Groove Analogizer is an “audio controlled drum synthesizer” from NUSofting. I like this idea. Instead of a VST instrument triggered by MIDI notes, it’s loaded as a VST effect — audio goes in, and drums come out with timing based on the input. One of the many fun things you could do with this is use a human beatbox as the trigger — nod your head and say “boom chikka chikka ah boom” into the mic, run it through Groove Analogizer, and out comes a synth drum pattern. (more…)

Electronic Musician reviews Stylus RMX 1.2.1, Spectrasonics’ “plug-in loop construction kit”. They like the way its quasi-improvisational capabilities allow a degree of spontaneity. “You can perform almost every edit and parameter change in real time and easily create animated, complex grooves within an ever-flowing context.” (more…)

Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics is a music production environment, or “real time groove module” as they call it. It looks good for putting together music quickly, in a GarageBand/Acid kind of way — the timestretching capabilities don’t look as advanced, but it does have some nice features (including a huge library). There’s an emphasis on realtime improvisation and performance. And as you look at the feature list below, notice the “Easy Edit page with Big Knobs”. The Big Knob concept is the way of the future for electronic instruments, both hardware and software. (more…)

I like the look of the DubStation delay plugin because of its fun 3D interface, the attitude of its maker Audio Damage (“The World’s Most l33t Plug-ins!”) and because I like dub. Any plugin that can get you that spaced-out, infinite echo trip feeling has got to be good. I especially like the idea of the “extra dubby feedback” provided by the low-pass filter. I think all instruments should have an “extra dubby feedback” button. (more…)

Future Music magazine reviews the Q-Clone sampling EQ plugin. As they say, this is an all-in-one native plug-in package for sampling and saving any hardware EQ. It works by sending a test signal out to your hardware EQ, which you have set up with the settings you want in the normal way. The EQed signal comes back in to Q-Clone, which analyses it and saves the analysed EQ. You can then apply this EQ like a normal software EQ, to as many tracks as you want. (more…)

The TRIO USB, a do-everything audio box, will be released next month by MindPrint. The original TRIO was announced some months ago, but because of its super S/PDIF interface, most users would already need extra hardware (e.g. a sound card) to use it. This new version uses a plain old USB interface instead, so it really is more of an all-in-one device. (more…)

Electronic Musician reviewed Tascam’s all-singing all-dancing software sampler GigaStudio 3, and they say, “it’s a doozy.” They continue, “Tascam has listened to its hardcore users and introduced an extensive redesign and expansion of the program. … What’s more, the user interface has been vastly improved, and the program now boasts a number of sophisticated new features.” In fact, they say, GigaStudio 3 has blurred the line between sampler and digital-audio workstation. (more…)

Roxio will release Toast 7 this week. This is the latest version of their CD mastering package — I still have my copy of Toast 4 from a few years back, but this new version has a number of new features. Most of the new functions concern DVDs — you can now write to several different formats including music DVD (50 hours on one disc). These new functions actually sound more useful if you produce a lot of video, but as it’s a general-purpose CD/DVD authoring package there’s a lot of functionality for you audio producers too. (more…)

Reaktor 5, the latest version of Native Instruments’ flagship soft synth, gets an excellent review in the July issue of Computer Music magazine. In fact, they give it top marks for both Value for Money and Performance, and make it an Editor’s Choice. They say “it’s absolutely loaded with powerful new features that are guaranteed to keep you busy for aeons.” (more…)

Q-Clone is an EQ plugin from Waves that can “sample” a hardware EQ so you can use it in software. Two main uses: you can use a hardware EQ with different settings on different tracks simultaneously; or you can use settings “sampled” from a hardware EQ that you don’t have. This second option is probably more likely for typical Laptop Studio types who don’t have piles of hardware cluttering up their studios, though this plugin itself is pretty expensive. (more…)