More on Sound2Sample

Looking further into the Sound2Sample site reveals a lot more help resources for those that are trying to find their feet in music production (like me).

There's a How to section here and a Pro Tips section here.

I am quite interested in looking at the Making Glitched vocals and Produce Dirty Dutch Leads.

Free stuff from Sound2Sample

Both Beatport and Native Instruments have sent me mail promoting Sound2Sample, and with the Native Instrument email they also sent a link to download some free samples as a present for the Holidays.

They got me hooked into a few of their other packs which sound promising, e.g. Glitch & Tech Vocals 2, Progressive House Synths & Stabs 2 or Nu Electrik.


Use the link below to the free stuff
http://www.soundstosample.com/NI/xmas?utm_source=s2s_affiliates_NI&utm_medium=s2s_NI_traktor_xmas&utm_term=s2s_NI_xmas&utm_content=s2s_NI&utm_campaign=s2s_affiliates#

Max for Live going cheap

Up until now I've been quite hesitant to jump on the Max for Live bandwagon, $300 on top of the hefty price of the Suite was pretty steep.

I do see the value in it, but didn't have spare money to throw into it, but with the sale price dropping it to $219 I'm a little more interested.

I amended the Wiki a year or two ago to include the dates when they had releases for Ableton, and it looks like they are due for one. I cant help but wondering if Max for Live will end up being apart of the Suite product...? Some of you may know that I jumped on the Sale for Komplete 6 and now Komplete 7 is out so maybe this sale is just to grab some straglers put off by the high price.

50% off Traktor Packs

I've been waiting for a good sale on these before taking the plunge and now I have until Dec 31 to buy.

Summary of the sale items below:
TRAKTOR DUO: just $59/€49
TRAKTOR PRO: just $115/€99
TRAKTOR SCRATCH DUO: just $199/€179
TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO: just $335/€299

Native Instruments - Traktor

Native Instruments - Traktor S4

I'm really excited to have a go on this unique mixer at a promo night later this month. Watch the vids you might see the potential I saw:p

Intellect: Techno House Progressive

Made by Claude Von Stroke before he made it big. This was one of the DVDs that made me want to start a blog since its such a hidden gem made by such a talented producer before he found his hit to push him into the big time. Excellent doco about what it takes to make in the dance music scene.

Native Instruments - Rammfire

Have a look at one of the new SoundPacks included in Komplete 7... RammFire watch the video if you want a good live sound taste.

In my younger days I used to listen to a lot of Heavy Metal and among my favorites was Rammstien, I couldn't understand a thing they were saying but the riffs and heaviness of the music actually brought me closer to Hard Trance and into modern Dance Music. To listen to this pack takes me back but also gives me hope that a unique sound from a non-electronic genre can be emulated well enough to make it difficult to determine which is the "real" sound.

With those sort of sounds you might even give DeathFace a run for his hardness factor

Remix Comps

Its been a while between Remix Comp posts so here are a few that can be found on one of my favorite Favorites - Remix Comps.com

BetatraXx - Drug Abuse Ft Alyssa Young/
InDaBaMusic.com - Metric - remix their entire album... wuuuhhhhh?

Komplete 7

I live in Australia and am loving the Aussie Dollar doing so well against the US dollar. So even though I bought Komplete 6 about a year ago I think it would be a good time to take the plunge and get 7.

The main difference in the two is they have finally bundled a lot of their Kore SoundPacks together and put them in the Komplete package. I've been interested in getting some of them for a while but never been able to choose one that I thought was significantly better than the others from the samples I heard on their new site.

Funny thing is its cheaper buying from Amazon than getting direct from Native Instruments itself ?:)

Native-Instruments

ASK Video Tutorials

I've been using Sonic Academy for a while now but for a different approach to tutorials I can also highly recommend ASK Videos. I have had the Cubase 4 DVDs for over a year now but they recently had a sale which I bought their Native Instruments Absynth and Battery tutorials as well as their two Ableton Live 8 videos. They seem to be moving to a more download only approach but I had no problems with it. My only gripe is the videos are encrypted so I can only watch them on my computer which is annoying, punish the good to get at the wicked:(

Prime Loops upto 50% off sale

I for one am stocking up on samples to help me get a great sounding tune done and dusted so I can use the experience to learn about the whole process rather than doing over the start of a song again and again because I'm such a perfectionist.


Primeloops.com

Ones I am looking at are:
Dubstep Producer Combo

Chiptune Producer Combo

Addict Trilogy Combo

Glitch Hop Drum Loops

Acid Breakbeat Grooves

Essential Dance Drums Combo

Bassline 4x4 Vol-1

Fidget vs Electro Grooves

Dubstep Producer

Complete 808 and 909 Drum Machines

Fidget House Grooves

Mix Injections

XXL Dance FX

Urban and Dance Vocals

Secret Lab Club Mix Insanity

Robyn and Royksopp Remix Comp

Another Beatport competition with possibility to win Native Instruments Maschine and your remix on the label.

Robyn Feat Royksopp Remix Contest

Remix Comp: Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

Awesome artists, awesome song, go forth and multiply it into a thousand genres.

