Electronic Dance Music Blog & Podcast

FL Studio Mobile for iPad iPhone and iPod Touch Available Today for iOS

FL STUDIO MOBILE KEY FEATURES
Load and extend projects in the FL Studio desktop version
Resizable, stackable piano keys & reconfigurable drum-pads
Stuffed with FL Studio quality instruments, drum kits & loop files
99-track sequencer, Piano roll editor & Step sequencer
WAV, MIDI & FLM (project) import/export
iPad HD version, iPhone 4 Retina Display support
Compatible with the Akai SynthStation 25

Just go to the App Store if you have an iPhone/iPod for Touch FL Studio Mobile OR if you have an iPad forFL Studio Mobile HD.

FL STUDIO MOBILE FAQ
What about Android OS? It’s on the roadmap, stop nagging! We have a development team working on a low-latency Android audio-engine and there are many screen resolutions and device specifications to consider, it’s not as simple as you may think :)

Does this mean FL Studio on Mac OSX soon? FL Studio Mobile is not a port of the Windows version of FL Studio. It is the product of a completely separate development team, and code, so FL Studio Mobile, while compatible with FL Studio has no impact on FL Studio development and vice versa.

Can I load my own samples? Not in version 1.0. We plan to enable user uploads in a future update.

Can I use VSTs? No, iOS does not support VSTs and frankly the devices it runs on don’t have the CPU power to perform the synthesis you are used to on a desktop. FL Studio Mobile uses high quality sample based instruments made from Image-Line plugins and sample packs.

Visit the FL Studio Mobile Website for more info.

via: ImageLine Press

We recently tested out Sugarbytes’ Guitarist VST Instrument and this is what we found.

PROS:
Can sound very realistic
Great songwriting tool
Useful wah pedal
Nice GUI

CONS:
Not always realistic
Lack of solo mode to enable playing of individual notes

OVERVIEW:
Looking to create guitar tracks without spending the time and effort to learn guitar? SugarByte’s Guitarist might be worth a look. Available for Win/Mac as standalone, VST, AU, or PPC plugin, Guitarist is advertised as a total guitar solution.

What IS Guitarist exactly? It’s a rhythmic guitar track generator that combines guitar sounds, an amp module and three effects modules with a series of step sequencers and a special effects section. Patterns (and entire songs) can be recorded and played back. For live use, the built in keyboard can be made to trigger sequences or change the current chord a sequence is playing.
It’s worth noting here that the keyboard which allows access to chords and patterns doesn’t provide any easy way to play single notes. So if you just want to play a melody (and disengage the sequencer) you’re out of luck. But for quickly generating rhythmic grooves and progressions, fortunately there’s a lot Guitarist has to offer.

DETAILS:
Guitarist contains 4 guitar types, 2 amp models (+direct), and three effects modules run in a fixed configuration. Effects include modulation,dynamic effects,reverb, delay, reverse and a 3-mode wah pedal. To build progressions and grooves, a chord sequencer is run through a pattern step sequencer (and also an animation sequencer for extra variation). Entire songs can be constructed by chaining patterns together in the song sequencer.
The keyboard can be used to play 24 user defined chords, with some of the keys acting as triggers for the patterns. Pressing a chord key will override the chord sequencer, and play that chord instead through the selected pattern. Another handy feature for playing live is the Action Section, which allows you to alter the groove with real time effects such as looper, timestretch, force slow, dead or damped notes.
Continue reading “Sugarbytes Guitarist VSTi Review” »

Key new features include:

• 64 Bit plugin wrapper – FL Studio now hosts 64 Bit VST plugins for access to unlimited memory.
• Autosave / Autobackup – Don’t lose a project or data again.
• Revised Playlist – Individually resizable tracks. Lock tracks to Clips. Live performance time Marker options (Jump to, Loop, Pause & Skip)
• Revised Mixer – Fully Automatic Plugin Delay Compensation (A-PDC). New waveform meter view.
• Revised Piano roll – Export as sheet music option. Vertical zoom with not properties view. Magic lasso selection & note-handle stretch. Edit ghost notes by double Right-click. Waveform view.
• Pattern Picker – opens from the Playlist, Piano roll or Stepsequencer. Select Patterns & Channels.
• Patcher (free) – chain instruments & effects for easy saving of complete instrument & effect chains.
• ZGameEditor Visualizer (free) – visualization effect with movie render capability.
• Pitcher (demo) – real-time correction/harmonization plugin responds to Piano roll note control.
• Newtone (demo) – pitch correction editor for precise control, pristine quality stretching, re-pitching and correction.
• Keep on disk & 32 Bit Bridge – now give each Audio Clip / Sampler Channel / Plugin access to at least 2 GB memory and up to 4 for VST Plugins.
• Fruity Edition – gains access to Pattern Clips.
• Lifetime Free Updates – are extended to all FL Studio 10 box customers onward & as usual all download customers.
• …learn more by visiting the ‘FL Studio 10 What’s New?‘ page.

