Spectrasonics at AES

[spectrum]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to extend an invite to all the locals and folks visiting the LA AES show this weekend to stop by our booth and say hello.

We\'re #1134

See you!

spectrum

PS. Oh yeah...and don\'t forget to get a demo of Stylus, Atmosphere and Trilogy too!

[Jeff Hurchalla]

I checked out Atmospheres and was quite impressed. I\'m not a synth guru, but this one sounded fun. I wish I had time to give it a good go - maybe tomorrow if I can make it back to aes and I\'ll say hello if so images/icons/smile.gif

[shadowbox]

I just got Stylus and love it. With hard disk space as cheap as it is, this is such a great way to add loops to your music. Way more flexible than CDs or CD-Roms. I can\'t wait for Atmosphere. Of course, I wish Atmos had the same low price as Stylus! At $299 its a no brainer.

[NEWNEW]

Eric, for those of us who couldn\'t make it to AES; what were your new announcements???

Thanks
Mike

[spectrum]

Full OSX support for ALL OSX platforms.

Audio Units next month

RTAS, VST and MAS OSX versions by the end of the year.

All OSX upgrades will be free to registered users.

We were showing for the first time how much more powerful Atmosphere is now that it will be shipping as a full blown synth, that does not only great pads and ambiences, but unique percussive sounds, powerful synths and wild leads....it\' really versatile now.

Best,

spectrum

[spectrum]

Apple\'s new OSX system level plug-in standard. Same basic idea as VST, MAS, etc...but it is a truly open standard, that anyone can develop for.

It\'s also an extremely good new standard for development. Better than VST, MAS and RTAS....it will allow us to do some new things on OSX.

Right now, only Logic OSX supports it.....but it\'s going to be a flood of stuff soon, and eventually MOTU, Steinberg and DIgi will come on board......it makes so much more sense to have a good common standard that none of these players owns or controls.

The transition to wide acceptance of this common Audio Units standard will take some time, but we will be there from the start.

Currently.....it\'s for Logic users on Mac OSX.....but that will begin to change a lot as more companies (and new developers) begin to adopt this standard.

spectrum

[caveman]

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">We were showing for the first time how much more powerful Atmosphere is now that it will be shipping as a full blown synth, that does not only great pads and ambiences, but unique percussive sounds, powerful synths and wild leads....it\' really versatile now.
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Eric, the Percussion that you are talikg about that will be included in Atmosphere, will it be similar to Liquid Grooves/Ethno Techno type percussion? Please elaborate. What would the percussion area cover?

Does this mean that if I bought Atmosphere and later you released more percussion and Pads, that there would be free updates to licensed users of Atmosphere?

Would Atmosphere cover that percussive styles for New Age/ Ethnic styles.

Phew.... Please shed some light its dark in here!

Caveman

[NEWNEW]

Thanks Eric! All that sounds GREAT, but....will we really have to wait until NAMM to hear about the next round of incredible libraries (guitar, orchestral, more drums,...) from Spectrasonics?

[spectrum]

Caveman...it\'s percussive synth sounds, not percussion (as in drums, etc).

There are just a lot more varieties of sounds Atmosphere can do now that you can move the sample start....evolving ambiences can easily be turned into percussive attacks, etc.

The beautiful Ambient and Soundtrack stuff is still very well represented....but now it\'s a lot more versatile as a full blown synth....unique leads, FX, and even very powerful techno sounds too. It\'s quite a chameleon now.

I\'ll let you guys know when the demos page goes live.

NEWNEW: Yes...you have to wait. We\'re pretty busy around here catching up with what we\'ve already announced. Only thing I can promise is that we are focusing on only virtual instruments from now on.

(and also that there\'s a lot of great things in the works.....all will be revealed at the right time)

Best,

spectrum

[caveman]

I cant take it no more images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/cool.gif images/icons/wink.gif

Would love to hear some of those Demos.

Also will you have an introductry pricing or offer for Music Students at all?

Thanks for clarifying that Eric, its lighter in here now.

Caveman

[KingIdiot]

Ok thats it.....I\'ll buy this today right now this minute. jsut send it to me the day it comes out!!!

I\'m pretty excited about the next two releases.

Can I program Rhythmic lfo\'s with Atmoshpere?

[spectrum]

The LFOs on the initial version 1.00 are simple sine sweep type (but you have 2 per layer and 2 additional global ones) and they don\'t sync to the host tempo......yet.

And that\'s the key word...YET....the LFOs will be substantially beefed up and syncable in future versions and we have lots of plans in that area.

