Arnd Kaiser Talks Presonus' Work With zplane

PreSonus is one of our longstanding licensees, having utilized several of our software tools in Studio One for over a decade. Arnd Kaiser is their General Manager in Hamburg and has a history with us going back years. Read the complete interview here.

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PreSonus is one of our longstanding licensees, having utilized several of our software tools in Studio One for over a decade. Arnd Kaiser is their General Manager in Hamburg and has a history with us going back years, so we decided to chat with him about our mutual history and the ways in which zplane has contributed to Studio One’s success as a workstation.

(zplane) Hi Arnd. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. To start things off, can you tell us how you got into the audio industry?

Sure. My path was similar to that of many others: I played in bands and worked in a local music store during my school years and afterwards. That’s where I was offered my first job as a Product Manager for a distributor that worked with brands like Ensoniq, Oberheim, Kurzweil and later Alesis. My next career move was working at Alesis as the International Marketing Manager, where I had the privilege of working on products like the ADAT and the A6 Andromeda analog synthesizer.

(zplane) It seems you spent a number of years at Steinberg. Can you tell us about your time there?

I joined Steinberg as Senior Product Planning Manager for Cubase in 2003, shortly after the acquisition by Pinnacle. In this role I managed every Cubase release from version 2 to version 6. After Steinberg was acquired by Yamaha, I got involved in the development of their first Steinberg-branded controllers and audio interfaces.

(zplane) You’ve had a number of years working as a Product Manager for different companies. What does that kind of job entail?

Based on each company’s operations, there are different definitions of what a Product Manager does. In some companies it’s very technical and R&D-related, whilst in others it’s more marketing-oriented and outward facing. I’ve done both, and ideally it’s a combination of the two, which is the case at PreSonus. In any regard, the Product Manager should represent the voice of the customer, and one of his main tasks is to translate customer needs into new features and improvements to the product. As a Product Manager, I really enjoy talking to users about ideas or challenges they might have, then discussing these with developers and coming up with solutions. It’s also inspiring to talk to zplane about new technologies and come up with ideas on how to turn them into user features.

(zplane) It’s been said that Studio One is one of the fastest-growing DAWs on the market. Is that true?

There’s no definitive answer to this question since DAW sales and user numbers aren’t published. However, we regularly check with our technology partners who occasionally share pieces of their survey data with us. Based on this data, Studio One has been the fastest growing DAW for many years.

(zplane) How has PreSonus been affected by the Fender acquisition in terms of product development for Studio One?

Fender acquired PreSonus in December 2021 and the integration process is still ongoing. While most guitar and bass players still plug into amplifiers, many also plug into interfaces and use virtual amps/effects to create their sounds. Hence why Presonus and Fender fit so well together, as we each serve an important segment of the music market. Our goal is to accelerate the growth of our software business but also to work alongside the Fender team as we create tools to support artists. We’re in the process of hiring more software developers, which will allow us to accelerate the development of Studio One and other projects. The same is happening on the marketing side. We’re really excited about the future of Studio One and our partnership with Fender.

(zplane) Can you talk about how zplane’s partnership with PreSonus came to be?

That relationship probably started in 2008 or 2009. It was before I joined PreSonus so I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but I met zplane’s Tim Flohrer and his former partner, Alexander Lerch, whilst I was at Steinberg, so it was great to work even closer with them in my current role.

(zplane) What licensing needs did PreSonus have that zplane provided a solution for in the beginning of our partnership?

ELASTIQUE PRO was added to Studio One 1.5 in 2010. When I later joined PreSonus, I was impressed with how it was implemented in real time. A clever background rendering method was used to keep processing under control, so after a few seconds you had rendered versions of your files with no additional CPU load or compromise in quality. Most users probably don’t even notice the processing because it just always sounded great.

(zplane) With the release of Studio One 3, we saw multiple improvements in mixing, production, and audio processing. Did any of zplane’s technology contribute to that?

Not in Studio One version 3 directly, but we updated the algorithm whenever there was a new version, so our users always benefited from the latest zplane improvements.

(zplane) Studio One 4 introduced compositional elements like Chord Track and Drum Editing. Can you talk about zplane’s contributions to those?

