I Declare Music Blog - Talk About Hip Hop Music - Rap Beats

SV1 Stage Vintage Piano

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 13:37:35 -0500

Stage. Vintage. Piano. The name pretty much says it all. The SV-1 contains the hippest, most in-demand and soul-satisfying keyboard sounds ever collected in a single instrument. Decades of electro-mechanical, transistorized, tape-driven, analog, and digital legends are joined by a collection of rich acoustic pianos, all reproduced with stunning realism. But the SV-1 is about much more than excellent sound; the SV-1 re-creates the look, the feel, and visceral pleasure of performing on a vintage instrument.

Crafted using Korg's RX (Real eXperience) Technology; each sound is a detailed and authentic re-creation, accurately capturing the full range of expression and dynamics of the original. The snap of the tine, the release of the hammer, the click of the contacts—every element has been preserved. By isolating these sonic components, the RX engine allows you to create a sonic signature from showroom-shiny to road-ravaged; adding just the right amount to suit your individual taste.

But for Korg, even that is not enough. The SV-1 also recreates the effect pedals and studio processing that gave these sounds their original luster. The proven, tube-driven (12AX7) Valve Reactor circuit adds warmth and realism to period-accurate amplifier models. Together, the three-band EQ, Pre-FX, Modulation FX and Reverb/Delay add yet another dimension of authenticity to your playing.

Designed with performance in mind, the SV-1 is a pleasure to play. Once you try it, you'll understand what all the excitement is about. The RH3 Real Weighted Hammer Action is the finest keybed Korg offers, with a solid, responsive feel that inspires confidence. Forget menus. Never mind banks and programs. Stop staring at displays. With the SV-1, the entire front panel is always live, using clearly labeled knobs to dial up just the sound you are looking for. Saving your eight Favorite settings for quick recall is as easy as saving a station on your car radio.

Best of all, the Korg SV-1 provides an economical, reliable, portable, and maintenance-free alternative to collecting and maintaining a stable of vintage instruments. The cabinet styling (and optional chrome stand) clearly defines the SV-1 as an instrument that was made to be played; providing a retro-chic appearance that reflects the pulse and heart of the original instruments.

Sought-after Sounds
You know the 36 sounds in the SV-1 by heart; each one is an old friend. Rediscover hit-making vintage electric pianos, funky clavs, classic and cult-fave organs, string machines and, of course, pianos. The SV-1 serves up breathtaking grands, a real-deal upright, plus hall-of-fame electronic contenders. And the SV-1 doesn't just serve plain vanilla; you'll find multiple, signature variations of many classic instruments to inspire your performance.

Blue Microphones Mikey

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 13:00:17 -0500

Microphone accessories for the Apple iPod come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from miniature mono microphones to full-fledged mobile recording rigs. If your needs are somewhere between voice memos and professional audio, the Blue Microphones Mikey ($80) fills the gap nicely by offering a surprising level of recording quality at an affordable price.

Design
There's a retro radio-era design philosophy that runs through all of Blue's products, and the Mikey is no exception. The microphone measures 2.5 inches wide, 1.75 inch tall, and half an inch deep, and looks right at home connected to the bottom of an iPod Classic. Mikey's design looks a bit like the lopped-off top of a 1950s broadcaster microphone, weaving together a black metal mic grille and chromed plastic trim, into an unapologetically square design.

The bottom edge of the Mikey features a standard 30-pin iPod dock connector that swivels independently of the microphone, allowing the mic to be positioned up or down with 180 degrees of rotation. Just above the iPod connector are three LED indicators marked with squiggly lines that represent the microphone's three gain settings (loud, medium, quiet). A ridiculously small switch on the opposite side is used to set the microphone gain into one of the three modes.

Overall, the Mikey feels solid and reliable, and its rotating design offers a distinct advantage over products such as the Belkin TuneTalk or the Griffin iTalk.. The tiny gain switch on the back is frustrating to use without a pen or a long fingernail to nudge it along; however, the lack of accessibility prevents the setting from changing accidentally.

Features
The Mikey is designed to do just one thing: record stereo audio to your iPod using an integrated microphone. You're not going to find an optional line input jack, USB passthrough, or an independent headphone output, as you would on something like the Belkin GoStudio. We do appreciate that there's a small mono speaker on the back of the Mikey, which, despite its tinny sound, allows you to review recordings without plugging in your headphones.

Like any iPod microphone accessory, the Mikey's recording features are tied to the limitations of the iPod it's connected to. The iPod records to only two formats: 44kHz/16 bit WAV or 22kHz/16 bit WAV. Some iPods, such as the fourth-generation iPod Nano, display a volume meter during recordings that can help you gauge which gain setting to use in a given situation. Our old fifth-generation iPod, however, offers no such metering and has a habit of polluting recordings with intermittent hum from its hard drive (a problem we've found on all iPod recorders we've tested).

An iPod like the second-generation Touch isn't technically supported by the Mikey, but we were able to capture some recordings using the BIAS iProRecorder App. Support for the iPhone and iPod Touch may come to the Mikey in the wake of Apple's OS 3.0 launch (due in summer 2009), but until then, using Mikey with the Touch and iPhone is unreliable, at best.

The features that distinguish the Mikey from the competition are mostly behind the scenes. For instance, the microphone capsules Blue uses on the Mikey (the parts that actually transform air vibrations into sound) are gigantic compared with what we find on consumer microphones, each measuring approximately half an inch in diameter. Bigger capsules don't necessarily translate into improved recording quality, but the choice of components is unique among Blue's competitors and offers some evidence that Blue actually gave some serious thought to designing its lowest-priced microphone.

