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

Modulate This! Gladiator Discount + Gladiator 2.1 Update + Gladiator Electronic Expansion

SAVE $30 ON GLADIATOR 2 TILL AUGUST 6TH
If you follow Modulate This!, you know I’m a fan of Tone2’s Gladiator Virtual Synthesizer. My recent video Sound Design with Gladiator 2: HCM Synthesis Explained is already close to 3,000 views. As a result of the popularity of this video I’ve met Markus Feil, the developer or Gladiator 2. Markus was kind enough to extend a $30 off discount for Modulate This! readers – so you get this great synth for $169 instead of $199. You can see the link in the right hand column of the blog. Please don't post this link on other sites and instead direct people to Modulatethis.com. This will help me bring more offers like this to you in the future.

Two other items of interest for Gladiator users are listed below. I pulled the info from the most recent Tone2 newsletter.

Gladiator v2.1 (free for all Gladiator 2 users)
Improvements in sound quality:
- Drastically improved low notes oscillator sound
- Improved reverb sound: Softer and more diffuse reverb tails
- Improved psychoacustical processing
- Improved spectral slope of low frequencies to reduce gibbs effect for more 'analog' sound
- Improved sound quality of intelligent microtuning (IQM): Warmer sound for long release times
- Extended dB range of master volume knob
- Reworked existing factory presets: Warmer sound

New features:
- 3 new phase modulators for analog sounding pulsewidth modulation: PWM, PWM alt, phase shift
- Added song position sync support for LFO 1/2 ('bpm' has to be set to 'on' and 'retrigger' to 'off')
- Added split keyboard support; new modulation sources: Low keys, High keys
- Added new 'split' arp mode which applies ARP on high keys only and leaves low keys for basses
- 18 new factory sounds

Changes, fixes and improvements:
- Faster loading time of PC full version
- Demoversion: Nag Voice only every 9 minutes instead of every minute
- Improved host compatibility: Cubase 4 & 5, Orion, Fruity Loops, Logic
- Fixed (PC): Wrong version number was displayed in Cubase
- Fixed: Microglitch in volume envelope
- Fixed (Full version, Mac): 'Demoversion' instead of user name was displayed for 2 seconds after loading
- Fixed (PPC Mac): 'Spec format' and 'Spec clean' modifier could output silence
- Fixed (FUll version, Mac): 'save all' could crash Gladiator2
- Changed (Mac): Focus of mouseover when 'show editor' was set to 'off'

ELECTRONIC EXPANSION:
- Over 300 handpicked sounds
- Additional stereo trancegate effect with 22 patterns
- Additional reverb type: Reverb ultra
- 3 additional early reflection effects
- Additional aliaser lofi effect
- Additional stereo enhancer effect
- The expansion is directly integrated to the interface of Gladiator 2.1
- 3 additonal skins as bonus content: Gold, red and black
Impressive arpeggiator sequences, resonant basses, groovy drumlines, vocaloid sounds, cutting leads, chiptune sounds, techno stabs, rhythmic trancegates, deep housechords, atmospheric pads and ambient textures are among the many types of electronic sounds featured inside this expansion. A must have if you're looking for new sounds or if you want to expand Gladiator with more features.

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Links:

• Other posts on Gladiator
• Hear Gladiator 2 on my single “Stealth". I created multiple custom presets for the lead arpeggiator sound and for many other tracks within this song.
• Tone2 Page - Learn more about Gladiator 2

Mark Mosher
http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.markmoshermusic.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

FAW Circle Synthesizer Sound Design Tip: Hidden Tab Parameters + Modulating Filter with Keyboard Tracking

I’ve been doing some sound design work with Future Audio Workshop Circle Virtual Synthesizer.

While most of the parameters are visible on the main page of the user interface, some are only accessible via tabs along the bottom of the interface. So to search for sounds, access keyboard and arpeggiator controls, global settings, effects, and midi modulation routines use the tabs at the bottom.

For example, if you ant to modulate the filter so that it tracks the keyboard (the higher the note the brighter the sound):

1. Click the “Keyboard Tab”
2. Drag the grey modulation output dot on the bottom pane marked “keyb1 and…
3. Drop it on the modulation input hole for “Filter Frequency”

That’s all there is to it. Note this same modulator is mapped by default to oscillator “Course” tuning. If you remove this modulator from “Course” tuning the pitch for the oscillator will be static and not track with the keyboard.