At the time we were planning to add the Chord Track to Studio One, Tim told me about RETUNE and played us the first demo. In the following months, we kept testing several new builds of RETUNE and eventually took the plunge to make RETUNE part of Studio One’s polyphonic pitch-shifting features. For audio chord detection, we made use of zplane’s KORT. One of the best comparisons to RETUNE is the early version of AutoTune; it can do amazing things and even the noticeable artifacts can be used creatively. In Studio One, users can even turn white noise into chords following the Chord Track, so the creative possibilities are quite exciting.

(zplane) Version 5 brought things like the Show Page, mixer scenes, and listening bus. Has the latest version of Studio One benefited from any zplane algorithms?

Yes, there’s been updates to the audio chord detection which benefits from the latest zplane technology.

(zplane) Which of zplane’s licensing tools would you say has been the most critical in Studio One’s features thus far?

I can’t pick one particular feature but it’s the combination of technologies which makes all the difference. As a user, I have complete control over my musical performance and I’m able to experiment freely with tempo, pitch, key signature and chords in real time, which would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. Some of the technologies involved are still in their infancy compared to others but we decided to integrate them nonetheless in order to allow Studio One users to experiment and explore.

(zplane) It’s commonly known that being responsive is important when a company is licensing their technology to others. How would you rate zplane’s customer service quality?

Knowing each other for so many years allowed our partnership to grow into friendship, so the customer service quality has always been exceptional. Thanks to zplane, we have access to technologies that are tailored to our needs, which in a fast-moving industry with evolving customer expectations is priceless.

(zplane) Thanks for this interview Arnd. What’s next for Presonus and Studio One?

This is a very exciting time for us. We’re looking forward to rolling out new products and features to help our customers create music. There will definitely be some big announcements coming up, though nothing we can discuss now.

AUFTAKT 4.1 released

AUFTAKT V4 released - AI enhanced beat tracking with improved neural network

We didn't stop with AUFTAKT 4.0 and continued to improve the training and architecture. Now AUFTAKT 4.1 offers even better tracking performance on song data and massively improved performance on loops and short snippets.

NEW: AUFTAKT V4

AUFTAKT V4 released - AI enhanced beat tracking

AUFTAKT v4 offers highly improved downbeat detection and much better tracking of tempo variations and changes. AUFTAKT is now able to track time signature changes. And last but not least, it has better support for short snippets and loops.

Besides the algorithm advances, AUFTAKT v4 also features a new API to better suit modern C++ and make data access simpler. As a result, v4 won't be a drop-in replacement for previous versions, but the integration will be fairly easy.

KORT v2 released

KORT v2 - chord detection done right.

Get excellent chord analysis with KORTv2. KORT analyzes the harmonic content of music recordings and returns the chords with their corresponding time stamps. Choose between Basic Mode that recognizes only major and minor chords, or Extended Mode that features a larger set of chord types containing between three and four pitches. The chords can be aligned with beat times from different sources, e.g. a fixed beat grid. Or you can use zplane's AUFTAKT beat tracking SDK that seamlessly integrates with KORT. KORT is an offline process which means it requires the complete audio file as input and also returns the result once the file has been completely analyzed.

New in version 2

• Improved chord analysis using Deep Neural Networks
• Detection has improved more than 20%, especially on more complex chords (extended set)
• Improvements have been made possible without sacrificing performance
• Kort 2 was developed in cooperation with PreSonus and is already in use in Studio One 5.1.X

RESTORE V1.2 released

RESTORE 1.2 - audio cleaning with crystal clarity

The RESTORE SDK cleans audio from background noise and clicks. It enhances the sound quality of digitized analog recordings (e.g. from vinyl, shellac discs, analog audiotapes or noisy recordings). The denoiser can reduce both stationary and non-stationary noise in audio and speech signals without the need for a pre-calculated noise fingerprint. RESTORE’s de-clicking algorithm removes click sounds. Both algorithms can work adaptively, meaning they can work without user interaction and are capable of real-time processing.

