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| 05-31-08 / 11:30 PM : Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand review : deceiving (cjed) |
| A few days only after a first try of Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand, and after having tested all the patchs, I can't finally find any pleasure playing this piano. I must admit that even the piano from the Roland SRJV80-09 Session card (shipped in 1996) is better (same short attack but smoother, rounder and warmer, despite a short release thereafter - it uses less than 10Mb on the 16Mb card...) ! In fact Ivory Italian sound is closer (notably its attack) from the EuroPiano patch found in the even older Roland SR-JV-02 Orchestral card (also on the Roland SRX-06 Complete Orchestra compilation card). About the pad/piano found in Ivory Italian Grand, the one in the SRX-06 card called ConcertoPno is fatter and more pleasing (the best in that area is the famous Sundial patch of Colossus). The Ivory Italian pad is too thin, and we feel too much two distinct sounds, at very far space plans. There is also to note that the Ivory Italian seems false tuned in the bass register (just above the last octave), as it can be heard here (last chord played) : IvoryItalian_lowRegTune Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand is then very far from the quality of the Roland SRX-11 Complete Piano from 2005, and even less interesting than the pianos bundled in Kontakt 2, or those from Colossus ! But worse, Synthogy (through its ILIO distributor) doesn't allow to resell the software. It isn't mentioned on their site nor on the box (nor on resellers sites nor in shops), but the 3 DVDs cover states : The user license does not permit to re-sell this software after having removed the seal. This has been verified by others, and Synthogy might even remove such announces found on eBay about its softwares. Finally, even if it could have been resold, there is to know that PACE (that manages the iLok system) takes a 25$ fee (administrative fee...) for license transfer to another user, not interesting on a 129 euros/169$ buyed product. |
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| 05-30-08 / 11:24 PM : TAL-U-No-62 : free Juno-60 plugin (cjed) |
 Thanks to Audiofanzine we can discover a freeware (donationware) audio plugin, the U-No-62, that emulates a Roland Juno-60. It is available on OSX (also in AudioUnit - beta version - besides the VST format version) and Windows, and is an enhanced version of the previous plugin U-No-60. Audio demos are provided. |
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| 05-30-08 / 10:28 PM : Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand : short review (cjed) |
| Here are my first thoughts about Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand (new standalone version). Choosed among its lowest price and and its lower size compared with Galaxy II (more expensive and uses 10Gb more disk space - 3 pianos included), and despite the later looking better in the demos, Ivory should have been the proof of progress in piano samples libraries since the Roland Complete Piano card (2005). And also a test of the G4, to see if its performances under the PLAY engine are acceptable compared with other modern samples players like Synthogy's one : I was stunned as on my PowerPC G4 MDD single 1,25 Ghz I can play without any problem the fullest piano patch (12 velocity layers, that is 19 Gb and 800Mb loaded in ram, with 2 to 11Mbytes/s stream from my firewire disk without any hit in performance !), and all that with all parameters on (hold pedal samples, release samples, sustain DSP algorithm, included reverb and other effects). That is one sound about the size of the whole MOR library ! It used only from 20 to 30% CPU and I even couldn't go higher than 40% CPU at only 256 samples size buffer (and noticed only one time a sound cut, hardly to trigger again, and never happened at 512 samples buffer size) ! Same results with standalone Synthogy player and AU mode (their player is said to use the code from the AU plugin). Then this is a proof an universal binary (Intel and PowerPC mac) samples player application with great performance is possible. On the downside I must say I was disapointed by the sound of Ivory Italian Grand, very deceiving compared with my Roland Complete Piano, and not that better than Colossus's Fazioli - same piano (and only 2 Gb) - or Steinway B, or Kontakt 2's Steinway D and August Forester - the later offers even better resonance than the Ivory. The problem with the Italian Grand is that notes attack is really short and harsh, the problem probably comes with this piano model only. The sustain and resonance is not that great either. A more complete review to come, as I also wasn't convinced by my Roland Complete Piano card the first time I played it, but was able to program a great patch at the end (using only the 3 first velocity layers and the enhancer). The fact is that this Roland with only 3 velocity layers (and only 64 Mb !) sounds far more present than the Ivory Itlian - and far more better/stronger in bass register - (the notes resonance is also great on my XV5050, without even such algorithm found on the RD-SX pianos) ! The Ivory Italian seems precise (also in low register, wich is rare) even if it lacks of thickness, but I would have expected more from that 20 Gb / 12 velocity layers piano years after the Roland Complete Piano. And finally, despite the great Ivory engine, what about playing with the hard disk sound in the back (up to 11 Mbytes/s) all the time, and what about the disk life at this use rate ? |
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| 05-29-08 / 12:13 AM : Neon Tango review (cjed) |
| IMG provides a short review of the recent original game Neon Tango. The only missed feature is the lack of multiplayer mode (local or online). |
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| 05-29-08 / 12:10 AM : iPhone SDK sixth update (cjed) |
| A sixth update (and probably the last) to the iPhone SDK beta is available here (version 9M2192). It is stated that it requires MacOSX 10.5.3. |
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| 05-29-08 / 12:07 AM : MacOSX 10.5.3 update available (cjed) |
| The final OSX 10.5.3 update is finally available here. About audio problems, only fixes related to USB audio interfaces are listed. |
