Native Instruments has been known for quite a while for their spectacular instrument plug in recreations (from the virtual reproduction of the Hammond B3 to the one of the legendary Yamaha DX7) and for other “original” virtual instruments like Battery and Kontakt.

The Germany based company recently entered the production and recording sequencer market with a product called “MASHINE” which comes with a hardware unit that allows a fast and fun workflow, band lets you easily turn your ideas into professional productions.  The applications comes loaded with over 5GB of production-ready sounds and patterns. Everything from fat drum kits to state-of-the-art synthesizer sounds and pristine acoustic instruments have been sampled, sliced and tagged for your convenience.

MASCHINE also features studio quality effects ranging from dynamics processors to beat-mashers and even mastering tools, all tweakable in real time via the hardware controller.The MASCHINE hardware is both instrument and controller in one. Sixteen illuminated, velocity-sensitive pads form an interface to intuitively make beats, tweak sounds, create patterns and sequence whole songs with the powerful MASCHINE software. Two large, high-resolution displays with eight corresponding rotary encoders, buttons, and transport controls integrate perfectly with the MASCHINE software.

After each Buke and Gass show, it is quite common to see a line of guys (mostly guitarists and engineers) queueing in front of Aron Sanchez to ask him one simple question: “How the heck do you get that crazy tone?” When they approach him on the stage, they normally realize two things: 1. He doesn’t play a normal guitar, but what he calls a “Gass” 2. That kick drum he also plays during the show not only has a tambourine attached to the outer skin but there’s also a… snare inside it!

What prompted the invention of the Gass?
I wanted to make more sound with one instrument. For a long time I’d been thinking of making an instrument that would replicate how Aston Barrett sounded on the Bob Marley records, he would double his bass lines with muted guitar. I never got around to making that instrument, but the last band I was in, Proton Proton, I was the only string player for awhile, so I began to develop the Gass, which has become a lot more versatile than my original idea.

- Read Paolo De Gregorio’s full interview with Aron Sanchez here.

Steinberg, creators among other things of the VST plug in format and the Rewire system revered by Reason Users, announced the release of Cubase 5. Besides being one of the first music sequencing program ever created and sold (I saw it first back in 1989, running on an Atari 1040 - no hard drive recording at the time!) Cubase is also one of the most user friendly and powerful recording software around.

Cubase 5 comes with fully integrated new tools for working with loops, beats and vocals, such as LoopMash and VariAudio, combining with new composition features and the first VST3 convolution reverb to take musical creativity to new heights.VariAudio and PitchCorrect provide integrated intonation editing for monophonic vocal recordings. Groove Agent ONE and Beat Designer change the game for beat creation, while the revolutionary LoopMash seamlessly blends loops, creating unimaginable variations. VST Expression tools for composers combine with the first VST3 convolution reverb and improved automation for more dynamic mixes. And an array of additional enhancements and 64-bit technologies boost performance — all designed to inspire further musical creativity and productivity.

T-Racks has found many fans since its first appearance. The application was the first one to recreate a typical mastering studio set up inside your own computer, therefore allowing the home recording frenzy to extend to the the mastering realm. The recently released T-Racks 3 is a stunning recreation of the concept that has very little in common with the older versions. Besides the classic T-Racks yellow signal chain component, five new dynamics and eq models were added, including recreations of corner stone, vintage, fat (and rare) babies like the Fairchild 670 and the Pultec EQP-1A. Needless to mention that all these processors can also be used separately inside your DAW application of choice, as VST, RTAS and Audio Units plug ins.

Notwithstanding the popularity of T-racks and other similar products, mastering is still very much regarded as some sort of black art - probably because is not as much fun as recording and mixing. If you are curious to learn more about it, you should consider RSVP-ing for one of the free Mastering clinic sessions with Grammy-nominated engineer Ariel Borujow, organized by IK Multimedia and Stadiumred Studio. The NYC class will be at Stadiumred Studio (1825 Park Ave, Sixth Floor) on February 25th at 7 pm. Aimed at both the curious and owners alike, these special free classes will go from introduction, to advanced tips and tricks on how to get the most out of this amazing program.

It seems lately that everywhere I go I keep hearing people talk about Ableton Live.  At Clinton Recording Studios, where I work, I have seen a swath of top producers and artists running Live on their laptops.  Seeing music professionals use a certain tool is one thing, but I was recently at a raw foods luncheon talking to someone who is a bartender/environmental science student when somehow the conversation turned to Ableton Live!  She was talking about the ways in which it revolutionized how her boyfriend writes and plays music.  Where does it go from a raw foods luncheon?  Oprah?  Regardless, it was clearly time for me to roll up my sleeves and dig into this program.

