Native Instruments introduces KINETIC TOYS

Berlin, June 21, 2017 – Native Instruments today released KINETIC TOYS, a new instrument for creating evocative leads, ethereal sound beds, rhythmic musical parts, evolving loops, and unconventional sound effects. KINETIC TOYS is the full-sized version of Native Instruments’ winter gift, KINETIC TREATS.

KINETIC TOYS features over 200 individual sound sources – including a wide variety of well-known and unusual children’s toys, games, and even snacks. These are combined with custom synthesized tones, to create musically tuned, playable hybrid patches. In total KINETIC TOYS features 3.5 GB of all original content, including 670 sounds split across 35 themed NKIs.

KINETIC TOYS is made for creative sound designers and producers seeking soundscapes and unusual lead sounds that naturally stand out in a busy mix.

Two custom X-Y matrices are used to control the sound mixer and the onboard FX. One takes the form of a dancing toy ballerina, and controls up to sixteen sounds sources simultaneously – eight sampled and eight synthetic. The second is shown as a toy robot, and controls up to eight user-selectable effects.

Both X-Y controls can be controlled manually, or with three different forms of automatic motion. Speed can be freely assigned, synced to project tempo, and even set independently for the X and Y axis. These motion controllers can themselves be modulated by an LFO or envelope.

KINETIC TOYS was created in collaboration with sound designer Jeremiah Savage. For over a year, Jeremiah scoured shops and markets (and his own attic… ) for the sounds and toys of his childhood, discovering a few new ones along the way. Jeremiah has worked with NI in the past on the well-received and highly-acclaimed KINETIC METAL, KINETIC TREATS, and more.

KINETIC TOYS runs in KONTAKT 5 and the free KONTAKT 5 PLAYER, and is available at the NI Online Shop for €149 / $149 / £129 / ¥ 18 800 / AU$ 229

Additional information about KINETIC TOYS is available at:
http://www.native-instruments.com/products/komplete/cinematic/kinetic-toys/

'If These Walls Could Speak' - Wallace Detroit Guitars' New Limited Edition Brewster Wheeler Series Makes Detroit's Legendary Past Come to Life

Limited edition electric guitars feature aged maple wood harvested from historic local rec center frequented by music and boxing legends

Detroit, June 19, 2017— Wallace Detroit Guitars, a Detroit-based guitar manufacturer that creates unique and timeless instruments out of reclaimed wood from local landmarks, announced its limited edition Brewster Wheeler Series is now in production. The new line of exclusive instruments are constructed of wood harvested from the historic Brewster Wheeler Recreation, which was frequented by many Detroit legends including music artists Diana Ross and the Supremes, boxing Joe Louis and many others.

“It’s really a premier series for us, since the story of Brewster Wheeler is such an amazing one and because the wood that we have discovered is truly unique,” said Mark Wallace, owner of Wallace Detroit Guitars. “The maple from the benches is beautiful, completely flawless and covered with black and dark blue paint. We are going to try to leave some of the original paint from the benches to show how far the wood has come from where it was originally.”

Keeping History Alive
Opening in 1929, the Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center was a hub for community activity and possibly best known as the gym where professional boxer Joe Louis trained. Many local musical legends, including Diana Ross and the Supremes and The Funk Brothers, lived in the nearby Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects and frequented the center.

The Brewster Wheeler Recreation Center officially closed in 2006 due to a lack of funding and a $50 million project is currently in the works to redevelop the space that has been vacant ever since.
“For a long while, The Brewster Wheeler building was a symbol of urban decay, but that environment bred some of Detroit’s brightest musical stars like Diana Ross who used to hang out at the center,” Wallace said. “I was very excited to be able to pull wood that was thought to be a lost cause and turn it into heirloom quality musical instruments.”

Featuring solid maple bodies and rosewood fretboards, Wallace Detroit Guitars will produce 15 exclusive single-cutaway guitars, each featuring hand scatter-wound pickups for a classic vintage sound. The guitars will be engraved with a specially assigned serial number beginning with the numbers 313 in homage to Detroit’s area code, and a separate prefix number specific to this series.