Get it HERE.

de la Mancha’s free subhuman virtual sub bass synth now at v2.0. The two oscillator synth was designed for a singular purpose to create: “low down and dirty sub bass, jus’ like momma used to make.” The de la Mancha collective invites you to “take it down a few octaves for that deep subby hum you want so bad. Change the waveform of Osc 2 to add a little grit, make it wobble with the tempo-sync LFO and really dirty things up with some drive.”

Version 2.0 now includes MIDI learn, tempo sync LFO, LFO attack/release envelope, pulse width adjust for Osc2 and LFO, mono/poly options with envelope retrigger and portamento, ADSR in ms, sync osc2 to osc1, overdrive, new GUI. Both envelopes have long attack/release times so the volume and LFO can build slowly over sustained notes.

Features:
• 2 oscillators can be detuned or synced
• LP filter
• ADSR volume envelope
• LFO with tempo sync, attack/release envelope, waveform select
• Overdrive for more dirt
• Octave selector
• MIDI CC / MIDI learn on all controls
• Mono/poly options with retrigger and portamento

Get it: de la Mancha Subhuman 2.0

via: FutureMusic

Headliner.fm
Promote your music by leveraging your current fanbase on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Send messages to your fans promoting other people’s music and earn credits to have bands you like promote your sound. [Headliner.fm]

Drumssette the Cassette Drum Machine
Check out this cool drum machine from Mystery Circuits made out of a Tascam 4 Track cassette recorder. [Make Blog]

Sander Kleinenberg – M.A.N.I.A.C.
Nice new track from Sander Kleinenberg called M.A.N.I.A.C. over at Beatport. [BeatPortal]

Tiesto Didn’t Die in LA Car Accident
He might make $20 Million a year, and he might be the World’s most recognized DJ, and he’s still alive. Tiesto let everyone know via twitter that he is not dead. [TrackitDown]

LA Rave Task Force Created
In the aftermath of the death of a 15 year old at Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles the city has set up a special group to investigate electronic music events and report back with their findings. [LA Times]

Electronic Music Events in LA Cancelled
HARD LA Music Festival and Fresh Squeezed both cancelled in wake of Electric Daisy Carnival death. [SoundSpike]

iPad DJ, Ok Maybe This Thing is Useful
It’s definitely overpriced but it just may prove useful for DJs and musicians after all. [Fosfor]

50 Most Charted Tracks at Beatport
Taken from DJ charts for the first half of 2010. [BeatPortal]

Image Line’s newest VST instrument has just been released which is basically a subtractive synth powered by an addititive synth engine. I’m already intrigued. To make things even better they are offering a special deal until the end of the year…Pay only what you think it is worth plus a few bucks to cover the fees and stuff. So go get the demo and they pick up this unique synth for a great price.

From the Press Release:

Image Line Software, the developer of FL Studio (formerly FruityLoops) has released its newest VSTi named Harmless. With a unique twist, Harmless is a subtractive synthesizer powered by an additive synthesis engine. Harmless has no tabs or hidden controls, with all features clearly visible in helpful color-coded groups. Over 100 parameters, most automatable, are available on the clear one-page GUI making Harmless perfect for live performance and sound-design experimentation. Continue reading “Harmless VSTi Starting at $9 Until Dec 31” »

KVR’s Developer Challenge for 2009 is winding down and voting is currently underway so go vote.

There are 42 entries: 40 of these are available for Windows, 6 for Mac OS X and just 1 for Linux. 39 are in the VST plug-in format, 1 is an AU plug-in and 3 are stand-alone applications. Go check out the free downloads and donate to the prize fund for the winners.

