also comes in with a chromatic tuner which is activated when pressing pedal 1 and 2 together. Engaging the tuner mutes the signal output so this function is quite useful for tuning live. Reference pitch could be easily changed as well in a range between 435 to 445 hz.
At the end of the signal chain the ME-50 has a Master volume control which controls the overall volume going out of the unit.

Road Tested
Right away I was impressed by the "analog" sound of this multi-fx unit. What I can say is that most of the all-in-one effects pedals that I've tried don't sound as organic as this box. What I also really liked about this unit is the fact that it can be powered by batteries, so it can be taken to places where there's no electricity. I wish I had one of these on my camping trips when I was a kid!

The thing that became apparent from the start was that this unit doesn't have a dedicated eq section, which seemed really strange for me, considering that amount of effects and parameters that can be tweaked. Basically the eq section seems to be the "Tone Modify" which also worked as an enhancer and acoustic simulator.

Usually a big letdown in the multiFX category are the distortion sounds and unlike some other units that I've tried, the ME-50 actually had quite a few distortion/overdrive options and most of them sounded good. I feel that the distortion section has quite a lot of variety which will usually keep most musicians happy for a long time. Most of the time I found myself gravitating towards the OD-2, Scream and Guv distortion settings. Having recently tested the ProCo Rat I also found that Boss did quite a good job on emulating it. On the other hand, I found the MT-2, a staple of Boss' pedal division, to sound uninspired when compared to the original - this one sounded a bit overcooked and didn't have the amount of control in the eq section that usually help me to zero in on the offending frequencies. The Overdrive/Distortion section has 4 parameter controls - Drive, Bottom, Tone, Level. The Bottom control acts as a Bass eq, while the Tone eq's the high end. This made up somewhat for the lack of dedicated eq control to the whole unit, but can be used only when this effects section is active.

The presets on these types of units are usually over the top to show the maximum capacity of the pedal, so after going through the banks just seeing what is in store I started twiddling on my own. This unit is really easy and intuitive to operate - basically you go into "Edit" mode and start twisting knobs until you get what you like. I didn't really have to touch the manual for any of it, which again is a very high mark from me. When you're happy with the sound you got you commit the patch to memory by pressing the "Write" pedal once, then selecting the patch number with the bank up and down button and the pedals (1,2,3) lets you navigate to the patch you want to overwrite and pressing "Write" again commits the patch to that memory slot. On the other hand - just pressing "Write" twice commits the patch to the last sound you started working from.

I found the modulation effects on the ME-50 to be quite capable of producing a wide range of sounds, all the effects in this section were top notch and I couldn't ask for anything better except maybe for more control over the harmonizer and a possibility to use more than one effect from here - for example you can't run a Chorus and Harmonizer at the same time. Not a deal breaker as I usually don't but a little extra flexibility could've been useful for some players looking to achieve some extra weirdness.

The Delays on this unit are also quite capable of producing great results - there are plenty of options here and they all sounded good. I found myself using mostly the Analog delay setting which had a very nice warmth to it. This unit also has some really nice stereo delay settings - especially the PAN and SPACE PAN settings which have some great psychedelic sounds.
The noise gate and compression on this pedal were a bit of a let down. I felt that there was definitely not enough control to either one of them and I preferred to keep them off for most of the patches unless really necessary. The NS (noise gate) usually didn't clamp down fast enough or as aggressively as needed on some metal patches and just left some nasty noise artifacts trailing after the sound. The Compressor also felt as it was either on or off, there were no subtle settings.

The Reverb settings on the ME-50 were adequate, but again I felt that the unit skimped a bit on these features. There are 4 settings on one dial - Room, Hall, Spring and Mod. The spring reverb was wobbly and non-musical, the rest were adequate but didn't feel very responsive.
Overall I was able to dial in some quite capable sounds and found some great classic rock, metal and shred sounds on this unit. The acoustic simulator was also quite decent and in a bind I wouldn't mind using it live instead of switching guitars. I had a hard time getting sound levels for clean guitar sounds as the Overdrive/Distortion section for these was bypassed, so I had to pump up some compression level to get closer in volume level.

I also found that I usually had problems with the amount of patches I could access - 3 patches per song weren't always enough so I took out a keyboard pedal I had laying about, attached it to the external expression pedal and that provided patch up capability for this unit. With the PCS-31 and two Boss pedals one could have full patch up and down capability live which increases the cost of the pedal by about $80 and its footprint as well, but it is there if needed. The ME-50 also had some lag in switching which produced a few miliseconds of no sound before switching the tones in memory mode (check mp3s a sound file of this). Boss also confirmed the problem saying that "changing DSP and analog audio signal paths, as well as patch parameters can sometimes cause a small delay in patch changing".When in manual mode this problem wasn't present, and from what I am made aware of most people buy this unit to use as separate effects. I've heard this lag on some other brands of multifx units so you'd have to decide for yourself if this is is a deal breaker. It is also worth noting that this unit does not have midi capabilities, which at this price range is not a huge issue, but it would've been a nice touch.

The Modulation and Delay settings can be locked to tempo on the fly when playing live by holding the corresponding pedal so I found that very useful to dial in chorus or delay effects on the fly. The foot controller can also be used live as Volume control and when pressed hard the selected expression patch, say wah is activated. I found that quite useful live as you can turn it on and off as desired and still have the volume control available at my feet.
Overall I found the ME-50 to be a quite capable unit and it should sit well among its competition.

The Bottom Line
Very capable unit that works with all guitar styles.

Pros
-Intuitive interface
-Solid build
-Very convincing effects, especially distortion/od's
-Long battery life
-Ability to play with no power source

Cons
-Millisecond of silence when switching presets
-No midi
-No dedicated eq
-Patch memory might be small for some users

Sounds
clean to crunch
overdrives
high gain
switching delay

Alexander Dorian
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

Boss GT-10

houstonmusicreviews — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:53:57 GMT

The Boss GT-10 is the latest offering in the GT processor line, featuring their proprietary COSM modelling, EZ-Tone tone selectiion options, numerous routing and processing options, MIDI controls, looping options, and a built-in USB audio interface for recording.

