Before Reason, there was ReBirth which was a huge hit with both MAC and PC. You could chain up to 32 patterns together of each instrument and have all four playing together for what would have been complete tunes back in the halcyon days of acid.
ReBirth was the first software emulation and paved way to million other virtual instruments. Despite its success, in 2005, it was announced that ReBirth was being discontinued. According to a statement released by Propellerhead they want to concentrate their efforts on more current products and on future projects.
Read more about this here: http://www.musictech.net/2017/11/rewind-propellerhead-rebirth-rb-338/
Recording Software
VU Meter – Free Plugin To Enhance Your Mixes
VU meters have been a proven industry standard for decades and the latest from Waves will definitely not disappoint. VU Meter plugin will help you maintain proper gain staging for a clear and spacious mix with accurate ballistic response with smooth movement & fast refresh rate.
According to Fabian Marasciullo, Mixing Engineer for the likes of Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, “Waves’ VU meter plugin will be extremely helpful for younger mixers as they learn how to build proper gain stage in their sessions. It will help them see things, like why their tracks are distorting, in ways that are hard to understand with just a DAW meter.”
Read more about this here: http://www.musictech.net/2017/11/vu-meter-free-plugin-waves/
Soundtoys Releases Little Plate – Free Until Nov 22
Getting a good reverb effect at your disposal is essential. There are tons of reverb plugins available out there. But the quality is all over the place.
Soundtoys, a plugin developer, just released a new reverb called Little Plate. As the name implies, it emulates a kind of reverb called “plate” reverb. If you want to know more about what THAT actually means, check out this article by Sweetwater – Plate Reverb.
If you just want to get your hands on a good reverb plugin, you should check out Little Plate now. It’s free until Nov 22nd, 2017. After that, it will cost $99. So you literally have nothing to lose by at least checking it out.
For more information, see the post here: https://www.soundonsound.com/news/soundtoys-release-little-plate-free-until-nov-22
Waveform Editing 101
If you are a sound designer, a field recordist, composer, or if you like performing using samplers, and anyone who does audio editing this article is for you. Understanding waveform editing is essential in audio editing, although today’s DAWs are capable of getting it done it only gets you up to a certain level. So you need to choose an editor that suits your need. There is Adobe Audition, Sound Forge Pro and Audacity just to name a few. Choose well so you will have value for your money.
First of all, a DAW and a Dedicated Waveform Editor are two different tools.
Read more here: https://theproaudiofiles.com/fundamentals-waveform-editing/
Reaper's Virtual Amp Modeler For Electric Guitar
Did you know that Reaper had electric guitar “virtual amp” modelers? I didn’t :-P. There are several and they are included with Reaper – in the collection of plugins it comes with. The effect is a “JS” plugin (short for “jesusonic“), which is a Reaper-specific plugin.
Anyway, someone on our YouTube Channel was asking if there was a way to plug his electric guitar into Reaper through a regular audio interface (such as a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2), and hear it sound like it was played through “virtual amps.”
Amp Modelers In Reaper?
At first I didn’t know if you could do this with a standard interface. I use a specific interface – the Line 6 Pod Studio – for recording electric guitar. You use that interface (the Pod) along with the Line 6 software, Amp Farm, to access dozens and dozens of high quality virtual amplifiers. This is how I recorded “That Thing You Do.” See our post “Cover of “That Thing You Do” – Record a Rock Song on Your Computer” for more on that :-).
For the kind of quality of amp models you get with Line 6, you obviously pay (gladly, in my case). But it turns out that Reaper has some amp models (in the effect, “Convolution Amp/Cab Modeler”) that are FREE! I was shocked. And as I said earlier, it’s already part of Reaper out of the box (virtually speaking :)).
How Good Are These Virtual Amps?
Are they as good as the Line 6 ones? No they are not. But they are pretty cool! For one thing, they are free (I did mention that, right? :-P). But technically the Reaper amp modeler does not try to model the actual physical amplifier. The reason for the name “convolution amp/cab modeler” is that it is really an “impulse” of the the amp in a space, rather than trying to make everything sound like it was run through the amplifier.
What does that mean? Well, probably the best way to learn what that means is to check out the article here from Sound on Sound. The point is that the Reaper “virtual amp” effect is more of an approximation than an attempt to sound exactly like a real amp.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t cool! See the video below for how to do it and what it sounds like:
As I show in the video, you can add distortion to the sound by loading another JS plugin (called “distortion,” oddly enough).
Also, you can “play live” by loading the effects on the track and arming it to record. You will have to switch on the “record monitoring” button. All that is shown in the video.
So you do not necessarily need to have a paid virtual amp program or a specific guitar interface in order to record a cool electric guitar sound using Reaper. Have fun!