Breathing New Life into Detroit's Past
Last month, Wallace Detroit Guitars released its Firehouse Series of guitars crafted out of reclaimed wood from the historic Detroit Fire Department Headquarters building, which stood on a site that had been used by Detroit fire departments continuously since the 1840s. The existing structure was built in 1929, but the Fire Department Headquarters were moved in 2013 to make way for the boutique Detroit Foundation Hotel.

The Firehouse Series instruments — which are available now — are constructed of salvaged pine and maple from the storied building’s floorboards.

Each instrument that Wallace Detroit Guitars makes features a certificate of authenticity and ships with a one-of-a-kind handmade guitar strap fashioned out of reclaimed car upholstery and a hard-shell leather case.

For more information or to order please visit wallacedetroitguitars.com

Ned Rush - FX Pack from Isotonik Studios

PRODUCT: Ned RUSH - FX Pack
PRICE: £25.99

The first release on our website was the Ned Rush Audio Collection, so it seems rather fitting that to coincide with us transferring our webstore over to a new ecommerce platform that we mark the occasion with the final update to the second part of the Audio Collection, Ned's FX Pack!
Consisting of five MaxforLive Audio Devices, we think the line up is pretty solid!

AUTOTUNE
Autotune is autotune on the cheap! If you really want the now timeless gimmick of robot tuning over your RnB hit, or if you simply want to experiment with tuning textures into drones to resample into epic pads and homemade synth tones, and can’t afford the real deal, then this MaxforLive device could be for you. You can tune to scales, or single notes, and the results are stunning. Tip! Stack them up in effects rack on separate chains to create rich soundscapes.

PSYCHEDELAY
Relive the 60s or go swimming in this glitchy acid wave of pitch shifting delays and smudgey reverbs as your sound flies away into a big sea of grainy clouds and psychedelic swoosh.

DIRTY ECHO
It’s Dirty, it’s an Echo, there’s not much to say on this one, it’s best to hear it in action!

WOBBLATRON
Wobble is still cool right? Sure it is, but this does more. Its not only a step sequencing multi filter which sequences not only the filter type, but also the modulation curve, its also a sampler.

GROWL
Growl is a autotuning, pitch tracking comb filter and sound generator with quantized note scaling.

MORE DETAILS - CLICK HERE

Molly Tuttle's Rise Debuts at #2 on Billboard's Bluegrass Albums Chart

 

 

Nashville, TN -- June 15, 2017 -- Award-winning songwriter and virtuoso instrumentalist Molly Tuttle turns a new corner with Rise, her debut as a solo artist, which hit #2 on Billboard's Bluegrass Albums chart this week. Produced by Kai Welch, the seven-song EP was independently released on June 2nd, and celebrated with a sold-out release show at Nashville's Station Inn on June 3rd. 

Already a familiar face in bluegrass circles and folk festivals, where she's been performing since the age of eleven, Tuttle widens her reach with Rise. "I wanted to push outside the box," she says of the EP, whose songs mix the fiery fretwork of her acoustic guitar with banjo, fiddle, drums, pump organ, electric guitar, and other flourishes. "It was a good step to finding my own sound, and not staying tied to the traditional bluegrass sound. I grew up playing bluegrass and I still love it, but I'm influenced by other styles of music, too. I really wanted to create something original."

StompLight® is Ready to Rock

Business Fulfills Kickstarter Promises, 

Adds Dealers and Sales Reps

El Granada, Calif. — Great ideas show up on Kickstarter all the time but few of them ever go anywhere (as many a frustrated contributor can attest). One notable exception is StompLight®, the world first fully self-contained sound-responsive stage lighting effect pedal now with the addition of DMX512 protocol. The company has fulfilled its Kickstarter promises, added Dealers and is now selling directly to consumers online, much to the delight of its supporters — and the irritation of its competitors.

