Thursday, April 29, 2004
GPO Beta - Render to Wave
Using Garritan Personal Orchestra? (If not, be sure to check out the MP3 samples on our site - GPO sounds great, will work with ANY MIDI software and is easy to use.)
The ability to use GPO with virtually any program is great, but wouldn't it be nice if you could automatically render the playback to a wave file? Sure you can use Sonar or Cubase to do this, but what if you are using Sibelius? Kontakt Player Gold for Sibelius already has this feature.
Guess what, you soon will be able to capture the output of GPO to a wave file for burning to a CD. If you are adventurous, try the beta! If you aren't ready to deal with the potential problems caused by a beta, you might want to wait for the final release.
- Kelly
Posted at 11:27 PM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Recording Streaming Audio
Want to record streaming audio on your computer? Did you know that you can use the UA-3FX as a link between streaming audio sources on the internet and recording software on your computer? Because the Edirol UA-3FX is both an audio interface and an FX processor, designed to apply effects to audio already on the computer, it comes with a special "Loop-Back" function which allows you to route audio coming out of your computer, back into your computer for recording. This effectively allows you to record audio from your computer not usually available to your recording programs due to the proprietary nature of many internet streaming applications. Just move the switch to "Loop Back" and you are ready to record any audio being played on your computer.
- Kelly
Posted at 11:23 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Monday, April 26, 2004
Sibelius & Finale Plug-Ins for GPO
Using Sibelius or Finale with the highly acclaimed Garritan Personal Orchestra?
Sibelius users will want the CresAndDim plug in which inserts ModWheel messages in hairpins, thus producing smooth crescendo and diminuendo playback in GPO. The legato slur plug in recognizes slurs in a Sibelius score and inserts sustain pedal MIDI messages for GPO playback. To install these handy programs, copy the file into the plugins folder in Sibelius. To learn more about using plug-ins with Sibelius, check our your user manual.
Finale users should check out this site for a GPO plug-in.
- Kelly
Posted at 12:23 PM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Thursday, April 22, 2004
GigaStudio 3.0
Wow! Sure, the specs look good on paper, but software samplers are meant to be heard, and Gigastudio 3.0 did not disappoint at MusikMesse. Banishing latency to the past, Giga 3.0 is an amazing tool for live performance with unlimited polyphony and the very impressive GigaPulse Pro that adds surround convolution reverb, instrument resonance and microphone modeling to any of your samples.
- Kelly
Posted at 9:56 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
B4D Drawbar Controller - the missing part of your organ soft synth!
What's missing from the classic organ soft synths, like Native Instruments B4? The draw bars, of course! If you miss pulling out the stops (sorry, I just had to say that), then the B4D is your next MIDI controller. Announced at MusikMesse, the B4D emulates traditional drawbars on vintage organs and will integrate with NI's B4. Details can be found at Native Instrument's Site.
- Kelly
Posted at 9:17 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Melodyne 2.5 adds Melodyne Manager Feature
I walked by the Melodyne booth at MusikMesse expecting to see their usual extraordinary display of easily editing recorded monophonic music (listen to the demos if you don't believe me!) I was pleasantly surprised to see something totally different - working with Melodyne as if it were a loop based composition tool!
A new feature available in 2.5, Melody Manager is an easy to use as a spontaneous creative tool. Just drag and drop files or "licks" to the program and you can automatically take advantage of Melodyne's range of functions - for example, one click correction of timing or intonation error.
Instead of working with pre-recorded loops, you can create whole melodies from disparate phrases, new tunes from old, or an entire guitar solos from a handful of nifty licks - taken from any recording - very cool!
- Kelly
Posted at 4:45 PM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Thursday, April 08, 2004
M-Audio's New Pro 88 Keyboard...
A large number of knobs, sliders, dials, buttons and memories make M-Audio's Pro 88 Keyboard well suited for controlling any software or hardware in your set up. The clever use of a huge, bright blue LCD display with extremely large numbers and obvious menu options will also make it a great choice for live performance and for anyone who is tired of squinting and small, difficult to read LED displays.
What makes the Pro 88 extraordinary is the price - weighted action keys for under $500 US. Would I recommend it for serious pianists who are wanting a "piano" feel? Probably not - it has a very springy action that lends itself more to synth playing than "piano" playing. Aside from synth type playing, for which the springy action is ideal, it will also be a great way to get more control of soft synths and sampling engines by allowing more nuance when controlling velocity sensitive parameters.
- Kelly (in Frankfurt)
Posted at 4:44 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
New ESI Products from MusikMesse
As always, ESI demonstrated some interested new prototypes that may or may not make it to market. Well known for vapour ware (for an interesting history, read Harmony Central's archives of press releases from ESI.) Release dates ranged from "soon" for the ON keyboards to "November" for some of the Firewire audio. The ON keyboards take an innovative approach to parameter control. Instead of using sliders beneath the knobs they have used recessed infinity dials. Both ON models sport an audio interface and can be bus powered by Firewire or USB, depending on the model.
Images can be found here and here.
- Kelly
Posted at 4:43 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Locking down your gear...
Obvious to any teacher that has managed a MIDI lab at their school, the ability to lock down equipment crucial to keeping gear in the lab. Unfortunately, most external soundcards, keyboards, speakers or headphones don't offer any opportunities for security, other than good epoxy and security cables. Edirol has finally taken notice and has built Kensington security locks (ala notebook computers) to their PCR-1. This is a great start, and hopefully the entire Edirol line will eventually offer this support. After all, the cost of this feature is negligible but the value inestimable!
- Kelly
Posted at 12:14 PM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
Monday, April 05, 2004
Tassman 4.0
Tassman 4.0, the physical modeling engine, offers up a host of new presets emulating pretty much anything you would want. Tassman has always been a favourite for physical modeling and sound design, but you had to work at it. The new presets offer a great starting point, and in fact offer more than a startingpoint - most of the presets are "finished" and ready to be used in your projects.
- Kelly
Posted at 11:25 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::
MusikMesse Highlights
Kelly's Music was at MusikMesse this year, and we have the sore feet to prove it! Aside from the utter lack of fresh air (unlike most of North America, it is difficult to find smoke free air to breath in Europe), it was a great show with some exciting new products and version upgrades. Watch this space for the next few weeks for some of our favourite picks.
- Kelly
Posted at 11:25 AM by Kelly's Music :: Archived :: TrackBack (0) ::