We've seen various new hardware products from Roland today, but by far the most curious announcement is that of R-Mix. This new piece of software is designed for people who want to 'break apart' a stereo mix and edit its individual elements.
These elements are displayed as 'harmonic matter'. Apparently, you can adjust their levels and panning, as well as erase/extract them and add effects. You can make tempo and pitch adjustments, too.
R-Mix is based on two Roland technologies - VariPhrase and V-Remastering. We're certainly keen to test its capabilities; conceptually, it sounds similar to Hit'n'Mix, which we looked at earlier this year, but we'll have to see how it works in practice.
R-Mix will be available in November for Mac and PC priced at £85. A simplified iPad version is also in development. The official word from Roland is below.
Roland is proud to announce R-MIX, a new era in audio processing software, giving recording professionals and those just starting out the tools to manipulate stereo mix audio easily, visually and intuitively in real time. Featuring the newly developed proprietary V-Remastering technology and the highly-acclaimed VariPhrase® technology, R-MIX allows you to see the individual components of a stereo mix as colour-coded clouds of harmonic matter and to apply effects or centre cancel exactly where and as you wish within the mix. R-MIX can also help musicians learn songs by offering focused access to any desired instrument in the mix and the ability to slow down fast or complicated sections.
By graphically breaking down the stereo mix data into three elements (frequency, panning, and level), R-MIX makes it possible actually to see the instruments inside the mix, using the Harmonic Placement. Change the panning and level, erase, extract, and add effects, and independently adjust the pitch and speed of the playback as desired. Lower the level of the vocal or any other instrument within the mix to create minus-one karaoke files or create remixes using two pairs of stereo tracks. Mastering live recording sources is also possible by adjusting the instrument levels and applying noise reduction and effects, and with R-MIX, you can create the highest quality sound and then export your project as an audio file for music player playback.
Since there is only one R-MIX screen to operate, workflow increases, and there is no need to switch screens. Menus are aligned according to the workflow, easing navigation, and a simple help window for each task allows for hands-free operation. Windows/Mac compatibility and the intuitive design also make it accessible to everyone from serious DAW magicians to novice users and integrates easily into education and video production settings.
R-MIX Tab, a simplified version of R-MIX, will be available for the Apple iPad later this year. This iPad application also uses the V-Remastering technology to extract audio elements and easily creates minus-one data from an audio file.
V-Remastering
Roland's innovative V-Remastering digital signal-processing technology gives you total control over the elements within a stereo audio file. Built into R-MIX, V-Remastering makes it possible for you to see each stereo mix as colour-coded clouds of energy and harmonic matter, and easily isolate the individual instruments or elements within the mix and change their panning positions and levels. V-Remastering also gives you the ability to erase, extract, or add effects to each element within a mix. V-Remastering enables music-editing capabilities never possible before!
VariPhrase
In conjunction with V-Remastering, R-MIX employs Roland's acclaimed VariPhrase technology, which can make your audio "elastic." The secret to elastic audio is the independent control of pitch, time, and formant*. Smoothly adjust pitch without changing tempo, for example, or adjust tempo without changing pitch. Audio is elastic, and freely under your control in real time. Even more amazing is that all of this can be done without changing the sound quality of the original recording.
*Formant parameter not available in R-MIX.
R-MIX is expected to ship in December with a street price of £85. For more information, please visit www.RolandConnect.com.
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