Monthly Archives: July 2021

NI Expansion: Pulswerk v2.0.2 WIN & MAC

PULSWERK delivers the deep, clean, pounding intensity of contemporary minimal techno and house with edgy, precise grooves and a custom construction toolset that kicks with the cool, polished sound of electronic music’s most refined styles. Add sequenced, tempo-synced effects to your tracks with a wealth of tweaking and routing options, and use MASSIVE presets to bring an extra touch of thunder to your creations. Get ready for the main floor – this is PULSWERK.

FORGING THE BEAT

PULSWERK’s sound arsenal was created by renowned sound designer Denis Gökdag. To create each sound, Denis ran vintage and modern hardware synths, softsynths, drum machines, and modular units through select, high-end outboard gear. Another round of processing added extra attitude, clarity, and punch for pro sound out of the box. And custom patterns using chords, bleeps, glitches, drones, and other pitched sources deliver tight, pulsing sounds that cut through a mix with precision.

SAMPLES AND LOOPS

Raw drum hits and one-shots come DAW-ready – plus tempo-based construction loops give you building blocks for inspiration.

• 258 Construction Loops
• 445 Drum Samples
• 354 One Shots

DRUM KITS

Kits come pre-assembled for MASCHINE and BATTERY, with color coding for BATTERY and FX-enhanced kits for MASCHINE.

• 59 BATTERY Kits
• 50 MASCHINE Kits

SYNTH PRESETS

Customizable presets for MASSIVE by top sound designers give you the perfect sounds for your genre.

• 60 MASSIVE Presets

MASCHINE EXCLUSIVE

MASCHINE owners get editable patterns for building ideas fast. Plus, multi-effects macros that are custom-made for your sounds.

• 7 Projects
• 215 Patterns

Links

Demo Preview:

SoundSpot Ravage v1.0.2 VST VST3 AU AAX [WIN & MAC]

Get Heated Overdrive With Added Life And Movement – Choose From Six Types Of Distortion, Shape Your Signal With Filtering And Gain, And Modulate The Results With Custom-Drawn LFO Shapes. Absolutely loving this plugin. The quality of the 6 distortions are superb, and having the power of a modulation matrix on this kind of effect is incredibly useful. I’ve found the Ravage to be so useful across such a wide variety sounds that this is without doubt my new distortion of choice. Yet another great tool from the guys at Soundspot. – Andy Moor – Grammy Nominated Producer and DJ.

Features

• Heat things up with 6 distortion types: Digital, Tube, Diode, Lin Fold, Zero Sq and Rectify
• Add movement to parameters using custom-drawn modulation shapes
• Destroy parameter pushes the signal even harder through the distortion processor
• Pan the distortion across the stereo field
• Tailor the distortion response with filtering, input/output gain, and dark/bright weighting
• Reverse, Smooth and adjust Pulse Width for modulator signals
• Auto output control compensates level when Drive is increased
• Oversampling is set intelligently behind the scenes to ensure the best sound quality

“What a great piece of kit. I spend a long time getting distortion right especially on my mid bass group channels and this definitely has the edge on just about every other distortion plugin that I use. Plus unlimited LFO lanes… thats insane! Great work guys, its now my reach to distortion plugin in the studio and will be for some considerable time for sure.” – STANDERWICK – Armada Music, Roland

Select from six modelled distortion algorithms: Tube, Digital, Diode, Linear Fold, Zero Sq and Rectify, each with a different personality for adding grit and dirt to audio. Use the Drive control to push the signal harder, and use the Destroy parameter to fully smash up any audio. There are high- and low-pass filters onboard, as well as a Dark/Bright slider to weight the distortion’s energy.

Links

SoundSpot FAT2 v1.0.1 VST VST3 AU AAX [WIN & MAC]

Some of the greatest recordings of all time come from the analogue age, boasting a warm and pleasing sonic character, but how can this be achieved in the digital domain? Simple – use saturation to add harmonics. Whether you are using a little to add a touch of warmth, or driving the signal hard to create dirty and distorted sounds, saturation plays a key role in every great production. But not all saturation tools are created equal, and all to often producers find themselves stacking a combination of various saturation plugins, to get the sound they are searching for or control the need. The FAT 2 Filters Have Been Designed With Custom Resonant Peak Series That Mimic The Odd And Even Harmonics Of Analog Saturation. However, The Harmonic Series In FAT 2 Go A Step Further By Both Going Up And Down In The Frequency Spectrum – Or Both Ways At The Same Time! This Gives The Filters A New Level Of Clarity, Sheen And Crunch Not Found In Other Filters.