New in version 1.2

• Redesigned denoising algorithm
• On par with the best in industry
• Developed together with our friends at Image Line (FL Studio) to improve the algorithm and already in use in the latest FL Studio Mac edition
• Now very transparent at high denoising levels, especially with vocals - no spectral artifacts!

RESTORE SDK released

zplane releases a new SDK for Adaptive Audio Restauration.

zplane announces RESTORE, an adaptive noise reduction and declicking SDK. This is the first audio restoration SDK also available for mobile platforms. The SDK cleans recordings from background noise and clicks, perfect for enhancing mobile recordings but equally suited for cleaning studio recordings.

Both algorithms can work adaptively and therefore are able to work without user interaction and are capable of real-time processing.

The RESTORE SKD is available on PC, MacOS, Linux and on mobile platforms.

COLOREDWAVEFORM SDK released

zplane releases a new SDK for plotting color- and meaningful waveforms for DJs The COLOREDWAVEFORM SDK provides developers easy access to colored waveform displays as they are standard nowadays in DJ software.

TONART v3 SDK released

zplane updates TONART key detection SDK TONART v3 offers highly improved detection rate over its predecessor which has already been an industry standard. Especially with crititical EDM the detection rate has been improved by over 50% putting tONaRT v3 at the top of what is available in the market.

Retune SDK released

zplane presents RETUNE, a new software technology for real-time multi-pitch modification

The RETUNE SDK gives you full access to the pitch content of your audio samples and enables you to map each input pitch to any other pitch of the chromatic scale all in realtime.

That way you can change the scale of any polyphonic input as well as individual chords. RETUNE can also be used as a polyphonic pitch correction tool.

Our software plugin reTune, gives you a good impression what you can expect. The demo can be downloaded here.

BARBEATQ now available

zplane presents new software technology for automatic audio segmentation and auto cue-ing: BARBEATQ

BARBEATQ is an off-line process and requires the complete audio file as input. The content is analyzed, segmented by taken the underlying beat grid into account. As a result you get cue points and indexes for the segments. Similar parts will be marked with the same index.

The pitcure below shows a typical result produced by BARBEATQ. Red markers indicate new parts and colors show similar sections.

BARBEATQ will ease the DJ's process of choosing cue points by automatically making proposals.

The SDK is available now.  The demo tool can be downloaded here.

elastiquePro v3 demo has been updated

elastiquePro v3 demo has been updated The last elastiquePro v3 contained a very early version of élastiquePro v3 and still had some quality issues. This has been fixed with the latest update. If you encountered quality issues with the demo please download the current version here.

BARBEATQ new SDK announcement

zplane presents barbeatQ, a new software technology for automatic audio segmentation and auto cue-ing barbeatQ integrates seamlessly with aufTAKT but you're free to choose any beat tracking of your preference. barbeatQ is an off-line process and requires the complete audio file as input. The content is analyzed, segmented by taken the underlying beat grid into account. As a result you get cue points and indexes for the segments. Similar parts will be marked with the same index.

barbeatQ will ease the DJ's process of choosing cue points by automatically making proposals.

The SDK will be available soon. A demo tool can downloaded here.

KORT demo available

Kort demo tool available for download Kort, zplane's chord detection technology, can now be tested with the demo app. The app is available for Windows and OSX. Find the download here.

chord detection ready for licensing now!

April 6th, 2015: zplane presents Kort, a new software technology for detecting chords in polyphonic audio material.

Samplitude PRO X2

We are proud to announce that zplane´s élastiquePRO v3 time-stretching engine has been integrated in the new version of Samplitude PRO by MAGIX that has been released this week. For more details, please visit: http://pro.magix.com/en/samplitude/whats-new.2187.html

ELASTIQUE v3 demos updated

élastique v3.0.4 demo apps are now available for OSX and Windows. You can download the demos from here: tech demos

ELASTIQUE v3 demos available

Demo apps for the brand new élastique v3 are now available for OSX and Windows.

You can download the demos from here: tech demos

ELASTIQUE v3 available now!

June 5, 2014: zplane is proud to announce that version 3 of élastique has been released today. We have put much effort into this release making even better what has been performing very well already.

