This was quite a hard one to get right, but I do quite like the finished piece 
Enjoy my first ethno chillout track. You will notice arabic, indian and even eastern european influences underlined with psychedelic pads. Enjoy!
Just take some time and listen to the demo tracks of these synths. All of them are VSTi and RTAS compatible and work well on Windows and the Mac, except the Toxic, which is Windows only (for whatever reason…). There is someting for everyone: Adaptive , FM , spectral and granular synthesis, resynthesis and sample manipulation.
Amazing sounds!
And while you’re at it, check out THIS hardware synth as well:
Today I stumbled across a really great website for synth enthusiasts. The “Vintage Synth Explorer” boasts a vast list of vintage synths, along with some historical and technical detail. The greates thing is, though, that they offer audio samples for almost all the synths they have in their database.
Definately a seite worth checking out!
I have finally completed my first trance/acid/psychedelic track after endless tweaking (and tinkering with EQ settings)
Do let me know what you think
Ah, by the way: I havent come up with a name for the track yet. Any suggestions?
I am tinkering on a new track, playing around with trance and acid influences. There are also some psychedelic elements and the percussion section is quite complex.
Let me know what you think
If you have problems playing back audio files after exporting from Cubase, please make sure that you close Cubase bevore you try to play them with another player. I have noticed that tracks play at half-speed when Cubase is open. I have this effect with all players and audio formats (I have tried AIFF, WAV and MP3 so far).
Closing Cubase solves the problem - the tracks play with the correct speed.
Is that a problem related my Creative Labs S X-Fi Extreme Music? Interested to hear if anyone else has this problem.
I have recently started tinkering around with my Stylus RMX plugin from Spectrasonics. I got the Xpanded version, which inlcludes 5 S.A.G.E expanders (Back Beat, Retro Funk, Liquid Grooves, Burning Grooves and Metamorphosis) with literally hundreds of additional grooves and samples.
Installation & Activation
The installation works quite smoothly and licensing is easy. Even though I am not a fan of companies forcing an activation, Spectrasonics have a very nice way of doing it: When I got the plugin I was about to leave for a business trip and - of course - couldn’t wait to test the new plugin. So I activated the license on my notebook as well as on my audio workstation. Although they ask you (quite friendly) why you activate on two different machines they still allow you to do it Thats how I like it!
First Steps
As a VST Plugin, Stylus RMX requires a host application, in my case Cubase 5. Just create a new instrument track and chooose “StylusRMX” as the instrument.
Adding a new instrument track in Cubase.
The new instrument track with Stylus RMX assigned to it.
Now just click on “Edit Instrument” and you will get an instance of the VST plugin assigned to the track, in this case the SylusRMX.
The best way to start off is to have a look at the vast array of samples that are available. Just click on the folder icon in the upper third of the plugin and start previewing the grooves. You may want to start with the Core Library - RMX Grooves, lots of nice stuff there
The Spectrasonics StylusRMX plugin in its full splendor.
The directory, with its vast array of sounds.
Favourites / Custom Suites
As noted before, Styus RMX comes with tons of sounds, the “Xpanded” version even more so. It’s quite easy to get lost and I cant possibly remember where all the nice samples where I previewed just a day ago.
Stylus offers some kind of a “bookmarking” function which allows you to add a sample to your favourites (just click “Add” in the favourites section).
The unsatisfactory thing is that there is a limitation to 48 elements and you can only have one set of favourites at one time. This limits the usefulness of the favourites quite considerably!
Custom suites would have been what I wished for, the current favourites function definately needs to be reworked.
Adding MIDI to it
If you want to work efficiently with Stylus RMX (or any other instrument plugin) you will need a MIDI controller (USB or Firewire). I use a M-Audio Axiom 49 and am quite happy with it. Using a controller allows you to map the samples to keys and play them live, recording your creative outburst in your host application. Just don’t forget to map the controller to your track, or you won’t hear a thing.
When working on a track, I typically add the required samples to my favourites, switch Stylus RMX to “Groove Menu” mode (I’ll cover that in a later tutorial) and record what I’m playing live. Little imperfections can always be corrected in the key editor of the host application.
Thats it for now, next time I will cover the Stylus Interface in more detail and will do a step-by-step recording session in groove menu mode.
The first few songs of my Industrial / Dark Wave project are ready. Let me know your thoughts!
Industrial Saint Cover
Gear: Cubase 4.5, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX Plugin, Steinberg CC121 controller, M-Audio Axiom 49
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