Lennar Digital Sylenth1: Soundbanks round-up 01

Synth factory presets quite often are just average. One of the key reasons is that, as a developer, you don't want to wait forever for your completed product (synth) to be released. On the other hand, sound designers need quite a lot of time to master new synth, to discover some new, interesting tricks - it's like: the more time you spend with synth, the better presets you'll create so naturally there is some kind of a time conflict. Developers want to release their "ready to go" (except factory presets) product fast, sound designers want it slow :)

I mean, sure you may (as a customer) just state: "ohh, what a crap factory presets" and buy another synth but quickly you'll end up having 20-30 synths with some general, "bread & butter" factory presets which usually don't fully explore synth's sonic possibilities.

I prefer to have less synths but expand them with third party, additional soundbanks. Why ? Third party soundbanks usually have better quality (sound designers have enough time to fully explore synth) and are suited more to certain style, genres. Factory banks often are some kind of a demo whispering to your ear: "look, I can sound like this (ie. some Ambient texture sound) and I can sound like that (ie. some Trance arpeggio sound)". But the point is - if you're for example a progressive house producer then you don't need ambient texture, you don't need trance arp :) You need some bass, you need some big room plucks etc. And third party soundbanks deliver this.

I would like to start a new series of articles. Each article will focus on one synth and will contain possibly the biggest list of links to both commercial and free additional third party soundbanks. So today it's probably the most popular Electronic Dance Music (virtual) synth ever - Lennar Digital Sylenth1. By default, it has one of the biggest factory libraries available, suited mostly for Trance genre but with these additional third party banks you may expand Sylenth with hundreds of presets.

I decided to not include the prices because there are (almost) always some kind of a promotions so the article quickly would be out of date.

ps. If there are some more Sylenth1 soundbanks not listed here, post the info in comments and I'll add it to the list.

Commercial Soundbanks:

Pablo Decoder House Patches for Sylenth
Keywords: House, Lead, Pad, Tech House
Presets: 64

CFA-Sound PATCHWORX 05
Keywords: Trance, Bass, Lead, Pad, Synth
Presets: 64

CFA-Sound Synergy Vol. 1
Keywords: Trance, Hard-Trance, Lead, Bass, Seq
Presets: 128

CFA-Sound Synergy Vol.2
Keywords: Lead, Pluck, Bass, Pad, Trance, Hard-Trance
Presets: 128

Jody Wisternoff Progressive and Tech Sylenth Presets
Keywords: Progressive House & Tech, Lead, Stab, Bass, String
Presets: 64

Adam Szabo Sylenth1 Soundset
Keywords: EDM, Pluck, Lead
Presets: 64

Arksun Soundbank
Keywords: EDM, Lead
Presets: 128

Molgli's Twisted UK Hardcore Sylenth Soundset
Keywords: Hardcore, Hardstyle, Hands-Up
Presets: 131

DMS Sylenth1 Sound Bank
Keywords: EDM
Presets: 128

Project Theadora Soundset
Keywords: Club, Dance, Pop
Presets: 64

Sylenth1 Trance Soundset
Keywords: Trance, Lead, Bass, Pad
Presets: 128

Trance Euphoria Sylenth Trance Soundset Vol.2
Keywords: Trance, Lead, Bass, Pad, FX
Presets: 134

Sylenth1 Melodic Progressive House Soundset from Audiotent
Keywords: EDM, Progressive House, Pluck, Lead, Big Room
Presets: 64

Sylenth1 Trance Soundset Combo
Keywords: Trance, Lead, Pad, Bass
Presets: 262

Underground Filth Essentials
Keywords: EDM, Lead, Bass
Presets: 128

Wolsfraektroes Music: Essential Freak Sounds Sylenth Soundset
Keywords: Bass, Lead, EDM, Pluck, Big Room
Presets: 64

Nutty Trance Hardstyle Soundset
Keywords: Hardstyle, Hardtrance, Hardcore, Oldskool, Rave
Presets: 100

Gary FL Sylenth1 Essentials
Keywords: EDM, Club, Trance, Lead, Bass, Pad, FX
Presets: 64

