Propellerhead Software have transmogrified all the sounds from their legendary ReBirth soft synth into a ReFill pack. This is essentially a sound library for use by Reason. They have done this as part of their ReBirth Museum project. The ReBirth ReFill is free to registered Reason users.

There’s a brief blurb on the ReBirth Museum website: “To fill the gap left by the now discontinued ReBirth application, Propellerhead Software presents the ReBirth ReFill! A 100 mb monster ReFill that not only recreates the sounds of the original application, but also of all of the Mods that were available on the Propellerhead website.”

The ReBirth RB-338 ReFill can be downloaded, free of charge, from the Propellerhead website. Go the ReFill section and look for the Free ReFills.

Cubase SX 3.1 and Cubase SL 3.1 upgrades are now available from Steinberg. I said earlier that Steinberg had said the Cubase 3.1 upgrade would be released in late August. They did make it, but only just — the press release came out on the 31st.

Despite having dozens of new features, the new upgrade is free to registered Cubase users. I mentioned before that the main feature in Cubase 3.1 is improved hardware integration. The website also discusses some of the other previously-noted features:

“The 3.1 versions of Cubase SL and Cubase SX also offer a range of other new features. These include the new “Equal-Power” panner which maintains equal power across the entire panning range, while the new Mixer key commands offer full control of the entire VST mixer using customized key commands. Users of Cubase SX/SL 3.1 can also render playback parameters into MIDI data, “freezing” MIDI track play parameters quickly and permanently for project transfer to another application. Cubase SX/SL 3.1 include advanced multiprocessor support, including the latest dual-core processors from AMD and Intel, giving professional users full access to the latest high-end workstation computers with dramatic performance gain. Cubase SX3.1 now supports Steinberg’s DTS and Dolby Digital Encoder plug-ins, allowing Cubase SX users to encode to these popular industry-standard surround formats.”

The ReBirth Museum is an online homage to one of the great music software products. Propellerhead Software have discontinued ReBirth, created this website shrine to its brilliance, and — here’s the nice bit — made the software freely available from the site.

ReBirth was a landmark product in the history of software instruments. It was a perfect emulation of three classic Roland synth modules: the TB303 Bass Line and the TR808 and (on later versions) TR909 Rhythm Composers, as heard on thousands of records over the last 20 years. ReBirth was a huge success and made Propellerhead Software famous, and Reason followed in ReBirth’s wake. Now you can learn more than you ever really needed to know about ReBirth, and also get a copy for yourself.

The ReBirth Museum now has the software itself, modifications for it, forums, and thousands of downloadable songs for you to play with. At the time, the buzz was immense — as it says on the website, the whole “hardware-in-software” concept was quite futuristic a little while ago: “Propellerhead Software’s ReBirth RB-338 pioneered a new era of music instrumentation that merged the principles of “virtual reality” with historic synthesizers and drum machines. This concept seemed impossible at the time, but has since become a common trend in music software. Since its introduction in 1997, ReBirth has influenced numerous companies to take advantage of contemporary technology by incorporating computer simulation into the latest generation of products.”

Voxengo have released a new version of CurveEQ, their “WYSIWYG linear phase spline equalizer.” It lets you draw the EQ curve instead of having to use sliders, and it shows you the frequency spectrum of the input and output signal so you can fine-tune your sound. Version 2.3 has a redesigned interface and some stability and performance tweaks, but is otherwise pretty much the same as previous versions. It’s nor necessarily the only EQ you’ll need: “CurveEQ perfectly suits the needs of mastering, and in some cases CurveEQ is suitable for use as an in-track FX insert.”

It has a few other features that set it apart from a basic EQ. You can essentially copy and paste a frequency spectrum betweeen recordings — quite a nifty idea that would help you copy one track’s “sound” to another. They also emphasize the vintage processing possibilities of CurveEQ, and there’s a slightly mysterious feature called “GearMatch”, which you can read more about below.

The website contains details and specifications. They say: Voxengo CurveEQ implements SpectruMatch spectrum matching technology that allows you to perfectly transfer a spectrum’s slope from one recording to another. This allows you to `copy’ a frequency balance of existing mixes so that other mixes that are still in the works will sound better. This technology also greatly helps in music disc mastering, since using it allows you to easily lessen any dramatic differences in the area of frequency balance between various tracks.

GearMatch technology allows you to transfer impulse responses of high-end analog audio gear to your digital audio, while allowing you to adjust frequency response freely. This results in a great improvement of sonic qualities. With this technology, all your tracks will sound unbelievably professional and vintage.

CurveEQ has a Vintage Processor which allows you to polish your sounds. Just turn it on and you will get a great deal of presence effect. Also, CurveEQ includes a compressing saturator. When it is enabled, the processed sound gets an additional vintage feel. You can use the saturator to create professional sounding vocal, guitar and bass tracks. In addition, it can be used on almost any audio material, especially during the mastering process as a vintage loudness maximizer.

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.

