Week of March 13, 2005 Saturday, March 19 2005 | dmac Ravity Series Coming to OS X in VST and AU Formats Ravity(S) Ravity(R) Luxonix is bringing their Ravity series - Ravity(S), Ravity(R) and Ravity16 - of products to the Mac OS X platform. A VST format release is scheduled for release on March 22 March 2005, and AU format sometime in May 2005. Ravity(S)/(R)/16 for Mac will cost $139, $79, $16 respectively, same as PC version. For existing registered users, a cross-grade between PC and Mac versions will be available in May. The Ravity(S) software ROMpler features: 447 preset sound 512 polyphonic(256 voices) per instance 4 layers / arpeggiator for each layer 4x3 insertion effecto slots / 1x3 master effectslots Ravity(R) focuses on rhythm sounds and features: 68 preset kit sound 16 assignable pads/layers 64 polyphonic/voices per instance 6 individual stereo outputs 1x3 insertion effect slots each stereo output Ravity16 is a host for the Ravity instruments. It features: 16 part multi-timbral (16 slots for Ravity(S) or Ravity(R)) Up to 16 stereo outputs 32 ready-to-use preset System Requirements: G3 700MHz CPU or higher (G4 1.67GHz CPU or higher recommended) 64MB RAM or higher (256MB RAM or higher recommended) about 50MB hard disc space Mac OS X 10.3 or higher VST 2.0 compatible host application (VST 2.3+ recommended) For more information, visit their web site at luxonix.com. Friday, March 18 2005 | dmac Free EQ III Plug-In from Digidesign Digidesign has announced that the new EQ III DigiRack plug-in is now available for free. EQ III is a high-resolution, double-precision 48-bit EQ plug-in available for Digidesign Pro Tools and Avid systems. EQ III supports TDM, RTAS, and AudioSuite formats, and is available in 1-band, 4-band, and 7-band configurations for optimized CPU/DSP efficiency. In addition to its fully parametric design, Digidesign EQ III includes selectable shelving filters and settings as well as separate high-pass, low-pass, and variable Q notch filters. EQ III's interface features a fully interactive and easy-to-use frequency graph that allows users to view and adjust individual EQ bands and filters from within the display. EQ III was designed to complement the dedicated EQ center section of Digidesign's ICON D-Control tactile worksurface, providing D-Control users with control over all of EQ III's parameters, including gain, frequency, Q, and filter switching for all of EQ III's bands. The plug-in's professional and interactive interface and seamless worksurface integration makes EQ III one of the easiest EQ plug-ins to use, and provides an unparalleled workflow designed for speed and accuracy. EQ III Features: High-resolution, double-precision 48-bit processing 5-band fully parametric design with additional high-pass and low-pass filters Selectable shelving filters and settings on LF and HF bands Separate selectable high-pass, low-pass, and notch filters with variable Q and slope Three selectable EQ process types for flexibility and optimal DSP usage Professional interactive interface with tight ICON D-Control worksurface integration De-zippered, automatable controls for smooth parameter changes Support for high-resolution sample rate processing up to and including 192 kHz EQ III can be downloaded for free from digidesign.com. Friday, March 18 2005 | dmac CC4 Releases Ridiculously Red Free VST Synthesizer Ridiculously Red is a monophonic hybrid virtual studio instrument in PC VST format, intended for live use due to its drone capabilities, but it can also be used normally to create dirty & gritty leads, thick basses, and pads with a sense of movement. Ridiculously Red's features include: Three continuous oscillator selection banks One continuous noise oscillator Gate switches for each bank and noise oscillator Pulse width control for each bank Coarse and fine tune controls for each bank Gate switches and amount control for additive noise to each bank Three buttons for experimental semi-modular routing Three modifiers to control experimental semi-modular routing Amplitude envelope controls for each bank: Delay, Attack, Peak, Hold, Delay1, Break-Point, Delay2, Sustain, Release, and Overall level Three unique LFOs with oscillator bank routing destinations Envelope retriggering and portamento controls Patch independent velocity and volume controls Knob automation bank with on/off switches, smoothness control, knob rotation amount, & rotation speed 63 non-automated patches, 64 knob automated patches, plus one blank patch Ridiculously Red is available now as a free download. For more information, visit