Ahh... Spring (OK, it's just about summer now...). Gotta love Nature busting out all over, with all the flowers and new growth. Of course here in California we've been inundated with rain, which is the perfect environment to hunker down in the office and write a ton of new software, get a bunch of new plug-ins qualified on Receptor, make a few tweaks to UniWire™, which by the way, IS NOW SHIPPING!! That's right, Version 1.5 software is now officially released and UniWire support for VST is now golden. Be sure to check out the new features we've added to V1.5 later in this document.
In other news, we did manage to work in a trade show despite all the rain, visiting Frankfurt Germany for the Musikmesse / Pro Light and Sound Exhibition. Of course it rained there as well, and between downpours, we managed to announce the release of a bunch of new plug-ins. Did someone say Musikmesse (cue the lights, fade up the music): its time for our Musikmesse Wrap-up!
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We were located in our distributor's booth (Hyperactive), and it looked kinda like this:
 Bryan Lanser taking BFD andDFH for a spin at Musikmesse |
 SW Engineer Farhan Mohamedlooking suave at Musikmesse |
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During the show we were paid a visit by Drum 'n' Bass recording artists collectively known as PENDULUM. These lads, originally from down under and now residing in London have received rave reviews from the British press, serious play on Radio 1 and are now taking their show on the road. We're very pleased to announce that they have purchased five Receptors with which to perform their craft! You can check out what they are all about by viewing one of their web-videos. |
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UniWire blows people's minds at Messe
At the Muse Research booth, we showed how Receptor with UniWire can empower even an old, underpowered laptop and enable it to run the latest, coolest plug-ins. We had a Powerbook G4 / 867 running Cubase and a sequence composed by Jazz keyboardist Carl Wakeland. The instrumentation consisted of Ivory playing the piano part, Trilogy playing the bass part, and BFD to cover the drums. Meanwhile a second Receptor was connected to the same computer via UniWire, where Bryan would play the drum part live over the sequence using either BFD or DFH on the second Receptor. This showed how Receptor allows a weakling of a laptop to run the latest plugs and how UniWire has low enough latency to allow a drum part to be played in real-time over the top of a sequence!
Can you spot the Receptors
in this photo? Guitarist Michael Lücker plays his guitar through Guitar Rig on the Receptor to the left (you can see the LCD screen next to his acoustic, which he also plays through Receptor). And on the right, keyboardist Lothar Krell is playing Receptor using his CME U8 keyboard, with drum sequenced in his laptop and his live keyboard sounds coming from Receptor. |
Fayoum Blue entertains the crowds at Musikmesse
German recording artists Fayoum Blue entertained the crowds at Musikmesse as part of Hyperactive's corner stage, playing songs from their new brothers of the sun CD. Sharing the stage with keyboardist Lothar Krell, vocalist Linda Rocco, and guitarist Michael Lücker were two Receptors, one for the keyboard parts played by Lothar, the other serving as the guitar rig, using... you guessed it... Guitar Rig from Native Instruments. The outputs of both Receptors went directly into the PA system. Now if Receptor only had a mic preamp...
Here's what Michael had to say about Receptor:
"I spent two minutes with the manual and several hours playing music – exactly the way it should be. Setting up and loading / programming my personal Guitar Rig sounds into Receptor was a total no-brainer.
What also impressed me was playing the awesome guitar amp sounds of Nomad Factory's "Rock Amp Legends" with snappy 32 samples latency through Receptor. That's 0.73 ms at 44.1 kHz sampling rate, as far as my calculating skills go...!!
Even as the picky vintage gear slut that I happen to be, I must admit: In the world of amp simulation, the "spank" and the "thump" are definitely back with Receptor!"
Keyboardist Lothar Krell was also impressed:
"Without even looking at the manual I was able to create a complex setup of VST instruments running on Receptor in a snap. Realizing that even when playing with extremely low latency the CPU load rarely goes over 50%, which saves my nerves (and fingernails) when using VSTs live on stage! I will keep the other computer for doing my emails, though!!"
The following plug-ins are available now for download into Receptor and feature 14-day (Nomad Factory) / 30-day (AAS) fully functional demo periods before you have to buy the license from Plugorama:
| Own Lounge Lizard EP-2? If you already have a license for Lounge Lizard EP-2, for your Receptor, Lounge Lizard EP-3 is a FREE upgrade! Simply download and install Lounge Lizard EP-3 on to your Receptor and the iLok license for LL EP-2 will unlock LL EP-3! |
- Ultra Analog VA-1 by A|A|S
- Lounge Lizard EP-3 by A|A|S
- String Studio VS-1 by A|A|S
- Blue Tubes Bundle by Nomad Factory
- Essential Studio Suite by Nomad Factory
- Rock Amp Legends by Nomad Factory
- Nomad Free Bundle by Nomad Factory
As its name suggest, this is a FREE bundle, consisting of three cool plug-ins - Phaser, Tremolo and Sweeper!
