Week of May 1, 2005 Saturday, May 7 2005 | dmac Prominy Intros New Guitar Sample Library for Giga New from Prominy is the LPC Electric Distortion & Clean Guitar for GigaStudio 3.0/2.0, capturing the sound of Gibson Les Paul Custom. The LPC guitar library includes over 60 Gigabytes, approximately 150,000 samples. Features: 243 .gig files which includes over 7,200 instruments - Single note, 5th-dyad chord, 4th-dyad chord, mute (tight, medium, loose), octave, vibrato (single note, 5th-dyad cord, 4th-dyad chord, octave), single bend, unison bend, stationary bend, double bend, legato slide, pinch harmonic, various chords, picking noises, scrape, etc. Legato Slide - A number of sampled legato slide techniques; From Seminole (1 fret) to 1 octave (12 frets), multiple tempos and velocity options for every single note, 5th-dyad chord, 4th-dyad chord2, and octave playing styles. 'Real time Legato Slide instruments' - Using Giga Studio 3.0's new feature, 'Legato Mode', you can enjoy real-time legato slide. Various chords played by up, down, fast, and slow strokes - major, minor, 7th, minor7th, major7th , add9th, 7th-9th, major7th-9th, sus4th, dim7th, #9th, minor9th, major3rd(vibrato), major (picking harmonics), open chords, etc. Clean and Distorted, both timbres of the electric guitar are included. Huge number of picking noises are recorded in multiple forms on all frets and strings. LPC is available now. Price: $599.00 (Introductory price: $499.00 - offer ends May 6 2005) For more information, visit their web site at prominy.com. Friday, May 6 2005 | dmac Delta SP version 1.6.8 is now available Changes: Left/Right click for fine tuning faders. Timeinfo fixed for sampler1 and master plugins so delay out works. Tail problems with master effects fixed. Latency speed settings fixed. Larger connection points in plugin builder fixed. Noise bursts in demo less frequent. Sampler plugins now support program change to presets or to sampler bank/instr. More @ deltasp. Friday, May 6 2005 | dmac Version 2.1 of Sample Manager Adds Tiger Support Sample Manager 2.0 Sample Manager 2.0 Audiofile Engineering has announced version 2.1 of Sample Manager, their batch audio processor, adding full support for Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger"). Sample Manager, the only batch audio processor to implement AppleScript, now fully supports Automator with 28 actions. The company has also added a Spotlight-based file-search feature. Other new features include support for mu-law files and "Play" and "Stop" AppleScript commands. Sample Manager features include: Full support of AIFF, WAVE, Sound Designer, ACID, Apple Loop and Law audio files Partial support for Recycle (REX, RX2 and RCY) files Supports any sample rate or bit depth Supports any number of channels Supports interleaved and split channel files Files are sortable by any parameter Detailed waveform view of the selected sample as full wave, rectified or averaged Detailed file and audio info Detailed batch editing of MIDI, beat-related, or "metadata" info Batch processes include Change Gain, Fade, Trim, Reverse, Convert, Split, Mix, Join and many others Extract parts of audio files by thresholds, slices or regions DSP processes support all formats, bit depths and sample rates with auto-dithering Process audio through multiple Audio Units Auto-saving of files in-place, with additional options for file saving Highly advanced and detailed Loop Editor Unlimited undo AppleScript support built-in Automator actions Multiple "browser" windows, saveable as documents Spotlight-based file searches Export to MP3 format Offline waveform cache Optimized for G4 and G5 with AltiVec MIDI and varispeed playback of the selected audio file Sample Manager is priced at $69. Upgrades for registered users are $19. For more information, visit their web site at audiofile-engineering.com. Wednesday, May 4 2005 | dmac MOTU release the version 2.0 update for MX4 MOTU has released the version 2.0 update for MX4 which includes many major new features and hundreds of new presets. Surprisingly, MX4 version 2.0 is a free upgrade to all MX4 version 1.x owners. What's new: More built-in effects (Flanger, Phaser and Reverb). Stereo Detune. Anti-aliased (band-limited) wavetables. Hundreds of new factory presets organized into sub-menus for easy browsing. Many take full-advantage of the new features, like the pattern