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TB-303 Give-Aways from Propellerheads and d-lusion 150

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the no-school-like-the-old-school dept.
slashflood writes "Good news for those of you who are into music synthesizers: Propellerheads has opened its Rebirth Museum and gives away the 'revolutionary' software simulation of the classic Roland TB-303. Interestingly, that happened just a day after the small German company d-lusion released another 'legendary' TB-303 simulator called Rubberduck as a free give-away."
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TB-303 Give-Aways from Propellerheads and d-lusion More

TB-303 Give-Aways from Propellerheads and d-lusion

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  • Even more importantly, they're giving away rebirth mods that were previously only availible to registered users. Go get the SIDstation mod and start making some chiptunes!
    • yeah the mods are definetly a cool aspect of the program, some of them are frickin amazing. my favorite (and actually the reason I actually got the software) was the Pitch Black mod that came with the software. who needs those pesky 808 and 909s..

      the mod aspect of rebirth is probably the best (and only) good use of skinning that I've encountered over the years (or have a recollection of now) - unlike most other skinnable software that are only eyecandy and add nothing to the software - the "skins" rebirth

    • Re:Shitty Techno HOOOOOOOO (Score:4, Funny)

      by Jesus_666 ( 702802 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @09:03PM (#13486425)
      Okay, normally I wouldn't have cared about this, but the SIDstation mod had me sold. For that I even gave them one of my e-mail addesses and told them that my post code was 31337.

      There just ain't nothing like the sound of a MOS Technologies SID.
      • Well it really comes down to which SID chip you're talking about. One had a cleaner sound and better filters, the other was dry and buzzy.

          I made SID tunes back in the olden tymes and for people to really appreciate them they had to have the same C64 I did to match the chips.

          BTW as a point of trivia, Ensoniq engineered those chips. Probably one of the greatest synth chips ever.
    • If you like that you might also want to check out the very cool QuadraSID VST [refx.net]. Basically, a SID emulator in a VST.

      And for those who are a little more Atari leaning, there's also YMVST [preromanbritain.com], which recreates those lovely ST sounds.. and it's free! Looks just like MusicMon2, too :)
      • I've been a quadraSID user since its release. I also own a HardSID card, which is excellent.
        I wish they would release a USB HardSID, I would buy it in a second.
        • and when software doesn't blow your hair back anymore... build your own... :-) [ladyada.net]

          Last I heard, it's back in a pre-order phase, after doing a round of orders (check the forums for some really cool mods to the design). Apparently they're having problems tracking down some of the parts, but they post instructions and parts-needed for everything (including USB interface, IIRC), if you wanted to build your own. (the orders were either for kits, or pre-builts, I don't recall which.)

          I just went to the link, and

          • Come to think of it,

            track down the parts yourself, $150

            fashion your own hardwood case using modifed podium from lecture hall,

            having a chest height 303 on wheels... priceless

            when you can't finish reading the article after skipping out to supper, you can also make an attempt at a witty retort to your own contribution to the discussion (and wonder... in a discussion about software 303s, why would a DIY 303 *REALLY* not respond...) be gentle

  • The pheads server melt, now they use torrents... (Score:5, Informative)

    by eshefer ( 12336 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @04:41PM (#13485134) Homepage Journal
    propellerhead software originaly released the rebirth ISO as a download from thier site last week. the responce was much bigger then they anticipated and by saturday they pulled the software from the server, and replaced it with torrents..

    PC iso torrent:

    http://81.92.66.41/torrents/rebirth_iso_installati on.zip.torrent [81.92.66.41]

    mac iso torrent:

    http://81.92.66.41/torrents/ReBirth%20RB-338%202.0 .img.zip.torrent [81.92.66.41]

    gentelmen: start your squelchings

  • Greatest user feedback comments ever! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 05, 2005 @04:42PM (#13485141)
    Wish more companies were brave enough to post user comments like these:

    User feedback was overwhelming, ranging from "the door-bending bass response makes rebirths 303 section sound like a touch tone device" to "fucking brilliant" and the most famous quote which says it all: "it is like fucking a hot hollywood bitch for the price of a corner crack slut".

    • Re:Greatest user feedback comments ever! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by drx ( 123393 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @06:12PM (#13485598) Homepage
      I don't know ... back in the 90s shareware days i thought this was completely normal.

      Rubberduck was freaky underground software, i used it from versions on that looked like Windows3.1. It was the software to produce the cheapest and best sounding bass; as a bedroom producer you could finally laugh about the people that rent studios or spend huge money on gear and think that is half of the music already done. It started just then.