Overview

Boss has managed to push the envelope when it comes to floor guitar processors and made a definite state of the art product with the GT-10, that at the same time can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

Pros

tons of classic and modern effect and preamp sounds
very flexible routing options
plenty of output choices
paralel processing options with 2 amps at a time + effects for each
EZ Tone
built in audio interface via USB
ability to control external amp switching
midi in/out for connecting to other gear, such as preamps and midi controllable amps, DAWs, etc.
customizable pedal options
ability to function as stombox effects
bright lights for stage work
big illuminated screen with multiple view options

Cons

small audio dropout when switching presets
no "patch compare" function
pedals might be too close together for some

The Boss GT-10
The Boss GT10 is the Boss flagship guitar processor for a reason - it is the most advanced version of GT processors Boss has put up to date and it is loaded with all the goodies a guitarist can think of...and more!

When unpacking the unit I was first impressed by the sheer sturdiness of this unit - the GT-10 comes in a metal enclosure that looks so solidly built that I would gladly defend my home with it without thinking twice! At ten pounds, the GT-10 is a bit on the heavy side, but by the looks and feel of it, it can take some serious stage abuse and still survive the rigors of the the road.

The GT-10 comes with a full paper product manual which in this age of PDF disc manuals is highly refreshing. I hate to have to worry about access to a computer when I am jamming in the rehearsal studio, so having a paper manual is a definite plus for me. Surprisingly there was no software installation disc with the unit. Boss has the drivers and librarian software available via their website and they have to be downloaded if you want to use the USB connection to access the GT-10's capabilities from a PC. Probably a plus since usually a unit like this goes through incremental driver updates.

Included Inputs and Outputs
The GT-10 has the following connections -

INPUT jack (1/4 inch phone type),
OUTPUT L/MONO, R jacks (1/4 inch phone type),
PHONES jack (Stereo 1/4 inch phone type),
EXT LOOP jacks SEND, RETURN (1/4 inch phone type),
AMP CONTROL jack (1/4 inch phone type),
EXP PEDAL 2/CTL3,4 jack (1/4 inch TRS phone type),
USB connector,
DIGITAL OUT jack,
MIDI connectors IN, OUT,
DC IN jack.

Other Included Features

POWER: The GT-10 comes with a Roland PSB-1U adapter which should work fine with US and EU electricity.
PEDALS: The GT-10 has 4 pedals to change patches numbered from 1 to 4, 2 control pedals (Ctl1 and Ctl2) to turn effects within patches on and off, 2 more pedals for bank up/down or phrase sampler.
DISPLAY: In the middle there is a backlit 132 x 64 LCD that is well visible under stage conditions.
PARAMETER CONTROLS: Right under the LCD screen there are 4 Parameter controls labeled 1 to 4. These adjust the parameters selected on the screen and perform various functions depending on the screen selected.
EZ TONE BOX: On the left from the parameter controls there is an "EZ Tone" box with "Create" and "Edit" buttons that are part of Boss proprietary EZ Tone menu.
ROTARY CONTROLS: On the right of the LCD screen there is a rotary controller with 4 arrows around it that can be pressed down to control parameters as well.
OUTPUT CONTROLS: On the left of the LCD there is an Output Level control for the overall GT-10 output volume, with Output Select button underneath specifying the type of output (Line out, Amp fx loop, etc.) and a System button which accessed the system menu.
EFFECT CONTROLS: Under the LCD screen is the "Effect Select" menu. The effect selection is made via LED buttons that illuminate red when they are on: Comp, OD/DS, preamp, EQ, FX-1, FX-2, Delay, Chorus, Reverb, Master/Pedal FX. Pressing each one of these changes the LCD screen to the corresponding control being selected.
EXPRESSION PEDAL: The right side of the GT-10 is dominated by an expression pedal with rubber grips that serves in its default position as volume control.

On Test
Learning Curve:

As usual I plug in without the manual as a typical musician would, plus a manual is hard to read under lava lamp! Even without a manual, the GT-10 is easy to start playing with and doesn't really have that much of a learning curve, unless you need to go really deep into routing and effects options. I was able to cruise through the presets and get an idea of what this unit is capable of and I also quickly managed to dial in a few of my presets via the proprietary "EZ Tone" system.

What Boss has managed to achieve with this system is a quick and easy way to specify your sound. By pressing "Create" in the "EZ Tone" menu, the GT-10 first asks you to specify the type of guitar - single coil or humbucker and the type of output you're connected to, such as front of amp, fx loop or line out. The next step lets you quickly pick a style, all the way from "Country" to "Modern Metal" and everything in between. Then you can pick out a "Variation" in that genre, which is basically a type of preset that gets fine-tuned in the next menus. On the next step you're presented with a diagram

Fig. 1

that lets you choose your tone on a matrix with bottom end being "Backing", top "Solo", left "Soft" and right side "Hard". Basically, selecting a position on this diagram changes your tone accordingly to your selection.

Next window is the EFX menu where again on a matrix you get to choose the type and amount of time effects such as Delay and Reverb. Once you press the exit button under the jog wheel, your patch is good to go. You can also do quick adjustments via the Edit function of the EZ Tone menu to set the the amount of "Drive", "Delay", "Chorus" in case you want some more control (fig. 3).

Fig. 2

I quickly moved over to more advanced editing and had to reach for the manual, but the "EZ Tone" controls gave me an idea that this would be a great tool for novices that don't want to look under the hood for every detail.

From all the other processors in this price range I'd have to say that this is the easiest to start making music with straight out of the box.

Fig. 3

The manual itself, as per previous experience with the Boss Dr. Rhythm 880 manual, was a bit of a chore to read. Personally, it felt that it was overly complicated on some parts and other parts, like the USB connectivity section lacked in detail. Overall, my impression was that it could have been written better. Regardless of that I was able to get a quick grasp of the unit and when I had a question, the Boss staff were always happy to assist me.

Included Presets and Processing Control:

As far as presets go the GT-10 has 50 user banks of 4 for a total of 200 user presets and the same amount of factory presets. Unlike some other processors, the GT-10 actually had some quite useful presets, especially when it came to blues and classic rock tones. Its metal and hard rock factory presets were way over the top and I found them overcooked for my taste.

Usually when starting out with a processor what I do is find a factory preset I like and modify that further, and with 200 user modifiable preset locations I doubt that I'll ever run out of space to save them. Even if I do - there is a librarian software that will back them up for me!