Version 3 has a highly improved transient processing even at high stretch ratios. In addition to this the memory usage has been optimized resulting in a smaller memory footprint. The limitation in stretch ratios has been eliminated - choose the ratios you like, up to infinity! The new HOLD function makes use of the infinity stretch ratio opening up new creative ways to use time-stretching.

élastique v3 (Pro and efficient) can be licensed as a Software Development Kit (SDK). For further information please contact us via email.

ELASTIQUE v3 about to be released!

zplane announces the upcoming major update of élastique, zplane´s time-stretching and pitch-shifting engine. élastique V3 will feature a highly improved transient preservation even at high stretching ratios while maintaining it's known real-time capabilities. It also introduces the new infiniStretch feature allowing stretch ratios up to infinity which will open up new possibilities for sound design and creative DJ-ing.

Version 3 will be available as élastique efficient and élastiquePro.

DJUCED app powered by zplane

DJUCED app by Guillemot Corporation is powered by our aufTAKT technology. Get more info here:
http://www.djuced.com/djuced-app/discover-djuced-app/

Halion 5 with élastique

Steinberg's new Halion 5 includes élastique Efficient for time stretching and pitch shifting. Find out more about Halion at the manufacturer's site

CrossDJ features élastique keylock

MixVibes' CrossDJ for iPad comes with the zplane élastique engine. Find out more about CrossDJ and its keylock at the manufacturer's site.

zplane present: sonicAPI.com online audio processing service

Berlin, October 25, 2012: The free public beta of the new online audio processing service sonicAPI.com was launched earlier today. sonicAPI.com offers an API for professional grade audio effects and high end music processing engines to web and app developers. For a long time, many of these technologies were only accessible through proprietary C++- interfaces as opposed to the easy-to-use HTTP interface sonicAPI.com provides.

The featured technologies include effects such as reverberation, time stretching and pitch shifting (changing the tempo and pitch independently) and analysis engines for the detection of tempo, loudness, and musical key. More technologies will be added continuously. They enable developers to build services for automatic audio database tagging, for creating mash-ups of songs with different tempo and key, and for applying state-of-the-art effects to their recordings.

"The increasing diversity of programming languages and platforms used for music processing results in increasing difficulties for developers to integrate our highly optimized C++ software development kits into their apps. Moving these technologies into the cloud and offering an easy, platform-independent interface speeds up the development cycle and allows our technologies to be used on any platform in any programming language", says founder Alexander Lerch.

For more info, please visit www.sonicAPI.com.

Book on Audio Content Analysis

New text book on signal processing algorithms in Music Information Retrieval (MIR).

zplane co-owner Alexander Lerch explains machine listening algorithms in his recently published book. Detailed info is available on the book's website.

[aufTAKT] tempo tracking now also on Blackberry

The Pacemaker app for the PlayBook uses zplane's [aufTAKT] SDK. Learn more at the Pacemaker product site.

zplane SDKs in vjay

algoriddim's recently launched app vjay for iPad integrates [aufTAKT] for tempo and beat tracking, fx::pack for audio effects, and élastique for time and pitch scaling. Learn more on their product page.

Scratch DJ Academy with zplane.technology

Stanton's Scratch DJ Academy MIX! software now includes élastique, [aufTAKT], and tONaRT for BPM and key matching. Check out their website for more info.

4Tune Karaoke Scoring

Signal processing SDK for real-time pitch tracking and karaoke rating.

zplane announce the release of a new signal analysis SDK targeted at embedded and web developers: the 4Tune karaoke scoring SDK.

4Tune automatically detects the pitch of a singer  with a low latency real-time pitch tracking algorithm and rates the pitch deviation from a musical score.

4Tune is highly optimized for embedded devices such as the iPhone. The pitch tracking technology is based on the same core used by the professional grade pitch correction SDK élastique Tune.