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| 05-27-08 / 02:28 PM : OSX 10.5.3 (9D34) and audio overload (cjed) |
| The site news.worldofapple reported that the latest MacOSX 10.5.3 beta (9D34) is focused on fixing bugs and enhancing Leopard kernel, notably for audio (and video) applications. For example the current version of Leopard leads to kernel panics with some firewire audio interfaces, and is known to trigger so much easily audio overloads in core audio. The final 10.5.3 update combined with the recent 8.0.2 Logic update will probably fix this later problem. |
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| 05-26-08 / 08:10 PM : R2D2 translator (cjed) |
| As its name implies, the site r2d2translator allows to generate an audio phrase (alla R2D2 language) from a text sentence typed on the page. |
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| 05-26-08 / 07:48 PM : Filmmusicweekly : free Voices of Passion review (cjed) |
| Filmmusicweekly provides in its free 05-20-08 issue a short review (the two first parts) of EastWest Voices of Passion. They confirm the performance problem with using it in Logic (requires to set the latency to a least 1024 samples even on high end macs), and the (relative) better performance when using the standalone version routed (audio) into Logic through Soundflower. A third part of the article is planned. |
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| 05-26-08 / 07:17 PM : VSL Special Edition bundle at low price (cjed) |
 A VSL Special Edition Standard + Extension (Plus) (80Go) bundle is available at thomann, priced only 675 euros. To remember, some prefer combining the VSL Special Edition Standard with the separate Appassionata Strings (445 euros for the base version, that contains far more articulations than the included Appassionata samples of VSL Special Edition Plus). |
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| 05-26-08 / 11:49 AM : Camino 1.6.1 (cjed) |
| Camino 1.6.1 is available here. Since version 1.6 it is based on Firefox 2.0.14 Gecko 1.8.1 engine, but still not on the one from Firefox 3 RC1 (Gecko 1.9). As the later did stunning progress on the speed and UI front, Camino has now to catch up. |
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| 05-24-08 / 06:28 PM : Ivory Italian Grand / Pianos performance on G4 (cjed) |
| On Synthogy site we can see that the minimum requirements for Ivory (Itlian Grand and Grand Pianos) are an 1Ghz G4 with 1Go of memory (so the same as for BestService Galaxy II Grand Piano Collection). Then we are ways behind Quantum Leap Pianos, whose PLAY engine can encounter problems even on a Quad Intel MacPro ! In this review from soundonsound about Ivory Grand Pianos collection, we can read : The dual 1.25GHz G4 processor I was using at first seemed more than up to the task, with enough power for 24 or even 36 notes of polyphony, which is often necessary... And about the memory requirements and the provided patchs configurations (many available : 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4 velocity layers - also for Italian Grand) : I found that the six-layer 88-note version (of the Bösendorfer ) with the Soft Pedal samples switched out would load into 512MB of RAM when nothing else was running inside Logic, and I found this had more than enough subtlety for my playing style... Keyboard achieved same conclusions about performances when they did their reviews of Ivory Grand Pianos and Italian Grand : The sample matching is superb: Even with only six layers, I had to listen hard to detect any velocity switching. If you don’t need soft-pedal samples, you can unload them, but I recommend leaving the separate release samples layer loaded, as it adds a lot, in a subliminal way, to the realism. Limiting the number of voices Ivory uses is also an option, as is recording and editing a MIDI sequence using an economy-class preset and then rendering the finished track to disk using the full grand. Besides choosing a patch with less velocity layers and remove (unload) from memory the soft pedal samples, we can also tune more further the performance by setting Ivory's own samples buffer size (set it to Large on a single G4). So 1,5 Gb ram should be ok (if we do a freeze thereafter). We can also set the host sequencer (Logic, etc.) latency higher - that is set 256 or 512 samples - to prevent CPU overload, but it is adviced to choose the min working latency when playing and then set it higher when boucing the whole plugins tracks of a song (not necessary if the Ivory part has been freezed before working with other instruments). The playability of (huge) piano samples libraries is generally not so good compared with a polished expansion card from an expander (or a digital piano) : for example the Roland Complete Piano card provides a more convincing attack (sounding like a real piano) than with Colossus Steinway B patch for example (that in fact isn't a really recent samples bank - 1 Gb). To address these issues the Ivory player adds a velocity range setting utility (that measures the min and max velocities that the keyboard can send), and also a dynamic compression feature. In fact with a few precise master keyboard like the Roland A30, the Roland Complete Piano card (4 velocity layers, 700 samples on 64Mb) performs better when removing the last (highest) velocity layer (and with some tweaking). The two Ivory products include a layer type (pad/piano) patch, that should be as great as Colossus Sundial patch : My favourite is 'Anastring', which gives you that perfect Chariots Of Fire effect, but there are half a dozen other ambient pads to provide the perfect backdrop to your piano stylings over the top. It does of course double the required polyphony, and the only parameter you can control is the relative volume of the pad (±24dB), but I loved it (Ivory Grand Pianos). There’s even a sweet-sounding synth pad layer that you can dial in for a pop piano mix (Italian Grand). Finally Ivory Italian Grand and BestService Galaxy II look complementary, as they provide 4 of the best pianos (italian Fazioli F-308 - hopefully better than the one included in Colossus, 2Gb but less expressive than the Steinway B -, Bosendorfer, Steinway D and Blüthner). There is to note that Ivory Grand Pianos Steinway offers more velocity layers than the one included in Galaxy II (comes from Galaxy 1), and that it includes a Yamaha C7. But the Bosendorfer pianos of both libraries should sound as good (13 velocity layers in Galaxy II, and about the same samples size). Galaxy II also includes a true synthesis / pads generation system, much more powerful. |
