Following the acquisition of certain assets and the complete set of intellectual property of Cakewalk Inc. from Gibson Brands on 2/23/18, BandLab Technologies announced the relaunch of SONAR as Cakewalk by BandLab - available free-to-download to all BandLab users worldwide.
As of Feb 21st 2018, information elsewhere on this website may no longer be accurate.
The best way to judge an instrument is through its' sound which is why we've created new sound examples that highlight just a few of Rapture Pro's many impressive presets. Take a listen and decide for yourself.
The Atmospheric Nightmare patch has a lot of depth and I felt that it lent itself as a good backdrop for an ambient, post-rock sort of piece, with minimal percussion.
Brassy Soft is a more standard, analog sounding patch that is found in so many pop tunes and TV/film scores from the 70s all the way up until now. Using a patch like this always deserves a fitting tribute, so I felt that it would be appropriate to make an example that would be comfortable in one of the lighter scenes of Scarface.
Noisy Pads is an incredibly ominous sound, and works as a great melodic catalyst over a slow moving hip hop groove.
Another retro film-score type example, Scattered Harmonics is another great soundscape that can be used to fill out a song that's in need of some trippy background content, or to provide the backdrop for a dark TV series or film.
Bass Synth provided a great sound for a punchy rapid bassline, great for a house-inspired EDM groove.
Industrial patch for industrial music; this sound inspired a later-era Nine Inch Nails style rhythm.
All I could think of after jamming out on the Moving Bass patch is the DJ Shadow classic 'Number Song'; nuff said.
Theres a lot that can be done with the Angry Robot patches; I chose to sample it, slice it up and turn it into a set of percussive fills to complement a steady, slow electronic beat.
The Bulky Octave Bass is a diverse bass synth sound that is incredibly full, and can really pop when sidechained against a steady kick and snare.
Chorus Out of Phase has a very organic sound that really does act as an alternative to a stringed instrument; I thought that pitting it against a more ambient backdrop would be a cool juxtaposition.
Ever seen Fight Club? The Talking Bass patch could have been used to write all the music for that film.
Clicky Melody is super dark and I wanted to create an example that embodied its dark vibes.
The Resonator Clav inspired a midtempo hip hop/r&b beat, and acts really well as a snappy lead line for that genre.
Use the DK DR Hi Hat as a substitute hi-hat for all your rap beats and you can practically hear Lil' Jon or Wiz Kalifa growling atop of it.
Groove 1-3-7-11-13 sounded great sidechained against a four on the floor, french-house style beat.
The Groovy Plucked Goose patch is quite unconventional, so I thought a more unconventional example that highlighted its sound-design capabilities would be fitting. It came out sounding dark, brooding, and futuristic.
Koto of Doom is a more atonal take on the traditional koto instrument, so I thought I'd combine it with some more standard koto tones to make a sort of modern, world-music example to showcase it.
Synth Percussion is a very percussive tone (hence the name), and since it is also very melodic it acts as a great catalyst for leads against more complex, moving bass sounds such as the one in this example.
Big 5ths Soundtrack is a nice, analog-sounding patch that sounds uplifting against some more electronic elements, like the percussion in this example.
Faux Steel inspired a more standard, singer-songwriter arrangement, and I sequenced the notes to ring out (just by elongating the MIDI notes) to emulate notes ringing out as they would on a real guitar. I'd say the effect worked quite well, and this proves to be a great substitute if a steel guitar isn't readily available.
This Jazz Guitar tone reminded me of some of the laid back lines of Jon Scofield, so I tried to put together a basic jazz/blues example inspired by his licks.
Jazz Octaves inspired some more funky blues guitar lines, and works for both rhythm and lead lines, so I decided to use the patch for both here.
The Mute Neck + MW Slapback sounds awesome as the basis of a reggae/dub style lead line.
Cosmos Lead inspired a nice trip hop beat in the vein of Massive Attack, and works well as an atmospheric pad over this style of music.
Another incredibly dark sound, Phaser Saws fits in as an ambient addition to this slow, industrial example also inspired by the one and only Nine Inch Nails.
I don't quite no why, but upon first hearing it, Pluck Me Sideways just screamed 'Play me over an Amen break!'
This Video Game-type example is comprised of a super simple, basic square wave patch I assembled in Rapture Pro. Aside from all its synthesis/sampling capabilities, Rapture Pro remains a great engine for generating raw wave forms, suitable for this retro-style video game score.
The z3ta + Saw Lead + Velocity Strings example is inspired by some of the late 90s hip hop tunes; the patch added that retro flair and I added some filtered bass sounds below to give it a more modern spin.
The Reverse Piano patch is perfect for pensive, thought-provoking parts in your project.
Dream Sine Piano gave way to some laid back R&B.
The Phase Piano Example is sort of Danger-Mouse inspired. Playing the patch in a lower register made me think of some of the wider bass sounds in 'Feel Good Inc.'.
Basic Bass Arp is awesome as a starting point for an EDM project, and I dialed it down a notch here from the standard house tempo to do this example in around 110 BPM.
Also a great starting point for an EDM tune, Berlin Love screams trance and house.
I don't know quite what inspired the example for Clocks 2-3-7, but it certainly ended up being a catchy one.
When playing Slapping Stepper, the first thing I thought of was Flea of the Chili Peppers; as hard as it is to do, I wanted to make something that captured even a minor semblance of the attitude he exudes.
Acoustic and Synthetic Strings definitely works well for film scoring projects as it combines the synthetic and organic qualities of various string sounds.
Like the previous patch, Very Short Ensemble is an excellent substitute for string parts and orchestral mockups, exemplified in this example here.
Oscillator Orchestra has proven to work well with various strings, and I used it here with some subtle cellos and a piano (plus a Goldeneye-esque filtered drum loop) to create a tense video-game inspired theme.