Metteo Marini Progressive - Sylenth Soundset
Keywords: Progressive House, Lead, Arp, Bass, Pluck
Presets: 64

Neon Gravity
Keywords: Lead, Arp
Presets: 68

Essential Freak Sound 9-in-1
Keywords: EDM
Presets: 500

Designed Sounds Bundle 3-in-1
Keywords: EDM, Electro-House, Bass, Lead, Pluck
Presets: 248

Frantic Records Dimensions
Keywords: Trance
Presets: 128

Xenos Soundworks Sylenth Soundbanks
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: ~200

Euphoric Trance Bundle
Keywords: Trance
Presets: 262

Ultimate Dance Vol.1
Keywords: Dance, Wide Range
Presets: 256

EDM Vol III
Keywords: EDM
Presets: 128

Audiotent Melodic House
Keywords: Progressive House
Presets: 64

Equinox Sounds Soundwave
Keywords: Trance, Progressive, Techno, Tech
Presets: 128

Studio 54 Vol.1
Keywords: Electro / Minimal / Dutch House
Presets: 54

Studio 54 Vol.2 Keywords: Electro / Minimal / Dutch House
Presets: 54

Housemaster
Keywords: House, Bass, Chord
Presets: 64

Plughugger Club Tools vol 1
Keywords: Dance, Club, Lead, Stab, Arp, Bass, Seq
Presets: 128

Plughugger Dark Horse
Keywords: Dark, Deep, Disturbing, Distorted
Presets: 128

Plughugger Total Bass
Keywords: Bass, Modern Dance
Presets: 128

Sonic Elements Dragonfly
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: 164

Sylenth Signature v2
Keywords: Modern Dance, EDM, Bass, Lead, Pad
Presets: 182

Togeo Studios Complete 512
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: 512

Vengeance-Sound Various Banks
Keywords: EDM, Trance, Modern Dance
Presets: ~ 520

vstsoundbanks.com
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: 256

Fontana Soundbanks Bundle
Keywords: Dance, Bass, Lead, Pad, FX
Presets: 384

Free Soundbanks:

KvR Audio.com Sylenth1 Presets Database - requires registration

7aliens Sylenthlines
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: 512

Togeo Studios Freedom 128
Keywords: Wide Range
Presets: 128

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How David Guetta became the world’s biggest DJ

You may like the guy or not but the truth is that David Guetta is currently the biggest artist / producer in dance music. Half of the songs played on MTV Dance are collaborations with David. I mean, his music is not necessary for me but I can respect what he's doing.
The Independent made quite long, interesting article / interview with David. Interesting read.

[...] "my mum, being extreme-left, was happy that I was an artist. She was really not happy when I had a restaurant. Because it was like being a capitalist. Crazy, right?" he laughs. "I had the most reversed education possible. Every parent wants their son to be a businessman, respectable – me, it was the opposite. When I had an artist career my mum was like, 'Oh finally, I'm proud of you!'"

Article: The dance messiah: How David Guetta became the world’s biggest DJ
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777 Free, Acoustic Drum Samples - NSA Custom Series Drumkit

Via Rekkerd.org, released about a year ago :) :

Dean (aka ‘Nekro’) wrote in to share a nice collection of acoustic drum samples, recorded a few years ago when Dean was working with Pro Tools HD, using Drumagog & Sound Replacer. The sample pack includes a total of 777 samples, 16bit/44kHz mono .wav format (132 MB).

There are separate folders for cymbals, hihat, kick, snare, and tom sounds. Most file names include info on the recorded channel — L/R/M(ono), and if you take a close look you should be able to figure out how to use the multi-samples to create sampler patches (none are provided in the download pack, if anyone makes some please share).

Here’s a tune in which Dean is using the samples offered here in combination with Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 2 and EZdrummer, followed by some preview clips for all of the samples included in the pack.

