New Year feature: Monthly composition meme
December 24, 2005
I’ve been mulling over a new feature for the Piano and Synth site for a few weeks now.
I’d like to set up a monthly ‘composition meme’ (working title) in which readers are free to submit MIDI / MP3 / musical scores, or links to them, based on a criteria I set each month.
So, I might ask for a 30-second piece of music, or provide a set of chord progressions, or ask for music in a particular key, or with a certain musical phrase.
People then compose and record a piece of music inspired by that theme.
The incentive? Well, no prizes (yet), but some fun, community, and a nice acknowledgement and link to their website.
Files could either be locally stored here or linked to.
What do you think of this as an idea? Would you take part?
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Happy Christmas!
December 22, 2005
We’d like to wish every reader of the Piano and Synth blog a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a successful. music-filled New Year.
We are planning a few interesting new features to be launched in early 2006, so be sure to come back and see us in January.
All the best.
Andy Merrett
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Wearing your piano on your sleeve
December 17, 2005
I’m not sure how you’d accurately play it, but here’s a novel way to create a piano — wear it.
It’s part of Japanese experimentation with “wearable synthesis” and is based on analogue synthesis.
Read the full article: Japanese experimenting with wearable synthesis
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Anne-Marie McDermott plays Mozart
December 17, 2005
The Daily Record has an interview with Anne-Marie McDermott in which she talks about the joys and challenges of playing Mozart’s music.
Anne-Marie McDermott biography
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Is it possible to simulate an acoustic piano using subtractive synthesis?
December 11, 2005
It’s true that high-quality sample-based digital pianos now produce near-indistinguishable acoustic piano sounds, and most sample-nased keyboards feature at least one attempt at an acoustic piano sound.
Gordon Reid at Sound on Sound magazine has written an interesting article tracing the history of digitising the acoustic piano, and then looking at the elements that make up a piano sound, and what would have to be done to simulate it without sampling.
It’s a very informative article, and not surprisingly concludes that, whilst with some complex programming you can get close to the sound for use in certain settings, an acoustic piano is far too complicated to successfully replicate using any current synthesis-only method.
Read the full article: Synth Secrets: Synthesizing Pianos
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Syntheway Releases Version 2.1 of Realistic Virtual Piano
December 11, 2005
Realistic Virtual Piano is a acoustic grand piano emulation available in VST format for Windows computers. Capturing the sound of a Kawai Grand Piano, this latest release of the plug-in adds MIDI automation support via MIDI contrinuous controller data, a redesigned GUI, and bug fixes.
Features:
- Based on PCM samples of a Kawai Grand Piano after it has been meticulously tuned and adjusted.
- Full length sustain samples, no loops (natural decay), stored in 16-bit, 44.100 kHz resolution.
- ADSR envelope generator with Attack, Sustain, Decay and Release parameters and several modulation targets.
- Optimized CPU and memory usage.
- Integrated, variable room simulation. Free variation of acoustic ambience thanks to complete separation of piano and room. Small rooms can be modeled just as larger spaces. Customizable with user controls for: size room, width room, damping factor & mixer, used to create psycho-acoustic models in the DSP environment, without having to load up any other plug-ins.
- MIDI Automation: MIDI Continuous Controllers support.
Cost: US$35.
For more information, visit their web site at www.syntheway.cjb.net.
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PG Music Releases Band-in-a-Box 2006 for PC
December 11, 2005
PG Music Inc. has released the 2006 version of its Band-in-a-Box intelligent music software for Windows. With over fifty new features, Band-in-a-Box 2006 offers users a major upgrade in features and functionality.
Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program for Windows, letting you create backing tracks for praticing as well as composing entire pieces, complete with audio tracks, DirectX/VST plug-in support, and notation functions.
