Sounds & software for producers
Arturia emulates the classic SQ80 from Ensoniq with the new SQ-80 V digital synthesizer. Three digital oscillators serve as generators, plus four analog DCA's and over 400 waveforms from four banks...
The TR-707 and TR-727 are two legendary drum machines of the 80s that have now been virtually recreated by Roland as the TR-707 and TR-727 Software Rhythm Composer, adding new plugins to the alread...
Attention sound wizards! The virtual miRack from mifki Limited or Vitaly Pronkin is composed of over 600 modules with synthesizers, drum elements, sequencers, mixers and various effects from differ...
ZamplerSounds just compiled the VOX BOX, a collection of four sound banks that feature extravagant vocals, robot phrases, mantras, atmospheric formant pads, electronic monks, real and synthetic cho...
With Saurus 3 Tone2 sends the third guard of the analog synthesizer into the studios, which wants to prove itself not only with new features, but also with many improvements. The latter include the...
UVI expands its emulation sound libraries of the legendary samplers of the 80s with the Emulation II+ collection, which has a size of over 11 GB. Plenty of material to browse through should be prov...
With Expose 2, the developers of Mastering The Mix claim to have found the patent remedy against mistakes in mixing. Too many tracks are mixed with a bad EQ balance, overdriving, overcompression or...
A gigantic 130 GB of instruments and over 7500 presets make up Steinberg's Absolute Collection 5, which can be used for all kinds of music production. The instruments include the sampler workstatio...
Loud, edgy and piercing, that's how UJAM's latest drum extension Virtual Drummer BRUTE can be described, miked with three sets of microphones, each with its own sonic character. Sonically, it cover...
The team of Urs Heckmann's software forge u-He presents updated plug-in versions of their instruments. The goal is to achieve the best possible overall cross-platform performance for all plug-ins. ...
Writing simple scores or composing complete new songs on the go is possible with AVID's Sibelius for Mobile music notation software. The addition to the desktop app not only appeals to younger audi...
The Speedrum tool from Apisonic Labs is a drum and percussion sampler that has strong associations with the AKAI MPC. The main focus is on the 16 pads, which can be expanded to 32 pads via A/B swit...
With the Korg Collection 3 Korg puts together a new bundle of software synthesizers and expands it with three classics. In addition to the previous legends Wavestation, M1, Polysix MS-20, ARP Odyss...
If you want to produce music on the go with iOS and iPadOS, you can create first-class remix sessions of the top stars Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga with the new Garageband update. Videos demonstrate how ...
Model 84 is the most convincing emulation of a Roland Juno-106 to date and sets new standards in the field of virtual polyphonic analog synthesizers. There are already some virtual replicas of the ...
With a three-dimensional user interface, Noise Engineering delivers three free plugins that are currently in a beta phase, but should make the hearts of sound designers beat faster. Sinc Vereor, Vi...
Following the successful launch of the professional DAW Ableton Live to version 11, the entry-level version Ableton Live Lite has now also been updated and expanded with new functions and sounds. F...
With X-Gear, IK Multimedia ventures into the digital effects pedal market, which is supposed to give guitarists the Amplitube sound. While X-Space includes a reverb effect, the pedal X-Time provide...
After a beta test phase, Bitwig finally announces the official release of the studio DAW Bitwig Studio 4. The upgrade comes with a host of new features, including significant comping, so that the b...
Born 40 years ago and still hot: with their synth-heavy sound, the Eighties already made themselves a legend back then and are experiencing their renewed flight of fancy. No surprise, the mixture o...
As part of the "KVR Developer Challenge 2021" competition, the plug-in developer scene at the online portal KVR Audio has published their latest sound generators, effects and sound libraries. The c...
MOTU launches Digital Performer 11, the next generation of its all-in-one studio, which is now also supported by macOS Big Sur. With the modernized Nanosampler 2.0, samples can not only be played i...
Bass monster, hammerhead, synth powerhouse ... the Korg MS-20 from 1978 is a born rock star, because with the roaring sound of its two filters, it can cut through every mix. No wonder that artists ...
Equalizers are a common species and what they do is relatively clear. Or? At least in broad terms, but there are always specialists that offer either exceptional features or special sound. Or both ...
Whether Techno, EDM, Hip-Hop or Chillout, tracks have to sound crisp and above all: they have to groove. But what do you have to look out for when searching for sounds, how can you combine ready-ma...
Swedish emulation experts Softube have released Tape Echoes, a new, easy-to-use effects plugin for old-school tape sounds. The aim is supposed to be to reproduce realistic tape effects with crushin...