With so many editable and configurable parameters Boss made sure that even the most demanding control freak will have nothing to complain about. As a studio engineer I usually like to see signal flow diagrams so I know what happens to my signal, and

Fig. 4

I found it in the Master->Fx Chain setting (Fig. 4). Here you see at a glance where your signal is going and you can rearrange things around, say you want compressor after preamp? Just move it there with the jog wheel.

What the GT-10 offers is parallel processing, which lets you blend in two amp sounds in one or run them to separate outputs and even add separate processing to each. You can also sync up the left and right side with delay, chorus or flange at different tempo intervals - say set the left channel to quarter note and the right channel to an eight note and set the speed by tapping the Ctrl pedal. You want AC30 sound to amp #1 and Mesa Rectifier sound to amp #2? No problem - it lets you do that. Another options is that you can change amps based on pick attack!

Output and Signal Routing:

With so many outputs, the GT-10 also lets you route your digital signal out where you want it in the chain.

So, say you're recording a band and not sure that this is the amp sound you're after? Put the digital out before the preamp in the signal chain and the signal goes out to tape dry while the guitarist listens in to the whole patch, effects and amp simulation included [Re-Amping].

There are also tons of routing possibilities that came up to me when looking at the routing table - you can use the FX loop to connect to an external amplifier and feed back the signal in the GT-10 and you can also use the GT-10s built in Amp Control out to control the amp's channels. I did this successfully with a Marshall JCM900 head that needed a bit more overdrive to go into a screaming lead tone. I basically looped the head into the GT-10 by taking the FX loop out of the GT-10 and feeding that into the amp's input. Then I took the amp's fx send and fed that into the GT-10's FX loop return. The GT-10's output (mono) then went back into the FX return of the JCM900. I was then able to move the FX loop in line after the overdrive in the signal flow chart, moved a noise gate, compressor before the overdrive thus effectively adding the amp in the GT-10 and using the GT-10s amp control I switched between clean and overdrive channels on the JCM900. That's what I call flexibility, although you won't necessarily need to go there as the GT-10 has plenty to offer in terms of amp sounds!

Preamps and Effects Under The Hood:

Building on GT line success, the GT-10 comes in with a huge array of COSM(tm) modeling (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5

- very realistic sounding preamps, modeled after some of the most sought after amps in the business. There are tons of options from Roland's own Jazz Chorus to Mesa and Marshall models to even boutique makers as Soldano and Matchless. These models get quite close to the originals. There are also quite a few useful overdrive and distortion models, again from the Boss line and from other manufacturers. Boss has provided a huge variety of controls and the user can even pick the mic placement, type of mic, and type of speaker combination. If that is not enough - you can even create your own amp and distortion pedal! The GT-10 can also serve as a midi controller for other gear and could control a midi preamp or a midi switchable amp without a problem.

There are plenty of effects on hand as well - delays, choruses, compression, eq and the FX-1 and FX-2 offer even more choices, such as phase, flange, tone modify (think of it as sweetening/enhance/exciter), harmonizers, octave shifters, sitar, acoustic simulations, lots of wah choices and some really strange ones such as synth sounds, defretter, feedbacker, and so on. The options are so limitless that I caught myself playing for hours with just these! I was particularly impressed by the delays, reverb and eq selection. The eq can get really surgical and the LCD helps display well what is really happening to your signal. The reverbs were lush and grand as were the delays - plenty of controls and the usual Roland quality. I particularly liked the analog delay which had a frequency high cut control just as in real analog units, and who said you'd have to use this only on guitar?

Setting up a patch is usually quite easy - you start with a preset and turn each corresponding switch on/off, regarding what you want to have engaged in your signal chain. By pressing say "Chorus" button the corresponding effect is shown on the LED screen and your chorus options are shown. Once you get a sound you like you can even make a user preset in the subcategory "Chorus" so if you want to use this across several different patches you won't have to worry of dialing it right. In similar fashion you can set your other effects in the chain, and once you are ready you press the "Write" button which then gives you an option to save the effect in a desired user patch. By using the scroll wheel you can move to the right patch number and pressing "Write" again saves that patch in the selected patch number and the unit also lets you name the patch here.

One thing that seemed to be missing and would've been very handy that is included in some other effect units is a patch compare option before committing the patch to memory. I often had trouble getting the right volume on a set of patches that I meant to use in the same song. There is input and output metering and you can eyeball it but it is hard to get the levels right as you have to save, compare levels and go back and edit again if it needs adjustment.
The GT-10 also has the option to run in manual mode which could make it basically behave like an effects board - you can tap on the pedals and in real time and disengage them.

Live Looping:

The GT-10 also comes in with a Phrase Looper - great for some live sound on sound experimentation or just to get that hard to nail solo down. What this does is basically record and loop as many layers as you want. Since I am not that well versed with it I didn't try it live but it came in handy when using it to learn a few licks or work out guitar harmonies. There is no memory on this function so it is a bit of a letdown as it could've been really useful to trigger a second guitar line when needed. Your loop is basically saved in temp memory and is lost as soon as you move away to disengage the looping function. It could've been nice to add say SD memory card feature to save your loops and pair it with the patches, especially considering how cheap a 4 gig SD card is nowadays.

Control Pedals:

Talking about more options, the control pedals come to mind. The GT-10 comes in with a bank up/down (doubles for the Phrase Loop), then you have 4 patch change pedals and 2 Ctl pedals next to them that you can assign to various functions. There is also the volume pedal that is assignable to various functions as well. You can literally do anything with them. Say you want Ctl1 or Ctl2 to throw on/off a solo boost? You want it to hold your delay pedal? You want it to engage the tuner? You want it to switch 2 effects at the same time? - No problem! The volume pedal could also pretty much be made to do anything as well, and if this is not enough - you can also attach external controllers and expand your control pedals even further. I personally found the capacity of the GT-10 enough, although it is good to know that there are possibilities for expansion.

Further Testing:

In order to test the unit further I took it to a few jam sessions with a drummer and I was able to use several different amps and guitars to see how things hold up. Here is when the "Output Select" came in handy - I connected via the fx loop ("Combo Return") in one of the amps and through the preamp on the second via the "Stack Amp" setting. I took these as suggestions as these have to pass the listening tests, but in this case these settings were almost spot on but needed just a little midrange tweak. I was also able to do quick adjustments via the Master setting which acts as a final equalizer - it helped me to add a bit more sparkle to my high end. Changing guitars was also a breeze as there is a setting where you can bring your guitars tonality via eq and different volume levels under control and then save that under three available settings. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more settings available as I have more guitars and basses and quick selection would be nice, as would be the ability to name the guitar presets. Not a design flaw per se, as you can control these settings via your patches as well.

