What's New, October 2008

Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

           
 

APPLIED ACOUSTICS SYSTEMS STRUM ACOUSTIC GS-1

EASY PICKIN'

Applied Acoustics Systems (applied-acoustics.com) is renowned for the quality and realism of its physical-modeled virtual instruments. With Strum Acoustic GS-1 (Mac/Win, $229), the company has outdone itself by modeling not only the sound but also the voicings and playing techniques of acoustic guitar. You choose a guitar model or create your own using global and individual string parameters, and then play chords on your MIDI keyboard controller. Strum chooses guitar-chord voicings based on settings you make, then either strums automatically or lets you trigger individual strings and strum styles by playing MIDI notes.

GET SMART

Groovebox Corp.'s Designing Electronic Drums

The latest in Groovebox Corp.'s (grooveboxmusic.com) series of Power PAK tutorials is devoted to creating electronic drum sounds in Ableton Live 7. Designing Electronic Drums (Mac/Win; boxed, $39.99; online viewing, $14.99) consists of 15 tutorials, running more than 3 hours, by Craig McCullough. The tutorials cover all aspects of creating and processing individual drum sounds from samples and waveforms, and then combining them in complete kits using Live's Drum Racks.

St. Martin's The Indie Band Survival Guide

The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual for the Do-It-Yourself Musician ($14.95), by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, reveals how to successfully get your music out to the public based on the authors' experience with their band Beatnik Turtle. Topics include selling your music online; getting airplay on radio, TV, movies, and Podcasts; press relations; and Web-site design. You'll also find tips on how to protect your music and how to make money without being a jerk. Check out St. Martin's Press (indiebandsurvivalguide.com) for details.

HowAudio's Cubase 4: Essential Training

Cubase 4: Essential Training ($34.95) is an 8-hour tutorial hosted by independent Steinberg product specialist Matthew Loel T. Hepworth. The DVD's QuickStart Overview gets beginners up to speed with Cubase fundamentals. Other sections for veterans and beginners alike cover external hardware, surround sound, VST3 instruments and effects plug-ins, the Universal Sound Manager, and scoring. As an alternative to the DVD, HowAudio (howaudio.com) offers subscriptions ($19 monthly, $199 annually) for 24/7 online access to the more than 1,100 video tutorials in the company's catalog.

Sound Advice

Impact Soundworks' Impact: Steel

Impact: Steel (Mac/Win, $79) is the first product from Impact Soundworks (impactsoundworks.com), a collaboration between sound designers Andrew Aversa and Wilbert Roget II. Produced by Roget, this sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt, Steinberg HALion 3, and Tascam GigaStudio 3 features multisampled recordings of five metal objects: steel frame, metal cylinders (two sizes), metal spring, and metal cone. Articulations include hits, scrapes, rolls, and other textures. They are provided as separate instruments but are mapped so as to all be playable from a single keyboard. You also get 16 highly processed, pitch-mapped FX Patches.

Heavyocity's Evolve

Evolve (Mac/Win, $399 [MSRP]) from Heavyocity Media (heavyocity.com) is a collection of Native Instruments Kontakt Player 2 presets designed primarily for TV and video-game production. Noted producers Dave Fraser and Neil Goldberg (NFL, GE, Sony, and others) organized the collection for quick production. Categories include Rhythmic Suites (tuned and untuned percussion loops and arps), Percussive Kits (standard and found sounds), Stings and Transitions (sweeps, builds, and mangled instruments), and Tonality and FX (bass, melody, and pads). Mix and match instruments yourself, or start with one of 25 8-channel Multis designed for maximum compatibility.

Sonivox's Anatomy

If your percussion tracks lack that human feel, Anatomy (Mac/Win, $199) from Sonivox might be just the thing for you. This collection of roughly 800 presets for Native Instruments Kontakt 2 and 3 is produced entirely from melodic and percussive sounds created using parts of the human anatomy. The library is divided into two categories: Man (little processing beyond filter and reverb) and Machine (severely dealt with). Both categories contain drum kits, Foley and special effects, leads and basses, and pads. You'll find MP3 audio examples and Kontakt 2 demo instruments at sonivoxmi.com.