Sounds pretty amazing :)



Download: NSA Custom Series Drumkit
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Synth1 Feeltune Soundbank

Freeware presets are quite rare these days but luckily there are still some gems. For example yesterday release: "Feeltune Bank" by Chris dedicated to the most popular freebie synth ever: Synth1. The soundbank contains 128 presets which are mostly modern sounding (dance, electro) but there are also some presets suited for 90's and 80's lovers :) My personal opinion is that this soundbank is one of the best Synth1 banks. Some pads are really amazing. Also you can find there some dubstep-like talking basses, some leads - just everything :)

Download: Feeltune Synth1 Bank
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The sound of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Smashing camping caravan and recording the sound of it must be exciting :D


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3 ways to slice and dice loops in Ableton Live

Interesting and informative three parts tutorial which shows 3 ways to change loops into something hmmm more usable :) Tutorial covers:
- slice to Midi option
- sampler Keyzones
- chopping in Arrangement mode
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Vst Cafe & Facebook

Ok, we've reached 200 Facebook followers. I wonder if we can reach more... ;)

Edit. Almost 300 now - great :)
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Berliner Philharmoniker Remix Competition

Now, that's the competition I'm talking about - exciting and challenging :)

The musical focus of our competition is the music of Gustav Mahler. He was an Austrian composer born in 1860, an extraordinary conductor and a composer writing music that reflected his difficult childhood, his life and loves as well as his ever searching quest to understand the meaning of life. He wrote nine complete symphonies, and represented at the the turn of the century the cusp of the late romantic period as well as the breakaway to searching for new forms and means of expression. His First Symphony is devoted to expressing the connections between nature and the turbulences of life and love. He lived the latter part of his life in New York dying at the age of 51 in 1911.

Now in 2011, commemorating a hundred years since Mahler died, the Berliner Philharmoniker invite you to create your own remix of the sound tracks from the first movement of Symphony No.1 by Gustav Mahler, which we have uploaded on the site for you. You simply enter the SoundCloud site and upload your final remix by 30 September to the site.

Very challenging :) (note there are tempo changes :) )
Deadline is: September 30th, 2011.

More info: Berliner Philharmoniker Remix Competition
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Noises, Risers, Swooshes - Free Ableton Live Rack

About a week (or two) ago, I introduced on VstCafe nice, free Ableton Whoosh Machine Instrument Rack, which I used in my latest production ready for Tiesto remix competition. If you need more noises, risers, swooshes then it may be worth checking AfroDJMac's free rack which instroduces that kind of sounds.

Download: Free Ableton Live Rack - Noises, Risers, Swooshes
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The sound of Inception

Another video from the series: "The Sound Of...". This time it's great, action / thriller movie - Inception.
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OneSheet - websites for DJs, Musicians in minutes

Well, I'll just quote the source (DJ Tech Tools website):

In the landscape of promotion, there are now unlimited sites on which you can place material on about your work as a DJ. So when someone asks “what do you do?”, which link do you send them? Many DJs have signatures that look like library cards with 5 different links to Twitter, Soundcloud, Facebook, Myspace and if they are lucky a custom homepage. Since you can’t possible expect people to visit all of your content sites, why not aggregate all of those sources into one single page that is easy to set up and changes as your DJ world grows? Well, fortunately, someone invented a service that does just that. It’s called: “One Sheet” . It does not really host much content except for a big splashy photo and a bio. All of the “assets” that you would want to share like photos, mixes, tour dates come from other internet services that specialize in managing those services. One sheet simply aggregates all of them into a single web presense that you can link to with a single URL. Upload a new mix or tour date and your “homepage” stays updated without a single shred of effort.

The whole idea seem pretty cool because, indeed having all these Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Myspace, Mixcloud, Official websites is getting a little bit ridiculous :)

More info: DJ Tech Tools - Create a Great DJ Website, in Minutes | OneSheet.com
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Yamaha CP-35 Free Ableton Live Rack

Previously introduced on Vst Cafe - Free Ableton Live Rack: Korg Monotron by AfroDJMac seems pretty popular so it's time for another interesting freebie: Yamaha CP-35 Ableton Live Rack.

