Category: Reviews

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Press Release

IK Multimedia T-RackS 6

Hits Made Easy

The iconic mixing and mastering flagship adds new processors,
a supercharged mastering console, side-chaining, improved metering,
convenient module management and much more.

September 5, 2024 – IK Multimedia, the leading innovator in music software and hardware, proudly announces the release of T-RackS 6, the latest generation of its acclaimed mixing and mastering software. With innovative new modules, improved capabilities, faster workflow and more effortless organization, T-RackS 6 expands on its legendary sound quality, speed and ease-of-use to offer everything musicians, producers and engineers need to craft the perfect track. 

The One-Stop Mixing and Mastering Suite
T-RackS 6 offers 60 world-class mixing and mastering processors, available individually in any DAW, as an all-in-one plug-in or as a standalone Mastering Console. Also included are T-RackS’s celebrated presets covering every instrument and genre, providing instant starting points and minimizing time spent tweaking so users can get their hits done.

From studio must-have compressors, EQs and channel strips, all leveraging IK’s industry-leading analog modeling technology, to hall, room, plate and spring reverbs based on some of the most iconic studios of all time, to cutting-edge digital processors and organic all-in-one units, T-RackS 6 offers every tool users could need to shape their mixes and masters.

New Generation Master Match
Users can more precisely shape their mix by selecting a reference from a track they love. The new Master Match X takes a mix from that starting point to a final, polished, distribution-ready master that shines with the same sonic aspects as the beloved reference track. It’s done automatically and then can be fine-tuned to adjust the results to match each user’s vision of perfection. 

Search Less and Save Time
The new Modules Manager allows users to manage which modules appear in their DAW, T-RackS 6 plug-in and Mastering Console. Users can now show or hide the plug-ins in their lists. They can conceal unowned processors or leave them visible to demo as needed – it’s all in users’ hands.

The Most Powerful Processors Ever
T-RackS 6 expands its plug-in collection with eight new modules. These new modules provide a wealth of options for mastering, mixing and creative sound design:

Master Match X: The next generation of intelligent mastering: instantly analyze a reference song to match EQ, balance, compression, limiting and more. With internal or external references and a wealth of controls, anyone can create professional-sounding masters almost instantly.

Channel Strip X: T-RackS’ most advanced channel strip ever, this versatile unit delivers EQ, de-essing, dynamics processing and transient shaping in a single lightning-fast unit, with tailored presets for various instruments and ensembles.

Bass ONE: Innovative, organic multi-algorithm processor that makes the low end thick, solid, clean, uncluttered, precise and powerful.

Lo-Fi Punch: This harmonics and dynamics multiprocessor can add and alter the audio texture, ranging from subtle warming to total squashing. It has dynamic tone shaping and convenient control to add textures, thickness, dimension, grit, life and movement.

Dual Spring: Spring reverb is one of the foundations of everybody’s sonic memories. Everything processed with a spring becomes fascinating, intense, dreamy and mysterious yet comfortable and familiar. The Dual Spring pushes the concept by adding never-before-seen parameters to a spring unit, such as selecting the spring material, using stereo or mono single reverb, reverb length, reverb stretch, and more. It offers classic analog tone with digital flexibility and convenience.

Delay Lab: This powerful delay unit adds movement, space and depth to vocals, instruments, rhythmic patterns and everything else. Its delay unit is clear and open-sounding, giving everything space and a sense of dimension.

Pusher: Saturation driven further. A unique 4-band processor that offers five different saturation types per band, along with envelope, drive and color controls. With limitless options, from subtle enhancement to trashing total distortion, it’s always musical and creative with all independent saturation types and settings per band.

Filter Fusion: This do-it-all filter processor offers five unique filter types, including a model of the iconic Moog® transistor ladder. It’s combined with a dizzying array of controls and options, including a step sequencer for rhythmic use and an innovative modulation joystick for incredibly nuanced and expressive effects.

Refined, Resizable GUI
The redesigned graphical user interface (GUI) is engineered for speed and functionality, providing a faster, more responsive experience and offering re-sizing to adapt to users’ workflow preferences. Each plug-in can now be resized on the DAW screen, even to tiny sizes, to keep them open while mixing, dramatically improving the mixing workflow and allowing more concentration on the sound.

Side-chaining
All T-RackS compressors have been updated to add side-chain input, which allows control of the dynamics using a different signal for added flexibility.

