AIR have launched their new synths Loom and Vacuum Pro, two mighty fine beast, building on the heritage of the cool stuff gone before them, but offering more power and some very nice sounds.

With Loom explore one of the final frontiers of sound creation: Additive Synthesis. Loom makes it possible. While familiar to many, the promise of additive synthesis has gone largely unanswered. The creation of rich, swirling, and evocative sounds by combining individual harmonics has proved either too time consuming for programmers, or too calculation-intensive for all but the fastest supercomputers; until now. Loom takes an exclusive modular approach to creating the captivating sounds and unique harmonic signatures that are the trademarks of additive synthesis. The easy-to-use Loom architecture allows anyone to quickly combine any of 30 editable modules into 10 available cells to realize incredible, unheard of sounds. Onboard effects, onscreen pop-up Tool Tips, and the amazing Morph page bring Loom to life for fantastic, accessible sound.

Vacuum Pro starts with two wide-range, sync-able vacuum tube oscillators. Each features Quad Detune controls for a lush, thick sound. Add to that two vacuum tube filters. We’ve included both the traditional Low Pass filter, as well as an additional High Pass/Band Pass filter. Choose the filter slope to capture classic tones of the past. Vacuum Pro has it all: Four Envelope Generators; matrix-assignable modulation, and tempo sync’d LFO. The tube-driven mixer offers a drive circuit plus tone-warping ring modulation. For authentic analog behavior, the exclusive Age controls even add dust and drift.

For more info check out their site here

AIR have launched their new synths Loom and Vacuum Pro, two mighty fine beast, building on the heritage of the cool stuff gone before them, but offering more power and some very nice sounds.

With Loom explore one of the final frontiers of sound creation: Additive Synthesis. Loom makes it possible. While familiar to many, the promise of additive synthesis has gone largely unanswered. The creation of rich, swirling, and evocative sounds by combining individual harmonics has proved either too time consuming for programmers, or too calculation-intensive for all but the fastest supercomputers; until now. Loom takes an exclusive modular approach to creating the captivating sounds and unique harmonic signatures that are the trademarks of additive synthesis. The easy-to-use Loom architecture allows anyone to quickly combine any of 30 editable modules into 10 available cells to realize incredible, unheard of sounds. Onboard effects, onscreen pop-up Tool Tips, and the amazing Morph page bring Loom to life for fantastic, accessible sound.

Vacuum Pro starts with two wide-range, sync-able vacuum tube oscillators. Each features Quad Detune controls for a lush, thick sound. Add to that two vacuum tube filters. We’ve included both the traditional Low Pass filter, as well as an additional High Pass/Band Pass filter. Choose the filter slope to capture classic tones of the past. Vacuum Pro has it all: Four Envelope Generators; matrix-assignable modulation, and tempo sync’d LFO. The tube-driven mixer offers a drive circuit plus tone-warping ring modulation. For authentic analog behavior, the exclusive Age controls even add dust and drift.

For more info check out their site here

There seems to be some kind of issue with the servers at AIR, right now there’s a message saying “Ignite is temporarily not available, please try again later’.

Ignite is an out-of-the-box killer app, that takes a creative approach to composition, it’s a brave approach at helping creatives realise their ideas. I know that the reception to Ignite has been excellent, with a lot of downloads and both aspiring musicians and professionals alike saying how cool it is to have something like Ignite to get down ideas quick in such an intuitive way and with such great sounds. 

I hope they sort out whatever technical issues they are having quick and get this baby back online, it could turn nasty, with comments already appearing on their Facebook page like;

click to enlarge

“How about the fact the link just says “Ignite is temporarily unavailable” With ZERO explanation. I just spent half a G on this Axiom61, and was so so so excited to start playing with it… Now I can’t even use it? Seriously pissed off about this.”

Ignite has the potential to drive sales to several other parts of the inMusic product portfolio as the comment above clearly shows, I’m sure their web team will move fast to stop this getting nasty. Watch this space…

Russ takes a look at the new Loom Synth from AIR and gives an extensive show and tell of this new virtual instrument.

More about the Loom here

Izotope, Creators of all kinds of fantasic audio manupulation tools have licensed their Radius time stretching and pitch shifting technology to Air Music Technology to be included in an upcoming version of Ignite.