Whether It Be Drums, Bass, Percussion, Pads, SoundSpot Have Got You Covered With This Awesome Creative Tool. The Only Limit Is Your Imagination

Features

• Catalina Compatible
• 20 Custom Designed Filters
• Two Flexible Node Based Envelopes
• Tempo Sync
• Snap To Grid Function
• Envelope Smoothing
• Straight/Dotted/Triplet Timing
• Preset Manager
• Fully Scaleable Interface
• 23 Presets

Links

SoundSpot Evade v1.0.2 VST VST3 AU AAX [WIN & MAC]

EVADE Is A Volume Shaping Audio Plugin For Mac OSX And Windows In VST, AAX & AU Format That Grants The User Surgical Control Over The Audio Signal By Utilizing Frequency Determined Volume Shaping Like An LFO Tool Or Sidechain Compression.
What Is Sidechaining ?

Sidechaining is a classic production technique used in a huge variety of music genres which creates a volume ducking effect to a signal in order to allow other elements greater clarity in the mix. Sidechain compression or volume shaping is typically used on kick drum and bass elements. This is because these elements often share the same space in the frequency range, so adding a sidechain (or volume shaping) effect to the bass will allow the kick drum space to be heard clearer in the mix.

The Benefits Of Frequency Based Volume Shaping (Or Sidechaining).

The benefit of a frequency based volume shaping Audio Plugin is that you can create space in the mix by volume ducking only problem frequencies as opposed the entire audio signal. This results in a more controlled and natural sounding mix, giving you greater control than classic sidechain compression which is preferred by most genres outside of electronic music.

However this doesn’t mean the EVADE Volume Shaper Plugin can’t be useful for electronic music production tasks, as the Audio Plugin can still deliver conventional sidechain volume shaping in just a few clicks and also comes with a nifty mid/side balance control and unlinked start and end points which is extremely useful for audio that need to duck but still retain a transient snap to cut through the mix.

Audio Plugin Product Features

• Unlimited Node Envelope.
• Time Syncing from 1/32 to 32 Bars with straight, dotted or triplets.
• Switchable Main Display showing either frequency spectrum or moving wave.
• Unlinked Envelope start and end points.
• Envelope Playback Flip.
• Multi-band Selection for surgical volume shaping.
• Smoothing to reduce pops and clicks.
• Phase shift to alter the start point of the envelope.
• Pulse Width Modulation to create a more analog feel.
• Mid/Side balance for even greater control.
• Pop free plug-in bypass.
• The SoundSpot® EVADE is a lightweight volume shaping Audio Plugin that will help you achieve cleaner punchier mixes, without sucking the life out of your music.

Links

SoundSpot Halcyon v 1.0.1 VST VST3 AU AAX [WIN & MAC]

Some of the greatest recordings of all time come from the analogue age, boasting a warm and pleasing sonic character, but how can this be achieved in the digital domain? Simple – use saturation to add harmonics. Whether you are using a little to add a touch of warmth, or driving the signal hard to create dirty and distorted sounds, saturation plays a key role in every great production. But not all saturation tools are created equal, and all to often producers find themselves stacking a combination of various saturation plugins, to get the sound they are searching for or control the need. At SoundSpot® we decided that a one stop shop for saturation was needed, and began developing a plugin that would deliver amazing sound quality and character with all the control you need. The Halcyon boasts a huge amount of control, allowing you to truly tailor the sound of your harmonic saturation. From smooth tape to warm tube and everything in between, the Halcyon can breath life into your productions and make them sound fantastic.

Visual Feedback

Sometimes a little visual feedback can be very useful in making the right decisions in your mix, and whilst we are strong advocates of “Trust Your Ears” we also understand that most listening environments in the age of bedroom production will be far from perfect.
We felt that in the case of saturation, being able to see what you are adding and where would be extremely useful to most users, so with that in mind, we developed an analyser that displays a second frequency chart, showing the additional harmonics being added.

Selecting Your Range

You won’t always need to add saturation to the entire spectrum of a sound, so we created a simple and quick way to target an area of the frequency range. Just drag the yellow tabs to where you want the effect to begin and end, it’s that simple.

Quick Start Presets

When you’re in a hurry to complete a mix, the quick templates are just the ticket to get you in the right direction. Just navigate through Drums, Bass, Guitar, Synth and Vocal to get a starting point to speed up your work flow.

Mid/Side & Drive control

So you’ve got the frequency range selected, now it’s time to add the magic. Just turn the drive control up to start adding saturation, then use the mid/side outer ring to obtain the desired balance for the effect.