The Yamaha CP-35 is a pretty cool vintage electric piano. Made sometime in the 1970s or 80s this instrument has a wide range of tone, sometimes reminiscent of the Fender Rhodes keyboards. Probably my biggest gripe about this keyboard is its size. The thing is huge and heavy. Cleverly, the case transforms into legs, but lugging this baby around to gigs is pretty much out of the question. Fortunately, it now fits in your laptop. The original model has flanger and tremolo effects, which I have attempted to emulate. I’ve also added some chorus, vibrato, and delay to add some flavor to it. The CP-35 is capable of a fairly wide range of electric piano sounds, and I have sampled five offerings. So the next time you need a nice dreamy vintage piano sound reminiscent of “Daniel” by Elton John, or a Stevie Wonder-esque funk piano, load up the AfroDJMac CP-35 rack.

Download: AfroDJMac - Free Ableton Live Rack : Yamaha CP-35
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IR Convolution Reverb Plugins Comparison

If you're into Convolution Reverb plugins then you may find this article pretty interesting. It's a comparison of some popular reverb plugins such as AudioEase Altiverb, McDSP Revolver, TL Space, Waves IR1, Logic’s Space Designer. The article contains a lot of audio examples because the comparison is not focused around the features but it's all about the sound (by using deconvolution process).

Article: http://re-sounding.com
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140 NI Kontakt Bass Instruments for 10 EUR

Well, I've just received an email from Sonic Couture and it looks like this can be a pretty nice deal. Their Abstrakt Bass sample library will be discontinued next month, on 20th September. This means that it's now available for 10 EUR / 15 $. Originally it was released about 5 years ago and costed 79.99 UK Pounds (about 90-100 EUR).

Abstrakt Bass library requires NI Kontakt (not player version. I wonder if it can be imported to Ableton Live for example) - it offers 140 bass presets, that's about 1.6 GB Size.

it's a cool product [...] The problem is that we're updating some of our older products to keep things fresh, and this one is really, really hard to update. This is because each kontakt instrument was built individually, in the early days of scripting! So, to update it, we'd kind of have to start again from scratch. And we'd rather make new products than do that

More info: Sonic Couture Abstrakt Bass
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Melda Production MAnalyzer

Melda Production MAnalyzer is another (check Voxengo Span too) worth mentioning, free spectrum analyzer plugin. Just like other free Melda Production plugins, it's a quality stuff and it's a part of Melda free audio plugins bundle, which is simply great (probably the best, free plugin effects bundle).
MAnalyzer comes with some interesting features such as: smoothing, normalization, super-resolution, prefiltering and deharmonization. Finally it also provides a peak meter and ITU-R BS.1770-1 and EBU 3341 compliant loudness meter. I also like Super-resolution feature which improves resolution in low frequencies, but keeps the speed of higher frequencies. "Standard FFT analyzers have poor resolution in low frequencies due to logarithmical scale of human auditory system. Super-resolution fixes this problem and provides high resolution in both high and low frequencies."

Download: Melda Production | MAnalyzer
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Voxengo Span - free spectrum analyzer plugin

Sooner or later every producer learns to use spectrum analyzers :) Voxengo Span is one of the best spectrum analyzer you can get for free. Span features output level metering with adjustable ballistics and integration time, K-metering (including calibration K-metering). It displays level metering statistics, headroom estimation and clipping detection. Correlation metering is available as well.

Span also supports multi-channel analysis and can be set to display spectrums from two different channels or channel groups at the same time. And it's GUI is big which really helps :)

Download: Voxengo Span
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Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better

In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, "We are losing our listening." In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you.

It's not about music production, it's more about our XXI century civilisation and the way we live - everything is just loud, traditional ways of communicating are replaced etc. Interesting hmm document.
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Ableton Live - Fat & Punchy Kick Drum | Hard & Snappy Snare (Dubstep)

Few days ago I received an email from Alex (Ascian) about his two tutorials dedicated to kick and snare. Overall, these are well explained tutorials which show the techniques you can use to create your own kicks, snares. For example "kick tutorial" introduces layering, EQing, Saturation, Filtering, Compression, Spectrum Analyzing.

