Excavated Shellac rejects the western canon of pop, rock, jazz, classical and more to champion 78rpm gems from overlooked corners of the world – ‘an alternate universe’, according to the man behind it…
Free The Tone has put together an intriguing new offering, the Motion Loop ML-1L. It’s one of the company’s more unusual pedals, a short looper with short-duration sampling and real-time effect processing, including pitch-shifting, delay and filtering.
Free the Tone Motion Loop ML-1L
Hailing from Japan, Free The Tone makes some pretty amazing effects pedals and have a reputation for high-quality reproductions and versions of classic vintage gear. That makes this pitch-shiftable short looper all the more unusual for a Free The Tone pedal. The compact Loop ML-1L has a eye-catching green housing with a small display screen. The controls consist of Rate, E Level and Filter as well as a Parameter dial, plus mini switches for Home, Left/Right. The two footswitches are labelled Preset and On/Off.
Free The Tone Motion Loop ML-1L
Real-time loop effects
The pedal incorporates a combination of 32-bit fixed-point high-speed arithmetic processing and 32-bit floating point high precision arithmetic processing. The system lets you manipulate short loops in real time with pitch-shifting, delay and filtering effects. It also uses a special waveform smoothing process which its maker says will prevent noise that can arise though discontinuities in spliced waveforms.
The pitch shifting features extend up or down 2 octaves and include manipulation of the pitch speed. Free The Tone describes the delay as a “high quality sound with subdivision function”. Finally, the filter section includes both high-pass/low-pass with a filter curve effect, letting you mess around with the attack.
128 user presets, along with 35 factory presets, give you plenty of options for building and storing your favourite patches. The looper can be synced to a bpm, letting you build motion sequences with your short loops that follow your chosen tempo. The functions for the knobs and any connected expression pedal are freely assignable and are saved per preset. That’s makes for a very versatile unit you can tailor to your liking. The pedal can handle CV input as well and has a MIDI input via a stereo mini jack that lets you sync the tempo.
Motion Loop
The designers have implemented soft clipping to add some character as well as a Reverse and Retrigger function for the loops, giving you a lot of ways to play with them. Loop level sets the loop’s volume for each repeat of loops, while Slowdown slows the pitch speed and lowers the pitch. Finally, Random divides waveforms randomly, but will also rejoin the split pieces.
The Free the Tone Motion Loop ML-1L sounds pretty strange and is hard to describe with just a list of parameters, so the official video below is well worth watching. This unit mangles waveforms beautifully and makes some seriously strange short loops.
Symplesound published Tonepaper, an ambient album that’s available for streaming on Spotify and other platforms. Tonepaper is an ambient album by Symplesound. That’s cool in itself, but the story doesn’t end there. The Tonepaper project also includes a Serum preset pack ($29), Tonepaper Channels for Ableton ($49.99), and, wait for it… a free set of […]
Function Loops offers a free 400MB collection of royalty-free audio samples, loops, and MIDI files for use in a variety of electronic music styles. The latest freebie sound library from Function Loops contains 150 individual sounds. The majority of the sounds are sourced from the label’s best-selling commercial releases. That said, the download also contains […]
Developer Black Rooster Audio presents its take on the old EMT-140 plate reverb. Before reverbs went digital, they used to occupy entire rooms. Produced in 1957, the venerable EMT 140 Plate reverb is 272 kilos worth of hardware. It’s also the definitive plate reverb until this very day, sparking the interest of audio plug-in developers.
Black Rooster Audio RO-140
BLA is rubbing shoulders with the likes of Arturia, Soundtoys, and UAD – all of which have an EMT 140 plug-in up their sleeves. Rather than sampling the reverb, the developer opted for physical modeling and built six kinds of plates – titanium, gold, silver, bronze, aluminum, and steel. The plug-in provides a good amount of customization options. There are input and output level controls, a dampening control, a three-band equalizer with an additional bass cut knob, three types of output (Mono, Mono + Stereo, Stereo), Pre/Delay, Size, and Dry/Wet knobs.
Whether the BLA RO-140 sounds the best of the bunch is up for you to decide. It is, however, the most affordable. UAD asks for USD 199, Arturia and Soundtoys ask for USD 99; BLA needs USD 71 (EUR 59). Add to that a 14-day free trial version for testing, and RO-140 makes for a wallet-friendly plate reverb. Additionally, the three videos below showcase how the reverb sounds on synth, guitar and drums.
Price and availability
RO-140 is available from Black Rooster Audio now, priced EUR 59. The plug-in works under Windows and macOS in VST, AAX, and AU formats. A free 14-day trial version can be downloaded.
Reason is going subscription-based with the introduction of Reason+. For EUR 20 per month or EUR 199 per year, Reason+ unlocks the full version of Reason and delivers weekly Sound Packs “to provide a constant flow of inspiration.”
