October | 2015 | Imagination Works

Continuing acquaintance with DAW REAPER : studying VST, work with sounds and rhythm

Lets continue our acquaintance with DAW REAPER : today we will learn VST ( Virtual Studio Technology – is a technology for plugins creation, which act as instruments, effects and processors, and for their unified connection to different DAWs and other programs ), work with recorded sounds and rhythm of composition. For this purpose we will create simple example, for rhythm we will use recorded sounds of snares and hats; simple melody we will create with use of VST synthesizer Genobazz 2, which was created by TEK’IT Audio. You should already have installed DAW REAPER, if you have some difficulties, you can write about them in comments, I’ll answer to you as soon as I’ll have free time. VST Genobazz 2 can be downloaded from Internet, it is a free plugin; you can find links to it in Google. It is distributed in form of executable installer; create somewhere VSTs folder, in which you’ll install plugins, they can be used by other DAWs also, so it is better to place it on path, that is accessible by all programs. Then install Genobazz 2 in this folder; then open options page in DAW REAPER Options -> Preferences ( this window can be seen on upper image ); choose VST in left list, add path to you VSTs folder in according field and press Clear cache/Rescan, so that DAW will find and install this plugin. Then download archive with project example and open it in REAPER.

As it can be seen from the image, rhythm is created with use of recorded sounds ( they are located in project archive ). All sound files can be inserted into tracks by dragging and dropping them from Explorer into DAW, it will import and setup them by itself. Basses are synthesized with use of MIDI notes, for them I selected two sounds presets ( preset sound synthesis parameters ) of Genobazz 2 : Defaul and Acid Tweet Arp. VST plugins can be added to track by clicking on FX button; then on Add add button and by selection of VST ( for effects and processors ) or VSTi ( for instruments ). REAPER also supports other plugins formats and its own scripting language for sounds processing. Order of plugins matters, because sound signal is passed from current plugin to next one, this way sounds processing chains can be created, for example : synthesizer receives MIDI notes and generates sound, which later is processed by effects, so that needed sound will be obtained. VST plugins can be added to MIDI tracks and to tracks with recorded sounds. MIDI notes can be edited by double clicking on their panels in track; to the left on their editing windows musical keyboard is located, at the bottom part there is area in which other notes parameters can be edited, for example, velocity of keys pressing ( whether these additional parameters will be accounted by synthesizer : depends solely on itself ).

This project example is very simple and there is ability to experiment with it, creating composition, which you like. For example, there is disabled track, which can be used to create rhythm with kicks and receive House music rythm; all in all, here is ability to unleash your imagination. That is it for today; if you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments, I’ll answer to them as soon as I’ll have free time for this. See you in the next article about DAW REAPER.

Audio-Technica ATH-R70x professional studio monitor headphones review

Lets review Audio-Technica ATH-R70x novelty, these are the professional studio monitor headphones with according characteristics. They have : 45 mm drivers, powerful magnets with fully metal housing ( which provides construction stability and provides clear high frequencies reproduction ), 5 – 40000 Hz sounds frequencies reproduction range, 1000 mW maximal power input, 99 dB sensitivity and 470 Ohms impedance ( such high impedance requires powerful signal, which makes all cable noise signals very week in comparison with it, and also it does not allow all noise signals to go to electric coil near magnet ). They had open back architecture with aluminum honeycomb mesh housing and composite resin and plastic materials for construction rigidity, which make sound reproduction more clear. They weight 210 g and have cozy pads and wing, which make their long use comfortable, which is important with their use in studio. Cable of headphones is pluggable, wherein, it does not matter how it is attached to pads, because right signal is automatically chosen for each pad. Package contains : Audio-Technica ATH-R70x headphones themselves, pluggable cable, protective carrying pouch and user’s guide. All in all : these are the very interesting headphones, but they are not suited for home use, because they cost very much and their high characteristics are not needed for home use. But, if there is choosing : buy too branded audiophile headphones, for which 2/3 of cost are costs for brand name and marketing expenses, and these ones, then it is better to buy these ones.

