Big Tick Audio Software has introduced Zen, a free universal presets manager for Windows VSTis.

Zen loads in any host as a vsti, and acts as a loader for other vstis. So with Zen, you can search for “Rhodes piano” and get a list of all matching presets – regardless of the final vsti (Rhino, Zebra, Absynth…). When you select one of the presets in Zen, the corresponding vsti is automatically loaded to play the requested preset.

Many popular vstis are supported, including:

• U-he ACE
• Native Instrument’s Absynth 5
• Rob Papen Albino 3
• Anti’s Augur
• FullBucket Blooo
• Green Oak Crystal
• DiscoDSP Discovery, Discovery Pro, Phantom and Vertigo
• NuSofting daHornet
• TAL Elek7ro
• Wusik EVE
• Tone12 Firebird
• Smart Electronic Foorius
• Tone12 Gladiator
• Boris K. Intro
• Progress Audio Kinisis
• ConcreteFX Kubik
• SarVST LoganA
• FullBucket Mono/Fury
• TAL NoizeMaker
• FuzzPilz Oatmeal
• LinPlug Octopus
• Schwa Olga
• SonicProjects OPX-Pro
• Our own Rhino and RhinoCM
• Humanoid Sound System ScannedSynth
• Buchty SQ8L
• LennardDigital Sylenth1
• Ichiro Toda’s Synth1
• Image-Line Sytrus
• Cakewalk Triangle II
• FabFilter Twin II
• Vaz+
• U-he Zebra
• Cakewalk Z3ta+

Eventually Zen aims to categorize all available presets, for all vstis.

Zen synchronizes its own local database of presets with a master online database hosted at www.bigtickaudio.com – users get new presets daily, delivered right into their sequencer, already categorized.

Commercial presets designers can use Zen to send demo version of their presets to all potential customers.

Users can preview the presets in Zen, directly in the context of their track, and buy the presets they like with just one click. Presets can be bought individually, as opposed to purchasing a full bank of presets.

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Minuit’s Fuji.

“Prepare for an assault by ear,

this is hi-tech advanced audio warfare,

we are now gaining ground by this that you hear,

call it what you like. “

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yum!

Even if you’ve already graduated, this promo video, featuring Dr. Gil Weinberg’s improvising music robot Shimon and a drum buddy, could make you want to transfer to Georgia Tech…..

Peter Kirn has an interesting interview with Weinberg at CDM.

This video offers a preview of the upcoming book, The Sounds Of Star Wars, a look at the groundbreaking sound design of the popular series.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Bit-52′s, aka The World’s Greatest Parts Band, play their arrangement of The B-52’s Rock Lobster.

The Bit-52’s consist of:

• Fred’s Vocals – TI99/4a computer, speech synthesizer and terminal emulator ii module
• Kate and Cindy’s Vocals – Two HP Scanjet 3C scanners, UBunto and sjetplay written by NuGanjaTron
• The Guitar, Keyboard, Cow Bell, Cymbal and Tambourine are all controlled by various types of push/pull solenoinds for a total of 23. The Solenoids are powered by four ULN2803 darlington drivers and everything is controlled by two PIC16F84A microcontrollers.

via bd594:

What do you get when you combine retro computer parts and an up and coming robot band?

The Bit-52’s

This is dedicated to all fans of The B-52’s who are also known as the “Worlds Greatest Party Band”. It just so happens they currently on tour so go out and buy some tickets. This idea has been simmering in my mind for the last couple of years and after many months of procrastinating it is finally complete. I was also motivated to finish my robot band after seeing a YouTube Video from “The Trons” from New Zealand.

James

The Moog Voyager XL is a new patchable analog synthesizer that, if legit, could be the greatest monosynth of all time.

Moog hasn’t officially announced the Voyager XL yet – it appeared briefly on the Big City Music site earlier toda, but has since been yanked.

