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Happy 127th Birthday to Igor Stravinsky!

To honor one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, we thought it fitting to post this amazing rendition of Le Sacre du Printemps or The Rite of Spring, arranged in SONAR by Cakewalk user Jay Bacal.

The two-movement piece is shown as a series of four videos – two of which Jay has yet to post. Performed on a 16GB Quad-core Windows VISTA 64-bit PC, Bacal used Vienna Symphonic Library to emulate the pristine sounds of the orchestra and arranged the piece using SONAR 8’s Piano Roll view.

Known as Stravinsky’s most controversial work, The Right of Spring caused a great riot at it’s debut, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France in 1913. Performed by the Ballets Russes, the intensely rhythmic score and primitive scenario – the setting evoking pagan Russia – shocked audiences accustomed to the more modest conventions of classical ballet!

Please don’t cause another scandal but feel free to tell Jay what you think of his latest project on the Cakewalk forums!

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Angels & Airwaves Cover Featuring Studio Instruments – Drums

A Studio Instruments fan, who goes by the name of Tadqim on Youtube, posted this video late last week and we wanted to pass it along. Using the Drum kit, included in Cakewalk’s Studio Instruments, Tadqim added his own beats to the Angels & Airwaves hit ‘Call to Arms’.

Cakewalk’s Studio Instruments-Drums allows users to make backing tracks with a realistically animated interface that looks just like a drum set! Now included in the latest recording and editing software for beginners, Music Creator 5.

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SONAR 8 Review: Make Music Professionally At Home

Today’s musicians face a tough job market and an even worse economy. To cut the production costs of making and recording their music, many musicians are building their own DIY recording studios at home. These studios are creating some of the industry’s best tracks with off-the-shelf yet extremely powerful software and hardware solutions.

In response to this growing trend, Mark Eustace from This is Tamworth (an all things local publication of the Tamworth Herald, UK) recently took a look at SONAR 8, calling it “a raft of virtual instrument, effects, plug-ins, and all the production tools you would ever need to record and master your own hit record.”

Discover the power of SONAR 8 with Mark Eustace in the latest edition of This is Tamworth.

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First Impressions of V-Studio 700: Danny Klein

Just a few weeks ago, Cakewalk’s Zac Kenney met up with Boston-based bassist Danny Klein at Guitar Center-Boston to pick up his SONAR V-Studio 700. A Cakewalk pro-user since the Pro Audio days, Danny was looking for a new controller to use in his SONAR-outfitted studio. After many years producing his music with the Roland JP-1000 and then with an Alesis Mixer, Klein started to seek other alternatives. Since it’s a controller dedicated to SONAR and would speed up his workflow without the aid of a mouse, Danny knew he just had to get the SONAR V-Studio 700!

“I use SONAR V-Studio 700 because of the quality of the system (and the quality and reliability of Cakewalk / Roland products), the many features at a reasonable price, the ease of setting up and using the system and the seamless integration with my SONAR 8 Producer, making this system all I need to make professional recordings in my home studio.”

Danny Klein grew up in New Jersey and came to Massachusetts to study at Worcester Polytechnical Institute in the 1960’s. While attending WPI, he befriended J. Geils and Magic Dick, who taught Klein how to play a washtub bass. The trio formed the ‘J Geils Blues Band’. Eventually they hooked up with ex-Hallucinations percussionist Stephen Jo Bladd and his vocalist, Peter Wolf, as well as keyboardist / songwriter Seth Justman… thus setting the stage for 17 successful years touring as the ‘J. Geils Band’ from Boston.

The group recorded 17 albums and toured with the Rolling Stones, releasing such hits as ‘Centerfold’ and ‘Freeze Frame’. In February 2009, J. Geils Band reunited for the grand opening of the House of Blues-Boston and played two sold out shows at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit. Currently, the band is leaving the door open to new opportunities, hoping to play together again, soon.

In 1994, Danny founded the blues band ‘Stone Crazy’ (produced by J. Geils). The group released its first 14-track, self-entitled album in 2005 and performed its ‘bluesy grooves’ at select clubs throughout New England.

Danny’s latest project, ‘Danny Klein’s Full House Band,’ is a group of Boston’s well known and most talented musicians who come together to celebrate the music of the J.Geils band. Danny Klein’s Full House Band performs at many charitable events throughout the Boston area.

We congratulate Danny on all of his accomplishments and hope he enjoys working in studio with the new SONAR V-Studio 700!

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Play Along Jazz Contest Gets Your Music Heard By Jazz Pros

Take the next step in your musical journey this summer at PlayAlongJazz.com. Devoted to giving Jazz musicians the tools they need to succeed, Play Along Jazz gives you the chance to play with some of today’s finest musicians, to learn from their live playing, and to combine your musical voice with theirs.

