EQ Magazine - October 2008 - (Page 58)

TRANSFUSER (CONTINUED) But, you say, it’s not a sequencer. Well, although Transfuser is an RTAS plug-in, it works well as a self-contained step-sequenced/slicing-based instrument. Transfuser incorporates three main elements: the patternoriented Drums, Slicer (somewhat like Reason’s Dr. REX player, and great for time-stretching), and Phrase, which uses DSP for stretching (e.g., like Sony Acid). Each element has a sequencer section, where you can modify the slices or patterns, and a synthesizer section, which allows considerable modification of the sounds you’re using. In the studio, Transfuser integrates with Pro Tools, with the option to bus individual outputs to various tracks, record your playing in realtime, and the like. You can drive it with MIDI (including triggering loops from a keyboard), and create arrangements using the standard toolset in Pro Tools. When recording, you can record both the MIDI that’s triggering various aspects of Transfuser as well as the audio that results. But to me, live performance— whether onstage, or “live” in the studio—is what turns Transfuser from “another plug-in” into something else. For example, with beats, a BeatCutter effect offers freeze, re-order, and scratch functions for doing realtime sound mangling. Even better, the MARIO function produces semirandomized/intelligent changes to individual modules. With beats, this is stellar: Click on it to mash things up for a measure or two, then hit the back button to return to the original pattern. When applied to slices, you’ll end up with completely different melody lines. SIGNAL PROCESSORS Think of the carefully-crafted vocal sounds and overdubs created in the studio, then compare that to what happens on stage: ooops. . . . But no longer. Consider TCHelicon’s VoiceTone series, which takes what TC-Helicon has learned from doing studio effects, and puts them in floor pedals that are suitable for studio or stage. For example, the VoiceTone Create combines thickening, delay, reverb, distortion, chorus, flanging, filtering, and the like; get your sound on recordings, then take the same sounds to the stage. To further that dual identity, it has mic-level balanced XLR in and stereo XLR outs; for quick onstage manipulation, there are 99 presets, many keyed to specific musical genres, and two “tweak” knobs. Another pedal, VoiceTone Double, allows realtime “overdubbing” of up to four vocal parts, while VoiceTone Harmony-G recalls the DigiTech Vocalist, offering two lines of intelligent harmonies that follow the chord patterns established by your guitar playing (the guitar feeds the device as well to provide a reference). There’s also doubling, reverb, EQ, dynamics, and delay. A similar device, VoiceTone Harmony-M, is designed for keyboard players as it follows MIDI input for creating harmonies. The final member of the VoiceTone line, Correct, is a truly unusual device that acts like an “android engineer” with adaptive circuitry that monitors your voice and adds dynamics control, EQ, de-essing, and optionally, warmth. It’s uncanny to turn on the “engineer” effects and hear what happens to your voice: It suddenly sounds, for lack of a better term, “produced.” Note that you can also tweak these manually, if desired. What’s more, it does realtime pitch correction and you can monitor the corrected signal. VoiceLive is also a direct descendant of TC-Helicon’s studio processors. It includes 3-band EQ, compression, delay with tap tempo, reverb, pitch correction, doubling, harmony synthesis, and an optical limiter designed specifically for voice. Furthermore, there’s free editing software if you want to work on presets in the studio, then take them out live. In addition to the new generation of studio/stage vocal processors, there 58 EQ OCTOBER 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.cadmics.com http://www.cadmics.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - October 2008

EQ Magazine - October 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In Smashing Pumpkins Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 7 Steinberg Cubase 4 Studio Meets Stage Gear for the Studio and Stage Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - October 2008

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