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| 05-24-08 / 01:30 AM : GForce Virtual String Machine review (cjed) |
| Audiofanzine provides a review of GForce Virtual String Machine, that was presented some months ago. As with impOSCar the audio quality and dynamic of the engine is stunning (despite the fact this time it uses samples, a little more than 2Gb, for 17 strings machines). Many audio examples are provided in the article (and the software includes 700 presets). We can also listen to demos on the editor site. It can be found at an interesting price (122 euros at Thomann.de, or 130 euros at univers-sons). The software distribution is managed by M-Audio. |
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| 05-24-08 / 01:06 AM : New HD trailer of WALL-E game (cjed) |
 Worthplaying provides new screenshots of the game WALL-E (derived from the upcoming animation movie), taken from PS2, PSP and DS versions. We can also download a really stunning trailer (55Mb, H264 at 1280*720, 1mn05). The quality is ways better than the previous games derived from Pixar movies. Now we are close to the most recent 3D engines, with great ideas and a Pangea OttoMatic touch, with added multiplayer mode.The movie will probably be great, but perhaps the game will be even more interesting (or at least as good). |
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| 05-24-08 / 12:50 AM : New stunning video of Spore (cjed) |
 EA provides a new video (28Mb, QuickTime format, watchable online) of their game Spore that finally looks really great. The animation is stunning, as the attention to details. Is is some of merging qualities from WoW and Pangea's games, with an even greater technical level. The game should also be available on iPhone. |
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| 05-24-08 / 12:09 AM : TotalSims Warbirds 2008 online free one month (cjed) |
 TotalSims provides for free at download the multiplayer games Warbirds 2008 (new version of the air combat game), Dawn of Aces III and Armored Assault. We just have to register to get the archive (900 Mb average). Then it also offers one month of free online game (the offline gaming isn't time limited). However a G4 with at least a Radeon 9800 is required. |
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| 05-23-08 / 01:58 AM : Toontrack : updates for expansions and Solo (cjed) |
| Toontrack provides updates to its 6 expansions for EZDrummer. They bring new midifiles, some bug fixes and a new protection system (previously only the EZDrummer code was checked). We can also download a new version of the Toontrack solo standalone player, the 1.1.0. |
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| 05-23-08 / 01:18 AM : Logic 8.0.2 update : unresolved audio usage peaks (cjed) |
| Apple released a 8.0.2 update to Logic Pro 8. The listed changes are numerous, but there still isn't any mention of the resolution of the huge bug that this giant thread at Apple forums. in fact Logic 8 is said to experience harsh CPU usage peaks (viewable through the audio usage meter) without any reason (and randomly) when using third party AU. The problem doesn't seem to affect Logic pro 7. So probably there are communication problems between Logic (Apple/Emagic) team and Apple CoreAudio team. The resulting bugs remind a lot what we experience with EastWest PLAY player (also the case in standalone mode for PLAY). To conclude we learn that pro musicians/producers consider Logic (Pro) as a non pro product (even the Logic creator at Emagic would have said it wasn't intended to from what we read in the thread), and so they are looking forward ProTools as a reliable solution, despite its less friendly interface. A temporary solution to reduce CPU usage peaks in Logic 8 is to allocate it the max process priority (sudo renice -20 [Logic pid] command, or use the freeware Nicer). However it only limits the frequency of the problem. First comments about the update are mixed bag. It appears that the Safety I/O Buffer (secondary buffer that is used when the audio engine cannot ensure the minimum latency defined by the main buffer) now leads to more overloads (where it is aimed at avoiding or at least reducing them). |
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| 05-23-08 / 12:00 AM : SheepShaver review : Classic on 10.5 / Intel (cjed) |
| Lowendmac provides a presentation of SheepShaver, a classic mac system (7 to 9) execution environment for macs that don't support it (last G4 MDD Firewire 800 1,42Ghz and G5s) or PowerPC macs that can boot onto MacOS9 (G4 MDD 1,25Ghz) but that are running on Leopard (removed the support for the Classic environment integration in OSX, was ok up to Tiger). The software is free and works both on PowerPC and Intel macs (the later show less good performances due to the emulating process). It requires a non model specific old mac system (box version, for example MacOS8.5) and an Apple mac ROM (we can find easily an old Mac Quadra 68040 rom - but only works up to 7.5.5 -, or we can extract the rom from an existing recent G3 or G4 mac). |
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| 05-21-08 / 05:29 PM : M-Audio drivers updates for OSX 10.5.2 (cjed) |
| M-Audio provides updates to its audio interfaces drivers for MacOSX 10.5.2. That is here. |
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| 05-21-08 / 05:11 PM : Propellerhead : Audio Cubes contest (cjed) |
 Propellerhead provides a contest (the purpose is to provide at youtube a video demonstrating why we choosed to migrate to Reason 4) that allow to gain Audio Cubes from Percussa company.Through the videos we discover that they are in fact MIDI controllers : one of the cubes is plugged onto the computer through an USB wire, and is managed by the Percussa software (allows various settings, such as choosing the cube lightning color), and a sequencer. Other cubes communicate with the former via Wifi. The relative position of the cubes (or hands movements around them) triggers Midi messages. It is priced 399 euros (2 cubes) or 649 euros (4 cubes). They are fitted with internal batteries and a charger is provided. |
