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Author Archives: Fred Nicholson

  • Taking the Interface to the next level with the UA Apollo

    Posted on May 28, 2012 by Fred Nicholson

    In the recording world what I have seen to be the coolest and best release at this years NAMM show 2012 is UA’s Apollo! It's a high-end 24-bit/192kHz recording front end, but it also enables you to track through the UAD range of powered plug-ins! It’s a Firewire 800 interface but It's worth noting that a Thunderbolt option card is set to be made available too, which will enable "lower latency, reduced audio buffer size, improved performance at high sample rates, and greater UAD plug-in instances" in comparison with FireWire. The latency under 2MS on input and output is remarkable!

    Apollo [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Audio Garage, News and was tagged with Audio Interface, Cosmo Music, Pro Audio, Universal Audio, Video

  • Universal Audio's Apollo is Here!

    Posted on April 17, 2012 by Fred Nicholson

    In the recording world what I have seen to be the coolest and best release at this years NAMM show 2012 is UA’s Apollo. It's a high-end 24-bit/192kHz recording front end, but it also enables you to track through the UAD range of powered plug-ins! It'll be available in Duo and Quad processing in the first quarter 2012, with prices estimated at $2200 and $2600 respectively. It’s a Firewire 800 interface but It's worth noting that a Thunderbolt option card is set to be made available too, which will enable "lower latency, reduced audio buffer size, improved performance at high [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with NAMM, Universal Audio

  • Casio Rejoins the Synth Market with a Vengeance with the Casio XW-P1 Performance Synthesizer!

    Posted on March 28, 2012 by Fred Nicholson

    Its been over 20 years since they made a synthesizer with the very popular CZ series.
    Yes, you get access to the original Casio CZ synth sounds in the XW-P1.
    The six oscillator monophonic solo synth engine sounds amazing and was designed with the performer in mind. The regular sounds have 64 note polyphony so it does sound huge. It only weighs 11 pounds. This gig ready 61-key synth has a lots of sounds ranging from pianos to brass to bass and drums. There are over 400 presets to get you started but it has 4 real time control knobs for editing [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Casio, Synthesizers

  • Cubase Further Improves

    Posted on March 7, 2012 by Fred Nicholson

    I just installed Cubase 6.5 update on my home and store system and it really rocks! It’s a 50 dollar paid upgrade if you have Cubase 6 registered on your system BEFORE Jan 1 2012. If you registered Cubase 6 after that date or a brand new customer, the update is free to you!! First off since I’m a keyboard player I was very intrigued about how the 2 new VST synths sound - Padshop and Retrologue. Both are VERY good sounding and are very easy to use. Steinberg has posted good videos and sound demos on their website at [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Cubase, Software, Software Review, Video

  • MOTU’s Anticipated MachFive V3 Universal Sampler Virtual Instrument Software

    Posted on November 28, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    We just received MOTU’s new and anticipated Mach 5 V 3 universal sampler virtual instrument software!! MOTU has improved the Mach 5 interface and now the included library is 45GB on 7 DVD’s to enjoy!
    It has a great one window user interface for great simplicity but it also very deep deep synthesis, unlimited layers and fairly easy scripting to improve your dynamic performance of the larger sounding instruments. One of the main reasons I like it so much is it has universal support for many 3rd party sample formats that I have been using since the late 80’s (aging myself) [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with MOTU, Software

  • Drum Software

    Posted on November 24, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    We now have the very cool FXpansion acoustic drum software BFD Eco now on sale for the rest of the year at $35! It used to sell for well over $100. This is the entry level acoustic drum software package from award winning and drum library leader FXpansion. This as far as I can see is FXpansion’s answer to the very popular Toontrack drum software called EZDrummer. EZ Drummer is also on sale as a digital download from Cosmo.
    The promotions are:

    EZ Drummer $79.99
    Superior Drummer 2.0 $199.99
    EZX Titles for $39.99 (each)
    SDX Titles for $99.99 (each)

    These titles are also on sale until [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Software

  • We Just Received Steinberg’s new USB Audio Interface the UR28M

    Posted on October 4, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    The UR28M is a 6x8 audio interface that comes bundled with their new Cubase Ai 6 Mac/ PC music software. It can record at 24 Bit/96K. This is a great way to start recording on your computer and allows you to record up to 6 inputs at the same time. 4 Analog sources like Mics, guitar and keyboards and a SPDIF inputs /outputs.
    Cool news is it comes with latency free DSP Effects that power Yamaha’s RevX reverb and Sweet Spot Channel Strip. These 2 plugins are also native VST3 compatable so they are available inside your VST3 software like Cubase [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Interfaces, Steinberg

  • The New and Improved Sibelius 7 Notation Software

    Posted on September 12, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    We just received the new and improved Sibelius 7 notation software. It’s cross platform so it will run on latest Mac or Windows operation systems! The big news here is not only has Sibelius improved the user interface to make it even easier to use, but the included 38Gb orchestral library sounds great! This allows you to hear your compositions back with great sounding instruments.
    Sibelius 7 has a task orientated interface with both icon and text to explain what the function does. It’s the first notation software to support 64-bit which allows the user to open up larger instruments and [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Sibelius, Software

  • Komplete 8 from Native Instruments has Arrived!

    Posted on September 9, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    We just received the very cool virtual instrument and effects collection from industry leader Native Instruments called Komplete 8! It is available in 2 versions the ‘regular’ Komplete 8 which is now a massive 110 GB of data up from 90GB and the brand new Komplete 8 Ultimate. This ships on a USB drive for quick and convenient installation of the amazing 240 GB sample library. We have upgrades for existing Komplete customers called Update and arriving soon, we’ll have Ultimate upgrades.
    The Komplete 8 package comes with 27 products covering every type of instrument you could possible need [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Native Instruments, Software

  • The Roland Jupiter 80 is Here!!!

    Posted on August 4, 2011 by Fred Nicholson

    We just received the new and very cool Roland Jupiter 80 76 key performance synth!
    I am VERY impressed with the sounds and the way Roland is using what they call ’Supernatural’ technology. This technology allows the Jupiter sounds to ‘BEHAVE’ like the original sound it is reproducing. So what this means is the instrument sound not only sounds like the original but acts like it in terms of articulations so for example if you play a violin staccato, it sounds staccato, play smoothly it sounds legato all in real time and there is no switching like a lot of software [...]  Read more   


    This post was posted in Keyboards and was tagged with Roland, Synthesizers

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