Switching patches while playing proved to be a bit of a problem as I wore Doc Marten's hiking shoes that were almost as wide as 2 pedals so it was a bit of a problem hitting that lead patch properly as the pedals seemed to be a bit too close for my taste. The GT-10 is well illuminated in stage lighting conditions as well (Fig. 6)

- no problem seeing the controls or the patch numbers. Besides the switching problem I encountered that day (Reminder: wear tennis shoes next time!) I found the unit to be perfect for live work as well. There was also a bit of signal drop out when switching patches, not as prominent as some other pedals, but still noticeable during a studio session. The processor offers some flexibility regarding patch changes as there are "FAST" and "SMOOTH" options, with the latter extending delay and reverb further into the next preset. As far as studio use is concerned - the unit has a USB port that can also act as an audio card in both Windows and Mac PCs.

After installing a driver and putting the GT-10 in USB mode I was able to connect it in Mac OS X (ver. 10.4.10) laptop without a problem - it showed up in all my software and I was able to record and play back though it. Latency wasn't a big issue as the driver allows for direct monitoring, which is another huge plus for me. I did not test on PC as at the moment Boss didn't have any 64-bit drivers for XP 64 or Vista 64, my current workstation of choice. The only concern I'd have would be that most people are recording nowadays at 24bit/48khz sampling rate and the unit only offers 24bit/44.1khz but the sound didn't suffer because of it so I believe that Boss picked the correct rate. I used the GT-10 to record solos and bass for an online collaboration and the client on the other side was impressed with the tones I achieved by plugging direct.
Overall - I can honestly say that Boss has managed to push the envelope when it comes to floor guitar processors. They've made a definite state of the art product with the GT-10, which can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

Information:

COST: �305 each
TEL: Roland UK +44 (0) 1792 702701
EMAIL: customers@roland.co.uk
WEB: Welcome to Roland UK

Review by: Alexander Dorian and Edited by Altsounds
Houston Music Reviews.com - Your source for Houston Quality Music

The Roland GT-10 Guitar Effects Processor is the latest Boss Flagship for Floorboard Multi-FX.
The Roland GT-10, driven by BOSS�s latest custom-made DSP and proprietary sound-modeling COSM engine, is a floorboard powerhouse that offers natural and musical response as well as a marked improvement in sound quality from previous generations. It�s also loaded with an innovative user interface, including EZ Tone, so guitarists can obtain the exact sound they desire in the most intuitive way imaginable. BOSS�s legendary know-how of effects and sound modeling are fully integrated into the latest Boss GT10 flagship floorboard multi-FX unit. As a result, tone quality is significantly higher, and response to playing dynamics is much more natural and musical. And not just for the stage � the Boss GT-10 is also great in the studio thanks to its USB capability and digital output.

The main features of the Roland GT-10 include:

The latest Boss Flagship for Floorboard Multi-FX
Massive tone, advanced effects, and a more natural and musical response
EZ Tone wizard provides the ultimate easy-to-use, intuitive approach to sound creation based on graphic icons
Parallel effects chain offers two separate effects paths including COSM amp models
Create sound-on-sound loops with onboard Phrase Loop function
Large LCD and bright LED enable high visibility even in bright sunlight and difficult concert-stage lighting conditions
USB capability accommodates streaming audio and MIDI data in real time
AD Conversion: 24-bit + AF method (Adaptive Focus method - a proprietary method from Roland & BOSS that vastly improves the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the A/D and D/A converters)
DA Conversion: 24-bit
Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
Program Memories: 400: 200 (user) + 200 (preset)
Nominal Input Level - INPUT: -10 dBu, RETURN: -10 dBu
Input Impedance - INPUT: 1 M ohm, RETURN: 220 k ohms
Nominal Output Level - OUTPUT: -10 dBu / +4 dBu, SEND: -10 dBu
Output Impedance - OUTPUT: 2 k ohms, SEND: 3 k ohms
Dynamic Range: 100 dB or greater (IHF-A)
Digital Output: Coaxial type (conforms to IEC60958)
Display: 132 x 64 dots graphic LCD with backlit, 7 segments, 3 characters LED
Connectors - INPUT jack (1/4 inch phone type), OUTPUT L/MONO, R jacks (1/4 inch phone type), PHONES jack (Stereo 1/4 inch phone type), EXT LOOP jacks SEND, RETURN (1/4 inch phone type), AMP CONTROL jack (1/4 inch phone type), EXP PEDAL 2/CTL3,4 jack (1/4 inch TRS phone type), USB connector, DIGITAL OUT jack, MIDI connectors IN, OUT, DC IN jack
Power Supply: DC 9 V (AC Adaptor: Roland PSB-1U)
Current Draw: 800 mA
Accessories Included: AC Adaptor (Roland PSB-1U), Owner's Manual, Roland Service (Information Sheet)
Options - Footswitch: BOSS FS-5U, Dual Footswitch: BOSS FS-6, Expression Pedal: BOSS FV-500L/500H, Roland EV-5
Size - Width: 542 mm 21-3/8 inches, Depth: 272 mm 10-3/4 inches, Height: 77 mm 3-1/16 inches
Weight: 4.9 kg 10 lbs. 13 oz

- from the Boss/ Roland Website

M-Audio Pulsar II - Small-diaphragm Condensor Microphone

altsounds — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:31:14 GMT

The M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone comes in a lovely wooden box that demonstrates something M-Audio do well -and that's package their equipment. The included case of the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone, with it's velvety interior, was enough to make me fall in love with them before I had even plugged them in or tested out how they sounded. There are also lots of cool accessories included in the box such as stand mounts, foam shields, a stereo bar and drawstring carry cases. The ONLY thing not included are shock-mounts which would have made the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone package delivery perfect!

The M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone is an updated and re-designed version of the original M-Audio Pulsar microphone. M-Audio sent me over a pair of Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone to put through a heavy amount of tests and real life sessions.