How does it work? At Play Along Jazz, you will find a list of Jazz standards from which to select: you have the option to choose your tracks (stereo drum track, mono bass track, stereo guitar track etc) and mix the session yourself (what we call “Mix Your Own”) or download a stereo file that has one of the tracks omitted: drums silent for the student drummer; guitar silent for the student guitarist, etc. Downloads are priced for students and each month you will have the chance to play along with a new stream for free. There’s also an email request link so that you can suggest the addition of tunes that interest you.

Through August 31, 2009, when you purchase 15 downloads at Play Along Jazz.com, you will have the chance to submit one of your Play Along songs for review by some of today’s top jazz professionals. This acclaimed panel will select one special song from one aspiring artist that shows the greatest potential in creatively improvising in the play along environment. The winner will also receive a complimentary copy of Cakewalk’s most intuitive digital audio workstation, SONAR 8 Producer!

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Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Sparks the Rescue

In an ongoing effort to support and promote all the amazingly talented artists and producers that use our products, we are excited to announce the Cakewalk Pro User (CPU) Spotlight Series which will be posted here on a regular basis.

Right now, more than ever, aspiring artists are taking control of their music creation to capitalize on what will be known as the independent music age. These independent spirits are taking their money saved for studio time and investing in their own future by purchasing the studio tools themselves. With so many choices on the market, we salute the artists in this series who are capitalizing on SONAR’s unlimited track count, or the crystal clear sounds of Rapture, or the fat pre amps in the V-Studio 100 and the V-Studio 700, or the… well, you get the point.

Whether these CPU Spotlight artists are on a major or independent label, producing for labels, or simply doing their own thing, they all have three things in common: they’re all tremendously talented, they’re all doing their own thing and they all depend on the quality of Cakewalk products to achieve professional results.

CPU Spotlight #1: An interview with Sparks the Rescue at the famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey – Take one mic-swinging vocalist who throws himself to the floor, the crowd, the walls and into his band mates; add two guitarists providing vocals and an insane amount of movement; mix in a bassist with an impressive set of lungs providing screams and harmonies; and top it off with a rock-solid drummer holding it all down – this concoction renders Sparks the Rescue, a group of guys in their early 20’s from Portland, Maine.

Logging in over 200 shows throughout New England, Sparks the Rescue has shared the stage with Hawthorne Heights, Just Surrender, As Tall As Lions, Dave Melillo, Roses Are Red, A Change of Pace, Showbread, Chiodos, A Static Lullaby, Saosin, Boys Night Out, Stretch Arm Strong, Emanuel, The Static Age, Glory of This, and many others.

2007 saw the release of ‘The Secrets We Can’t Keep’ digital EP, preceding a full-length album on Fearless Records which is available now in stores and on ITunes.

Check out our first-ever Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight featuring Sparks the Rescue and stay tuned for more in the near future!

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Artist Impression: Producer Giovanni Loria Talks Recording With V-Studio 100

Giovanni “Gio” Loria is a Los Angeles-based professional music producer and musician (multi-instrumentalist) who wears many musical hats creating on a wide variety of musical stages. He is no stranger to pop, hip-hop, rock, orchestral and jazz as well as other genres. He has played, recorded and produced with artists such as The Black Eyes Peas, Jack Johnson and jazz phenomenon Brad Mehldau, to name a few. Overall, Giovanni had the rare ability to be at home in any musical situation, finding a way to support and shine as a leader.

Having traveled much of the world making music with SONAR, we thought Giovanni would be a perfect artist to give us some first impressions of the new SONAR V-Studio 100. Take a look at the video we taped, when we caught up with Gio in Los Angeles in between projects.

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Cakewalk Attends Unique Beats Festival in Scotland

On Saturday May 30, 2009: Cakewalk and Edirol will show off their latest gadgets at the Roxy Arthouse in Edinburgh, Scotland at the first annual Unique Beats Festival. This all day festival – sponsored by Red Dog Music – is dedicated to promoting all forms of electronic music making and will include many spectacular live performances, audio-visual displays and workshops. Some of the industry’s biggest names will be on hand to display their cutting-edge tools for music production while live sets will be performed by some of the best electronic artists around!

Throughout the day, Cakewalk product specialists will be demonstrating the SONAR V-Studio 700 and SONAR V-Studio 100 music-making systems while Edirol will be showcasing it’s video products including the V-8 mixer and P-10 visual presenter.

