in this episode of the home studio show I'm looking at Steinberg UR-C audio
interfaces mixcraft 9 digital audio workstation a new distortion from waves
plugins, N-track studio 9.1 update free plugins and much more I'm Zane and
this is the home studio show this is a weekly show where I do audio tech news
reviews and sometimes tips basically I talk about the latest audio tech gear
like audio interfaces and microphones I also look at plugins new and old and
digital audio workstations plus I make sure to review free plugins in every
episode you can also download every episode as a podcast if you want to take
me on the road with you and you can go to the home studio show.com to download
that you can also find it on itunes first up in news steinberg the people
behind the great digital audio workstation Cubase they've released
updated versions of their UR audio interfaces and there are three audio
interfaces in this new line there's the UR22C which is a two input two
output audio interface then there's the UR44C which has 6 inputs but you
can only record four of them at the same time and then there's the UR816C
which is 16 inputs and of those 16 inputs eight of them are mic preamps all
of these interfaces have a rugged metal housing and offer 32 bit recording up to
192 Khz sample rate they also claim to have super low latency and can
offer faster transmission speeds to and from your computer thanks to the USB C
connection you can even connect these audio interfaces to your iOS device be
sure to check the link in the description for more information and
pricing next in news acoustica mixcraft
has been updated to mixcraft 9 if you aren't familiar with mixcraft it's a
digital audio workstation and they claim to have the best workflow and they also
say that it's the best in ease-of-use some of the new and notable features in
version 9 include the addition of the voltage modular synthesizer that
comes with 45 modules you also get a new suite of over 10 plugins from tone
boosters cherry audio and acoustica another new and notable feature is you
can convert audio tracks into MIDI this is a very cool feature that can be done
with the included Melodyne plug-in there are numerous other upgrades and features
in mixcraft 9 be sure to check the link in the description for more information
there's a new distortion in town over at waves plugins and if you were fortunate
enough to take advantage of the Black Friday offer then you'd have this
plug-in right now now this new waves plug-in is called berzerk and it claims
to be a creative distortion plug-in designed to inspire musical ideas you
get 10 original distortion shapes that have wildly different personalities and
if you can't decide which one you want to use press the go berzerk button and
it will randomize each distortion shape you can throw this plug-in on pretty
much anything in your mix and it will give your tracks new sounds that will
stand out from the boring digital audio that's out there if you're not familiar
with waves they create some great professional quality plugins and they
offer them at very reasonable prices again check that link in the description
for more information on berserk and the other waves plugins and more digital
audio workstation news N-track studio has been updated to version 9.1 and with
this you get over 10 gigabytes of royalty-free beats and loops new tools
like vocal tune which is an auto tune style tool and you also get the new
guitar and bass amp sims where you can simulate real life gear again the link
is in the description if you want some more information on N-track studio 9.1
please give this video a big thumbs up if you're enjoying it so far and I've
got that trivia question coming up in just a bit where if you answer it
correctly you'll get a shout out in the next episode but right now we're going
to move on to the plugins worth checking out section and first up I have izotope
trash 2 this is another creative distortion plug-in that can be used on
pretty much every track you can use various modules in trash to
like delay and filters that give you a lot of options for coming up with unique
sounds one of my favorite modules in trash 2 is the convolve module
this models realistic amps devices cabinets effects and speakers there are
so many options here and you can even load your own impulses into trash 2
plus if you need some inspiration to get started you can check out some of the
100 presets which is what I'm going to do right now
and of course you can check the link in the description for more information on
trash 2 and now the next plugin worth checking out
is tracktion biotek 2 this is a very cool synth that uses natural and
environmental samples to create its sounds the interface is pretty cool you
can adjust this image in the center and take your sounds even further it also
includes over 500 patches to get you started so let's give biotech to a
listen and check out some of those patches right now now before we get to
the free plugins section of the show I have the trivia section and last week I
had two people answer the trivia correctly they were innocent bystander
and Ronnie Cremer thank you so much guys for watching and if you want to have a
shout out in the next episode be sure to answer this trivia question correctly
name the song and the original band or artist from these lyrics I'm bulletproof
nothing to lose fire away, fire away if you know the answer be sure to put it in
the comments below and if you're among the first 10 people to do so you'll get
a shout out in the next episode now let's move on to the free plugins of the
week and the first plug-in we're going to look at is a new one from sampleson
and this is called push this is a one-button generative synth for Mac and
Windows and every time you push the one button in the middle it will create a
new patch you can further edit this patch in the Edit panel but if you're
stuck for a sound this can be a cool way to come up with some new ideas so let's
give it a try and see what kind of sounds we get when we push the button be
sure to let me know what you think of push in the comments below and the next
free plugin of the week is from a company called sender spike and this is
their signal noise sn-02G vu meter now a vu meter may look like a fairly simple
plugin but this one does offer some features in addition to the great analog
meter looks it can operate as a dual mono or stereo meter depending on your
track it has four fixed nominal reference levels for 0 DB vu there's - 12
- 14 - 18 and - 20 dB this can really help you in your gain staging there's a
switchable display of some mono on both meters left-right or mid side for stereo
tracks only plus there's some more features in there if you have a free or
paid plugin or any other audio software that you think I should check out in a
future episode be sure to let me know in the comments below
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home studio show and simple green tech I'm Zane and we'll talk soon