Week of July 11, 2004 Friday, July 16 2004 | dmac LUXONIX have released 'ravity Sound Library : RSL Vol.1 - Vintage Legend' RSL - Vintage Legend (RSL-VL) is the first sound bank of Ravity(S) for registered users. The point of RSL-VL is the collection of 'ready-to-use' sounds. So new 64 presets realize the sound of respected progressive musicians using many vintage hardwares. The demosong using RSL-VL only can be downloaded here. RSL-VL was already given to the users of Ravity(S) by e-mail for free. More @ Luxonix.com. Friday, July 16 2004 | dmac Midi Quest 9.1 and Midi Quest XL for Macintosh OS X and OS 9 now shipping Sound Quest is now shipping Midi Quest 9.1 ($199) and Midi Quest XL ($299) for Macintosh OS X and OS 9. Midi Quest 9.1 and Midi Quest XL for Macintosh both include support for over 600 instruments from more than 60 different manufacturers and feature an unparalleled collection of tools to backup, create, edit, organize and tweak the settings of your synthesizers, effects units, drum machines and other MIDI devices. Midi Quest 9.1 features advanced graphic parameter editors, drag and drop bank organization, integrated hierarchical parent/child relationships, creation of Cubase Patch name scripts and Sonar/Cakewalk master.ins name files (for networked Windows machines), 5 types of intelligent patch creation/randomization, descriptive tags and queries, and ships with over 70,000 unique patches. Midi Quest XL includes all of the features of Midi Quest 9.1 and adds an extensive collection of advanced features including: the creation of XML patch name documents used to display patch names in Digidesign’s ProTools and MOTU’s Performer software, Midi Quest VST plug-in version with parameter automation, patch name servers to automatically create XML name documents, name scripts, and master.ins files, batch tools for automated SysX File conversion, and all the tools necessary to build and customize your own instrument modules. Midi Quest 9.1 and Midi Quest XL are the only Universal Editor/Librarians currently available for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms and all data files and instrument modules are cross system compatible. For a complete description of Midi Quest’s features and capabilities and a list of the over 600 supported instruments, visit Sound Quest’s web site at Squest.com. Thursday, July 15 2004 | dmac PG Music Releases Band-in-a-Box 12 for Mac OS X PG Music Inc. has released Version 12 of its Band-in-a-Box intelligent music software for use with Macintosh OS X. New features include an all new 32-bit PPC program engine, enhanced user interface, faster program operation, improved playback timing, improved support for CoreMIDI, QuickTime Music synthesizer and controller keyboards, plus odd time signature support, new count in types, increased maximum number of soloists, the ability to intelligently transform a 4/4 melody to a 3/4 time signature and much more. Band-in-a-Box 12 for Mac has an all new 32-bit PPC program engine that allows it to run "Native" in OS X Jaguar or Panther (version 10.2 or higher recommended) and is fully Mac OS X carbonized. The user interface has been enhanced with improved menus and more, giving Band-in-a-Box 12 a much better look in the OS X environment. Improved OS X 128X128 "high resolution" program and file icons are also included to enhance the user experience. Program operations are much faster, with up to 3 times faster notation redraws, song, and soloing generation. Playback timing is improved and rock-solid with OS X. Timing has been improved for tighter playback. Band-in-a-Box 12 for Mac now includes CoreMIDI support (for external MIDI devices) as well as improved support for QuickTime Music synthesizers, making it work and sound much better in OS X. Additional MIDI driver enhancements allow users with controller keyboards such as M-Audio Oxygen8, or Edirol PCR-1 to play thru the QuickTime Music synthesizer from their MIDI keyboard. Added odd-time signature support in Band-in-a-Box 12 for Mac OS X provides the ability to play odd-time signatures like 9/8, 11/8, 13/16, 19/16, etc. Count-in and the styles play correctly in the odd-time signature feel. Users can change time signatures during the song. Users can now automatically transform any 4/4 Melody to a 3/4 Waltz ("Strauss-in-a-Box") or transform "Waltz" Melody to 4/4 ("De-Strauss" the Melody). Users need to simply load in any 4/4 song and change the style to a Waltz style or load any Waltz and change to a 4/4 style. The program will offer to transform the melody so that it works with the newly selected time signature. Band-in-a-Box uses intelligent algorithms to transform the melody to the new time signature. Customers can download Band-in-a-Box 12 for Mac OS X immediately or order via mail, phone, fax or e-mail directly from PG Music Inc. For more information, visit their web site at pgmusic.com. Wednesday, July 14 2004 | dmac Sonicbytes EST v1.0.1 released This update adds new features, which are primarily designed to use EST as an pure instrument in addition to its step-sequencer capabilities. New playmodes transform EST into an outstanding 12-layer sampler/synth-combination with incomparable potentialities for creating living, rhythmical instruments and arpeggios. Furthermore the beat-slicing capabilities have been improved. 30 demo mp3's and a limited demo-version are waiting for you at SONICBYTES. New features: Instrument and Arpeggio mode Sample to Slot batch conversion (complete directories) Filter Cutoff and Resonance step-inertia for smooth automation Slot browser in pianoroll and drumgrid Cool hit-modes for Beat-slicing and Pass-Through-Sample issues Noise oscillator and Ring modulation mix-mode in the OSC section Additional LFO waveforms RND and S&H Extended clipboard commands (copy/cut/paste triggers together with value-rows) Better mouse handling (customizable grid) for automation rows Many new presets, kits, slots and skins Reference Manual Fixes: Loading of presets outside EST Midi-In channel is now handled correct, even if no keyzone is defined Crash when alternately using ERA and EST Minor fixes More @ Sonicbytes.com Wednesday, July 14 2004 | dmac Kjaerhus Audio Launches Classic Delay ? A free Delay Plugin Kjaerhus Audio have released Classic Delay, the latest in their "Classic" line of free VST effects for Windows. The Classic Delay emulates three of the most commonly used delays / echo sounds types: Tape, Analog, and Digital, but without the introduction of noise. A quality control is included where the sound of the echo machine can be adjusted to give the preferred amount of "imperfection". The delay can be synchronized to the host, and the feedback can be reversed to give a ping-pong effect. For more information, visit the Kjaerhus Audio web site at Kjaerhusaudio.com Tuesday, July 13 2004 | dmac Voxengo Elephant 2.1 released Elephant update 2.1 now available. Voxengo Elephant is a mastering limiter plug-in in PC VST format. This version 2.1 introduces two new limiter modes - AIGC-3 and AIGC-4. These modes deliver clarity of the recently introduced limiter mode EL-2, and the dynamic response of the original AIGC modes, bringing a yet another creative possibility you can use in music and audio production. Another feature this version offers you is switchable gain reduction meters' ballistics. Now it is possible to gradually switch the gain reduction meters' response, from fast to slow. Voxengo Elephant features: Transparent limiting action 7 limiter modes 7 speeds for various styles of music Gain reduction VU meters Noise-shaped bit-depth converter RMS and peak RMS output counters Automatic attack and release DC removal filter Up to 4x oversampling "A-to-B" comparisons Factory presets Mono-to-Stereo, Stereo-to-Stereo processing Sample rates up to 96 kHz 64-bit internal precision To get more information about Elephant and other Voxengo plug-ins you can visit the Voxengo website: voxengo.com. Tuesday, July 13 2004 | dmac Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy Get LFO Sync Atmosphere and Trilogy now support host tempo LFO sync, which allows LFO rates to be locked to musical values. When the SYNC button is ON, the rates of the LFO modulation are shown in rhythmic values (1/16, Dotted, Triplets, etc). To hear the effect, you must have LFO modulation assigned as a source to a destination (Pitch/Filter/Amp/Pan) in the MODULATION MATRIX. When you experiment with LFO sync mode, remember that LFO 1/2 will retrigger with each note received, and LFO 3/4 are free running. Changes: New Feature: LFO Sync. Windows: LFO 3&4 panning "crackling on some systems" bug fixed. Windows: Sonar sustain pedal "stuck notes" problem fixed. All have the these changes: Up to 192k sample rates now supported. Windows: New RTAS-HTDM (ProTools) Plug-In version added. Windows: P4 denorm issues with certain systems fixed. Windows: Improved host compatibility. Windows: Performance optimizations. Windows: Shortcuts are now taken into account allowing the user to put the ".dat" file wherever you want on your hard drive. Spectramove utility is no longer necessary. OS X: VST version fixes an issue with CUBASE SX 2, you do not have to depress the control key any more in order to type the response code to the challenge in the authorization window. OS9: No longer supported for new versions. More @ Spectrasonics.net. Tuesday, July 13 2004 | dmac All Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments Updated for Digidesign's Windows RTAS Format Spectrasonics has released new updates of their award-winning virtual instrument plug-ins Trilogy, Stylus and Atmosphere, providing compatibility for the Windows version of Digidesign's RTAS plug-in format. The plug-ins are available for registered owners as a free download from the Spectrasonics website. "Since the introduction of our virtual instruments, we have had many requests for native support by the Windows Pro Tools(TM) community. With these new versions, we can now offer Windows Pro Tools users the same experience that Mac users of Spectrasonics instruments have long enjoyed," said Spectrasonics Founder and Creative Director, Eric Persing. "We're very pleased to now offer full native, cross-platform support for ALL Pro Tools users on both Macintosh and Windows." Digidesign(R) Pro Tools users on the Windows platform will now enjoy simple and easy integration and use of Spectrasonics plug-ins using the standard RTAS and HTDM formats. The three Spectrasonics plug-ins work with the Mac OS OS9 and OSX RTAS standards as well. The new versions, Trilogy 1.2, Atmosphere 1.2 and Stylus 1.1, also include several software code fixes adding more stability and compatibility for Macintosh OS X and Windows computers. The Trilogy and Atmosphere updates have also added new syncable LFOs, allowing Pro Tools to send tempo information to the plug-ins and have the LFO rate "locked" to the feel of the music. All three plug-in updates are free to registered owners and can be downloaded from the Spectrasonics website at Spectrasonics.net. Sunday, July 11 2004 | dmac ConcreteFX Adder and Micron soundsets released ProSounds have announced their support for the ConcreteFX range of synthesizers with the release of The Adder Collection - a collection of professional quality presets for the Adder VSTi - and a FreeSet for the Micron VSTi. The Adder Collection contains four banks in ABK format (totalling 128 presets) for the Adder VSTi and is divided into four parts. These are basses, leads, pads and soundFX. It also includes an excellent new skin which is free to all users of Adder. A free demo bank containing 28 presets (7 presets from each of the four parts) from The Adder Collection has been available for download at the site. The Adder Collection is priced at 19.95 Euros. Individual banks that form part of the collection can be purchased seperately. The Micron FreeSet 1 is a soundset containing 64 excellent presets for the Micron VSTi. This is available for free download in the FreeSets area of the site. For more information visit pro-sounds.net