their web site at cogeco.ca. Friday, March 18 2005 | dmac Wusik Releases VOX'd and The Second Wave as VST Instruments VOX'd The Second Wave Wusik.com has released VOX'd VSTi and also The Second Wave VSTi, two new windows VSTi sample-based workstation. Previously available as sound sets for the Wusikstation, they are now offered as standalone instruments based on the same engine, but without the original sound set. VOX'd encompasses vocal and voice samples and related waveforms produced with pop and classical music artists as well as designed synthetic choirs to new and unheard sounds. A total of 500 MB sound set of 1000+ voice and choir waves together with 96 presets. The samples used for the sound sets include Human Voice & Choir, Classical Solo Voice, Synthetic Voice & Choir, Physical Model Choir, 8-Bit Vox, Synthetic VoiceLayer, Instrument/Choir Layer, Synthetic VoiceChords, VoiceScenes, Repeat Voice FX, Vocal Phrase FX, Vocoder, Human Voice Percussion FX and processed Human Environs. 96 ready-to-use Presets are designed by sound creator Tim Conrardy. Evolving vocal pads, big as a wall choir layers, movie sound atmospheres, human percussion and sound effects. The Second Wave (TSW) can create the typical Wavestation-style moving sounds as well as new and unheard sounds. Some of the samples are rather similar to the original, but a lot of completely new instruments were added as well. "The Second Wave" provides a total of 1800 multisamples/samples, including Acoustic, Electric and Electronic Instruments, Vocals and Percussions and Sound Effects. The 158+ Presets are created using the layer option to combine these instruments and include Wavesequences where needed. Both products are based on the WusikEngine, the same one that the Wusikstation VSTi uses. Both products costs $79.95 USD/CAD and is available in both downloadable and CD. Wusikstation/Manystation users can purchase only the SoundSets+Presets for $39.95 USD/CAD each. For more information, visit their web site at wusik.com. Tuesday, March 15 2005 | dmac Ableton has updated Live to v4.1.1. Improvements to Live v4.1.1: [OSX] Improved performance when switching between Live and any VST/AU plug window. [OSX] Workaround for missing certain information in MOTU Mach5 Audio Unit Version 1.2, so it should work now. Improved VST Shell Scanning (faster). Preferences Product Page - Some more layout and language corrections. Default 'Groove' setting - MIDI clips created within Live will now overtake the current global 'Groove' setting from the preferences. Operator hide - It is now possible to hide Operator. You can do this in the Products section of Live's preferences. If hidden, Operator is not visible in the instrument browser and the Operator Lessons are not accessible via the Help menu. Furthermore, if you load a song containing Operator while it is hidden, you can load the song but the contained Operator will be disabled. Edirol Orchestra plug-in - Better support for the Edirol Orchestra plug-in. Lesson view screen resolution - We removed the screen resolution restrictions for the Lesson view. Therefore the Lesson view should be visible on all screen resolutions. More @ ableton.com. Tuesday, March 15 2005 | dmac Voxengo Releases New Update for Elephant VST Plug-In Version update 2.3 of Voxengo Elephant, a mastering limiter plug-in in PC VST format, is now available. This version introduces a new limiter mode EL-3 which is based on the EL-2 mode. This newer mode delivers a cleaner and a more 'round' sound according to Voxengo and it also allows you to adjust limiter's release time. A control (Shape) to adjust limiter's transient handling is also available. You will also find an intermediate stereo linking strength selection in this version. This allows you to get a less strict stereo-linked limiting, when necessary. This version also features a fully redesigned set of factory presets. Voxengo Elephant features: 8 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 Voxengo Elephant VST is available for a discounted price of USD 59.95 ($10 off the regular price) which will be effective for two weeks. For more information, visit their web site at voxengo.com. Monday, March 14 2005 | dmac Korg Offers Legacy Collection for Free to New Triton Extreme Owners   Triton Extreme 61 Triton Extreme 61 Rear Panel From January 1 until July 31, 2005, anyone who purchases a new 61, 76, or 88-key TRITON Extreme from an authorized U.S. dealer is eligible to receive the Korg Legacy Collection absolutely free. This offer presents savings of $625. Customers who purchase a