Well, not really. This is one of those years when I abstain as much as possible from Christmas. I don’t do this every year, but more than occasionally. As I’ve said, no kids, a family that is understanding or feels similarly. My girlfriend is with her family, and we did our small Xmas before she went away (believe me, I know how good I have it with her) so I can have a day as uneventful as I’d like. I won’t go into a tirade or anything, but suffice to say, while I understand the need for family and communal celebration, the religion/consumerism aspect bring forth the curmudgeon in me.

Also, my good friend just called to tell me that his beloved pet had suddenly and unexpected shuffled off this mortal coil. Sad news.
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This just landed in my inbox:

Right in time for the holiday season, u-he proudly announces the release of More Feedback Machine V2.0:

http://www.u-he.com/mfm/

And because it’s the appropriate time, the pre-order offer of 59$ will remain valid for another week from now! - Don’t miss out on it and check out the new features and factory patches!

So it’s going up to a reasonable $79, but hey, 20 bucks is 20 bucks. And while at the moment this is way more DSP than I need, I will happily endorse any U-he creation whether I buy it or not.

And the thing is obviously a beast:
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Actually, I’m talking about the Sonar feature. You know the one you probably shut off immediate if you’re not using the demo.

And why shouldn’t you? It’s pretty much just a sequential list of shit you assume you know that gets in your way when you launch. “Ctrl+F will resize the project to show all tracks.” Yeah, yeah, whatever, we say to ourselves, let me at the good stuff.

You’ve probably already deduced that it’s just a simple Windows app that reads a basic .txt file. The text file contains no real styling or intricate formating so it’s easy to read and edit. So if you’ve only been using Sonar for a short while take a moment and dig it out of the program folder and read it. There may be one or two things in there that are new to you. But indeed, you can edit this document to say whatever you want.

A fellow named Hink over on KvR had the rather amusing suggestion of a plugin that nagged you to finish your project. I was thinking you could essentially rig Sonar to perform more-or-less the same thing.

I, myself, have hacked it to “play” me Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. This is amusing though not demonstratively useful. And I don’t think I’ve “updated” to the 4th edition; it involves a lot of cutting and pasting or search-n-replacing. (And, sorry, not posting it for all the obvious reasons and it’s a good, simple project if you find it even remotely interesting.)

Tip of the Day is hindered in that, as near as I can tell, it reads through the file sequentially. Perhaps there’s someway to “switch” Sonar to cycle through this file randomly; do any Sonar users know the answer to this? Are there other programs that can do more or less the same thing. (And, yeah, I saw at least one VST that played it, and it wasn’t particularly well implemented.)

And, to answer your question, Yes, I do have too much time on my hands. Why do people act like that’s inherently a bad thing?

Let me leave you with one more: Destroy nothing; Destroy the most important thing.

My new friends over at soniccouture.com have sent me a press-release for their next piece of sampling goodness, and it’s too good not to share it with whomever stumbles across this blog

They’re thinking big: rather just a single instrument they’re going for the whole ensemble. To be specific a Balinese Gamelan ensemble.

Funnily enough, the subject of a Gamelan set came up on their forum many months ago, and I made the comment “you know that soniccouture would make a badass Gamelan sample set.”¹

Seems I was right: 25 different instruments, 24GB, and, I am certain, the usual care and musicality that go into their pristinely sampled instruments.

This one isn’t cheap, and it’s gonna eat up a large chunk of your sample drive, but as near as I can tell there’s nothing else out there like this, certainly nothing as extensive. For those of you doing soundtrack/sound design work, this is a gimme; for the rest of us, I’m sure the investment will be worth it, and will give you a multitude of sounds you would have to search long and hard to come close to approximating.

Full specs after the jump.

Also, remember, there’s still time to get in on their download instrument sale. I was using Konkrete Drums just last night thinking how damn useful it is.
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You know, just this morning I was thinking to myself, I wonder what happened to BFD 2.

Well, I will wonder no more. Here it is, available for ordering if you need it.

While working last night, I reminded myself I did not need this update - I’m trying to get the full use out of the version I already own, and it is certainly more than capable for my needs.

That said, this looks totally bitchin’.

Here’s a new product, and one I don’t have a license for, but it is definitely moving to the top of my software want-list, the FabFilter Pro-C.

While I’m trying to stay clear of demos, and pare my software down to my essentials, I’ve been looking for a high-quality compressor, versatile and free of overkill copy protection. But I have also been having a hard time justifying purchasing a tool when I already more or less have this ground covered. I have a collection of compressor plugins that have a good reputation: digitalfishphones, Cakewalk Sonitus:Compressor & VintageChannel64, the db-audioware mixing plugins, Jeroen Breebaart’s plugs. Nevertheless, I find myself reading about some of these top-tier compressor plugins and wondering what I am missing.

A couple of things to note: Since I’ve never spent any significant time in hardware-centric studios, I’m not a hugely experienced compressor user. Nor do I have golden ears. So a lot of the subtle nuances between brands are frankly lost on me. I’m trying to educate myself, and I’m trying hear what I’m doing with a compressor rather than just dialing in what I think it should be set to. But as you can see my frame of reference is limited.