Elastique: now on Android

zplane's Elastique efficient now available for the Android operating system. zplane's Elastique efficient engine, already used by millions of musicians and producers on MacOS, Windows, Linux, and iOS, is now available for Android platforms as well. This brings the well-known studio quality time and pitch scaling to (powerful) Android devices. Watch a demonstration of real-time time-stretching on a phone here:

DJUCED with zplane.technology

The new DJ software DJUCED integrates élastique efficient, tONaRT and [aufTAKT] for the perfect mix. Check out www.djuced.com.

djay for Mac now with 5 different zplane SDKs

The new version of djay 4 for Mac uses multiple zplane SDKs such as [aufTAKT] for tempo detection, S.R.C. for sample rate conversion, fx:pack for numerous audio effects, élastique efficient for time stretching and pitch shifting, and our Metering for loudness measurement. Learn more at the djay product site.

Music OS comes with élastique Pro

The brand new Music OS 3.0 features élastique Pro as time stretching engine. Learn more at the Open Labs website.

Virtual DJ with élastique

Atomix included élastique efficient in Virtual DJ. Find out more about Virtual DJ at their product site.

élastique Tune: Pitch Correction SDK

zplane present élastique Tune, a licensable software technology for correcting pitch and timing of single-voiced audio signals. élastique Tune is a technology for manipulating the pitch and the timing of monophonic audio signals. It provides access to high level musical parameters and allows the developer to easily modify both melody and performance characteristics.
élastique Tune is based on the highly acclaimed élastique SOLOIST engine which powers products such as Steinberg's VariAudio and FL Studio's Newtone.

The key features of {cms_selflink page='elastique-tune' text='élastique Tune'} are:

• extensive possibilities of manipulating pitch, pitch contour and timing on a local and global level
• easy to use Application Programmer's Interface (API)
• highest audio quality with the well-known élastique time stretching and pitch shifting engine

élastique Pro now in Sequel 3

Steinberg uses élastique Pro as stretch and pitch engine of Sequel V3. Learn more on Steinberg's product site.

djay for iPad now with élastique key lock

djay 1.2 now includes élastique efficient on the iPad 2. Learn more at the djay product site

Metering SDK V2

EBU R128 compliant loudness measurement The new version 2 of the Metering SDK offers loudness measurement compliant to EBU recommendation R128. This new long term measure of loudness estimates the perceptual loudness of tracks. This allows simple loudness correction in broadcast streams or playlists with mixed content to ensure a constant perceptual playback level.

Cubase 6 with élastique Pro

Steinberg's new Cubase 6 now features élastique Pro and élastique efficient as default time stretching engines. Learn more on Steinberg's product site.

Elastik V2

New version 2 of ueberschall's Elastik loop player has been developed by zplane. zplane teamed up with ueberschall for the development of Elastik V2, a next generation loop and sample player. Elastik includes zplane's élastique Pro and fx::pack SDKs.
Check out the video below or visit ueberschall.com directly to learn more.

élastique Pro in Band-in-a-Box

The new Band-in-a-Box 2011 sounds better than ever with zplane's élastique Pro time stretching engine! Learn more at the PG Music site.

djaying the iPad

algoriddim's djay now released for the iPad utilizing three zplane SDKs: [aufTAKT] for tempo and beat tracking, S.R.C. for sample rate conversion and the fx::pack for filters and effects. Learn more at the djay product site

Newtone Pitch Correction

New FLStudio Pitch Correction Tool developed by zplane. Check out Newtone for FLStudio, a pitch correction tool developed by zplane in close cooperation with our friends at Image-Line.
To learn more, see the video tutorial below or look at FLStudio 9.7 directly

aufTAKT V3 for iPhone

zplane announces the availability of its [aufTAKT] V3 algorithm for the iPhone. zplane's tempo and beat tracking algorithm [aufTAKT] V3 is now available for all Apple products (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) supporting iOS4.

élastique efficient for iPhone

zplane is happy to announce the availability of its elastique efficient algorithm on the iPhone. Ask us for more info.

ProDJ and ProVJ in perfect sync with [aufTAKT]

ClubDJ's ProDJ and ProVJ in their version 5 now include [aufTAKT] beat and tempo tracking. Visit their site to learn more.

[aufTAKT] v3: now in djay

The new version 3.1 of algoriddim's djay includes our new [aufTAKT] v3 tempo and beat-tracking technology. Learn more at the djay product site.

[aufTAKT] v3 released!