For any soloist, band, or mobile DJ that’s ever wished they had their own lighting director, StompLight’s simple solution has appeared like a dream come true. The patented device creates an array of lighting effects in the familiar, easy-to-use form factor of an effect pedal. Excitement around the device has been building up online and at trade shows over the last two-and-a-half years as the inventor, musician Michael John Ahern, has crisscrossed America demonstrating the prototype.

“From the very beginning, the response to StompLight has been passionate,” says Ahern. “People were so excited to have one; they were willing to place orders more than a year in advance. It feels great to fulfill orders and to now have StompLight in the hands of performers around the world. We recently added a testimonial page to our website and the feedback has been phenomenal.”

StompLight will be demonstrating its products next month at Summer NAMM booth 1700. The company recently signed a distribution agreement in the U.K. and is looking at additional distribution opportunities in North America and abroad.

“Over the past two years we have had consistent interest from distributors and major online retailers but we were not ready. That’s changed,” says Ahern. “It’s really going to be fun to see where it goes from here.”

About StompLight®   Stage Lighting Made Simple

StompLight is the ultimate stage lighting hack. The StompLight Power Bank enables performers to rehearse or perform anywhere with or without AC power. The StompLight® DMX Pro effect pedal is simple to use and its companion products, the StompLight Li Ion Power Bank and StompLight Pal slave allow an artist to create stage lighting anywhere in seconds. Portable and built to last, StompLight is the world's first effect pedal that is DMX512 compatible. Designed to work as either a stand-alone lighting solution or in concert quickly connecting with the StompLight® Pal or any existing DMX512 lighting products. Learn more at: www.StompLight.com.

Native Instruments releases free REAKTOR Blocks 1.3 update

 
June 8, 2017, Berlin – Native Instruments today released REAKTOR Blocks 1.3, a substantial update to this acclaimed virtual modular system, provided with REAKTOR 6.

Free for existing users, Blocks 1.3 introduces a new Blocks family: Kodiak. These five modules are not modelled on specific hardware. Instead, Kodiak modules combine analog character with digital power.

Duality OSC is a dual oscillator that adds innovative wave-shaping to Blocks. It offers phase-, frequency-, amplitude-, and timbre-modulation, and is ideal for growling basses, vibrant leads, and rich percussion.

Shift Sequencer is an unconventional step sequencer. It has independent sequence-length and direction controls for pitch, octave, velocity, hold, and gate, making polyrhythmic sequencing easy.

Curve Sequencer takes a modern classic – MASSIVE’s stepped modulation sequencer – and places it in the Blocks rack. It enables complex stepped modulation, perfect for electronic music.

Morph Filter delivers a triple-resonant filter bank designed to morph between settings for vowel sounds, chords, or percussion.

Flip Gen is a versatile tone generator and experimental noise source. It is perfect for generating bleepy sequences, bell-like FM, morse, pitched noise, crackly textures, and for use as a creatively random modulator.

Blocks 1.3 also includes five new ensembles – each one a powerful new synthesizer in its own right. They showcase the five new modules, with over 195 new presets, covering everything from self-generating polyrhythmic techno grooves to Daft Punk-style vowel-filtered leads.

Blocks 1.3 is part of REAKTOR 6. REAKTOR 6 is available for purchase now at the NI Online Shop for $199 / 199 € / ¥ 24,800 / £169 / AU$279.

Existing REAKTOR 6, KOMPLETE 11, and KOMPLETE 11 ULTIMATE owners can download and install the update using Native Access.

Additional information about Blocks 1.3 is available at:
https://www.native-instruments.com/products/komplete/synths/reaktor-6/blocks/

2017 Billboard Music Awards With Command Performance By Drake On New Digital 6000 Wireless System

Las Vegas, Nevada, June 6, 2017 – The T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas was packed during the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, for a star-studded evening punctuated by riveting performances from the music industry’s top contemporary talent. Drake, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton, Camila Cabello, Miley Cyrus, Céline Dion, Bruno Mars, and Nicki Minaj were among the artists to grace the stage with gripping renditions of their hits, all using Sennheiser wireless systems.    

