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.

How do you make the Moog legacy of instruments accessible — assuming you can’t afford a studio full of vintage gear? One choice is to model the instruments virtually, as developers like Arturia have done. That provides real-time control, but models may not be perfect, and if you want more than one instrument, you really need more than one model. Others have reimagined some of the Moog sound designs on more modern instruments, as Craig Anderton did recently with Cakewalk’s Rapture.

IK Multimedia, working with veteran sample house Sonic Reality in collaboration with Moog Music, have taken the “museum” approach — put samples of everything in a single box. And what an ambitious collection they’ve got, as we noted when the product was announced. But can you win over even someone who owns some of the real gear? We put that question to our own Lee Sherman, who’s been diving deep into the tool. Mindful of the tradeoffs, he’s got some insight into just how useful they were able to make that sampled content.

SampleMoog can’t help but be greeted with some degree of skepticism. Even virtual analog synths like Arturia’s Minimoog V don’t go all of the way in reproducing the Moog experience. How can something based on samples even come close?

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…)

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.

How many times can you hear the same delays and filters and reverbs over and … over … again? The developers at DaevlMakr promise a more “organic” quality by employing unusual combinations of techniques and adding a little chance to the flow in their Daevl.Plugs suite. I’ve been meaning to talk about their work for some time (and, of course, they’re evidently CDM readers). I’m adding them to some projects now, but in the meantime, here’s an initial preview. And I’ve gotten some additional feedback from our recent contributor addition, Liz Knight aka Quantazelle, who has met the developers and been toying with the sounds.

First, the lineup:

Daevl.Plugs (Info, sound samples, screenshots)

1. daevl.cerberus: “Three delays in a feedback network, with distortion via self frequency modulation plus time-shifting on each channel.” Think multi-tap/delay feedback with a timbral twist.
2. daevl.cubedriver: Bitcrusher + pitch shifter + stereo delay = swirling digital mayhem. You’ll know the effect when you hear it, but it’s still not something you’ll find included in a Pro Tools bundle.
3. daevl.hilbertspace: “Three Hilbert-Transform ring modulators in a dual mono delay network.” Glitchy, digital ring mod.

Applied Acoustics make some of my favorite instruments. Their Lounge Lizard, Ultra Analog, and String Studio instruments are ones I’m always coming back to for their organic feel. So I’m going to take it as a sign that the week I finally get an Intel MacBook, they deliver Intel-native versions. My sets for next week at Macworld is secure.

Full impressions of these instruments on the MacBook — they do tend to be pretty CPU-hungry as they’re modeling-based — in an upcoming Core Duo roundup. In the meantime, here’s what’s new, beyond bug fixes: