Meet bass player bassplayer/composer Alex Fouquet (and his assistant!) in his studio…

FXpansion is proud to present BFD Heavy, a BFD2 expansion pack containing a pair of immaculately recorded Yamaha birch drumkits, supplied with a set of presets perfect for heavy rock, metal and other styles that require powerful, weighty drums.

Features:

* Low-cost, download-only expansion pack for BFD2
* 3 Kicks played with felt and wood beaters
* 9 Toms played with sticks and mallets
* Bonus snare with strainer on and off, played with sticks and mallets

Pricing & Availability:
BFD Heavy is a download only product and is available now from the web shop!
Pricing is GBP £35, Euro €49, USD $70 for all registered BFD2 owners.

HUMCAST is HUMTOO’s podcast series…Meet EntropiK, the budding producer of media music in multiple genres including classical, electronic and easy listening, and also a performance/ recording duo who make beautiful and boundary-breaking music featuring cello and electronics.

As a producer of media music, EntropiK.humtoo.com is also gaining a solid and favourable reputation. In the past 12 months, they have scored 2 award-winning short films: Enfant (by AdamR) and Le Cinquième Jour (David Forest Animations) and have licensed a vast number of their tracks for a variety of media platforms including documentaries, corporate films, commercials and films.

They have a growing list of short films scores to their name and collaborated on a feature film score for the British independent horror film, Bane.

Check out the Podcast HERE.

More info www.humtoo.com

An updated version 3.1 of Voxengo GlissEQ is now available for download.  Voxengo GlissEQ is a dynamic parametric equalizer plug-in for professional audio and sound production applications, available in AudioUnit and VST plug-in formats, for Mac OS X and Windows  computers.
This version implements the following changes:

* Preset “update” function implemented in the preset manager.
* Selected filter’s curve is now always shown, not only when hovered.
* Filter selection (scrolling) buttons added.
* Control points can now be double-clicked to disable/enable the filter.
* The “VST Function Sync” global switch was added that fixes crashes in some hosts (i.e.  Tracktion).
* Control surface readout now displays musical note.
* “Density mode” implemented in the output level meter.
* “Ctrl+Drag” narrow-band sweeping implemented.

The most interesting and unique feature GlissEQ offers you is its filters with dynamic behavior.  Such “dynamic behavior” gives you
a friendly, assisting equalization experience.  Boosting up the highs will not create the fatiguing effect of overload; boosting up the lows
will not make things sound mushy.  Instead, you will get a pleasant transient-emphasizing effect bringing life and dimension to your
tracks.

GlissEQ features:

* Filters with dynamic behavior
* Real-time spectrum analysis
* Real-time spectrum import/export
* Up to 32 filter bands
* 16 filter types
* Harmonically-enhanced filter type
* Narrow-band sweeping
* Multi-channel processing
* Internal channel routing
* Channel grouping
* Mid/side processing
* Up to 8x oversampling
* 64-bit floating point processing
* Preset manager
* Undo/redo history
* A/B comparisons
* Contextual hint messages

Demo version of Voxengo GlissEQ and other pro audio plug-ins can be downloaded at the Voxengo web site.

Toontrack Music announce the official Superior Drummer 2.0 tutorial presented by Mattias Eklund Toontrack Music Head of sound design and founding partner together with Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman and drummer NIR Z,  the team behind the recordings for Superior Drummer 2.0.

As an added bonus Neil Dorfsman also goes through Toontrack drum replacement app Drumtracker explaining its feature set.

The tutorial is available on-line at the Toontrack website as of today.

GETTING STARTED
Setting up Superior Drummer in your DAW.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 sound good quickSOUND GOOD QUICK
Walking you through how to get a great drum sound from Superior Drummer in a matter of seconds!
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 construction windowCONSTRUCTION WINDOW
Explaining the different functions from Left to Right inside the Construction view of Superior Drummer.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 mixerMIXER
Demonstrating the Mixer of Superior Drummer and its functionality.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 multichannel to hostMULTICHANNEL TO HOST
How to setup Superior Drummer as a Multiple Output plugin.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 combined presetsCOMBINED PRESETS
What Combined Presets are and various ways of implementing them from within Superior Drummer.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 bounce render to audioBOUNCE / RENDER TO AUDIO
There are many options when looking to export your drums from Superior Drummer. The guys guide you through the process.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 drumtracker superior drummerDRUMTRACKER / S 2.0 TUTORIAL
Drummer Nir Z jams and the team uses Drumtracker to render his live audio recording to MIDI as well as showcasing the possibilities when using the retrieved MIDI in Superior Drummer.
Presented from BiCoastal Music Studio, N.Y. by: Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman & Mattias Eklund.

