Opening a new DAW......

My Digital Audio Workstation (DAW - pronounced "door") of choice for the last few years has been Reaper 5 from U.S. software house, Cockos. It's been a hard-hitting contender in the world of high-end DAW's for a while now, retaining high-end features at a hugely affordable price.

And that remains so, but today I played around with a DAW from top-marque hardware mixing console manufacturers, Harrison Consoles called Mixbus32C.

The Mixbus32C is based upon Harrison's epically famous 32C console (hence the name), a desk which was used to record such modern musical luminaries as ABBA, Michael Jackson (of note, albums like "Thriller" and "Off The Wall"), Paul Simon's "Graceland" album, Blondie, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) amongst many others. The virtual version has been emulated down to the last resistors and is considered to be a fine rendition in digital form of a classic board. The image below is of the hardware Harrison 32C console:

I tried it out today, taking a couple tracks from my "The Timeless Mind" album and mixing the stems in Mixbus32C. I only spent a couple of hours on these two pieces, nothing serious or too in-depth, but I have to tell you that the results were outstanding. The workflow was very organic, making me feel as though I were using a hardware console, such is it's routing and approach. The GUI is very good, capturing the essence of a classic mixing console and easy on the eye.

The MIDI part of Mixbus32C wasn't to my liking though, I must admit. That will be down to the fact that I have gotten used to Reaper 5 and am very happy and comfortable working my around that DAW. Mixbus32C is different, and for me, it's too different. That said, I will be continuing to track/record in Reaper 5, but I will be trying out mixes and mastering in Mixbus32C.

Bloody Waves Audio!!!

So Waves Audio has another sale.

Only this time, they push down prices to the lowest I can remember.

Yep, I fell for it.

The CLA Classic Compressors bundle comprises four compressor limiters, based on units owned by renowned producer, Chris Lord-Alge. Included are emulations of the Teletronix LA-2A (CLA-2A - see what they did there?), the Teletronix LA-3A (CLA-3A - amazing huh?) and two versions of the Urei 1176 (CLA-76 Blacky based on the Revision D-LN Blackface and the CLA-76 Bluey based on the Revision B, also known as the Silverface Bluestripe). Only briefly tried them out and they do sound pretty good so far.

Also purloined at a VERY good price was the new F6 dynamic EQ - sort of like a multi-band compressor but based on EQ. It makes sense, honestly. Sound-wise, early to say, but I can see that it will get a lot use, particularly with the C4 multi-band compressor which is one of my favourite and definitely most-used plugins.

And lastly, the Abbey Road Reverb Plates, a plate reverb (as if you hadn't guessed) based on the four massive reverb plates housed in the Abbey Road Studios in London. Again, first plays with it, using a loop from Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, are really quite interesting and the effect is quite lovely.

They have the Studio Classics Collection (stonking emulations of API, SSL and Neve consoles) up for a mere $199 - but I can't quite stretch to it!!! :-(

An emptied purse!!!

Just had a week off work with just about the nastiest throat infection I've ever had and a bout of sinusitis which I NEVER want to have or experience again. Sadly, this caused me to miss the Modular Meet in Leeds last Saturday (19th August) and I spent my birthday (Sunday 20th August) surrounded by used tissues and issuing dark green mucous at an alarming rate - it was like a scene from "The Exorcist"!!!

Anyway, the sad story now told, the time off work gave me a valuable opportunity to have a good think about things in general as well as time to learn about a few of the bits and pieces of software I have gathered over last couple of years. And, surprise surprise, a couple of new bits of programming (one of which is VERY much more than a bit).

First up was a new product from Audio Damage (based on three of their older products) called QuatroMod. It basically takes their classic through-zero flanger called Liquid, their multi-mod chorus Fluid, their diffusion chorus Vapor and their Eurorack hardware frequency shifter FreqShift and put them all into a single plug-in, and let me tell you, it's a really powerful stereo-insert modulation plug.

Also from Audio Damage (who are releasing some stonking upgrades to their products of late) is Replicant 2, a damn fine Fuck Shit Up (FSU) plugin. A very well featured looping delay/buffer effects unit, you can get some seriously wierd shit out of this thing. It's great with everything you put through it, but I'm really enjoying shoving different loops from Spectrasonics Styus RMX through it's delays and filters, some quite lovely fractured rhythmic somethings happening all the time.