This reminds me that at some point, definitely I'll try to create my own kick drums and release them freely or for 1000 $ each ;)

Ahh, the topic states dubstep but I would say that these techniques are universal, at least when it comes to Electronic Dance Music.
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Best Trance tune

Best trance tune ;)
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Remix Competition - Jason Derulo Don't Wanna Go Home

Do you want to make a remix of something POPular ? Well, Jason Derulo's track "Don't Wanna Go Home" has 25 million views on YouTube and there is a remix competition announced on IndabaMusic.

It's probably suited more for US citizens because the winner will collaborate with Jason, in the studio in Los Angeles :)

More info: Jason Derulo Remix Competition
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The Sound of "Unstoppable" movie

Unstoppable is an action thriller film starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The film tells the story of a runaway train, and the two men (Washington and Pine) who attempt to stop it.

Nice video showing that a good sound effects (which is usually somewhere "in the background") in the movie also require huge amount of work.

You can find more SoundWorks Collection "The Sound of..." videos on Vimeo
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Virus TI Programming Boot Camp

This might be useful (sound programming tips :) ) if you own Access Virus TI synth.









Visit Access Music Vimeo Channel for more Virus TI videos (probably there will be some soon)
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How to make Deadmau5 style chords

Ok, it's some basic stuff which actually shows what sequencers were invented for ;) but it's quite catchy and most probably people, interested in finding the answer to: how to make Deadmau5 style chords / plucks, will like it. It just shows how to start from a single note and build the chords around it.

So if you think that chords are made by hand ... you're wrong ;) Today it's about using a sequencer and mouse clicking ;)

Do you like it ? I don't - mouse clicking is so uninspiring :) Still prefer to just record the chords played by hand + quantization and then if needed add some lower layer, or just use Ableton Chord Midi Effect (neat effect which quickly build chords so for example you can hear your preset playing at current octave and -1 octave lower without creating another instance of your synth transposed -12 semi-tones).
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Vintage Trio - Sonik Synth 2, SampleTron, SampleMoog - V-Insanity Deal $99.95

Esoundz store offers IK Multimedia trio synths: Sonik Synth 2, SampleMoog, SampleTron for pretty amazing price. Normally, each product costs 229 $ (official IK Multimedia store) but with this deal, you can have these three synths for 99 $ or 50 $ each.
All instruments are sample based and weight around ... 14 GB. Sonik Synth 2 is the biggest one (8 GB), it contains sampled vintage synths such as Arps, Moogs, Obies, Jupiters, Gleeman, Voyetra, Serge, EMS Synthi, Prophets, Trons, Rhodes, Wurlies. SampleMoog contains samples from 16 Moog models and SampleTron Mellotrons, Chamberlins, and Optigans.

Actually, it was pretty hard to skip this deal. I didn't have enough funds so I decided to go with Sonik Synth 2. Is it worth ? Well, I've just downloaded it and only spent like 15 minutes so can't say anything about quality. But definitely the presets database is huge. IK claims that there are ... 5800 sounds. I assume that there are like hmm 1500-2000 unique sounds and then there are few variations of each sound + there are so called "combi" presets (you can easily layer presets to make one big "combi" preset - great), so yea, overall there may be something around 5800 sounds. And then add SampleMoog and SampleTron to it ;)

Well, I didn't like one thing. The GUI seems too small (it may be an advantage if you use laptop for example), especially preset browser is very small and it seems like there is no next/previous button so you need to use mouse a lot. At least the presets are nicely categorized and demo versions are available :)

More info: Esoundz - V-Insanity Deal (deadline is 18th August)
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The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Very nice video about creating the sounds (mostly some futuristic, robotic stuff and gun shots :) ) for the latest Transformers : Dark of the Moon movie.


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Ableton Whoosh Machine Instrument Rack Free

Whoosh Machine is an Ableton Live freeware Instrument Rack which produces analog white noise sound.