The Moog Voyager XL is a 60-key analog synth that combines the features of the standard Moog Minimoog Voyager with the VX-351 Control Voltage Expander, adds a dash of the CP-251 Control Processor and then throws in a ribbon controller.

In other words, it’s a distillation and refinement of Moog’s most notable synths – the Moog Modular and the Minimoog.

Here’s a closer look at the Moog Voyager XL controls:

The Voyager XL is expected to be available in the November/December timeframe and to retail for $4,995.

What do you think of the Moog Voyager XL? Is it the ultimate monosynth? Is $5k for a synth, even a Moog, too high?

Leave a comment with your thoughts!

via BCM, MC202

There’s a new Tron Legacy soundtrack Website which may or may not offer a preview of the Daft Punk soundtrack.

The site doesn’t seem to offer any way to authenticate it as legitimate – so it’s either bogus or the agency that produced it is a bit clueless.

It doesn’t offer any info and it solicits you to sign up for an email newsletter.  And the domain is registered to one Ryan Rochford.

You can check it out here. Let me know what you think!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Novation today introduced a new keyboard synthesizer, the Novation UltraNova.

Description:

The UltraNova is a ‘Nova’ series analogue-modelling synthesizer with a powerful effects processor. It is a single-part synth taking the legendary Supernova II synth engine as a starting point and packing it with the latest technology. It now has brand new features including wavetable synthesis, even more powerful filters, a software editor and a revolutionary new touch-sense performance mode.

The Novation UltraNova will list for $850 and retail closer to $700.

Check out the details below and let me know what you think of the Novation UltraNova!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Key Features of the Novation UltraNova:

• Brand new Nova-series synth engine based on Supernova II:
  • Single part with up to 18 voices, 14 filter types, 36 wavetables, 5 effect slots
  • Patch Browse enables you to browse 300 sounds by type & genre
• Touch-sense controls enable totally new sound-shaping & performance:
  • Trigger envelopes/LFOs/filters/FX by just touching the encoders
  • Large rotary control instantly allows you fine control of any parameter
• Totally gig-able with 37 full sized keys, a vocoder, and loads of controls:
  • Voice optimized 12 band vocoder with gooseneck mic
  • High quality key bed with aftertouch for expressive playing styles
• Software plug-in editor and Patch Librarian for full visual editing:
  • Plug-in editor allows you to view and edit in with software
  • Software Patch Librarian a organise, store and share unlimited patches
• Built-in 2 in 4 out USB audio interface and it can be bus powered:
  • UltraNova can be used to stream audio to and from a host computer
  • Stereo main (analogue & SPDIF) and aux outputs, and MIDI in/out/thru ports

These videos go into further detail on the Novation UltraNova’s features and interface:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moog Music has announced that Devo will be the 2010 recipient of The Moog Innovation Award, to be presented to the band during MoogFest 2010 weekend, October 29-31 in Asheville, NC.

As part of this award, Moog Music will present Devo with a very special synthesizer (Moog Voyager XL anyone?), details of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Past recipients of the previously titled Moog Award include Keith Emerson, Herb Deutsch, Gershon Kingsley, Jan Hammer and Bernie Worrell.

Moog Music had this to say about Devo and the award in a statement:

“MoogFest is about shunning limitations, opening your mind and rejoicing in what’s next. MoogFest is about celebrating the marriage of technology and art, fearlessly embracing the future while respecting the genre-definers of the past. That’s why we created the Moog Innovation Award, to celebrate artists that helped to catapult pop music into the future and commemorate those artists that boldly burst through established norms to pave the way forward. That’s the spirit of Bob Moog and that’s the essence of the Moog Innovation Award.

