ReBirth RB-338

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ReBirth RB-338
Basic data

developer Propellerhead software
Current  version 2.0.1
(1998)
operating system Microsoft Windows
Mac OS
Apple iOS
programming language C ++
category Software synthesizer
License Proprietary
German speaking Yes
www.rebirthmuseum.com

ReBirth RB-338 was a software synthesizer for the Microsoft Windows , Mac OS and Apple iOS operating systems . The company Propellerhead Software has developed and released the first alpha version finished Propellerhead officially for Mac OS in December 1996. On September 1, 2005 Support . Shortly afterwards the ReBirth Museum website went online and the last version 2.0.1 was made available for download as freeware via BitTorrent .

history

Roland TB-303

Propellerhead started the development of the software emulator with a loaned device of the type Roland TB-303 . Company co-founder Pelle Jubel had experience in analog and digital sound processing and was instrumental in the analysis and reverse engineering of the circuitry of the TB-303. Instead of digitizing the sound of the TB-303, the analog circuitry should be described by algorithms and emulated by a computer program. The TR-808 and TR-909 drum computers were then to be recreated and supplemented, but in contrast to the 303, the emulated drum computers in ReBirth work with samples .

ReBirth was one of the first software synthesizers for personal computers in the 1990s and pioneered this class of instruments with a mouse-pointer-oriented user interface. It quickly developed into a standard tool for producers who could not or did not want to use an original. In addition, it was easy to integrate ReWire into a Windows setup.

The development was finally stopped under pressure from the Roland company.

A version for the iPad followed in 2010. This development was also discontinued in 2017 and the app was removed from the store - also at Roland's request.

functionality

Roland TR-808

ReBirth simultaneously emulates two monophonic hardware synthesizers of the Roland TB-303 type and one analog drum computer each of the Roland TR-808 and Roland TR-909 types . The signal from each emulated device can be changed individually with filters and effects. Four pattern selectors, which the original devices do not have, enable quick switching between different music sequences and save reprogramming to play different tones. ReBirth has a mixer , a Pattern Controlled Filter (PCF) and some standard effects such as delay , compressor and distortion .

The virtual knobs and switches can be controlled via a MIDI interface and connected to other audio programs via the ReWire software protocol .

The program enables user modifications that modify the samples of the drum machine or change the graphical user interface (GUI). Five different interfaces are implemented in ReBirth by default.

criticism

Propellerhead's emulator of the TB-303 has been criticized as an inferior copy of the original sound. This criticism is not uncommon for software synthesizers that simulate analog devices, due to the unique sound of analog tone generators and the qualitative degradation caused by inefficient sound cards and computers: A strong qualitative limitation is usually the analog quality of typical sound cards, which is unsuitable for music generation, in terms of noise and linearity . However, this could be avoided with the Rebirth emulator if the digital data stream in the computer was diverted to a professional interface with a downstream studio DA converter, whereby it was sonically equivalent to the sound modules available at the time and was used both in the studio and on the stage .

However, one problem cannot be resolved: Due to the limited resources of the computers that were comparatively weak at the time, algorithms that were optimized for computing time usually had to be used, which led to inadequate replication of the analog circuits, even though this was solved relatively well with the Rebirth emulator. These restrictions can no longer be circumvented for this software in retrospect, even with the most modern computers.

Therefore, Rebirth as software is basically out of date today, but is still used for so-called retro sounds.

copyright

While developing the software, Propellerhead's developers had concerns about the copyrights of the Roland sound generators. After negotiations between representatives of the Roland Corporation and Propellerhead, it was agreed that the following sentence should appear on ReBirth's packaging and the splash screen :

"ReBirth RB-338 was inspired by the TR-808 and TB-303, originally created by Roland Corporation. Their unique sounds and visual images have been re-born through digital simulation by Propellerhead Software. "

“ReBirth RB-338 was inspired by the TR-808 and TB-303, which were developed by Roland Corporation. Their unique sound and appearance was reborn through the digital simulation of Propellerhead Software. "

Propellerhead interpreted this agreement as Roland's approval of their software.

Operating system compatibility

Version 2.0.1 of ReBirth runs on the operating systems Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 from Apple as well as Windows 98 , Windows 2000 and Windows XP from Microsoft . On Microsoft Windows Vista , Windows 7 and Windows 8 the program only runs with manual reworking or in XP mode of Windows 7 Professional.

In April 2010, Propellerhead released an app from ReBirth based on the operating system Apple iOS for handhelds type iPhone , iPod touch and iPad . The sound of this is not identical to the PC version.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dirk Martin Knop: ReBirth RB-338 software synthesizer is now free. Heise Online , September 2, 2005, accessed November 19, 2016 .
  2. ↑ ReBirth. In: Chip Online . September 8, 2005, accessed July 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Gred Rule: Keyboard Reports: Steinberg ReBirth RB-338 . In: keyboards . 23: 9: 256, September 1997.
  4. ↑ marcus: RIP Propellerhead ReBirth - an obituary. gear news, June 13, 2017, accessed July 26, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Top News: Proppellerhead ReBirth for iPad is being discontinued. In: AMAZONA.de. June 14, 2017, accessed on July 26, 2020 (German).
  6. ^ Propellerheads Software: The Debut. (No longer available online.) In: The Rebirth Museum. 2005, archived from the original on April 22, 2007 ; accessed on April 4, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Propellerhead Software: Rebirth for iPad. In: ReBirthApp.com. October 31, 2010, archived from the original on November 13, 2010 ; accessed on November 11, 2016 .