All New Mastering Console
T-RackS 6’s Mastering Console has been designed for a fast and smooth user experience. Users can import mixes and set a specific mastering chain per song, with instant total recall of the whole song’s chain and parameters on playback.

In addition to the dedicated song-based processing, a new master bus lets users add up to four additional processors that will be applied to the whole project to, for example, alter the color of the entire record with just a single post-EQ and apply a global final limiter. I/O metering on each module in the chain allows for an instant check of the gain staging and keeps all levels under control on a single page.

Preset Browser
Easily browse, find and check presets on a floating window with tags and a smart search function. Then, apply what’s needed to the project. 

New Metering
Accurate, extensive and complete audio metering is a must today. The T-RackS 6 multi-standard-compliant Loudness meter (EBU R128, ATSC A/85, OP-59, TR-B32) allows for immediate checks for the compliance of content audio tracks – true peak PPM, Dynamic Range and RMS – all with both graphical and numeric readout.

Sonogram and filter-based smooth RTA make T-RackS 6 Metering a true professional toolkit. The tailorable and customizable Metering View gives complete control over what to show or hide on the meters set on each project. 

Something for Everyone
T-RackS 6 will impress existing T-RackS users who want more control while having greater flexibility to customize and streamline workflows. New users will be blown away by this comprehensive suite of tools, which sounds fantastic and is easy to use.

A New Gateway
T-RackS 6 INTRO is a free version that offers immediate access to three essential modules for users to keep – the Classic Comp, the Classic EQ and the Master Match X lite – with the convenience and high-definition sound quality of paid T-RackS 6 versions. Users can also quickly explore and test any of the 60 available modules for 14 days without any commitment to buy, restrictions or white noise. Please note that porting modules from T-RackS 5 is only possible with a paid version of T-RackS 6.

Compatibility and Accessibility
T-RackS 6 is designed to be fully compatible with Mac and Windows platforms. It supports all major plug-in formats, Audio Units, VST 3 and AAX.

Pricing and Availability
T-RackS 6 can be downloaded now from the IK Multimedia online store and through IK authorized dealersworldwide at the following prices:**

T-RackS 6 INTRO Free* – 3 plug-ins, T-RackS Plug-in, Mastering Console

T-RackS 6 $/€99.99 – 19 plug-ins, T-RackS Plug-in, Mastering Console 

T-RackS 6 PRO $/€199.99 – 40 plug-ins, T-RackS Plug-in, Mastering Console

T-RackS 6 MAX $/€299.99 – 60 plug-ins, T-RackS Plug-in, Mastering Console


Existing T-RackS users can enjoy exclusive upgrade savings:

Upgrade to T-RackS 6 MAX

For existing owners of any T-RackS product: $/€199.99
For existing owners of 25+ T-RackS processors: $/€149.99***
For existing owners of 50+ T-RackS processors or T-RackS 5 MAX v2: $/€99.99***

Free plug-ins included

*No module porting from T-RackS 5.
**All pricing excluding taxes.
*** Via coupon automatically applied at checkout.

For more information about T-RackS 6, please visit:

www.ikmultimedia.com/tr6
www.ikmultimedia.com/tr6/video

A longer demo:


IK Multimedia. Sound Better.
www.ikmultimedia.com

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SOFTWARE REVIEW Baby Audio Humanoid

Vocal Transformer / Hard-Tuner Plugin

Cheekiest Auto-tuner on the market?

Recently, new vocoders, voice distorters and “auto-tune-wanna-bes” have been officially released from various developers. Sometimes it can be difficult to find ones way in this jungle, but we still try to clarify the concepts a little bit…

Antares and their Auto-tune variants were for a long time quite alone in this niche, but soon both software and hardware appeared that wanted to help musicians, vocalists and producers to create a sound of their ”own”. The result, of course, was that everything sounded quite similar in many ways. If everyone tries to sound like Daft Punk or Cher, the result will unfortunately not sound very personal. But now, at least, the developers behind Baby Audio are working hard to make us sound really different on our vocal tracks. Their Humanoid is a really exciting plug-in, and of course I felt compelled to check it out.

Baby Audio

Pasadena-based Baby Audio has long seen it as its mission to develope truly creative tools for music creators. And they have succeeded very well in this. If nothing else, the glowing reviews their plug-ins have received from music magazines in all corners of the world attest to this. Magazines such as Future Music, Sound on Sound and Computer Music have literally fertilized their pages with superlatives when they tested the company’s various plug-ins.

