Just in time for uncertainty of Black Friday, but too early (and ambitious) for me to undertake the Digital Lofi Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised. But here are some of the deals and new software/soundware that I would say you would have a hard time going wrong with.

How about a generous discount from synth design and GUI design master Ugo. He doesn’t often do discounts so this is a good time to peak into his mind and support his efforts. Through December 1st, so act with haste.

Everybody’s favorite sampler of electronic drums Goldbaby have released SP-1200 Vol. 1. (ReFill coming soon if you’re a Reason user.) I just learned that Kontakt can load Battery kits (yes, I’m thick) so I’m happy to not have to map these. Very excited.

James & Dan, otherwise known as sampling masters SonicCouture, have converted several more of their titles to Ableton Live. Bonus: A free update for existing users. Bowed Piano is highly recommended!

Through inadvertent electronic sleuthing that was not particularly obscure, (i.e. twitter), digital lo-fi got a hint as to what the next Audio Damage product will be. That is, once they finish the ambitious BigSeq2 and re-branding Reverence. I wouldn’t have guessed it, but it’s a logical progression, and I’m guessing the KvR thread about it will be lengthy, geeky, and oft hilarious.

And finally, rekkerd.org just moved onto a new server. There was a bit of downtime, but he’s back at it, with the most comprehensive listing of releases anyone could imagine, along with his efforts to host a boat-load of free software and loops. And, yea!, a new short-links.

As I’m sure will be news to no one who reads this blog, Audio Damage have released a new, free¹ compressor plugin: Rough Rider.

Because I’m in the middle of moving and because I have way too much work, I haven’t had a chance to “strap it on” anything, but when watching the Colbert Report the other day I got an extra chuckle at the joke above.

So big thanks and apologies² to Adam and Chris. This is a nice gift, boys. I’m looking forward to trying Automaton.

Also in my absence, another Digital Lo-Fi fanboy favorite SonicCouture have produced not one, but two new products: the hugely intriguing Bowed Pianos and the menacing looking Temors.

For the same reasons, I haven’t had a chance to explore either of the these products, but I hope to have a full review of one soon(ish). However, I will stand by my claim that they will be indeed top-notch. Get them for your favorite sampler now!

So, lots more news, leaks and product announcements. I’ll try to pick the pace over here.

^{1That’s right, this fucker is free. How awesome is that?3}

^{2That would be for over-stating the joke, intentional or not.}

^{3Most. Most Awesome.}

I’m taking a sorta working vacation. So my I’m trying to confine my internet usage to actual work (ha!). But Chris posted about this yesterday and it’s too cool to let pass unremarked. I swear, it’s like Chris & Adam get together and decide how they can get me all atwitter.¹

I’ll admit that I knew nothing about “The Game of Life” (other than it was a board game from the 70s that always seemed to be missing a significant portion of its game pieces). Well, from what I can gather, this is similar to that, but musically useful; i.e. not just a mathematical algorithms spewing out random glitches.

But, even before it’s properly announced it’s been an educational experience. It’s been like Ugo’s ultra-classy M-Theory in that regard: when I first heard the title I had no idea about M-Theory, so one trip to Wikipedia later and I’m a little wiser. Not much, but a little.

^{1That sounds really gay, hun?}

Sometime last year I wrote about how I had once owned a Moog MG1/Realistic Concertmate. It’s not just that I had no idea what it was or barely used it while I had it, or even that I sold it to some friends for like fifty bucks – it’s that of all the crap I’ve hung onto over the years I had to get rid of that. And every once and a while something comes along to remind me how misguided I was at certain points in my life.

Today this is pointed out via Analog Industries. Alerted to a new freebie sample set from the dedicated geniuses at Goldbaby that utilizes a Moog MG1 run through a bunch of Audio Damage plugins. I’m not on a broadband connection right now so I won’t be able to audition them for a while. But I’m prepared to download and weep.

_{Photo ripped the matrixsynth flicr stream}

Chris Randal, of Audio Damage renown, has informed his readership that he marking his 40th birthday today. Happy birthday, Chris. Welcome to the declining years.

