Multi-instrumentalist Dino Soldo spends his life on the road with musical greats including Leonard Cohen, Lionel Richie and Beyoncé. He also writes and records his own music, and has penned a total of seven albums over the years.
Dino Soldo
Free Dino Soldo Soundpack for UltraNova
Novation proudly present the latest free Soundpack for Novation's UltraNova synthesizer, developed by multi-instrumentalist and musical genius Dino Soldo (credits include Leonard Cohen, Lionel Richie and Beyoncé.)
The soundpack is for players who want to play; Dino's sounds beg you touch UltraNova's keys, use your expression pedal and free your hands to create. While most sounds also utilise UltraNova's extensive touch controls giving you the freedom of a one-finger rocker, all you need is the mod wheel and your foot to move massive amounts of colour in your performance.
Dino was first attracted to UltraNova through Novation's range of controller keyboards. "They strike the perfect balance; doing what no other company does in its class by providing an excellent feel to every model of keyboard they have. I always know that Novation has my back when it comes to getting a consistent performance." With this underlying quality and reputation, Dino is empowered to create, "sound design in real time has once again become a reality for me. Now my hands can tweak till my brain explodes! UltraNova's editor/librarian lets me know how things are going and where I can find all of my sounds easily, and I don't have to take my mouth, hands or feet away from making music. It's been quite a trip to use the vocoding tools for tweaking my harmonica sound. I keep giving UltraNova my dumb ideas and, like an alchemist, it keeps turning those ideas into gold!"
The Dino Soldo Soundpack for UltraNova is available for free here.
Dino Soldo: Novation Changed The Dang Rules!
Dino Soldo is a multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter. He has written seven albums and plays numerous instruments live for huge stars such as Lionel Richie, Leonard Cohen and Beyoncé. On stage, a wide assortment of instruments encircles him. Saxophones, wind instruments and harmonica, guitars, keyboards, percussion items, and in his own words, “some damn strange controllers”.
Dino also uses Novation Nocturn Keyboards with Automap acting as the data hub for his entire rig. He tells us why he chose the Nocturn, and how Novation products have improved his stage setup.
“Because I have a vast array of instruments waiting to be picked up 'cold', I have one unilateral demand of my gear: It must work right on the first note and work as expected.
I came to Novation first by way of their excellent-feeling keyboards. Most keys in the market have terrible feel, either by emulating weighted pianos or avoiding the topic altogether by putting maximum spring in their boards. Novation is the perfect balance; doing what no other company does in its class by providing an excellent feel to every model of keyboard they have.
"What kept me coming back to Novation was the adaptability to any live or studio rig demand I have. Try routing a breath control signal from a controller to a plug-in setting in three steps on any other rig. Novation's Automap does these tasks with ease. Now, no matter what kind of weird electronic gear is in my hands, I always know that Novation has my back when it comes to getting a consistent performance.
"The real-time output of my wind controllers and Eigenharp have brought quite a few headaches when it comes to routing and mapping MIDI CC information and splits. With the help of Automap and the new Ultranova, sound design in real time has once again become a reality for me. Now my hands can tweak till my brain explodes, or hopefully my client's brain explodes! Ultranova's editor/librarian lets me know how things are going and where I can find all of my sounds easily, and I don't have to take my mouth, hands or feet away from making music. It's been quite a trip to use the vocoding tools for tweaking my harmonica sound. I keep giving Ultranova my dumb ideas and, like an alchemist, it keeps turning those ideas into gold!
"It's just so easy and fast now to get those little voices out of my head! Novation have not only raised the bar, they changed the dang rules!”