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Hybrid
Includes both a Mac and Windows version of the program.
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Buy 1, Get 1 Free! Purchase the Minimoog V, the Jupiter-8V, Analog Factory, the Prophet V, Brass, the ARP2600 V, the CS-80V, or the Moog Modular V before August 31st and receive a free download for the Jupiter-8V, Analog Factory, Brass, the Prophet V from Arutria.
What is BRASS?
BRASS is a new kind of virtual instrument: a software recreation of the trumpet, saxophone, and trombone. This software allows you to play instruments like a professional performer would do: same control, flexibility, and expressiveness (without the years of training it takes to do so). It gives you instant and constant creation. Brass is so dynamic and easy-to-use that you will never go back to flat sampled riff libraries ever again.
What Can I do in BRASS?
With three instruments at your disposal, you can pick one and start playing. You will instantly feel like you're playing a real instrument, not a set of recorded samples layered and static. BRASS also contains an extensive performance-based riff library which is entirely configurable and expandable. Organized by styles, these riffs are a great way to get started if you are not used to programming a horn. They can even be triggered during live performances.
Choose, create, import and modify riffs to match your needs or play the modeled instruments directly in LIVE mode with a keyboard and other real-time controls; in both cases BRASS will revolutionize the way you create music. Below we have listed just a few of the other features you will find in BRASS.
Spacialization:
Recording parameters, or let's say the ambiance of the room in which the instruments are played , are certainly an important factor of how a saxophone solo or trumpet section will sound in the end. In BRASS, place the instruments where ever you want in a room for effect. Place them far away and have a sound that echoes in the distance, or set the instruments in the front of the room for an in your face result.
Parameters:
The parameters offered in BRASS are a range of attributes that can be adjusted so that you can specify your sound to the smallest detail: Attack, Pressure, Pitch, Timbre, Noise, Vibrato, Vibrato Frequency, Mute.
Whether you want to set a parameter to a particular level without changing it, program automation to a parameter, control it by the velocity of your keyboard, or assign it to a real-time controller, you will find the possibilities offered by this interaction with the instrument extremely easy and impressive. Just like a human performer who has studied horns for years, you will be able to express yourself and add emotion to your music.
Instrument Configuration:
Fluctuate the playing style of your instrument and really bring the piece to life with Humanization settings ("Beginner", "Human", or "Computer"). Change the material of your instrument if you want to go for a creative type of sound. Play with a variety of different mutes on the trombone and trumpet, or you can even change reeds on you saxophone. In BRASS, you are the creator of your instrument.
How do you play the instruments?
You can use BRASS as a virtual instrument and program your sound track in your favourite sequencer. Since all the main formats are supported, you will not have to worry about compatibility.
You can attach a MIDI keyboard for those who are more at ease playing the music directly. Real time controls such as foot pedals, breath controllers, and other physical interfaces will give your arrangement that extra punch.
BRASS is based on a new kind of physical modeling technology. All of the characteristics of the real instruments have been analyzed and modeled through extensive research at IRCAM, a world-renowned institute based in Paris. Arturia has partnered with IRCAM to bring this groundbreaking technology to your studio; you will never worry about sacrificing sound quality.
LIVE MODE
Play your instrument with maximum expression like a soloist would do! All parameters can be modulated in real time: you can assign any MIDI controller to any parameter, you can switch automation to some parameters, and obtain a lively and realistic sound.
Choose a preset in the library, play through keyboard, and use the controllers to add modulation. You want to go further? Configure your instrument: make a wooden trumpet, add a mute, humanize: physical modelling is flexible. In LIVE mode you have access to a wide range of intuitive qualities to control your instrument.
PRESETS
With a number of presets to choose from, pick the style that suits you best and begin playing. For example, one could choose a setting called "jazz solo" and all the parameters (attack, pressure, etc) are set up to play a jazz solo. Select a "classical section" of trumpets and you will instantly get the right settings for the parameters.