Attack, Release & Makeup Gain

Saturation is fundamentally compression, and as such the best way to control how it behaves is through attack and release parameters. These controls allow you to create every conceivable kind of saturation you desire. You can even use the Halcyon as a character compressor or a brickwall soft clip limiter, to smooth out vocals or glue sub groups together. You can use the makeup gain control to compensate for the saturation boost if required.

LFO

Movement in your production is crucial in order to keep the listener engaged and using the Halcyon LFO to add movement over time to the just the ticket to keep things interesting. The LFO controls only the saturated signal creating a truly unique effect. This effect yields great rewards on drums, as you can use the LFO combined with range to create a distinct groove to your percussive sounds.

Links

SoundSpot Nevo v1.0.1 VST VST AU AAX [WIN & MAC]

NEVO Is SoundSpot’s New Monster Clipper, Which Has Been Developed By Our In House Audio Wizards To Give You The Ultimate Peak Control When Either Mastering Audio, Or Enhancing Your Virtual Instruments Or Hardware Instruments. NEVO Is No Ordinary Clipper, There Are A Wealth Features And Controls That Will Leave You In Awe Of It’s Sonic Ability, Whilst At The Same Time Being Easy To Use And Totally Inspirational. Nevo Features A Combination Or A 16 Band Soft Clipper And A Single Band Hard Clipper, Along With Multiple Colouration Settings, A Transient Shaper And A Final Clip Wall Limiter. All Of These Features Have Been Arranged Into A Specific Signal Flow Which Has Been Meticulously Designed And Tested So You Can Get The Very Best Sound From Your Instruments, Groups, Mixes And Masters. With An Infectious Workflow And Instant Results NEVO Is The Plugin You’ve Always Needed In Your Arsenal Of Audio Production Plugins……

NEVO Is Stacked With The Following Features

• DRIVE This function allows you to transition from light tape drive to hard tube drive when raising and lowering the % control.
• CURVE Adjusting this will allow you to transition through the clipping of the low and high end of your sound. Moving this control from Left to right will increase the effect on the high end, and then move Right to Left to increase the effect on the low end. Curve works by tilting the bias between high and low, whilst also lightly removing frequencies at the same time.
• SMOOTH The Smooth control works by increasing the release on the 16 clipping bands, whilst also smoothing out the effect of the Drive distortion.
• CRUSH This function allows you dial in a Bit Crushing effect, which in turn provides control of how much sonic destruction is required for your signal. You will find that the Breach function will also affect this by softening the Crush strength when moving the dial from 0 to 100%..
• BREACH Using this function will allow you to control the amount of transients you may want to pass through the clipper control of your signal.
• SOFTEN This is like a smoothing function, but will only affect the single band of the hard clipper. Soften works in two ways. 1, When Breach is at Zero, it will soften the Crush effect. 2, When Breach is at 1 – 100%, it will give you a fatter sound whilst retaining the transients that Breach has allowed to pass.
• COLOURATION This control enables you to add three variations of colour to your sound. These options are, WARM, TRANSPARENT and BRIGHT.
• TRANSIENT EMPHASIS This option gives you three types of transient emphasis in either the LOW, MID or HIGH frequencies.
• CLIP WALL This is a final brickwall limiter that also allows for your signal to be aggressively PULLED/SQUASHED to extremes.
• WAVEFORM DISPLAY, SOFT/HARD CLIPPER MIX CONTROLS & SIGNAL LEVEL RING This central display gives you visual feedback details on the effect NEVO is having on your sound.
• Effects like the amount of transient being allowed back through the clipper control.
• The controls which are situated to the left and Right of the Waveform Display Window are mix controls for the soft and hard clippers.
• Left mix control is for the soft clipper, and Right mix control is for the hard clipper.
• The Waveform Display Window has a coloured ring/glow surrounding it that measures the amount of gain reduction generated by the clippers and end Clip Wall Limiter.
• If you are reaching extreme signal levels, it will abruptly turn Red.
• If you then reach acceptable levels, the ring will fall back to Blue.
• Nevo is a Feature rich powerhouse of a plugin, that sounds as good as it looks.

Links

Apple Compressor 4.5.4 macOS

Compressor integrates tightly with Final Cut Pro to add power and flexibility to your video conversions. A simple interface lets you quickly customize output settings, enhance images, and package your film for sale on the iTunes Store. For even faster conversions, easily set up distributed encoding using other Mac computers.