In my previous post, I talked about the using the Wacom Tablet with Ableton Live. This same posts mentions how to configure Ableton Live to "-_EnsureKeyMessagesForPlugins". You'll need to follow the instructions in this post if you want to enter keyboard data into Circle - such as patch info. It's worth mentioning that the Wacom also works really well with Circle interface and is extremely well suited to the drag-and-drop modulation interface.

Links:

• Official web page for Circle
• Modulate This Review of Circle

Mark Mosher
http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.markmoshermusic.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

Sound Design with Gladiator 2: HCM Synthesis Explained

Update: checkout the discount link on the right side of the blog.

I started using Tone 2 Gladiator 1 a year ago and recently upgraded to Gladiator 2. Gladiator 1 & 2 are based on a new type of synthesis called Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM). HCM offers a clever way to generate wavetables with a massive variety of harmonic content that can be modified over time. Tone2’s approach with HCM is quite unique so I put together this video which offers a step-by-step explanation of what HCM synthesis is and how to use it. These techniques apply to both Gladiator 1 & 2.

Watch Video on YouTube:

If you like the sound of Gladiator 2 but find it too expensive, you should check out Firebird+. Firebird+ only has a fraction of the the editing capabilities but is still quite a capable instrument for the price.

Links:

• Other posts on Gladiator
• Hear Gladiator 2 on my single “Stealth". I created multiple custom presets for the lead arpeggiator sound and for many other tracks within this song.
• Modulate This Posts on Gladiator:
• My review of Gladiator 1
• How to open the editor interface
• Tone2 Page - Learn more about Gladiator 2
• Tone2 Page - What’s new in Gladiator 2

Mark Mosher
http://www.modulatethis.com
http://www.twitter.com/markmosher

Modulate This! - Best Products of 2008 for Electronic Musicians

Hope you all are having a restful holiday season. I continuously strive for the leanest rig that will give me the best results. In this post I’ll offer a list products that make up the core of my rig. Consider this my “If I was stranded on a desert island” list for 2008.  Note that some products in my list were not new in 2008, but I’m still using them tons so they’ve made the list. If you want to see all the elements of my rig, check out this photo album on MySpace.

Best DAW – Ableton Live 7, $499
For me, Live has been become more than a DAW. It’s at the core of everything I do and after years of use feels more like a musical instrument to me than some piece of software. See all my posts on Live here. Official Live site is here.

Best Hybrid Synthesizer - Camel Audio Alchemy , $249
Camel Audio just released a new synth called Alchemy. They've been working on it for 4 years. It's an additive, spectral, granular, virtual analog synth. The interface is really well done with a clever scheme for routing modulation. I think it’s one of the finest virtual instruments I’ve ever used. I’ll be writing more posts about this synth in the future. For now you can learn more about it here.

Runner up for me in this category is Native Instruments Absynth 4. It’s not new this year but is also a great synth. I also want to mention Spectosonics Omnisphere. I don’t own it and I haven’t tried it (no demo available), but from what I’ve read and seen in demo videos it’s a monster synth. I went with Alchemy because it has a much smaller footprint and has more features for those like me who want to manipulate our own samples.

Best Virtual Analog Synthesizer - Rob Papen’s Predator, $179
Predator is a virtual analog synthesizer for Windows or Mac that runs as a plug-in (VST, Audio Unit, RTAS).  It ships with a huge library of presets, and built-in tools for patch browsing and search.  It also has some innovative features such as preset morphing, intelligent preset variation, and chord memory. Even though Predator didn’t release this year, Rob Papen keeps the synth fresh with free updates. More posts here …

Best Controller Keyboard - Novation Remote SL, Starting at $299

I still love the way this controller and Automap 2 software helps make using software more like using a physical instrument. Check out official site here. I still get a lot of traffic on my posts on the M-Audio Axiom series controllers so it’s clearly a popular choice if you can’t afford the Remote SL.

Best Controllers for Those on the Go -Korg Nano Series, $49-59

This year Korg released USB powered slim-line controllers nanoKey, nanoKontrol, and nanoPad. I have Key and Kontrol and can say they are fantastic if you want more control while making music from your laptop. More here http://korgnano.com/.

Best Bang for the Buck USB Audio Interface - Novation Nio, $249
Microphone/instrument or line-level sources, low latency effects (Direct Mix Monitoring, 'Overloud' Guitar amp and distortion pedal effects, effects from the Supernova II and signal processing from Focusrite), two headphone outputs, four RCA outputs. All this for $249! See official site.

Best iPhone Music App – iDrum, Ocarina
Hmmm. This is a tough one as there is so much innovation going on in this space. My two favorites are iDrum and Ocarina.

iDrum has a great interface for making beats on the go and synchronizes with iDurm for the PC and Mac. Read more about it here.