Since 2019, they have managed to release no less than 12 different plug-ins, and there is no indication that the inspiration of the developers at Baby Audio would run out. On the contrary… With the latest addition to the plug-in range, Humanoid, they show that they are prepared to go as far as humanely possible.

Humanoid

The developers themselves refer to their plugin as a ”Vocal Transformer / Hard-Tuner Plugin”. With Humanoid you can really screw up a vocal track in the most amazing ways. I’ve looked at a lot of similar plug-ins lately, but this is unlike anything I’ve come across before. Surely, some other plug-ins can be made to sound a little odd at times, but for the most part these are pretty pale copies of the classic hardware originals. But Baby Audio doesn’t stop at emulating hardware vocoders; you go All-in! Here, in addition to a normal vocoder sound, you can also create completely freaky robot voices, MIDI-controlled Daft Punk choirs, and much, much more.

The most advanced plug-in from Baby Audio?

Yes, even I am inclined to resort to such superlatives. If you start from the 180 ready-made factory settings (they are called presets in other parts of the world) you can have just as much fun as you like. There are voice effects to explore here, so it will last you many hours. But why stop at exploring presets? Humanoid offers tons of tools and customization options. It could make any experienced and calm minded sound creator going completely bananas and completely off his/her rails. And you can dig in as deep as you want; if the usual sliders are not enough, there is often a ”cogwheel” that opens additional functions.

By clicking on a cogwheel under a function, you can access additional setting options. Also you can choose a darker interface if you prefer.

Basic adjustments

If we start by checking out the most common functions, there are already plenty of possibilities for acoustic extravagances here. We have a Pitch part where you find all kinds of tools to adjust which key and/or scale we want to be in, but here there are also settings for quantization, ”robotizing” the voices and formant adjustment of them. For three of the functions, we also have the previously mentioned cogwheel that opens up further adjustment possibilities.

We also have a synth section with lots of possibilities to affect the sound. In addition to a variety of waveforms to begin with, there are also many possibilities here to further change the sounds. From the factory, the app already has 64 ready-made wave-tables and you can also import your own.

Then you can change the waveforms, time-stretch, add notes, octaves above or below, and with the transform function also ”morph” between different settings. And of course you can also control effects and create voices from your MIDI keyboard. 

The question is whether Humanoid is a synth that can be controlled with vocal elements or the other way around?

In the Utility section there are settings for range, de-essing, gating and smoothing, plus a sharpen effect that further twists the vocal effects. And whiel we’re talking about effects, of course we have to mention the ones included in this app: widen, warble, buffer and freeze. Widen is an excellent stereo widener, warble gives some sort of combined vibrato/tremolo effect, but with its own twist; buffer takes care of the buffer size and freeze of course freezes the sound temporarily. All extremely helpful!

To all this we also add a powerful filter section with both high and low pass filters, plus a really good boost function.

Can you make it sound “normal?”

Well, that’s not the idea of ​​Humanoid…

Here, instead, you can achieve really hard and fast tone adjustments that sound like a much too hard ”Auto-Tune” setting, but here you can also create robotic voices, and other strange voice parts; well, pretty much anything you can do to distort a normal singing voice.

If you can already sing cleanly and nicely in pitch, then Humanoid will make it sound completely different. And is it the other way around that you have difficulty with singing and that you’re usually forced to go on a hunting trip for the right key; yes, then in Humanoid there are always tools that can add a little extra creativity to your voice.

Humanoid can manipulate a singing voice in every imaginable way, plus a few ways you absolutely didn’t think of. And you always have the option to add as much of the effect to your voice as you think it needs with the dry/wet knob found in the output fader’s calibration panel.

The synthesizer offers lots of different waveforms, and you can also import your own wave-tables.

Not AI based

The developers firmly claim that no Artificial Intelligence has been used, exploited or harmed in the development of Humanoid. The program has been developed by ordinary, but perhaps a little extra intelligent, people. And even if the name Humanoid indicates that we could be dealing with some superhuman being, Humanoid is very much about taking the turns vocally as far as is now humanly conceivable – and then some more…

Among all known producers we find names such as

Rob Kleiner, Smitty Soul, Tommy Lee, Jae Deal, Dimitri Tikovoi, Ronan, Chris Murphy, Matt Sin and Dakota G.

