Modulate This! - News, Tips and Links for Electronic Musicians and Producers

Image-Line, the makers of FL Studio and Various Plug-ins are Having a Huge 50% off Sale on Many Items - 24 Hours Only!

Image-Line, the makers of FL Studio and Various Plug-ins are Having a Huge 50% off Sale on Many Items - 24 Hours Only! Some items are slashed even more. If you are in the market for DirectWave, Sytrus, Toxic III, or Juice Pack this is probably the best deal your going to get.

Looks like this 10% discount link will still work even with the sale items.

Juice Pack by the way is a collection of some of the most popular effects from FL Studio in VSTi (PC only) format. Below is a list of what's in Juice pack. Note that Fruity Vocoder is in this list and considering that Orange Vocoder is $245 US, this is an unbelievable value if you want to run these effects in a host other than FL. Equo and Edison are simply fantastic as well. You can grab a free demo from here.

• IL Delay - Creates echoes with echo filtering options
• IL Delay Bank - Creates impossibly complex echoes and filtering
• IL WaveShaper – Define your own distortion curves.
• IL EQUO - Graphic Morphing EQ with spectral learning capability.
• IL Parametric EQ - Control bandwidth and target frequency of EQ bands.
• IL Flangus - Phase cancellation effect.
• IL Vocoder - Sound like a robot or make a synth sound talk.
• IL Edison - Audio recorder / editor.
• IL Spectroman - See what your noise looks like with a sonograph or spectrograph display.
• IL Stereo Enhancer - Simulate or enhance stereo effects.

New Patches included with Sytrus 2.3 Upgrade

Just a follow up to my last post. I took the time to document the new patches that came with Sytrus 2.3. See my list below. Very cool additions for sure.

Again, preview Sytrus here, click here to buy and  get 10%.

Arp:

Action 2
Action 3
Cyberarp
Hypersaw 2
Hypersaw 3
Phased
Phased 2

Bass:
Squelch

Bell:
Dream Bell

Drum:
Crash Cymbl
Hi hat

DX7:
Timpani

Guitar:
Acoustic steel
Electric 5

Organ:
Drawbar

Pad:
Dawn
Scythe
Scythe 2
Swirling

Plucked:
Raspy
Sitar

Short synth:
Basci subtracting 7
Bite size
Celestial 2
Guitar Harmonics
Hyper Resonant 3
Hypersaw pluck
Mooginsh 3
Moogish 4

Synth string:
Asian string
Conan
Detuned saw
Hypersaw 2
Phased
Phased string
Slyce
Total brokeness 2

Image Line's Software Synth Sytrus 2.3 Has Released - Get 10% Off!

One of my favorite software synths Sytrus has been updated. The update is free for registered users. For everyone else, click here to get 10% off Sytrus or any other image line product.

For those of you not familiar with Sytrus, image line describes it as "a powerful and versatile synthesizer featuring six customizable operators for FM (Frequency Modulation) and RM (Ring Modulation) synthesis, plucked string synthesis, 3 filter modules, an effects module with chorus, three delay lines and unique programmable unison mode."  The synth can be used inside of FL Studio, or as a VST/DXi inside of your host.

Words don't do it justice, so check out the very cool Flash-based microsite http://www.sytrus.com/ to hear it first hand. Note you can also get a free demo version of this synth when you download FL Studio. Note, this is a full fledged VST

Here is what's new in 2.3:

- New Cherry phaser filter.
-  New edit options in the harmonics editor.
- LFOs have a "bipolar LFO tension" option now.
- The shape loader now loads AIFF samples.
-  New envelope point modes: "stairs" and "smoothed stairs".

It also looks like they've added some new patches as well.

Cakewalk Project 5 2.5 Developers Blog

Development of Project 5 Version 2.5 is under way.

Cakewalk has just launched a developers blog.

In this blog "For the first time, Cakewalk is going to give you a hands-on look at the new Project5 as we countdown to the release."

Use the comments links at the bottom of this post to offer thoughts on what do you think Cakewalk should be focusing on in the next release.

Ableton Live 6 - Uses for Instrument Racks

The concept of creating a patch with splits and layers is missing, or is difficult to configure on a lot of software-based virtual studios. With Ableton Live 6 this is now easy to achieve by using Instrument Racks.