Sticking with Audio Damage for a third time, another upgrade this time to their Phosphor synthesizer, this new version being......Phosphor 2. Based on the vintage alphaSyntauri digital additive synthesizer, this gives you a couple of additive oscillators (with the original 16 partial complement of the alphaSyntauri, or optionally with 32 or 64 partials), each with its own amp envelope, closely following the alphaSyntauri. Naturally it has a lot of added modern features such as full velocity control, a full-on modulation routing system, tempo synced LFOs, a couple of delays, and two monophonic modes, plus host of other enhancements and tweaks. I really liked the first version, but I love Phosphor 2.

I've added D16 Group's excellent emulation of the Roland TR-808 drum machine to my drum/percussion collection. Called Nepheton, it's a sparkling companion to their fab TR-909 emulation Drumazon. It sounds great and is a joy to program.

One piece of processing software I've been waiting patiently to get is PSP Audioware's VintageWarmer 2, a really cool analog-style, a single- or multi-band compressor/limiter. I love multi-band compressor/limiters as they can really open up your mix (if used very carefully) and VintageWarmer 2 has a very good reputation. I saw this being used by David Wright and Dave Massey (AD Music, Code Indigo and Callisto) and was always impressed by it's sound. I now have it and hurrah for that :-D

An impulse buy that has proven to be a good buy was Panagement from Auburn Sounds. They describe it as a spatialisation toolbox, and you know, I can't disagree with that description. It's essentially a panning tool with added extras that lets you control stereo space quickly using a number of well-thought out features. I've been using it a lot with rhythm loops and the effect is very pleasing - as an experiment I worked it alongside Waves Audio's Brauer Motion plugin and discovered a very cool partnership between the two. Highly useful for adding depth and movement to the mix. Recommended.

And so to my latest "investment". After a bit of mulling about whether or not I really needed to take this particular path, I finally decided that yes, it was time to subscribe to the EastWest/Quantum Leap ComposerCloud X. This subscription gives me access to a huge array of software products that covers 10,000 of the most detailed, professional-quality virtual instruments, with a total combined monetary value of more than $12,500 (that's about £9800 in proper money). One year's subscription doesn't even cover the cost of one product and there's something like 59 products with new releases being added to the plan automatically. So what do you get? Pianos, choirs, full orchestras and solo orchestral instruments, drums, percussion, loops, synths and pretty much everything else. From what little time I've spent with it, the overall product is of a hugely high quality and very configurable - more learning!!! I'm predominantly interested in the orchestral and choral aspects, though I have to say I have found some of the ethnic instruments to be very useful.

With the addition of the ComposerCloud X, I think that any future software acquistions will have to be carefully thought out as I am running out of hard drive space!!!

Whilst being off work, I've been looking at the generative software Noatikl, from Intermorphic, that I got a while ago. I set up one instance of Omnisphere 2, putting it into multi-output mode (8 channels) and then added Noatikl a the start of the chain ahead of Omnisphere 2. Have a listen to what I achieved here:

This is the on-screen appearance of Noatikl with Omnisphere 2:

GTK2 Studio update......

Getting on with the "Altered States" project, but slowed down a little by YET more software acquiring. That said, good purchases. I've got a good few tracks well and truly underway now and they're currently called:

A Deficit of Attention

The Garden of the Mind

Perception

Oblique

Principles of Uncertainty

The style of this album is already seeing interesting changes from my previous releases, mainly through the use of Softube's Modular synthesizer, which is giving me a nice insight into the world of Eurorack modular synthesis, and the little CRAFTsynth from Modal Electronics. Electronic rhythms, percussive and melodic sequences and droning textures are in in abundance.

With regard the software purchases, there's a few new synths joined the fold as well as a number of interesting processing plugins.

The first synth is the excellent "cross-fusion synthesis" Blue II from Rob Papen. I also use his splendid Albino 3 (very sadly now discontinued) and Predator 2 synths. Blue II is a lot more digital sounding than Albino and Predator, but that's a good thing as it has a whole host of terrific features as well combining FM, subtractive, phase distortion and wave-shaping synthesis. It has truly wonderful presets to get you started and the potential to make interesting new sounds is immense, and the mix is awesome when coupled with Predator 2 and Albino 3.

