Software Review

Ez Keys Grand Piano

Songwriting made easy!

EZkeys is a revolutionary plugin and stand alone instrument that combines a world-class piano player, songwriting partner, arranger and a meticulously sampled grand piano - all in onepackage. Developed with Toontrack Music's forward thinking approach to music composition, EZkeys will aside from deliver breathtakingly rich tonal qualities also allow the user unlimited creativity through its groundbreaking functionality.

The songwriting & MIDI

EZkeys comes with an extensive MIDI library performed by a professional session pianist. Played with increasing complexity in full eight bar song sections and covering all major genres such as Rock, Pop, Country, Gospel, Blues and Funk, this library is not only a creative boost, it’s an untapped source of inspiration for your yet unwritten songs. Drag, drop and lay down the foundation to a track in no time!

The smart transpose functionality

When you drag and drop MIDI in the timeline of the song browser, EZkeys will immediately analyze and separate all chords. If you click any of the blocks, an intuitive wheel of fifths will open. This allows you to transpose or alter any chord or full song on the fly. This works just as well with the included as well as any user imported files.

The timeless sound

EZkeys comes with a mint condition Steinway and Sons model D grand piano, sampled to perfection in a world-class recording studio using only the best of the best in vintage and modern recording gear. The model D grand piano is the undisputed industry standard among performers and producers worldwide and has over the past century and half had an overwhelming amount of musical history and heritage created on it.

The sounds were mixed to sit perfectly in a production environment without any additional tweaking. There is also a selection of ready-made and user controllable presets available, making your sound options seem almost endless.

http://www.toontrack.com 

waves 9

The latest edition of Waves represents a notable performance upgrade, courtesy of 64-bit support, faster scanning, faster loading, and faster processing. Via V9’s 64-bit operating system support, Waves users will be able to apply extremely large amounts of RAM memory in the DAW hosts of their choice.

In addition, V9 marks the introduction of Waves’ new authorization system, Waves License Center, which is intended to boost ease-of-use by eliminating use of the iLok for increased simplicity, flexibility, mobility and security. Waves License Center offers users authorization activation straight to their computer or any USB flash drive; easy license management; license mobility via USB flash drive or users’ License Cloud; and one-click license recovery in the case of lost or damaged devices.

There are also several new V9 plugins now available in Waves’ Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Horizon bundles:

New plugins in Horizon: Kramer Master Tape; PIE Compressor; HLS Channel; Bass Rider; CLA Guitars; Maserati Drums; OneKnob Filter; and OneKnob Driver.

New plugins in Diamond: GTR3 Software; OneKnob Filter; and OneKnob Driver

New plugins in Platinum: GTR3 Software and OneKnob Driver

New plugin in Gold: GTR3 Software

FXPANSION BFD ECO

BFD Eco is a streamlined, fun and affordable software instrument for acoustic drums, based on the award-winning BFD2 engine. Supplied with a selection of the best BFD2 sounds, it can also be expanded with the wide range of FXpansion and 3rd-party add-ons.

BFD Eco's versatile mixing and EQ/FX section allows sculpting of the kit and the lush ambience for any musical situation, with a multitude of genre-based presets to get you started. Meanwhile, the integrated Groove player delivers diverse, ready-made drum patterns full of flavour and realism.

Featuring an interface perfectly balanced between ease of use and flexibility, BFD Eco is provided as a standalone application and as a plugin for conveniently injecting realistic and powerful drums directly into your projects.

BFD Eco is available now for USD $99, EUR €79, GBP £69 inc VAT from all good music retailers as well as from our Online Shop! 

BFD Eco v1.5 upgrade The BFD Eco v1.5 upgrade is now available! BFD Eco 1.5 is now fully 64-bit ready on Windows 7 and OSX, and comes with a new kit and additional bonus kit-pieces from the BFD2 library. Please see the FAQs for full details of the new content. 

The BFD Eco 1.5 upgrade is available for USD $20, EUR €15, GBP £13 inc VAT until 31 March 2012. From 1 April 2012 onwards BFD Eco 1.5 upgrade will be USD $40, EUR €30, GBP £26 inc VAT

Harrison Mixbus v2.0.7 WiN & MAC OSX

Mixbus™ is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) with "True Analog Mixing"™: a combination of Harrison's world-renowned sound and features in a knob-per-function interface. Mixbus™ provides a solution for engineers and mixers who need a recorder, editor and mixing system with world-class sound and features.

Mixbus Features:

•Straightforward “knob per function” mixer layout based on Harrison's renowned 32-series and MR-series music consoles.

•Precision DSP algorithms for EQ, Filter, Compression, Analog Tape Saturation, and •Summing based on Harrison's world-renowned large format analog and digital mixing consoles.

•Unlimited stereo or mono input channels (based on available CPU power) featuring •High-pass Filter, EQ, Compression, and 8 Mix Bus sends on every channel.

•8 Stereo Mix Buses (can be used for groups or auxes) featuring Tone controls, •Compression, Sidechaining, and Analog Tape Saturation.

•Stereo Master Bus that features Tone controls, Analog Tape Saturation, K-meter, •Stereo Correlation Meter, and Limiting to help you make polished mixes.

•Plugin delay compensation to support effects such as parallel compression.

•Comprehensive "at-a-glance" metering with peak, peak hold, and compressor gain reduction visible on every track and bus.

•Extensive DAW features via the Ardour Digital Audio Workstation.

This update provides important fixes for the recently-released Windows version. It includes several important fixes for VST scanning, audio setup, and a mouse control issue. It also fixes a long-standing mouse/menu issue on OS X. On OS X and Linux, it adds MIDI control of Compressor, EQ, Mixbus, and Phase toggles. For all platforms, the update provides several operational improvements to editing, looping, metronome clicks, and keybindings.

Harrison manual

VOX JamVOX v2.01 x86/x64

 

 

 

Plug-in support brings “real” VOX sound to your DAW. JamVOX can now be used as a plug-in effect, allowing your songs to use the uncompromisingly “real” VOX sound that only VOX can provide This is not mere modeling inspired by VOX amps; it’s a unique plug-in designed by top engineers intimately familiar with the VOX sound, and faithfully reproduces vintage amps such as the legendary AC30. Sophisticated analog device modeling technology is used to deliver an amazing 88 different models of famous guitar amps, cabinets, and effects in plug-in format. VST and AU plug-ins are provided, and the latest 64-bit DAWs are also natively supported.

Works with all audio interfaces
Now you can use JamVOX with any CoreAudio/ASIO compatible audio interface, not just with JamVOX’s dedicated monitor. With no limitations on your system, you can perform using JamVOX with your favorite audio interface at any time and at any place.