In version 3, Arturia brings additive synthesis, along with several other synthesis features. This makes Pigments 3 better, flexible and more productive for sound and music design.
The specialists from Native Instruments announce that the new update of their DJ software Traktor Pro 3.5, is now supported by the media player flagship CDJ-3000 from Pioneer DJ. This allows for co...
Attention guitarists! United Plugins offers with Electrum a comprehensive collection of emulated amps and cabinets in one plugin - and currently at an absolute bargain price! From 16 types of cabin...
Happy news for all newsletter subscribers of IK Multimedia: For a limited time only, you have the chance to use the Classic Clipper effects plugin as a mastering tool in your mixes for free. Save 5...
PreSonus Retro Mix Legends is a new trio of effects plug-ins from the house of PreSonus. Alpine Desk emulates the character of American mix consoles of the 70s, while BritConsole focuses on the Bri...
Accusonus expands its portfolio of effects with the Voice Changer plugin presented, which is suitable for creative alienation of speech and vocals. The mixing and sound design tool is divided into ...
As part of the Novation Sound Collective, Gforce is offering its Minimoog emulation synth Minimosta for free until August 5, 2021, worth £99. Instead of the hardware role model, the plugin is eigh...
A bout two decades ago, M-Audio launched the Duo, one of the first small and affordable USB audio interfaces for the home studio. Now, the great-grandchildren M-Track Duo and Solo are on our test d...
A wealth of exciting new features is promised by the DAW update Bitwig Studio 4 from the Berlin developers. The core feature should be the comping to combine the best parts from different recording...
The Chromaphone 3 comes as an „Acoustic Object Synthesizer“. Physical modeling serves as the basis for the sound generation; therefore, this virtual synth follows the same concept as its predec...
In the 60s and 70s, sound loops on tape formed the early age of today's digital samplers. With more than eight GB of vintage and tape-based samples, IK Multimedia's SampleTron 2 instrument emulates...
Timeless 3 is a feedback specialist from FabFilter, which not only wants to make an appearance with a new design, exciting functions have also been improved or added. The effect plugin is not inten...
At first glance, Warlock looks like just another virtual analog synthesizer with two oscillators, filter, ADSR envelopes and LFO, but under the hood it has some special features to offer. The sound...
The OX-1 synthesizer is one of the most important sound generators in history. Once developed by Oberheim, it enjoys great popularity from Synapse Audio as a low-cost plug-in emulation Obsession. T...
Spherical pads, rumbling textures, whispered mantras... our current sound bank is all about atmosphere. Whether you want to give your Techno or Ambient tracks more musical depth with intimate voice...
The groove is one of those things: Either it‘s there or it‘s not. But there are lots of tricks for it, 16 of which we list here. Finger drumming workshop included.
T-RackS Comprexxor is the name of IK Multimedia's latest mixing utensil, which evokes associations with Empirical Labs' Distressor compressor. The aim is to combine the analog sound of the classic ...
Acon Digital updates its popular audio editor Acoustica to version 7.3, oth for the Standard Edition and the Premium Edition as well. Mac users now have the advantage that the software runs nativel...
Filigree work on the equalization during mixdown can be a tedious undertaking. But with Sonible's innovative smart:EQ3 multitrack equalizer, troublesome resonances, difficult frequency ranges and s...
Since its first version in 1989, Cubase has evolved into one of the most powerful programs for composing, recording, editing and mixing. So we were very eager to see what new features version 11 w...
An eight-voice Oberheim that delivers much more than the familiar jump sound? With the OB-E, GForce Software revitalizes the vintage sector. The unique concept and the individual analog sounds defi...
We start with an emulation of an analog chorus called Dimension D. The obvious role model Roland Dimension D is a true effect classic. That‘s because this bucket brigade circuit-based chorus adds...
The new versions of the virtual guitar and bass studios AmpliTube and Guitar Rig have been released just a few weeks apart. That’s reason enough to let the two plug-ins compete against each other...
In addition to the two analog classics OB-Xa (review in BEAT 08-2020) and Juno-6, Arturia‘s V Collection 8 features another sampler in the form of the E-mu Emulator II, as well as a 16-channel v...
With its latest update to version 5, Studio One not only becomes a full fledged live performance machine (more on this in the next issue), but also brings out new plug-ins and sounds in addition t...
You have a rhythmically exciting drumloop as an audio file, but the sounds are just not right? No problem. In this workshop, you will learn how to filter out individual drum elements from a complex...
Most evil sounds and screaming basses rule, don‘t they? Skrillex did not invent glitches, hypergrowls and neuro basses, but he made them marketable - even beyond the boundaries of Dubstep. Today,...
