Week of September 26, 2004 Saturday, October 2 2004 | dmac discoDSP releases Synthesizer Legacy Bundle discoDSP has announced a new synth bundle, including Discovery, Vertigo and Phantom for $249 / 195 EUR / 139 GBP. Synthesizer Legacy Bundle includes: Discovery: Virtual Analog Synthesizer featuring multi layering, built-in arpeggiator, sync, FM, 8 filter types, panning modulation, stereo delay and gate effects. Imports Nord Lead 2 sysex patches. Includes more than 3.500 presets. Phantom: Eight voices, four operators PM/FM synthesizer, featuring the same Discovery parameter morphing capabilities. Imports Yamaha DX100, DX27 and DX21 SysEx data. Includes 256 preset, 64 of them designed by Scot Solida. Vertigo: Additive synth with resynthesis and morphing capabilities. The Vertigo resynthesis engine is capable of accurate complex musical phrases like drumloops, speech or simple tones recreations, based on his 256 partials engine. Includes 128 high quality presets. More @ discodsp.com. Saturday, October 2 2004 | dmac Native Instruments Announces Battery 2 Their next generation drum sampler, Native Instruments' Battery 2 offers a new sampling engine, enhanced sound shaping and modulation capabilities, sophisticated sample control and a revised user interface. Also included is a new sample library with more than 3.5 GB of drum and percussion samples. Optimized for complex drum kits and large sample sizes, the new sampling engine of Battery 2 offers features like 256 voice polyphony and support for hard disk streaming. Creative possibilities for both studio and live use are enhanced through a host of new sampling features, including polyphonic voice groups with overlap, release trigger, advanced "cell activation" options and a new visual mapping editor. The user interface of Battery 2 is now customizable and can accommodate anything between 9 and 72 cells, to adapt for drum kits of different sizes without wasting precious screen real estate. Sound shaping is also dramatically enhanced, with each cell now including both a compressor section as well as a multimode filter with 15 filter types, ranging from 6-pole resonant low pass to parametric equalizers as well as comb and vowel filters. There's also expanded looping and modulation features, including an additional envelope and LFO for each cell, these new features make Battery 2 the ultimate drum sample powerhouse. Battery 2 now reads more sample formats than ever, including Kontakt, Gigasampler and Rex 1/2, and offers a dedicated import browser for convenient file import. The included sample library offers 23 drum kits ranging from acoustic drums and percussion to electronic drum sounds for all styles and genres. An updated and optimized version of the popular Battery 1 library is also included. With the sample content weighting in at more than 3.5 GB, Battery 2 is available on DVD-ROM only. Battery 2 will be available in November 2004 for a suggested retail price of $239 / 199 Euro from authorized dealers and in the NI Online Shop. An upgrade for owners of Battery 1 will be available for a $229 / 199 Euro. For more information, visit their web site at native-instruments.com. Wednesday, September 29 2004 | dmac Cameleon 5000 v1.5 released, plus other goodies Camel Audio have updated Cameleon 5000 to v1.5 which adds standalone and RTAS support, and boasts a substantially revised manual, including new tutorials and tips. All this, plus a whole range of smaller improvements and optimizations. The upgrade is free to all registered users. By popular demand, Cameleon's PDF-format manual is now also available on paper. The official, professionally-bound, 90-page manual can be bought for $24.95 USD / €19.95 EUR / £12.95 GBP. Cameleon itself (usually sold as a download) can also now be ordered on CD, for an extra $10.95. In addition, Camel Audio recently announced an educational discount of 50% for all students and staff – head over to the Camel Audio online shop for details! The first of a new set of commercial sound packs for Cameleon 5000 has also been released, courtesy of top sound designer Tim Conrardy. These are priced at $24.95 GBP / €19.95 EUR / £12.95 GBP, with MP3 demos and example patches available online. MorphMaker is a free program released by Glen Berry, which allows users to create even the most complex Cameleon morph timeline patterns with a minimum of effort. MorphMaker 1.1 even features a step sequencer, opening the door to all kinds of outlandish wave-sequencing experiments. Also: Win Cameleon 5000!... Camel Audio are also running an exciting competition until the end of the year, and the rules couldn't be