So, what is Ableton Live?  Well, at first glance it appears to be an audio and MIDI sequencer like Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc.  However, upon further investigation I discovered that it is a whole lot more.  It’s a flexible and easy-to-use tool with some uniquely amazing features that set it apart from any other software available today – it’s a sophisticated looping engine, a sampler, a live performance tool, a multi-effects processor, a synthesizer, a drum machine, etc.  What’s great about having all of that under one roof (or in more techy terms, within one host program) is that the work flow is fast and seamless.  The ultimate result is that Live makes the artist into the producer and vice versa.

To start off, Live has a handy little window in the lower left corner called the Info View (that you can turn off once you’re up and running) that will give a brief explanation of anything you hold the mouse over on the interface.  I know this seems basic and it might even sound like it’s annoying, but let me tell you that this is a huge help when you’re learning to use a new piece of software.  I hate learning new software and this little window made it so that I was fully functioning as a Live user within 15 minutes.

So, what can you do with Live?  Well, for one thing, you can record multiple tracks of audio or MIDI and edit them just the way you would with any traditional sequencing program.  But here’s where it gets exciting.  You can take any piece of audio or MIDI (either recorded in Live or prerecorded) and load it into Live as a loop.  You can edit the loop manually or you can have Live automatically time stretch/compress each beat of the loop to match the tempo of the song you’re creating.  Then you can turn any or all of these loops on or off on the fly as you wish.  It’s like a loop mixing and matching sketchbook, or an on-the-fly composition tool.

Another really interesting feature is that you can turn any external MIDI keyboard or even your computer’s keyboard into a control surface.  So if you have a bass loop and you want to turn it on or off using, say, the letter “J” on your computer keyboard, or by using middle C on your controller, you can do it.  Fantastic – use the controller when you’re onstage and use the letter “J” when you’re on the train.  What’s also great is that you can record every move you made in the “performance” of creating your song.  So when you’re done you can go back and edit any of your moves and even add more tweaks.  Pretty much any button or knob you see on the screen (including any parameter from third party plugins) can be mapped to either your external keyboard or your computer’s keyboard.  This is not only convenient for home or the studio, but it’s a perfect feature for making Live part of your stage show.

In addition to it being a loop on/off-fest, Live allows you to drop in software instruments and/or plugin effects to layer on top of it all.  Not necessarily being a real ‘loops’ kind of guy myself, I was really interested in what Ableton had to offer in the plugins department.  Live recognizes VST and AU platform plugins, so that allows you to use pretty much any third party effects and instruments.  But what really interested me was the whole host of their own unique effects and their built-in instruments, which totally blew me away.  They give you a wide-ranging combination of traditional audio and midi effects along with a bunch of effects you’ve never seen or heard before, which are literally ‘hours and hours of fun.’  As far as instruments, Live comes with a drum machine (called Impulse), a light version of their sampler (the light version being called Simpler) and a fully functioning demo of their FM synth (called Operator).  They’re all really easy to use and they sound amazing.

But new in version 7 is the addition of what Ableton calls and Drum Racks, similar to the Instrument, MIDI and Effect Racks introduced in Live 6.  These are a bit hard to describe, but they are basically sample-based virtual instruments that you can add different sets of effects and behaviors to.  For example, you can load up a drum kit and add reverb to the kick and distortion to the snare.  You can also sidechain effects (also a new feature in version 7) to only specific velocity ranges, so for example you can add reverb to the snare and set it to only turn the reverb on when you hit the snare really hard (say between velocities 120-127).  I could probably talk about Racks for days, but I guess if I had to sum them up in a few sentences, I would say that they allow you to create multiple parallel chains (signal paths) of effects or instruments.  Other than Drum Racks and sidechaining, version 7 now has video support with an exporting feature, they’ve added time signature changes, a nifty frequency analyzer called Spectrum, and many other performance improvements not exciting enough to mention here.

