Week of June 4, 2006 Wednesday, June 7 2006 | dmac Music Unfolding Releases M3 Audio Unit Plugin Distortion Effect   Music Unfolding announces the release of M3. M3 is an Audio Unit plugin distortion effect with two wave shapers, two parametric EQ's, a delay and an envelope/MIDI controlled formant wah section. The wave shapers are defined with Bezier curves by clicking and dragging control points. It's easy to draw your favorite curve with M3 to achieve the distortion effect you want. Each wave shaper can be contoured using a collection of available filters. Because there are two wave shapers, the first can be used to drive the second. You can use the independent contouring filters of the two wave shaper sections to precisely design the character of the distortion. There are endless possibilities and sounds from warm and rich to crunchy to grinding. There are two parametric EQ sections. Each EQ has five filters: Low shelf, high shelf and three peak/cut. The first EQ section can be used to contour the signal before the distortion stages. The second is applied after the distortion stages and can be used for emulating cabinet response or adjusting the presence of the distortion. There is a two second delay with adjustable depth, feedback and filtering. The delay is placed between the two stages of distortion. The formant section can be set to auto-filter or can be controlled with a MIDI expression pedal. There are 90 different formant filter morphing wahs or oscillations. The various combinations of formant, filter and delay can lead to some wild and unique sounds. M3 is $35.00 and is available for OS X as a Universal binary. Click here to download the M3 demo. For more information, visit their web site at MusicUnfolding.com. Tuesday, June 6 2006 | dmac Swar Systems Announces Updates To SwarPlug/SwarTrax Librarian And SwarShala Pro   Swar Systems is happy to announce the release of an improved version (1.3) of the Librarian for SwarPlug/SwarTrax. Here are the main enhancements: Drag & drop to sequencer BPM control Nr of beats control Volume control Export parameters (pitch, nr of loops, patch selection type, include/exclude starting header) Improved playback quality on Mac Mac Intel compatibility SwarShala Pro Update Along with the new Librarian, Swar Systems has also released a new update for SwarShala Pro (version 3.0.9) that allows you to drag & drop a sequence directly into your sequencer, allowing a perfect integration of SwarShala with your SwarPlug/SwarTrax-enabled sequencer! The program just generates a corresponding MIDI file on the fly. You can also tailor the exported MIDI files with the same parameters as the Librarian. Mac Intel compatibility Both SwarShala and Swar Librarian have been compiled as Universal Binaries and therefore run natively on both Intel and PowerPC (PPC) computers. The SwarPlug plugin however is still a PPC program. It will run on Intel if called by a PPC-only sequencer, through the in-built emulator Rosetta. Swar Systems should be releasing a ported version of it within a couple of months. For more information, visit their web site at swarsystems.com. Tuesday, June 6 2006 | dmac Cakewalk Announces Kinetic 2   New features: turn your computer keyboard into a full-fleged music production tool with the GRID; DropZone drag and drop sampler; over a thousand instrument patches, featuring genuine Roland sounds and PSYN II analog synthesizer; hundreds of professional music patterns and ACID-format loops; expanded effects; and more Cakewalk announces Kinetic 2, the latest version of the fastest and easiest way for anyone to create beats and electronic music on their PC. Kinetic 2 has an estimated street price of $79.99 U.S., and is available at select computer, consumer electronics, and music and sound retailers. The original Kinetic introduced the fastest way for everyone, regardless of musical experience, to create electronic music on their computer. By combining a simple click-and-groove interface with genuine Roland sounds for the first time, Kinetic made it easy and affordable for anyone to be a music producer. Now with Kinetic 2, making beats has just gotten easier. Kinetic 2 has a new look and exciting new features that combine everything you need to build a track from start to finish. Just choose a musical style and then audition different sounds and professionally produced musical patterns in the Kinetic 2 browser. Once you find what you like, you can then layer patterns and sounds to start building the different sections of your song. Use DropZone to bring in your own samples and tap your computer keyboard like a drum machine using the GRID to create your own drum patterns and chords changes. Then add audio effects to your mix to sweeten the sound. Kinetic automatically captures your performance as you trigger different song sections with dynamic DJ style cuts, change the mix, tweak sounds, and explore the other music making features that Kinetic 2 has to offer. Within minutes you have a complete track that you can export to WAV to burn on CD, or MP3 or WMA for your portable player or website—it's that simple. Highlights Make beats and produce music with an easy point-and-click interface Choose from hundreds of professional music patterns and ACID-format loops in many styles, or import your own Over a thousand instrument patches, featuring genuine Roland® GrooveSynth sounds (101, 606, 808, 909, more) Create bass lines, leads, and pads with PSYN II virtual analog synth Add samples to projects