TRITON Extreme can visit Korg's web site and fill out the downloadable PDF coupon. They will be sent the Legacy Collection suite of vintage Korg software synths, featuring the Polysix, Wavestation and MS-20, plus a unique Legacy Cell that allows the user to blend synths and create new sounds. Also included are 20 effects plug-ins and the MS-20 hardware controller. For more information, visit their web site at www.korg.com. Sunday, March 13 2005 | dmac Bidule hits v0.8 Plogue has released a new version of Bidule (v0.8) with tons of new features and fixes. New Features: You can now use your USB joysticks, mouse, keyboard and other HID devices as MIDI controllers and parameter sources: see Misc/HID Data Extractor (DX9 on Windows is HIGHLY suggested, DX8 is however the minimum no extras are needed on Mac OS X). Mediapool now shows more Audio file details, including BPM, bars, beats and includes whole new tabs for MIDI and PVOC files. New and improved Audio File Looper with graphical loop points editing, variable number of beats/bars, meter adaption and time stretching (old looper has been renamed to Boboche Looper). New Modules: 12, 14, 16, 24 and 32 channels Audio File Player. 12, 14, 16, 24 and 32 channels Audio File Recorder. Mono Dither (just duplicate by hand for the number of channels you want). HID Data Extractor. MIDI Activity. MIDI Aftertouch Creator. MIDI Aftertouch Extractor. MIDI Aftertouch Filter. MIDI Multi Aftertouch Remapper. MIDI Aftertouch Transposer. MIDI Channel Pressure Creator. MIDI Channel Pressure Extractor. MIDI Channel Pressure Filter. MIDI Multi Channel Pressure Remapper. MIDI CC Transposer. MIDI File Looper. MIDI Message Remapper. MIDI Note Extractor 2. MIDI Pitchbend Creator. MIDI Pitchbend Extractor. MIDI Multi Program Change Remapper. MIDI Program Change Filter. MIDI Program Change Transposer. MIDI Stack. MIDI Switcher 2 ports. Sync to MIDI Clock. MIDI Time Delta. MIDI Voice Counter. 4 and 16 mono channels Mixer. 4, 8 and 16 stereo channels Mixer. Parameter Modulator (Relative). Pulse. Spectral File Looper. Spectral Inverter. Spectral Sustain. Stack. Sync Transport. Changes: Accum: changed the higher bounds input to be exclusive, please change your layouts accordingly. AU: added support for Cocoa UIs. Audio File Player: added loop mode. Audio File Recorder/Audio Buffer: added option to save in either wave or AIFF instead of forcing the platform's preferred format. Basic Audio Buffer: added Interpolation parameter. Basic Audio Buffer: added distinct Record position input, please change your layouts accordingly. Indexed Value List: changed Index input to be 0-based for consistency, please change your layouts accordingly. Mediapool: added extra info on audio file. MIDI Monitor: add events one by one in the window instead of by block. Noise: added HP Tri noise type. Parameter Properties Dialog: added display of increment value. Patchbay: Paste from the context menu now pastes at the mouse position. Spectral Freeze: can now save to file. VST Bridge: added MIDI output to the host. VST Bridge: added OS X version. Windows: you can now have multiple versions of Bidule installed. Bug Fixes: Application: possible crash if groups cache file is corrupted. Application: import causing crashes with some layouts. Application: some undo operations could fail depending on your regional options. AU: some AUs crashing when starting processing. AU: some AUs windows not resizing properly. AU: scanning fails on MusicDevices with a flexible configuration. Audio File Granulator: crashes upon certain settings. Buffer Granulator: crashes upon certain settings. Groups: parameters exported to group sometimes don't update their enable/disable status correctly. Groups: re-saving a group with a displayPath doesn't change the displayPath. MIDI File Player: some files not looping correctly. MIDI Step Sequencer: settings saved on one platform might not work on the other. OS X: main window title bar could appear under the menu bar. OS X MIDI Output: some MIDI events aren't sent properly for some interfaces. OS X VST: keys aren't received by some plug-ins. Presets: some bidules have parameters that reset to 0 when using presets. ReWire: looping sections inside a ReWire device sometimes causes weird results. Patchbay: current zoom isn't taking into account when adding bidules through drag and drop. Spectral To MIDI: the threshold parameter doesn't have any effect. Trigger: the send trigger parameter doesn't behave properly through parameter linking. Windows: failure to open a MIDI port isn't reported. More @ plogue.com.