Keeping new musical instrument announcements under wraps prior to embargo dates is proving, again, to be more or less impossible. Native Instruments’ Komplete updates, teased in a video on Friday, have now been prematurely revealed via one print magazine hitting newsstands (Beat, in Germany), and multiple leaks by dealers (some even crawled by Google, according […]
Native Instruments Teases New Komplete Hardware
Native Instruments today releases a teaser video which it says is “A glimpse of the future” of Komplete, the production suite that includes Reaktor, Kontakt, and various synths and the like. That video clearly shows some kind of hardware. Now, the degree to which I can speculate about an unreleased product is inversely proportional to […]
What NI Was Teasing: Monark Minimoog-Modeling Synth, Remade Battery, in New Komplete
Native Instruments has been teasing new instrument software in recent days, and now we get to see what they were previewing: a new virtual-analog monosynth and a remade version of their drum sampler. But, hold on, before everyone yawns and leaves the building – there’s reason to pay attention to this news. First, yes, there […]
NI Launches New Software Updates from Kontakt to Drums – and Puts Everything on a Hard Drive
Kontakt – is it the answer? Is it the reason that everything happens? Native Instruments today launches a new version of its flagship Kontakt sampler with new filters, effects and processing, improved sound quality, and sound design features. NI also refreshes Komplete – including, at last, a Komplete bundle that really does include kompletely everything. […]
Decibel Log 3: Murcof, Mount Kimbie, Modeselektor, Teebs and More
Still from Robert Henke’s set at Optical 1 Our man in Seattle, Primus Luta aka David Dobson, continues his video coverage of the Decibel Festival for CDM with another set of feature coverage. All that coffee out there must be working. Take it away… Despite being the first event after an incredible night, which for […]
Inside New Komplete 7, New Instruments, Effects; Player Could Change Reaktor
When it comes to software sonic goodies, loads of virtualized gear you can add to the digital, computer-based studio, Komplete is one of the deepest boxes out there. Komplete 7, announced today, is the latest edition of Native Instruments’ bundle of virtual studio software. As always, that means a refresh of what’s in the box […]
Native Instruments Updates: New Absynth, Kontakt, Guitar Rig, Cheaper Komplete
I’m sure Native Instruments wants me to open with discussion of realistic-sounding strings in Kontakt 4, but instead, I offer a loose visual representation of Absynth’s sound engine. Photo (CC) Joe Penniston. Native Instruments released a slew of soft synth updates today – thanks to everyone who sent this in. The big news is that […]
Native Instruments Komplete $399 Fire Sale; NI Noisepages Networking
Reaktor… you know, for kids! Oli, age 7. Photo (CC) Laura Whitehead. Normally, pricing announcements and sales press releases bore me to tears, but this is actually news – Native Instruments is selling Komplete for July only at just US$/EUR 399, instead of $1139/EUR999. That means if you were looking for Reaktor alone – about […]
kore@noisepages: Free DIY Grain Delay Reaktor Tutorial, plus Making Sense of Kore
Building and Using a Reaktor Grain Delay in Kore 2 from Create Digital Media on Vimeo. Let’s cut straight to the reason we use this stuff: we want crazy-sounding delays we can play with. Reaktor guru Peter Dines shows just how you’d build such a thing in Reaktor from the ground up for CDM’s Kore […]
IDM Operating System: proem’s PC, Fruity Loops, Tablet Controller Setup
Hardware is wonderful, but make no mistake about it: many musicians have put the same care and musical love into their software setup as once was limited to tangled guitar pedal rigs. We’ve been watching as intricate computer music studios appear in the CDM Flickr pool. proem, the gifted electronic musician from Austin, Texas (see […]