New features in the 2006 release include:
- Live looping and playback control
- Enhanced TC-Helicon Audio Harmonies
- New notation symbols
- ASIO Audio/Software synth driver support
- VST support
- Half-speed (and slower) audio playback
- Three new DirectX plug-ins, PG Vinyl, PG RTA and PG Vocal Remover
- Support to have different instruments (patches) for the “a” and “b” substyle
- Multi-channel leadsheet display and specific channel recording
- MIDI normalize option
- Two new ear training games
- Bar range for MIDI file creation
- 11th chord support
- Direct open or import of WMA, MP3, and CD-Audio files
- Piano Roll improvements
- Batch conversion from Band-in-a-Box songs to MIDI files.
List Pricing:
- Band-in-a-Box Pro: $88
- Band-in-a-Box MegaPAK: $249
- Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box 2006 Pro: $49
- Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box 2006 MegaPAK: $149
For more information, visit their web site at www.pgmusic.com.
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SampleRobot Classic Synth Sound Giveaway
December 11, 2005
SkyLife, the makers of SampleRobot, are giving away 650 MB of free samples of classic synthesizers in digital form to all registered users of SampleRobot:
- Akai VX600
- Hartmann Neuron
- Korg MS-20
- Korg Sigma
- Oberheim Xpander
- Roland Jupiter-8
- Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
- Sequential Circuits ProphetVS
- Waldorf MicrowaveXT
- Yamaha CS01
The samples are in SoundFont2 format, and can be downloaded from the SampleRobot site.
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Cyndustries announces new Zeroscillator for modular synths
December 11, 2005
Cyndustries has announced a new type of modular synthesizer oscillator, the Zeroscillator, an all-analog through-zero FM oscillator. According to Cyndustries, the Zeroscillator will be “the first time traditional digital FM synthesis is possible in an all analog signal path.”
The Zeroscillator “is an original design by Mark Barton,” explains Cyndustries Cynthia Webster. “Mark, and John Ross, and I have been working intensely on the Zeroscillator project for 7 months.”
The Zeroscillator is a full-featured electronic-music-quality analog VCO capable of linear frequency modulation through zero hertz and into negative frequencies. This makes it capable of FM Synthesis, wild and crazy sounds simply not available from traditional VCOs, and timbres not available from digital FM synthesizers.
Traditional FM Synthesis oscillator implementations, such as the DX-7, are sine wave only. The Zeroscillator also makes available sawtooth, reverse saw, triangle, pulse (with PWM), and a special set of four quadrature outputs capable of unique bi-phase wave morphing.
Features:
- Through-zero Linear FM Operation. AC & DC Linear FM Inputs with 4-Quadrant Dynamic Depth VCA. Separate Outputs for All Traditional Waveforms.
- Voltage Controlled Bi-Phasic Waveform Morphing in Four-Phase Quadrature.
- Variable Synch. Precision Ten-Turn Tuning Knob
- Switchable Linear Bias Modulation Depth and Polarity LEDs.
- Unique Time Reversal Input.
According to Cyndustries, the finest components are employed using high-quality 4-layer circuit boards, NKK Switches and Switchcraft connectors. All chips are in military-grade type gold sockets, and gold connectors are used internally for years of trouble-free maintainance.
“We have a team of three full-time assemblers building them right now,” notes Webster. “Each unit uses 6 circuit boards, and there are only 3 wires in the entire assembly.”
Modcan Format is currently shipping, with other formats waiting on either panels or a bulk order of circuit boards.
More information and audio samples are available at the Cyndustries site.
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Precisionsound Releases Bolivian Panpipe Sound Library
December 11, 2005
Precisionsound has released Bolivian Panpipe for HALion, Kontakt & SoundFont, which features “the atmospheric sound of the Bolivian Panpipe, now available for your next movie score or song.”
All samples have been seamlessly looped and contain several velocity layers for a natural sound. The total number of individual samples is 245.
The SampleSet contains:
1 24bit HALion / Kontakt program.
1 16bit SoundFont program.
Bolivian Panpipe costs $32 (+$11 if you want it on CD).
More information is available at the Precisionsound site.
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