The first recipient of the Moog Innovation Award is DEVO and we feel that they are a perfect representation of innovative sound-sculpting and genre-defying electronic music. Like Bob Moog, DEVO enthusiastically charted their own course and thus dramatically affected pop culture because of it. Not to mention the fact that they used Moog instruments to create their inimitable sound. MoogFest and the Moog Innovation Award is the perfect way to pay homage to Bob Moog and his adopted hometown of Asheville, NC where he raised his kids, gave birth to some of his greatest inventions and where he re-established the company that bears his name and carries on his legacy, Moog Music.” – Emmy Parker, Moog Music

Devo will play MoogFest 2010, a three-day festival celebrating the innovative vision of Bob Moog. MoogFest 2010 tickets are on sale now.

Ableton has partnered with online education providers to offer free Ableton Live training when you buy Live 8, Suite 8, Live Intro or any upgrade between September 1 and October 31, 2010.

After you buy an eligible product, you’ll get a coupon that gives you access to any—or all—of the training options listed below:

• Berkleemusic.com is offering one week of access to their “Producing Music with Ableton Live” and “Advanced Music Production with Ableton Live” courses. These are university-level courses on all aspects of Ableton Live.
• Sonic Academy is offering 30 days of free access to every Ableton video in their library, covering everything from Ableton basics to genre-specific how-to videos.
• AudioTechKnowledge.com is offering a sampling of both Volumes 1 and 2 of their Ableton Live course. This special version, produced by ASK Video, includes 24 lessons.
• Live-courses.com is offering a sampling of both their Beginner and Advanced Ableton Live courses. These four lessons are taught by Ableton Certfied Trainer Rob Jones.

• Elephorm is offering 30 days of access to a sampling of their Ableton Live tutorial content, presented by Ableton Certified Trainer Agni Akkitham.

• DVD Lernkurs is offering a special downloadable package containing videos from both volumes of their Ableton Live training courses. This special 40-lesson compilation accompanies users through the steps necessary to create their first tracks with Ableton Live, from basic recording to export.

• microFusa is offering the first six lessons of their first-level Ableton Live 8 course. After an introduction to the basic navigation and use of Ableton Live, users will be presented with instruction for specific applications, from live DJing to song production using virtual instruments.

See the Ableton site for details.

Free Music Software: Audio Genetics has released a new virtual instrument, Magnus Chord Organ, as a free download for Kontakt 3.5.

Description:

This small subspecies is closely related to the accordion and harmonica, with the key difference being the source of the air movement generating from an electric fan as opposed to moving bellows or lungs.

Originally three keyboard octaves, and including a number of accordion-like chord buttons, this family instrument was widely distributed in the 1970’s. It has a raw, charming quality to its sound.

You can preview Magnus Chord Organ above. More details at the site.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video offers an introduction to Native Instruments’ Vintage Organs – a new virtual instrument collection.

Vintage Organs includes the sounds of the Hammond B-3, C-3 and M-3 models, the Vox Continental II and the Farfisa Compact, recorded from the original instruments. The Organ and Amp pages provide full control over sound through drawbars, percussion, chorus/vibrato, overdrive, rotary effect, envelopes, EQ and reverb.

Native Instruments Vintage Organs is available now for $119.

via NativeInstruments

Click here to view the embedded video.

Native Instruments Reaktor Prism is a polyphonic instrument for Reaktor 5, based on physical modeling synthesis.

Prism produces a sound that can be dramatically modified via internal or external sources. The result is a wide-ranging synth, equally powerful for hard basses and digital leads as organic soundscapes, percussive keys, flutes and bells.

Reaktor Prism is available now for $79.

If you’ve used Native Instruments Reaktor Prism, leave a comment with your thoughts!

via NativeInstruments:

This introduction provides an overlook of this new Reaktor instrument. It also gives a short glimpse into the basic principles of modal synthesis, its underlying structure.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video demos Casper Electronics’ modified Nintendo game console, controlled by a modular synthesizer.

For info on building your own Nintendo modular video system, see the Casper Electronics site.

via bubagoo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check this out! This is a demo of the Missing Link - a wireless device that receives OSC and outputs MIDI.

In other words, you can slap one of these on your old MIDI gear and then control it wirelessly from an iPhone or iPad or other wireless device.