Great site too

Dan-Le-Sac VS Scroobius Pip-Great Britain Remix Contest

Also
RemixComps.com

Shut down - Oh Gosh, They've Taken Panoramix

I cant believe it but one of my favorite blogs Oh Gosh, They've Taken Panoramix has been shut down, I cant find any information on why or where the bloggers have gone but it was one of my favorite blogs for really out there tracks that banged along nicely.

If anyone know anything would love to hear from you.

Remix Comp: Booka Shade - Regenerate

Pretty good song in original form with some interesting samples to work with.

Winning track will be released on the fantastic Get Physical label plus $200 bucks for Beatport tracks and some headphones by V-Moda.

p.s. sorry for the lack of updates, work blocked Blogspot so tis been difficult to find time but I'm off to a new job and got a new phone, which is fan-freakin-tastic. So I just need to find a good blogspot app and I'll be able to updates a lot quicker not relying upon work connection.

Easy Ableton comp for Power! book and Tutorial DVD

I dont know about you but I have a fair few Tutorial DVDs and subscriptions but havent really taken advantage of most of it. But I always want more for some reason???

Here is a quick comp for free learning stuff

http://www.ableton.com/pages/2010/win_a_book_dvd

Kore pack Massive Threat

Bit late to review this since I'm not a fan of buying a really expensive instrument then buying update and new presets. But listen to these sounds! Dubstep producers should definitely have a look.

Massive Threat

Arturia update Jupiter to v2

Arturia have updated their excellent re-creation of the Jupiter 8 Synth to version 2. The update brings

• A revolutionary preset navigation system called SoundMap
• Ability to use NRPN midi messages for automation
• Presets now respond to modulation wheel
• Fresh batch of presets made by a selection of top sound designers
• MIDI RPN "pitch bend range" message is now recognized
• Increase of overall volume
• New e-licenser (old Syncrosoft) copy protection
• and numerous bug fixes

Which might not sound like much but to an already fantastic Synth the more the better. Also remember this is usable on Arturia's Origin hardware that can take the load off your PC or Mac.

Jupiter 8

Another reason to love MusicRadar

For those that are not buying monthly copies of FutureMusic of ComputerMusic, or you missed one, you can still download the extensive range of samples from the CDs from the Magazines.

Best of all these are royalty free!

SampleRadar: Free Sample Downloads

New Sonic Academy website

Sonic Academy has upgraded their website with a better layout and feel. I love the video section it is now very easy to see all tutorials at a glance. Only suggestion I'd make is to have a page which details the Synths required for the tutorials since not everyone has the mulla to buy 10 to get through the tutorials.

Cant be 100% since I'm on a work computer but there looks to be some minor bugs with images that cant be found.

Sonic Academy

reFX Nexus2

I thought I had bought the creme de la creme of Software Synth packages with Komplete 5 but stumbled upon reFX's Nexus2 software today and it looks pretty great.

If anyone has it I'd love to hear your opinion of it, at USD$1919 fot he full unadulterated version its a bit much to go on a whim for. But it would be high on my list of Synths to but if I ever got a decent paying track or a better job

More info visit the reFX Nexus2 site

Ableton 8 Suite arrived!!!

The Ableton 8 Suite arrived at work yesterday!! Spent 4 hours installing the extra packages (the ALC files uploader really needs batch functionality), updating the sample files and the surprise 1.4 GB update! So once I'm finished with a few more tonight I will finally be able to stretch my legs in all its advance goodness.

Some of the first things I want to check out is

• whether my old songs will still load since there was a file format update that means that old Abletons cant open new Ableton files, just hope its not also the other way around, or whether it needs to be converted
• load a few songs and check out the DJ and VJ functionality, will need to wait until I can afford the Ohm64 to really give the DJ side a rinsing since my current Mixer doesnt accept MIDI connections like the Ohm64

Give me a few days and I will update on my progress and my opinions.

Use Serato and Ableton with the Bridge

Not really a fan of Serato but there is an interesting article on CreateDigitalMusic explaining how this new bit of software help both applications can work together.

No release date but atleast it is free for owners of the respective applications.

Ableton Serato: The Bridge fuses DJ Sets Live Sets Full Details

Zodiac Cartel new site

One of my favorite arists, Zodiac Cartel, has a new store front on his website and has packs that include full Remix Parts to some of his songs. I for one will be downloading all of the packs tonight as I want to support Artists getting paid directly from their respective websites rather than having everyone paying service/hosting/random fees to Beatport or the evil iTunes.

ZodiacCartel Store

Ableton shipment delayed

Its taking forever to change status, its somewhere between Germany and Australia...

Ive been looking through my MusicTech Focus of Ableton Live 8 which is a great for someone wanting to get right in there with some professionals helping you along the way.

There are heaps of packages to install once I get it because its been a while since Ableton 8 was released, and they are also having some focused tutorials on the site to get people using all the power it has to offer.

Ableton 8 Suite is on its way to me

Ive taken the plunge while they have their 10th Bday celebrations to buy Suite 8. Should be here in a week or so, I will give an update once its here. You should consider upgrading while the 20% off sale is on cause even if Ableton 9 comes out within 6 months the cost will be higher than now and if there is a feature you really need then a one version upgrade shouldnt be a killer like the USD$400 one for me.


So far I have a few projects planned including putting together a 20-30 minute DJ mix that I'm going to add some jingles over and present to two radio stations hoping to get on the air in 2010.