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| 05-21-08 / 03:33 PM : Octave Shifter 2 free pitch shifter/ vDSP tutorial (cjed) |
 Audiowish provides free Audio Units plugins, and among them Octave Shifter 2, a real time pitch shifter (allows automation, that is pitch change in a continue manner, without having to stop the sound), and provides a wide tune range (4 octaves) ! Audio examples are provided.Moreover we can find a great article from the developer, that explains how he used (benefited from) the Apple vDSP (DSP unit of the Accelerate framework), that allows for plugins to operate optimally on both Intel and PowerPC. A stunning tutorial. |
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| 05-20-08 / 11:39 PM : Propellerhead Reason Electric Bass (cjed) |
 Propellerhead presents Reason Electric Bass, a refill that provides 24bits samples (also available in 16bits format for less powerful configurations) of various bass : Fender Jazz Bass, Fender Precision Bass, Gibson EB-0, Gibson Les Paul, Kay Hollowbody, Music Man StingRay 5 and Rickenbacker 4001. Many mics positions are provided.It is expected late May and audio examples are available : the basses seem more usable (round when needed, and more various) than these from Ministry of Rock, and even than those from Roland SRJV10 (in that area Yamaha is still the best in its synths, with Roland catching up with its latests Fantom G - hopefully as up to now I never found better than my D20 bass). We can download a limited demo version (30Mb, only Fender Precision Bass samples - played finger or pick -, on only one octave and with limited mic positions). |
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| 05-20-08 / 05:15 PM : EastWest PLAY : deceiving on PowerPC ? (cjed) |
| Since the abandon of Kompakt licence for EastWest samples libraries in profit of their own PLAY samples player (not easy to reference such a generic name in Google... without counting the tech support that isn't public anymore - through private messages -, that limits the found occurences when doing searches and then reduces the visibility of informations and problems about PLAY), many users of PowerPC macs (including Dual G5 ranging from 2.0 to 2,7 Ghz) complain about poor to inacceptable performances. Since PLAY was promoted as allowing to get rid of some relative Kontakt performances issues (K2 is in fact said to be far less efficient than EXS24) - and avoid the Kontakt 2 Player licence price on the EastWest side -, it seems PLAY development was done completely with cross platform considerations, without any handling of OSX particularities or specific optimizations . Then it is clearly stated that performances are better on Intel mac than on PowerPC, despite the Apple vector APIs (Accelerate framework) being able to manage transparently (same code) PPC Altivec and Intel SSE : Soundsonline thread : How to optimize an audio application for PPC & Intel macs. ADC - audiocommunity : Developing an Audio Unit Plug-in / 4. Optimize Performance Moreover PLAY suffers from an unpredictable bug that makes it unusable with some sounds : audio cuts appear without any reason (low polyphony used, low CPU usage in OSX activity monitor, whatever single G4 or powerful dual G5) and completely randomly. The CPU ressources meter in PLAY is also reporting wrong values (audio cuts appear sometimes even with only 20% CPU usage displayed by the software - and with convolution reverberation off). About the later, when activated on less powerful macs, the reverb very quickly produces harsh audio overloads (it can lead to making the OSX MIDI Server not responding anymore, requiring a reboot) and the PLAY CPU resources meter doesn't display accurate value (a little higher than with the reverb off, where in fact the OSX activity monitor shows huge jump). It seems the PLAY audio engine doesn't feed as fast as needed the CoreAudio buffer (while the CPU isn't even overloaded), what leads to audio cuts or full audio overloads, as by design CoreAudio has to ensure a min latency. Setting the latency higher (larger buffer) doesn't fix the problem however. Soundsonline thread : Tip to improve PLAY perf on PowerPC macs. Some useful explanations from an Apple CoreAudio team member : CoreAudio and overload messages Globally PLAY seems to have been developed with basic Intel code to work on Windows and OSX. For example the user interface (GUI) uses the Qt cross-platform framework, and when displaying the main Player window of PLAY the CPU usage raises 50% more (ok with Browser window displayed). There is also a not nice white flashing when switching from one of these windows to the other (probably no double buffering when Qt draws the window content). |
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| 05-20-08 / 12:45 AM : MOTU Ethno / Best Service Ethno World 4 (cjed) |
 MOTU Ethno, that offers 4Gb of ethnic instruments and 4Gb of loops (see also the Demo Movies section with new downloadable patchs/pads) is now priced 199 euros at univers-sons. The diversity is very good but the sound quality isn't on par with more pro products like RA (350 euros).The best choice in that area (diversity and quality) may be in fact Best Service Ethno World 4, that now includes 10Gb (200 sounds) and brings in this latest version mongolian strings and choirs. We find separate instruments and also loops, that can be tweaked (tone, tempo and starting point) thanks to the bundled Kontakt 2 Player Time Machine II mode. The instruments list seems far more complete than RA's one. Audio demos are provided and it is priced 389 euros. |
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| 05-20-08 / 12:24 AM : Firefox 3 RC1 (cjed) |
| Firefox 3 RC1 is available ici. We can find two additional themes, among them GrApple Yummy that is clode to Safari look and hopefully removes the strange giant back button from the previous betas. The rendering with some pages is however still less good than with Safari, but it is far more faster (and friendly) than Firefox 2. |
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| 05-20-08 / 12:03 AM : Ivory Italian Grand standalone (cjed) |