There used to be a device called the Missing Link made by CP Technology that was a MIDI-to-Control Voltage adapter, but this doesn’t appear to be related to that.  If you’ve got more info on this “Missing Link” wireless MIDI adapter, leave a comment!

And let me know if you’ve got a use for a wireless OSC to MIDI adapter like this!

via minhternet:

When I open my settings in my phone it shows up as a network that I can connect to.

When I go to my OSC app, and press a button, an OSC message will be sent wirelessly from my phone.

This message will get received by the Missing Link, which converts it to MIDI and sends it to the instrument.

I can now use my phone to play a keyboard or control my mixer or MIDI LED lights.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don Buchla, David Kean and others join together in an impromptu synth jam improvisation, mostly Buchla instruments. .

Feb 2000. Post-NAMM party.

Buchla is scheduled to appear at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, scheduled for this weekend.

via Synthfool

Click here to view the embedded video.

Alexander Marcus is a persona of the German music producer Felix Rennefeld…

According to Wikipedia:

Rennefeld’s music is a mixture of modern electronic club music and folk music, which he has named ‘Electro Lore’, a combination of ‘electro’ and ‘folklore’…Marcus exaggerates many of the clichés present in pop music, and his music videos feature “trashy” objects, such as a recurrent plastic globe called “Globi”. Spiegel Online sees the character as a typical example of a return to pop-art social criticism. Never breaking out of character, he leaves the question of whether he is a parody unanswered.

Lyrics (Googlish translation):

Pineapple, canned
Scheib Latvians cheese and ham
Preheat the oven and clean it!
On the middle shelf

Refrain:

NANANANANANA, this is the Hawaii Toast, Toast Hawaii all tastes good
What about you?

NANANANANANA that tastes really young and old
The important thing is the white bread, it is clear!

NANANANANANA, this is the Hawaii Toast, Toast Hawaii all tastes good
What about you?

NANANANANANA, Donation of consolation in time of need, this is the Hawaii Toast! I like so ..

The cheese is runny, the toast is ready!
Quickly set the table, I hunger!

MHH, tastes good, the toast! I still want one
“No problem!”
Bon appetit!

Refrain:

NANANANANANA, this is the Hawaii Toast, Toast Hawaii all tastes good
What about you?

NANANANANANA that tastes really great and small
The important thing is the white bread, it is clear!

NANANANANANA, this is the Hawaii Toast, Toast Hawaii all tastes good
What about you?

NANANANANANA, Donation of consolation in time of need, this is the Hawaii Toast! I like so ..

I like it up (4x)

“I’m sorry … I’m sorry, Mother”

via Coilhouse

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iPhone Music Software: Mike Gao has released an new $2.99 app for iPhone and iPod Touch, Vocal Beater, that lets you beatbox into a phone, email it, then load it up in a MPC, other beat machine, or DAW.

Vocal Beater turns your beat boxing into a velocity sensitive MIDI file to email. Detected hits can be edited.

via mikegao85

Click here to view the embedded video.

iPad Music Software: MooCowMusic has announced hardware MIDI support for their Piano Pro iPad virtual instrument:

In V1.5 Pianist Pro for the iPad adds support for the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer interface, allowing bi-directional MIDI control. For wireless MIDI control, the V1.5 update also adds MIDI via DSMI support and optimized MIDI via OSC support.

Piano Pro demonstrates the new possibilities hardware MIDI adds to the iPad.

But it also begs the question: What iPad/iPhone music app do you think should add hardware MIDI support next?

Deadmau5 has announced, via his Facebook page, that he’s working on a hardware design:

so im about to enter the world of making hardware…

first thing on the menu, the “insertbawks” …

just finished the panel layout… will be a 2U rackmounted deal, will keep you guys updated on this once we get a prototype goin

No details yet on what this is going to be – so let me know what you think he’s working on in the comments!

via gearjunkies