      Today even GNU stuff looks polished. I think this is boring. I want announcements like "KDE new release with bomb shit doorbending menus comin atcha like cleopatra" or "new version of gnumeric -- coded on bad LSD" or whatever ... but nowadays it is all about konquering the (business) desktop and adapting the same makes-me-yawn language as corporations. Takes some fun out of computing.
      • There's tons of free software coding with that sort of perspective (ie good old fashioned hacking)

        Yeah, spreadsheet software isn't exactly up there on the list of things you'd want to work on while "on bad LSD". No shit....

        Spreadsheets and desktop software aren't "the bomb shit". They're dull-assed financial and desktop software that corporate types in suits would use.
  • WOOHOO! Something useful in my music on /. at last! Never thought I'd see it! Thanks slashflood! I really like PropellerHeads software (Reason) but I still like Fruity Loopz too :D Dug

  • TB-303/MC-202 (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by caluml ( 551744 )
    I had an MC-202 - similar in sound output, but not "cool" like the 303. Wish I still had it... :(

  • Propellerhead did not remove copy protection (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 05, 2005 @04:52PM (#13485203)
    Propellerhead made it free without having the sense to remove the copy protection. That's why you have to download a huge 500MB ISO instead of a 16MB application. The music gear website MusicThing has all the info on this [blogspot.com].

  • Discount upgrade to Reason 3.0 for ReBirth owners (Score:4, Informative)

    by Andy_R ( 114137 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @04:58PM (#13485225) Homepage Journal
    If (like me) you own ReBirth, Propellerheads are offering massive discounts on upgrading/crossgrading any version (even the 8 year-old v1.0 that I had) to the latest Reason v3.0 - they even threw in a free ReBirth R.I.P. t-shirt because I was in the first 450!

    If you only want Reason, it's probably cheaper to search out an end-of-line ReBirth in your local music shop and then upgrade.
    • I bought 1.0 in a store about a month after 2.0 came out. Seeing that there was no version information on the box, I contacted Propellerheads beforehand to make sure I could upgrade for free if it was the 1.0 version, and they told me I had to do so through Steinberg. Steinberg assured me it would be upgraded at no cost to me, except a small handling charge, and all I had to do was send them the receipt.

      Steinberg subjected me to an utter customer service nightmare for over a year before I gave up. Their gre

  • Correction (Score:5, Informative)

    by slashflood ( 697891 ) <<flow> <at> <howflow.com>> on Monday September 05, 2005 @05:02PM (#13485242) Homepage Journal
    They are called Propellerhead (without the trailing 's') and there is also a small note [oreillynet.com] over at O'Reilly. d-lusion is considering to release the source code and maybe a Linux version. There is a discontinued open source project, called Reborn [deadvirgins.org.uk].
    • Mod parent UP for mentioning ReBorn.
      It was free, it ran on Linux and its interface was WAY more usable that ReBirth's one.
      But Propellerhead threatened to SUE the guy because the interface looked like theirs - both of the interfaces being a IMAGE OF THE 303 !
      Fsck Propellerhead and their sh*tty software.
    • So now that ReBirth is being given away for free, what are the chances of this guy being able to continue the ReBorn project? I want to email him and ask, but can't find an email address. Gonna try and track down the ReBorn sources anyway, so thanks for letting me know about a cool Open Source audio project I hadn't heard of before.
      • I think it doesn't make sense to try to convince the author of ReBorn to continue his project. I've never seen any source and I guess it was a closed-source project.

        If you're looking for open-source audio, MIDI and sound software, you should take a look at this site [sourceforge.net] (jack applications) and also this one [linux-sound.org].

  • ReBirth is awesome... Enjoy! (Score:5, Informative)

    by dzfoo ( 772245 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @05:08PM (#13485271)
    I bought ReBirth-338 a few years ago (1998 or 1999, I think) and was very impressed by it. It not only has a TB-303 emulator, it has two of them! Along with a TR-808 (w00t!) and a TR-909 (woo-hoo!!!) beat-boxes emulators, all in there.

    It also has a simple, yet effective, sequencer for all the synthesizers, a few effects (distortion, delay, compression), and a nice Pattern Controlled Filter. In short, everything you need for swooping, hypnotic, techno tracks, or classic Freestyle Electro!

    The first time I used it I was overwhelmed by the memories of DJ'ing back in the 80s.

    Propellerheads, thanx for the memory trip, and the very cool software!!

              -dZ.
  • Please... no software simulation touches the real Roland TB-303. Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.

     
    • True, but since to most of us getting a real TB-303 or TR-808 box is out of reach, ReBirth offers a more than acceptable facsimile.

                -dZ.
    • Except that the whole acid 303 sound has been crazy played out for about 10 years now. Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.
      • And a one trick pony at that. What is truly disgusting though, is to look at the new Roland stuff with preset after preset of 303 emulations.

        Isn't there a word for emulating yourself? ;-)

      • Re:Only The REAL Thing Counts... (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        And guitars or (insert an instrument here) have been played since they were introduced. There's a reason some sounds/instruments will continue to be used - they sound good.