There is no proprietary hardware that you have to use and as far as I know it will work with any external soundcard.  It will even work with simply your computer’s built-in mic input and headphone jack or speakers.  I was shocked to find that it will also work with Digidesign’s hardware.  This program is ridiculously well-thought-out and flexible, and it’s not overwhelming in any way.  In fact, for all it does it’s pretty amazing how quickly I was up and running with it.  Ableton has managed to maintain a straightforwardness and intuitiveness in Live that really works to keep you in the flow of creating.  It’s no wonder why Live is a hit in studios, onstage and at raw foods luncheons.  You can demo it for free and download it directly from www.ableton.com for $499.  If that’s out of your budget look into the LE version for only $149. - Michael Vecchio

iZotope is now shipping Ozone 4, their latest update to its critically-acclaimed software mastering suite. iZotope has also set upgrade policies for current customers as well as released an unrestricted, free 10-day trial of the software for newcomers available here. Ozone 4 builds on the program’s reputation for superior sound quality and industry-standard mastering tools with new innovations and refinements. iZotope has updated and expanded Ozone’s processing algorithms, optimizing them for today’s low-latency DAW environments. Ozone 4 features a new Intelligent Loudness Maximizer mode, mid/side processing for superior control over the sound stage, hybrid crossovers, a re-designed interface and a completely updated preset manager featuring innovative MacroPresets.

In addition, numerous interface improvements and ease-of-use additions make Ozone even more accessible to musicians who want to quickly finalize their projects, while also offering precise tools for professional engineers. Ozone 4 is Mac and PC compatible and works as a plug in for Pro Tools (RTAS/AudioSuite), VST, MAS, Audio Unit, and DirectX hosts.Pricing and availability: Ozone 4 is now available for $249.99 MSRP.

Pro Tools 8.x: New User Interface and Brief Overview from Scott Church on Vimeo.

The Looks and the News
Let’s get to the point: Digidesign Pro Tools 8 features a gorgeous new interface, dozens of new plug-ins, five new virtual instruments, exciting new scoring and MIDI features, more editing and mixing capabilities, improved ease of use, and enhanced performance. All of the Pro Tools functionality is still in place but with some subtle enhancements, more customizability, and easier access to editing options. The toolbar, the strip channels and tracks can finally be customized, and with the QuickStart dialog, it is now possible to jump right into an existing session, create a new session from scratch, or start from a session template.

New Plus ins, Effects and Instruments
Pro Tools 8 comes packed with a comprehensive collection of music creation and sound processing plug-ins, giving you a well-stocked studio right out of the box, including new virtual instruments (Mini Grand piano, Boom drum machine, DB-33 tonewheel organ, and Vacuum and Xpand!2 synths) and plug in effects (including guitar tone modifiers Eleven Free and SansAmp and 20 new AIR effects. Version 8 also includes over 9 GB of high-quality loops.

MORE TRACKS FOR PT LE (Allelujah!)
The good news for most of our readers, is that (FINALLY!!!) Pro Tools LE or Pro Tools M-Powered supports up to 48 mono or stereo audio tracks. If you add Music Production Toolkit 2 or DV Toolkit 2 (Pro Tools LE only) you can create mixes with up to 64 mono or stereo audio tracks. And with the new Complete Production Toolkit (Pro Tools LE only), which combines both toolkits, you can work with up to 128 audio tracks AND get 7.1 surround mixing capabilities, making it easier than ever to collaborate with pros using Pro Tools|HD.

Score Your Music
The Score Editor lets you view, edit, arrange, and print MIDI data as music notation. Whether you want to compose music using the notation tools or transcribe MIDI data into notation, the Score Editor features everything you need and nothing you don’t. Write parts on a single staff or grand staff. Place and edit notes, and edit the meter and key signature at whim. Add chord symbols and chord diagrams to sessions. Transcribe MIDI parts in real time. Print out a score in its entirety or print only certain instrumental parts. You can even export sessions as Sibelius (.sib) files for further finessing in Sibelius.

Complete MIDI Production
Pro Tools 8 features a comprehensive array of new MIDI tools. Gain extensive MIDI editing power through MIDI Editor windows, which can display MIDI and automation data for Instrument, MIDI, and Auxiliary Input tracks. Work with new features that let you separate, consolidate, and mute MIDI notes; scrub and shuttle through parts; view superimposed MIDI and Instrument tracks for easier arrangement editing; and audition velocity changes. Edit MIDI automation and continuous controller (CC) data through multiple Automation and Controller lanes. Even watch your musical handiwork scroll by in real time during playback.

Transpose with Elastic Pitch
As a complement to Pro Tools software’s powerful Elastic Time tempo and time manipulating tool, Pro Tools 8 introduces Elastic Pitch, which allows you to effortlessly manipulate or correct the pitch of any audio region in real time. Easily transpose an entire audio region—up or down up to four octaves—without affecting its timing or tempo. Fix a less than perfect vocal performance by altering the pitch of individual notes. Or create cool sound effects by linking pitch changes with time compression/expansion using the Varispeed algorithm.

