of all the software updates that got announced at namm, two stand out for me. and the title tells you just which two.
gforce's imposcar will have its second coming somewhere in 2009. below, you can watch head honcho dave spiers walk you through all the new features. don't you just love passionate people? the original imposcar was already mighty fine, but if dave thinks it can be improved, you shut up. just listen to the sound examples david plays for us. now everybody can be underworld.
dave 'glorious filters' spiers @ sonic state
too bad the update got priority over the development of the s.o.b., an oberheim ob8 emulation. i think a vst instrument that really captures the oberheim sound is long overdue. and who better than gforce to do it? i know there's the op-x, but it fails to convince me.
for those unfamiliar with the oberheim sound, think 'jump' by van halen. that's the sound of balls, ladies and gentlemen. to my ears, american synths like oberheim generally sound arrogant, fat, and rowdy, while their japanese cousins tend to be politer. i'll leave it to the folk sociologist in you to decide why that might be.
the other news is that izotope have announced version 4 of ozone, their all-in-one mastering bundle. new features include wet/dry controls for all the components, m/s processing and a new maximize algorithm. as with imposcar, ozone didn't really need an update. but it's always nice when the tools you use every day get new features. and i'm sure there's no going back once i start using ozone4.
to me, the combination of ozone, izotope's excellent guide to mastering and bob katz' book 'mastering audio', is a great way to get into mastering. there might be better sounding mastering tools out there, but in my experience, ozone is more than just a tool.
it also acquaints you with the mastering process itself. and once you know the basic steps in the process, it's easier to assess why you need certain tools. and if the tools you're using are up to the job. of course, the most important part of learning to master is training your ears. and there's no shortcut for that. ozone won't give you 10 years of experience overnight, but it provides a great starting point for exploration.
that's not to say it doesn't sound good. to my current ears it does. and i'm not the only one who thinks so.