with DropZone sampler—includes instrument sounds, hits, drums, more; supports MP3, Ogg Vorbis, REX, SFZ, WAV Produce grooves like a pro with your computer keyboard, mouse, or MIDI controller using The GRID Build & edit patterns with an easy step sequencer/piano roll Sweeten your mix with: reverb, delay, parametric EQ, aural enhancer, classic phaser, chorus/flanger, modulation filter, compressor/gate, bit decimator and more Add any VST or DirectX effect or instrument to Kinetic for even more sounds Connect Kinetic to other ReWire compatible recording programs like Cakewalk Music Creator 3, Home Studio, SONAR, SONY ACID Music Studio, or Magix Music Studio to expand your capabilities Export WAV files of your mix for CD, or WMA and MP3* for the Web Pricing and Availability Kinetic 2 has an estimated street price of $79.99 U.S., and is available at leading computer, consumer electronics, and select music and sound retailers. Kinetic 2 is also available to registered Kinetic 1 customers at a special upgrade price. For more information visit the Kinetic product page or call 888-CAKEWALK (617-423-9004 outside U.S.). For more information, visit their web site at cakewalk.com. Monday, June 5 2006 | dmac Applied Acoustics Systems Releases The Lounge Lizard Session Electric Piano   Applied Acoustics Systems announces today the official release of Lounge Lizard Session for Mac OS X and Windows. Based on the physical modeling synthesis engine of the award-winning Lounge Lizard EP-3, Session is a simple and straightforward instrument reproducing legendary electric pianos. Boasting four different piano types and a great selection of effects, Lounge Lizard Session delivers outstanding sound quality, action, and feel at a very affordable price. "This new Session version is the perfect electric piano solution for musicians who don't need the extra programmability of the EP-3 version but still crave its remarkable action and feel," said Marc-Pierre, CEO of AAS. Pricing and Availability The Lounge Lizard Session is available now direct from the AAS web store at a price of $99 for Mac OS X and Windows systems. Lounge Lizard Session runs as a standalone application and supports DXi, VST, AudioUnits, and RTAS (Mac OS only) plug-in formats. An update will be available soon to support the new Intel-based Mac systems. For more information, visit their web site at applied-acoustics.com. Monday, June 5 2006 | dmac iZotope Licenses DSP Technology To Adobe For Audition 2.0   IZOTOPE, INC. is pleased to announce that Adobe® Systems Incorporated of San Jose, CA is licensing iZotope's multiband compressor technology for integration into Adobe's premier audio application, Adobe Audition® 2.0. The Adobe Multiband Compressor is now available as a standard feature in Adobe Audition 2.0, an integrated audio recording, mixing, editing and mastering application. A single-band version of the plug-in is available to customers who register the product. "Adobe leads in enabling users to achieve clarity and definition for digital audio files and iZotope's DSP compressor technology has been instrumental in our improvements in Audition 2.0," said Hart Shafer, senior product manager at Adobe, "iZotope's cutting-edge technology helps our customers get professional results when recording, mixing, or mastering in Adobe Audition." The Adobe Multiband Compressor features iZotope signal processing and offers four-band dynamics, a multi-mode limiter and an output gain stage. Full control over all parameters as well as a number of presets make dialing in the desired sound or effect quick and easy. Its interface features a unique multiband spectral display, level meters and gain reduction meters giving the user instant feedback of ongoing processing. Its processing algorithms are optimized for low latency, real-time use while full parameter automation adds to its flexibility. "Adobe has been a leader in all forms of media production for years," comments Mark Ethier, CEO of iZotope, Inc. "Our technology compliments Adobe's powerful set of audio tools by enhancing the overall audio experience, no matter what type of production one is doing." For more information on Adobe Audition 2.0, visit the Audition product page. For more information, visit their web site at izotope.com. Monday, June 5 2006 | dmac otiumFX Releases Sonitex STX-1260 VST Plug-In Effect   otiumFX is happy to announce that Sonitex STX-1260 has been released and is available for puchase. Sonitex is a VST effect plug-in for Windows that is dedicated to adding sonic texture to digital audio, and provides detailed emulation of vinyl records and vintage hardware samplers. When sampling vinyl records on vintage hardware samplers you often get something more than the musical content itself. This "sonic texture" may be a subtle feel, or it may be something that actually plays a defining role to the sample. The key concept in Sonitex is to mimic the cumulative result of every process a piece of music goes through as well as the interaction of these before it ends up as a sample in a contemporary track. Sonitex includes stages to emulate the mixing stage, overall distortion, vinyl pressing & playback, vinyl noise, frequency fidelity and finally the resolution & characteristics in the digital sampling. Sonitex STX-1260 is available as a VST plug-in for Windows. It costs $49 and can be purchased through the online otiumFX shop. A trial version will be made available soon. For more information, visit their web site at otiumfx.com.