[aufTAKT] v3 now available! zplane releases [aufTAKT] V3, a technology for automatic tempo and beat analysis of music files. [aufTAKT] is able to identify the tempo and musical beat locations in an audio file and can be found as an integral part of numerous applications in the DJ and music production field.

The [aufTAKT] V3 features:

• improved tempo detection stability
• automatic downbeat detection
• automatic detection of time signature
• additional "forced straight tempo"- mode for electronic music
• alternative use of the [aufTAKT] V2 engine for backward compatibility

[aufTAKT] can be licensed as Software Developers Kit (SDK). For further information please visit the [aufTAKT] page or contact us via email.

[aufTAKT] v3 to be released!

zplane announce the impending release of [aufTAKT] v3 tempo tracking technology. zplane [aufTAKT], a technology for automatic tempo and beat analysis of music files, will be updated to version 3 in early 2010. [aufTAKT] is able to identify the tempo and musical beat locations in an audio file and can be found as an integral part of numerous applications in the DJ and music production field.

The new version will offer:

• improved tempo detection stability
• automatic downbeat detection
• automatic detection of time signature
• additional "forced straight tempo"- mode for electronic music

[aufTAKT] can be licensed as Software Developers Kit (SDK). For further information please visit the [aufTAKT] page or contact us via email.

Independence: now with élastique SOLOIST

The Independence Pro Software Suite by yellow tools now features élastique SOLOIST as stretching and pitching engine. Learn more at the yellow tools website.

élastique in Sony Vegas Pro

The latest release of Sony Vegas Pro v9.0c includes now élastique Pro V2. Learn more at the Sony Creative Software website.

JamVOX 1.5 with élastique

New version 1.5 of VOX's guitar software JamVOX now includes élastique efficient V2! Learn more at jamvox-online.com!

élastique efficient V1.3 update for Snow Leopard

An update for élastique efficient V1.3 for MAC is available. This update fixes a bug causing a crash on OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) systems. Versions >1.3 are not affected.
Customers still using version 1.3 of élastique efficient please send an email in order to receive the update.

élastique Pro in Sony Sound Forge Pro 10

The new Sound Forge Pro 10 by Sony Creative Software comes with élastique Pro V2! Learn more at the Sony Creative Software website.

best service ENGINE with élastique SOLOIST

best service's new sample player ENGINE comes with élastique SOLOIST V2 as time stretching and pitch shifting engine. Learn more at best service's website.

ELASTIQUE pitch plugin

New RTAS plugin powered by zplane's élastique Pro V2.1 pitch shifting engine. zplane announces a new commercial product, the ELASTIQUE plugin for real time pitch shifting.
With a plugin interface designed to allow quick and easy interaction with all parameters, elastique is designed to be the optimal plugin for pitch shifting in film and audio conversion applications, for sound design and for adjusting pitch in recording and rehearsal sessions.
The key features of ELASTIQUE are:

• multi channel: support for synchronous pitching of up to 8 audio channels
• real time: no offline pre-analysis required
• program independence: high pitch shifting quality for all types of audio (speech, monophonic, classical music, mixes, etc.)
• phase coherence: absolute phase stability between all channels
• MIDI pitch control
• formant shifting: moving of formants independent from pitch
• factory presets: typical film pull-up/pull-down settings

ELASTIQUE pitch plugin is available for RTAS (Mac OS X, Windows) at an MSRP of $499/€449.

More information online at products.zplane.de.

New AtAAK! SDK available for licensing

New licensable technology available: AtAAK! Audio-to-Audio Alignment Kit.

AtAAK! provides the mechanism for the automatic synchronization of two similar audio files. By analyzing the similarity over time between the files AtAAK! automatically applies time stretching to one file to synchronize the audio files. Thus, timing differences between different tracks of recordings can be automatically or semi-automatically be removed.

This SDK is a fusion of our research results on new music analysis systems with our work on artifact-free time-stretching solutions.

Typical applications are the adjustment of timing between two vocal lines, the automatic tempo correction of different recording takes when editing classical music and the automatic synchronization of overdubbed and (distorted) original speech.