        • Re:Only The REAL Thing Counts... (Score:4, Insightful)

          by RexRhino ( 769423 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @11:49PM (#13487117)
          Yes, but there is musical innovation happening with guitars. People are constantly doing new things with guitars.

          Where as the 303 sound has totally stagnated. The 303 was remarkable because it was this cheap little synth that cats could buy for next to nothing and create sounds that the makers of the 303 never intended. It was part of the whole philosophy of black urban youth taking this discarded technology and turning into something remarkable, a kind of metaphor for discarded Urban areas like Detroit and Chicago that spawned Techno and House music respectivly.

          But now the 303 isn't a cheap synth for underground producers... it is an expensive synth for collectors that creates a sound that stopped being innovative ten years ago. It is not the instrument that the Juan Atkins or Derek May of the 21st century is going to use, it is for pretensious wankers... it is like collecting a Stratovarius.

          • Yes, but there is musical innovation happening with guitars. People are constantly doing new things with guitars.

            Where as the 303 sound has totally stagnated.

            The 303 is totally capable of making sounds other than the cliched "303 sound"; indeed I suspect that the 303 designers never expected users to turn the resonance up quite so high, to use the upper pitch range so much, to make those frequency sweeps, etc.

            Remember the "TB" stands for "The Bass": they expected it to be used as a stand-in for a bass playe

    • Re:Only The REAL Thing Counts... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Andy_R ( 114137 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @05:44PM (#13485455) Homepage Journal
      Speaking as a TB-303 owner, who spent quite a while a/b testing ReBirth, it does come remarkably close.

      I've been fooled from time to time, and I've had exactly that sort of 'you can tell it's real' comment from people who know I own the real thing, about tracks I've used purely ReBirth on.

      • Well, if as a 303 owner you were fooled by Rebirth, be prepared to drop your jaw as you hear Audiorealism Bassline [audiorealism.se]

        It's taken a long time, but this is finally one that steals Rebirth's crown and gets you the real 303 guts (no I'm not related to the author)

      • Speaking also as a TB303 owner there's another thing that computer simulations of analogue gear just cannot compete with. Twiddling multiple knobs in real time.

        For example I once did a track with a couple of mates where we were using a TR909, a MIDId TR808, two TB303s (one of which was also driving an SH101 via its CV outputs) plus some pad sounds from a couple of Korg Wavestations and a Juno 106.

        The track actually consisted of several repeating patterns (of different lengths) all overlaid with each other
    • As if it REALLY matters when you'd be hard pressed to have that many people know what a TB-303 is, nevermind what a "real" one sounds like.

    • Please... no software simulation touches the real Roland TB-303.

      Yeah, the virtual buttons on software just don't stick like the real thing. It used to take me a long time to program a patch on my old TB-303 because it would think I'd pressed a note twice when I hadn't. That and I needed to use an adapter to connect it to my MIDI set-up. The TB-303 is old and overrated, and can do with updating, in my opinion.

  • Wasn't there an open source 808 emulator shut down (Score:4, Insightful)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @05:14PM (#13485300) Homepage Journal
    somewhere? I can't recall exactly when, maybe 3-4 years ago, but I seem to recall another open source 808 emulator being shut down by propellerheads and then pulled from sourceforge for being "too close" in UI design to rebirth.

    Not that it isn't a good thing propellerheads is doing by giving it away for free, but shutting down open source projects (this was even mentioned on slash) is a bad thing for everyone in the long run. How about releasing your source propellerheads? Re-birth is about as old as Quake3, if Id can do it, so can you.

    Anyways, end rant.

    • Re:Wasn't there an open source 808 emulator shut d (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yes, Reborn [deadvirgins.org.uk]. Wonder if this will affect the status of this project that Propellerheads shut down.

    • Re:Wasn't there an open source 808 emulator shut d (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      There was reborn http://www.deadvirgins.org.uk/reborn/index.html [deadvirgins.org.uk] which was already pretty good in 2001 and an awesome linux audio app but propellorheads killed it because the ui was too similar to rebirth.