gate, arpeggiator and pattern sequencer. The Mods page gives you full control over sound design. The Pattern Gate slices MX4's synth section into programmable pulses that are tempo-locked to your host application. Control pulse shape, pattern, length and swing. Arpeggiator. Trigger sequencer - Trigger an MX4 envelope rhythmically with your host application's tempo. Program any pattern you wish. Gate and effects topology - Graphically arrange the signal flow of the synth section through MX4's two effects modules and the pattern gate. It's as simple as clicking and dragging. Enhanced modifier key shortcuts - MX4 provides a "hands-on" approach to programming modulation sources and destination by clicking directly on the controls in the window with several modifier key shortcuts. The Pattern Sequencer gives you the means to rhythmically modulate just about any parameter in MX4, with pin-point control over every step of the pattern. The Pattern Sequencer can be applied to any continuously modulatable parameter, like filters, effects parameters, wavetable index, etc. The Envelope Follower brings the outside world into MX4 by transforming the amplitude of any external audio signal into a control signal for use inside MX4, as either a modulation source or shaper. MX4 ships with five new shapers that will further refine your modulation programming: Invert, Transform, Sample & Hold, Lag Processor and Quantizer. MX4 is available for Mac OS X as an AU, RTAS and MAS plug-in. More @ motu.com. Tuesday, May 3 2005 | dmac Wave Arts Introduces Panorama 3-D Audio Plug-In Panorama is a specialized tool for creating 3-D audio scenes. The DSP technology in Panorama reproduces psychoacoustic sound localization and distance cues, allowing you to pan sounds in three dimensions: not just left and right, but up, down, front, back, near, and far. Panorama combines 3-D audio panning with acoustic environment modeling, including wall reflections, reverberation, distance modeling, and the Doppler pitch effect. While primarily intended for headphone listening, Panorama also includes a crosstalk canceller for playback over conventional stereo loudspeakers. Features: Position and move sound in three dimensions Uses Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTF) to reproduce binaural sound localization cues. Integrated reverberation and distance cues Extensive control over dimensions and surface material of all six surfaces of the room Doppler pitch effect Full automation support for creating moving sounds Crosstalk canceller for loudspeaker playback Panorama is available for all native Mac and PC formats (VST, AU, MAS, DX and RTAS) and until May 14th has an introductory price of $199.95. For more information, visit their web site at wavearts.com. Tuesday, May 3 2005 | dmac New Compressor Added to Kjaerhus' Gold Plug-In Series The Golden Uni-Pressor | GUP-1 for Windows is a general-purpose compressor made for tracking, mixing and mastering. It offers VCA and Opto models that can be run in a Warm or Smooth mode, and a Program Dependent Envelope (PDE) to decrease pumping and increase loudness. High and low cut filters in the side chain can be used to make frequency dependent compression. The compressed signal can be mixed with the uncompressed one, and that can be used to create upward compression. Three versions are available: stereo, stereo with side chain, and mono with side chain. There is no latency, which makes this the ideal tool for real time performance in the studio or on stage. The GUP-1 is based on the compressors of the Golden Audio Channel, and is made to meet the demand for an easy "go-to" compressor plugin with side chain support. The normal price is $88.00, but the GUP-1 will be offered in a Group-Buy, starting at the release date and lasting for 14 days. In this Group-Buy, there will be savings of up to 44%. This means potentially a sale price of only $49.28. For more information, visit their web site at kjaerhusaudio.com. Tuesday, May 3 2005 | dmac VirSyn Releases Version 2 of CUBE Software Synthesizer Beginning today, VirSyn has started shipping CUBE 2, the successor of the software synthesizer CUBE. CUBE 2 is a musical instrument and tool for sound designers who wish to have instant access to all principal components sounds are built from. Every sound can be decomposed in a sine spectrum representing the harmonic and