Key features of AtAAK! are:

• Simultaneous measurement in four domains: Pitch, Timbre, Loudness and Onset Times, providing optimal customization for each file the process is applied to
• industry standard élastique Pro time stretching engine integrated into the SDK
• User-definable reference synchronization points

The SDK is immediately available from us. Please contact us directly.

Beta Testers Needed!

Beta phase for a new real time plugin about to start. We are looking for beta testers for an upcoming plugin product of ours. It will be a simple, real time and straight forward RTAS plugin.

We plan to enter the beta phase during the next two weeks, so if you are interested, we would appreciate it if you could contact us at info [at] zplane.de.

Before you apply to beta testing this plugin, please make sure that you have Pro Tools as a test host installed as this plugin will be RTAS only. In your email, please include a short description what qualifies you as a beta tester, your user name in our forum (registration free) as well as your iLok user name.

ACID with éastique Pro

Sony's ACID Pro 7 will feature élastique Pro v2 as time-stretching engine! Learn more at Sony's website.

élastique V2.1

Version 2.1 of élastique Pro and efficient is available now! The new version offers many fixes and performance improvements - the detailed list of changes is:

• performance improvements:
  • élastique Pro: general performance optimizations (up to 10% gain in certain applications)
  • élastique efficient: performance optimizations for pitching modes (up to 25% gain)
  • improved workload usage of Reset () API method
• new features:
  • new synchronization mode for real-time pitch shifting applications
• fixes:
  • several minor and major fixes in Reset () API method
  • élastique Pro: frame calculation in FlushBuffer () API method
  • élastique efficient: frame calculation in ProcessData () API method

élastique: going to the max

Simon Adcock created the MaxMSP external elastic~ that finally makes high quality stretching and shifting with élastique efficient V2 available to the MaxMSP community! Learn more at their product site!

Bison with élastique Pro

The upcoming version of the Bison DJ software by EKS now offers élastique Pro V2 time-stretching. Learn more at the EKS site.

élastique V2 in Reaper

Cockos Reaper 2.2 the first software to include the brand new élastique Pro V2. Learn more at the Cockos site.

élastique Pro V2.0.2

New version of élastique Pro available: maintenance release V2.0.2. The SDK is immediately available from us as an upgrade or evaluation copy. The demo has also been updated and fixes some SSE3 issues.

élastique Pro/efficient V2.0.1

New version of élastique Pro and efficient available: maintenance release V2.0.1. The SDK is immediately available from us as an upgrade or evaluation copy.

MixVibes CROSS with élastique

CROSS, MixVibes' new cross platform DJ software comes with zplane élastique for time stretching and pitch shifting. Learn more at the MixVibes site.

élastique V2

élastique Pro V2 and élastique efficient V2 available now! zplane unveil version 2 of the time stretching and pitch shifting engines élastique Pro and élastique efficient. élastique stretching can be found as an integral part of numerous digital audio workstations and DJ applications.

The new version offers many audio quality enhancements, including better transient preservation, increased bass resolution and improved high tonal frequency processing. Many optimizations and new interface functionality improve the performance, integration and handling of élastique significantly.
The win32 demo and the SDK documentation will be available online soon. Meanwhile, please find some more detailed information on the {cms_selflink page='description-elastique' text='élastique page' title='élastique description'}.

about élastique

The élastique time stretching engines are used in many applications of the music, film, broadcast, and entertainment industry. Transparent audio quality combined with real-time processing capabilities have made élastique the de facto standard for time scaling in real-time audio applications.

Typical applications are:

• master tempo and key lock for DJ applications
• beat and pitch modification for audio applications
• slowdown of recordings for practice and transcription
• time and pitch adjustment for film post-production

Handbuch der Audiotechnik

The new german reference on audio technology.

M-Audio Torq 1.5 features zplane technology

Torq 1.5 DJ software now integrates zplane élastique for time stretching and pitch shifting. Learn more at the M-Audio Torq page.

élastique public beta

Preliminary release of élastique Pro/efficient V2. zplane announces the impending release of the second generation of our élastique time stretching and pitch shifting family. [The preliminary demo is not available anymore. For more info and a current demo application, please visit the élastique page.
Feel free to discuss the new élastique in our forum.

