Tag Archives: Uncategorized

Cakewalk debuts new synth for Mac & Windows

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They are calling it “Rapture” and they’re pricing it at $200, quite in line with their other software product, which is a multi-track recorder and sound editor.  This product is really geared towards loopy music producers, Euro-electronica junkies, and techno composers. Check the features:

- Wavetable synthesizer with cutting edge sound manipulation capabilities, well suited for electronica-related music styles
- Non-aliasing resampling engine for pristine sound quality
- Over 500 professionally-crafted sound programs
- Six fully-programmable, stereo sound-generating Elements
- Multi-waveform Oscillators with ring modulation
- Two 16-mode filters per oscillator with LoFi and Drive
- Over 40 Envelope Generators, LFOs, and Step Generators for superior parameter modulation
- Comprehensive MIDI Modulation Matrix
- Mix and modulate all Elements through global FX and dynamic Step Generator
- Superbly designed graphical envelope generators and LFOs for ease of use
- Expandable with native support for SFZ sample formats
- Mac formats: AU™, RTAS®, VSTi™
- Windows formats: DXi (32-bit & x64), RTAS, VSTi 

Now, head on over to Cakewalk’s site for the deets.

Condenser mics vs. dynamic mics

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Home Recording BBS user Troy Hutson asks an excellent question. Do condenser mics require you to use power amps in order to pick up sound? Better yet, how exactly DO condenser mics work? Well, as Troy discovered, condensers need line power or “phantom power” in order to pick up sound. To put a finer point on it, I headed over to Crown’s site to get the deets. Crown is a manufacturer of both types of mics:

In a condenser microphone, the diaphragm is a very thin plastic film, coated on one side with gold or nickel, and mounted very close to a conductive stationary back plate. A polarizing voltage is applied to the diaphragm by an external power supply (battery or phantom power) or by the charge on an electret material in the diaphragm or on the backplate charging it with a fixed static voltage. All Crown mics are the electret condenser type.

The dynamic (moving-coil) microphone is like a miniature loudspeaker working in reverse. The diaphragm is attached to a coil of fine wire. The coil is mounted in the air gap of the magnet and is free to move back and forth within the gap. When the sound wave strikes the diaphragm, the diaphragm vibrates in response. The coil attached to the diaphragm moves back and forth in the field of the magnet. As the coil moves through the lines of magnetic force in the gap, a small electrical current is induced in the wire. The magnitude and direction of that current is directly related to the motion of the coil, and the current then is an electrical representation of the sound wave.

Finally, the key differences between condenser microphones and dynamic microphones, from Crown’s web site:

Condenser microphones typically have a wide-range frequency response and excellent transient response, while dynamic microphones typically do not. There are exceptions.

Condenser microphones’ frequency response tends to be uniform, while dynamic microphones’ typically is not. There are exceptions.

Condenser microphones require an external power source (phantom power or battery) while dynamic microphones do not.

Condenser microphones are easy to miniaturize, while dynamic microphones cannot be miniaturized.

Condenser microphones are typically used on acoustic instruments and studio vocals. Dynamic microphones are typically used on guitar amps and drums, and for vocal sound reinforcement.

Ten reasons to self-produce

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OK, I don’t follow goth subculture very closely, but I do like this post at Darkfaery Subculture Magazine (Technorati keeps tabs on EVERYBODY it seems).  The author points out some great reason to produce and record music at home. Here’s some of her reasoning:

There doesn’t have to be anyone pressuring you to lay down
your tracks at warp speed. You can record a track, go eat
some lunch, workout, then record another track if you
choose.  You can lock yourself in your music room for as
long as you want if that works for you, and really make some
great progress on working out some licks, writing some
tunes, or even recording music. You don’t have to pay for an
expensive recording studio, so you can take your time
creating your music.

Home recording trends are growing, and you can easily
take advantage of new technologies developed for musicians
just like you who want to record their music at home.

Resources are available to easily record music at home at a
very reasonable price, so no more excuses.  Thousands of
people are recording their own music from home.  They have
all different skill levels.  There is a place for you out
there too…go get yours!

 Check out the rest of the post.

Free multi-track recording software

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You’ve got to hand it to open source developers. They code, and code, and code, often thanklessly, honing their chops and churning out some really cool software. I recently produced a Gabcast as a way of introducing myself to the open-source multitrack recorder Audacity, and I came away more than a little bit disappointed. Editing was clunkier than N-Track Studio (Windows shareware), I couldn’t figure out how to flatten (raw mixdown) the tracks I’d recorded, and the interface wasn’t nearly as polished as Apple’s incredible Garageband (part of a $90 bundle, Mac OS X only). Not wanting to be unfair, I’m going to fart around with Audacity some more and give you my thoughts as I get more used to it.

Pro producer interviewed

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The proprietor of spinme.com, Joe Taylor Jr., has posted an interesting interview with Ronan Chris Murphy, a recording producer with a pretty awesome resume. Among his professional acquaintences are Tool, Weezer, the Rollins Band, and King Crimson. Check out what Murphy has to say about being a record producer:

Although the studio is place for the creative exchange of ideas, there really has to be one person that manages all those ideas and is the architect and steward of the recording process. There has to be that one person that says “okay that was the good take, let’s move on” or helps the artist decide whether the band should record a live organic album or record a bunch of individual parts and have the chopped together in Pro Tools. Tons of people will have input, but it’s the producer’s job to manage the ideas and guide the flow of the process. Its also the producer’s job to make sure that all the bases are covered, whether that is gear, personnel, keeping budgets on track or anything else.

Visit spinme.com for the rest of the interview.

The cost of a decent pre-amp: five bucks

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According to David Mellor, it’s possible to build a decent microphone pre-amp for a mere five bucks. Apparently, a manufacturer of pre-amps put the electrical diagram for  theirs on the box, and somebody smart(er than me) analyzed the drawing. They discovered exactly how little it takes to build a decent pre-amp, and managed to put the result up on eBay.