Ocarina turns your iPhone into a true musical instrument. It uses every feature of the iPhone and has some fantastic social connection features. Checkout the official site here.

Best Field Recorder – Zoom H2, $179
I just got one of these back in November. It’s really fantastic. It weighs 4 ounces and has 4 mic capsules onboard for 360° recording in a W-X/Y configuration. You can also use it as a USB mic. I blogged about it here.

Buy Online
Most of these items can be purchased online. Support Modulate This! buy using these links: Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, Zzounds.

Share Your List
I’m sure many of you out there have a your own list so feel free to share your list using the comments link at the bottom of this post.

See You in 2009!
Have a safe new years eve and I’ll see you in 2009.

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

Video Tour of Image-Line's Gross Beat Plug-in

Last night I bought Image-Line's Morphine synth. As part of their holiday sale, I got their brand new plug-in Gross Beat for FREE ($99 value).

It's a great plug-in - so much so I stayed up way too late experimenting with it. To help you get your mind around the plug-in and jump start your use of it, I produced a video tour.

Links:

• Gross Beat Web Site (Download free trial, listen to samples...)
• New Image-Line customers use this link to get a discount on purchases over $99 - http://affiliate.image-line.com/CCFADC404

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

Image-Line Holiday Sale - Maximus and Morphine Only $99 a Piece + Free Copy of Gross Beat

   

There are a lot of sales going on right now so make sure you stop by your favorite companies site to see what deals they might have.

Image line has put both Morphine (virtual synthesizer that does additive synthesis and re-synthesis) and Maximus (Mastering Maximizer) on sale. Here is the deal:

• Every order of $99 and more comes with a free copy of Gross Beat (value $99).
• Maximus is available for $99 instead of $189 (AND includes a free copy of Gross Beat)
• Morphine is available for $99 instead of $159 (AND includes a free copy of Gross Beat)

I've been waiting for Morphine to go on sale. I've spent a lot of time with the demo and think it has a great interface for additive synthesis. I especially love the re-synthesis capabilities and plan on using it to create some custom sounds for future projects. Needless to say I just hit the buy button. So it's now official, I own all of Maxx Claster's synthesizers (Poizone, Toxic Biohazard, and Morphine).

Links:

• Visit Image-Line Sale page
• Modulate This post on Morphine
• Image-Line Video Tutorials Page (Morphine and Maximus are both represented).

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com
www.markmoshermusic.com

Modulate This Review of Rob Papen Predator Virtual Synthesizer

 

Introduction
I just spent a few weeks immersing myself in Rob Pappen's Predator Virtual Synthesizer.  I've reemerged and decided to share my thoughts on this synth with a review.

Overview
Predator is a virtual analog synthesizer for Windows or Mac that runs as a plugin (VST, Audio Unit, RTAS).  It ships with a huge library of presets, and built-in tools for patch browsing and search.  It also has some innovative features such as preset morphing, intelligent preset variation, and chord memory.

Sonic Range
Even though Predator is primarily a subtractive synth, it can produce a much wider range of sounds than your average analog synthesizer. This is made possible with a powerful yet straight-forward  three oscillator architecture. For each oscillator you can select from one of 128 wave  forms. In addition to analog waveforms, Rob Papen has included, additive, spectral, pink & white noise as well. Each oscillator also has Pulse Width Modulation and oscillators 2 & 3 have modes for Ring  Modulation and FM Synthesis. In plain English, you don't need to understand complex harmonic structures to produce complex sounds quickly.

FX
Predator allows for 3 effects per preset. The list includes Mono Delay, Stereo Delay,  Comb, Reverb, Chorus, Chorus/Delay, Flanger, Phaser, Wah/Delay, Distortion, Low  Fi, Amp Simulator with 5 models, Waveshaper, Stereo Widener, Autopan, Gator,  Vocoder, FX multi-filter, 5 Band Equalizer, Compressor, Ensemble, Cabinet Simulator,  Multi- distortion and AutoWah. Two FX modulation sources are available for connecting midi or synth controls to FX parameters. 

The "Gator" effect is a trance gate. "Vocoder" is a 32 band vocoder that can use either samples or sound (input) that is fed into Predator as a modulator. So, creating cool vocoded effects is a snap.

I should also mention that there is a stand-alone version of the effects processor called PredatorFX which allows you to use these effects on any audio channel in your DAW.

