3 Virtual Software
december 6, 2006
Propellerhead is used by the Captain ReFill section To fill the gap left by the now discontinued ReBirth application, Propellerhead Software presents the ReBirth ReFill! A 100 mb monster ReFill that not only recreates the sounds of the original application, but also of all of the Mods that were available on the Propellerhead website.Download a demo version of Reason The software synth that is harder than hardware. Reason is a complete studio package with synths, samplers, drum machines, loop players, a sequencer, mixing, effects and much much more. Demo
REAKTOR from Native Instruments is a very flexible and great sounding software-based modular real-time synthesizer, sampler and effects processor. Select from a large library of synths/samplers or build and create your own! It functions just as any other Modular Dream machine would except that in its software environment, there are virtually unlimited amounts of flexibility, patchability and sonic possibilities. But prepare for a steep learning curve if you don’t already know a lot about how synthesizers use oscillators, filters, envelopes, effects, LFOs and so much more to generate sounds.ABSYNTH is a wonderfully organic software synthesizer for the Macintosh and PC! It is a semi-modular synthesizer with the ability to layer multiple synthesis techniques for really unique textures, pads, tones, soundscapes, rhythmic effects and other synth sounds ranging from analog to digital. ABSYNTH was originally released in 2000 by Rhizomatic Software as an internet download. Native Instruments saw the potential for ABSYNTH and have worked with Rhizomatic to make a new and truly professional version.With the release of Traktor DJ Studio, Native Instruments has unleashed the most professional DJ software on the market for DJ mixing, live remixing and mix recording using tracks in MP3, WAV, AIFF, and audio CD formats. It runs as a stand-alone software app supporting Core Audio, ASIO, DirectSound, and MIDI for Mac and PC platforms. Seasoned DJ’s and those who’ve never even seen a record will love the features offered that make mixing a breeze: graphic waveform displays, tempo recognition and automatic synchronization, real-time time stretching, cue points, seamless looping, and a track database with an ultra fast search function.
Novation Bass StationFollowing the predictably stunning reaction to the V-Station, Novation goes ‘back to its roots’ with a VST and Audio Unit plug-in which flawlessly re-creates the warmth, character and ‘oomph’ of the enormously successful Bass Station keyboard and rack analogue instruments.Before the famous Novation BassStation Rack module came the small and portable BassStation Keyboard! Basically a 2-octave keyboard with a BassStation rack built-in. This synthesizer uses analog sound emulation to reproduce the sounds of a monophonic 2-VCO analog synthesizer with the same simple and intuitive controls via 17 knobs, 10 switches and 2 Moog-style pitch/mod wheels.The BassStation can faithfully reproduce analog bass sounds just like a TB-303, Minimoog or Prophet synthesizer. The small keyboard and monophonic architecture set this keyboard up for strict bassline or lead synth lines. It also transmits MIDI continuous controller data for its pitch/mod wheels, frequency cutoff, resonance, filter modulation depth, env1 attack, decay and env2 attack and decay.Unlike the Rack version, however, the keyboard lacks basic patch storage options. There are only 7 memory patches and 1 manual patch (what the knobs are doing right now). The memory can be stored externally using MIDI SysEx dumps. But for the low price (under $500) this makes a great and compact analog bass synth for any user with simple but tasteful bass needs. It is used by Apollo 440 and Lo Fidelity AllStars.
FL STUDIO
FL Studio (formerly Fruityloops) is Image-Line’s all in one software production suite for PC. FL Studio is a pattern based sequencer, which means you create your songs in pieces (patterns) using the Step Sequencer and the Piano Roll view and then weld those pieces together using the Playlist window (the Playlist also supports full-featured audio tracks with hard-drive streaming). Then you can add a wide range of effects to your instruments (reverb, phaser, flanger etc.) and route the resulting mixer tracks in any way you like to create complex mixing chains with ease. The resulting song or loop can be exported to a WAV/MP3 file and all MIDI events can be exported to a standard MIDI file.FL Studio comes in four packages: Express, Fruityloops, Producer and XXL. FL Studio XXL is a package containing FL Studio Producer edition and all of its plugins including: SimSynth (FL, VSTi and DXi version included), WASP (FL, VSTi and DXi version included), DX-10 (FL, VSTi and DXi version included), Soundfont Player, DrumSynth Live, BeatSlicer and DreamStation.Visit www.flstudio.com for complete details.FL Studio Demo
Sampletank 2 has come a long way since its inception in 2000. It’s a software-based sample player that operates as a VST, DXi, RTAS, MAS and Audio Units plug-in under Mac OS and Windows operation systems. It ships with a library of about 4.5 GigaBytes of sampled sounds including Bass, Brass, Drums, Ethnic, Guitars, Loops, Orchestral, Organs, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Synths, Vocals, Woods and Winds. That about covers the whole gamut of sounds you would want from any sample-player! Sampletank 2 also introduces STRETCH (Sampletank Time REsynthesis TeCHnology) which gives complete sonic control over the tempo, pitch and harmonics of samples for excellent sample pitch transposing and loop synchronization to your host program’s tempo.
Although not as in-depth or complex as a GigaStudio, Sampletank does offer the software-based musician everything he/she would want in a do-it-all instrument. Each instance of the plug-in offers 16 parts. You can assign any sound in its library to each part to create richly layered sounds, an entire band ensemble or even an entire orchestra! Each of these parts can be assigned to any MIDI channel (1 to 16) so you can have independent control over each sound or control multiple parts at the same time. Each part also features independent solo and mute buttons, panning, volume and output assignments (up to 16 audio outputs available). This allows for extremely flexible creation of ensembles, multi-patches, layered sounds and performance oriented patches that can be stored and recalled at the click of a button (and a little bit of a wait as the samples are loaded into memory).IKMultimedia DEMO
