PC and Music News

Expert Sleepers releases Oomingmak, a pitch- and envelope-tracking (re)synthesis plug-in effect. Or, to put it another way, if you feed a sound source (e.g. a guitar) into Oomingmak it will come out sounding like you're playing an analogue monosynth. Or maybe something else entirely.

Oomingmak tracks the pitch and level of the incoming audio and uses them to :

- Synthesize an entirely original sound, using classic analogue-style waveforms and subtractive synthesis.
- Apply pitch modulation to the incoming audio, while syncing to the original waveform (the classic 'oscillator sync' effect, except that the 'oscillator' here is your audio).

The oscillator can also be synced to the incoming audio, and the tracked envelope can be used to modulate the pitch, filter cut-off and oscillator pulse-width. LFOs are also provided for further modulation possibilities. Two ring modulators are also provided, allowing two different combinations of the above sounds to be modulated against each other. As with all pitch-tracking devices, Oomingmak tends to work best on monophonic sound sources. It was designed particularly with the guitar in mind, in which case it tends to work well on solo lines rather than chords. However, sending chords, or even non-pitched sounds (e.g. drums) through it can also have very interesting results.

Oomingmak is available now for Mac OS X (AU/VST) and Windows (VST) and is priced at $29. Demo versions are available. To celebrate the release, Expert Sleepers is offering $10 off any other Expert Sleepers product when purchased at the same time as Oomingmak.

Empress Effects has released its new Empress Tremolo plug-in, a digital re-creation of the Empress Tremolo Pedal. Empress Effects has included all the features from the hardware pedal along with some bonus features, including stereo operation.

New extra features only in the plug-in :

- Accurate Sync: The Plugin is able to sync to your Digital Audio Workstation. This means you can play through the whole song and don't have to worry about your Tremolo going out of time. It will sync up at the DAW tempo, 1/2x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and 6x the DAW tempo.
- Phase: This feature goes hand in hand with the sync feature. You're able to adjust the phase of the Tremolo's waveform, this way you can have always pulsing on the beat, or on the off-beat, or slightly before the beat, slightly after the beat... you get the idea.
- Stereo Operation: There are four stereo modes:
- Linked: in this setting the Left and Right channels pulse together.
- Ping-Pong: in this setting the Left and Right channels are opposite - i.e. When the left channel is loud the right channel is quiet. This allows the Tremolo to work extremely well as an auto-panner.
- Left follows Right: In this setting the waveform shape of the left channel is slightly delayed relative to the right waveform.
- Right follows Left: In this setting the waveform shape of the right channel is slightly delayed relative to the left waveform.
- The Stereo modes allow the plug-in to act like an autopanner on steroids.
- Automation


Empress Tremolo is available for Windows and Mac OS X in VST and AU plug-in formats at a price of 79$.

Clavia is about to introduce the new Nord C2 Combo Organ at the upcoming MusikMesse. They will also present two new accessories : an aluminum stand for the C2 and a bass pedal keyboard – the Pedal Key 27.

Nord C2 Features :

- Pipe Organ
- New keyboard action
- Improved output routing capabilities
- Monitor input
- Percussion controls moved to the "classic position"
- Vibrato and chorus controls moved to the "classic position"
- Enhanced click
- Drawbar Preview

Pricing and availability TBA. Audio demos are available at :

M-Audio unveils two new sets of Active Studio Monitors : the Studiophile CX-5 and CX-8.

The CX-5 and CX-8 have 5-inch and 8-inch Kevlar low-frequency driver, respectively; and 1.25-inch silk-domed high-frequency driver. Both speakers feature a number of "room tuning" controls on the back for combating the ill-effects of placement within less-than-ideal acoustic situation. LF Cutoff, MF Boost and HF Trim switches provide attenuation along specific bands, and an Acoustic Space control. They offer RCA inputs and Neutrick combo connectors.

The Studiophile CX-5 and CX-8 are priced at $399.95 and $499.95 respectively.

TC Electronic will be launching BMC-2 at the 2009 Frankfurt Musikmesse, a dedicated Digital-to-Analog Converter and high quality Monitor Control that is suited for use with digital and analog speakers.

BMC-2 is a self-contained desktop unit and can be operated without a Mac or PC, putting instant control of sound levels within easy reach – no matter what. As well as controlling the listening level, BMC-2 can also switch between three digital input sources – S/PDIF, AES3, TOS and ADAT, and confirm if inputs are synchronous or not.

UVI SoundSource introduces Baby Grand Piano. Here is the official press release :

" We are proud to introduce a new beautiful sounding piano for an incredible price, this 6 GB library brings up a very unique and rare instrument with an exceptionally warm and emotional sound, something hard to find with old pianos." said Alain Etchart, Founder and Director of Marketing at Univers Sons / UVI Soundsource.

After the success of our UVI SoundPack Acoustic Grand Piano, we felt it was time to come up with something slightly different. So back in the road we were looking for a piano with sound and history. We did visit a serious amount of ancient piano addicts. As for the Acoustic Grand Piano, the alchemy is not easy to find, and we did try several models and places until we found the right one. During our investigation we fell in love with a gorgeous baby grand piano built in 1930 by the manufacturer Erard. This is one of the "smallest grand piano" ever built, and it sounds incredibly large in regard to its size.

This time, to capture the heart of this lovely piece of musical instrument history, we didn't bring the piano to a big studio, but came up with our own gear to record the piano in place. As usual, our gear consisted in extremely good microphones, excellent sounding mic pre and insanely good analog to digital converters. Every single note was carefully multi-sampled in multiple (up to 8) velocity levels; we did also introduce a new special technique to capture the true sound when playing with the sustain pedal, to add another level of realism.

Thanks to the UVI Engine advanced keygroup layers and rule switching, the sustain pedal and release samples perform and "feel" like a real piano.

Baby Grand Piano is available now for $69 as digital download and is compatible with every configuration thanks to the free UVI Workstation. It's also fully compatible with MOTU BPM, Beat Production Machine.

UVI Soundpack Baby Grand Piano