Easier Workflow when Comping Tracks
Creating flawless performances is easier than ever. Pro Tools 8 features new track compositing workflows, enabling you to quickly and easily piece together the best possible version of a performance from multiple recording passes. Simply loop record multiple takes on an Audio track, view and audition the takes in Playlist view, select the best parts from the track’s alternate playlists, and copy them to the main playlist with a single click. You can also rate regions to help identify which takes you like the most when compositing playlists.

New Editing and Mixing Capabilities
Pro Tools 8 equips your system with even more editing and mixing capabilities. Lock regions to the timeline to prevent them from being inadvertently moved or edited. Use the Automation and Controller lanes to view and edit track automation (such as volume, pan, and plug-in automation) and MIDI CC data (such as velocity, pitchbend, and modulation) without changing track views. And with 10 inserts to play with per track, you can now use more plug-ins per track without bussing.

Expanded Hardware Control
Pro Tools 8 deepens its Digidesign control surface and M-Audio controller integration, enabling you to map plug-in parameter controls to almost any encoder on your controller, and access each track’s 10 inserts.

The idea of a separate processor (inside your computer)  exclusively dedicated to audio tasks was pioneered by Digidesign in the ’90s, with their first, obnoxiously expensive TDM Pro Tools system. About ten years later the concept was brought down to affordable prices by Universal Audio and their UAD-1 card,  a pci card featuring a mixed bag of plug ins, including a bunch of original ok sounding basic effects plus three rather faithful emulations of essential and widespread expensive studio classics: the 1176 compressor, the LA2A limiter and the Pulteq EQP-1A equalizer. The card’s onboard processor added an extra GHz of plug in power to the user’s system. At a street price of roughly $500, the UAD-1 conquered many hearts, in particular because of those three emulations, which found many fans among both amateurs and experienced pros. Universal Audio rode on the success of this idea by regularly releasing new well chosen (and extremely authentic sounding) emulations of other revered pieces of vintage equipment, including the legendary Fairchild compressor, the ubiquitous NEVE eqs and beloved old plate reverbs. All these effects sell for somewhere between $150 and $225 - but UA often has offers and discounts every month.

Universal Audio has recently released the UAD-2, which offers scalable DSP power via 3 different types of cards (Solo, Duo or Quad) which can be mixed or matched in any combination up to 4 cards. Each UAD-2 is powered by the same Analog Devices® 21369 SHARC® floating-point DSP in single and multi-chip configurations. UAD-2 offers 2.5X (in the “Solo” version), 5x (Duo) and 10X (Quad) the power of UAD-1. Designed and manufactured in the USA, this card is available in 9 different hardware/software bundles ranging in street price from US$499 (UAD-2 SOLO) to US$1999 (UAD-2 Nevana 128). Highly recommended.

I recently had the pleasure of working on a session with Matt Chamberlain (session drummer for Fiona Apple, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, etc.).  Not only was he an amazing drummer, but he was also a really down-to-earth and super-nice person, which was great because that isn’t always the case with such high profile musicians.  We of course got to chatting about recording and gear.  I was talking about the whole slew of inexpensive Chinese-made microphones on the market right now and how there are some that are really quite good.  He said, “you should check out PPA (Pacific Pro Audio) microphones.  Everyone in Seattle has them and loves them.”  I am very glad I did because they are really outstanding microphones, and the fact that they are inexpensive is just an added bonus.

Pacific Pro Audio in Seattle is a reseller of top brand audio gear, as well as a manufacturer of microphones and high performance hard drives for recording.  They offer four different microphones, which are all great (look for upcoming reviews), but I was most impressed with the LD-3 Large Diaphragm Tube mic.  This is a rare find because it’s very hard to find cheap tube mics in the first place, let alone cheap ones that are good.  And finding a cheap one that is amazing is like mythological.  But guess what - this one is AMAZING and it’s only $199.95!

When I got this mic I set it up against some heavy competition – the venerable Neumann U47 and the venerable Neumann M-49, both of which are also large diaphragm tube condenser mics.  I first tried it out on voice and acoustic guitar, and I was totally blown away to find that the LD-3 sounded almost exactly the same as the M49.  I often use the M49 on voice because I find it particularly smooth and warm, even more so than the U47 (which most people consider to be the crème de la crème of vocal mics).  But the U47 and the M49 are discontinued, classic mics from the 1940’s/50’s that you can’t touch for less than around $8,000 to $10,000, and that’s at the very least.  Here is the LD-3 that is strikingly similar to the M49 and it’s only two hundy?!  Thanks, Chinese labor!  The next day I was working on a solo trumpet session where we were using the M49 and I left the LD-3 up right next to it to compare the results.  Sure enough, it was as impressive (and once again strikingly similar to the M49) as it was on voice and guitar.