But as you\'ll hear in the demos, there are tons of great ways to use all the evolving sounds with cool rhythms. A lot of the examples have \"rhythmic synth\" parts. The demos page will include a pop-up menu explaining how the demo was created and how the rhythmic effects were achieved (sidechaining techniques, parameter automation, etc). The demos will be as educational as we can make them, so you can get some great ideas of how these things are already possible in Atmosphere version 1.00, even without the LFO sync. We will be updating the LFOs in future versions to have syncronization, but we have to make sure this works perfectly in every host program...so that takes a little time.

In terms of student discounts...that\'s a sales issue, so you should ask ILIO.

best,

spectrum

[spectrum]

King...if you program a MIDI controller message in your sequencer and loop it...that in effect IS a rhythmic LFO that is syncronized to your sequencer.

Every parameter in Atmosphere can be automated by MIDI controllers, so that\'s one way to do these types of sounds in version 1.00.

spectrum

[KingIdiot]

yah, I know that, I was jsut hoping for something like Absynth\'s set up where you can base lfo curves to grids.

Using Cubase is jsut stupid for trying to program nice flowing rhytmic filter patterns with curves in the movement. Obviosuly I could play/record them in realtime at different speeds too (mostly how I do it), but it\'d be so neat to jsut tweak in that grid realm,...you know images/icons/wink.gif

actually I dont know why I jsut dont use one of those Wave to MIDI programs and transfer the volume curves it grabs to whatever CC I want.

hmmmm....

man I could get lost in that stuff.

anyhow, I\'m still looking forward to it.

will break out the vocoder effects.

[J. Whaley]

Originally posted by KingIdiot:
yah, I know that, I was jsut hoping for something like Absynth\'s set up where you can base lfo curves to grids.
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">How do you do this? I\'ve been trying to figure out how to sync Absynth and I\'ve obviously missed it.

BTW Eric... I can\'t wait! How much longer???

[spectrum]

November 15th for Atmosphere.

BTW...King, we\'ve got some killer ideas on some easy ways to do what you are describing in the future.....

ABsynths envelopes don\'t sync to clock....you have to completely reprogram them....hopefully this will be addressed in the future versions, but I think it\'s going to be a while for that one. I know a lot of people want this on ABsynth.

spectrum

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by KingIdiot:

actually I dont know why I jsut dont use one of those Wave to MIDI programs and transfer the volume curves it grabs to whatever CC I want.

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">...or get SONAR. images/icons/tongue.gif

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by spectrum:


I know a lot of people want this on ABsynth.

spectrum<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Yes, I really love the sounds you can get on Absynth, but the whole UI structure is very wonky, unfortunately. I hope it will be economically feasible for NI to give it a ground-up rework, but somehow I doubt it.

[J. Whaley]

I agree with you Bruce. There\'s some really cool textures to be created with Absynth, but I wish it was a little more flexible. Does anyone know where we can get more sounds for Absynth? That\'s one of the cool things I know Eric will do with Atmospheres... loads of cool stuff in the future! I\'m so excited about this program!

Eric can you tell me what the processor usage will be like? Absyth really isn\'t as efficient as i would like. I guess it\'s just cool to be able to have it work but I\'d like it to be more Processor friendly. I usually get bogged down around 2-3 instances. I\'m running a G4 400... I\'m going to upgrade soon.. I\'m just dumb enough to think Apple\'s going to release a G5... they will as soon as I buy a new G4 images/icons/smile.gif And what about dual processor support?

[KingIdiot]

...or get SONAR. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Screw that, I\'m going to start edting my MIDI in text files!...or better yet in hex editors!

[spectrum]

Atmosphere needs the most power of our instruments. It\'s about the same as ABsynth, so it\'s not bad.

You can run Atmosphere on a 400mhz machine, but that\'s below our recommended spec. 500mhz or higher is much better.

With 3ghz Intels and AMDs now, it\'s getting a bit ridiculous how slow the Macs are. Hopefully, we\'ll see these faster Mac machines shipping early next year.

The problem is not that you can\'t run Atmosphere on a machine with less than 500mhz...but that once you start to play with it, you will want to use lots of them at the same time, because it sounds so great! :-)

With judicious use of polyphony limiting, I\'ve used 12 or more Atmospheres simultaneously on our 500mhz machines.

Stylus and Trilogy take almost no CPU...very efficient. Dual Layer synths with all the filtering running and lots of release in polyphonc pad sounds takes the most of any kind of sound.

But it\'s very workable.....just get the fastest machine you can...makes a big difference.

Dual processing will work now with Digital Performer, and in the future with OSX versions of Logic, etc.

spectrum

[shadowbox]

Originally posted by spectrum:

With 3ghz Intels and AMDs now, it\'s getting a bit ridiculous how slow the Macs are. Hopefully, we\'ll see these faster Mac machines shipping early next year.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Hey Eric,
Is the \"megahertz myth\" not such a myth afterall? Apple would have us believe that their 1ghz chip is as fast as a 2ghz Intel. How do the platforms compare when using Atmosphere? (In terms of polyphony, instances, etc.)