What can you do with this feature? Well you can create a patches that are made up of a combination of instrument sounds that are layered and split across the keyboard. This allows you to play multiple sounds without having to switch patches in mid-performance and is a must for live gigging.

For example, you could assign a bass instrument to the bottom third of the keyboard, a piano/string layer to the middle keyboard, and a synth lead to the top third. You might want to set the middle piano/string layer so that that it uses velocity cross fade so when play lightly only the strings sound,  if you play with medium velocity both the piano and the strings sound, and if you play hard only the piano sounds. Another use for layers is to build lush, fat, and or rhythmically complex sounds by layering a lot of instruments over the same keyboard zone.

Lets checkout a presets created by Ableton so you can hear this for yourself.

Go to the Device Browser-> Instruments -> Instrument Rack -> Performance. Then drag Burton Split  into a track or onto the clip/device drop area. This Instrument Rack has bells on the top-half of the keyboard, and a metallic/breathy choir sound on the bottom half of the keyboard.

There are a lot of other presets to listen to and experiment with in the device browser - so have it it!

Ableton Live 6 - Overview of rack types, rack presets, and how to insert a preset

One of my favorite new features of Ableton Live 6 is the new "rack" feature. According to the manual, there are three different types of racks:

• MIDI Effect Racks contain only MIDI effects, and can only be placed in MIDI tracks

• Audio Effect Racks contain only audio effects, and can be placed in audio tracks. They can also be placed in MIDI tracks, as long as they are downstream from instrument.
• Instrument Racks contain instruments, but can additionally contain both MIDI audio effects. In this case, all MIDI effects have to be at the beginning of the Instrument Rack’s device chain, followed by an instrument, and then any audio effects.

Ableton has provided some interesting rack presets in Live 6. You can access them via the Device Browser.

To insert a preset, just drag it from the Device Browser into a track or onto the clip/device drop area.

Ableton Live 6 and Sampler now Available!!!

Ableton Live 6 and Ableton Sampler have released. Below are links related to each:

Ableton Live 6:

• Ableton Live 6 Overview Page
• Press release for Ableton Live 6
• What's new in Live 6 Video

Ableton Sampler:

• Ableton Sampler Overview Page
• Press release for Ableton Sampler
• Sampler video

Ableton is also offering discounts on instruments if you bundle with Ableton Live 6.

All these items are available on Ableton's newly revamped online store.

Checkout all my articles on Live 6 and Sampler.

Ableton Releases Free Update - Live 5.2.2

Cool yet surprising news from Ableton - Ableton 5.2.2 releases. I was a bit shocked by this with Live 6 just around the corner.

Registered users can download the update for free here:
http://www.ableton.com/downloads.

So what's new in Ableton Live 5.2.2?

 Live 5.2.2 provides Axiom (check em out here). users with instant and automatic control of many of Live's features via built-in control mapping. When users select an Axiom keyboard as a remote control surface in Live's preferences, the Axiom automatically locks in to provide full control of Live's Session and Arrangement Views, effects and devices. Once locked in, the Axiom follows the musician's focus, providing fast, sure control wherever they're working in the Live interface. To download a Live Pack lesson on using Live with Axiom controllers please go to:  To download a Live Pack lesson on using Live with Axiom controllers please go to: http://www.ableton.com/livepacks

5.22 Also supports dedicated support in Live 5.2.2 for Frontier's popular TranzPort wireless DAW controller ($199). To learn more and to see a movie about Live and TranzPort, please go
to: http://www.ableton.com/tranzport-support.

I'd love to hear comments about how people are using these controllers in their rigs.

Ableton Live Video - What's New in Live 6

I found this video on youtube which offers highlights on new features in Live 6. If for some reason you can't see the embeded video player in my blog, use this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cduNz5DNFSc.

Project5 - Fast way to select instrument patches from the Track Inspector

In addition to to selecting patches from within the instrument interface, you can also select patches from the Track Inspector. Find the "Property Page" for the instrument in question, then click "Select Bank/Patch".

You'll then be presented with a menu containing patches. The advantage of this approach is that all the patches are laid out before you making it easier to see all the patches at once in a paticular category.