TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 Review by Music Recording Software on Blogspot

Native Instruments made yet another step on to integrating a hardware with software by introducing TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 - hardware capable of controlling TRAKTOR’s famous powerful REMIX DECKs with 16 stylish – differently colored pads that make you able fire one-shot samples and loops and fully control world renown TRAKTOR PRO 2.5. TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 will be released on 30^th of May.

With TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 clips can be launched in an intuitive way. It is the signiture of just any Native Instruments product. They all tend to be perfectly intuitive. TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 is no exception. With this hardware you will be able to control Remix Decks just like ordinary track decks and switch between 64 loops, tracks and one-shot samples on each deck.

TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 comes with pre loaded remix sets composed of 2 GB premium quality sound. So that you can get started instantly upon purchase. Alternatively you can capture sounds and loops live with KONTROL F1’s pads and faders or import other samples.  TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 will help you transform a DJ set into live performance.

It seems that Native Instruments has worked a lot with DJs to crete a product that has full sense of DJ culture. TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 is much about being convenient. For DJs convenience often means having possibility to drop bass lines, drum loops, percussion, lead sounds and vocals into your performance easily right when you are on the fly. TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 together with powerful TRAKTOR PRO 2.5 can give this possibility to just any DJ.

TRKTOR KONTROL F1 also comes with four dedicated filter knobs and four volume faders. So that you may have full sonic access to the Remix Deck slots.

So I am impatiently looking forward to 30^th of May when TRAKTOR KONTROL F1 will be released and I think I should purchase this hardware myself.

Cubase 6.5 - Review by Music Recording Software on Blogspot

Steinberg’s new release Cubase 6.5 had made me quite anxious until yesterday when I finally had an opportunity to check all its new features. The overall expression it left on me is that Cubase 6.5 is full of updated features. Its user-friendly interface blends wonderfully with its inspiring instruments, effects and great editing tools. So now we can go down to more detailed description:

Basically there are two new synths in Cubase 6.5: Retrologue and Padshop. Retrologue is more like a vintage analogue synth. You can get rich old-school sound. You will fall in love with Retrologue if you like funky style and come to recording funky bass and leadsounds. Retrologue comes with a library of 300 presets, so most likely you will be able to find just the right sound for your funky track in Retrologue’s preset library.

Padshop as its title hints is a wonderful source of pads. I could not manage to try out all of its presets which are 400 totally, however I still could manage to try out some of its out of this world atmosphere sound. This synth has built-in effects that are very convenient to use and that can help you create completely unique sound, completely unique pads.

Cubase 6.5 also introduces three new effects: DJ-EQ, MorphFilter and VST AMP RACK 1.5. DJ-EQ as the title tells itself is specially designed to create a favourite performance effect for DJs. The effect is quite useful for creating unexpected twists. I also tried it and made some breaks and it did well. What is more, the parameters can be automated so that you get all the dance floor atmosphere through Cubase’s quick controls which is renowned for being so user-friendly.

Unfortunately I did not have enough time to test MorphFilter’s abilities fully. However one thing is clear: Steinberg tried its best to create superior filter types of HALion 4. I think I’ll be using more of MorpFilter soon.

 I did try out and fell in love with VST AMP RACK! I got such insane tones for my guitar. The feeling of playing with signature tones of world renown guitarists from famous bands likeAccept,Meshuggah, Emperor. It’s just wonderful! The VST comes with maximizer and limiter, so that your guitar soundwill be cut through the mix.

I just can not ignore the new way of warping offered by Cubase 6.5. The hitpoints are fused and warp quantizing is directly embeded into the Quantizing Panel which is specially dedicated for this use. The result of this is that entire arrangments just like single audio loopsneed just a mouse click for quantizing – like MIDI parts. .. and yes! your audio events are warped not – sliced which means that they followautomatically any global pitch or tempo changes of your project. This makes arrangements quite easy since audio events remain uncluttered.

The new version of Cubase also comes with some unexpected surprises. The most important of these is the ability to link your Cubase to your SoundCloud account. This gives you possibility share your songs directly with the world. The uploader is built-in the Cubase 6.5.

Linking with SoundCloud is not just for easy sharing. It made possible for Cubase 6.5 to include lossless FLAC audio compression codec. You save up to 60% disk space when recording tracks in real time.

What is more, Cubase 6.5 is the first version of Cubase to offer an interface in Simplified Chinese!