Tokash tutorials

Hello world!

admin — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:23:36 +0000

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Cubase 6 Demo

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:21:51 +0000

Witch Doktor remix – finalists announced

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:38:27 +0000

Ben wants to personally thank those who voted for his Witch Doktor remix (Armand Van Helden, Strictly Rhythm), your votes helped him to become a finalist…not bad since it’s the first remix contest he’s entered…! here’s the link:

www.beatportal.com/feed/item/strictly-rhythm-remix-contest-runners-up

Latest Tokash Remix – Please Vote now!

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:04:40 +0000

Tokash Remix – Vote Now

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:43:45 +0000

Witch Doktor TOKASH REMIX

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:55:22 +0000

VOTE NOW It’s a contest…
And thanks everybody for the spins so far!
Ben is almost in the TOP 10, but still needs to get 2 places up in the list.

Listen & Vote for the Tokash ‘Rain Stick Mix’ of ‘Witch Doktor’
(a classic house track by Armand Van Helden in the 90′s) here: http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/witch-…doktor-rain-stick-mix/ this is a remix contest. You need to subscribe to Beatport but its a short form. The vote button is called ‘Spin’ – cheers xxx

Propellerhead Record – New Audio Sequencer

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:50:15 +0000

: Record’s Console

Propellerhead’s Reason software has long enjoyed being a MIDI based leader in music production, though with the new Record software, they now appear to be taking on the live band / musician markets as well.

I was excited a few weeks ago when I stumbled across ‘Record’ – the new AW by Propellerhead. No that’s not a typo, I did say AW, not DAW…
I am following with due respect to what Propellerhead have been establishing here: an exclusive sequencer akin to what Reason users are already used to, along with a high-end audio engine and mixing console to suit all, not just MIDI Musicians but bands and songwriters in general… So what’s different about Record?

Perhaps the only thing Reason users would grumble about is the fact that Reason itself does not handle audio. Reason is simply one of the most intuitive and easy programs to use especially if you write electronic / dance music, though it would historically need to be combined (through Rewire technology) with an Audio program such as Ableton, Cubase, Logic etc, in order to complete a song with live recording. This has it’s own set of annoyances. Firstly the very act of rewiring can be a learning curve for many of us, and doesn’t seem altogether that user-friendly. This can be anything from the annoyance of having to start programs and close them in seperate orders to the very act of assigning virtual cables between the two. Not to mention having to store different file types in order to save the overall song.

Record is the new Swiss Army Knife for the complete MIDI and Audio producer.
Anyone who has enjoyed using Reason to get a MIDI based production done will know that Reason is extremely lightweight on the computer processor. This is a god send when you think of how most software programs drain the processor when as the plugin effects / instruments start to pile up… So it’s a big relief that we now have the arrival of the new ‘Record’ program that maintains Reason’s lightweight feel, and incorporates Audio.

‘Record’ can load Reason song files. That’s even better because anything you’ve already worked on in the past can now step across from a mIDI programmed idea to a full song with live music recording. The new software boasts a mixing console based on SSL technology, more in-built effects and unlimited audio tracks for recording. Guitarists acn now use excellent amp models based on the Line Six POD hardware series.

But can you use your favourite plugins in Record? No. That may come as a shock to some whose old habits die hard, but if you’ve really looked into building your own plugins within Reason in the past, you’ll know that a bit of clever thinking can help you come up with virtually anything. With the SSL inspired mixing console, you know you’ll never have to search for channel dynamics section or add a plugin to do the job as you do in other sequencer DAWs.

Time stretch? this has always been a real challenge and is a way of measuring the quality of a music software
program. Record seems to have this very well covered and performs with amazing elasticity in the scenario where the overall tempo of a song needs changing, without hearing any difference in the live recordings. This is a crucial requirement during song writing because as a song evolves, so does its tempo. Often the musician or band needs to rethink the tempo in accordance to the feel and meaning in the music, only to be halted by a clunky program that makes it very hard to do this without a lot of technical skill, also plenty of man-hours. So to work around this in the past, I’ve often found myself directing the band to decide on the tempo before they record…which sometimes negates what they want to do, especially if it’s not something they’ve made a concrete decision on.