M-Audio are doing like many other manufacturers, and are getting a lot of their microphones manufactured in China for the very obvious cost saving reasons. As a company, when you outsource your manufacturing abroad the most important thing to add to your worry list is quality control. Based on my experience thus far with M-Audio it appears that they are taking this VERY seriously and are also doing a great job ensuring the quality is in every single piece of equipment they manufacture.

In Session
Up until writing this review I have used the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphones in probably 50 sessions! I can't help selecting them from the microphone cabinet when it comes to drum recording. I did try this microphone recording acoustic guitar, violin, piano and even vocals and it worked excellently on all however, in many instances I already owned microphones that worked better whilst recording a specific instrument and after a test or two I ended up just going back to my regular choices.

As drum overheads and/or room mics however these microphones have been pulled out for EVERY session I have conducted since receiving them. The choice of mic position is as important as any factor when micing but even if I was a novice and just "chucked" the pair of these mics into the drum room it would come out soundsing excellent, transparent and crisp. These mics even inspired me to experiment even more than usual with drum overhead microphone placement.

The lack of sound character is what makes the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphones the perfect choice for use as drum overheads and/or room mics. It literally just picks up the room, as is, helping to capture the actual realism of what happened during a take and during a session. In a mix you can just push these bad boys up without much processing being needed at all to make them sound good.

Design & Build
The M-Audio Pulsar II is a stereotypical, cardoid, stick-like microphone that is approximately 3/4" in diameter. Inside the casing is a six micron, gold-sputtered Mylar Diaphragm. The microphones body itself is made of brass and each microphone weighs approximately 115h each. According to M-Audio there is an internal shock-mount system that helps to isolate the capsule and the body from each others vibrations.

Looking at the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone frequency-response plot included it demonstrates a nigh on flat response (-3db) from 20Hz-20kHz with a small addition of presence around 7kHz. The pre-amp is a balanced XLR output that uses 48V phantom power but I have read that these microphones can actually function on as little as 30V phantom power. Present on the microphone body is a 10db slider that activates a pad that allows levels up to 144db [normally 134db]. A second slider is also present thst provides a low-cut filter.

Cosmetically this microphone really looks the part and is a mixture of the trademarked M-Audio black and various shiny metal parts that make the microphone "pop" when you look at it in a room. This mic is blatantly aimed at recording instruments BUT could quite comfortably be used for a transparent vocal although it is likely that most studios will have much better hoices for this task. M-Audio recommend using it for acoustic instruments such as guitar, strings, piano, woodwing and brass etc. They also recommend them being used as drum overheads or room mics [this is where I found that the M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphones performed out best].

Conclusion
Every person looking to record will always need a good stereo pair of microphones if only for their amazing robustness and multi-functioning ability. The M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphone is as versatile a mic as you could ever buy and sounds great. As always though, if your budget is bigger there are better mics out there HOWEVER for 98% of the people you can be comfortable in spending your hard earned cash on a matched pair of M-Audio Pulsar II Small-diaphragm microphones and be VERY happy for MANY years. If only everything in life could offer so much for so little money.

Pros:

Great Specifications, very versatile, transparent sound for a price that won't break the bank.
You could buy just this mic and use it for almost everything and get excellent results.
Lovely packaging and great looking.
Low-cut and Pad switches included

Cons:

No external shockmounts included

Information:

COST: �129 each; �259 matched pair.
TEL: M-Audio +44 (0)1753 659590
EMAIL: info@m-audio.co.uk
WEB: M-AUDIO
SAMPLES OF THE MIC IN ACTION: MySpace.com - Screamadelica - Recording Studio Cardiff - 29 - Male - Cardiff, UK - www.myspace.com/screamadelicastudio

M-Audio Studiophile Q40 Headphones

altsounds — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:26:51 GMT

When i first received the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones I was excited to try out what looked like some VERY attractive and professional looking headphones. The packaging the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones was delivered in was very nice and easy to open.

The first thing that struck me about the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones was the ingenious idea it appeared that M-AUDIO had come up with. That is, instead of having a fixed headphone cable, they had instead opted for an 1/8" jack cable connector so if your headphones developed a dodgy cable years down the line you could just replace it with any other 1/8" jack cable. On closer inspection I found this not to be the case as due to the screw mechanism no other 1/8" jack can actually fit into the slot. What looked to be one of the best headphone design ideas in a few years ended up being for no apparent reason - unless M-AUDIO sell proprietary 1/8" replacement jacks for these headphones that is!

Figure 1: M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones - Front View

That aside, I screwed in the cable and, as I had a bunch of mixing that day I decided to truly put the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones through their paces and actually turn off my studio monitors and attempt to complete entire mixes on these headphones -truly putting their superior sound quality through it's paces. To my surprise it was not hard to use the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones to mix AT ALL. The clarity of sound was superb and the bass was surprisingly clear and had a great bass range for a headphone. I quite comfortably and happily sat there for the next two days putting the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones through their paces. I found that whether you were mixing or just listening to music that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones were one of the best ways to work on or listen to music I had ever come across. In fact, I would have quite happily at that point sold my studio monitors on E-bay (not really, but just showing the amazing quality of sound the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones output).

Then the horror began. Within two days the right side of the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones stopped working completely out of the blue completely raining on my parade of telling every client of mine to go out and purchase a set of M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones as they were the best studio headphone I had come across and was well worth the money. This technical difficulty can be attributed to one of two things:

The build quality on the set I received was poor. OR
The actual design of the headphone has flaws.

In this case I actually attribute it to a bit of both. The design flaw I would mention would be the external protruding wires that with children, pets or even just carelessness could esily be snipped, ripped or pulled out rendering these headphones completely out of action - like mine :(. These protruding wires that are asking to be broken can be seen in both Figure 1 and Figure 2.

In this instance however nothing happened to these external wires and this fault clearly came from a design flaw. I even unscrewed some parts to try and see if I could just fix the issue but all of the connection points for these headphones are neatly placed in places that prying hands like mine can't access so I was unable to fix the broken right hand side of my M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones.

What was going to be a "this product is shit hot" review quickly changed for me as I am not really comfortable recommending something that broke for me in two days. That aside, I have been honest with my review marks as I might have just been an unlucky person in this case because as with any electronic piece of equipment it can break. The choice at that point is yours - if you want an amazing quality set of headphones that could be purchased instead of studio monitors these would probably be for you HOWEVER take heed because my set only lasted two days but remember you will also be given a guarantee.