simpler. Tell them the name of your three favourite Cameleon presets in the latest demo version, and you could win your own copy of the most innovative virtual instrument on the market! More @ Camelaudio.com. Wednesday, September 29 2004 | dmac Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7 Announced Logic Pro 7 (Courtesy of Apple) Logic Express 7 (Courtesy of Apple) Apple today introduced Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7, the next major releases of its music creation and audio production software applications. At $999, Logic Pro 7 includes new software instruments such as Sculpture, a component-modeling based synthesizer; UltraBeat, a powerful drum machine; and new plug-ins including Guitar Amp Pro, a full-featured guitar amplifier simulator. Along with over 100 workflow enhancements, new mastering plug-ins and support for Apple Loops, Logic Pro 7 debuts distributed audio processing, a technology which allows audio pros to tap into a virtually unlimited number of Macs to expand available Digital Signal Processing (DSP) power. Logic Express 7, a streamlined version of Logic, provides a basic set of professional tools for students, educators and advanced hobbyists at an affordable price of $299. Logic Express 7 and Logic Pro 7 both come with support for projects from GarageBand, Apple's consumer music creation software, offering users a smooth migration path to high-end audio production. New software instruments in Logic Pro 7 include Sculpture and UltraBeat providing customers with more options to create unique sounds and generate drum and bass sequences. Sculpture simulates the behavioral characteristics of a vibrating string or bar and provides users with the ability to control and create their own dynamic and expressive sounds. UltraBeat is a drum machine utilizing several types of synthesis including FM, subtractive, sample-based and component modeling. UltraBeat consists of up to 25 independently modifiable drum voices and includes a uniquely designed integrated step sequencer. New plug-ins in Logic Pro 7 include Guitar Amp Pro, a new full-featured guitar amplifier simulator that recreates the sounds of 11 of the world's best known guitar amplifiers. Users can configure their own real life sounding amplifier with options including 14 speaker cabinet selections, microphone type and placement, as well as EQ type and settings. Additionally, Logic Pro 7 includes new mastering plug-ins, such as Linear Phase EQ and professional metering, to fulfill the needs of audio post production professionals. Logic Pro 7 introduces distributed audio processing, a new technology that allows audio pros to tap into a virtually unlimited number of Macs to expand available DSP power. The result is an audio and music production system with processing power previously unimaginable for native based systems. This feature allows musicians and audio engineers to be even more creative by using a virtually unlimited number of plug-ins to create and process sounds. Logic Pro 7 includes support for Apple Loops, the powerful open-standard file format that allows users to quickly find a loop by instrument, genre or mood. Apple Loops in Logic Pro 7 provide complete real-time flexibility for changing and adjusting the sound and notes in a loop. Workflow in Logic Pro 7 is significantly improved with over 100 productivity enhancement features including song templates, channel strip save and recall, professional shuffle and auto crossfade edit modes, directly accessible from the arrange window. Additionally, users can compile and burn CDs to the Red Book standard with WaveBurner, a stand alone mastering and CD burning application included with Logic Pro 7. Pricing & Availability Logic Pro 7 is available now through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). Registered users of Logic Pro 6 as well as Logic Platinum, Logic Gold 5 or Logic Gold 6 can upgrade to Logic Pro 7 for $299 (US). Logic Express 7 will be available in October for a suggested retail price of $299 (US). Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/logic For more information, visit their web site at www.apple.com. Wednesday, September 29 2004 | dmac Competitive Crossgrade Offer Available for NI's Elektrik Piano Native Instruments wants to entire more users to their new Elektrik Piano virtual instrument with a new competitive crossgrade offer. Effective immediately, the offer applies to owners of the following products: Emagic EVP73 / EVP88 Emagic Logic 6 and upwards AAS Lounge Lizard (all versions) The Elektrik Piano Competitive Crossgrade is available now for $129 / 129 Euro from authorized dealers and in the NI Online Shop. The offer will expire on December 31st 2004. A copy of an invoice for one of the above mentioned products is all that is needed to qualify. For more information, visit their web site at native-instruments.com. Tuesday, September 28 2004 | dmac Rob Papen Albino v2.1 released Rob Papen and LinPlug have updated Albino to v2.1. This free update includes a new "Gator" effect which chops (gates) the signal using MIDI-clocked note values for both stereo sides. This new effect comes complete with 50 brand new presets by Rob Papen. Albino now also responds to MIDI "bank-select". This gives keyboard players the option to chose any presets while playing live. New Features: New Gator Effect. MIDI Bank Select. Many new presets. Bugfixes: LFOs under seldom circumstances not 100% in sync. Release time slightly too long if Note-Off received during Decay. Automation in some hosts not worked correct. More @ robpapen.com | linplug.com. Tuesday, September 28 2004 | dmac NuEdge releases Sonic Charge MicroTonic for OS X NuEdge Development have released the Mac OS X (VSTi) version of Sonic Charge µTonic, the "ultimate synthetic rhythm station". The features of the Mac version are identical to the Windows version and the price is still $69 (excl. VAT). Registrations are cross-platform. If you have already obtained a registration for the µTonic for Windows you do not need to purchase an additional registration for the Mac version. A demo version is available. Features: Eight channel drum and percussion synthesizer. Fully automatable. Pattern based drum machine engine, synchronized to the host sequencer. 100% synthetic sound, rendered in real-time. No samples! Versatile sound architecture allow for a wide variety of tweakable drums and effects. Powerful sound shaping possibilities, including equalizing and distortion for each channel. Uncompromised audio quality (Over-sampled oscillators, sample accurate triggering etc.). Extreme parameter ranges with virtually infinite resolutions. Works in any sample-rate. Straightforward and easy to use interface with context menus, popup hints etc. Cut, copy, paste, load and save programs, individual drum patches and patterns. Plenty of creative editing options, including randomizing functions etc. MIDI out support. Use the pattern engine to control other plug-ins. Comes bundled with a hefty chunk of factory sounds and patterns. The requirements for running the µTonic on Mac are: 500MHz G3 (1GHz G4 is recommended). Mac OS X 10.2 or later. A VST-compatible host application. More @ soniccharge.com. Monday, September 27 2004 | dmac Surround Zone Plug-In Comes to Pro Tools Caption SoundField has announced the new Surround Zone plug-in for Digidesign's Pro Tools software on both Mac and PC platforms. The Surround Zone brings all the control of SoundField's surround and stereo processing to the digital domain. It combines the hardware features of both the SP451 surround processor and the MKV System and is designed to accept the B-Format information generated by any of the current SoundField microphone models. A full surround recording can be captured using a single SoundField microphone incorporating a patented multi-capsule array. Because the microphone captures the sound at a 'single point', as opposed to multiple spaced microphones, all channels are phase coherent. This enables surround mixes to be collapsed back to stereo or mono without the loss of vital audio information. Each microphone system outputs SoundField B-Format, which is a three-dimensional snapshot of any acoustic event. Once the SoundField B-Format is in the Digidesign environment, the plug-in enables the user to generate various surround mic-arrays with variable polar patterns. Specifically the Surround Zone provides a choice of three separate 5.1 arrays, individual 6.1 and 7.1 arrays, independently variable width of both the front and rear pairs, phase coherent LFE and individual level controls with mute and solo all with bargraph metering. The software also provides additional control over the sound such as: Rotate - 360 degree horizontal rotation; Tilt - adjust the microphone pick-up angle by plus or minus 45 degrees in the vertical plane; and Zoom - zoom in on sound sources. The Surround Zone can output mono, stereo, M/S, 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1. In addition to the surround capabilities, also provided are simultaneous stereo outputs. The stereo page features fully variable, graphically displayed polar patterns, variable stereo width, variable high-pass filter from 20Hz up to 250Hz, and mid/side encoded