Enter now to prove you’re the Roc master. Today’s contest is Vocal Jazz + Jazz Drums. First time here? Check out what you’ve missed:
Day 9: Vocal Jazz
Day 8: Singing Vowels
Day 7: Konokol and Tabla Bols
Day 6: Birds
Day 5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
Imagine being stranded on a deserted island, in the middle of nowhere, with just a (insert favorite instrument here). Then imagine that (insert favorite instrument here) getting demolished by a sudden stampede of wild boars. Now clearly, you’re thinking to yourself, the only joy in your life has been ruined, and you have no other way to produce that sweet sounding tune. Obviously there’s only a 53% chance of this ever happening to you, but that’s a high enough number to start thinking about instrument alternatives.
We’ve taken this realistic fear into consideration, brainstormed for hours, and created a solution. Instead of relying on an instrument, you should give your own body a chance! The most vocal instrument you have / use everyday, your mouth! Today we’re releasing “Vocal FX“, an instrument pack filled with kisses, burps, whistles, and even breathing! Open Roc to start exploring the uninvestigated possibilities. It’s pretty much a reminder to not look past what’s permanently installed onto your body, and to inspire you to record your own personal effects.
You can find Vocal FX in the instruments toolbar, located on the right hand side. And remember, every instrument, including Vocal FX, is licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) as long as you give Aviary credit.
Bruce, the brains behind Roc, has gone ahead and created a demo tune for you to get a glimpse of what new sounds are available. Launch Roc now to start playing with these new effects.
Hint for Day 11 release (coming Friday): A set of pins. A revolving cylinder. A steel comb! Enter your guess!
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30 Days of Roc #9: Vocal Jazz
Enter now to prove you’re the Roc master. Today’s contest is a free-for-all! Anything goes! First time here? Check out what you’ve missed:
Day 8: Singing Vowels
Day 7: Konokol and Tabla Bols
Day 6: Birds
Day 5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
Did you know the word jazz was named the Word of the Twentieth Century by the American Dialect Society? In fact, it’s one of the most topical words in American English. Although the origins of Jazz are still debatable, we can all agree that it takes a number of skills and talent to produce such melodic tunes. The ability of a performer to showcase their personal experience, mood, and emotions through unique harmonies demonstrates so much creativity, it’s mind blowing. Every tune is different, and is never played the same way twice. Jazz has been interpreted around the world in all sorts of musical cultures, and has arguably been the reason why some artists are more distinct than others.
In honor of this glorious genre, we present to you, Jazz Vocals. Now you too, can add some radical energy and improvisation to your songs. Launch Roc to discover this new pack, located on the right hand side inside the instruments toolbar. Once opened, you’ll find 12 new vocals to mess around with. And remember, every instrument, including Jazz Vocals, is licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) as long as you give Aviary credit.
To get a glimpse of what you now have readily available at your hands, listen to this quick demo made by Bruce (the person that pretty much makes Roc possible for all of us to enjoy):
Open Roc now to start jazzing up your songs, or make one from scratch! Look forward to the Vocal Jazz contest (which will be available to enter in tomorrow) hosted on Aviary’s contest page at Worth1000. In case you suddenly forgot how to use Roc (who could forget??), check out this refresher.
Hint for Day 10 release (coming Thursday): Sgt. Larvelle Jones of the popular movie series Police Academy would be proud to use this next release. Enter you guess here to win Worth1000 credits and more!
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The Blackbox Collection: Bokeh
This week’s featured Blackbox is the Bokeh. Bokeh is a blurring effect that can produce abstract glowing shapes. This Blackbox is designed to create glowing shapes over the highlights in the input image. This works great on darker images; try it on some lighter ones to see the difference and how they obscure the effects. Use the Bokeh Blackbox to add fun and interesting backgrounds to your images. We can’t wait to see what you come up with 
If you’re not sure what to do, check out this beginner tutorial on how to use Blackboxes!!
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30 Days of Roc #8: Singing Vowels
Enter now to prove you’re the Roc master! First time here? Check out what you’ve missed:
Day 7: Konokol and Tabla Bols
Day 6: Birds
Day 5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
Singing… some of us are born with this god-given talent, while some of us can only belch out our favorite tunes at the local karaoke bar. Even if your attempt to sing a Celine Dion song miserably fails into a viral youtube video, you’re most likely having a phenomenal time trying. Or maybe you sing fine, but would love to reach some new pitches that are just slightly out of your range.