The second bit of synthesizer software is from XILS-lab and is called Poly-M. It's a positively stunning software emulation of the (in)famous PolyMoog synthesizer and I have to say that it's really captured both my attention and imagination. From a young age, I have always yearned for a hardware PolyMoog - something that is very unlikely to happen. The original hardware PolyMoog didn't enjoy the best of success sadly, and for a number of reasons, not least it's unreliable nature and unstable oscillators. What it did enjoy was a great set of filters and a resonant section (some might call it a glorified EQ section) that gave real life and depth to otherwise weak sounding patches. Although used by a number of prominent musicians, the PolyMoog is best heard on anything done by Gary Numan in his Replicas/ The Pleasure Principle/Telekon eras.The Poly-M captures the essence and spirit of the PolyMoog perfectly, beautifully emulating those resonant filters and running with them, backed up with a very usable modulation matrix which gives any patch animation and substance. The Poly-M is very easy to use, it sounds incredible and, this is the killer, it does so much more than the standard and thoroughly over-used Gary Numan "Vox Humana" sound - no seriously, it does, honestly. I make no apology for my liking of this soft synth, I'm already using it on the "Altered States" project.

I'm also happy to have LennarDigital's rather splendid Sylenth1 synthesizer as part of the GTK2 Studio arsenal. It's a virtual analog synthesizer and looks, on the face of it, to be quite a simple affair, but it's appearance belies it's power. The filters are sharp and sassy and the sound can go from delicate and ethereal to downright big and dirty. This is another synthesizer that I have been interested in for some time, but it's recent upgrade to version 3 and 64-bit status meant it was time to get it on board. No regrets.

On the processing front, I've added a very interesting panning tool from Waves Audio called Brauer Motion - it's billed as an innovative circular auto-panner and I must say, it's doing very pleasing things with sequences and rhythm loops.

Sticking with Waves Audio, they recently decided to make the E-Channel of their SSL 4000 Bundle (three plugins based on the famous and highly regarded Solid State Logic 4000 series mixing console) available as a single plugin - this is very pleasing as the bundle in it's entirety is quite a price, and to get this single channel strip on it's own for a mere $29 was simply a no-brainer.

And a third purchase from Waves Audio was their excellent L2 Ultramaximiser - a very cool and great sounding limiter. I now have the 3 incarnations of this incredible limiter.

I'm a big fan of plugins from Audio Damage and when I saw they had updated their Dubstation to version 2, I was there. I love delays (nearly as much as reverbs!!!) and Dubstation 1.5 was always a favoured delay plugin. Version 2 has a cool new interface and some very interesting new options on board. I doubt it will be used any less than it's illustrious predecessor.

Another big (in terms of plugin numbers!!!) is the acquisition of Nomad Factory's Integral Studio Pack 3. A mega-bundle of processing and effects goodies, it contains no less than 50 separate plugins including some fantastic mastering and tracking plugs. I've been using their PulseTeq EQ on my master buss from the day I got it, so I'm pleased to have been able to avail myself of an expanded collection of Nomad Factory stuff, not least their British Bundle (compressor/limiter and EQ based on classic Neve designs) and Motown Retro Bundle (retro style EQ).

That concludes this update, onward to some more music-making and synth-learning ;-)

Additions to the GTK2 Studio......

Simple title eh?

A few new additions to the software collection on the studio computer.

First up is a multi-effects plugin called Frostbite from a company called AudioThing. I've really got into the AudioThing products and now have a few of their plugs. Frostbite is a curious little thing as it combines a ring modulator, a freeze function and a feedback module. Combined, these three effects provide for a really interesting ice-like shimmer on anything you put through it, or you can go for complete resonant FSU (fuck shit up) on your audio signal, but what ever you do, it's great for ambient or cinematic stuff.

Next up are two very major inclusions to the GTK2 Studio software collection, and they represent something of a major investment.

The first is Native Instruments Komplete 11. This collection of top drawer quality music software comprises 45 products that cover sampling, synthesis, rhythm and percussion and sound processing. Synths such as Massive, Absynth 5 and FM8 are included as well as the industry standard sampler, the mighty Kontakt 5. Also within the package are a several sample packs to use with Kontakt 5.

And the second is Spectrasonics Trilian total bass module. As it's name suggests, it's all about bass, but it really is so much more. Grooves, synth basses, electric basses and acoustic basses are all covered in this, pretty much, one-stop plugin. It also integrates itself into Spectrasonics' flagship product, Omnisphere 2 and it's one hell of an awesome combination!!! It quite simply sounds incredible.

And lastly, on the hardware front, the Arturia SparkLE drum machine controller has arrived and is now in situ in the GTK2 Studio. It's brilliant and definitely more in line with my way of working than the M-Audio Trigger Finger Pro (which I now have for sale!!!). It's smaller footprint means it sits nicely on my desk and for me, it's like going back in time to using drum machines of old. It also has lights, lots of them. And it looks pretty cool as well :-D

So, now I'm completely broke but I do have a very full studio with some of the best software on the market. And with the time I have now found through altering various aspects of my life, I suppose I really ought to get on with doing something with it all!!!