Distributed Encoding

• Save time by distributing encoding work among multiple workstations
• Install Compressor on any Mac to activate it as a node for distributed encoding
• Speed up encoding in Final Cut Pro by choosing a group of shared computers for exporting

System Requirements: macOS 10.14.6 or later, 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended for 4K editing, 3D titles, and 360° video editing), OpenCL-capable GPU graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later, 256MB of VRAM (1GB recommended for 4K editing, 3D titles, and 360° video editing), 1.2GB of available disk space. Some features require Internet access; fees may apply. Blu-ray recorder required for burning Blu-ray discs. HEVC export requires macOS High Sierra.

Compatibility: macOS 10.15.6 or later

Links

Apple MainStage 3 v3.5.3 macOS

MainStage has something for every kind of performer. You can use all your favourite instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Pro. Simplify setup and teardown. Sound as big as you want with backing tracks. And use all your favourite hardware controllers.

Take your performance beyond what you can actually perform. The Arpeggiator features note-based remote controls and flexible latch modes. And Chord Trigger allows you to press a single note and have it trigger an entire complex chord. Use Retro Synth to recreate your favourite electronic sounds from the ’70s and ’80s with an intuitive set of controls. Or bring the authentic sounds of a Hammond B3 organ, Hohner Clavinet D6, or Fender Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric pianos on stage.

MainStage is not only an amazing host for software instruments and effects, it’s also packed with innovations that let you shine on stage. For starters, there’s the Floating Split Point. It intelligently moves the split point on a split keyboard Patch to respond to what you’re playing. Start walking a bassline up the keyboard, and the split point moves up so the bass doesn’t suddenly become some other sound when you get into the higher notes.

With Multimapping, you can map multiple parameters to a single control, so you can smoothly manipulate your sound without trying to turn several knobs at once. And seamless Patch switching lets you hold a chord in one sound while moving to a new Patch.

Alchemy brings epic sound that rivals the best hardware keyboards to the stage — with a massive collection of presets and real-time morphing controls at your fingertips. Whether you need to play recreations of vintage analog synths or ultra-modern sampled instruments, you’ll find inspiring sounds no matter what kind of music you perform.

Thanks to MainStage, you can play live with all the great tones from Amp Designer, Bass Amp Designer and Pedalboard, along with any of your favourite Audio Units guitar effects. You also get a full-screen tuner, foot-controlled tap tempo, and stompbox graphics that change with each Patch to represent the different Pedalboard stompboxes you’re using. Seamless Patch switching lets notes and chords trail off naturally when you switch Patches. And MainStage supports a wide range of popular MIDI foot controllers, which let you operate the Pedalboard, wah, rotary speaker effects, or any other effect plug-in — hands-free.

MainStage lets you stay focused on your performance. Keep your hands free by using foot pedals to control the effects you add to your voice. And display large, high-contrast notes such as lyrics and chord changes on your screen. So all you have to think about is singing.

Love the sound you got on your recording? MainStage makes it easy to bring all the same instruments and effects to the stage. Everything from the Sound Library and Smart Controls you’re familiar with from Logic Pro is integrated into MainStage. You can even expand your show with pre-recorded backing tracks. You’ll also find setup is easy with a powerful mixer and easy-to-use channel strips. With Mac as the core of your live rig, setup is faster, teardown is faster, and everything in between is more reliable. And you can easily use your favourite hardware to control every nuance of your performance.

The MainStage and Smart Controls interface is designed especially for live performance. You get a full-screen, high-contrast and high-resolution (Retina display–supported) view of your controls, so they stand out from across the stage. And you can set things up so each control is linked to a different parameter in each Patch. With just the controls you need onscreen for your song, you’ll never have to hunt for the right knob.

With MainStage, setting up your stage rig is faster than ever. Start by choosing from a complete range of performance templates, many of them pre-loaded with great-sounding Patches. Or look to the Patch Library to find a Patch or sound ready to be tweaked to perfection. The Patch Library also gives you access to all your Patches from Logic Pro. And if you ever need to perform with a different Mac, you don’t have to rebuild everything. Just save your live set as a project and MainStage puts all the necessary files into a single folder you can take with you anywhere.

MainStage supports your addiction to knobs, buttons and faders. It can connect with just about any external MIDI device on the planet. And the interface is simplicity itself. Just assign a physical control to an onscreen control, and it’s connected forever (or until you change your mind). No more assigning knobs over and over for each preset. And down the road, if your hardware fails when you’re about to go on stage, it’s quick and easy to swap it out.

