I recently had the pleasure of meeting Chris Randall from Audio Damage. They make very unique and unusually affordable plug-ins (most $50 or less). The DSP is great sounding and the user interface design is well thought out and executed. Check them out when you get a chance!

One of the best software 2 track editors out there is DSP quattro from the small Italian software company I3. It’s sometimes overlooked but rivals expensive systems from sonic solutions, etc. I recently had the chance to use it for mastering an album and was amazed at the advanced CD mastering and cross-fading features. It is also handy for applying effects in a mastering chain. It’s just really, really great software. The main engineer Stefano is a great guy to boot!

KVR recently did a great interview with Roger Linn. Very interesting story. Read it here

“it occurred to me I could store digital drum recordings in computer memory instead of tape because the sampling time requirement for all the drums added up to only about a second. I built a prototype and all of a sudden, recording artists who wouldn’t return my calls as a guitarist were calling me asking to buy one for $5,000″

Teenage Engineering was out in force at 2010 NAMM showing off some impressive new features of their OP-1 portable synth / multifunction device. They showed their new “tape” mode which acts as a virtual 4 track tape recorder. Their OLED graphics are beautiful … just beautiful. I chance to speak with their graphic designer and compliment him on the interface design.

from their site: “instantly let you record anything you do on the OP-1 to any track of the built-in Tape feature. Record your sound tweaks or beats in real-time. Change speed during recording, or record backwards. Split, lift and join. Make a loop or record a section with Tape Step Recording. You have twelve minutes recording time in normal tape speed and 4 tracks to put your magic on.”

New Multitouch music user interface. Amazing! Great work from Christian Bannister at subcycle. Best explained by watching the video.

multi-touch the storm - interactive sound visuals - subcycle labs from christian bannister on Vimeo.

originally discovered via CDM

Monome has been around for a while now but I’m always impressed when I see demo videos such as the one below. Brian & Kelli are a small team working on what they love and they are also very conscious of the impact they have … from the monome.org site “we strive for economic and ecological sustainability. careful design practice allows us to contribute to culture and preserve the environment by choosing domestic, high-quality, and responsible providers and production facilities. we acknowledge that our future will depend on our ability to support and maintain a local, regenerative economy.”

ro + 256 + milkcrates + monks from ro on Vimeo.

This can only be explained by watching the video. Very impressive DIY project.

via fansofcollision

From their site:  “Now you can turn your iPhone / iPod touch into a MIDI controller, with multiple faders and buttons easily assigned to parameters in any software that allows MIDI control, and even some that don’t”

Can’t wait to use this for controlling Protools during band practice impromptu recording sessions. I had been thinking of getting a Tranzport from Frontier for a while but it looks like Automap may fit the bill and be easier all the way around.

Arturia recently announced their “10 Year Suite” which includes 8 of their software instruments. It’s seriously tempting me as I’ve always wanted a copy of their CS-80 emulation.

From their web site: “The 10 Year Suite brings you 8 software instruments Arturia has built over 10 years … The luxury box contains the highly awarded Minimoog V, Moog Modular V, CS-80V, ARP2600 V, Jupiter-8V ,Prophet V and Prophet VS. Also included are the innovative Brass and the powerful Analog Factory.”

This is a very impressive prototype for a multitouch string instrument which allows a user to create virtual strings on a screen and pluck them. The user interface looks beautiful. It’ll be interesting to watch the project for future development.

Here is the web page. Discovered via Matrixsynth.