If you are looking to upgrade your sound library for Propellerhead Reason, Sonic Reality (http://sonicreality.com/) has a good deal for you. The company is offering a download comprising no less than 38 ReFills for a total of $399.99. According to Sonic Reality, purchasing these ReFills individually would run up a tab of about $700.

Synths, sampled percussion, vintage instruments and grooves abound in this collection. Easily the majority of the patches support the NNXT sampler, and the Dr:rex Loop Player, but you also get ReFills dedicated to the Thor synthesizer, and a few Subtractor and Malström patches. You’ll find plenty of Combinator patches joining the sampler with left-hand bass patterns handled by Malstrom or Subtractor.

I covered the Acoustic Folk collection in a review in EM some time ago; you can read the review here. That collection remains my go-to sound set when I need to infuse a MIDI arrangement with banjos, mandolins, Dobros and an authentic bluegrass flavor.

I have frequently needed to use GM-compliant instruments, and my trusty old Sound Canvas recently kicked the bucket. That may have been a blessing in disguise, as the Sonic Reality Omnisoundz ReFill is a solid improvement and replacement for the uninspired sounds that tend to inhabit the world of General MIDI.

Favorite ReFills in the offer include SR World Percussion, which offers Combinator and NNXT patches, although Sonic Reality missed a bet by not providing Redrum kits. You can, of course, load the provided WAV-file samples into Redrum and create custom kits. I particularly like the meaty-sounding bodhran (an Irish frame drum), the udu and the spicy djembe samples.

SR Rhythm Section offers terrific drum kits for NNXT and Redrum in Combinator form with processing or straight-up, sampler-only versions. You get an assortment of acoustic and electric guitars, as well as basses that include acoustic, several types of electrics and a particularly expressive pair of fretless basses. The guitar folders include a couple of ethnic instruments such as koto and sitar, but for those, you are better off with SR Ethnic Instruments, which also includes tambura, shakuhachi, flamenco guitar and lots more.

Overall, the offer presents a solid, often inspiring set of sounds, and if they don’t all ring your bells, you’ll probably find tons of alternate sounds in the lot that will. Go online and give them a listen.

My Dearest friend and musical enabler, Richie Shulberg, AKA Citizen Kafka swooped this sphere on Saturday afternoon, March 14th, 2009. For those who didn’t know him, Richie was the leader and the brilliant, chaotic brain behind the Wretched Refuse String Band, whose odd mixture of influences included bluegrass, old-time string-band music, electronica, traditional jazz, bebop, and free jazz, Lord Buckley, Slim Gaillard, and Ernie Kovacs.

Shulberg’s contributions extend well beyond Wretched Refuse. Along with musician Pat Conte, Shulberg produced “The Secret Museum of Mankind”, an eclectic, brilliant, and ear-opening collection of music from around the globe; the project clearly embodies Richie’s (and Pat’s) madcap eclecticism.

Radio Station WFMU hosts an archive of Shulberg and Conte’s radio shows, showcasing such themes as diphonic singing, Country music of Puerto Rico, and post-war African guitar, all culled from their collections of 78-rpm discs. You can listen to these and many more musical mindbenders here. Rest in Peace or Give ‘em Hell, Richie!

Tim Conrardy passed away suddenly on February 28th.

He was among my very favorite sound designers; I always looked forward to his work. His genius shines through Camel Audio Alchemy and Cameleon, His very own AlgoMusic synthesizers, M42 Nebula and M51 Galaxy; Greenoak Crystal, and many others.

I felt very honored to have a few brief email conversations with Tim, in which I had a chance to express my admiration and talk a bit of shop. He was a hell of a good guy, too.

You can find more about Tim, hear some examples of his sounds and music, and follow a link to express your condolences here.

During my review of the late, lamented Plectrum software instrument, I ranted about Syncrosoft’s copy-protection scheme, and the hoops I needed to jump through to get the software to run smoothly. I’m sorry to say that problems I reported as exclusive to Windows have resurfaced on my Mac. If you need some background, you can find my diatribe here.

After launching my freshly installed copy of MOTU Digital Performer 6.01, recently expired licenses for Syncrosoft-protected plug-ins crashed DP during the plug-in validation process. The scenario was similar to my previously reported problems: I needed to open the Syncrosoft License Control Center application to sort out the problem, and upon finding no solution, DP quit. Really, my only solution for authorizing the errant plug-ins is to send an email and wait for a response. Did I want to wait that long to use my DAW? Hell, no! In order to get DP up and running, I pulled the offending, expired plug-ins out of my AU components folders.

You could make the case that the host programs could come up with more robust validation schemes; for example, Apple Logic provides a separate plug-in-validation app, and you can easily disable any problematic plug-ins before they happen. As of version 6, Digital Performer lets you create plug-in sets (so you can choose which plug-ins to launch), but it still undergoes an initial validation process, and that’s where the problems occur.

I feel that without a single, standardized copy-protection system (good luck with that), it is the primary responsibility of the company providing the copy protection to make the process as free of complications as possible; failing that, it is then the responsibility of the manufacturer using that software to look for another way to protect their plug-in from piracy.

To restate the core of my original harangue: Copy protection may be a necessary evil, but it’s outrageous to be held hostage to it.