At its core, Whoosh Machine has 10+ high quality analog white noise patches. The instrument is truly a one-stop whoosh shop featuring 8 filter types and a built FX rack with LFO, Sidechain Pumper, Delay and a massive Reverb. Simply drag and drop Whoosh Machine onto a track, play a note on your midi keyboard and start tweaking the filters to create huge, soaring risers and powerful, cascading descenders

Update. Ok, used it a little bit in my latest project and that thing is truly great, flexible. There are ready to go clips so all you need to do is to just drag clip to your product and you have instant few instant noise / risers possibilities. Great. This should be praised :)

More info: Sonic Faction Whoosh Machine
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Commercial Electronica Soundset for Cakewalk Z3TA+ 2 released

Commercial Electronica Soundset for Cakewalk Z3ta+ 2 synth is an updated version of my previous soundbank dedicated to Z3ta 1.5 (old version). It contains additional 30 patches so overall there are 155 presets - 46 bass sounds and rest filled with synth/lead sounds.
"Commercial Electronica" presets are suited for modern Electronic Dance Music genres such as Modern Pop Music, House, Synthpop, Trance, Dubstep. All donations are used to pay Vst Cafe bills and overall improve it (was thinking about some competitions etc.).

I had quite a lot of fun with creating audio demos. Here's small snippet of a genre I never tried before :) - Dubstep(Pop ?) song inspired by DJ Fresh - Louder but the final result is rather dark ;) It's a real world example so I use there Ableton Compressors, Limiter but I don't use any effects that would radically change the sound (ie. Saturator, Distortion, Delay, Reverb units). About 5-6 instances of Z3ta+ 2. The drums are NOT from Z3ta+ 2. I don't like that Soundcloud widgets are only 128 kpbs - sometimes their encoding algorithm sucks :)



And some presets demos
Synth/Lead presets demo - one instance of Z3ta+ 2


Bass presets demo - one instance of Z3ta+ 2


More info: Commercial Electronica Soundbank for Cakewalk Z3TA+ 2
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Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music is an online Flash-driven guide to electronic music created by Kenneth John Taylor of British Columbia. Current version (2.5) was released in January 2005 and lists 180 genres. Of course, there may be some problems with accuracy (especially mp3 audio demos) but still it's probably the biggest guide available. Version 3.0 is in progress.

More info: Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music
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Tiësto "Work Hard, Play Hard" Remix Contest

According to this it's time for some big remix competition.

To celebrate the launch of Tiësto's College Invasion Tour, Musical Freedom announced "Work Hard, Play Hard" remix contest! Grand Prize ? An official release of winner's remix on Musical Freedom, $200 pre-paid Beatport card and I'm sure of it - fame :)

More info: Tiesto University
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Tech House Lead Synth Using Ableton Live's Resonator

Ableton Live (and other DAWs too) contains a lot of features, instruments, effects that somehow aren't used a lot. For example Resonator Audio Effect. In this video tutorial Jonny Miller (Point Blank Online) shows how to use the resonator to turn a drum hit into a tech-house style lead synth. Interesting tutorial :)
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Ugo Rez 3 Monosynth

Ugo Rez - great monophonic virtual synthesizer, developed by Ugo Audio, has undergone a major overhaul. If you don't know what Rez is then it's a quite basic mono synth which has (at least) one amazing feature - lovely resonant filter capable of producing all kind of screaming leads, bass sounds nad more.

New, interesting features:
- updated tone - can be brighter and more aggressive than before, and capable of sounds earlier versions couldn't do
- 16 step programmable arpeggiator with dedicated arp sequencers for gate length, cutoff, portamento, and phaser frequency
- Cutoff offset control - reduces the cutoff of one of the internal filters relative to the other to provide chewier, more vocal sounds when at high resonance
- More aggressive distortion with three tone modes
- Age control - think increasingly unstable/noisy/broken oscillators, rather than the subtle drift of an old analog
- and much more (really :) )

Overeall, Ugo Rez 3 is a small beast and definitely has it's own character. It's free, but it comes with 24 presets only. If you need some more presets and you appreciate this freebie, you can buy some commarcial preset libraries from official website.

