Slicing, remixing, looping, "live performance-oriented features" … this is Digidesign we’re talking about, right? Digi’s Advanced Instrument Research (A.I.R.) unit, the fruits of the acquisition of Wizoo, may have a pretentious name, but they’ve been doing some pretty great work on new instruments. The new project, Transfuser, will have to enter some crowded waters. Loop slicing and handling already works pretty nicely in Ableton Live (especially with Live 7’s drum racks), in instrument form in FL Studio 8’s awesome Edison and Slicex, and in tools like fxpansion’s GURU. (Superficially, at least, Transfuser bears more than a passing resemblance to the latter in its overall UI layout. And then there’s the fact that the knobs look like they were lifted directly from Live.)

Of course, Transfuser isn’t for FL Studio users. As with previous AIR releases, the Digi-owned Wizoo now make plug-ins for Pro Tools only. And if you are a Pro Tools user, you don’t have to listen to me or try to squint at the screenshots: you can take Transfuser for a test drive free. Download the plug-in for Pro Tools (LE/HD/M-Powered) before June 25, and it’ll operate for three months, no restrictions.

Transfuser Preview [Digidesign]

I can already see from these shots that this isn’t quite the way I’d want to work, personally, let alone enticing enough to make me deal with Pro Tools as a host. But "groove-making" is different for different people, so I’d be very eager to hear what someone else thinks. If you’d like to write up a mini-review for CDM, let us know.

The Digidesign Digi 003 is a strong value if you need this much mixing and I/O facility. But is it overkill for our reader Lynn?

Gear isn’t everything — but getting geared up is the one hurdle that can hold up beginners. In the Ask CDM series, we’ll be answering at random some of the questions we regularly get in our inbox. First up, Lynn Morgan, who’s ready to make the jump to digital. Lynn writes:

My questions will quickly [make it] apparent that I’m from the old “tape” school of recording. But nonetheless, I do understand sound recording to some degree, having recorded 5 long-play projects in “Guitar City”.

I want to set up a home studio where I can record my own tunes. I’ll use guitar, guitar synth, bass and some keyboards and, of course, my vocals. I want the sound to be totally professional and I want the ability to interface with other users of Pro Tools, for possibly background vocals or drums, etc.

My question is this, What do I really need for equipment? The 003 Digidesign looks impressive but what would I need beyond that?

It turns out Lynn isn’t currently a Pro Tools user, but she added this when pressed:

I want to set up a recording system that will not be outdated in 6 months and sound quality to equal the best out there. The transition from “tape” to digital they say has its advantages and disadvantages. I’m just not sure what I need in the “digital” world to make it all happen.

Good questions — and ones I expect will spur some reader comment, too. But let’s divide this up into some smaller questions and look at it that way. I did intend to answer just this sort of question with my book Real World Digital Audio, but there are some specifics I didn’t get into there, so we’ll look at the specific questions.

This wound up being a huge answer, but I know it’s a very Frequently Asked Question.

What do you need?

I think the best way to begin is to think through what you need to do and work backwards from there. With audio hardware, you’ll want to think literally to inputs and outputs and how much you’ll be recording at a time.

Alex le Lievre has built what looks like an insane custom controller for Pro Tools LE using an iPhone. He seems to have mimicked the look and feel of Pro Tools so successfully that some called the results a fake. There’s incredibly detailed feedback on track status, including live audio signal feeds and transport controls. It even uses iPhone’s tilt mechanism.

This is interesting for two reasons: one, those lusting after iPhone and iPod Touch have another reason to drool. But secondly, Digidesign has been pretty closed about their controller mechanism. If this is real, Alex did a pretty great job of cracking into it. (I only just heard from JazzMutant, by contrast, that their Dexter won’t support Pro Tools because it’s not possible.)

ProRemote 0.0.1 on YouTube (darned nice “0.0.1″ release!)

Alex’s video on his .Mac page

Thanks to Chris O’Malley for the tip.

Could Apple be working on a Control Pro? One commenter thinks so, and this patent evidence from last year at least suggests they’ve thought about it. (Keep in mind, though, sometimes experimental ideas don’t become products, and patents are hard to read.)

Updated: How Alex Did It

Alex wrote in. He’s in fact a very experienced programmer with background in Pro Tools plug-in development, software architecture, and Macromedia’s multimedia architecture (pre-Adobe), among other things, and he’s kind enough to share with us how the whole thing works.

Sound modules of yesteryear rarely earn much love today: now that we’re spoiled for choice with soft synths, ROMplers are unlikely to inspire the same passion. Not so with the E-MU Proteus. These rack modules of sounds were virtual candy stores for sound lovers, beloved by composers and musicians for their broad range of perfectly-crafted sound sets. If you’re an E-MU lover, there’s just no real substitute for some of these sounds.