Continue for a complete list of entries
Continue reading “Try Out Some Free VST's from KVR” »

Xone delivers a top of the line DJ controller to put all others to shame. Check it out:

After weeks of speculation and buzz around the industry, Allen & Heath and Serato Audio Research have announced the launch of the Xone: DX, a new Plug’n'Play DJ controller, the result of close collaboration between the two companies. The DX, another development in Allen & Heath’s Xone: D range of controllers, is a 20-channel USB soundcard and features total integration of the brand new 4-deck Serato ITCH software.

Boasting the ability to send up to 168 individual MIDI control messages, a 20-channel 96kHz/24-bit USB 2.0 soundcard, two dual layer deck simulators, and RIAA/phono inputs for external decks, as well as the central 4 channel mixer section which directly manipulates the DSP mixing within the computer, the Xone: DX is the most versatile, high specification professional DJ controller to date. A full version of the new Serato ITCH software is supplied with the DX, providing unique 4-deck control, and a comprehensive set of digital DJ FX, as well as looping and time-stretching.

“Serato has always been an admirer of Allen & Heath’s DJ hardware and we’ve watched the development of the Xone: D series of controllers with keen interest. In our opinion, Allen & Heath design some of the best music production software controllers in the professional field,” explains Serato MD, Steve West. “Rather than a partnership to simply bundle our products, we wanted to collaborate with A&H at the drawing board stage, and design a product that would fully manipulate the new version of ITCH.”

The Xone: DX is also fully compatible with other leading DJ software brands, and has Allen & Heath’s customary pro modular design build and high quality components. It also has bi-colour LED feedback layer assignment, UV light sensitive legend, mix outputs on RCA and balanced XLR, a separate booth output, and measures 50mm deep to fit conveniently in a laptop bag.

“Ever since we launched the MIDI-enabled Xone:92 in 2003, followed by the multi-media Xone:3D in 2005, we have strived to design controllers that would fulfil a digital DJ’s wish list. The Xone: DX is the next step in this journey, with a versatile and wide-ranging set of features in a compact package,” comments Xone designer, Andy Rigby-Jones.

Suggested retail price is £999 shipping in November 2009.

More info at Xone Website

I recently heard about TechnoBox from AudioRealism for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and already being a fan of thier Bassline VST instrument I had to check it out. $10 for this app is a steal when compared to the price of a VST instrument or any music creation software for that matter. Compared to the price of most iPhone apps it is on the higher side but it’s well worth it. Basically TechnoBox is similar to the old Rebirth program by Propellerheads but better sounding. I definitely see someone using this app in a live set, but you would have to deal with manually syncing it up. Definitely worth a look.

From the AudioRealism website:

TechnoBox is your virtual techno studio on the go for iPhone / iPod touch featuring stunningly accurate emulations of three classic boxes: The legendary 303 bass line machine together with the smooth 808 and punchy 909 drum machines. technoBox has easy to use sequencing capabilities which lets you tie together patterns, or use it live by improvising pattern switches on the fly!

Featuring the same high quality audio engine as ABL2 which was painstakingly optimized to be able to run on mobile devices. For the uninitiated our audio engine has aliasing free oscillators and full range non-linear filters.

The drum section features 11 parts with 808 or 909 sounds (for a total of 22 sounds) with variable amount of shuffle per pattern.

technoBox comes with a session manager which allows you to load/save sessions in realtime without stopping the internal sequencer — great for saving realtime improvised patterns without interrupting the audio stream.

TechnoBox Website

At the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) expo, Akai showed the APC40 MIDI control surface it has developed in conjunction with Ableton, making it the first such device to be ready to run out of the box with the Ableton Live music editing software. As there is no need to load drivers, users simply plug in their notebooks via a USB port and can begin mixing or otherwise modifying their music using Ableton Live. The APC40 is being touted as the simplest, most direct hardware interface with the popular software, yet still allows advanced users to assign the board’s 40 buttons, knobs and fader controls to any virtual controls in the software.

Each control on the APC40 lights up in a different color to give users an instant indication of clip state. Likewise, the 16 knobs are lined by a ring of LED rings that perform the same functions. Akai points out the APC40 makes controlling music at live events much quicker and easier, taking the connected source, most often a notebook or desktop PC or Mac, out of the equation.