Week of December 4, 2005 Friday, December 9 2005 | dmac AAS releases Lounge Lizard EP-3 Applied Acoustics Systems has announced that Lounge Lizard EP-3 is now available. New in Lounge Lizard EP-3: Presets: The brand new library fully exploits the refinements on offer and covers all your electric piano needs. Effects: The high-end effect section has been extended with tremolo, wah, chorus, phaser, delay, reverb, and EQ - making Lounge Lizard a complete and self-contained electric piano solution. Pickup model: Two pickup types are now available for a wider character range: electromagnetic (Rhodes) and electrostatic (Wurlitzer). In addition, scaling has been added for even volume across the entire keyboard. Fork model: The new and improved Fork model adds upper harmonic content for an even more authentic sound. Damper model: The improved Damper now closely interacts with the Fork and provides superb dynamic response. Audio Recorder: The integrated audio Recorder captures inspired moments on the fly. Micro-Tuning: Custom tunings are now possible with the added support for Scala files. Lounge Lizard EP-3's MSRP is $249; Upgrade from Lounge Lizard EP-2 and EP-1 is $49; Upgrade from Lounge Lizard EP-2 and EP-1 is free for copies unlocked after September 1st. It is also available as part of the AAS Modeling Collection. Demo versions are available. Friday, December 9 2005 | dmac Zero-G Releases Outer Limits Virtual Instrument For Kompakt Outer Limits is a new ZERO-G/XFONIC virtual instrument powered by Native Instruments Kompakt and featuring a massive four gigabyte core library of more than 500 unique soundscapes and full of sounds beyond your imagination. Outer Limits is Ian Boddy's follow-up to his critically acclaimed Morphology Kompakt instrument. The range of sounds this instrument is capable of is truly amazing, from shimmering pads, to mysterious drones, crystalline digital manipulations to dark distorted atmospheres, menacing mechanisms, evocative resonances, surreal sound effects, complex cascades, formant sheens, dark disturbing horror, analogue waves, amazing space textures, strange vocal synthesis and of course, sounds from the Outer Limits of space and time. And you can layer eight at a time to create complex soundscapes. Categories include Ambient Loops, Analogue Waves, Chamber of Horrors, Click & Glitch, Deep Space, Dense Soundscapes, Digital Drones, Digital Manipulations, Distorted Views, Heavy Drones, Machine Dreams, Minimalism, One Shot Synth FX, Outer Limits, Surreal to Real, Transcendental, Twisted Pads, Vintage Synth Atmos, Vocal Transformations and White Noise Atmospheres. The whole library is presented within NI's stunning state-of-the-art Kompakt Instrument sampler interface, which makes no compromises in the playing and performing of sample-based instruments. Powerful multi-mode filters, envelopes, and LFOs give this library enormous flexibility and a wealth of creative possibilities. The integrated high-quality reverb, chorus, and delay effects can give each sample life and depth. Ian Boddy is one of the UK's most celebrated synthesists, and a veteran of the European electronic music scene since the late 1970s. Ian's exclusive arsenal of vintage and modern synths and software plug-ins have been extensively plundered together with cutting edge sonic manipulations and the audio mangling of real environmental sounds to create the unique and inspiring new library that you will find within this powerful virtual instrument. Supported Interfaces & Standards: VST 2.0, DXi, ASIO, Audio Units, Core Audio, RTAS, Mac & PC. Minimum Requirements: Windows XP, Pentium III/ Athlon 400 MHz, 256 MB RAM Mac OS 10.2.6 or higher, G3 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM Recommended Retail Price: $199.95 US Dollars / 169 Euros / 114.95 pounds sterling. Outer Limits is in stock and shipping now! To read more product details including the full list of equipment used, to listen to the demo songs and samples, and for details of your nearest distributor or local retailer, check out the website at zero-g.co.uk. Thursday, December 8 2005 | dmac Prodyon release Spacehawk Prodyon have released Spacehawk - Ambient Textures - A new ambient soundset for your favourite Sampler. "Spacehawk is a new Sample Collection with a massive 3 GB Library featuring more than 250 unique ambient textures and soundscapes by Dennis Lenz and Stephan Muesch. This collection delivers you dozens of pads, soundscapes, drones, swirling FX, complex textures and a variety of string and synth atmospheres. It is available in a wide variety of formats, and can be used in for example Reason, GIGASampler / Studio, Kontakt, Live, Logic Audio, eXT, Sampletank, Wusikstation2 and more!" More info @ prodyon.de. Thursday, December 8 2005 | dmac Scarbee Releases Imperial Drums XL Scarbee Imperial Drums XL is a virtual instrument based on Steinberg HALion Player 3.2. It comes in standalone format (Rewire enabled for use with hosts like Digidesign Pro Tools) for Apple OSX and Windows XP as well as a plugins in various interface formats: VSTi, AU, Dxi. Scarbee Imperial Drums XL is made up of 48GB of sample data (44.1kHz/24-bit, recorded at 88.2kHz) from 51 different drums, including some of the most revered. These drums were sampled with up to 101 velocity switches for each technique/playing hand and using no less than 12 different drumstick types and 3 bass beaters. The library is divided into two sections--the first features direct-to-disk Multimic samples which allow the user to mix programmed drums like they were played live. The second one features Stereo Processed drums, both dry and processed to varying degrees. This section still features lots of expression--24 velocity switches per technique on snare drums and 32 on bass drums, for example. The Multimic drums are programmed in a way that let you easily control the volume