Presets allow you to save and recall:
The instrument
The instrument configuration
The real-time parameters settings which will define the particular style you want to play in: the type of attack, automation of the timbre-sweep, range of the mute opening, etc...
The MIDI settings that define how you want your controller to interact with the instrument (what parameter is the modulation wheel assigned to, the response curve you want for the modulation wheel's control of the timbre...)
THE REAL-TIME PARAMETERS
Parameters:
Below is an explanation of each parameter offered to give you an idea of what you will be working with in BRASS.
Attack: a really important parameter for accentuation, articulations and use of different playing techniques. Set the attack force high for faster and stronger attacks and lower for a slower and softer attack.
Pressure: Set the pressure of the air entering the instrument. Allow variation of tone and value of the instrument at the same time, in the same way a musician would blow stronger in the instrument. Make smooth transitions and go for maximum expression.
Pitch: Make glissandos, slides, or legatos; you can even automate the pitch moves for each note you play or vary the notes around the notes played. By default, the pitch parameter is set in the middle of its range to the 0 value.
Timbre: Set the sound of the instrument in order to obtain a variation in the timber of the sound. You can program subtle changes in Riff Mode or control the parameter in real time.
Noise: This parameter controls breath or air that integrated into the sound of the note. It is subtle but makes a big difference in the realism of the sound.
Vibrato: Different types of vibratos are offered here, allowing one to change the speed of the vibrato and its range. And once again if you want to automate a vibrato to certain notes, after a delay, or according to a certain curve, this is possible.
Vibrato Frequency: This adjusts the frequency of the vibrato. Mute: Accessible uniquely for the trumpet and the trombone, and in the case where a "muted wahwah" effect is chosen the parameter allows us to set the intensity of the effect, otherwise said the position of the hand for a muted wahwah or the position of the mute plunger. When no mute is activated, or a static mute is chosen, the real time controller is disabled.
Extreme Values:
Around each parameter bar there is a small arrow to the left and the right. These arrows represent the boundaries between which the parameter will manoeuvre if we assign it to a MIDI control. This option is particularly useful and permits great flexibility in the real time parameter control
For example, if the modulation wheel is assigned to vibrato amplitude (via the "MIDI Settings" panel), and if you want the maximum amplitude of the modulation wheel to correspond to a measured value of the vibrato amplitude, you must set the parameters as indicated in the picture above.
Automation:
All the parameters of play LIVE can be automated (except for the attack). By clicking on the "A" button above the parameter name, you open an automation window corresponding to that parameter. The automation allows you to vary the parameter value for each note. That makes it possible to play more realistically, while making interpretation and control simpler. For example, you can program the beginning of a progressive vibrato, or a light point of white noise in the sound attack. You can even delay the automation release or change the speed of the player time.
In LIVE mode, each preset has been configured for three different types of controllers: a standard keyboard controller, a keyboard offering after-touch possibilities, and a keyboard + breath-controller setting. In this way, we can guarantee the parameters in the model are assigned to the right controls no matter what your configuration.
Assigning parameters to controls and deciding the response curve (the range to which you limit the control) is an important part of what defines a preset. As an example, let's say that you assign the velocity of your keyboard to the attack and pressure in the trombone model. By choosing a control curve of this type, you will probably have a direct and straightforward sound any time you press a key. By setting up this curve , it requests a strong pressure on the key to get the same result.
In live mode, using a MIDI controller is better if you wish to truly "play" your instrument. The controllers permit you to acquire a useful ease in your search for realism and expression.
RIFF MODE
RIFF mode offers an alternate solution to samplers or music libraries! In Riff mode, you can choose from over 500 pre-recorded, MODIFIABLE segments of music called "Riffs". Riff mode makes it possible to select, listen, play the keyboard, and edit your riffs. You can import or export riffs as MIDI files. All you need to do is choose from the genre you like and start composing.
Riffs are a great way to get started in a music style you are not familiar with. They can also be a great source of inspiration for mature musicians who are looking for productivity.
For keyboards playing in bands, launching riffs on the fly can also be a great solution if you don't have real performers with you.
