Sean Compton of North Attleboro, MA, a long time OBEDIA member, is the lucky winner of the Toontrack Superior 2.0.

William Trompeter of Mariposa, CA, is the winner of the Toontrack EZ Drummer.

Congratulations to both of them. We’ll be following up with them shortly to see how they put their programs to good use. Many thanks to the folks at Toontrack for their very generous donation. Go to www.toontrack.com to find out more about their range of excellent drum sampler products.

If you entered this time but didn’t win you’ll have the opportunity to enter in our next exciting giveaway sponsored by MV ProAudio and Sample Logic. Details are to be announced shortly so keep checking back!

Thanks for your support

The OBEDIA Team

Los Angeles (Feb 9th 2009) OBEDIA’s ECMS is a state of the art Case Management and Customer Service System built specifically for the needs of technical support and training for the audio recording industry. In conjunction with the ECMS deployment Synthax are partnering with OBEDIA to expand their technical support hours of coverage for RME users to 8am PST – 12am PST, seven days a week.

“Our RME user base is growing, as is the complexity of their audio production systems,” states Brian McCall, Synthax VP Operations. “We needed a solution to effectively manage the resulting increased demands on our technical support, and OBEDIA’s ECMS has provided that. Also by partnering with OBEDIA to extend our technical support hours of operation we have significantly increased our level of service to our RME users.”

“We started development of the ECMS 5 years ago for the simple reason we were unable to find an off the shelf CRM solution that met our needs,” says Jayce Murphy, OBEDIA COO. “Its’ task specific function gives significant performance benefits and a flexibility that have enabled us to seamlessly integrate it into Synthax’s operational workflow. We’re excited to work with Synthax to deliver a service that exceeds RME user’s expectations”

The ECMS is a modular, browser based application service featuring customer/contact profile management, case creation, tracking and management, customized reporting, flexible searches, and much more. It is developed specifically to meet the needs of technical support and training for the audio recording industry.

OBEDIA provides training, technical support, and consultancy services to anyone using computers to record music and audio. Covering everything from installation of software and hardware, system optimization and customization, to in-depth “how-to” training, OBEDIA is a one-stop solution for any computer recording system, regardless of the size, equipment, or brands.

FOR PC:

From your “C: drive” OR install them (in the first place) on a drive OTHER than

your “C: drive”

If you have already installed EZdrummer or an EZX pack that you want to “MOVE”…

The first thing you have to do is UN-INSTALL EZdrummer or EZX sound packs using

the WINDOWS “Add or Remove Programs” utility in the WINDOWS Control Panel.

NOTE: You may UNINSTALL and REINSTALL EZdrummer or EZX packs on THE SAME COMPUTER

as many times as you like WITHOUT re-authorizing.

AUTH CODES and SERIAL NUMBERS can allways be viewed in your Toontrack account.

FROM THE TOP…

Propellerhead Software today inaugurated the Propellerhead Artist Patch Charts. Have you ever wondered what the bass sound in that track was? How they made the harp glissandos in that movie, the shimmering strings in that commercial, or why the snare in that track sounds so familiar?

Propellerhead did and asked artists the question: “What’s in your Reason Rack?”
Their top picks and insights are collected into Artist Patch Charts.
Discover what Flaming Lips, 3OH!3 and Ru, amongst others, use in their productions: http://www.propellerheads.se/substance/patch-charts

Zplane.development released version 1.5 of vielklang. vielklang is an audio harmonization instrument for easy generation of vocal or instrumental harmonies with up to four voices. The utilization of voice leading and harmony progression models allows vielklang to create harmony parts in a more musical way than traditional harmony processors and makes it a versatile and creative tool for musicians, songwriters and producers.

The new version adds the following main features:

• live MIDI input: play chords or voicings directly on the keyboard to control vielklang’s harmonization
• new harmonization styles: 3-voice intelligent, Block Chords, Fauxbourdon, Organum
• new export options: Audio/MIDI File Export for individual voices, MIDI export of harmony tracks
• improved input melody analysis: new note detection algorithm improves accuracy and robustness
• Ready for Pro Tools 8 and Cubase 5

About vielklang
vielklang allows quick and easy creation of natural sounding backing vocals, brass sections, and other harmony parts with up to four voices. It offers a new musical approach for the generation of the voicings: rather than synthesizing plain parallel voicings, vielklang takes into account the melodic context to create a chord-based arrangement and is thus able to produce musical harmonizations instantly.