GTK2 Studio stuff and the like......

A little period of change going on here at GTK Towers, and for the better.

Following a little health issue, I've made some changes to my working life by cutting down on how much I do. Whilst financially I lose out a bit, in real terms of the work/life balance thing I seriously gain. I've had very little time to get cracking on the three music projects I have started and my photographic side has nigh come to a stand-still. I sincerely expect that to all change now.

I've invested a lot in my little GTK2 Studio, I am very fortunate to now have some of the best software that is available on my studio computer and it's really time to get back to making music. Some recent hardware and software purchases have been and will be making a massive difference to workflow and the sound palette.

On the hardware front I've added a couple of very interesting pieces and am selling another. Starting with the latter but leading nicely to the former is that I've decided to sell the M-Audio Trigger Finger Pro. I can't get on with it and it simply doesn't fit into my workflow. It really is a great piece of kit, loads of lights and even more functions and capabilities, but not for me. If I had more hardware synthesizers etc, then it would be ideal, but being 99% in the box means that I'm not getting the use I want from it and I hate seeing gear lying around unused. It's being replaced with Arturia's Spark LE drum machine controller which will connect to the Spark 2 software - that will resolved my rhythm programming side. I also recently purchased the rather fantastic CRAFTsynth by Briatol-based Modal Electronics. For a measly £80 you get a 2 oscillator synth that's as big as a large tub of margarine and sounds as big as a house. I've been blown away by it and you will be hearing on future releases for sure.

I've gone a bit mad on the software front.

No surprise.

Waves Audio have had a massive sale from which I've picked up one or two bits including the Aphex Vintage Exciter (adds some harmonic brightness to the mix) and the S1 Imager (very effective stereo widening plugin). I've also added a new spectrum analyser from MeldaProduction called the MMultiAnalyzer - it's great as it allows me to compare the spectrums of several tracks in one go and shows you where there are frequency collisions - very useful. Found a rather nifty MIDI arpeggiator/sequencer called Cream made by Kirnu Interactive - very handy for those sequenced synth patterns. Another useful piece of programming added to the GTK2 Studio computer is a program called Noatikl made by Intermorphic. It's a generative program meaning that you give it a set of variables from which to work from and then it will generate notes. One of the first iterations of this program was called Koan by a company called SSEYO - it was used to great effect by one of my personal musical influences, Brian Eno (considered to be the godfather of ambient music). It's taking a bit of getting used to, but it has the potential to be a lot of fun. Next up is another analyser-type plugin called Levels by Mastering the Mix. Not had a lot of time with this but I have to say, as someone who does not have a properly acoustically-treated studio, this might just be a big asset. A very nice upgrade has been Audio Damage's Eos to Eos 2 - a far better interface and more options - sounds really nice as well.

On the synth front, I've upgraded the IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik to the version 2CE edition - 64-bit and better resolution sounds. Also upgraded has been my Arturia V Collection 4 to version 5. It's a significant upgrade and sees many parts of the products included completely revamped including the user interfaces. A big improvement and something I'm using regularly now. Upgrades seem to have been the thing of the moment, as Xhun Audio upgraded their Little One synth to version 3 - 64-bit and bigger sounding than ever, I absolutely love this little take on the Moog Little Phatty. Another incredible sounding synth addition is Spectral from LinPlug, with which I also purchased 3 sound packs including one by eminent U.K. synthesist, Ian Boddy - the synth has an amazing sound and Ian's presets are truly something else. And now to the two major upgrades and additions to the studio computer - first of these is the upgrade and finally I now have Omnisphere 2 from Spectrasonics - it is in-credi-ible. Completely lives up to the hype and along with ReFX's Nexus², one of my "go to" synths. The major addition that is with me tomorrow (Tuesday 6th June) is Komplete 11 from Native Instruments - I got an absolutely marvellous deal from Absolute Music in Bournemouth that I simply couldn't possibly refuse and I am very much looking forward to having this powerhouse collection on the GTK2 Studio computer.

My recent health thing required me to have two weeks off work, and I put that time to use by getting my MIDI controllers properly assigned and fully integrated into the Windows 10 DAW system that I use, as well as getting my audio inputs (via my trusty old Mackie 1202 mixer) all sorted and sounding quite lovely.

I am now looking forward to using the newly-found spare time I have to getting back to doing what I love best, making music and taking photos :-)

Further to the last post......

......after reading it back and seeing how many software synthesizers I have recently added to the GTK2 Studio computer, I am so glad that my synth collection is all software - could you imagine trying to fit all them soft-synths into this if they were hardware!!!!!!