MainStage also features pickup modes that make fixed controller knobs behave more like the endless encoder knobs found on high-end gear. If your control surface can receive status information from software, MainStage will send MIDI messages to keep your control displays in perfect sync.

MainStage lets you record any audio signal passing through. Just route all your audio to a designated stereo output and choose your file format — standard AIFF, WAV or even Apple CAF for recording performances of almost any length.

Compatibility: macOS 10.15.5 or later

Links

Apple Logic Pro X 10.6.3 macOS

Logic Pro X 10.5.1 is the most advanced version of Logic ever. Sophisticated tools for professional songwriting, editing, and mixing are built around a modern interface that’s designed to get creative results quickly and also deliver more power whenever it’s needed.

Powerful Interface

• Consolidate and control multiple tracks or create rich, layered instruments with Track Stacks
• Smart Controls allow you to manipulate multiple plug-ins and parameters with a single move
• Support for the Touch Bar on MacBook Pro provides convenient controls for creating, editing and navigating your songs
• Autosave keeps your work safe and sound

Professional Music Production

• Record and edit MIDI or audio using a comprehensive set of editors and tools
• Keep takes organized with take folders and build comps quickly with Quick Swipe Comping
• Track Alternatives let you create and switch between different playlists of regions and edits on a track
• Render any combination of effect plug-ins to a selection of audio using Selection-based Processing
• Fix out-of-tune vocals and change the melodies of recorded audio with Flex Pitch
• Manipulate the timing and tempo of any recording with ease using Flex Time
• Comprehensive mix and plug-in parameter automation can be part of a region or track
• Create and mix music from anywhere in the room using Logic Remote on iPad or iPhone
• Produce simple lead sheets or orchestral scores with built-in Score editor

Drum Production

• Create authentic acoustic, electronic, or hip hop drum tracks using Drummer, a virtual session player and beat producer
• Choose among 28 distinct drummers that can take your direction and perform millions of unique grooves
• Build your own acoustic drum kits with Drum Kit Designer using a collection of deeply sampled drums
• Customize the sound of your electronic beats using Drum Machine Designer

Keyboards and Synths

• Get inspired by collection of synths that provide analog, wavetable, FM, additive, granular, spectral, and modeling synthesis
• Quickly find sounds or create unique new ones with Alchemy, the ultimate sample manipulation synthesizer
• Play or create a wide variety of rich sampled instruments with the EXS24 Sampler
• Instantly turn a simple chord into a rich performance with the Arpeggiator
• Transform simple ideas into elaborate performances using nine MIDI plug-ins
• Play faithful models of classic organs, keyboards, and vintage synths

Guitar and Bass Gear

• Build your own guitar or bass rig with Amp Designer using vintage and modern amps, cabinets, and mics
• Design a custom Pedalboard from a collection of delay, distortion, and modulation stompboxes
• Access the Tuner with just a click to quickly get in tune
Creative and Production Effects
• Play your sounds through realistic acoustic spaces using Space Designer convolution reverb
• Use a range of multi-tap, vintage tape, and stereo delays
• Add movement to your tracks with a variety of modulation effects

Sound Library

• Over 2800 instrument and effect Patches
• 1000 meticulously sampled instruments
• More than 7000 Apple Loops in wide range of genres

Compatibility

• Expand your instrument and effects library with third-party Audio Units-compatible plug-ins
• Share to GarageBand option allows you to remotely add new tracks to your Logic project from your iPhone or iPad via iCloud
• Import and export XML to support Final Cut Pro X workflows
• Export and share your songs directly to SoundCloud
• Open projects from Logic 5 or later

New in Logic Pro 10.6.3

New Features/Enhancements

• The Plug-in Manager now offers a way to reset Audio Unit caches and perform a rescan of all installed Audio Unit plug-ins.

Stability/Reliability

• Fixes an issue where Logic Pro might unexpectedly quit when loading projects with plug-ins that use PACE/iLok copy protection.
• Resolves an issue where Logic Pro quits unexpectedly when Option-dragging a marquee selection within a folder.

Sampler/Quick Sampler

• Key label sets can now be saved in Sampler.

Mixer

• Resolves delay compensation issues for plug-ins that require look-ahead, and for busses containing plug-ins that are side-chained to tracks.
• Duplicated tracks based on tracks that have a user-defined default patch loaded are now named correctly.
• Audio tracks created by bouncing software instrument tracks in place are now named correctly.

ARA

• ARA edits are now properly retained for saved projects containing muted ARA regions.

Editing

• Fixes an issue where changing Smart Quantize parameters could reset prior edits to note velocities.

Compatibility: macOS 10.15.7 or later

Links