Their website explains that “audio controlled drum synthesizer”, means that “like a vintage electronic drum tone generator (e.g. Simmons) the percussion sound is triggered by an audio input, not by a MIDI message. This also means that you must not load, in the host, Groove Analogizer as a VST instrument, it loads as a VST effect, usually in an insert slot.”

And full details on the actual sound generators in this plugin are on the website too. The rest of the explanation goes like this: It’s really a synth: the sound of three oscillators is triggered and shaped by the audio input in many ways.

How triggering works in Groove Analogizer: a trigger can be any kind of percussive sound, both mono or stereo, it can be a wav file ot another VST instrument. (percussive means: with fast attack time and fast or moderate decay/release time)

For each of the three generators you can choose left, right or left+right input, input can be both mono or stereo, then a band pass filter allows you to select (coarse and fine) which frequency range of the audio source will be used for triggering, this way you can separate hi, mid and low tones in the audio input, allowing you to isolate different trigger patterns from the same complex audio source (e.g. you can input a full drums loop and select snare for trigger 1, bass drum for trigger 2 and hihat for trigger 3). Groove Analogizer also features Pre-Listening (PL button), so that you can monitor which part of the source is selected as trigger.

Another control at the input named Sensivity allows to fine select the loudest triggers filtered by the band pass. So that you may include ghost notes or avoid them.

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.”

“The Stylus RMX multipage interface is a model of efficient and intuitive design.” For example, “To simplify editing, an Easy button pares the Edit page down to four faders, two knobs, and two switches, with Level and Pan faders on the right and the Master Filter’s tone control and emphasis fader on the left.” An Easy button! This idea could revolutionise computing, let alone music composition.

They liked another unique feature of Stylus RMX too: “The plug-in’s centerpiece is Chaos Designer, which uses probability to affect loop variations. In nearly every instance, Chaos Designer produced surprising and useful results. Using it with Edit Groups, wherein you can select which loop regions should be altered and which remain unchanged, was particularly effective. … Full-bore Chaos applied to the Pattern parameter can turn simple grooves into busy Tower of Power-style syncopations.”

Stylus RMX comes with all the effects and filters you would expect. The sound quality seems to be decent: “Version 1.2 adds several new processors. The update supports presets, which can have single FX or FX racks, and a nice assortment of factory patches are supplied with the installer. Effects are high quality, with buttery-sounding filters and smooth reverb tails.”

The reviewer also describes some of the sound libraries in depth — the emphasis is on electronic loops and sounds, though sounds can be imported from Propellerhead ReCycle formats to Stylus RMX. Overall, they are impressed with this program: “Stylus RMX is a terrific multifaceted tool for sculpting unique grooves and brings a hefty quotient of fun and ease to the process. Chaos Designer in conjunction with the built-in effects, Edit Groups, and an uncomplicated MIDI control setup, bring extraordinary depths of animation and precision. The elegantly designed user interface greatly simplifies potentially complex tasks.”

The final rating is 4.5 out of 5. Praising its “Extremely intuitive user interface,” they say, “Without a doubt, Stylus users should move up to RMX for $99. I also enthusiastically suggest that anyone else interested in groove construction give Stylus RMX a long, serious look.”

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.

The Spectrasonics website has all the details on Stylus RMX. Here are some of the highlights: Spectrasonics’ in-house development team created the new instrument from the ground up, with dozens of new features including the ground-breaking Chaos Designer, a completely redesigned multi-page user interface, a new core library of sounds, all with a focus on realtime groove creation and performance.

The massive new 7.4 gigabyte core-library in Stylus RMX has thousands of cutting-edge grooves and sounds that were created by Spectrasonics’ international sound design team, and produced by Eric Persing. The new core library contains nearly triple the amount of sounds originally offered in the original Stylus, and contains all the original material as well. The new sounds and grooves in Stylus RMX offer a much wider range of modern musical genres than the original Stylus. Mixes of grooves are broken down into individual tracks called Elements for flexibility and infinite combinations.

Also new in Stylus RMX are thousands of new Kit modules, as well as user Kit construction. The new sound menus have over 10,000 new single hits, all arranged in organized categories. Users can create their own customized multitrack remix grooves and kits, save them into the plug-in, and even share them with other Stylus RMX users on different platforms and hosts. It’s the ultimate Remix-oriented sound module for building grooves.

Of the many new capabilities in Stylus RMX, possibly the most innovative feature is the Chaos Designer. With simple controls, the user can introduce musical Chaos into the groove, which allows it to have constantly evolving variations — giving the impression that the audio grooves are improvising. The results can be subtle or extreme by setting the simple to use controls. A Capture feature allows the spontaneous audio chaos patterns to be made into a MIDI file, dragged and dropped into the host sequencer, and played back again for further editing by the user.