 The Ivory Italian Grand piano (Fazioli F308, 19Gb, 12 velocity levels, una corda) from Synthogy is now available as a separate product (standalone, AU and VST), and not only as an extension to Ivory. Audio demos are provided. It was listed for 129 euros at univers-sons (269 euros for Ivory Grand Piano, that includes 3 pianos - Steinway D, Bosendorfer 290 et Yamaha C7 - on 40 Gb), but now only the expansion version is available there (115 euros).Meanwhile we can however buy it directly through the Synthogy US site : it is priced 169$ (plus 45$ fort shipping to Europe, so these 214$ are close to 135 euros - plus added change taxe of about 2,2%). UPDATE : the standalone (separate) version is now available back at univers-sons (129 eruos). |
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| 05-18-08 / 11:50 PM : MORe Strat Rock (cjed) |
 This song uses a Strat guitar (rhythmic) and a bass from Ministry of Rock, EZDrummer for the drums, the XV for the saturated organ (lead), and finally Voices of Passion for the voice . MORStrat |
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| 05-17-08 / 05:05 PM : Galaxy II Grand Piano / perfs on G4 (cjed) |
| The site MusicPlayers also provides a review of BestService Galaxy II Grand Piano Collection. Tested on a dual 1,42Ghz G4 MDD, it was usable, except for very fast passages. So we can expect a few problems on a single G4 1,25Ghz. Finally, as a plugin instance (for example the bundled Kontakt 2 Player) cannot use more than one processor, it shouldn't suffer so much compared with the dual, considering the small CPU clock difference (also same bus and memory). |
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| 05-17-08 / 03:44 PM : NI Kontakt Retro Machines soundpack (cjed) |
 NI presented the KONTAKT RETRO MACHINES Kore Soundpack, that brings 135 vintage sounds (analog and digital synths, and vintage drum boxes like the Linn Drums), that totalize 1Gb of samples (downloadable for 59$). This library requires the Kore Player (free), that is based on the Kontakt 3 engine and some Guitar Rig effects. Audio demos are available. |
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| 05-17-08 / 03:34 PM : Lux Multitouch (cjed) |
 We can watch videos and read an interview about the multitouch Lux technology here. It works on all platforms and the framework can be used to trigger actions from C++, Objective-C or Flash interfaces (the later was used to develop the demos more quickly but is slower). Finally the iPhone UITouch framework is said to be great and faster than Lux, as Apple included it in the core system layer. |
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| 05-17-08 / 02:49 PM : Imac 3.06 Ghz review (cjed) |
| Macgeneration provides a full review of the new imac 3.06Ghz. As expected, it is as powerfull as a quad MacPro for most (non pro) applications, and isn't anymore limited in games (great performances in Windows with recent games). I had the same thought 5 years ago when I choosed a single 1,25Ghz G4 MDD over dual 1,25 (was 500 euros more expensive, from a 1400 euros base price). It however would have been useful for audio softwares (samplers, plugins), but I didn't use these at this time, and in another area most games didn't benefit from the second processor. |
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| 05-15-08 / 11:04 PM : Roland RD-700GX/PhantomG audio demos (cjed) |
| At RolandClan forums we can now find demos of the RD-700GX, that were recorded in 16 bits/44,1 Khz ! We can also listen to patchs demos from a Phantom G, and listen to a song example in this thread, where we also learn that the Phantom G sounds ways better than the Phantom X (probably thanks to better converters and audio engine, and perhaps fewer compression). |
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| 05-15-08 / 01:33 AM : IK Multimedia AmpliTube Metal (cjed) |
 IK Multimedia presents AmpliTube Metal. It brings 14 stomp effects modules, 5 amp models, 13 cabinet models, 6 mics models and 9 conventional effects (Digital Chorus, Digital Delay, Digital Flanger, Digital Reverb, Graphic EQ, Harmonator, Parametric EQ, Pitch Shifter, and Tube Compressor). It is priced 269$ and audio demos are available.We can also find the StompIO interface, priced 1049$, that includes the following plugins : AmpliTube 2, Ampeg SVX, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, AmpliTube Metal and AmpliTube X-GEAR. A fullly 10 days fonctionnal demo can be downloaded here (emits noise randomly after the trial period has expired). |
| 1 comment |
| 05-15-08 / 12:25 AM : BestService Galaxy II Grand Piano Coll review (cjed) |
 Audiofanzine provides a long and interesting review of BestService Galaxy II Grand Piano Collection. This second version (29 Gb, 13 velocity layers) enhances the original Steinway 5.1 and adds a Bosendorfer and a rare piano, a Blüthner Model 150 from 1929. Moreover the plugin is based on Kontakt II (so it is far more less demanding in CPU resources than EWQL Pianos - Galaxy II only requires a 1Ghz G4 -) and provides many settings (coloration/tone, reference position - listener or pianist - configuration of physical parts, acoustic components - noise and resonances), a convolution reverb (some lighter settings also included), a compressor and a full synthesis module to create pads or complex textures.Audio examples of sounds are provided, and we can listen again the stunning official audio demos or watch some HD videos. Audiofanzine conclusion, audio demos listening, many magazines reviews, good performances even on a G4 (and price) probably makes it the best choice. The software can be found at about 233 euros (full version including the 3 pianos) at Thomman.de, or the pianos can be buyed separately through direct download at soundsondemand. The first piano buyed is priced 89 euros, and additional pianos 79 euros each. So the global price isn't interesting this way, and even less considering the quality of the download version is not as good (tone sampling instead of half-tone, 16 bits samples instead of 24bits, 30s samples instead of 50s, no DFD mode, etc.) UPDATE : in fact we learn thanks to one of the Galaxy II producers that the included Steinway is the same than the one in the first Galaxy 5.1 (no una corda, and 10 velocity layers where the two new pianos offer 13 levels. However the Steinway provides a stunning 5.1 mode from what we can judge from the demos). Moreover some samples have been added to the Galaxy II Steinway (strings and hammers noises, and sympathetic resonances) and it benefits from the advanced features of Kontkat 2 over the previous version (and is said to be more efficient - less resources demanding - than even NI own Akoustik Piano !) |