This is great news and will broaden functionality and make it even easier to manupulate audio ideas with ignite.

These kind of collaborations are just what the industry needs, Taking the best of what is on offer and blending them into high performance products that have the users best interest in mind !

We’ve just been told that the entire AIR Creative collection of instruments and plug-ins have been delivered to Avid in 64 bit AAX format, way ahead of Pro Tools 11 release date. This includes;

• Boom
• Xpand2
• DB33
• Vacuum
• Mini Grand
• Structure Free

• Chorus
• Distortion
• Dynamic Delay
• Enhancer
• Ensemble
• Filter Gate
• Flanger
• Frequency Shifter
• Fuzz-Wah
• Kill EQ
• Lo-Fi
• Multi-Chorus
• Multi-Delay
• Non-Linear Reverb
• Phaser
• Reverb
• Spring Reverb
• Stereo Width
• Talkbox
• Vintage Filter

We also hope to have further news on the Pro Tools Instrument Collection in the coming days.

Transfuser is often overlooked as a complicated instrument, but watch Russ take you from nothing to an entire song in a few minutes using just Transfuser.

• Members watch here
• Watch here on Pay per View

AIR have announced two new killer synths, Vacuum Pro and Loom.

Vacuum Pro
Polyphonic Analog Tube Synthesizer

The Vacuum part of the name Vacuum Pro relates to the six tube circuits that lend a particularly analog flavor to each of the main synthesis modules—oscillators, filters, mixer, etc. Vacuum Pro combines this vintage, organic sound with the versatility of up-to-date virtual instrument control. The interface is populated by single-function knobs, delivering a vintage feel that reflects the rich analog flavor of the instrument. Modulation effects, delay, and a classic arpeggiator add motion and depth to the sound.

Vacuum Pro sounds are created using one or two parts. When creating parts, the Smart Sound Randomizer allows new values to be created instantly for any or all selected modules. This makes it easy to keep an interesting oscillator sound, for example, while quickly trying out new filter settings. In addition, the Parts Lock feature allows the current settings of any modules (both parts) to be retained when changing sounds, providing a fast way to combine elements from different patches. Best of all, the Easy Sound Design Page reduces the dozens of front panel knobs down to eight, grouping related controls together for rapid results.

Loom
Modular Additive Synthesizer

Loom weaves together a unique sonic spectrum, offering between 128 and 512 individual additive harmonics. Using an innovative modular approach, Loom has made additive synthesis both powerful and easy to control. Loom provides 30 sound modules, each with a distinct function—moving filter, octaver, repeater, second tone, etc. Up to 10 of these modules can be connected in a string. Spectral modulation, extensive envelope control, and multiple LFOs deliver deep control. Onboard effects provide the finishing elements for each sound.

The Smart Morph Page is where Loom really comes to life. In addition to real-time knobs offering sound, dynamic, modulation, and effect control, this simplified editing page also opens up the extensive morphing capabilities of the Loom additive sound engine and effects. Four assignable quadrants on an X-Y display provide incredible morphing control. Custom morphing paths can be plotted using points and segments. These morphing paths can then be automated, placed under MIDI control, and even synced to the tempo of the host program, creating a morphing pattern that takes 8 or 16 bars to complete, as one example. Intuitive color-coding makes the Loom graphical user interface easy to understand.

Just weeks after launch of Ignite AIR have released version 1.1

Ignite is the music software with a refreshingly original and musician-centric way to quickly capture, combine, and arrange your musical ideas. Upgraded and improved, Ignite 1.1 delivers deep integration with all current M-Audio keyboards—including the new Axiom AIR 25, 49 and 61. Ignite 1.1 also extends Ignite support to the M-Track line of M-Audio interfaces.

Ignite has already had over 23,000 Ignite downloads and these updates are from feedback from owners to deliver numerous improvements and workflow enhancements. And it’s still free.

Don’t have Ignite? Really? Get your copy here:

http://www.airmusictech.com/download-ignite

At yesterday’s AIR Town Hall, Tim Adnitt announced that AIR were launching the public beta of Ignite, the musical composition tool.

The aim of Ignite is to give musicians a simple, yet powerful way to get ideas down quick, it includes a new approach to song construction using clips rather than the conventional timeline approach found in most DAWs. It also includes AIR created instruments and instant mapping to Axiom keyboards.