inharmonic partials and a residual noise spectrum for the noise components. The spatial character of a sound can be represented by a pan spectrum. The temporal evolution of these three spectra is a very convenient way to describe every sound. CUBE 2 is built around this model and allows you to manipulate the structure of a sound with all its components in a comfortable and musical way. The main new feature of CUBE 2 is the ability to manipulate the analyzed sound spectra in a variety of musically useful ways: Imagine for example drawing a comb filter structure freely into the spectrum. And you can do this not only in the sine spectrum, but also with the residual noise spectrum and the stereo panning. The analyzer of CUBE 2 improved a lot and allows now specialized algorithms for different types of sounds. This includes harmonic / inharmonic and noisy sound types. The new residual noise generator of CUBE 2 allows you to create evolving noise spectra in a way which wasn't possible before. Some of the new features of CUBE 2 include: Improved Spectral analyzer with selectable algorithms optimized for different sound types 600 ready to use presets Graphical editor for direct manipulation of the spectral and spatial structure of the sound. Improved morphing algorithm Residual noise generator Volume envelope now independent from the Morph envelopes Switch off morph envelopes for manual morph control Modulation range for morph modulation added New modulation sources "Breath" and "Expression" Editor for MIDI assignment of user interface controllers Legato mode for monophonic sounds Reset function for source edits and resynth sources. System requirements: Mac G4 > 400 Mhz PC Pentium III > 600 Mhz Athlon XP/MP 256 MB RAM Mac OX 10.2 / WinXP Registered users that purchased CUBE 1 after December 31, 2004 can order the upgrade for 15 Euro. Other registered users of version 1 can updated for 79 Euro. Users of TERA, CUBE, and CANTOR are eligible for the 15 Euro upgrade as well, no matter when they purchased CUBE 1. Demo versions for both Windows and Mac are available. For more information, visit their web site at virsyn.com. Monday, May 2 2005 | dmac MOTU Releases MX4 Version 2 and Other Updates for Tiger MX4 V2 Working to ensure a smooth transition to Tiger for users of all current MOTU products, Tiger compatible versions of MOTU products are now shipping. The updates include new drivers for MOTU FireWire audio interfaces and PCI audio interfaces, plus public betas for MachFive and AudioDesk. Digital Performer is already Tiger compatible. Also included in the round of updates is the free Version 2 upgrade to MX4, the multi-synth instrument plug-in for MAS, Audio Units and RTAS. All MX4 users can download MX4 Version 2 and begin using it immediately. MX4 Version 2 is packed with major new features and hundreds of new presets that instantly expand your sonic palette. It all starts with the pulsating, rhythmic textures of MX4 V2's new Pattern Gate, Arpeggiator, Pattern Sequencer and Trigger Sequencer. The MX4 Version 2 upgrade is a complete install of the instrument and includes a 14-day free trial period. So anyone can download MX4 and immediately enjoy using a new, full-functioning virtual instrument in their favorite audio software, such as Garage Band, Digital Performer, Logic or Pro Tools. For more information, visit their web site at motu.com. Sunday, May 1 2005 | dmac ArtsAcoustic Reverb released ArtsAcoustic has released the ArtsAcoustic Reverb, an algorithmic reverb designed for everyday use, featuring extensive editability and low CPU usage. The ArtsAcoustic Reverb is designed to give the user the ability to edit the room/reverb to suit any given situation. This editability is split into 7 categories: Time design, Room design, Level, EQ, Damping, Echo and Misc. All parameters are accessible from within one window. The plug-in includes over 200 presets which are categorized into different room styles and signal types for easier preset browsing. Specification: Algorithmic reverb. 7 different room characteristics. Supports all sample rates. Low quality mode for CPU saving. Over 200 presets. Full automation. The ArtsAcoustic Reverb costs $/€189 and is available as a VST plug-in for Windows XP and Mac OS X. A demo version is available. An AU version for Mac OS X will be available by the 3rd quarter 2005. More @ artsacoustic.com.