Nicki Minaj opened the show singing through a Sennheiser SKM 5200 transmitter, coupled with an ME 5005 capsule, for a medley that included her single “No Frauds” and a special guest appearance by Lil Wayne. After that, it was all digital — with former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello utilizing her Sennheiser Digital 6000 series wireless for the live debut of her solo singles “I Have Questions” and “Crying in the Club.” Miley Cyrus performed her country-tinged comeback single “Malibu” live for the first time as well, utilizing her new Digital 9000 wireless system.

Céline Dion then took to the stage to reprise her groundbreaking hit, “My Heart Will Go On", from the movie Titanic, in honor of its 20th anniversary. She utilized a Digital 6000 wireless system to deliver an inspiring rendition of the classic tune. The digital wireless from Sennheiser continued as Bruno Mars, hot on the heels of a series of show-stopping awards show performances, delivered a passionate performance of his latest single “Versace on the Floor” on his own Digital 9000 wireless system.

Digital 6000 Accompanies Drake for His Big Night
But it may have been Drake who stole the show — not only for winning 13 awards during the evening including "Artist of the Year", but also for delivering a marquee performance of his single “Gyalchester” from a stage in the middle of the fountains at the Bellagio hotel. Relying on his new Sennheiser EM 6000 wireless receiver paired with an SKM 9000 transmitter and MD 9235 capsule, Drake’s performance was as captivating visually as it was sonically, a feat only possible with the power and reliability of Sennheiser digital wireless.

The Ultimate Combination
For Drake’s sound engineer Demetrius Moore, the sound and rejection of the MD 9235 combined with the durability of the SKM 9000 transmitter and the reliability of the EM 6000 receiver were the recipe for success for this unique staging. “The wireless had to be reliable the way this was set up,” Moore said. “The man was out on an island in the middle of that fountain, so there was no way to get to him if something went wrong.”

Conveniently positioned within the receiver rack, the modular L 6000 charging unit recharges up to eight transmitter batteries. The four modules can be chosen according to the required battery type – BA 60 for the handhelds and BA 61 for the bodypacks.

Fortunately, Moore was already familiar with the performance of the EM 6000’s Long Range Transmission mode from his use of the Digital 9000 system, from whence this functionality originates, from touring with Drake over the last two years on that system. “On tour Drake loves to perform in the crowd, 100 feet away or more at times, and we’ve never had an issue,” he said. “In this case he came in all the way from the Bellagio loading dock to get to the stage and as soon as he was out the door we had signal.”

Reliable in Any Environment
Past experience also made Moore confident that the SKM 9000 transmitters could hold up to some moisture amidst the roaring fountain. “We were using the SKM 9000 sticks on the Jungle tour, and in part of the show there would be a downpour of rain,” he said. “We never had a problem because the durability of the SKM 9000 is so good. Some mics will cut out if you drop them hard or something, but with these you just pick it up and keep going.” With a second transmitter and capsule hidden on stage and a second transmitter on hand, Moore had plenty of redundancy even though he was confident he would not need it.

Great Sounding Vocals and Nothing Else
When it came to capsule selection for the event, off-axis rejection was a priority and the MD 9235 delivered. “We did a test with the capsule to see how much sound from the water bursts it would pick up,” Moore explained. “The rejection was great. Nothing overpowered the vocals, not even the pyrotechnics.” Moore also appreciates the mix-ready sound the MD 9235 provides on Drake’s voice. “It picks up the natural quality of his voice,” he said. “I’m not EQing a lot to get it. It’s a clean sound and even flat it sounds good.”

The result was an unforgettable live music moment that capped off an exciting evening and banner year for Drake. “It was definitely a major look, it sounded great, and everything went flawlessly with the wireless gear,” Moore said.
 

Captions: 
1) Drake delivered a marquee performance of his single “Gyalchester” on his new Sennheiser EM 6000 wireless receiver paired with an SKM 9000 transmitter and MD 9235 capsule (photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty images)

2) Conveniently positioned within the receiver rack, the modular L 6000 charging unit recharges up to eight transmitter batteries. The four modules can be chosen according to the required battery type – BA 60 for the handhelds and BA 61 for the bodypacks.