Reason+ subscription service
Reason is a very rich package as it is. The DAW has amassed over 70 instruments, effects, and MIDI generators over its long history. It remains a production juggernaut and a favorite of many artists that enjoy its intuitive, hardware-inspired workflow. Signing up for Reason+ provides a full copy of the software, along with future updates and new Reason Studios devices.
The weekly Sound Packs sweeten the deal with a steady supply of instrument and device patches. The developers prefer this format in place of loops and samples, as presets can be modified more extensively to be shaped into unique sounds.
With a simple and adequate subscription model in place, getting into Reason is much easier for novice and budget-oriented producers. The software has a lot to offer to sound designers and music makers.
Reason 11 in Logic Pro X
Price and availability
Reason+ is available for EUR 20 per month or EUR 199 per year. The first month is free and no credit card information is required. The subscription can be cancelled anytime. Additionally, Reason owners get 50% off from their first year of Reason+.
The Reason software is available standalone or in VST/AU/AAX plug-in format for Windows and macOS computers. Purchasing the latest version of Reason instead of renting is still an option.
Reason is going subscription-based with the introduction of Reason+. For EUR 20 per month or EUR 199 per year, Reason+ unlocks the full version of Reason and delivers weekly Sound Packs “to provide a constant flow of inspiration.”
Reason+ subscription service
Reason is a very rich package as it is. The DAW has amassed over 70 instruments, effects, and MIDI generators over its long history. It remains a production juggernaut and a favorite of many artists that enjoy its intuitive, hardware-inspired workflow. Signing up for Reason+ provides a full copy of the software, along with future updates and new Reason Studios devices.
The weekly Sound Packs sweeten the deal with a steady supply of instrument and device patches. The developers prefer this format in place of loops and samples, as presets can be modified more extensively to be shaped into unique sounds.
With a simple and adequate subscription model in place, getting into Reason is much easier for novice and budget-oriented producers. The software has a lot to offer to sound designers and music makers.
Reason 11 in Logic Pro X
Price and availability
Reason+ is available for EUR 20 per month or EUR 199 per year. The first month is free and no credit card information is required. The subscription can be cancelled anytime. Additionally, Reason owners get 50% off from their first year of Reason+.
The Reason software is available standalone or in VST/AU/AAX plug-in format for Windows and macOS computers. Purchasing the latest version of Reason instead of renting is still an option.
Acustica Audio has gotten its sampling-happy hands on some very rare Italian units from the 1960s and later. The result is Blond – a suite of gear emulations which contains an EQ, mixer, preamp, and compressor modules. Each module comes with a bunch of switchable modes to let you mix and match different circuits. Looks like a lot of fun!
Acustica Audio Blond
The Blond suite comprises the following modules:
Blond EQ – contains two 4-band parametric equalizers with high and low-pass filters, along with a choice of 24 line and mic preamp emulations for analog saturation. Both EQs are derived from a 70’s mixing console designed by “one of the greatest Italian designers ever”.
Blond Pre Mixer – emulates 4 equalizers included in Italian mix consoles made between 1960 and 1989. They feature solid-state, tube, and FET designs with heavy audio coloration.
Blond Pre – contains 24 line preamps and 24 mic preamps from a 70s Italian mix console. Each channel exhibits a slightly different frequency response so it’s possible to pull off a virtual console in your DAW. There are also 18 line preamps sampled from a Binson mix console, along with 8 additional preamps.
Blond Comp – features 5 different dynamics processors. There are two FET compressors, a stereo optical compressor, a tube compressor, and a limiter with a tube preamp stage.
All in all, Blond is an impressive museum-like collection of gear you are not likely to stumble upon outside of a respectable Italian recording studio. The variety of processors makes Blond an all-purpose suite of plug-ins for frequency adjustment, dynamics control, and vintage-style coloration. Bringing this project to life must have taken a crazy amount of work.
Price and availability
Acustica Audio is selling Blond for an introductory price of EUR 109, down from the regular EUR 179. The suite is available in all the usual formats for Windows and macOS computers. Authorization and installation are handled by the developer’s own Aquarius product manager application. A free trial version is available.
W.A. Production offers the Screamo ($39 value) creative sound design effect as a free download for all BPB readers until January 31st, 2021. Screamo is a multi-effect plugin for music producers and sound designers. It combines the power of distortion, filtering, and modulation to enrich boring sounds with motion and character. The basic idea behind the […]
Audio Plugin Deals offers the Bionic Plucks & Mallets Lite ($30 value) sound library by Riot Audio as a free download until February 4th, 2021. Bionic Plucks & Mallets Lite is a percussion sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt. It requires the full version of Kontakt and will only work for fifteen minutes in the […]
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.