Automatic recognition engines take care of initialization of obvious parameters like root note and key to let the user to focus on musical issues rather than tedious plugin configuration.

While vielklang will provide instant and meaningful results, experienced users have the option to edit the result with parameters like range (ambitus) or the distribution of the voices, to modify root note and scale, to edit single harmonies and to change each single pitch of each individual voice. Alternatively, the harmonization can be controlled by direct MIDI keyboard input.

vielklang’s main features are:

• musical harmonization using voice-leading and harmony progression models
• adjustable pitch correction, delay, timing humanization, timbre, volume, and pan for each voice
• Audio-to-MIDI
• MIDI-controlled snapshot system allows several harmonizations per audio input
• one-click modification of tempo, pitch, scale and harmonies
• plug and play: don’t waste time with tedious configuration

vielklang 1.1 is available for RTAS (Mac OS X, Windows), VST (Mac OS X, Windows) and Audio Units (Mac OS X) at a MSRP of $299.00/€249.00

More at: vielkang.zplane.de

Toontracks, Swedish developers of award winning drum samplers, have generously provided OBEDIA with EZdrummer and Superior Drummer 2.0, two of their premier products, as prizes in a drawing exclusively for OBEDIA members. Both are RTAS, VST and Audio Units compatible and both run on Mac OSX and Windows. No matter your DAW of choice this will be an excellent addition to your system

Two lucky OBEDIA members get the chance of winning a great product from Toontrack! The drawing will take place on January 15th and is open to all registered OBEDIA members. Only one entry each registered member please. Enter now before it’s too late and get a chance to win one of these superb drum samplers.

Click Here to Enter

Native Instruments has just introduced REAKTOR SPARK, a KORE SOUNDPACK based on the new “Spark” performance synthesizer designed by NI founder and REAKTOR mastermind Stephan Schmitt. With a strong focus on distinctive tone and genuine musical expressiveness, REAKTOR SPARK is both an outstanding library addition for REAKTOR users as well as a powerful instrument and sound library for KORE 2 and the free KORE PLAYER.

Spark was designed by Stephan Schmitt as a personal project over the course of three years, with the goal to create a synthesizer with a highly energetic sound character and maximum potential for real-time expression. Completely realized in Native Instruments’ groundbreaking modular synthesis studio REAKTOR, Spark expertly combines powerful subtractive synthesis with a sophisticated array of internal feedback loops and various other special sound shaping features. This allows its distinctive sonic output to cut through any musical arrangement with vivid, animated and organic tones, which are especially gratifying when played live with a keyboard and a set of real-time parameter controls.

The REAKTOR SPARK sound pack built around Spark makes this powerful synthesizer conveniently accessible for users of KORE 2 and the free KORE PLAYER, providing 200 versatile presets as well as intuitive sound tweaking options through the unified KORE interface. Owners of REAKTOR have access to the full set of Spark’s parameter and control elements, and can also explore and modify the complete signal flow structure of this extraordinary instrument.

REAKTOR SPARK is available for download purchase in the NI Online Shop for a suggested retail price of $59 / 49 EUR.

Additional information on REAKTOR SPARK including audio demos is available at www.native-instruments.com/reaktorspark.info

Dave Bishop of Snohomish, WA is the lucky prizewinner! We are featuring a story on him shortly about how he started recording, his DAW system and work flow, and of course what he plans to use the Vocal Studio Toolkit for.

We had the highest number of entries ever for this prize generously donated by the folks at Antares. If you entered this time but didn’t win you’ll have plenty more opportunities in some future exciting contests we’re planning right now. Keep checking back for your next chance of winning!

Thanks for your support

The OBEDIA Team

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A first look at Pro Tools 8 from our friend at Digidesign Scott Church of Digidesign.