What's happening at KVR in April 2021?

By KVR Audio on April 27th, 2021

April 2021 at KVR: We have a new general articles section in which we will feature anything and everything - buying guides, product round-ups, comparisons, shootouts, inane ramblings, guest posts, lottery predictions, who knows?

To kick it off here are a few updates on recent KVR happenings.

The latest KVR giveaway, which features six chances to win fantastic collections worth over $1500 from EarthMoments, is now live; the KVR Developer Challenge 2021, the eighth free-for-all audio plug-in / audio application / soundware design event, was announced at the end of March; Chris has just published an interesting interview with iZotope's Mark Ethier revealing more details on the recently announced cooperation between iZotope and Native Instruments; and we are very happy welcome a new team member, Nate Raubenheimer, who will be helping us in many ways, but especially working with our developer advertisers!

Read on for more details:

Win the complete EarthMoments XL Pack or the all new 5Elements!

Up to 6 lucky KVR members get a chance to win EarthMoment's latest releases:

• One lucky KVR member stands to win EarthMoments XL, an expansive bundle that features every EarthMoments sample pack released until now including best sellers such as Creole Vocals, or Maasai Tribal Vocals and Textures. Valued at $1,592.74.
• Five lucky KVR members stand to win 5Elements - a powerful and expansive collection of handmade instruments featuring rare and incomparable sound recordings from South India. Valued at $136.52 each.

For full details and to enter head to www.kvraudio.com/giveaways

KVR Developer Challenge 2021

Back again for 2021, the KVR Developer Challenge is for anyone who develops Audio Plug-ins or Applications and Soundware. The challenge is to create and release a brand new free audio plug-in, application or sound library / pack / set that will benefit the community at large.

Creativity is key, it can be as simple or as complex as you want - KVR members will vote on the entries and pick the eventual winner using whatever criteria they choose to.

Five cash prizes will be awarded to the top entries and a wildcard pick. Prize moneys are sponsored by the community-funded KVR Developer Challenge 2021 donation pool.

The KVR Developer Challenge began in 2006 and has occurred every 2-3 years ever since. It's delivered gems such as ProF.E.T. by Ignite Amps, Deducktion by Dead Duck Software and MPS by Full Bucket Music back in 2018, Youlean Loudness Meter, Lagrange by Ursa DSP and Spaceship Delay from Musical Entropy in 2016, Multiply by Acon Digital, Nova-67P by vladg/sound and Emissary by Ignite Amps in 2014, and so it goes on...

Check out 2012, 2009, 2007, and the original in 2006 when Triple Cheese by u-he won the show!

Find out how to enter and donate at www.kvraudio.com/kvr-developer-challenge/2021

Native Instruments and iZotope: A meeting of the minds

Back on March 11th of this year, the audio and music software community was pleasantly surprised to see an announcement of cooperation between iZotope and Native Instruments, two of the most dominant players in the music software landscape.

Both leaders in their respective markets of audio processing and virtual instruments, NI and iZotope have developed products for each other's primary markets over the years. NI has marketed a series of effects processing plug-ins and iZotope has developed an interesting take on sample playback called Iris. With the exception of NI's Guitar Rig, the results have been moderate compared to their other brands, so this alliance makes a huge amount of sense.

There are still many things that must be worked out, and even if the companies were fully merged, there are no guarantees of successful outcomes. Given the track records of both companies however, the chance of great future products is quite good.

A particularly fascinating thing about all this is that, due to the Pandemic, the cooperation deal was negotiated online from the respective homes of Mark Ethier, CEO of iZotope, and Constantin Köhncke, CEO of Native Instruments. Mark was kind enough to go over a few of the details with us.

Read the full interview at www.kvraudio.com/interviews/native-instruments-and-izotope-a-meeting-of-the-minds-51492

Introducing Nate Raubenheimer

We're excited to welcome Nate Raubenheimer to the KVR team. Nate is an accomplished producer, DJ and sound designer, having worked with artists such as Armin van Buuren, Bryan Adams, Paul Oakenfold to name but a few.

As part of the team at KVR, he's looking forward to building new relationships and interacting with the companies behind the music technology that has played such an integral part in his career in the music industry.

He'll be helping us in many ways, but especially working with our developer advertisers. Please feel free to reach out to him at nate@kvraudio.com

As always, any questions can be directed to advertisewithus@kvraudio.com