That means the latest news from Cakewalk should get your attention, whether you’re an old Proteus pro or discovering these for the first time:

E-MU Proteus Pack

For a trip down memory lane:
Proteus 1/2/3 modules at Vintage Synth Explorer
Cakewalk actually got the producer of the original Proteus sound set, Timothy Swartz (now of Digital Sound Factory), to do the sound design. The library uses Cakewalk’s Dimension Pro sampler, so it runs on Mac, Windows, VST, AU, RTAS (for Pro Tools), the lot — and supports 64-bit Windows, as well. If you buy a module, you even get a download of the quite-nice LE flavor of Dimension free.

In the lineup:

• Proteus 2000: Multi-Purpose Professional Sounds
• Mo’ Phatt: Hip Hop / Urban
• Xtreme Lead 1: Dance/Electronica
• Planet Earth: World
• Virtuoso 2000: Orchestral
• PX-7: Drums Percussion

Pick any one a la carte for US$79 or get the whole set for US$299.

I’m downloading these now to review them. Since I get to talk about this before the review, I’d love some feedback. Anything you’d like me to look at specifically for the review? Any sound libraries you’re interested in? Or have you moved on from E-MU to bigger and better things? (Or maybe you’d rather eBay some hardware…)

Digidesign has “announced” their Vista support information, but it’s leaving some users scratching their heads. Fully a year after Windows Vista went Gold Master, Digidesign doesn’t seem to be able to get a clear support picture together. How odd is Digi’s Vista support? Let’s see:

• Only Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Business are supported, not Home Premium — even though that’s a version typically bundled by default on most new Vista machines. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, as hardware support for audio is identical across versions, even in Vista Basic, and not a single other developer in the industry appears to be taking the same approach.
• M-Powered and LE are supported, but no HD. And, in fact, there’s not even an announcement about when to expect HD support.
• Digidesign still has no 64-bit support. Maybe not a deal killer, but SONAR has had 64-bit support for ages, and even Steinberg recently got in on the game with Cubase and Nuendo in a technology preview. MOTU has 64-bit Windows drivers, among others.

All of this comes with basically no explanation. If the operating system really isn’t ready, couldn’t Digidesign say so, or give some timetable on when they expect the situation to be remedied? And what’s the deal with failing to support Home Premium, again with no reasoning? This seems like not simply a failure of support, but a failure of communication. Vista may not be perfect, but given the number of PCs shipping with the OS onboard, ignoring it entirely doesn’t seem like a reasonable option. Maybe some more details for us, Digi? (I’ve had problems with Vista, but support from music software and hardware makers I’ve actually found to be good, with this exception.)

Information on Pro Tools Compatibility with Windows Vista [Digidesign]

Digidesign has gradually helped Pro Tools users unchain themselves from the bulky interfaces the software once required. (Anyone remember the days of hooking up an entire expansion card chassis to a laptop, back in the day? Yipes!) But until recently, you still needed an Mbox to lug along. The Mbox2 Micro has a novel twist: it packs an audio interface into an anodized aluminum USB key. You get just one audio output: an 1/8″ stereo output jack, upgrading your laptop’s headphone out jack to 24-bit, 48KHz monitoring. But that also means the Micro is all you need to carry to run Pro Tools. (In other words, it’s a dongle with a headphone jack.)

The “Mbox dilemma” continues: for new users, the Micro is a great bargain. You get Pro Tools LE, 45 plug-ins (Bomb Factory + DigiRack), and Xpand playback and synthesis, for US$279. Or, anyway, it’s a good deal if you’re not planning to record … this is an output-only interface, with no input. (It’s well worth considering Pro Tools M-Powered for use with M-Audio interfaces or the rest of the MBox line for mobile recording.) But for existing users — the ones who, according to the press release, are “seeking a greater degree of portability when using Pro Tools on the road” — you’ve got to spend $279 for what amounts to an extra dongle. Bummer. So, I’ll say again: Digidesign, why not give your existing LE (or Pro Tools HD users) an option to buy this thing for $49 or something? (I’m guessing the answer to “why not” is because it’d allow people to easily pirate Pro Tools LE, but that’s going to be little comfort to users who have invested in Digidesign’s stuff.) By comparison, Apple’s Logic Pro is $500 and doesn’t require any USB dongle at all; their entry-level $200 Logic Express includes far more built-in plug-ins. There are similar deals from Cakewalk’s SONAR on Windows, which also requires just serial numbers, not specialized hardware. Both of these will work with your existing headphone out jack or other mobile interfaces.

At the same time, I think the idea of a USB key that gives you higher-quality monitoring is a terrific idea, and I’d love to see ASIO/Core Audio-compatible alternatives. And on the Digidesign front, if you’re looking for an affordable mobile Pro Tools companion, the Micro looks promising, for those who don’t yet own LE.

