Winter NAMM 2010…boring!

I’m kinda disappointed with everyone this year, there’s really nothing that blew me away or was even very interesting announced this week at NAMM.

Winter NAMM 2010 started this past Thursday and as I sat in my pajama pants reading about all the new product announcements as they come in through RSS, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed by what’s coming out. Nevertheless here are some of the more notable items announced this week.

MOTU ZBox – A $40 device to improve your ITB guitar sounds via impedance balancing

New Waves plugz – New Chris Lord-Alge, Eddie Kramer and Jack Joseph Puig signature plugins (no pics yet)

Muse/Peavey Musebox – Some competition to AVID’s Eleven Rack a live guitar processor that runs VSTs

Ableton/Akai APC20 – A smaller version/expansion of the very cool Ableton controller APC40

AVID Pro Tools Virtual Instrument Expansion Pack – The biggest disappointment of the show, this is all AVID had to announce and it’s the type of update to VIs that should have been free.

IK Multimedia Amplitube 3 – Lots of new stuff in this one

Tonehammer Microhammer sample packs – Tonehammer makes THE COOLEST sample packs, now they’re cheaper but smaller

Akai MPD18 – compact pad controller

For more in-depth coverage of NAMM 2010 as it happens get the news the same way I do:

Synthtopia

CDM Live from NAMM

Sonic State

Posted in Commentary; Rants and Jokes, Gear | 4 Comments »

The Home Recording Show Podcast Is Back!

After a short vacation Ryan, Jesse and I are back with Episode 60 of The Home Recording Show Podcast.

In this episode, Ryan does a review of the Golden Age Pre-73 and Jesse talks about his picks for the best albums of the decade

New shows will be weekly whenever possible. Check it out! http://www.homerecordingshow.com/

Posted in Commentary; Rants and Jokes, Podcast | Comments Off

Free Plugin Of The Week – SoundMagic Spectral

Yesterday my friend Nick [@AbletonTutor] of Nick’s Tutorials posted an article about these AU (Mac only) plugins: SoundMagic Spectral by Michael Norris. They’re not the typical sound shaping tools you’ll find in a DAW, but for something completely different check these out. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of use out of these especially Spectral DroneMaker.

Included in SOUNDMAGIC SPECTRAL are the following plug-ins:

Spectral Averaging • Spectral Bin Shift • Spectral Blurring • Spectral DroneMaker

Spectral Emergence • Spectral Filterbank • Spectral Freezing • Spectral Gate and Hold

Spectral Gliding Filters • Spectral Granulation • Spectral Harmonizer • Spectral Partial Glide

Spectral Pitch Shift • Spectral Pulsing • Spectral Shimmer • Spectral Shuffle

Spectral Stretch • Spectral Tracing

Chorus • Comb Filter Bank • Grain Streamer • Idee Fixer • Mr Filterbank

Get SoundMagic Spectral {Audio Unit for Mac OSX}

Posted in Free Plugin Of The Week, Sound Design | 1 Comment »

Weekly Tweetdump 13

A week worth of Twitter activity from @theaudiogeek

theaudiogeek

• RT @AbletonTutor: New blog post: “Free Spectral Sound Design Plugins for Mac OSX” – http://bit.ly/5myEvj #sounddesign
• @gmgranka I’ve always preferred stereo ac guits. But for just one & not too expensive, perhaps MXL Genesis.
• FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU papercut!
  • Not much besides self-harm RT @gmgranka: @theaudiogeek what are you still using paper for?
  • Tweeting keeps me from screaming out loud in public. RT @GYR8: If it hurt so bad why did you tweet it? RT FFFFFFFUUUUUU papercut!
• New AGZ post: QUESTION – Leopard VS Snow Leopard – Why update to OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard? http://cli.gs/ZLpap
• @gmgranka that makes sense then. new post on this subject coming in 3…2..1…
• @gmgranka I might upgrade soon, but maybe I won’t because it’s not really much different.
• Test your audio interface latency with this utility (for PC) http://centrance.com/downloads/ltu/
• Good to see USB 3 products finally on the market.
• oops, went 5 days without writing anything, luckily site stats stayed right where I want them.
• I think I’m going to buy a magic mouse
• RT @recordingreview: No Cost For Killer Home Recording: Setting Up http://aweber.com/b/1D6Vf
• RT @allenwagner: Slipperman’s 10 Commandments of Audio Engineering Beatdown http://homestudioguru.com/eacks
• I don’t feel like doing anything today. Who’s with me!?
• I swear I installed the East West Free orchestra a few days ago but it’s nowhere to be found on the computer. FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU….???
  • @sonicdeviant user error – the defaults for ‘custom’ install is no standalone, vst, rtas or library. Didn’t realize that until I tried again
• New Apple laptops will now come preloaded with a half-written coming-of-age novel.
• like Nine Inch Nails? Get the free tour HD Video http://thisoneisonus.org/node/34
• RT @allenwagner: Presenting The Yamaha NS-10M Studio near field monitors as presented by . . . Chewbacca?! http://trunc.it/4j633
• To the Pro Tools 8 + Snow Leopard users. Check your AVID account for the full 8.0.3 installer. This is the safest way to update.
• Ever like an album so much you don’t want to listen to it?
• YES!! RT @joegilder: Poll: Should I set ALL of the computers in the Apple Store to homestudiocorner.com?? #fb
• Just had the best burger of my life from http://www.pcshack.ca/
• New AGZ post: Weekly Tweetdump 12 http://cli.gs/3S477