Live appearances throughout the day and evening will include Europe’s budding musicians; Christ, Frog Pocket, Joe Acheson Quartet, ESPion, Morphamish and many more. There will be plenty of audio-visual treats scattered around the event. Unique Beats attendees will benefit from exclusive deals on gear from Red Dog and will be entered to win a myriad of music making equipment, including Cakewalk’s Sonar 8 Producer!

Visit the Unique Beats Festival official website for more information.

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V-Studio 700 Featured On 'Into Tomorrow' Radio Show

Cakewalk Product Specialist Seth Perlstein chats with Into Tomorrow’s Dave Graveline at the 2009 Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, California. Into Tomorrow is a syndicated radio program featuring the latest developments in consumer electronics and technology. Over 100 AM & FM radio stations across the US, on Sirius / XM satellite radio and around the world broadcast the 3-hour show on a weekly basis. The pair discuss Cakewalk’s role in outfitting video game developers with the best tools to create music for their projects.

Being eyed by the video game industry’s top composers is Cakewalk by Roland’s flagship product in the V-Studio line of integrated software / hardware solutions, the SONAR V-Studio 700.

Winner of the 2009 MIPA Award for Best Recording Hardware and Keyboard Magazine’s prestigious Key Buy Award, the SONAR V-Studio 700 matches SONAR 8 Producer with the VS-700C multi-function control surface and the VS700R V-Studio 100 I/O audio interface which includes Roland’s Fantom VS Hardware Synthesizer.

Continue reading “V-Studio 700 Featured On 'Into Tomorrow' Radio Show”

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MIX Nashville 2009: Town Talents Check Out SONAR V-Studio Series

Day 2 of Mix Nashville started out great but you really can’t go wrong when you are in a town that has top notch music, weather and of course the most important element; BBQ!

In between the panels at the conference, I found myself having some great conversations with local Nashville songwriters, producers and musicians about “all things music”.  I have come to the conclusion that there are more home studios in this town than there are BBQ joints.

Mike Lawson from Lawson Media stopped in to say hello and check out the new SONAR V-Studio 100 and he brought a friend of his by the name of Bob Welch.  You may or may not have heard the name ‘Bob Welch’ but I can guarantee that you have heard his music, if you have listened to the radio and especially if you are a Fleetwood Mac fan.  Bob was the original guitarist for Fleetwood Mac and was also a solo artist chalking up three massive hits from 1977 – 1979 with the songs “Sentimental Lady”, “Ebony Eyes” and “Hot Love, Cold World”.  I had an amazing conversation with him about the digital music age compared to his experiences as a successful musician and artist in the 70’s.  I have always been fascinated with that era of music so I really enjoyed and appreciated talking to him.  I was also psyched to find out that he is a PC user and will be recording some of his upcoming projects in SONAR 8 Producer.

Later in the afternoon while my co-workers and Product Specialists Rich Curtis and Mike Trujillo were exemplifying all the features of the V-Studio 700,  I caught up with Producer / Mixer / Songwriter / Musician Chris Trevett who is a friend of mine that I haven’t connected with in a while.  Chris is an amazingly talented music guy who has two Grammys under his belt (yep 2!) and has worked with many iconic artists such as Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys and R. Kelly (to name a few).  He was stopping in to check out the new V-Studio 100 as well and I was psyched to catch up with him.

Chris relocated to Nashville from New York about a year and a half ago so he was able to fill me in on what the local music scene in Nashville is really like.  He is also working with some great international artists and I was able to get an interview with him, which will be featured on my Cakewalk Artist Spotlight series in the near future.  In the meantime, check out Chris Trevett’s website for more information on his work.

Later on in the afternoon things started winding down a bit as most of the people were attending the panels and performances.  I did get a chance to meet with new SONAR user Tiffany Shea and also the very talented Nashville Producer / Musician / Songwriter (and Artist) Nathan Meckel who has been busy working with LA-based Singer / Songwriter Sara Hayes as well as his own project “Upside of Envy”.

Nathan was checking out MIX/Nashville with his father Mark Meckel who owns Street Singer Music Publishing. Besides producing and writing for other artists, Nathan has got a great work-horse story and has played shows from Nashville to Israel and I think we will be hearing and seeing more from him in some bigger pictures soon.

To wrap up the conference, I was invited to check out a band called Pico vs. Island Trees and was pleasantly surprised at what I heard and saw.  I highly recommend you check them out.  The band has a very unique sound coupled with great songwriting and an authentic image that works well.  It was an exclamation point on a great trip and also a confirmation that this town is filled with ridiculously talented people.

Thanks to everyone who stopped in to check out the new V-Studio 100 and thanks to MIX Magazine for holding such a great event.

Thanks for reading,

Jimmy Landry
Cakewalk Artist Relations Manager