Digidesign Mbox2 Micro

Software samplers are hardly in short supply, but Digidesign is hoping you’ll pony up extra to add a sampler especially built for Pro Tools. The pay-off in Digidesign’s new Structure sampler is extra integration: you can drag and drop audio Regions directly from a Pro Tools session into Structure, and you can control Structure with Pro Tools control surfaces as well as with MIDI.

Digidesign Structure Product Page

The other features here are mostly typical, but you do get an impressive sound library, with 20 GB of soundware from EastWest and A.I.R., including Quantum Leap Orchestral Elements; if you want more, you can upgrade to 40 GB of sound in EastWest’s Structure-ready library Goliath. Also interesting: unlimited nestable patches, plus 8-channel interleaved samples. At US$499 list, that’s a pretty compelling deal.

This is not Digidesign’s first sampler; the company helped build the market for computer-based samplers with its SampleCell product. If you happen to have a copy of the software version (discontinued some time ago), you can upgrade for US$199 for a limited time. Sounds like that does not include owners of more ancient SampleCell PCI hardware. (Too bad; I know a few lying around!)

Of course, while Structure is the one sampler from Digidesign, it’s not your only choice. Native Instruments’ Kontakt is an extremely powerful sampler, and like Structure, includes an RTAS plug-in for Pro Tools use, just to name one competitor. Unlike Structure, Kontakt and others also include native VST/AU plug-ins for other hosts, so you’ll probably want to skip Structure if you regularly swap DAW software. Then again, most people I talk to are pretty loyal to one DAW, and Pro Tools integration, combined with the good stuff Digi’s recently-acquired soft synth group has been coming up, could put you over the top.

I’m too much invested in native software like Live and Logic to do a proper review of Structure (hey, one person can’t — or shouldn’t — try do everything.) But if any of you Pro Tools users are thinking of getting it and want to write it up, drop me a line.

Speaking of audio post, last year, a mention of the use of Virtual Katy 2 on the new Doctor Who TV program (and King Kong, and Lord of the Rings stirred up some naysayers of this popular audio conforming tool. The folks involved on these projects have since spoken up. First, a Foley Editor from King Kong jumped in to say Foley work for the big ape worked well in VK2. This week, we hear from the man behind sound on the Doctor:

Hi, I’m Paul McFadden Supervising Sound Editor on Doctor Who and I have to say that VK2 saved our lives on numerous occasions.The show is a complete nightmare for recuts. Way to much for a TV show, VK gives us a workflow that allows us to complete[sic] the audio post on schedule. It’s a lifesaver.

I much prefer hearing from the people in question to hearing from press releases (all due respect to the people doing the press releases), so worth sharing that.

Virtual Katy

It’s interesting that Apple would be getting into the conforming game with Soundtrack Pro 2 and Final Cut Studio. I look forward to hearing how this works on for people doing Final Cut production; I expect it’ll take some months of work out in the field before we know. (Of course, even better is not having to make major cuts in the first place, but we know how that can go… “Final Cut”? Good luck!)

Ha, dual core? How last year can you get? It’s all about eight-core now, baby:

The Pro Tools HD 7.3.1 cs3 update can be installed over Pro Tools HD 7.3 or Pro Tools HD 7.3.1, and includes all updates that were previously made available in the 7.3.1, 7.3.1cs1 and 7.3.1cs2 releases. Pro Tools HD 7.3.1 cs3 is currently available as a free download for registered Pro Tools HD 7.3 users. For details visit the Digidesign support web page at: www.digidesign.com/support.

Given that Digidesign built their business on taking processing off the CPU and onto dedicated DSP hardware, it is pretty funny that they’re now pushing native processing — even if Pro Tools itself still benefits from enhanced computing power. That said, is there really anything stopping Digi from going native somewhere down the road? (Speaking of which, where’s the LE support, which would actually run native on these cores?) Either way, it’s nice to see Digi being aggressive in this space. Fully supporting additional cores does actually require some effort on the part of the developer. It’ll be interesting to see if all these extra cores can really benefit real-world situations. In the meantime, I find even a lower-end dual-core Intel chip — even on a laptop — to be plenty luxurious for music production, which is really good news for mobile music creation or going digital on a budget.

For all the talk of Apple needing to create a Pro Tools killer, though, this should remind you again that Apple wins either way. Even as Windows has made inroads in the audio market, Pro Tools users still lean Mac. Want Logic? Apple will sell you a computer. Want Pro Tools? Apple will sell you a computer. Want Ableton Live? Max/MSP? Ardour? Live coding in ChucK? Apple will … you get the idea. Plenty of PC musicians out there (I’m one of them, about half of the time), but Apple has a lucrative market in music creation. Nice to reflect on that, given at one point the company was in such trouble it looked like music might get jettisoned altogether. Apple can remain cozy with Avid, even as direct competitors.