Some of the other interesting features are:

• Realtime auto-sync to the beat so grooves are always in time, even when performed live! Groove Control is always active for optimum sound quality at virtually any tempo.
• Expandable with Propellerheads REX files, which allow a user to import their own audio loops via ReCycle.
• New multipage user interface design with fully integrated Browser for easily auditioning & organizing grooves
• World-Class integrated FX Racks w/24 professional effects: Tube Limiter, Tape Slammer, Modern and Vintage Compressors, Wah-Wah, Power Filter, 6 different Vintage/Parametric/Graphic Equalizers, Flame Distortion, Valve Radio, EZ-Verb, Gate Expander, Stereo Imager, Flanger, 2 different Phasers, 3 BPM Delays, Retroplex Tape Delay
• 8-part Multitimbral, each part can have dozens of grooves and samples
• Edit Groups offer unique control of individual beats within an audio loop: add ambience to just the backbeat, control the pitch of the snare inside a stereo loop, reverse only specific slices in the loop … non-destructively
• Powerful sound design features include: New multi-mode Power Filter, 3 syncable LFOs, 3 AHDR envelopes, Reverse and more
• Easy Edit page with Big Knobs for simple, yet powerful control of key parameters

Stylus RMX operates as a virtual instrument software plug-in for Macintosh and Windows in all major hosts including Apple Logic, MOTU Digital Performer, Digidesign Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase SX, Nuendo, V-Stack, Apple Garage Band, Fruity Loops, Sony Acid Pro, Cakewalk Sonar, Project 5 and many other VST and Audio Unit host applications.

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.

Details from the Audio Damage website: The DubStation plug-in is modeled on the “bucket-brigade” style of vintage delay units, and has all the mojo that made those boxes great. Accurate down to the warm sound of the feedback loop and the low-fidelity character of the originals, DubStation is just what the (witch) doctor ordered.

Features:

• 4ms to 2000ms delay time.
• Accurate delay model that changes the pitch of the signal when the time is changed.
• Sync-to-host capable
• Full MIDI learn mode, for MIDI CC control of every control (VST only; handled by host in AU version)
• Loop and reverse features
• Low-cut filter controllable for extra dubby feedback

DubStation is available as a VST effect for Windows, and as an AU/VST for OSX. Note that you must have OSX 10.3.9 or greater to use the DubStation AudioUnit version.

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.

If you don’t have a hardware EQ, you can use one of the presets included with Q-Clone. The review notes that, bizarrely, it’s not entirely clear which hardware EQs these presets come from, so you just have to try them out. You can also combine multiple saved EQ settings: “it’s a clever little function that packs more punch than is at first apparent.”

This is such a simple concept that it’s interesting nobody has done it before; presumably the calculations involved in the software are quite tricky. The results, though, are very good — the reviewers couldn’t tell the difference between the original hardware EQ and the Q-Cloned version. They tried Q-clone with several different EQ units, and said, “the results were certainly very impressive.”

Overall they give good marks to the Q-Clone. The idea of “sampling” effects is likely to become more common — it started with convolution reverb, now EQ, and they say “one day all software plug-ins will be made this way.” Q-Clone gets a perfect ten out of ten for stability and sound quality, and at least seven for their other criteria. As they say, it’s not a new concept, but “Waves’ Q-Clone is the first to really deliver it in plug-in form.”

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.

The MindPrint website says: TRIO USB expands the scope of the innovative TRIO recording and monitoring solution introduced at Winter NAMM. It offers the same channel strip with true analog EQ and Compressor, essential mixing, AUX & DAW inputs and comprehensive monitoring features as found on the original TRIO, but adds USB audio instead of the S/PDIF interface.

TRIO’s channel strip section provides a high quality instrument- and Class A microphone-input with phantom power and 10 kOhms impedance for optimal sounding results. The analog EQ’s “vintage” design makes it easy to record great sounding vocals and instruments. The Compressor’s unique Adaptive Response mode is taken directly from MindPrint’s high-end DTC Dual Tube Channel Strip and delivers superior results, requiring just one knob!

TRIO USB includes all essential mixing features required in a typical recording setup: Mic./Instrument, Stereo Line, Stereo AUX and DAW return channels may all be used simultaneously. The built-in channel strip delivers professional sound instantly and may be recorded simultaneously with the stereo LINE channel’s signal. The dual headphone amp has separate volume controls, and the latency-free monitoring mixer’s dedicated controls ensure direct access.

TRIO USB also sports a full-featured monitoring controller with talkback, MONO, DIM and MUTE functions, outputs for 3 pairs of speakers – and a dedicated, big master volume knob. This simplifies the recording process and makes music production much more intuitive.

The built-in audio interface is compatible with USB 2.0 and supports Mac OS X and Windows XP. Due to the extremely low playback latency, it is even possible to play virtual instruments or amp modeling software “live” via TRIO.

Key Features
– 1 Mic/Instrument input (Class A, Phantom Power)
– 3 stereo line inputs (Line with 2 band EQ, Aux, DAW)
– Channel strip with low cut filter, 2 band EQ and compressor
– Analog insert
– 10-segment LED meters
– Zero Latency monitor mixer
– 3 switchable speaker outputs
– 2 separate headphone amps
– Talkback Function, MONO / DIM
– Dedicated Monitor Volume knob
– USB 2.0 compatible audio interface
– ASIO drivers for Mac OS X and Windows XP
– 24bit/96kHz max. digital resolution
– Dedicated hardware knobs: 18 rotary, 15 switches
– Power supply via included mains adaptor