Audio Demo: (by 0db.pl)


Download: Ugo Audio | Ugo Rez
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Combo Model V

Somehow my "synth radar" didn't detect this nice freebie ;) Combo Model V, by Martinic, is a freeware virtual combo organ, modelled after some "well-known combo organ from the 1960s". Combo organ is an "electronic portable organ, usually transistorized and designed for use on stage, usually in the context of a band or group. A number of different pitches and tone-colours can be selected, usually via rocker switches known as stop-tabs or sliders called drawbars."

Audio Demo: (comes from official website)


It's available both for PC (Vst) and Mac (AU) users :)

Download: Combo Model V
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Remix Competitions - worth ?

Who is Zedd ?



Ok, that guy (with blue shirt) was Zed, not Zedd ;) Great music by the way...

Zedd is a young, German producer who quickly became well known in Electro-House scene. How did you do that ? Well, it turns out that creating remixes for all kind of remix competitions is still a good way to start a music career. Of course there are plenty of remix competitions so it's crucial to pick the "good ones" (which mostly means big, with famous names) and win them :)

Zedd won Armand van Helden, Fatboy Slim remix competitions and then everything started. Remixes for Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia and ... Lady Gaga... Amazing start, isn't it ?


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How To Make A Huge Trance Pad In Massive

Just some basic, classic trance pad sound created in NI Massive synth.
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Interview with Eric Persing - Spectrasonics Founder

Interview with Eric Persing - Spectrasonics Founder and Creative Director.

Every industry needs champions. These are individuals and companies who propel the market forward and continue to set the bar higher for everyone else to aspire to. Spectrasonics’ Founder and Creative Director, Eric Persing, is such a person for the sound design and software plug-ins industry.

Article: KVR Audio - Interview with Eric Persing
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Lego Album Covers

There is a neat group on Flickr with 754 members, who create Album Covers. The main theme is ... Lego :D Do you like Lego ? Well, I love(d) it as well as Matchbox Cars :D

Some pretty cool, creative covers are there ie. Iron Maiden album cover ;)

More info: Flickr - Lego Album Covers
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Battlefield Vietnam - The Sounds of the 60's

Just an interview with sound crew at DICE Gaming Studio that makes Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam game a journey back in time and place, to the 60's and the jungles of Vietnam. Nice article if you're intersted in sound design or overall audio aspects in computer games. I'm sure they had tons of fun recording the sounds. For example on one of the maps, you can hear the Vietnamese pig "Horace" oink from time to time ;)

That was a really old and really angry pig that I also met on my vacation. Every time you got close, he got a bit annoyed and squealed angrily, which I thought was pretty funny (he was on the other side of a fence). Well, you can't see him, only hear him. I made sure to mix the in-game sound to seem distant and unspecific, so the players don't assume that they will actually see the pig right in front of them.

Article: Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam - The Sounds of the 60's
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SaviHost - free, handy VST Host

Few days ago I read some forums and some guy had a problem: his wife wanted to learn to play the piano (on midi usb keyboard). Sure, normally you can just open your DAW, pick some VST Instrument via DAW Browser and play :) But what if your wife is not an IT expert (or even beginner ;) ) ?
Well, SAVIHost is your friend. It's a VST Host program, with all the basic stuff required (as well as some nice features, ie. ASIO support) and one feature that is perfect - it automatically loads "selected VST" on start so all your wife / girlfriend / cat ;) needs to do is to just double click .exe file (or better some icon) and actually play, without any problems. All you need to do is to rename SaviHost.exe to the name of the plugin's dll name. If, for example, the Plugin is called blabla.dll, savihost.exe has to be renamed to blabla.exe and it will automatically load blabla.dll on start.

ps. Of course, another option is to use some standalone (mostly commercial) plugins.

Download: SAVIHost
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Layering Kick Drums - Ableton Live

Pretty nice video tutorial for Ableton Live. It's created by Quantize Courses and it's about layering kick drums. It's pretty much suitable for all these EDM genres such as deep house, tech house, progressive house, electro house, minimal, techno and trance.
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