PC and Music News

Spectrasonics today launched a unique, multi-faceted tribute to honor the legacy of synthesizer pioneer Dr. Robert Moog. The company released a new "Bob Moog Tribute Library" created by renowned artists for Omnisphere, and kicked off a contest designed around the library, where participants enter to win the one-of-a-kind "OMG-1" hardware synthesizer created by Eric Persing. 100% of the proceeds from this Tribute go to benefit the Bob Moog Foundation.

roduced by Eric Persing, the Bob Moog Tribute library features over 700 stunning new sounds for Omnisphere, Spectrasonics' flagship synthesizer virtual instrument. The sounds in the library were created by more than 40 of the world's top synth artists, remixers and sound designers.

The 2.4GB of new Soundsources in the library were developed using highly creative processing techniques - often with exotic gear like rare Buchla Modulars, Jean Michel Jarre's EMS Synthi AKS, Hans Zimmer's massive Modular Moog (including 1027 round robin Moog Drum samples!) and even Persing's unique OMG-1. With so many different world-class artists contributing, the library is very rich in style and filled with inspiring, cutting edge sounds.

Developed in Australia during the '70s and '80s, the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first commercial sampler and screen-based rhythm sequencer. Today every sampler, digital synthesizer, sequencer and audio workstation can trace its lineage back to this legendary machine. Now you can have, in your pocket or on your iPad, a piece of history developed by Fairlight staff who worked on the CMI in the '80s.

You can buy and download the standard App from iTunes and play original Fairlight CMI sounds and sequences straight away. If you want to create your own masterpieces you can use the in-app upgrade process to get all the Pro features listed in the Features page.

Detunized releases Shak 2, an interesting Live Pack featuring the Roland SH-2000. This somewhat toylike synthesizer was introduced in 1973. It's an analog single-oscillator keyboard with adjustable cutoff, resonance and LFO modulation on filter and pitch. Below its 37-note keyboard are 30 colorful tab switches for the selection of such funny presets like Frog Man, Singing Voice or Hawaiian Guitar. Although the sounds of these presets are far away from what their names imply they are fun to play with.

The 130MB Live Pack includes 22 sets of samples from the SH-2000. Through combination with Ableton Sampler's FX and modulation capabilities a colorful palette of substantialy processed instruments was programmed. In order to keep an eye on the original sound of the SH-2000 most of the Live instruments are equipped with a Kill Switch. This instantly allows to return to the unaltered and original preset sound.
DTS025 – Shak 2 Live Pack (22 instruments / 130 MB / 285 samples) is available as instant download for 6.98 Euro.
Subscribers can purchase DTS025 + DTS024 – Phase Facets Live Pack for 4.98 Euro only.

Kings of Bhangra Vol 2 is the latest in this truly inspirational series from award-winning soundtrack composer and producer Gaurav Dayal. This set of 5 stunning Construction Kits includes 130 loops and samples per format, recorded on the finest instruments played by the most experienced musicians.

This pack features a choice of ACID WAV, Apple Loops, REX and ReFill formats. From the producer of the immense 'Classic Bollywood' sample library, comes 'Kings of Bhangra Vol 2', a multi-format collection of 5 Construction Kits fusing traditional Indian musical elements with contemporary Bhangra and urban styles.

Price: £24.95 / 29,28 EUR / $34.23 USD

- Balani is a 2 1/2 octave balafon (or balaphon) with small calabash resonators form Guinea,
- It originally plays a B major scale and has been extended for this library,
- Recorded at 88.2khz 24bits, downsampled to 44.1khz 24bits.
- 230Mb sample bank, no loops, 967 samples,
- 12 velocity layers per note,
- 4 round robins to avoid the machine gun effect (so 48 samples per note),
- Both original and corrected tunings are available for a traditional or contemporary sound,
- The kontakt version features a manual tuning table to allow you to tune it your way,
- Available for Kontakt 2, 3 and 4, EXS and our player: the ASPlayer (VST and - Audio Unit for mac, and VST for windows) : you don't need anything else to be able to play it.

Price: 34€.

Audio-Technica is now shipping its AT2022 X/Y Stereo Condenser Microphone.
A dual-element condenser microphone designed for stereo recording, the AT2022 features two unidirectional condenser capsules in an X/Y configuration pivot to allow for 90-degree (narrow) or 120-degree (wide) stereo operation for extremely versatile pickup. The capsules also fold flat for storage and transportation. It is designed for general stereo recording, as well as field
sound capture.

The AT2022 includes a 1.6' (0.5 m) cable terminating in a 3-pin XLRF-type and a 1/8"
(3.5 mm) connector. The output of the microphone is a 3-pin XLRM-type connector. The
microphone requires a 1.5V AA battery for operation.