S20 interview with NY crewINTERVIEW WITH THE N.Y. RECORDING TEAM
An interview with the team behind the N.Y. recordings for Superior Drummer. With Pat Thrall, Neil Dorfsman, Nir Z & Mattias Eklund.

Library of the Extreme – Blasts & Fills
Toontrack Music is proud to announce the release of this colossus of a Metal MIDI package, featuring one of the most prominent players in today’s metal scene, Dirk Verbeuren, drummer in Soilwork, Scarve and Aborted.

So, ever felt like having insane, extreme world class Metal drumming, executed with such a razor-blade perfection and ingenious brutality that it will hit you like a 20 ton wrecking ball of sheer metal, only a mouse click away, available 24/7?
Thought so.

Enter Library of the Extreme – Blasts & Fills, the ultimate and one of its kind collection of more than 1000 individually played MIDI files.

· All material categorized by Style, BPM and Leading Instrument
· Both Straight and Triplet variations available
· Works with EZdrummer®, Superior Drummer® (optimized for 1 or 2 kicks, 1 snare, 2 toms, 1 floor-tom, 2 crash-cymbals, 1 china and 1 ride-cymbal)
· Includes Dirk Verbeuren custom Kit Selections for The Metal Foundry SDX™ and Superior Drummer 2.0® core library N.Y – Avatar

Updated Voxengo Beeper v2.1 and Voxengo Stereo Touch 2.1 free audio plug-ins are now available for download.  These plug-ins can be loaded into any audio host application that conforms to the VST or AudioUnit plug-in specification.  Plug-ins are compatible with Windows (XP and later versions, 32- and 64-bit) and Mac OS X (10.4.11 and later versions, Intel and PowerPC) computers (2 GHz dual-core or faster processor with at least 1 GB of system RAM recommended).

These maintenance updates include the following changes:

* Beeper’s “Period” parameter’s minimal value is now 1 second.
* “Radial” knob mode can be now disabled completely.
* “Off-Line Render” indication added.
* Knob read-outs now require a single click for keyboard entry.
* Occasional crashes in WaveLab and other hosts fixed.
* Host sample rate switch-related problem fixed.
* Minor visual improvements implemented.
* Plug-in initial loading time reduced.
* The “VST Function Sync” global switch was added that fixes crashes in some hosts (i.e.  Tracktion).
* Parameter automation on AU Mac OS X now shows real parameter values.
* Preset “update” function implemented in the preset manager.

Voxengo Beeper

Beeper is an auxiliary audio processing AU and VST plugin which you can use to insert short beep, noise burst or silence signals to any sound material.  This plug-in may help you protect your work from stealing.  It is safe to apply this  plug-in to any mission-critical material because plug-in does not perform any processing on the audio between signals.

Voxengo Stereo Touch

Stereo Touch plug-in implements a classic technique of transforming a monophonic track into spacious stereophonic track by means of mid/side coding technique.  This plug-in is most effective on monophonic sounds without overly  sharp transients: it works great for both acoustic and electric/overdriven guitars, synthetic pad sounds and even  vocals.

Denon DJ has announced two new professional DJ products: The DN-X1700 mixer and DN-S3700 digital media turntable. Debuted at PLASA and MusicMesse respectively this year, these products represent the top of Denon DJ’s range.

Designed as an ultimate DJ performance tool, the Denon DN-X1700 boasts standards of quality, control and performance exceeding anything that has gone before. Years of collaboration with top professional DJs around the world have gone into the development and engineering of this, the world’s best DJ mixer. Joining the DN-X1700, the Denon DN-S3700 is a direct drive, digital media turntable and USB / MIDI controller. A third generation product development, the DN-S3700 boasts performance standards and features that set it far apart from the CDJ crowd.