Well, you should already know by now, that Aviary has got your back! For today’s instrument release, we’ve packed the highs and lows, the majors and minors, and everything in between, in 4 brand new instrument packs, for a total of 48 stunning tracks! I’m pretty sure that’s more vocals than an entire church choir can handle!…
Launch Roc now to find all 4 of these packs inside the instruments bar, located on the right hand side. They are labeled:
Singing Vowels F Maj,
Singing Vowels F Min,
Singing Vowels M Maj,
and Singing Vowels M Min.
The F stands for Female, M for Male, Maj for Major, and Min for Minor. Wow, say that 5 times fast! And remember, every instrument, including all the Singing Vowels, is licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) as long as you give Aviary credit.
Roc superstar Styromus has gone ahead and created us a jaw-dropping sample to get you pumped and inspired!
Open Roc now to start making your creation. If you think your digital vocals can beat the rest, enter your song to be the king of Singing Vowels, and for a chance to win $$$. In case you suddenly forgot how to use Roc (who could forget??), check out this refresher.
Hint for Day 9 release (coming Wednesday): Began as a West Coast slang term and was first used to refer to music in Chicago in about 1915.
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Tip Tuesday – Muting Beats
Some of the notes in our online music creator (Roc) can have some sustain to them, meaning the note rings out for a longer time. This is especially true for some of the more melodic instruments like the Wood Flute or Jazz Guitar, but even things like the drum cymbals have some sustain. Luckily, there is an easy way to mute notes so they stop ringing out. When setting your notes, place a second note on the same track at the point where you want the original one to be muted. Then switch to Velocity Mode (just toggle from Beat Mode at the top of the window) and reduce the second note’s volume to 0. Now the original note will be muted when it hits the second one. Brilliant! Below is a sample loop with some muted notes. Open it up to see how it was made!
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30 Days of Roc #7: Konokol & Tabla Bols
Enter now to prove you’re the Roc master! First time here? Check out what you’ve missed:
Day 6: Birds
Day 5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
You might be saying to yourself, “Huh? What? Did you utter something?”. In fact, we did. Konokol (also spelled Konnakol ) is the art of performing percussion syllables vocally. It’s a popular form of music in South India, but many musicians from a variety of countries around the world have found this unique, interesting, and uncustomary form of music to be quite complimentary and useful in their own musical practice. The tabla, on the other hand, is a popular Indian percussion instrument. It resembles a small drum, and can be very powerful in songs, despite its size. Bol refers to a mnemonic syllable that defines the rhythmic pattern.
For today’s release, we put together a variety of individual sounds to create one convivial instrument pack, properly entitled, Konokol. Simple drums and rhythmic beats can be found under Tabla Bols. Launch Roc now to find both of these installments inside the instruments bar, located on the right hand side. Not only will these new instrument packs add culture and creativity to your songs, it’ll hopefully open your eyes to the many unfamiliar forms of music from around the globe.
Every instrument, including Konokol and Tabla Bols, is licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) so long as you give Aviary credit.
To get a glimpse of what’s new, listen to this short demo we created:
Open Roc now to start making your creation. If you believe you are the master of vocal percussions and rhythmic drums, enter your song for a chance to win $$$. And in case you suddenly forgot how to use Roc (who could forget??), check out this refresher.
Hint for Day 8 release (coming Tuesday): Singing A E I O U, and maybe Y?
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Cupid Strikes Our Simple Photo Editor
Launch our Simple Photo Editor to start spreading the love. You’ll find the stickers option on the right hand side, along with the other tools.
This is the first of many sticker packs to come! If you have any awesome ideas of packs you’d like to see in the future (e.g., St. Patrick’s day, July 4th, Robots, Sports, umm maybe Hamburgers? Literally anything!) send an email to nam (at) aviary.com.]]>
30 Days of Roc #6: Birds
Enter now to prove you’re the Roc master! First time here? Check out what you’ve missed:
Day 5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
At Aviary, we’re literally all about birds. From the wall art in our office, to the names of our products, we have a soft spot in our hearts for these special little creatures. Did you know, that there are over 10,000 different species, that range from 2 inches (Bee Hummingbird) to 9 feet (Ostrich)? Birds also have a huge economic role for humans. They can be sources of food, loving pets, inspirational topics for all forms of art, and oh, I think they had some sort of role in the development of the first airplane?…
In honor of these miraculous, bipedal, egg-laying vertebrates, we present to you, “Birds”. Launch Roc now to find the latest installment inside the instruments bar, located on the righthand side. This birdhouse of sounds is jam packed with chirps and cheeps including the swan, geese, woodpeckers, seagulls, and many more. We hope these additions will add some extra wings to your creations, and help them soar above the rest!