Arpeggiator

Predator has a 16 step pattern based arpeggiator with some excellent features that might make you use this arpeggiator more than the one in your DAW.  Some stand out features include the ability to enter note values for a step by using your midi keyboard. You can also set note velocity, swing and slide amount controls.  One really cool feature is the ability to use an  arppegiator step as a free modulation source. You can even control  arpeggiator latch using a midi sustain pedal. Lastly, you can copy, paste, clear, move, reverse, randomize and turn off / on controls, for both selected steps or all steps.

Right Click and  MIDI Learn
The interface supports right-click for access to additional parameters. For example, you can reset a knob to its default state or execute MIDI learn to map knobs and sliders on your controller to a Predator parameter.

One Page Interface
What’s amazing about Predator is that almost all the parameters fit on its clean one page interface.  A few parameters require you toggle to a different panel (see this article). The layout is logical and simple and if you’re familiar with subtractive synthesis you’ll be creating new custom presets in no time.

Conclusion
There is something for everyone inside of Predator. Musicians and Producers will love the large library of sounds, the bank manager,  and how easy it is to "tweak" using the single page interface. Sound designers will love the flexible Free Modulation scheme with 8 modulation routings for connecting 40 modulation sources and 65 modulation destinations.

At $149 EU/ $179 US you'll be hard pressed to find a virtual synthesizer with more bang for the buck. For many I think this will become their "goto" synth.

Learn More
I’ve covered the core elements of Predator in this review but there are many, many more features I’ve left for you to discover. Checkout the links below for more.

• Download Free Trial of Rob Papens Predator
• Buy Rob Papen Predator
• Learn about the free 1.5.1 Update
• Learn More
• MP3 Demo Songs
• More Modulate This articles on Predator

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com

Where Is the Arpeggiator in Rob Papen's Predator?

I'm really into synthesizers with one page interfaces these days. I've been working a lot with Rob Papen's Predator which has a fantastic UI. Almost all control "sections" are displayed on one page. I say almost as they couldn't quite cram all the control elements in.

To accommodate more controls without cluttering up the interface, there are toggle buttons on the interface. Use the graphic above as a guide to access additional sections, see the back of the synth, and access the help file.

ARPEGGIATOR SECTION

ADVANCED SECTION

More on Predator in future posts...

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com

What's New and How To Upgrade To Rob Papen Predator 1.5.1, Blue 1.8.1 and RG 1.0.1

FIND PRESETS FASTER

Rob Papen has released updates to Blue, Predator and RG. All three virtual synthesizers have the following new preset browsing features:

• "Quick Browse" is a new function that allows you to quickly browse through preset.
• "Recently Browsed" allows you to easily rind the presets you tried out previously.
• "Favorites" allows you to quickly collect you favorite presets.

MORE INFO AND UPGRADE LINKS

Predator 1.5.1 Update (web site | buy from Musicians Friend)

• Optimization of CPU usage, around 20-30% less CPU , even more for some presets.
• Reduced loading time
• Bug fixes
• To upgrade from your current Predator 1.1 version http://www.robpapen.com/upgrade-to-1.5.html
• To upgrade from Predator 1.5.0 http://www.robpapen.com/Predator-1.5-download.html
• Learn More | Buy From Musicians Friend

Blue 1.8.1 Update

To upgrade use download link here http://www.robpapen.com/upgrade-to-1.8.html

Additional RG 1.0.1 Updates 

• Sequencer Preset Menu: Sequences can now be selected by click in a sequencer preset menu.
• Currently loaded Sequence is displayed
• Keyboard sequence / chord / notes pressed is displayed
• Bug fixes
• To upgrade to RG 1.0.1 http://www.robpapen.com/RG-download.html

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com

Image Line Announces Updates for Morphine, PoiZone, and Toxic Biohazard Virtual Synthesizers

 

Image Line just announced a series of minor updates to their core line of virtual synthesizers.

Morphine 1.4.2 released

- fixed crashes/freezes when closing plugin in OSX
- fixed threading in Windows version
- fixed compatibility with the Toxic Biohazard installer in OSX
- better tablet pc / stylus support
- fixed polyphony issues in FL version
- several small changes

PoiZone 2.2.5 released

- fixed threading issues
- made it more stable
- better tablet pc / stylus support
- fixed polyphony issues in FL version
- fixed crash when changing presets on PPC macs
- several small changes and fixes

Toxic Biohazard 1.0.2 released

- fixed crashes when closing plugins in OSX
- threading-related fixes
- fixes on PPC macs
- fixed some crashes related to downloader in OSX
- several small changes and fixes

LINKS:

• Image Line Page for Virtual Instruments
• If you are new to Image Line and want to save an additional 10% on their products, use my promo code link.
• Excellent video tutorials on these synths here

Mark Mosher
www.modulatethis.com