The name „Model 72“ is already a good hint - a look at the lovingly designed user interface of the plug-in removes any last doubts: This is a reproduction of a Minimoog Model D from 1972. As th...
Live 11 is ready to start and should be available in spring 2021. Anticipation is fueled by the announcement of numerous new features. On board are comping, MPE support, new instruments and effects...
Statement Lead is a kind of supplement to Monoment, another synthesizer plug-in by the Swedes. Monoment is specialized on basses and can, therefore, only be played monophonically in the lower part...
From mixdown to finished, mastered song in minutes: With its new Instant Mastering Service, iMusician provides a high-quality finish for productions of any genre. Who is Instant Mastering for? What...
The annual PreSonus Sphere membership includes licenses for essential software tools to build the core of your studio. Studio One Professional is the only DAW that lets you record, produce, compose...
Creative DAW? check. Audio tracks, automation? - Check. Synths, effects, VST plug-ins? - Check. Whether for producing, jamming, for the live set or as modular playground: Bitwig 8-Track has just ab...
The Play series has been significantly expanded in Komplete 13 Ultimate and now includes Modular Icons, Butch Vig Drums, Lo-Fi Glow and Cloud Supply in addition to Analog Dreams, Hybrid Keys and Et...
iZotope RX8 offers detailed enhancements and advanced features for remastering old recordings and editing guitars.
Hardstyle, Hardtek, Frenchcore, Gabber... all four styles have one thing in common - brutal bass drums, which are hard to beat. The cool thing about it: With Ableton‘s Wavetable Synth, these kind...
A good mix is characterized by an evenly distributed sound image and a balanced depth of sound. In thismini feature, we‘ll give you practical tips for the use of equalizers, dynamics tools ...
New samples: Omnisphere, Zero-G, Zenhiser and more...
While drums and EDM hooklines are mostly about brute pumping, vocal recording is subject to completely different laws. Here, sensitivity and subtly coloring compression are more important, so that ...
Orchestral Tools announces the release of Layers, a free orchestral VST instrument that gives composers, producers, and songwriters according to manufacturer an easy way to add high-quality orchest...
T-RackS Classic Clipper uses peak clipping to tame unruly peaks, rather than the usual peak limiting, giving you another dynamics control option. Peak clipping is often a more transparent process ...
A great new song, which is created in the rehearsal room, the highlights of the last concerts before the time without an appearance or simply a short sign of life of your band for the fans - with A...
Studio One has been around for a few years now and has grown from a simple to use recording platform into a powerful digital audio workstation. Studio One has become one of the major players in th...
Moog has always been a legend, whether with classics like the Minimoog, Voyager, Sub Phatty or the beefy System 55; but even the current „handy“ ones like Mother-32 and DFAM are well on their w...
For a producer or songwriter the trick is to find inspiration. But it can also be very helpful if they have an easy way to transfer their ideas to a flawless recording that is ready to be shared wi...
Native Instruments announced KOMPLETE 13, the latest generation of its flagship production suite, with new additions including some of the company’s biggest releases from the last two years. The ...
iZotope Inc. releases RX 8, the latest version of its renowned audio restoration software, and RX Post Production Suite 5, with Music Production Suite 4 to be released later this fall. RX, which ha...
Bored of the same old synth sounds? Newfangled Audio's Pendulate is refreshingly different. Pendulate is a chaotic monosynth that uses a brand new double-pendulum-oscillator to create previously un...
Infectious grooves for the DAW: Toontrack‘s EZBass is a competent virtual bass player to assist musicians and producers with arranging and composing. A basstastic plug-in? Long developed, even l...
Only a few weeks after Arturia released a software replica of the legendary Oberheim OB-Xa, Synapse Audio presents its own emulation of the cult synthesizer and it promises to herald in a new era o...
Backbone is neither a classic drum synthesizer nor does it simply fire off samples. Instead, it resynthesizes samples. The plug-in has eight layer slots where you can load your own samples or sound...
Welcome to our four-part series on drum design with Ableton Live! This second part is dedicated to programming the most iconic snare ever. But we‘re not just recreating the umpteenth 808, we‘re...
Tascam Model 12 (can definitely be called a jack of all trades: The compact mixing console with a multi-track audio recorder and a media player can be the central unit in your music studio. It not...
ARC stands for acoustic room correction. This involves first measuring the room using your studio monitors, a microphone and the appropriate software to calculate a corrected frequency curve. This ...
For those who want to expand the basic plugin offer of their DAW, bundle packages - just like our test candidate - are recommended because of the significantly lower price. This one has 31 differen...
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