DJ-1800 with [aufTAKT] tempo detection

Mac-based DJ software DJ-1800 now utilizes [aufTAKT] tempo detection. Learn more at their website DJ-1800.com.

Reaper 2 comes with élastique

Cockos Reaper 2 supports full élastique Pro time stretching and pitch shifting functionality and quality! Please learn more at the Cockos website.

vielklang 1.1 released

The new version 1.1 of vielklang as the easiest harmonization tool for musicians is now available. zplane.development released version 1.1 of vielklang, the audio harmonization instrument for easy generation of vocal or instrumental harmonies with up to four voices. The utilization of voice leading and harmony progression models allows vielklang to create harmony parts in a more musical way than traditional harmony processors and makes it a versatile and creative tool for musicians, songwriters and producers.

Version 1.1 now offers support for the RTAS interface and includes the following new features:

• two-voice harmonization mode, generating only a second voice in a typical backing vocal style
• availability of 7th chords
• timing humanization control
• single note splitting and muting
• drag’n’drop and file export of audio and midi data

Find the new version directly on the vielklang download page.

vielklang - The world needs more harmony!

vielklang audio harmonization instrument for Mac/PC unveiled!

Today zplane.development announced the availability of vielklang, a plug-in instrument for instant audio harmonization. vielklang generates up to four voices from a single-voiced audio input. The progression of each individual voice is controlled by sophisticated harmony progression and voice leading models, resulting in musically meaningful harmonization without any configuration efforts.
With vielklang musicians can easily generate and prototype natural-sounding background vocals and brass sections, modify melodies and single-voiced loops in terms of pitch and scale, and experiment with various harmonizations or chords triggered by different MIDI-inputs. It allows the user to synthesize up to four voices, edit harmonies and single pitches, and convert audio to MIDI.
The four voices don't simply move in parallel, their individual progression is controlled by a complete set of voice leading rules and sophisticated harmony progression models. This musical intelligence and knowledge lets the user focus entirely on musical issues, rather than technical or theoretical ones. vielklang helps to achieve musically meaningful results without having to bother about root note, scale, tuning frequency, harmony progression and voice leading.
While vielklang provides instant and meaningful results, experienced users also have the option of changing harmonization parameters like the range (ambitus) or distribution of the voices, modifying root note and scale, editing single harmonies and changing individual pitches in each of the voices.

vielklang’s main features:

• instant 4-voice harmonization of any single-voiced audio input
• integrated voice leading and harmony progression models, resulting in entirely natural-sounding automatic harmonization
• one-click modification of key scales and harmonies
• high quality, formant preserving, flexible pitch shifting
• audio-to-MIDI functionality for all voices
• customizable user interface

vielklang is available for AU and VST for OSX and Windows at vielklang.zplane.de for an introductory offer of Euro 159,- / USD 199,- until May 31^st, 2007. After that vielklang retails for Euro 179,-/ USD 249,-

[tONaRT] automatic key detection V2

zplane releases new version of [tONaRT] key detection SDK. Version 2 of [tONaRT] automatic key detection focusses on internal optimizations. It contains a complete rewrite of the polyphonic pitch estimation [tONaRT] utilizes for the key detection. Furthermore, due to the weighted combination of several different key detection approaches, the overall reliability has been significantly improved.
[tONaRT] key detection can be licensed as software developers kit (SDK) for various operating systems and platforms.

[museg] music/speech segmentation

zplane releases new music/speech classification SDK. The previously released music/speech segmentation SDK is now re-released, and includes an additional training SDK. This allows the user to customize the classification and adapt the algorithm towards his specific use cases.

z.reverb v2.0

zplane releases new version of z.reverb. Version 2 of the reverberation SDK z.reverb provides a new high quality mode that features a significant quality improvement to previous versions. Naturally, the previous quality modes are still available.

élastique Pro 1.5 features polyphonic formant preserving pitch shifting

The new version 1.5 of the élastique Pro SDK offers formant preserving pitch shifting also for polyphonic input files. The latest release augments the high quality time stretching and pitch shifting algorithm élastique Pro (V1.5) with a polyphonic formant preserving pitch shifting option. This way polyphonic instruments or choirs keep their natural character when being pitch shifted.