Small 140 km October ride from Polevskoy to Yekaterinburg, to village Krasniy and back home again

Yesterday small bicycles ride in direction to Krasniy village near Yekaterinburg was held on. At morning there was no rain and there was hope for dry day. Start was located near Carnival trade center in Yekaterinburg, I rode to it from Polevskoy. Wherein, for the first time I rode to Yekaterinburg in less than 2 hours : at 9:20 a.m. I went from home and at 11:11 I made a phone call to other tour participants from Ceramics station in Yekaterinburg, distance between these points is 40 km. Most of the way to city it was dry and ride was a pleasure itself, but on the entrance into Yekaterinburg it started to rain and there was hope, that it will be weak. On the start point I met and became acquainted with other adventurers, we talked for a while and hit the road.

We rode near railway and made small stops, on which Dmitriy ( on the left side of upper photo ) told to us story of this railway. 10 years ago it was used also for passengers transportation, but now only different technical tasks are performed on it. On the way rain amplified to downpour and puddles started to form on the road, after riding through which shoes and pants became wet. Despite the weather it is beautiful in these places : there are birch forest to the sides of railway and Shuvakish lake, that can be seen between trees. After around 10 km of a way, we decided, that riding under heavy rainfall with +4 – +6 degrees temperature is not very interesting and on one of the road turns we navigated to Yekaterinburg; after small ride on the unpaved suburbs roads we set our wheels on the asphalt road and headed in the direction of the start point. In some areas road looked like river stream and there was need to wade through it with 1/3 of wheels in water and with shoes going into it with pedals, but that had no matter anymore, because our clothes and shoes was already wet. Near the start point we asked woman, that walked near us, to make “after ride” photo; then said good by to each other, other adventurers went to warm and dry off themselves, I navigated in the south direction to Polevskoy highway. On the way to it rain weakened, but on the whole ride to Polevskoy it went to downpour again; heavy cars left water dust walls after them, at some places cars made shower from the puddles to me, bit this had no matter anymore, because clothes drenched already. I rode to home not so fast and way took 2 – 3 hours. On the entrance to Polevskoy I was wet, froze, hungry, with my strengths left in the adventure and satisfied with the ride of that day; 2 or 3 times I even went to near sleep state, but quickly activated myself and drove myself to conscious state. All in all it was great ride : for a long time I had no such pleasures from activations of myself and movements of the body, mind and soul into survival and difficulties overcoming mode. At home I hardly unbuttoned my wet clothes with frozen hands and hung them out to dry, washed myself, warmed up and ate food, but pleasure remained. See you on the next bicycles ride!

Focusrite Scarlett Solo – middle-level analogue studio external audio interface

Among audio devices today we will look on external studio sound card Focusrite Scarlett Solo. It is designed for analogue audio recording on semi-professional studio level. Its front panel has : microphone XLR input with Focusrite preamplifier, +48 V phantom power switch and amplification level control; instrumental/linear 6.3 mm TRS jack ( 1/4″ ) input, instrumental/linear switch and signal amplification level control; 6.3 mm TRS jack ( 1/4″ ) output for monitor headphones, Direct Monitor mode switch and headphones volume level control. Its back panel has : 2 analogue linear RCA outputs; USB port, through which it communicates with computer and receives power from it; and Kensington Lock slot. Card works with 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz sampling rates and 24 bits precision.

Microphone input has following characteristics : 106 dB dynamic range, -125 dB noise volume level; instrumental input : 106 dB dynamic range, -109 dB noise level; linear input : 106 dB dynamic range and -98 dB noise level; linear outputs : 106 dB dynamic range, -97 dB noise level; and monitor headphones output has 106 dB dynamic range. Body of card is produced from aluminum and has beautiful maroon color. Drivers are released for card for Windows XP and newer and Mac OS X and newer operating systems, which allow it to work with modern DAWs : Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER, Avid Pro Tools and others. Card is supplied with following software : DAW Ableton Live Lite, Focusrite Scarlett plugins package, Novation Bass Station plugin and 1 GB of Loopmasters sounds samples. Package contains : Focusrite Scarlett Solo sound card itself, USB cable, optical disks with drivers and software and user’s guide. In principle : it is a good middle-level sound card with more or less optimal price for its functionality; it has good dynamic range and noise level characteristics of analogue inputs and outputs. But, there is need to note, that for 125 USD ( card’s price at the middle of Autumn 2015 ) there is ability to buy more functional card or there is ability to buy card with similar functionality for smaller price. Also : it has no MIDI and digital inputs and outputs, but this can be solved with additional cheap internal or external audio card with such ports.