Now that I’ve had the LD-3 for a while I can tell you that I’ve used it for everything I would use an M49 for (or any large diaphragm tube condenser for that matter), and to equal effect.  Where the U47 is mainly usable on voice and often upright bass, the M49 (and now also the LD-3) is really versatile – I’ve used it with fantastic results on kick drum, bass amp, horns, room mics, drum overheads… you name it and it works miracles.  If there’s any mic I would want to copy it’s the M49, and the LD-3, for all intents and purposes, is an M49.

The LD-3 large diaphragm condenser has a tube power supply that uses a replaceable classic12AX7 tube.  It has a switchable polar pattern on the power supply that goes from omni through cardioid and figure 8, with six intermediate stages.  There’s a 10db pad for high sound pressure level situations (like on drums) and a high pass filter to attenuate unnecessary low frequencies or rumble.  PPA microphones come with their 30-day Happy Guarantee, so you pretty much can’t go wrong with these mics.  Check out www.pacificproaudio.com for more information and click on the PPA Microphones link on the left hand side. - Michael Vecchio

Chances are you’ve probably liked at least some of the recordings made over the years at the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London (most notably all of the Beatles records).  And if you’re like me you consider the recordings made at Abbey Road, particularly those made in the 60’s and early 70’s, to be among the best recordings ever made.  Certainly the songwriting and performances were amazing, but when it comes to the distinct sonic character of those records there’s no doubt that a huge part of it was the result of Abbey Road’s use of extremely high quality analog gear, most of which was custom made by Abbey Road’s parent company, EMI.  “So where can I buy some of this uber-mojo Abbey Road gear?  Maybe they have some of this old stuff lying around in a storage closet somewhere and they want to sell it for cheap… right?”  Not bloody likely.  As you can imagine, these things are like museum pieces.  I heard that Lenny Kravitz actually owns some of it.  If you can get a hold of him tell him that you and I want to come over and make some records.  Until then, what can we do to get the amazing sound of this priceless analog gear into our recordings?  Well, technology seems to have come full circle and the folks at Abbey Road have teamed up with Chandler Limited to come up with some fantastic software emulations of the original EMI custom hardware.  And the best part is that these softwares can fit any budget!

One of the key classic Abbey Road pieces of hardware was the TG 12413 Limiting Amplifier.  What characterizes the old tube compressor/limiters is not only the soft way that they tamper the dynamics of a signal, but also the sort of sonic coloration that they give to a track.  Just passing a signal through tube circuitry is bound to make it sound warmer.  But in fact there’s even more that happens to a signal than just a bass boost as it goes through a piece of tube gear, and in the case of the original TG12413 there’s a distinctive added brilliance that results.  The techs at Abbey Road have studied the EQ response, the harmonic distortion, the phase characteristics, etc. of the original EMI-made TG 12413 and they have come up with a really great software emulation.  Although I haven’t been able to compare it to the original first hand, I can easily say that this compressor works and sounds much like other classic tube compressors I use regularly, and it brings out a sound that clearly harkens back to the records of The Beatles, The Zombies, etc.

The TG12413 plugin switches between being a fixed 2:1 compressor and a limiter capable of up to 20db of limiting, and it works on mono, stereo or multichannel signals (up to 7.1 surround sound).  It has a Recovery knob (akin to the release knob commonly found on most compressors) and an Output gain knob.  Included in the bundle are two versions of the TG12413 – the 1969 version, which is modeled directly after the module in the EMI console, and the 2005 version, which is modeled after the Chandler TG1 reissue of the TG12413.  The only difference is that the 1969 version features a Hold knob that allows you to set an amount of time before it begins its Recovery (or release), while the 2005 version has an additional Input gain instead.

This plugin, like its original hardware counterpart, is very simple and effective.  Aside from its actual functioning as a classic compressor/limiter, it has captured that distinct sound of Abbey Road recordings made in everyone’s favorite bygone era.  The TG12413 plugin is available in LE/VST/AU formats for just $335 list, and the TDM version goes for $560 list.  Download and demo it free for 10 days with your iLok from www.abbeyroadplugins.com. - Michael Vecchio