Thanks

[spectrum]

Basically all the current Windows machines make our beloved Macs look pretty silly. (at least in terms of plug-ins and virtual instruments).

All that Mac talk about the \"myth\" really only applies to photoshop type products that really rely on non-real-time rendering and processing. Altivec can make a big difference with non-real-time stuff. Of course, virtual instruments and plug-ins are all real-time, so they don\'t benefit nearly as much as something like photoshop does. The truth is that I get near identical performance from my G3 500mhz laptops as I do with my Dual 533 G4 tower. The tower is a little better, but nowhere near twice.

The dual processing helps, but currently, that\'s host and plug-in specific. Windows systems are just great and more powerful than macs....frustrating.

spectrum

[David Abraham]

Originally posted by Bruce A. Richardson:

Yes, I really love the sounds you can get on Absynth, but the whole UI structure is very wonky, unfortunately. I hope it will be economically feasible for NI to give it a ground-up rework, but somehow I doubt it.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I\'d have to agree with this too, I like most of what NI does, but the ABSynth GUI is a serious de-encentive.

..btw Bruce thanks for the years-ago suggestion about moving to a track ball...my hands/wrists have totally recovered.

-david abraham

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by David Abraham Fenton:
[QUOTE]

..btw Bruce thanks for the years-ago suggestion about moving to a track ball...my hands/wrists have totally recovered.

-david abraham<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Mine too. You\'re welcome. My wrists would probably not work any more if I\'d stayed on the \"mouse.\"

[Maarten Spruijt]

David/Bruce, what\'s your opinions on a grapic tablet? I use two next to each other (one for each computer, so you can use both with one pen/hand) and I LOVE it!

No wrist problems either.

(Sorry for the OT)

Maarten

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by Maarten Spruijt:
David/Bruce, what\'s your opinions on a grapic tablet? I use two next to each other (one for each computer, so you can use both with one pen/hand) and I LOVE it!

No wrist problems either.

(Sorry for the OT)

Maarten<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">I have used tablets for artwork, nothing like them for that. Personally, I prefer a trackball for everyday \"mousing\" and especially for my studio work, because my main \"giga\" trackball is velcroed to the RH side of my studio MIDI controller, and the main \"daw\" trackball is velcroed to the top/center of the keyboard, right under the monitor.

When I redesigned my room, that was one of the most important things to me...essentially, I wanted to elimintate all desktop space and all clutter, and have the entire room centered around the keyboard. So, a tablet would be a bit large and cumbersome for that layout. Also, it\'s probably more about developing habits, but I can never get used to the \"absolute\" placement of the stylus to open menus, etc., rather than the mouse/trackball \"relative\" relationship to the cursor.

[Maarten Spruijt]

It\'s developing a habit for sure. I am twice as fast with a correctly setup mouse tablet than with an ordinary mouse.

Never tried trackballs though, but it always seemed a bit tiresome for the thumb to me.

Maarten

[David Abraham]

Originally posted by Maarten Spruijt:


Never tried trackballs though, but it always seemed a bit tiresome for the thumb to me.

Maarten<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">took me a while to get used to it, but I\'ll never go back. Now just looking at a mouse gives me the heebeejeebees.

-david abraham

[KingIdiot]

I used to hate Trackballs...

now I cant live with out them.

[Chadwick]

hmmm, maybe I should try one seriously. Any suggestions about what to get/avoid?

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by Chadwick:
hmmm, maybe I should try one seriously. Any suggestions about what to get/avoid?<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Well, my favorite favorite is the Logitech Marble FX, but it doesn\'t seem to be a current item. I like the Logitech Marble Mouse as well, and that\'s what I have velcroed to the RH side of my keyboard to control the GigaRig live (and in the studio).

Both of those are optical designs, so you never have to worry about the \"cheese\" buildup.

It takes about a good week or two to stop feeling awkward and clumsy, then you learn to \"toss\" the cursor around and \"catch\" it. Now my navigation speed is much faster than it was with a mouse, and no more aching wrist!!

FWIW, I have never known a single person to switch to a trackball and go back to a mouse. Even my 66 year-old mother in law, who totally despised the trackball I installed on her computer wouldn\'t let me switch it back to the mouse after she\'d been using it for a couple of weeks. The wear and tear on your wrist is very significantly reduced.

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by Maarten Spruijt:
it always seemed a bit tiresome for the thumb to me.

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">My wife has one of the \"thumb\" models, and I don\'t do as well with it. I think it\'s just getting accustomed to it, though, because she doesn\'t get around as well on mine as she does on hers.