Vari Audio Rocks

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:09:33 +0000

On closer inspection Vari-Audio in Cubase 5 really rocks. I’ve been utilizing it for a few weeks now in some vocal tracks and it’s got a usability thing about it that is so intuitive that you hardly know you’re tweaking some-body’s..ahem..poorly sung vocals. The way it works ensures that perfect pitch can be achieved without sounding in the least bit artificial. Or, it can sound as Cher as you like…or should I say T Pain?

Fixing or warping a vocal take is as easy as double clicking an audio part and while the editor is open just activating one of the blue switches in the Vari Audio menu to the left. This will take the analysis of the part and break it into segments that look so sweet you could eat them like a sort of vocal candy necklace. That does sound rather tasty, I think I’ll just go grab another vocal…
The vocal candy blocks are represented musically, going up an down the notes of a keyboard or ‘piano roll’ as it’s known in geek terms. This representation is similar to working in MIDI and although not exactly the same as, it’s intuitive and allows you to get the repairs / T Pain customizations down to a T in no time. The best bit is that it’s integral to Cubase 5 (rather than being a third-party plugin) so it’s stable to the core.Cubase 5, Vari Audio, Variaudio, daft punk vocal technique, autotune,

The way it goes from smooth to sharp transitions is also very easy to pick up, and is as simple as just lengthening or shortening the candy blocks in the audio editor.

Cubase 5: Vari Audio Pitch Correct Plugin (VST3)

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:38:25 +0000

Vari Audio
is a completely new development in audio editing that ‘Solves notation and timing problems’, according to Steinberg.

It allows you to manipulate vocal tuning in a traditional way via dragging the audio blocks within a MIDI piano roll window. The interface is stunning to look at and highly intuitive. Steinberg’s new pitch-shift / time-stretch algorithms make it possible to manually alter and tailor the tuning / timing of vocals without any audible artifacts, which was a common problem associated with most time and pitch stretching technologies in the past.

Pitch Correct Plugin (VST3)

This is based on the Yamaha Pitch-Fix texchnology, and constantly detects the pitch of the imput sound, then modifies it according to a value specified by the user (translation: you can easily re-tune the signal of a vocal into a new key and Cubase does it all automatically) . This can be used and abused in any musical genre, working best on lead instruments and vocals.
It can produce some amazing vocalization effects, like a distant cousin of Autotune.

DBeat fom Openlabs: All-in-one portable Studio

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:28:15 +0000

All Hands on Deck…

Manufacturer’s website: http://www.openlabs.com

DBeat by Openlabs

Is it a PC?… Is it a Controller?… Is it an Interface ?…

YES! In fact it’s everything. Well. One thing it’s not is a Mac

In one the first posts on this blog I mentioned my beginnings in music production and how I’ve long been a fan of hardware sequencing above all.
The reason being that hardware encourages creativity (especially with hands-on control) in a different way to software. Well, DBeat looks like it can succesfully pull the two together.

Hot-off-the-press reviews demonstrate this – check Zac Baird’s appraisal (Zac works live on tour with Korn) and other appraisals on http://www.openlabs.com/DBeat-videos.html and you’ll get a full idea of the worth of such a machine.

Although we haven’t yet laid hands on the Akai APC-40 (designed exclusively to control Ableton Live), initial reviews have been really good stating that the APC-40 becomes a complete hardware version of Ableton.
However, it’s not married to your computer in such a way as the Dbeat.
Dbeat is really interesting because it is a PC nested inside a portable studio, and the overall size isn’t massive either. That to me spells C.O.O.L – and if Ableton’s not your absolute DAW of choice then you’re not confined to that alone. Consider this the cruise-ship of Grooveboxes, the one with absolutely everything you need to survive in the (music) ocean.

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Anyone who’s had the [pleasure] of lugging a controller , interface/soundcard, laptop and all the associated cables to their gigswill know that it just gets confusing and cumbersome, even if it is ‘portable’. I’ve hankered after an all-in-one solution for a while now and this looks set to be (if not a rather pricey solution) exactly the sort of thing I mean. Talking of pricey, this one is in the range of $3,999. I’ll just get that 0% credit card, won’t be long…

Of course, if you’re a producer / DJ / Performer just looking to tour with your laptop and Ableton Live with a controller, the Akai APC-40 is just £399 or thereabouts (see here and here for examples). That’s exactly 1/10th the price…

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