LZOS MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro – very powerful telephoto lens for astro and macro photos shooting

LZOA MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro as objective of small telescope

Lets continue reviews of Soviet and Russian made objective lens for M42x1 mounts with LZOS MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro device. It is very powerful telephoto objective lens with 1000 mm focal distance, 1.9 kg weight and 125 x 210 mm sizes. Its aperture equals to f/10, because of this it is not very light and more suited for shooting of objects on land and for shooting of bright astronomical objects. Its field of view is 2.5 degrees and focusing distances range is 4 m – infinity. LZOS MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro has M116x1 mount on frontal side for optical filters and other accessories. It has 7 lens and mirrors elements in 5 groups ( which is very good ), all of them are coated with protective and anti-reflective multicoating. Also, LZOS MC Rubinar 10/1000 Macro can be used as small telescope, which is not surprisingly, because its optical scheme is very similar to Macsutov-Kassegrene telescope. For this purpose special converters and eye-pieces can be used ( previously LZOS even produced kits, which allowed to use lens as photo camera objective lens and as small telescope, such kit can be seen on photo ); also, this can be achieved with use of special converter with M42x1 mount on one side and 1.25 or 2-inch eye-piece focusing unit on the other side. 2-inch module and eye-pieces are preferably, because they allow to fully reveal capabilities of lens. Currently LZOS does not produce those lenses ( which is pity ) and they can be bought only in stores, which still have them in storage rooms, or through private ads. All in all it is a great objective telephoto lens and, if you have no telescope with similar characteristics, it is good candidate for this purpose, which can be used as multifunctional device. But if you have telescope, then it can be also used as camera lens with use of T-ring.

Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 – functional studio level audio interface with acceptable price

External sound card Behringer U-PHORIA UM2

Today in audio section we will meet with Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 – external studio-grade audio-interface with beginner-level functions. It has professional XLR/TRS microphone/linear input and instrumental 1/4″ input; microphone input can be powered with +48 V phantom power and it is connected to XENYX Mic Preamp. Frontal panel of sound card also has 1/4″ output for monitor headphones and Direct Monitor switch. Back panel has : 2 analogue RCA-outputs, USB port, through which card communicates with computer and receives power from it, and phantom power switch. Top-side has : microphone/line input, instrumental input and analogue output volume controls. Card works with 48 kHz sampling rate ( which is enough for beginner-level professional work with sound ) and with 24 bits precision. For Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 drivers are released for Windows XP and newer and Mac OS X and newer operating systems, which allow it to work with modern DAWs : Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER and others. Card is equipped with simple DAW Tracktion, which allows to record audio, arrange tracks and perform other simple actions. It is covered with 3-years manufacturer warranty. Package contains : Behringer U-PHORIA UM2 sound card itself, USB cable, optical disks with drivers and software and user’s guide. Overall : this is very good studio-grade interface with beginner-level functions, which is very well suited for analogue audio recording, voice recording and instruments recording; especially taking into account its low price 49.9 USD at the middle of Autumn 2015. There is only wish to add MIDI input and output and digital connectors to card, but these functions belong to higher level audio cards, Also, there is ability to buy cheap internal or external audio card with these connectors and receive fully functional studio equipment ( those ports are digital, so level of such sound card does not affect signal quality ).

Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO – good macro photo lens for optimal price

Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO objective lens

Today we will look on Tamron AF 18-200mm А/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO. As it is seen from its name, it has varying 18 – 200 mm focus distance and varying maximal aperture f/3.5-6.3, depending on zoom settings; its minimal aperture is f/22; it is controlled with use of 7 diaphragm blades. Lens has macro function and its minimal focusing distance is 0.45 m; field of view is 75 – 8 degrees, depending on zoom settings. Objective lens has 15 lens elements in 13 groups, among them there are : 3 aspherical lens elements, 2 are produced from LD glass with low dispersion level. All lens elements, except LD, are produced from XR ( Extra Refractive Index ) glass; all lens are coated with protective and anti-reflective multicoating. There is ability to attach 62 mm optical filters to Tamron AF 18-200mm А/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO; its sizes are : 73.8 x 83.7 mm, and weight is : 405 g. It is produced only in black color variant. All in all : this is a good objective lens, which costs optimal amount of money ( in comparison with other similar lenses ) 149 USD at the middle of Autumn 2015. Wherein : there is ability to buy more affordable lenses for M42x1 mounts and use them with converters and adapters; or there is ability to buy macro lens, which can be attached to existing objective lens.

Category: English