While this site is not organized for commercial purposes, I did want to let those musically productive readers know that Izotope’s fantastic virtual sample based synthesizer Iris 2 is on sale for just $29.  You can also get it combined with Izotope’s Trash 2 distortion plug in for $49.  I used the Iris 2 extensively on the song Zebulon Pike from our forthcoming record, as well as a background pad bed on the title track for our last record, El Pulpo.  I really like how you can get melodic synth sounds from it that also combine granular textures from non-melodic samples of things like sounds made from kitchen appliances.  It kind of reminds me of the surfaces of the classic Jackson Pollock “Drip” paintings.  Their gritty topography gets lost in a 2 dimensional photographic reproductions, (No matter how cool the context – see below.)  You can combine four samples so the sounds you get aren’t too referential to “real” things they come from – just like Pollock’s abstractions.  Also the frequency range sounds really 3 dimensional and solid without getting muddy or distorted in the low end.  Dig it.