More here

Last night we hosted our first AIR Town Hall meeting and got through a lot of questions in an hour, fielded by 5 of their team; Wolfang, Samara, Hiro, Mattius and Tim.

Highlights of the night included confirmation of;

• AAX Native porting of existing instruments, no DSP versions.
• Porting to AU and VST.
• New features for existing instruments.
• New content such as new pianos for Velvet and new Electronic kits for Strike.
• A new 64 bit version of Xpand2
• A public beta for Ignite starting now, more here

It was fantastic to get so much news and also to see new life in the AIR team, you can read the full transcript here.

These are the panelists for the AIR Town Hall Meeting today (12 November 2012). From left to right they are:

Wolfram Knelangen: Director of AIR Music Technology. Background: Guitarist, Mixing/Mastering engineer, Producer. Prior to his current role at AIR he worked at Yamaha and Wizoo (the predecessor of AIR). During the Digidesign/Avid years Wolfram held many different positions.

Samara Winterfeld: Samara is Principal Product Manager at AIR. Her current project is Ignite.

Matthias Büse: Matthias is responsible for product management and product design for all the AIR VI’s and FX plug-ins.

Tim Adnitt: Tim is based in London and is a Senior Product Designer at AIR Music Technology. He is currently working on new Music Creation software Ignite.

Hiro Shimozato: Hiro manages design and product development of M-Audio hardware including the forthcoming Axiom AIR series of keyboard controllers.

We’re just one week away now from the LIVE Online Town Hall Meeting with the AIR Team. We’re expecting to have a panel consisting of key team members from the AIR and M-Audio teams including senior product designers, managers and directors.

Go to the original posting here to submit your questions, comments or suggestions prior to the event then return on Monday, November the 12th at 5:00PM GMT to participate in the LIVE event.

Our friends at AIR are back in business with a great new site which is now live.

It currently features info on exisiting products, plus their new Ignite composition tool, it also features some free training videos from some dodgy guy!

Anyway - check it out, more to come - we have some pre-release products which are very exciting for DAW users. More here

Don’t forget to sign up for the Town Hall meeting in a few weeks where more will be revealed.

We now have a date and time for the online Town Hall Meeting with the AIR team that we first mentioned earlier this year. Mark your calendars and reserve the date and time: 5:00 PM GMT on Monday the 12th of November. This will be a great opportunity for members of the Pro Tools Expert and AIR Users Blog community to ask questions, to provide thoughts and ideas, and to hear directly from a team from AIR that will include both developers and managers.

Sign up below to register and to submit your ideas, suggestions, and questions. Return here on 12 November 2012 at 5:00 PM GMT (9AM Pacific, Noon Eastern, 6 CET, etc.) to participate. We’re looking forward to providing this dialog and opportunity for the new AIR Music Technology team to interact directly with you, the largest community of AIR users.

Russ calls in a  few favours and meets a man behind a pub to get a pre-release version of the new Axiom AIR Mini 32 for and exclusive first hands on video.

Well, good to their word, the new team running AIR have given us a pre-release of the new Axiom AIR Mini 32 Keyboard. We’ll be publishing a video review shortly, but in the meantime we thought we would take some pictures of it, up close and personal.

On the left hand side a mini USB connector gets it into your computer or iPad simply plug and play

Nice backlit knobs cover sustain, edit, octave and more features

8 very nice rubberised pads in 2 banks

Top right the Hypercontrol buttons and menu buttons for use with Ignite

8 rotary controllers and transport controls

More rotary controller goodess

Russ gives you the full guided tour of Hybrid, which is a great place to start exploring all of its features and functions.

Here is the new line up of M-Audio Axiom A.I.R. controllers, the 25, 49 and 61.

The 49 and 61 key versions of the M-Audio Axiom A.I.R. are identical except for the extra octave on the 61, the 61 key version also features ‘Tru Touch’ technology. There are 12 backlit drum pads. The units now come with recessed faders too. Both units have pitch bend and mod wheel.

The 25 is a little different to the 49 and 61 key versions, with no faders but an extra row of pads.

All models have separate pitch bend and mod wheel, new sexy black design, illuminated knobs, and some very special features connected with Ignite.