Logic Studio Pro 9

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 20:43:54 -0500

Music workstation suite adds flexible audio, improved editing and live performance, simulated amps and effects

The new version of Logic Studio incorporates upgrades of the Studio’s traditional suite of applications: the flagship Logic Pro 9 workstation and its instruments and audio effects; Soundtrack Pro 3 () for stereo and multitrack recorded audio; MainStage 2 for easy access to instruments and effects for jamming and live performance; WaveBurner 1.6 for mastering and authoring CDs; and Compressor 3.5 for file exchange. Deep in that vast suite, though, a single new feature called Flex Time could have the biggest impact on the way you work.

Overall, Apple’s Logic Studio 9 introduces some significant headline features. There's an entirely new audio manipulation engine, allowing recorded sound to be reshaped in time. New models of amps and effect pedalboards emulate traditional guitar gear and open up new performance possibilities. MainStage has grown from a clever way to host instruments and effects to a more mature host, adding integration with other software, as well as playback, looping, and recording capabilities. But those highlights aside, smaller fit-and-finish enhancements are often of equal importance in real-world production.

Once recorded, sound traditionally ceases to be entirely malleable: you can slice and reorder sound, but changing its internal timing is more difficult. That can limit some creative possibilities: even when working with talented musicians, part of a take might be slightly out of time–especially when adding up a day’s worth of different takes. For sound designers, producers, and remix artists, there are creative reasons to want to re-groove recorded audio, as well. Logic Studio’s new Flex Time tool collection combines a new interface designed for making these changes with an under-the-hood engine that can warp sound more convincingly.

Switch to the Flex Time view in the Arrange pane, and blocks of audio become stretchable. Click a waveform, and you can add a Flex Marker—a pointer to a position in the recorded waveform—which you can move forward or backward in time. Drag the marker left and right, and the waveform squishes or stretches like Play-Doh. The effect is addictive and instantaneous; the interface never feels like it's in your way, because you can drag on the waveform directly to warp it. You can change as few or as many points inside a waveform as you wish, whether re-grooving an entire recording or fixing one errant high hat. Different modes allow you to ensure the results fit the source material: Slicing and Rhythmic modes preserve the attacks of percussive material, whereas Monophonic and Polyphonic modes stretch the sound. The Speed mode changes the pitch along with the time, as would changing the playback speed of traditional analog tape. (This version also adds Speed Fades, which can simulate the braking of a turntable.) Apple says all of these modes are based on new audio algorithms developed in-house, and the results sound terrific.

The New Protools 8

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 18:43:49 -0500

Creative MIDI and Compositional Tools

From sketchpad songwriting to the final production, Pro Tools offers a wealth of tools for the creative composer — all in a single, comprehensive environment. Pro Tools is the undisputed leader in audio editing and production, and its MIDI composition and sequencing features are equally as innovative. With intuitive editing views and techniques, you can create and manipulate MIDI alongside audio with ease using many of the same tools. You can also use the same automation and plug-in processing options on both Audio and Instrument tracks. Use the Loop Trim tool to turn any audio or MIDI region into a loop instantly; Pro Tools always creates MIDI regions on bar boundaries to help with looping and arrangement. Click on the keyboard in a MIDI or Instrument track to quickly select all of the same-pitched notes of your performance for fast editing. Pro Tools also provides a Key Signature ruler that lets you easily add, edit, move, and delete key signatures. You can specify major or minor, transpose MIDI pitches diatonically or chromatically, and even constrain pitches to a key.

ReWire Integration

Pro Tools supports your favorite ReWire-compatible applications, allowing you to integrate your work right into your Pro Tools mixes. Pro Tools software accepts MIDI controller data directly from ReWire applications for recording to a Pro Tools MIDI or Instrument track, allowing for a synergy that augments your creation possibilities. Pro Tools software provides many powerful editing tools that no other recording system can match, offering a host of single-touch edit keys, editing tools, and other innovative features that allow you to view, organize, and execute edits quickly and easily.

Elastic Time
Elastic Time makes it super easy to change tempo or time on the fly. Change the tempo and timing of loops, music, dialog, and other sound files without cutting up a single sample of audio. Easily create loops from any audio file — even entire compositions — with the help of powerful tempo and transient analysis. And when you import audio files and loops, they automatically conform to match your session’s tempo. Elastic Time lets you choose from several time-stretching algorithms, delivering the best-sounding processing in the industry — all on a per-track basis. Context Preview lets you easily audition loops and audio files in sync with the tempo of your session, regardless of their tempo. What’s more, you can fine-tune regions with precision control over each individual beat, using the Warp track view and Warp markers.

Melodyne Direct Note Access

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:16:28 -0400

Celemony has done it again! At the Frankfurt Musikmesse 2008, we demonstrated in Direct Note Access a technology that makes the impossible possible: Direct Note Access for the first time allows individual notes within polyphonic audio material to be identified and edited. 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.

Seven years have passed since the introduction of Melodyne. For seven long years, the research has continued without let-up in our Munich development laboratory. The goal: to extend the intuitive editing possibilities Melodyne offers for melodic notes in audio recordings to material with polyphonic content. A Utopia, a pious hope, it appeared, as the task was far too complex, and no one was quite ready to believe that any such thing would ever be possible. And yet it’s worked.

Like Melodyne itself, Direct Note Access is a development that will change forever the way we handle audio. In the field of images, it has long been possible with the right software not only to correct the tiniest blemishes but also literally to create new realities: pictures that are utterly believable but show us something that in fact never existed. Direct Note Access will give Melodyne users comparable freedom in the field of audio. With Direct Note Access, Melodyne will allow forms of access to audio material that were unthinkable before – ranging from subtle correction to recomposition.