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| 05-15-08 / 12:05 AM : OppenOffice.org Aqua beta 3 / Cocoa (cjed) |
| Macnn provides a short review of OppenOffice.org 3 beta for OSX. This version is being ported to Cocoa (was in alpha state in September, 2007) and the final version is expected September, 2008 (the announced transition duration was of one year). The previous versions of OppenOffice.org were based on Carbon. On the NeoOffice side, despite being older (was out more than 5 years ago), it uses the Java/Cocoa bridge. However Apple recently announced that this bridge is deprecated. So it would have to be rewritten in Objective-C. The previous versions of OppenOffice.org Aqua were even worse and slower than NeoOffice, so we hope the beta status is the indication of better performances. |
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| 05-14-08 / 11:54 PM : iPhone with Atom and 480p ? (cjed) |
| As reported by Zdnet.de (through a German Intel exec), Apple might unveil a new iPhone based on Intel Atom processor, and a second model, wider, that would bring 720*480 resolution (480p video format). |
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| 05-14-08 / 11:22 PM : WWDC sessions on iTunes (cjed) |
| Registrations for WWDC sessions are now closed. However some sessions will be available on iTunes for free ADC memberships (up to now there were only available to paid memberships, and highly priced. Hopefully there are generally provided later for free - see the WWDC2007 videos). |
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| 05-12-08 / 07:02 PM : Games magazines abandonwares (cjed) |
 The site abandonware-magazines.org provides scans of most french games magazines from 80s and 90s (Tilt - but not Arcades -, ST Magazine, Génération 4, and even Théoric !). The files are huge (about 100Mb per issue) and are available through the Cliquer ici pour démarrer le téléchargement link that appears once a thumbnail has been clicked. We can for example discover the review of BAT2 in Generation 4 magazine (issue 39), or older issues for those who remember the launch of Gen4 (was a revolution compared with older Tilt or Arcades magazines). |
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| 05-12-08 / 06:17 PM : Nexuiz 2.4.2 (cjed) |
 Just about one year ago, a major update to Nexuiz was released (brought performances improvements up to x5 and high res textures). Two months ago (late February, 2008) the 2.4 version was out, that added new interface menus, two new maps, new models, even better performances (and better memory management), enhanced graphics (water reflections, completely new particle effects, and improved fog rendering).Now the 2.4.2 version is available (376 Mb). It brings a new level, an OSX bug fix (rotating textures) and better performances with Radeon 9500 and GeForce 1&2 cards. |
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| 05-11-08 / 11:57 PM : The other strings (cjed) |
| This song is based on a theme composed with Complete Orchestra strings (instead of SO), with added choirs (SC) and french horn (SO Gold XP), and finally a sequence synth (ImpOSCar) and rhythms (Artist Grooves). RCLong |
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| 05-10-08 / 11:44 PM : VMWare Fusion 2.0b1 : DirectX9 with shader (cjed) |
| VMWare announces a beta 1 of Fusion 2.0, that among other brings support for multiple screens (one OS managed by a dedicated graphic card) and the hardware acceleration of Shader (Model 2) in DirectX 9.0 (DX9 without shader in Fusion 1.1). |
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| 05-10-08 / 11:07 PM : Zune : a flop (cjed) |
| Macnn reported Microsoft sales results about Zune : since its introduction in November, 2006, it was only sold 2 millions units, and sales are stalling. To compare with ipod that is sold at 10 millions units per quarter (that is 40 millions per year). Microsoft marketshare is low (3 to 4%, 2% for Creative - falling from 4% since a year - , and 11% for Sandisk). Apple owns more than 80% of the market on these devices. Some "visionnary" people announced the end of the iPod when the Zune was launched... perhaps they were speaking about its transformation into the iPhone, that is really here since a year, contrary to GPhone or Surface prototypes. |
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| 05-10-08 / 12:07 AM : Ableton Live 7 LE (cjed) |
| Ableton announced Live 7 LE. Compared with Live 7, it only manages one stereo input and output, 2 external plugin instruments and effects (illimited number in the full version), and doesn't allow freeze of tracks. It includes the Essential Instrument Collection 2 LE Edition that brings samples from Puremagnetik (acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, bass, drums, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds,loops and construction kits), and some audio demos are available. It is priced 142 euros, that is a bit less than Logic Express. |
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| 05-10-08 / 12:01 AM : Doom 4 announced (cjed) |
| Id Software annouced the start of Doom 4 project development. It will use the idTech Engine 5 whose demos were recently provided, and will also be available on mac (the engine being based on OpenGL). Jobs offers to join their team are also listed. |
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| 05-08-08 / 05:38 PM : EW Concert Hall / sibling free Impulse Reponses (cjed) |
| The convolution reverb module of PLAY provides among other an impulse response from the EW Hall used to record the samples libraries Symphonic Orchestra and Symphonic Choirs. The problem is that the PLAY effect cannot be used externally as an EFX module, and it requires very high processing power (so it can't really be applied to all PLAY instances simultaneously - it is recommended to use one PLAY instance by instrument over using one multitimbral instance). Hopefully, thanks to this soundsonline forums thread we discover sites providing free Impulse Responses : the 1200 seat modern concert hall (corresponds to the Concertgebouw Brugge IR) at NoiseVault is said to be very close to the EW Hall IR, and can be imported into Kontakt IR module or Logic Pro's Space Designer. Indeed we benefit from less demanding CPU resources and from the global applying of the reverb (for example to Kontakt VSL and SO with release trails off), or to the whole instruments plugins (Kontakt and PLAY instances) if used in Space Designer. We can also download free IR at Voxengo. UPDATE : the downloaded files from NoiseVault (.rar.zip) are in fact .rar files. Then the remaining .zip in filenames has to be removed (if not the uncompress process will loop : rar.zip --> .rar.cpgz --> .zip, etc.). The impulse files are 5.1 (Front Left/Right/Center, Back Left/Right/Center). |