I read the glowing review of the Pro-C in the current/last issue of Computer Music and was curious - not sold, mind you, as CM can be, god love ‘em, a little enthusiastic. It’s got all the bells and whistles, and a lot of cool tricks most standard compressors don’t have, and according to them it sounds great. So, I thought I’d give it a whirl.

And, my god, is this thing slick. First of all, the GUI is really, really well done. On-screen contextual help, really cool visual feedback, and a clean, ergonomic interface. It’s modern and easy to read without being so, erm, creative it’s useless. And it sounds, at least to my tin ears, just amazing. Throw it on your two-bus in Mid/Side compression mode - nice.

And, indeed, there’s a holiday sale currently on, so, yes the getting is good: 35% off for a whopping $159. So, I’m hoping I’ll get a little financial leeway before the end of the month and I’ll be able to add this to my “rack.”

I just noticed that the google banner ad at the bottom of page is spitting up a Rayzoon ad. Since that space is dictated by the whims of google it is completely coincidental. (And unprofitable I’ll add.) But, no. Rayzoon did not pay me to mention their product.

But while I was staring at my navel, just thought I’d say it in case. While I can be bought off with shiny trinkets and baubles, I will never endorse something I wouldn’t actually use, or praise a product to appease some hypothetical advertiser.

That said, I’m open to reviewing your product online or accepting your advertising dollars. Just know what you’re getting into…

he says thereby ensuring no advertising dollars/review product.

Elaborating on my last thread:

Whatever your denomination or beliefs, there’s no avoiding it: since we’re apparently a Christian nation whether we damn well like it or not we’re in “holiday” mode. So the thought of buying audio software is a little dicey. I mean, I guess you can get a partner/friend/relative to log on, download, and transfer a license to your name, but short of getting them to tithe to Guitar Center or order boxed product through, say, amazon.com, it’s a little much to expect Grandma to download a softsynth for you. “No, Nana, that’s Albino. A-l-b-i-n-o. Yes, like the little Johnson boy.”

So naturally, a lot of online companies are having holiday (read: end-of-the-year) sales. Hey, cool. Just that most dudes (yes, dudes, boys, men), especially those with families, don’t have a lot of discretionary funds to splash around. And in these uncertain economic times…

Me, I’ve managed to buffer myself pretty successfully from Christmas. No kids, an understanding family, and a very patient girlfriend. But even when I did/do participate in Christmas, I like to buy myself one or two small gifts as reward with putting up with the whole thing. That said, I’m a freelancer and I have to be somewhat frugal for long stretches of time. And since my birthday is coming up, so, I’m in the same boat, more or less.

Nevertheless, if you do have a chance to stock-up on your music software now is a good time. So over the next few days I may point out a few things I use or that look interesting to me.

Second on a list with no particularly order:

Rayzoon Jamstix2.

Marked down from an already low $99 to $49.

I’ve been using this a bunch lately, and while some of the control is a little obscure, and even with the plain skin it’s not the slickest interface, but it is a really smart piece of drum-sample programming. It’s brain, once you start getting used to how it works, is incredibly sophisticated. For just banging out ideas it’s really hard to beat. (Pun not intended but acknowledged.) And moreover, while you can use it to host other drum VSTis (BFD, DFHS) its stock kit is really usable. The drum styles can be tweaked - they tend towards the busy out of the box - and the jam with feature is really frickin’ cool.

If you don’t use another drum-sample playback system (hee hee), I suggest if you can a couple of the add on packs. These have some really nicely sampled drums in them.

Further my posts concerning of the fine soniccouture sample libraries, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post something about their current yuletide offering. And quite a sale it is: but a cool 40% off their entire download line. Of course, Abstrakt Bass and Hang Drum are there, but they have a pretty deep library of cool instruments so go wild. Ends Midnight, Christmas Eve, 24th December. (GMT)

Of course, it’s the holidays and such and you still need to get your, erm, significant other, mother, what have you, whatever it is you agreed to get them, but why not buy yourself a couple of great new songs as well.

So, there you go, the Digital LoFi Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised. Download a a couple fun and useful toys for under $200.

Here’s a deal for you breakbeat junkies:

Dusted William Super Funky Ass Drums - an impressive collection of 24bit REX2/wav loops for download for the introductory price of $10. Act fast, as I have no idea when this price ends; I think soon.

I’ve only just begun exploring the collection but I will attest to its quality. Just great sounding beats that have a lot of character but are dry and free of the over-processing that plague these kinds of collections.

This is not a “construction kit” per se, whereby you can mix and match different loops into a sequence which, at least remotely, plays like a continuous drum track. No, these are Breakbeats. But once you really start chopping up beats - snare pattern from this, kick pattern from that - or want to bung it through the DSP of your choice, you appreciate the usefulness of cleanly recorded but vintage sounding breaks. None of that, “Hey, let’s run the loop through a completely over-cranked filter and call it unique content!” Or “Well, let’s make it sound like it was ripped from vinyl by squashing the hell out of it and adding in noise.” No, when I’m buying breaks I want the groove, a great player playing a great sounding kit, recorded well. Making it sound completely over-processed I can handle myself.

That the collection contains both the REX2 & wave files makes this doubly useful. Lately, I’ve come to appreciate the versatility of REX files, though I still can’t bring myself to shell out for ReCycle. So I’m always happy not to be locked into one or the other format.

So, get in while the getting is good. This is a bargain at twice the price.