They are producers who have worked with artists such as Childish Gambino, Usher, Nicki Minaj, The Chainsmokers, King Crimson, Placebo, Blondie, Lady Gaga, Janet Jackson, Sia, The Weeknd, Motley Crüe to name but a few…

And they are all ready to sign that Humanoid is the best thing to happen to humanity since pre-sliced ​​bread.

Summary

Humanoid is an extreme vocal tuner. You just need to decide what key and scale the vocals will be sung in, and how much quantization you want to use. The app does the rest.

It’s also a voice-controlled synth. Turn the transform knob all the way to the right and you have a wave table synth that you can control with your voice. Amazingly cheeky!

You can also use it to create robot-like voices that bear no resemblance to your own voice.

Then, of course, you can mix all these effects and create something that has never been heard before. Last but certainly not least, you can use your MIDI keyboard to create and play Imogen Heap-inspired vocoder choruses with any number of strange voices.

In short; imagination is your only limitation when using Humanoid. Admittedly, this is a pretty well-worn cliché, but rarely has it felt more accurate. So damn good!

Links

This video shows how Humanoid works and what it sounds like

FACTS & FIGURES

Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit).

Supported platforms: Mac OS 10.11 and later (including Native Apple Silicon M1/M2 compatibility). PC Windows 10 and later.

Supported DAWs: All the majors, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason, etc.

PRICE Now: $79, Regular price $129

DEVELOPER Baby Audio, www.babyaud.io

© Gunnar E Olsson, ManMade Music

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Slut för idag – tack för idag!

Det ”goda nya året” som vi alla önskat varann började kanske inte så där putslustigt. Krigen runt om i världen pågår med oförändrad frenesi. Människans grymhet är synbarligen oändlig – liksom dess dumhet, om ni frågar Einstein. Vi hjälps åt att förinta den enda beboeliga planet vi känner till, och vi låter oss ledas av politiker som är totalt oförmögna att ta de viktiga men obekväma beslut som krävs för att vända den här trenden.

Som en liten fyrbåk i detta hav av jämmer och elände har Musikermagasinet stuckit upp – i alla fall för oss som ser musiken som en helande och enande kraft. Musik är ju ett språk som man kan förstå i alla jordens länder, oavsett vilket talat språk man annars använder.

Churchill lär ha sagt något i stil med: Om vi inte kan försvara oss för att bevara konsten och kulturen (dit ju musiken hör i allra högsta grad) vad har vi då att kämpa för?

Han lär även ha sagt: ”Det skulle innebära en genomgripande politisk reform om det sunda förnuftet kunde breda ut sig lika snabbt som enfalden.”

Det är kanske det paradigmskiftet som vi alla väntat på.

Det låter kanske lite förmätet att jämföra sig med en sådan gigant som Sir Winston, men för oss som jobbat med den här tidningen, som funnits i en eller annan form ända sedan slutet av 70-talet, har den haft en enorm betydelse. Av all uppskattning vi fått från våra läsare under åren att döma, tror jag att vi, åtminstone en och annan gång, varit ganska rätt ute.

Allting har dock en ände, och det gäller tyvärr även för oss som gör tidningar.

Vi har precis färdigställt det allra sista numret av MM. Själv har jag skrivit för tidningen i över 35 år, och flera av mina kollegor har kämpat nästan lika länge. Vår ansvarige utgivare, och grundaren av tidningen, Björn Hansen, har förstås kämpat längst av dem alla. Men nu är det slut.

Nästan alla annonsörer har på senaste tiden svikit oss – det finns undantag; tack till Toontrack, EBS, Lundgren Pickups och några till! Jag vill inte låta bitter, men det känns som att många företag tror att den glättade yta, som representeras av så kallade influencers, som enbart vistas i en helt digital värld, har större betydelse och kan ge musiker mer än vad väl underbyggda hands-on tester från aktiva musikerkollegor kan göra.

Hela musikindustrin har det förstås tufft, men utan annonsintäkter går det inte att göra en tidning. Om man samtidigt motarbetas av krafter som inte värderar kultur särskilt högt blir det riktigt tufft.

Allt detta blev slutet på Musikermagasinets mer än 30-åriga historia.

Så visst, det nya året hade verkligen kunnat börja bättre.

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