of each single microphone coming from each drum, allowing for a new drum mixing experience and sound design possibilities. Samples are easily controllable thanks to the use of Key Switches, MIDI CCs, and the Mod Wheel. New programming makes it possible to load a full kit in different slots but on the same MIDI Channel, thus not limiting the real time playing experience. Each single-drum program is also presented in a GM/Roland V-Drums compatible version. Scarbee also includes hundreds of MIDI Groove files that are ready to use and played by Imperial Drums drummer Elio Rivagli. Scarbee Imperial Drums XL comes with a printed quick install manual, a full PDF manual, hundreds of customized MIDI Files, and tutorial videos. Scarbee Imperial Drums XL is now available for a suggested retail price of MSRP $299. An upgrade path is available for current Scarbee Imperial Drums library users. For more information, visit their web site at scarbee.com. Thursday, December 8 2005 | dmac Ugo Releases Sound-Shaping VST Plugin for PC Metallurgy is a multi effect that is capable of providing sounds ranging from basic, subtle, filter tweaks to twisted, complex, walls of sound that bare virtually no resemblance to the original audio. Metallurgy offers 3 filters with multiple modulation options (including step sequencing), 2 distortions (each with 3 modes), 2 downsamplers, dual delay, an envelope follower, a gate sequencer, and a Metal effect that, in addition to flanging and metallic effects, also provides the ability to produce pitched sequences...nearly turning Metallurgy into an synth in its own right. Metallurgy has been designed with synths, bass, and drums in mind, but is useful with a wide range of sound types and comes with over 400 categorized patches. System requirements: PC with a VST compatible host. A processor speed of 1.5GHz or higher is recommended to get the most out of Metallurgy. Metallurgy costs $20 USD and is available for download from Ugo's website. For more information, visit their web site at cortidesign.com/ugo. Tuesday, December 6 2005 | dmac Source-Connect Update Adds Remote Syncing of Pro Tools Sessions Source-Elements has announced the release of Source-Connect Version 2.2 in conjunction with an end-of-year sales promotion which allows new users to save $400 USD off the retail price. With this latest feature update, Source-Connect has added RTS (Remote Transport Sync) for remote synchronization of recording sessions over the internet. This upgrade is available to current Source-Connect users at no cost. Source-Connect is the only Pro Tools plug-in capable of streaming audio directly from one Pro Tools system to another while simultaneously locking transports. As demonstrated at AES 2005, RTS brings integrated transport locking to Pro Tools for the first time, allowing full use of your bandwidth for the audio signal. Requiring no additional hardware or software, RTS makes long-distance transport control simpler than ever. "Source-Connect enables high quality, low latency, real time audio connections between Pro Tools systems anywhere in the world, using only T1, Cable, or DSL internet connections. "With the addition of RTS to Source-Connect, creative collaboration just got a whole lot easier.", said Source-Elements co-founder John Binder. "Now with the ability to lock two systems together while streaming audio, overdubs and dialog replacement are a snap." Source-Connect eliminates the need for expensive ISDN lines, hardware, subscription fees and minute-by-minute line charges, enabling affordable high-quality connections between studios, voiceover talent and musicians all over the world. Incorporating a high-quality, low delay AAC codec, Source-Connect allows for communications at bitrates up to 160kbps mono, 320kbs stereo. The new RTS feature allows the mix engineer to not only remote control another Pro Tools session, but hear the other session in sync with his own system. No additional synchronizers are required. Even though SMPTE timecode is not needed to synchronize with RTS, users will still have the option to send timecode along with the stereo or mono audio stream. Source-Connect Version 2.2 is available for download from source-elements.com and is a free upgrade from version 2.1. During the 2005 end-of-year sales promotion you can save $400 off the retail price of $1495. For more information, visit their web site at source-elements.com. Tuesday, December 6 2005 | dmac PG Music Releases Band-in-a-Box 2006 for PC PG Music Inc. has released the 2006 version of its Band-in-a-Box intelligent music software for Windows. With over fifty new features, Band-in-a-Box 2006 offers users a major upgrade in features and functionality. Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment program for Windows, letting you create backing tracks for praticing as well as composing entire pieces, complete with audio tracks, DirectX/VST plug-in support, and notation functions. New features in the 2006 release include: Live looping and playback control Enhanced TC-Helicon Audio Harmonies New notation symbols ASIO Audio/Software synth driver support VST support Half-speed (and slower) audio playback Three new DirectX plug-ins, PG Vinyl, PG RTA and PG Vocal Remover Support to have different instruments (patches) for the "a" and "b" substyle Multi-channel leadsheet display and specific channel recording MIDI normalize option Two new ear training games Bar range for MIDI file creation 11th chord support Direct open or import of WMA, MP3, and CD-Audio files Piano Roll improvements Batch conversion from Band-in-a-Box songs to MIDI files. List Pricing: Band-in-a-Box Pro: $88 Band-in-a-Box MegaPAK: $249 Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box 2006 Pro: $49 Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box 2006 MegaPAK: $149 For more information, visit their web site at pgmusic.com.