What are the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones?
Whether you�re tracking, mixing or listening, you can expect sonic accuracy from your Studiophile Q40 headphones�designed by M-AUDIO. With professional-grade dynamic drivers and ear cups that completely surround the ears, the Q40 headphones deliver full-range specs with excellent isolation from outside noise. Lightweight construction and comfortable ear pads make them ideal for long studio sessions or hours of listening. These sturdy phones are collapsible for easy travel and even include a detachable/replaceable 3-meter cable to protect your investment.

Main Features

Excellent imaging and a wide sound stage for accurate mixing
40mm drivers provide exceptional frequency response
Closed-back circum-aural design delivers excellent isolation
Lightweight construction with comfortable ear pads
Detachable, replaceable 3-meter cable with 1/8 inch (3.5mm Mini-jack) connector
Copper-clad aluminium voice coil wire for optimum efficiency
Includes 1/4 inch-to-1/8 inch (3.5mm Mini-jack) adapter
Collapsible design for easy travel
Frequency response: 10Hz to 20kHz
Sensitivity: 116dB SPL (1mW IEC318)
Rated impedance: 64 Ohms
Weight without cable: 0.25 kg
Magnet material: Neodymium
Driver: 40mm Mylar

Figure 2: M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones - Side View

Comparisons
As part of this review I also compared these headphones to a few pairs that I know better sound wise. I slipped on a few of my favourite tunes that I know the sound of very well and listened on each set of headphones. My conclusion from this experiment is that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones, like a lot of studio monitors, interject a small amount of their own sound. I found that the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones coloured the tracks slightly with a small bass boost and an overall punchiness that gave the music a �rounder� sound as opposed to a truly flat, and more transparent sound. This being the case the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones might slightly colour songs to the point of making incorrect mixing decisions when it comes to bass in particular. This finding moved me from completely trusting these headphones to testing mixes in a variety of other listening environments and on low-grade consumer headphones just to be sure.

Secondly I compared my opinions on the M-AUDIO Studiophile Q40 Headphones with other users feedback from around the world and guess what. I am not the only person to suffer from the one side working and according to another review I read this is due to the quality of the cable going from the headphone to the headphone jack which once replaced will make both sides of this headphone work again. So again a NOTE on the build quality of this one and a major loss of rating for this product and that is the cable provided with the headphones has a tendency to break leaving you with a one-sided set of headphones. Luckily for M-AUDIO, and as previously mentioned this is easily replaced and in this case fixed!

Conclusion
Positives

attractive and professional looking headphones
replaceable headphone connector cable providing longevity for your monetary investment
clarity of sound is superb and the bass is surprisingly clear with great range for a headphone
can be used to mix music in the studio, djing or just listening to your favourite music at high sound quality levels
Closed-back design delivers excellent isolation making them the perfect choice when recording vocals or acoustic guitars

Negatives

build quality issues with detachable 1/8" headphone cable with mine breaking in two days and other purchasers around the world having the same issue
external cabling on actual headphones which may result in accidental breakage by user, children or pets - my cat loves chewing through wires!
slight colourization of bass and overall punchiness of the sound

Retail Price
�89.99

Contact
M-AUDIO UK

Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Road
Iver Heath
Buckinghamshire
SL0 0NH
United Kingdom
web: M-AUDIO

Sales
(no tech support calls please)
phone: +44 (0)1753 659590
fax: +44 (0)1753 658501

SE Electronics Reflexion Filter

altsounds — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:16:50 GMT

Overview
In a nutshell this is the best piece of recording gear I have ever had the fortune of coming into contact with (thus far). However, it is also one of those items that probably would not grace a Top 10 list of things to buy from a studio perspective and is not something I would have ever thought of buying. Well, that needs to change right here and right now!

You truly and honestly need to invest the money in the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter before anything else. Forget the microphone you had your eye on or the amp, this monetary investment makes MUCH more sense. The results you will achieve with this piece of equipment alone will instantly better your overall production values and work quality and you will be left wondering what you ever did before this piece of equipment got invented.

Out of the box the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter can appear quite intimidating. It's a strange looking contraption and even when looking at the included instructions a novice may still be left scratching their head like Stan Laurel! Luckily for me I had no set-up issues and within 5 minutes I had the weird looking SE Electronics Reflexion Filter set-up and ready to go.

There are a couple of things to note here. Firstly when fully constructed the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter is a very heavy addition to a microphone stand. I tried it on a boom microphone stand and it couldn't handle the weight and kept toppling over. Next I pulled out an upright microphone stand. This was better and the whole thing sat more comfortably without the fear of falling HOWEVER I was still not comfortable that at some point this whole setup would come crashing down. The only way I found to correctly counter balance your microphone stand while the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter was fully set-up was to make sure the arm of the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter was in direct alignment with the microphone stand leg. If this was the case there was no issues with toppling even on the tallest people (6ft +)!

Initially we did a couple of quick and concise audible tests. Starting with the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter on and then SE Electronics Reflexion Filter off. Everyone present on that first day here was blown away by the difference between the two. The easiest and most down to earth way to describe it would be that with the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter set-up the vocalist will sound like Terry Wogan (radio voice) and without they will just sound like themselves. The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter gives an amazing tone and just this quick little experiment alone got me excited for the 15+ sessions that the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter has ended up being used on!!

Since receiving the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter it has ended up becoming a staple part of my recording process diet. In fact, without using the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter it kind of feels like a major food group within my diet is missing i.e. dairy or meat. I really can't imagine life without the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter and I would advise EVERYONE that records music in anyway go out and invest in one right now. From project studios all the way up to Abbey Road - you all need the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter in your studio.

In fact, don't even bother finishing this review. Just go to your local store and get one for yourself right now. You will be glad you took my advise when you do!

What is the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter?
The Reflexion Filter is a 'portable vocal booth' that sits behind a microphone and provides isolation from problem reflections and room ambience, a revolution in recording technology.

