Novation Remote SL

Novation released the excellent Remote series a few years back now to much acclaim, and they've just reclaimed their leading position in the controller keyboard market with the launch of the Remote SL.

What currently sets this aside from all others on the market is their "Automapping" feature. In their words :

It’s the first controller keyboard that detects the software you are using in your virtual studio and logically ‘automaps’ that software’s controllers to the keyboard’s own front panel knobs and sliders, all at the click of a button. In short, no more fiddly overlays as the keyboard takes all the hard work out of assigning its controls to the software you are using.

From reviews it works fairly well, although only with Cubase SX3 & Reason 3 at the time of writing this. An Ableton & Logic release they say are both "Imminent". The keyboard is available in 25, 37 & 61 key versions, and comes with a scratch pad, pitch/mod joystick, 16 rotaries & 8 sliders as well as 40 premade templates for popular VSTs. Asides from all this, & the latest breakthrough in controller technology, it has all the hard-wearing build quality, and user-friendly design you'd expect from Novation product.

Read more at the Novation site

MDA Piano VST

If you want a realistic sounding piano VST, but can't quite get to either the value or the harddrive space requitred for Steinbergs Grand you wouldn't be going far wrong nabbing this. Easily The most best sounding piano VST for free.

Download MDA piano VST for PC/Mac

ExtraBoy VST - Vocal Removal/Extraction

There are no sure fire ways to remove vocals from a track. A lot depends on the chosen track, particularly how the vocal is placed in the stereo mix, & its frequency compared to all the other elements of the track.

The extraBoy pluging exploits these features and comes up with some well, not-exactly perfect but interesting results. If you dont want a perfect acapella or backing track, but some wierd vocal textures to make a pad interesting then its well worth a squizz. Besides its free.

Download Elevayta's ExtraBoy (VST)

On the other hand if you are after acapellas/backing-tracks, for djing with, you'd be wise to look at the two following tutorials. These used in combination with extraBoy could produce some excellent results.

Most vocals are placed bang in the middle of a stereo mix. And can be removed by doing the following steps.

Vocal Removal
1. Open the stereo audio file in an audio editor.
2. Select and reverse the phase of the left channel (also called Invert or Flip). This option is usually presented in the Edit menu.
3. Mix the both the left and right channels of the stereo file into a single-channel (mono) audio file. This option is also usually found in the Edit menu, but is sometimes accomplished by editing the file's format properties from the File menu (ie. Sound Forge).
4. Split the single-channel audio file back into a stereo file that has the newly mixed single-channel on both the left and right channels. This procedure is usually close to the one used to mix the channels.
5. Now reverse the phase of the left channel back again, the same way it was accomplished earlier.
6. From there on you can eq off other frequencies.

Vocal Extraction
Alternatively to extract the vocals (make an a capella) read this excellent tutorial by Tim G.

Coldcut - Essential mix - 29/01/06

download MP3(megaupload)

or if thats too easy you could always buy it from ebay

Adam F 'Unknown' (White Label)
Will I Am 'Who Am I?' (White Label)
DJ Vadim 'The Terrorist' (Ninjatune)
Supercat 'Don Dada' (Wild Apache)
Kenny Dope 'Don dada' (Big Beat)
Lou Reed 'Walk On The Wild Side' (RCA)
Tribe Called Quest 'Can I Kick It?' (Jive)
Mr Scruff 'Trouser Jazz' (Ninjatune)
The Party Party.com 'Imagine' (Mp3)
Sweet Tee 'It's My Beat' (Edel)
KRS ONE 'Dope Beat' (Big Daddy)
AC/DC 'Back In Black' ( Atlantic )
Harry Hall 'Teddy Bears' Picnic' (White Label)
KRS ONE 'Sound Of Da Police' (Jive)
Lumidee 'Never Leave' (Universal)
Eric B & Rakim 'I No U Got Soul' ( Island )
Eric B & Rakim 'Paid In Full' ( Island )
Zebra Breaks 'Unknown' (White Label)
ColdCut 'Smoke This One' (Big Life)
The Soul Searchers 'Ashley's Roachclip' (Alpha Omega)
Playschool 'Bang On A Drum' (BBC)
Disco 3 'Stick Em' (White Label)
Cutty Ranks 'The Stopper' (Fashion)
Slim 'It's In The Mix' (Epic)
Method Man 'Release Yo Delf (Prodigy Remix)'
Saul Williams 'Not In Our Name' (Ninjatune)
Rare Earth 'I Am Losing You' (EMI)
Jeremy Stieg 'Howlin' For July' (Blue Note)
Beastie Boys 'Sure Shot' (Capitol)
The Majesticons 'Suburb Party' (Big Dada)
Tickle 3 'I Got What U Need' (White Label)
DJ Z Trip 'Listen To The DJ' ( Hollywood )
The Invada 'Showtime' (White Label)
J Roc 'Dirty Fingered B-Boy' (Ninjatune)
Part 2 'One Of Dem Days' (Big Dada)
Yummy 'It's Good To You' (White Label)
Harmonic 33 'The Shape Shifter' (Warp)
Pizzy Yelliot 'Could You Be Loved (Disco)'
Harmonic 33 'Funky Duck' (Warp)
ColdCut 'Mr Nicholls' (Ninjatune)
McKay 'Takin Over' (White Label)
Dave & Ansel Collins 'Double Barrel' (Trojan)
Philorene 'Bola' (Organico)
Antipop Consortium '38303' (Antipop)
Ganja Crew 'Super Sharp Shooter' (Ganja)
Wayne Smith 'Sleng Teng' (Greensleeves)
Junior Reid 'One Blood' (Big Life)
Krust 'Warhead' (Full Cycle)
Slymoo 'Police & Thieves' (Arista)
Coldcut 'Everything's Under Control' (Ninjatune)
Coldcut 'Revolution' (Ninjatune)
Cane 'Grand Old Party Mix' (White Label)
Sunra Arkestra 'Yahyahs Resonance FM Rap' (Continue To Explore)
Baba Brooks 'Twilight Zone' (Proper)
Sandra Melody and Diplo 'Newsflash' (Big Dada)
Temperance 7 'Charley My Boy' ( Lake )
Crazy Titch vs Coldcut '1 hr To Make This' (White Label)
Lee Sratch Perry 'Cloak And Dagger' (BE)
Franz Ferdinand 'This Fire' (Domino)
King Tubby 'Base Dub' (Music Club)
Alan Watts 'Listen' (White Label)
Bjork 'Hidden Place' (One Little Indian)
The Congos 'Open Up The Gates Of Zion ' (Go-Feet)
King Tubbys 'Confusion Dub' (Snapper)
Son Kite 'Other Side' (Tribal Tribe)
Iggy Pop & Stooges 'Down On The Street' (Elektra)

Fader Fox mk2 controllers

Jesus, cant keep up with the number of advances happening in controller equipment land right now.

Fader fox have just announced the mk2 versions of their popular ultra-compact "micromodul" controllers. Apart from being dead pretty with the healthy smattering of leds that each has received they've jumped from USB to MIDI as the main form of connection. Brave, but should nt be a problem as there is usually a midi port on most breakout boxes and midi controller keyboards to hook them up to.

Read more over at the fader fox website