In said post, he anticipated the occasion by noting some of the musical milestones of a particular lifetime. Since there’s nary a bandwagon I won’t jump on, here are a few of mine, though it’s not my birthday:

• #1 Song on the day I was born: “The Sounds Of Silence” Simon & Garfunkel
• First new album I purchased with my own cash: “Duty Now for the Future” Devo¹
• First stadium concert: Grateful Dead, Providence Civic Center²

As a present for Chris why don’t you head over to his label and buy one of his records. I assume he gets to keep all the profits for those (since they’re digital downloads it’s all his, right?) it’s the next best to his requested Paypal cash grab³.

^{1That sounds way more prescient that it probably was. Before and after that anomalous purchased, mostly influenced by my best friend at the time, my tastes were a lot more in keeping for a kid growing up in NH in the 70s. However, I rediscovered the album in my punk rock years and realized how fucking brilliant it is. To this day, one of my favorite albums. And I still have that copy, much worse for wear.}

^{2This was before their mid-to-late 80s resurgence; I happened to be in town the night my cousin was going, and getting a scalped ticket was incredibly easy and cheap. My cousin ended up being a life-long deadhead. I did not. Though I’ve often wanted to cover a Dead song for the academic exercise of it, and simply to be contrary.}

^{3Yes, I know he was joking}

PS: While we’re on the subject of gift giving, I do want to call attention to the two most recent posts from sensible misanthrope Violent Acres that are about the best things I’ve read on the issue: #1, #2

While not available for sale, the product page for Audio Damage’s next slice of DSP goodness, is available for you to puzzle and drool over.

It’s a diffusion chorus – which is a new one on me. I’m not even going to attempt to try to explain it; i.e. I have no frame of reference. Suffice to say, there’s probably nothing in the plugin market that is like this.

While Audio Damage gets ready to unleash the next and final plugin in its mod trilogy, I’ve had a chance to put their last creation, Fluid, to the test.

As I said previously, my experience with chorus units has either been of the cheap(er) guitar pedal variety or whatever came bundled with my software or “onboard” with my softsynths. In other words, the expected watery wooshing. In other words, something I didn’t use deliberately very much. In other words, it’s certainly been on synth patches or amp I’ve used but I’ve never thought to myself, “Gee, you know what this needs is a chorus.”

But the first thing I strapped Fluid across sounded so markedly better it was really quite astounding. I was working on a remix project, so the synth pad was already a fixed audio file, and since I was stripping the track of all its more traditional rock/pop elements, I was shifting the focus to the synth parts. I routed all the synth pads to a bus and put Fluid in the bus FX. As the attached audio clip of the solo’d bus track demonstrates, a fairly static synth part became a swirling, harmonically rich sound.

Fluid on the Synth Bus

Note about the demo clip. This is a synth bus, but after I heard how beautifully Fluid gave movement to the track, I sent the vocal “double” to the track as well. I was originally going to remove the vocal for this demo clip, but listening to it I thought it would be far more interesting to leave it in, to hear what Fluid did to both parts. While in the dry clip the vocal is slightly more “present,” keep in mind that this isn’t the “main” vocal bus, so the slightly blurring of the transients doesn’t really effect the full mix. But what is noticeable to me is that the vocal part of that bus doesn’t just get washed into the rest of the sound on that bus. So while the synths take on a more characterful sound, the vocal retains its clarity.

The AudioDamage plugin bonanza continues. This one is called Fluid. It is a chorus.

“A chorus” I hear you say. Shrug, right. Well apparently not. If you read this page on Chris’s analogindustries site you’ll see it’s all about a lushness of sound that you don’t hear recreated very often, and apparently mostly exists in high-end boutique gear. I mostly know it from crappy guitar pedals, so this may be a treat.

I’m just acting as a conduit for marketing at this point since I haven’t tried it. But, as with these completely reasonable prices, really, why not? I have a job. And no kids. Is it the missing quality that will give my music the sheen it so desperately cries out for. Unlikely, but I bet it sounds great on vocals.

And in the above thread Chris lets drop that the next in the trilogy will be “Vapor” and I have no idea what that will be other than to make things sound airy. I can’t imagine they’re doing an exciter.