Audio Software Goodies

[filkertom]

It's been awhile since I've mentioned this, and there are some very, very nifty things popping up:

• True Pianos is finally going to be announced soon. I've been waiting for this for months. (If you've forgotten why this is gonna be so cool, here's a video reminder.)
• Studio Cat is having a group buy for their Reverb Tools IR, a bunch of tremendous pro-level Impulse Responses for convolution reverb plugins. (Note! It is not itself a reverb plugin.) It's normally $49, now $20 until Jan. 28.
• Semuta is a bizarre and wonderful audio toy for Mac and PC. I can't really describe it, but... there's a button on the lower right that looks like a screw head; it's the toggle for the help function, and once it's on a mouseover displays what any given feature is. The "screw" in the upper right exits the program.

Anything new on your musical horizon?

Comments

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, I finally hauled my tinwhistles out of their bags and recorded a Lord of the Rings melody line. That's about it. I really need to make time to play/practice more.

And oh, I found my kazoo today. :-)

[the-mad-elf.livejournal.com]

Not music wise but I recently started experimenting with Levelator (http://www.gigavox.com/levelator) to adjust audio levels in my podcasts. I really like the results, it's cleaned up the audio very nicely.

[tollermom]

Semuta is enjoyably odd... and I think could get addictive. Entertaining toy, for sure!

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Well, now that I have GarageBand 3, and a USB MIDI interface so I can make my cheapass keyboard work with it, I'm tempted to see if I can hack together some music. Since I have absolutely no musical education, and no time to gain one, it'll be very much like setting a baboon loose on the keys. But at least it'll be interesting, because the quasi-sound-font-things in GarageBand sound really good.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Wow, that video ad for True Pianos is amazing. What will be the requirements for the keyboard and accoutrements? (I assume something with onboard processor and memory, or something with external processor as well?)

[jenrose]

Just wanted to tell you what an amazing thing happened when I followed the true pianos link...

I was listening, and my older daughter brought Shiny in and set her on my lap. Shiny was enraptured by the piano music--she loves pianos and bangs away mightily every chance she gets. She is mostly non verbal at this point but learning sign, slowly.

She stared for the longest time, then when one piece ended, she brought her hands up flat to her face very deliberately, then clapped in her distinctive "yay, I liked that, more please!" clap. It took me a minute to realize that her first sign had been a baby version of "Pretty".

Then she said Please. And watched contentedly for a good while longer. We watched both links a couple times.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

Mostly I'm still dithering over whether I'd get more mileage out of a better class of "DAW" (and associated toys) or just from working harder on improving with the (budget-level) stuff I already have. But since you've opened the subject of music tech, I'd like to pimp for The Recording Project (http://www.recordingproject.com/bbs/). (I have no vested interest; I just find it a neat place to learn things.)

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Most of the WQ funds are currently allocated to the new CD...but after that, I'm seriously contemplating buying a new keyboard. I deliberately haven't priced 'em in a long time in order to avoid temptation, but prices for keyboards with a full-on piano feel have dropped tremendously in the past several years.

Plus, I have a real honest-to-Bob piano in my living room which is currently little more than a picture stand because it's in such desperate need of tuning. So that's high on my "spend money on" list.

I'm also contemplating picking up a cheap guitar, because people keep telling me how easy it is to pick up if you already know how to play other instruments.

...holy crap, this message turned long.

-=ShoEboX=-

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Local SCA had a Bardic Collegium on Saturday and I got a mini voice assessment from an opera singer-turning-voice teacher. Mostly what I expected, mezzo-soprano and mid-range everything really; compliments on my pitch, homework assignment to work on sight-reading.

I did my share of teaching too: I wound up with a session on "Songs We Used To Sing" and dragged out old SCA filks for an audience that didn't know the tune to "Rosin the Bow" and "The Ash Grove". They do now, by cracky!

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Hmm, 4Front, eh? Their 4Front bass module is the one I've been using for all my bass parts in my current project, it's very realistic. My plan all along has been to replace the parts with a real bass, but I keep thinking that the 4Front module sounds so good, and it's so much work to lay down real bass tracks........