EDIT RIFFS!
The great point with the Riff section in BRASS is that you can edit any parameter within the riff. Whether you want to change the pitch of the riff, the pitch of one note, program a swell, or a fall on the last note of your riffs, you can do it.
Of course, you can also create your own riffs. Your musical creation can be whatever you want it to be. All the parameters offered in LIVE mode (pitch, vibrato, pressure, etc...) can be modified in RIFF mode just as easily, so you have complete control over EACH riff.
Play with up to 4 instruments at a time and modify each to the specification that you like. For each channel, you can have different instruments, notes and modulation parameters. Simply pick up a tool and draw you modulation or curve according to the note and desired effect.
Physical Interfaces
When interacting with a physical model (be it a trumpet, saxophone or trombone) the importance of the control is capital. If the instrument has been emulated within the BRASS software, the way you will play it is certainly a part of the full experience.
We find that the physical interfaces are such an integral part of BRASS that we have devoted a page specifically to them. In this section you'll find out a little more about the Physical Interfaces and the large effect they can have on your musical creation. Remember: physical interfaces are used in BOTH playing modes offered in BRASS: RIFF and LIVE.
Interfaces include:
Keyboard, with or without (polyphonic) aftertouch
knobs, sliders
Foot pedals
Joystick
Breath Controller or Ribbon
KEYBOARD
In using the possibilities of control offered by the keyboard (velocity or after touch for example) you are going to be able to get closer to the level of expression of a master instrumentalist on the trumpet, saxophone, or the trombone.
The velocity is the force with which the keys of the keyboard are pushed. Using the easily modifiable connections given in the presets, we can connect the Velocity on the "Attack" parameter and from then on it will be the force with which you push the key that decides the attack of the note.
The aftertouch is a function that certain MIDI keyboards offer. It is the measure of pressure value on the keys over a period of time. In effect, you can decide to push strongly on the keys, then release, then push with a different amount of force, etc. The keyboards that save the variations permit a control really close to BRASS.
If you were to link the After Touch to a parameter such as pressure, you could control the pressure sent to the instrument simply by pushing the key.
BREATH CONTROLLER
The MIDI breath controller is offered only in LIVE mode and is an ideal tool for augmenting the realism of playing in BRASS.
Thanks to Breath Control, you can control the intensity of pressure with more precision or, for example, make vibrato effects; thus, you will have mastered the intensity and speed. The breath control is most useful when linked to the attack and the pressure. Parameters such as "pitch" you will usually decide with the keyboard.
These are just examples of the physical interfaces used to simplify and enhance your playing experience.
-Virtual instrument playable through a MIDI keyboard
-Three instruments available : Trumpet, Saxophone, Trombone
-8 parameters to control the instruments in real time :
-Attack
-Pressure
-Pitch (for legatos, falls or expressivity)
-Timbre of the instruments
-Noise amount in the instrument sound
-Vibrato
-Position of the instrument toward the microphone
-Mute (for trumpet and trombone)
-Total midi control of each parameter through powerful settings, control sense and hardness
-Independent automatization of each parameter via a dedicated control window
-Configuration of the instruments : 4 attack and 4 vibrato types, material, humanization
-More than 500 riff presets in all music styles
-Easy and fast searching of riffs with the preset explorer
-Up to 4 simultaneous instruments in a riff
-Editable length, tempo and tune of each riff
-Riff editing with the zoomable pianoroll and independent parameter editing
-Powerful editing options : solo, mute, 8 drawing tools
-Import and export riff presets from and to midi files
-Live playing of several riffs with the keyboard
-Chorus mode for all instruments, up to 4 instruments unison section
-Spatialization of the instruments in a configurable room
BRASS can be used as a Stand-alone software or as a plug-in within your sequencer program.
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PC
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Mac
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Windows 98 SE/2000/XP
256 MB RAM
1.5 GHz CPU
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MAC OS X 10.2 or higher
256 MB RAM
1.5 GHz CPU
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