The following plug-ins are NOW AVAILABLE on PLUGORAMA, with installers that allow you to install your store-bought copy of the plug-in on Receptor:
- DFH Superior from Toontrack
- Storm Drum from East West
- RA from East West
- Symphonic Choirs from East West
- Art Vista Virtual Grand Piano from Art Vista
- Chris Hein Horns from Best Service
- Galaxy Steinway 5.1 from Best Service
- Artist Drums from Best Service (featuring Simon Phillips, a Receptor Artist!)
- Jazz and Big Band from Garritan
- SampleTank 2 from IK Multimedia
- SonikSynth 2 from IK Multimedia
A couple of old favorites have also been updated recently. New installers are now available for download for:
Check the Plugorama website for the latest limited-time "Spring Specials" for Receptor owners, before they go away!
A|A|S Bundle: This great new bundle is available until the end of July, 2006, for the incredibly low price of just $349! It consists of Applied Acoustics Systems' awesome Lounge Lizard EP-3, String Studio VS-1 and Ultra Analog VA-1, which usually retail for a combined total of $697! That's HALF PRICE!
Recent Artist purchases of Receptor include KingJamesII, the R&B / Hip Hop producer and engineer who works at Daddy's House Studio (owned by Sean Combs), The Rippingtons keyboardist Bill Heller, and Frank Stauss, keyboardist with Sir Tom Jones!
Other recent artists adopting Receptor include the talented Jason Halbert, MD and Keyboardist for Kelly Clarkson, who is now using Receptor on Kelly's upcoming world tour, the incomparable Herbie Hancock, who now uses Receptor for playing a wide variety of plug-ins live, and Thom Hall, the keyboardist for George Benson, who is also adopting Receptor for use on his upcoming tour!
Be sure to check out the latest artists using Receptor at our Artist showcase.
By the way, just to set the record straight, there are no paid artist endorsements at Muse Research.
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DID YOU KNOW... There are a bunch of command key equivalents you can use to change presets when an ASCII keyboard is attached? Here's what you can do with a couple of key presses:
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What's new with Receptor?
UNIWIRE IS IN NOW SHIPPING! Finally, Receptor integrates so tightly with your host computer it is as if Receptor was operating INSIDE your system, thanks to UniWire. UniWire allows you to connect Receptor to your laptop or desktop computer (Mac or PC) and then run a UniWire plug-in in your host software (currently supporting Cubase, Nuendo, Ableton Live, with support for Sonar, Logic, Performer, and ProTools coming soon!).
ALSO NEW IN VERSION 1.5: Mixer Snapshots! This amazing feature lets you switch from one plug in to another instantly, with no need to load samples... perfect for those of you who need to move from one sampler playing say piano, to another, playing, say, strings or brass. Admittedly, snapshots will consume a fair amount of RAM since all the plug-ins you have loaded stay loaded in RAM, but by selective bypassing and un-bypassing the plugins of interest you can keep the maximum amount of CPU horsepower available for the plug-in you want to focus on. You simply have to check out this new feature – it is amazing!
Snapshots in a nutshell: Here's how to make your own Mixer Snapshot bank (this feature requires version 1.5 system software, that you can download for free from Plugorama.
- Load in ALL of the plug-ins that you are going to use during your set. This would include loading in all the samples that you are going to be accessing during the set.
- Bypass all but the first plug-in you are going to use on the first song.
- SAVE this bank by clicking on SAVE/FILE in the Multi Area, and then clicking on the SNAPSHOT Tab that is now part of the NEW button.
- Name this bank something appropriate. Notice how the color is a soothing earth tone. That differentiates it from a regular bank.
- SAVE this first preset in the new bank; you might want to name it after the tune that requires this plug-in.
- Now bypass the current plug-in and un-bypass the next plug-in that you want to use. Save this to the next preset, named for the next song that uses this plug-in.
- Continue on down the line, bypassing the plug-ins that you don't want to use in a particular song, and un-bypassing the ones you do want to use.
- When all the presets have been created, you are now able to switch between them instantaneously using only simple MIDI program changes.
- You can also modify the mixer settings (level, effects sends, pans, etc.) and those two will change instantaneously with a program change.
SNAPSHOTS is a great feature for live use where you need to switch from one plug-in to another and where samples are used as this features keeps your samples loaded at all times.
Bank Select Defeat: Thanks to feedback from our customers, we are now aware that some keyboards don't adhere to the MIDI spec when it comes to bank select messages. Those offending keyboard manufacturers shall remain un-named, but we have decided to add a feature that will eliminate unpredictable behavior when using certain keyboards. As a result, we now provide the ability to IGNORE bank select commands coming from your keyboard, allowing you to stay within a selected bank regardless of what your keyboard might be transmitting.
After a brief foray into another industry, Rick Escobar has returned to Muse Research to head up our customer service and S/W QA group. Also please welcome Anne Perez to Muse Research who will be handling the manufacturing chores from this point forward.