Posted in Commentary; Rants and Jokes, Site News, Tweetdump | Comments Off

QUESTION – Leopard VS Snow Leopard – Why update to OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard?

I can usually figure out why one piece of gear, or software is better than another, but in the case of OSX 10.5 VS 10.6, I just don’t get it. From a “making music” perspective I don’t know why I should bother.

10.5.8 (Leopard) runs perfectly fine on my fairly new MacBook Pro and the software and plugins I use all work too. If I update, (even months after the release of 10.6) there’s a good chance that will change and I won’t have the powerful and stable recording computer I have today. I’m still seeing a lot of complaints from Pro Tools users about their Snow Leopard update, or from those that had no choice because their mac came with 10.6 on it.

On one hand I hate being without the latest and greatest, on the other I want to avoid sources of frustration, it’s hard enough for me to be productive.

From what I’ve read, the only benefit of the update (for me) is a few GB of HD space reclaimed, other than that it seems looks and operates the same, but perhaps not depending on what software you use.

So now I’ll turn it over to my readers that have updated to 10.6.

Why update to OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard?

Please comment below with your experience both good and bad.

Posted in Commentary; Rants and Jokes, Software | 11 Comments »

Weekly Tweetdump 12

Recalling the last week of tweets from @theaudiogeek

theaudiogeek

• There’s not much snow, but it’s seriously cold as Hoth out there
• Currently reading NPR – The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122114058
• Something messed up with my digital guitar amp, had to reset to factory settings. To my surprise the default sounds are better than mine!
• I fixed the download link for yesterdays post – Pro Tools Audio Time Stretching Test Round 1 – http://trunc.it/4eri8
• New AGZ post: Pro Tools Audio Time Stretching Test – Round One http://cli.gs/NU79e
• For lunch today: Peameal bacon + Cheddar on Cinnamon & Syrup infused pancake buns http://trunc.it/4dyym This is why I’m fat
• Eric Beam releases Quantec QRS/XL Room Simulator impulse set. http://trunc.it/4a6b4 (via Rekkerd.org)
• I still feel like a bag of shit right now.
  • HAHAH Happy New Year you dick bag RT @kiwicomposer: @theaudiogeek You look like it too..
• RT @joegilder: Blog Post: Intro to MIDI http://bit.ly/5Q0PTU #fb
• Ran out of coffee at home so I went to Starbucks…free coffee and wireless WIN!
• New AGZ post: Free Plugin Of The Week – EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Free http://cli.gs/9Hp1Q
• @thinkgeek how do you guys get away with charging 66% for shipping? That can’t be right.
• I’m liking a couple of short delays instead these days. RT @gmgranka: @sonicvalentine No reverb on vocal is a pretty rare suggestion.
• @dmlandrum reverb is a ton more constant energy that I’m finding doesn’t help at all for vocals.
• Screw public transit, it’s finally cold enough to take my Tauntaun to work.
• @gmgranka Just like this http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/bb2e/
• The weather in terms geeks can understand – http://www.tomscott.com/weather/starwars/ RT @gmgranka: It’s minus WHAT outside?
• I want one of these rusty Telecasters from Trussart http://www.jamestrussart.com/Steelcaster.htm
• New AGZ post: Are recording schools worth going to? http://cli.gs/Juqp5
• New AGZ post: Weekly Tweetdump 11 http://cli.gs/Yza9U

Posted in Circuitbending, Tweetdump | Comments Off