PC and Music News

TWISTED TOOLS have released a brand effects processor and sound generator based on feedback, called Scapes. Scapes uses six independent granular delays, extensive modulation options, a gate sequencer and familiar synth style controls to dynamically manipulate the sound. With Scapes you can create high quality and unique soundscapes, rhythms and sound effects perfectly suited for use in music, film and game audio.

Scapes Features:
- 6 independent delays in one interface
- Independent controls and granular controls per delay
- Sources: External, Impulse, Noise, Saw, Self-Osc. Sine, Square, Tri)
- Playable via MIDI with familiar synth style controls
- 35 scale settings for oscillators, delay time and grain pitch
- 6-voice gate sequencer
- Over 190 presets
- 220mb sample library
- Kore and Maschine Templates
Etc.

Price: $49.

Detunized has reelased DTS024 - Phase Facets, a comprehensive Live Pack featuring the German Hohner HS2/E synthesizer from 1988. The Hohner HS2/E and it's Japanese original, the Casio VZ10m, are the last hardware synths working with „interactive Phase Distortion" synthesis. The iPD was meant as an effort to deliver sounds comparable to those of FM synthesis while its results are easier to predict. IPD is capable of producing wonderful „non-filter" and „non-substractive" tones with sharp attacks and digital precision.
The 650 MB Live Pack „Phase Facets" contains a diversified collection of such iPD sounds that must be categorized far beyond the standard Bass and Lead libraries. With their rich harmonic content and agile brightness the 30 included Live Instruments enrich each Live Library with some 80s retro charme.

Pricing and specifications:
DTS024 – Phase Facets Live Pack (30 instruments / 650 MB / 842 samples) is available as instant download for 6.98 Euro.
Subscribers can purchase DTS024 + DTS023 - Curetronic Modular Vol. 2 for 4.98 Euro only

On Valentine's Day, TC-Helicon launched a competition for singers using TC-Helicon products.The TC-Helicon Love Song Competition gives vocalists a chance to win TC-Helicon prize packages for recording love songs that feature any TC-Helicon product from VoiceLive 2 to the new VoiceTone Singles range.

Winners of the competition can win a Grand Prize of either a VoiceLive Touch or VoiceLive 2 and a MP-75 Modern Performance Vocal Microphone with Mic Control. Four runners-up will have their choice of any VoiceTone Singles stompbox for singers.

The competition runs from February 14 to March 31, 2011. Winners will be voted on by TC-Helicon staff based on quality, creativity, arrangement, talent and use of their TC-Helicon product.
All a musician has to do is record a video of a love song using a TC-Helicon product, post the video on YouTube and submit their entry at tc-helicon.com/love-songs

Orchestral Disorder is a collection of presets for Apple Logic Pro inspired by orchestras. The concept behind the sound set was not to closely emulate acoustic instruments, but rather to explore the possibilities of orchestral timbres without human limitations or purist biases. Featuring three main components, the multi-format product includes files for the Sculpture and ES2 synthesizers, as well as Channel Strips.

The 2 MB download includes 150 .pst files and 25 .cst files.
Orchestral Disorder is available now for $39.99
The partial downloads for the Sculpture and ES2 components are available for $24.99 and $14.99 respectively.

The update sees a whole host of new features including a new interactive interface called 'The Orb' which offers stunning real-time synthesis manipulation capabilities. Spectrasonics describe 'Orb' as a 'Circular Controller' which allows the user the move the Orb cursor around to morph between automatically generated parameter scenes in 'a highly intelligent and musical manner'.

The update also includes deeply expanded additions to the synthesis engine and user interface plus many important user-requested features such as the new 5-Column Browser view and support for polyphonic aftertouch. The new version also includes a significant update to the factory patch library - 780 brand new patches which take advantage of all the new sound design capabilities and brings the total number of included sounds to over 8,000.
v1.5 is available free to registered users from the Spectrasonics website.

The ES-3 is a Eurorack format module which converts eight channels of ADAT Lightpipe input to DC coupled outputs on 3.5mm jacks, for the ultimate convenience in connection of a DAW directly to analogue synthesizers.

The outputs can be used as control voltages (CVs), for example with software such as Expert Sleepers Silent Way, and can also be used as audio outputs at high, modular synth-compatible levels.

With the ES-3, a single optical cable is all that is need to bring direct CV control from your DAW right into the heart of a modular system.