Rarely do I get so excited about new software for recording…but, come Fall, music recording and specifically post-production may be changed forever. Peter Neubäcker, inventor of Melodyne will introduce ‘Direct Note Access’.
Direct Note Access is a technology that makes the impossible possible: for the first time in audio recording history you can identify and edit individual notes within polyphonic audio material. The unique access that Melodyne affords to pitch, timing, note lengths and other parameters of melodic notes will now also be afforded to individual notes within chords.
There is a video demo on their website Celemony. The program interface (luckily) looks as though it’s going to be very intuitive. Just watch the video and you will be amazed. This goes way beyond auto-tuning an off-pitch vocal. With direct note access you can take actual audio (not MIDI) recordings and change them note by note into an entirely new creation, change pitch, key, note timing. If it works as well as in the video the possibilities of what you can do could very well be endless.
Chairs in the Arno’s album File Folder has been out for almost half a year now. It’s about time I posted something from them since they are one of my favorite bands. Great synth-pop sounds (think:barcelona meets figurine with a little casiotone for the painfully alone thrown in). Nice mix of Synths, Guitar, Bass, 505, and occasionally some 8-bit goodness. Check out their track Size Thirty after the links.
I have said it before. I am a huge fan of video game music, so after I wrote about the Korg DS-10 my friend Jeff sent me the link to this. Just out from chip tunes artist Pixelh8 Music Tech Pro Performer V1.0. This is a cartridge that allows you to control the gameboy’s onboard sound and incorporates many of the most needed features for live performance. He is making this available on cartridge only, and a very limited edition (i have heard only 50). So, if you are interested and he still is not sold out. ORDER NOW!!! This is a Game Boy Advance Cartridge, so will only work on GBA, GBA SP, DS Lite and Game Cube (with additional software). Feature list and video sample follow.
All Major Keys
All Natural Minor Keys
All Harmonic Minor Keys
All Whole Tone Keys
All Pentatonic Keys
Primary & Secondary Key Select
Key Change in Player Mode
Octave Change In Player Mode
Maj 3rd, Min 3rd, 5th’s, Octaves & Unisons
Portamento Mode
Tremolo Mode
Arpeggio Mode (Up to Six Notes)
Shifter Mode
Half Tremolo Mode
Vibrato Mode
Special Mode Speed Control
Unison Mode Phase Control
More Sound Effects!
Iron Maiden are going on tour in a custom Boeing 757. The jet holds all the crew and equipment, and is being flown by none other than Maiden’s frontman Bruce Dickinson. The plane looks pretty cool, but part of me wishes the whole plane looked a little more like the paintjob on the tail (I am thinking in the style of 80-90’s van murals). Read more about the plane and the tour via ‘The Sun’.
I’m a huge fan of casio keyboards, chiptunes and retro synths. So, I almost blew a gasket when i saw that AQi is releasing software for the Nintendo DS that is based on the Korg MS-10 synth. Unfortunately it’s not coming out until July (in Japan, so who knows how long before it will show up in the states). Price is supposed to be about $50.
Specs will apparently be:
Two patchable dual-oscillator analog synth simulators: - Four-part drum machine that uses sounds created with the analog synth simulator - Six-track (analog synth x 2, drum machine x 4) /16-step sequencer - Delay, chorus and flanger sound effects available from the mixing board - Three note-entry modes: touch-control screen, keyboard screen, matrix screen - Real-time sound control mode via touch-control screen - Exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link.