      Given that they were copying the TB-303 808 and 909 interfaces I dont see how they could own the concept of putting them on a computer screen but there you go, like they say in TFA:

      "The spirit of sharing was a vital part of the ReBirth Community. People who shared ideas, who offered their expertise, and wh
      • Given that they were copying the TB-303 808 and 909 interfaces I dont see how they could own the concept of putting them on a computer screen
        Propellerhead actually went through the process of getting explicit permission from Roland to copy the interfaces of the 303, 808, and 909. Regardless, David Singer (the author of ReBorn) simply doesn't feel like fighting a copyright lawsuit, even if it appears to be one he could win based on precedent alone.
    • Speaking as an official Propellerhead _and_ a /. reader: The reason we acted on the reborn project (which wasn't open source I think - just a Linux product) wasn't that it was too close in UI design. It was because it was our UI - they used our graphics. We told them we didn't mind competition, but that they'd have to make their own UI instead of stealing our bitmaps. Apparently they didn't feel like doing that and blamed us for shutting them down, which we never did. /tage widsell propellerhead software
      • "Speaking as an official Propellerhead _and_ a /. reader: The reason we acted on the reborn project (which wasn't open source I think - just a Linux product) wasn't that it was too close in UI design. It was because it was our UI - they used our graphics. We told them we didn't mind competition, but that they'd have to make their own UI instead of stealing our bitmaps. Apparently they didn't feel like doing that and blamed us for shutting them down, which we never did. /tage widsell propellerhead software"

        t
  • "Interestingly, that happened just a day after the small German company d-lusion released another 'legendary' TB-303 simulator called Rubberduck as a free give-away."

    So, great minds do think alike.
  • Last time i checked out rubberduck is came bundled with adware / spyware...

    Does it still come with this?
  • Wait until you see what a program hard wired to 800 x 600 looks like on your 23 inch dell lcd...

    Still the program was quite revolutionary back in the day...

  • x0xb0x kit synthesizer (Score:5, Informative)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) * on Monday September 05, 2005 @06:02PM (#13485540) Journal
    If you want to build your own hardware TB-303 clone (and plus some), check out Ladyada's open-source x0b0x kit [ladyada.net]. (cached) [64.233.161.104]. The documentation is excellent, even for a beginner builder. And, they've gone and painstakingly measured all the transistors from an original TB-303 to accurately recreate the sound. It's a steal at $300.
  • The reason Propellerheads are giving away rebirth for free is that it has been superseeded by better simulations on the TB303. I never found rebirth that good at simulating the 303. The distortion was crap. Bassline gives a much better sound than rebirth. I respect Propellerheads as much as everyone else, but, I've never been such a big fan of rebirth. As soon as I found Bassline, I never looked back...
    • I actually prefer Rebirths sound(though I'll grant that Bassline is a more accurate emulation of the original)... what puts Bassline on top for me is the ease of sequencing. ReBirth is a *bitch* to program and sequence, especially if there is any possibility of changing the instrumentation. If I were to do a bassline in ReBirth, and changed my mind and wanted to throw it on my Electribe, that would be a serious pain in the ass. With Bassline, all I have to do is redirect the MIDI messages for that part.

  • Reborn for Linux (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There was a version of Rebirth for Linux called Reborn that looked identical and sounded a little better.
    The developers had to stop distributing it after the Propellerheads sued them.
    It was free for download, but the source was never released.
    I wonder if the Propellerheads would let them distribute it now?

  • Random Data Bandwidth Waste (Score:5, Interesting)

    by _aa_ ( 63092 ) <j.uaau@ws> on Monday September 05, 2005 @06:57PM (#13485826) Homepage Journal
    Check out this post from musicthing [blogspot.com].

    "The app installer itself is only 16 MB, ReBirth uses a copy protection scheme which involves a 128 MB data file on the CD. It's actually a nonsense file that contains just random data, but ReBirth won't boot without it. The rest of the CD isn't really necessary, but includes a Mac partition (which has roughly the same files including another instance of the 128 MB data file), and lastly there are 3 audio tracks that showcase ReBirth if you put it in a CD player."
  • Just wondering if these are the same guys who made this CD [apple.com], or are Propellerheads the band and Propellerhead Software totally unrelated other than the name?
  • ... at least according to [lyricsfreak.com] Fatboy Slim.

  • Demo Songs (Score:4, Funny)

    by Retrospecter ( 807978 ) on Monday September 05, 2005 @10:10PM (#13486720)
    If you download Rebirth and want to hear what it can do, listen to "A Taste of Haste" in the demo songs folder (because I wrote it and therefore it is good).
  • Bloop Scwahump Wah Wah WEEEEEEEE

  • Real one for sale (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Lispy ( 136512 )
    Hi,
    in case someone want a real, physical one. I am selling mine on e-bay right now:
    7348497421

    Sorry if this looks like a shameless attempt to push my auction, in fact it is. :)

    But maybe someone is interested...

    cheers,
    Marcus

  • It's not free, but I wanted to toss out AudioRealism Bassline [audiorealism.se] as another great 303 emulation, which I generally prefer to Rebirth -- it has a larger interface, and more importantly it's a standard VST so it integrates easily with whatever production/DAW software you happen to be using (it sounds great too).

    I'm still pretty interested in Rebirth for the 808/909 emulations, though; I haven't seen any other program that does as good a job reproducing the tweakability of those drum boxes.

    Also am way excited

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