Every instrument, including Birds, is licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) so long as you give Aviary credit.
We put together a quick demo for you to get a glimpse of what an “Aviary” really sounds like. We hope that it’ll get you thinking of how you can add these to any existing tunes you’ve created, or ones you plan to make!
Open Roc now to start building a nest of songs. If you think you’ve mastered the art of chirping, enter your song for a chance to win $$$. And in case you suddenly forgot how to use Roc (who could forget??), check out this refresher.
Hint for Day 7 release (coming Monday): Imagine a man with cymbals and percussions for a mouth…
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The Weekly Birdbath for February 4th – 11th
February 5th – 11th
Our Roc feature this week comes from our favorite multi-talented chocolate meringue nomming artist, ilikepieyum himself. Taking advantage of the recently released “Animals” soundbank in Roc, he has mixed together a veritable menagerie of sounds in Myna. Rawr!!
And to tie in with the dramatic Roc goings-on lately, AYoung12 gives us a moving piece for you to listen to while you read the rest of this Birdbath. Featuring multiple track layering with different clips and superb panning effects, you won’t have to draw straws (unless you want to in Phoenix) to wait your turn to learn – open it up for yourself to see how it’s all done!
ninjazzy
Pokémon fans hearken! Ninjazzy has some fantastic interpretations of the classic game. If you’re a lover of vector art (and you will be after this), you’ll also find some tribal style images, as well as some gorgeous portraits done Raven-style. We’re so happy to have such wonderful work being created in between lots of school work and science meets!
We choose you, Ninjazzy!
There have been a number of really good challenges this week:
Peacock What If Challenge
Replicate an Album Cover
Challenge: Blackbox- Outliner
Understandably, it was too hard to chose just one to highlight, and we promise you’re not going to want to miss any of them. So go and have some fun with them all! 
Here are some choice pics from each:
Check out this week’s featured Blackbox, Mario’s Paper Texture.
And then catch up on 30 days of Roc, days 1-5:
Day 5:Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
The Myna’s Songbirds group is actively seeking participants for a big music collaboration project. Check it out if you’d like to work with others in mixing. Great way to learn as well!
Tip – Change Tempo
Those of you who are new to our music creator (Roc) may not know how easy it is to change the tempo. All you have to do is click and drag on the Tempo number in the upper left corner. Dragging upwards will speed the tempo up, while dragging down will make it slower. This is important if you want to mix your beats with the Quantum Track sounds in Myna. Just match the tempos of your beat with the tracks in Myna to ensure great-sounding mixes!
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30 Days of Roc #5: Animals
Day 4: Around the House
Day 3: The Kitchen Sink
Day 2: Body Sounds
Day 1: Human Beatbox
Oh hey look! Our sister site Worth1000 is running speed-contests each time a new instrument is released, where your task is to create one killer track for the specific instrument of the day. Click here to enter the official kick-off of the contests, where you can easily win a $50 iTunes gift card!
OR
Enter in today’s instrument contest for a $10 iTune gift card!
There are millions of amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds, mammals, and other animals out in this world, not to mention the ones we haven’t discovered yet. It’s a big place to explore, lots of things to see, but not enough time. Humans can cause harm to animals, as well as nurture them and do great, if not amazing, things for them. Some of us even consider certain animals to be our best friends! BFF!
We take animals seriously here (especially birds, hence the name Aviary), so we thought it would be purrfect to put together a furrrific set of sounds inside the newest instrument pack entitled “Animals”. From cats to dogs, horses and cows, we’ve got familiar animal sounds and even unfamilar ones. Ever wonder what noise an alligator makes? Or how awkward an elk sounds? Launch Roc now to explore the unknown. You can find the latest installment inside the instruments bar, on the righthand side.
Every instrument, including Animals are all licensed under creative commons attribution, and can be used commercially. This means that you can use any music you’ve created in Roc (even in a commercial project!) so long as you give Aviary credit.
Aviary extraordinaire Mizagorn has compiled all the cricket chirping and duck quacking into one quick demo for you to get a glimpse of what’s possible. We hope that it’ll get you thinking of how you can add these to any existing tunes you’ve created, or ones you plan to make!
Open Roc now to start making your animal friends proud!, and in case you suddenly forgot how to use Roc (who could forget??), check out this refresher.
Hint for Day 6 release (coming Friday): Some might say “Aviary” should take a day off for this next instrument…
Get alerts for when a new instrument pack becomes available! Subscribe to our blog through an RSS feed, or get it straight to your email to never miss a thing.
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