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| 05-08-08 / 04:39 PM : Pianoteq contest (cjed) |
| Modarrt, the Pianoteq editor, opened a contest : the purpose it to identify the composers of 10 audio samples (provided file), in order to have a chance to participate to the lottery that will take place this May, 31. The 3 winners will receive each a Pianoteq licence.s |
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| 05-08-08 / 04:23 PM : NI Guitar Rig 3 XE / Session (cjed) |
 NI presents Guitar Rig 3 XE, a light edition (only 5 amp instead of 20, and only 20 effects instead of the double) of Guitar Rig 3 Software Edition, priced 119$ (instead 339$). They also announced (for June) Guitar Rig Session, that bundles Guitar Rig 3 XE and a new audio interface (Guitar Rig Session I/O, USB 2, Cirrus Logic 24bit/192kHz converters, XLR mic input with Phantom power, stereo line input - two 6,35 Jacks - switchable in HiZ and mono for guitar, a stereo output - two 6,35 Jacks -, and an headphone output), Cubase 4 LE, KORE PLAYER and the samples library KORE SOUNDPACK POP DRUMS, all for 249$.To remember, Cirrus Logic produces converters for some new ipods (including ipod Classic), that are said to be less warm sounding than the converters from the previous maker (previous ipod generations). Hopefully it seems the old (better) converters are still in Touch ipod and iPhone. |
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| 05-08-08 / 03:56 PM : Shure : fear for HF microphones (cjed) |
| The famous microphones maker Shure files (and ecourages to write to) the FCC about the project of attributing to internet and mobile companies the White Spaces frequencies (some that will be left from analog TV). In fact some of these frequency ranges are used by HF microphones, and so the content production (TV, etc.) should face strong problems. Finally, perhaps the internet and mobile companies will understand that there are nothing without content... |
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| 05-08-08 / 03:13 PM : History of physics in games (cjed) |
| The site gamecarreerguide provides an interesting article about the evolution of physics (gestion des collisions, des déformations de l'environnement, de la propagation en cascade des événements) from early video games (notably Donkey Kong) to recent games (Half Life 2, and the so much expected Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) and dedicated processors (Ageia). They also deal with 2D, 2.5D and 3D engines (but not so much a link with the main subject, appart the fact that 2.5D engines - Doom, Dark Forces, Marathon - used sprites instead 3D models, so the interactions allowed were limited). See also GooBall and Ageia physics processor. |
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| 05-08-08 / 03:00 PM : iPhone SDK beta 5 (cjed) |
| Apple provides the iPhone SDK beta 5. The WWDC coming in a month there is still one or two new betas to be released inbetween, but major changes won't probably get into these (the beta 5 release note only states bugs fixes and update to the latest iPhone OS in development). However, some new cool stuff could be announced, as minor updates (beta 3 and 5) alternate with major ones (beta 2 - Interface Builder support - and beta 4 - OpenGL ES and code signature support). |
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| 05-06-08 / 11:59 PM : Ableton Orchestral Instrument Collection (cjed) |
 Ableton presents Orchestral Instrument Collection, an instruments collection for Live based on the famous SONiVOX (Sonic Implants) libraries ! The collection is divided into 4 parts (Strings, Brass, Woodwinds and Percussions) that totalize 24Gb. The full collection is priced 599$ (or can be buyed separately, 198$ for the first three parts, and 159$ for Percussions). Live 7 is required. A video and an audio demo are provided. |
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| 05-06-08 / 11:50 PM : Myst - The motion picture blog (cjed) |
| A movie project around the Myst universe (based notably on the novels written in the 90s) is indeed in the work. We can follow the progress at the Myst - The motion picture blog. A foreword from Rand Miller is available here. |
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| 05-06-08 / 12:12 AM : Musics in videos from mountaineering site (cjed) |
| The site Le petit alpiniste illustré provides nice videos from mountain touring, and uses among others the song Emotional. |
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| 05-05-08 / 11:29 PM : New NIN album : free and HD (cjed) |
| The new NIN album is available for free here : besides MP3 and M4A Lossless (CD quality) versions, a 24 bits/96Khz WAV version (aiff would have looked more pro... but less PC) is also available. A good mean to test the Echo MIA card at its max capabilities. As always, a shipping CD version (and Vinyl...) will follow, in June. The previous distribution system (free online listening with donation system, followed later by the shipment of a high priced collector CD) allowed them to gain money two times... Now the method is a bit clearer (less disguised). Finally either we give something, or not if we think it isn't valued. That is why I never published master quality music, and rarely completed songs. But these sudden free distribution systems allow the artists to set their rules on music companies... and then discuss sharings in a better shape.s |
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| 05-05-08 / 11:25 PM : Virtual Box / QEmu (cjed) |
| Virtual Box, a free virtualizer (for Intel mac only so), has been buyed by Sun. The Q emulator, based on QEMu, works on Intel and PPC. |
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| 05-04-08 / 10:07 PM : Lexicon PCM96 shipping (cjed) |