output. Both the Surround Zone software and SoundField Microphones can be purchased directly from www.transaudioelite.com. Direct purchase price of the Surround Zone software is $850.00 and combination price of the software and SoundField SPS422B microphone is $5,200.00 MSRP: Surround Zone for Pro Tools: $1,062.50 If purchased with the SoundField SPS422B microphone: $6,500.00 For more information, visit their web site at www.soundfieldusa.com. Sunday, September 26 2004 | dmac Universal Audio Cambridge EQ v1.3 TDM software update Digidesign TDM Systems Universal Audio, a manufacturer of high-quality vintage audio hardware and DSP software plug-ins for digital audio workstations, announced the release of the Cambridge EQ and the v1.3 TDM update for Digidesign TDM Systems. The update can be downloaded free to existing TDM customers and includes a 14-day, fully functional demo of the Cambridge EQ. The Cambridge EQ for TDM is now available for a MSRP of US$495 "The Cambridge EQ was originally developed for our UAD-1 DSP card and received rave reviews from our customers. "We took great care porting Cambridge to the Digidesign TDM platform in order to maintain its acclaimed audio processing integrity and signature sonic quality," said Joe Bryan, VP of Engineering for Universal Audio. " After extensive development and studio testing, we think Digi users will be overjoyed with the sound of Cambridge TDM." Cambridge TDM Key Features: Five bands of parametric or shelf EQ Low pass and high pass filters with seventeen filter slopes including 2nd-6th order Butterworth and elliptical filters as well as standard cut filters from 6-36db/octave Graphical display of EQ curve with "bats" for direct on-screen adjustment Analog-type filters use a UA proprietary algorithm, which avoids harshness problems typical to digital EQs design Parametric section controls emulate popular high-end analog consoles "Although Universal Audio is known for our emulation of classic processors, the Cambridge EQ is the result of our own design rather than a clone. This makes the overwhelming success of the Cambridge EQ even more meaningful," said Mike Barnes, UA's Director of Marketing. "Now that Cambridge is available for the Digidesign TDM platform, Mix, HD and Accel customers have another real alternative for premium sounding EQ, and we invite them to download the free demo of Cambridge and see what all the fuss is about." The Cambridge EQ for TDM is now available through the UA Dealer Channel either singly or as part of a bundle with other UA classic TDM plug-ins including the Pultec EQP-1A, 1176LN/SE and Teletronix LA-2A. Cambridge is also available in AU/VST/DX & RTAS plug-in formats for the UAD-1 DSP card. Further details available from authorized UA dealers worldwide More @ uaudio.com. Sunday, September 26 2004 | dmac Symbolic Composer 5.1 3D for OS X and Windows Released Tonality Systems/MRAC Publishing has announced Symbolic Composer 5.1 3D for Mac OSX and Windows. The upgrade implements powerful VRML2 Macros that let the composer fuse together music and visuals. VRML2 was developed for 3D graphics on the web, and the VRML2 definition is included in the MPEG4 Specification. Symbolic Composer 5.1 is a powerful molecular music language that offers over 1000 music algorithms, suitable for modern, dance, classic, electronic, ambient and experimental styles,and covers 300 microtonal world-music/theoretical scales, standard scales and complete chord system from the past 500 years of music history. The program is targeted primarily at contemporary composition, experimental music production, music research, and music education. Besides providing the composer a toolbox of traditional algorithmic composition tools, Symbolic Composer also enables the composer to explore advanced fractal and chaos mathematics to determine compositional elements. Included in the software is the standard Common Lisp interpreter, that lets the composer extend and customize compositional functionalities. The software includes complete VRML2 Documentation and A VRML Tutorial that shows how VRML Macros are used inside Lisp and how they connect to SCOM Functions. The VRML Macros open up exciting creative possibilities for the composer to experiment with visualization of parameters in 3D, create music baed on 3D forms, and generate 3D spaces based on music. The VRML Macros produce standard 3-Dimensional .wrl files that can be viewed offline with Explorer, Safari and other browser using a VRML Plug-in,, or the .wrl files can be placed in a web page for online viewing. For more information, visit their web site at symboliccomposer.com.