The Reflexion Filter is a portable device for recording live sources with reduced room ambience. It is an advanced composite wall which is positioned behind any microphone by means of a variable position stand clamp assembly which ships with the product. The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter sturdy metal unit is composed of multiple different sound absorbing layers. The outer layer is aluminium with symmetrical holes placed at regular intervals. Inside is a layer of absorption wool, then a layer of aluminium foil. Next is a small air space followed by suspended and angled aluminium. All of these barriers stop excessive room energy from entering the back of the microphone whilst stopping the actual vocals from leaving the direct area of the mic and reflecting back.

The main function is to help obtain a �dry� vocal or instrument recording. This is especially useful in studios without proper acoustic treatment, but can also be used to help record takes in control rooms, where the performer also has to operate the recorder, or in rehearsal studios to reduce ambient noise.

Test Drives
The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter has been test driven on every single session we have had at our studios (MySpace.com - Screamadelica - Recording Studio Cardiff - 29 - Male - Cardiff, UK - www.myspace.com/screamadelicastudio) since receiving it and it will be used at every single session we have going forward. I can't single out individual songs because there are too many! Go to Screamadelica.co.uk and listen to them all ending with Mark Maguire - 'Carry Me Back Home'. The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter has become an irreplacable part of our recording studio. Metaphorically like a knife is to a restaurant or a bottle opener is to a pub.

Conclusion
The Positives:
The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter is probably one of the best studio tools I have come across in a VERY long time. It offers so much functionality and diversity and will instantaneously better the recordings of every single studio that uses it. We have thoroughly tested this both in our acoustically treated live room and various other places like the corridor and the toilet. The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter stands up under pressure excellently and regardless of where it was placed your vocals will sounds amazing. The SE Electronics Reflexion Filter would not only be good for recording studios but I could see a major market for this piece of kit in radio. Just by putting the SE Electronics Reflexion Filter onto your mic stand you acheive the "Terry Wogan Radio Sound" with no mic or preamp changes at all!

The Negatives:
For an amateur getting this thing setup might prove to be a little difficult.

Verdict:
Build Quality: 10/10
Value for Money: 10/10
Ease of Use: 9/10
Versatility: 10/10
Sound Quality / Results: 10/10
OVERALL: 10/10
=====================

Contact:
Sonic Distribution
(01525) 840400
http://www.sonic-distribution.com/uk/

SE Electronics SE2200A Condenser Microphone

altsounds — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:55:18 GMT

A few weeks ago we received an sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone at our studio. Now, this microphone is primarily marketed as a Vocal microphone however, they do also state that it can be used as an instrument microphone. The problem I have is I am rather stuck on my AKG C 414 B-XL II Large-Diaphragm Condensor Microphone for vocals in about 95% of cases. Whenever I have used that microphone (regardless of sex) the results have been excellent and easily at par with multi-thousand dollar microphones.

In The Box
The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone comes nicely packaged in it's very own sleek looking flightcase that excites you from the moment you set eyes on it (Figure 1).

Popping the flight case top I am even more excited by the design and form of both the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone itself and it's accompanying shockmount (Figure 2). The shockmount is over-sized in comparison to others I have come into contact with and something about this fact makes the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone look more expensive than it actually is. I am suitably impressed with the spare elastics provided for the shockmount. The threaded mounting ring that secures the mic to the cradle holds the mic very firmly in place and it even has a felt damping ring. The arm to allow different angles to be used keeps the microphone snugly secure allowing this microphone in theory to be used in ay angle (even upside down)!

Staying on the shockmount for a moment the only downside to the design of this is the ease in which the elastics can come free and if and when they do you cannot put it back together alone as you need one person to hold the first loop in place as you fix up the second loop. Also, this needs to be done twice to successfully replace the shockmount elastics!! Luckily though chances are if your recording vocals that there will be the producer and a vocalist making this not such a big deal.

The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone itself looks great. The design is simplistic yet sexy. Features built into the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone are a -10db pad and a low cut filter that removes the low end from being captured via the microphone. I can't for the life of me come up with a scenario when either of these features might be needed but I'm sure someone out there can and has otherwise what would be the point of spending the money on adding this circuitry to the microphone in the first place?

Based on initial impression I am thoroughly happy with this product and it's associated presentation. Anyone that has purchased this microphone will be suitably impressed with all aspects of it's appearence and to the untrained eye (i.e. your friends) this appears to be a VERY expensive microphone which can only be good for your reputation and ego as the hot shot music producer!!

To give a true and honest opinion of a piece of gear we are reviewing we use it in real recording sessions conducted at Screamadelica Studios in Cardiff Bay. We also try and test it over multiple different genres, with multiple different artists and in multiple different scenarios too. Doing so ensures that each piece of equipment we review is given a hard but fair test drive allowing us to give honest and concise gear reviews with physical audio as examples and proof to back up our comments and statements.

Figure 1. sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone Aluminium Flight Casing

Manufacturers Description, Spec and Recommended Retail Price

Quote:

The SE2200A is a Large diaphragm, Cardioid, Transformer-balanced Condenser microphone
The SE2200A studio condenser has a 1 inch gold vacuum plated diaphragm and high grade electronics that ensure a respectable signal to noise ratio. The SE2200A has a low cut filter, 10dB pad to and also comes complete with a very rugged aluminium shock mount and flight case.

The SE2200A is a versatile performer ideal for Vocal and Instrument recording

Features:

Transformer-balanced microphone
Supplied with with metal shock mount cradle and aluminum flight case
High SPL capability at 130dB

Specifications:

Frequency Response: 20Hz-20KHz
Sensitivity: 14.1mV/Pa -37 +/- 1.5dB
Polar Pattern: Cardioid
Impedance: < 200 Ohms
Equivalent Noise Level: 17dB(A weighted)
Max SPL for 0.5% THD@1000Hz: 125dB
Power Requirement: Phantom power 48V +/- 4V
Connector: 3-pin XLR

Recommended Retail Value:
�135.00 - United Kingdom
$299.95 - United States

Test Drives
Song Test 1 [Acoustic]:
Mark J Maguire - "Carry Me Back Home" (Click to Listen)

So, as my session began I decided to start the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone out by using it to mic up an acoustic guitar. The first session this was going to be used on was the final track on Mark J Maguire's debut and as yet untitled album. The track "Carry Me Back Home" is an acoustic number making it perfect to really put the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone through it's paces. Featuring on acoustic guitar on this track was Kevin Barnes. I mic'ed up the acoustic guitar using the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone to capture the sound coming out of the acoustic guitars soundhole and one sE Electronics SE4 at the top of the guitar neck to pick up the nice slide sounds that you hear when playing an acoustic guitar etc.