| Lexicon announced the avaibility of its new PCM96 that was presented 6 months ago. It brings 28 new reverb, delays and modulation effects algorithms. Multimode filters have been added, and reflections from the new Room and Hall algorithms can be edited (scale, equalization). It includes 1200 presets. |
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| 05-04-08 / 09:59 PM : DeSmuME 0.8 (cjed) |
| DeSmuME is a Nintendo DS emulator for OSX (also available for Windows and Linux). The OSX version is being developed in Cocoa and the latest 0.8 version brings support for sound. The compatibility with commercial games is said to be better than with other DS emulators. |
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| 05-03-08 / 07:42 PM : Beladmedia DSynth (cjed) |
 Famous editor Beladmedia presents DSynth, an instrument plugin based upon Kontakt 2, and that provides high quality raw materials (samples) to create sounds using complex synthesis technics offered by the software. It brings a new synthesis module, DARP, that allows 6 steps wave sequencing. The included presets are divided into categories, depending on the synthesis used : Analog, Digital, Hybrid, Organic/Thematic, Instrument, Soundscape, IES – (Impulse Excitation Synthesis), SFX – Sound Effect, Percussion.It is priced 150$ (2 DVDs) and interesting audio demos are available here. |
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| 05-03-08 / 12:46 AM : HATARI 1.0.1 compilation with iPhone SDK (cjed) |
| Here are some informations for compiling the source code (tar archive) of the ATARI ST emulator Hatari (v 1.0.1), non available directly as binary for OSX. After having installed the SDL framework, the XCode project must be opened and some files not found problems have to be fixed : create symbolic links from config.h (missing) to config-default.h (ln -s config.h config-default.h), and from Makefile.conf (also missing) to Makefile-default.conf. Then set up target to 10.4 (if the 10.3 SDK isn't installed), the emu.c file (code of the 68k emulator from UAE project) compilation can take some minutes (very huge file). |
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| 05-03-08 / 12:30 AM : Sonic Implants Symphonic Collection still the best (cjed) |
| Demos of Sonivox (previously Sonic Implants) Symphonic String Collection are still the best to catch up with two years later ! That is here for the direct link. Nothing to compare with SO nor VSL... |
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| 05-01-08 / 06:05 PM : OpenArena 0.7.6 / Lego Carnage Pro (cjed) |
 A new version of OpenArena is available, the 0.7.6 (275 Mb). We can also find a cool mod for Quake 3 Arena (also works with OpenArena), Lego Carnage Pro (19Mb, see the videos, the download requires a free FilePlanet account) ! |
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| 05-01-08 / 05:55 PM : Web browsers market shares (cjed) |
| Web browsers marketshare this month are encouraging : 76% for IE, close to 17% for Firefox, 5,5% for Safari (huge, 1/3 of the Firefox users number - considering some mac users also use Firefox, and Safari has been here for a few years only), and finally only 0,65% for Opera ! |
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| 05-01-08 / 05:44 PM : Freeverse Sound Studio 3 (cjed) |
 The well known games editor Freeverse presents Sound Studio 3, a nice sound editor (allows recording, 32bits precision edition, unlimited recording frequency - depdending from the hardware -, integrated effects, compatibility with AudioUnit effects plugins, batch processing through AppleScript). It may have been used by Freeverse to edit its games sounds. A demo version is available. However as it is priced 80$ we would better consider Logic Express 8 (199$), that among others (Midi, instruments plugins, effects, etc.) also allows audio editing. |
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| 05-01-08 / 05:06 PM : Bench of imac 3,06Ghz / G4 (cjed) |
| Engadget provides a full review of the new imac 3,06 Ghz (Penryn, not the same Core 2 Duo as with the previous imacs generation). Comparison tests made with Xbench on a G4 MDD 1,25Ghz give : the imac is more than 3 times faster than the G4 in processor tests (hopefully, as the imac cumulated cores power is close to 6Ghz. The G4 is however faster than the 1,6Ghz MacBook Air for FFT calculations, thanks to its altivec unit), 7 times faster in threads management, 5 times faster in memory tests, more than 3 times faster in 2D (Quartz) graphics, 3 times faster in OpenGL tests (the 1,6Ghz MacBook Air and 2,2Ghz MacBook, fitted with an Intel GMA chipset, are however respectively 4 and 3 times slower in OpenGL - then in games - than the G4 with its old Radeon 9000 Pro from 2002). For user interface test under Leopard, the G4 can't however catch up : it is close to 20 times slower than the new imac (even the MacBook Air is 5 times faster than the G4) ! Only disk tests keep the G4 from being the worst performer in all categories (It even beats all Apple MacBook, Pro included, but not the imacs). Even considering the Radeon 9000 Pro that prevents the G4 from performing at its full potential under Leopard, it seems clear Apple did optimize the system for Intel architecture mainly. |
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| 05-01-08 / 04:26 PM : Java SE 1.6 for Leopard (cjed) |
| Apple provides at download the JDK 1.6 for Leopard, Java SE6. It is 1.6.0_05 version, not the last available from Sun (1.6.0_06, but it only brings minor fixes). This JVM however requires a 64 bits mac (Core2 Duo, but not Core Duo nor PowerPC). It brings a new javax.script package to access to AppleScript, new APIs in package com.apple.eawt.Application : get and set the application icon in the Dock (and add badge labels - for example a state or prpgress indicator), definition of the application Dock menu, access to Apple help system. A new API in com.apple.eio.FileManager allows to retreive the application execution package, and a new property (apple.awt.documentModalSheet) on JRootPane from JDialogs displays model Sheet dialogs. The screen scale factor can also be retrieved, etc. This is without counting the native and transparent multiprocessing management in the Apple JVM, native Aqua interface, and upcoming support for resolution independance (the frameworks are still here). |
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