Here are this weekend’s bunch of price drops and Star Buy from 4Pockets. The offers end March 17th.
- Flux – $12.99 to $4.99 (Star Buy ends March 19th)
- StrummerFX – $12.99 to $8.99
- NuRack FX Processor – $12.99 to $8.99
Flux
Flux Liquid Audio is a real time multi-effects processor and sequencer designed to be used as an AUv3 plugin within your favourite DAW such as Cubasis, NanoStudio, BM3, AUM etc.
The plugin allows you to create patterns containing multiple effects which are triggered on beat boundaries. Patterns can be contuously looped or you can chain multiple patterns into a song. The advantage of this is that you can for instance add a delay to a particular vocal phrase rather than have a continuous delay effect on the entire vocal. You could add varying harmonies using the pitch effect or create gated stutter effects on specific parts of a string section.
A pattern can be 16 to 64 beats in length and can be run at one of two speeds, standard or fast which is great for gate type effects. You can create up to 24 patterns which can be automated in any order along with your host DAW’s beat position.
An effect is added using nodes. A ‘node’ is layed on the timeline over one or more beats, each node has its own unique settings. The node divisions control varying aspects of the effects such as number of repeats, delay time, modulation speed etc. all perfectly synced to the beat using the node division buttons.
There are 11 effects in total, Filter, Repeat, Gate, Pan, Delay, Pitch, Tape Stop, Reverb, Bit Cruncher, Reverse and Flanger, all of which can be used at the same time.
The filter effect allows LP, HP, BandPass and Notch filters which have definable cutoff, resonance and modulation amount. Turn the modulation up to max to start generating random cutoff and resonance values.
The Repeat function was specifically designed for beat synced sources such as drum machines, allowing sections of the previous sub-beats to be repeated at varying speeds and lengths.
The Gate effect can be used to create holes in the sound and generate stutter patterns or fades. This effect allows definable attack and release for each individual node.
Pan allows automated panning at varying speeds, but you get to mix different panning modes and speeds at each step of the pattern.
Delay is a beat synced delay which allows you to create multiple delays with varying delay times within the same pattern allowing some nice cascading effects that are not possible from a single delay alone.
Pitch allows you to add independant left and right channel pitch shifting of up to +/- 12 semitones. ‘Harmony’ mode allows you to add vocal harmonies at specific sections of a song, while ‘Glide’ mode allows you to gradually transition from the current pitch to another.
Tape Stop is a great addition allowing you to simulate a tape recorder stopping and starting, as well as some interesting scratch, warble, bounce and elastic effects.
Bit Cruncher is a great for dirtying up specific drum hits by downsampling the audio.
Flanger allows you to create subtle chorus/Celeste or heavy flanging effects which can be re-triggered or free running.
Reverse is great for creating shadow notes on drum patterns by reversing the last section of audio.
Reverb allows some interesting gate reverb type effects on specific sections of audio. The node divisions let you modulate the reverb trail for some interesting ambient effects.
StrummerFX
MIDI Strummer is an AUv3 plugin designed to simulate guitar strumming and picking techniques. It can used to generate MIDI note data which can be sent to either an external synth of choice or the internal soundfont engine.
The inbuilt soundfont player allows you to import all your favourite .SF2 and .DLS soundfonts and use them as a sound source. MIDI strummer has a set of 16 definable chord pads that can hold a series of chords, which in turn can be triggered remotely via MIDI messages or by tapping the pads.
Use the pattern editor to create a series of picking or strumming patterns that can be tranposed to the selected chord pad.
Song mode allows you to chain these chord patterns together to form songs combining both picking and strumming patterns within the same song. Enable 6/12 string on a particular part to emphesize a pert by adding depth.
Strummer also features a number of audio effects that can be used to enhance the audio from the soundfont player. These include overdrive, distortion, tremolo, chorus, phaser, graphic EQ, digital delay and reverb.
NuRack
NuRack is an AUv3 based multi-channel audio and MIDI effects processor with a difference, it actually allows you to design your own custom effects using the 80+ building blocks provided. You have full control over routing which allows you to create complex audio paths in series or parallel. You can choose whether to use the stock interface or create your own custom interface using the built in Interface Builder which allows you to concentrate your audio components into a single customized effect.
NuRack can run in one of two modes. The first providing 3 customizable effects racks which can be switched (manually or via MIDI), providing seemless switching (i.e. delay trails linger whilst another set of effects are faded in). The second mode allows you to route audio through 3 independent audio racks.
A generaous number of over 80 audio and midi building blocks are provided covering 12 different categories of effects. Here are just some of those included in NuRack:
Modulation Effects: Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo, Vocal Doubler, TalkBox, UniVibe, Leslie & Vocoder.
Time Based Effects: Stereo Delay, Tape Delay, Reverb and Reverse Delay.
Spectral Effects: Parametric EQ, Graphic EQ, PitchShift, Auto-Pan, Bit-Crusher, Tube Overdrive, Distortion, Harmony, Harmonic Exciter and SlowMo.
Dynamic Effects: VelocityControl, Compressor, Multi-Band Compressor, Noise Gate, Gate, and Limiter.
Filter Effects: MultiFilter, LP/HP Filter, Frequency Splitter, MultiBand Splitter, Classic Filters, Formant Filter, Ring Modulation and Shelf Filter.
MIDI Effects: MIDI Harmony, MIDI Velocity, MIDI Randomizer, MIDI Monitor, MIDI Mixer, MIDI Pads, MIDI Control, Strummer, MIDI Recorder, MIDI Modulation, MIDI Remap, CC Monitor, CC Generator, PitchBend, MIDI Time Clock, and ChordToMidi.
Generator Modules: Noise, Audio Clip Launcher, SoundFont Player, Virtual Flute, Virtual Clarinet, Virtual Brass, FM Organ, FM Rhodes and Analog Sawtooth Synth.
Automation: TouchPad, AutoMate, Pattern Automation, and Visual LFO.
You also provide the ability to split and combine audio signal using splitters and mixer modules as well as a number of visual elements such as VU Meters, LED Meters, Scopes, Graphs etc.
Some effects such as phaser and flanger are usually controlled by an LFO, but this can be detached and automated remotely. There are a number of modules that allow auomation based on direct touch (X/Y Pads), Visual LFO, Pattern Automation, MIDI input (CC data), or peak/rms level detection. These automation modules can remotely control knobs and sliders throughout your rack.
Simply create a new rack and start adding modules to it. These modules are generally wired up automatically but these connections can be manually routed. Once you have your sound as you wish you can use it ‘as is’, or switch to Interface Builder mode where you can combine all your modules into a single interface. Elements can be dragged, dropped, resized and coloured as required. Add your own labels, image logos and custom backgrounds before saving your custom component.
Use the X/Y Pad to control your modulation effects by detaching their LFO’s. Use MIDI CC data to automate knobs. Use the velocity of an incoming signal to control the cutoff/resonance of a filter (wah) or volume level of a gain control (swell), as NuRack expands, so do the possibilities.
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