I was suprised to see that the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone worked extremely well on acoustic guitar offering a very warm AND bright sound without either being too overpowering. With little to no EQ'ing needed the guitar was quickly tracked and I was already looking forward to using it for a different instrument or a vocal. Luckily for me, the track we were recording was to feature both a male and a female vocal which would allow me to test out both vocal types and styles. My only problem with regards to the acoustic guitar was just how much room noise the mic picked up which can only be put down to it's sensitivity. This is great if you want to include all of the character as we did in this case (pick knocking against the scratch plate etc) but if you want to avoid this then the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone might not be the perfect choice in this scenario.

After tracking the bass and lead guitars we were on to the main vocals. We setup the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone within an sE Electronics Reflexion Filter (more details about the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter will be available in our up and coming review of it so I won't go into the detail of it's brilliance here). After a couple of vocal checks I realized that this microphone was going to be as robust as I needed and I could already hear that it would suit Mark's voice perfectly. We then tracked my backing vocals and yet again the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone really did my voice justice picking up all the tonal qualities with enough depth to provide a full vocal sound but enough presence to cut through the mix. As the session progressed the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone was quickly becoming my new best friend. In fact, the microphone worked so well on our voices that we decided to do a "This Whole World" by the Beach Boys influenced 5 part harmony intro to the track which truly shows the capabilities of this microphone as it is not clouded with any sounds other than the direct vocal sources on this part of the song.

The female vocals also came out beautifully and we also used this microphone for the shaker and tambourine. In fact, the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone captured everything you hear on this track with the bass and lead guitar being the only exceptions. I personally think the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone works excellently for acoustic tracks which is an excellent microphone quality as poor quality microhpones can't easily be hidden in acoustic songs.

Figure 2. sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone and Shockmount

Song Test 2 [Hard Rock]:
Sweet Decline - Turn To White (Click to Listen)

The next session I decided to test drive this microphone on was a Hard Rock track as I wanted to see how the microphone would cope with more aggressive vocals on top of a much harder backing track with drums etc just to see where it would sit in the mix etc.

The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone coupled with a careful choice of plug-ins and the end result is a very rich and clean sounding main and backing vocal that both sits and stands out of the mix nicely and as I wanted. By no means did the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone get used as much during this session as it had done on the previous however, I was again very impressed with how well this was standing up against my regular vocal microphone choice of AKG C 414 B-XL II Large-Diaphragm Condensor Microphone and I was starting to wonder whether this might be giving it a run for it's money the next time I go into my mic closet?

The vocal source through this microphone is even clear enough to do the megaphone effect at the end of this song without having to lose quality or clarity. By that I mean that a megaphone effect in general messes up the quality of a vocal source. Couple that with a poor quality microphone and you just have a mid-ranged mega-mess! With the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone the megaphone effect sounded ace and I was uber happy with the outcome.

Song Test 3 [Hip-Hop]:
Silk & Siege - Bottle Poppin' (Click to Listen)

I had a Hip-Hop act come in to do a 15 track mix tape in one day so as I was getting really accustomed to using the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone in rock based tracks I thought I would give it a test run over this 15 song day. Now just for those not knowing what a mix tape is basically, these guys came to me with the music and all I did was produced the rapping to fit in nicely within the original music mix.

Both rappers (Silk & Siege) have very different voices. Silk sounding similar to Q-Tip in parts with Siege sounding like Kanye West in parts. The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone worked excellent over this day and could be easily utilized for all forms of rap from agressive spitting to songs for the ladies. I would hazard a guess that it would also work great for R&B tracks too.

I just love the clarity that the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone offers especially when I tested it on Hip-Hop. Every word that is said on this mixtape is clearly defined and audible which is very impressive considering the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone's low price tag. The mic offers mid-range microphone quality for a budget price which has got to make all the budding home producers happy!

Figure 3. sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone Closeup

Song Test 4 [Metalcore]:
The Day Before Mortality - I'm Felling Chipper (Click to Listen)

The fourth and final track I chose to test drive the sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone on was a Metalcore track that consisted of nice melodic/harmony vocals coupled with aggressive screaming. I had yet to try this microphone out on any screaming and as we work with quite a few metal bands, getting a good microphone that handles screaming well is a must for me.

The screaming results were good, but not great. When listening to the screaming on it's own you might question what I am talking about here as they do sound really good. It's only when you couple the screaming with the singing side-by-side that you realize the lack of clarity that the screams have in comparison to the melodic vocals. Now don't get me wrong it's not bad, in fact I am really happy with how all aspects of this track came out and in this particular track I do feel that the screaming clarity being lower over the melodic vocal parts helps the singing stand out more in the chorus making the contrast between melodic and agressive much deeper. That being said, there are better mics out there for screaming and I would advise only using this microphone for screaming if you don't have any other options in your microphone closet.

On the flipside of that however I really enjoy how the melodic vocals and harmonies sound and sit in this mix and will definitely be using this microphone again for any similar genre songs that come my way.

Figure 4. sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone Low Cut Filter Switch

Conclusion

The Positives:
The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone is an excellent low priced microphone that could quite easily be sold at double it's current retail price. This microphone will be challenging most producers microphone closets and will definitely get picked up and actually used in sessions more-so than some other more costly microphones. The sE Electronics SE2200a Condensor Microphone is the perfect choice for project or home studios where budget is a major constraint and for a very low price you will be amazed at the quality that this baby can output. Ideal uses for this microphone are melodic and harmony based singing of all genres and Hip-Hop/R&B.

The Negatives:
The major downside to this microphone is the fact that it is only single pattern (Cardioid) leaving it lacking slightly in robustness. If the designers considered removing the 10db pad and low cut and using that monetary saving to offer a couple more patterns it would make this microphone unstoppable! Not the greatest microphone for screaming and more agressive sounding vocals as some definition and clarity is not picked up.

Verdict:
Build Quality: 8/10
Value for Money: 10/10
Ease of Use: 8/10
Versatility: 6/10
Sound uality / Results: 8/10
OVERALL: 8/10
=====================
Contact
Sonic Distribution
(01525) 840400
sonicdistribution.co.uk Online