Distinguishing itself from all other flagship offerings in attention to layout, construction and component quality, absolutely nothing in the design of the DN-X1700 has been sacrificed to considerations of cost or mass production. At a glance this is a highly ergonomic 4-channel ‘industry standard’ size tabletop mixer. It’s spacious, highly tactile control layout features studio quality 60 mm Alps K Series channel faders and a 45 mm FLEX cross fader, large high quality rubberized control knobs with LED ring metering, a high visibility 3.5 inch TFT colour LCD display and extended 24 point LED channel and output metering. Headline performance features include exceptional signal processing technology, independent parametric 3-band EQ with Kill on every channel, two built-in independent and combinable EFX processors, two USB2.0 audio and MIDI control interfaces, and Matrix Input Assignment – with digital input and MIDI / USB audio.

Continue Reading

Authorizes Connection Between Pro Tools M-Powered 8 and Onyx-i Series Mixers

LOUD Technologies Inc. (parent company of Mackie) today announced it has signed an agreement with Avid® that licenses the use of Mackie’s new Onyx-i Series Firewire Recording Mixers with Avid Pro Tools M-Powered™ 8 software.

To enable use with Pro Tools M-Powered 8, users will need to purchase the Mackie Universal Driver upgrade ($49.99 USD). Once the driver is downloaded and installed, the Onyx 820i, 1220i, 1620i and 1640i mixers can be used with Avid Pro Tools M-Powered 8 software.

“For years, Mackie customers have wanted to combine the familiar workflow of an analog mixer with the world’s most popular DAW,” remarked John Boudreau, VP of LOUD’s Music Gear group. “Through our newly-signed agreement with Avid, Mackie’s Onyx-i mixers now make this possible.”

Chris Gahagan, Senior Vice President of Products at Avid said, “Avid has made openness a key component of its ongoing strategy, and this agreement with LOUD is a perfect example of how we continue to open up our ecosystem.  As joint developers of the HUI protocol, Avid and LOUD have a history of working productively together, and we’re pleased to be working together on this latest endeavor to provide our customers with more choice and flexibility when it comes to unleashing their creativity.”

Mackie Onyx-i Series FireWire Recording Mixers are now available at Mackie-authorized dealers worldwide. For more information on this series, please visit http://www.mackie.com/onyxiseries.

Voxengo is a multi-functional vocal channel strip plugin for professional audio and sound production applications, available in AudioUnit and VST plug-in formats, for Mac OS X and Windows computers.

Version 2.3 update includes the following changes:

* The “RT Max” spectrum analysis option added.
* Spectrum’s precision does not depend on the oversampling level now.
* Side-chain routing presets now appear dimmed to reduce confusion.
* Parameter automation on AU Mac OS X now shows real parameter
values.
* Preset “update” function implemented in the preset manager.
* Selected filter’s curve is now always shown, not only when hovered.
* Control points can now be double-clicked to disable/enable the filter.
* The “VST Function Sync” global switch was added that fixes crashes in some hosts (i.e.  Tracktion).
* Control surface readout now displays musical note.
* “Density mode” implemented in level meters.

Combining several professional quality processing modules, Voxformer was designed to be a comprehensive solution for all your vocal processing needs – be it spoken or sung vocals.  In most cases Voxformer can be used for processing of a wide range of instruments beside vocals.

Voxformer features:

* Two built-in vocal compressors
* Two-band compressor operation
* Asymmetric compression
* 5-band equalizer
* Real-time FFT spectrum analyzer
* Noise gate (de-breath) module
* De-esser module
* Presence boosting module
* Saturation module
* Residue listening mode
* Multi-channel processing
* Internal channel routing
* Channel grouping
* Mid/side processing
* Up to 8x oversampling
* 64-bit floating point processing
* Preset manager
* Undo/redo history
* A/B comparisons
* Contextual hint messages

Demo version of Voxengo Voxformer and other pro audio plug-ins can be downloaded at the Voxengo web site