PC and Music News

Native Instruments has also announced Kontakt 3. This new version is centered around a highly sophisticated next-generation instrument library that sets new standards both in its musical scope and in its creative value, while also adding a wide range of new functions and refinements in all areas of the software.

Top Features :

- Six Instrument Collections – over 33 GB of sounds
- Ready-to-rock "Performance View" for each of the 1000 instruments
- Reworked Wave Editor with tools for intuitive looping, slicing and editing
- Freely drawable envelopes per sample
- Improved navigation: Modulation Quick-Jumps, Instrument Navigator
- Over 18 high-end effects
- Enhanced workflow for Scripts with tabbed views
-Universal Import of virtually any sample format
- MIDI loop drag & drop int ...

Mixosaurus Expert Virtual Drums is a new 122 Gb Virtual Drumset powered, by Native Instruments Kontakt Player 2, that aims to provide "virtual drum authenticity". It comes pre-installed on its own FW800 / eSATA Hard Disk Drive which you simply plug in to your computer.

Features / details :

- 122 Gb Virtual Drumset powered by Kontakt Player 2.
- Comes pre-installed on its own FW800 / eSATA Hard Disk Drive.
- 14-piece acoustic drumkit (played with sticks), 20 available mic tracks.
- Recorded at Teldexstudio Berlin, Germany.
- Comes pre-installed on its own plug & play hardware unit.
- Unprecedented number of available articulations.
- 100% authentic reproduction of drumset dynamics.
- 7 alternating samples available for each and every sound throughout the entire library.
- More ...

Today Native Instruments has announced the third version of Guitar Rig. Guitar Rig 3 offers more amps and effects, powerful new live features, a completely reworked tone library complete with improved preset handling, and a redesigned Rig Kontrol pedal board with optimized control and audio interface functionality. Both a "Kontrol Edition" with foot pedal and a software-only "Software Edition" of Guitar Rig 3 will be available.

Top Features :

- Twelve supreme-sounding guitar and bass amps
- New matched cabinet module provides tried and true classic sounds in seconds
- 44 perfectly emulated guitar effects
- 18 guitar and six bass cabinets, four rotary speakers and nine microphones
- Includes Rig Kontrol 3 foot controller with Audio/MIDI interface
- Intelligent preset management f ...

Arturia announces version 2.0 of its Analog Factory software, a free update for all registered owners, featuring numerous improvements and bug fixes.

New Features :

- Includes 3500 sounds instead of 2000
- Now includes presets from Jupiter-8V
- Improved effects management
- Vst 2.4 \ Cubase 4 ready

Main Bug Fixes :

- Preset switching has been improved to avoid any problems whilst browsing presets and playing simultaneously
- Improved loading time
- Hanging notes have been eradicated when used within a sequencer
- The preset database has been updated to avoid presets with same name and/or sound
- Fixed a bug in the minimoog engine: on mac intel, some preset parameters could go out of range and cause a bad sound
- The GUI (Graphical User Interface) has been improved
- Pr ...

Vir2 Instruments has just released syntAX, a Kontakt Player 2 based virtual instrument synth plug-in. The core of syntAX is a 2000+ patch synth library covering an immense amount of synth territory, including soaring leads, evolving pads, thick basses, harsh distortions, unusual textures, other-worldly atmospheres, FX, hits, blips, and more. Then syntAX blazes into new territory with its custom scatterFX engine which allows real-time manipulation and interaction with the syntAX core library. scatterFX is made up of two components :

- scatFX gives you control over rhythmic stuttering, allowing you to program, play, and command rhythmic patterns of syntAX.
- stepFX functions as an advanced step modulator allowing you to melodically animate pattern-based arpeggiations.

Bo ...

PreSonus Audio Electronics is proud to announce that the FireStudio Project will be shipping this week. The FireStudio Project is a complete professional recording system combining eight XMAX microphone preamplifiers, 24-bit/96kHz sample rate conversion, zero-latency matrix router mixer, and the PreSonus ProPak Software Suite featuring Steinberg's Cubase LE 4 48 track recording and production software, over 25 real-time plug-in effects, and more than 2 GB of drum loops and samples.

Based on the award-winning FP10(FirePod) the FireStudio Project features the following upgrades and improvements :

- Improved analog to digital converters (114dB dynamic range)
- Synchronization with JetPLL for improved clarity and stereo imaging
- FireControl Mixer/Router to send up to five mixes to musicians
- LED input metering on all channels
- Internal IEC-based power supply
- Updated ProPak software bundle

The FireStudio Project will be available at an estimated street price of $499.

Jonathan Schmid-Burgk has released VisualVox VST, a free intonation correction VST Plugin for Windows. With it you can :

- shift notes of a voice recording to perfect intonation
- fit a voice recording into rythm by stretching, cutting and moving parts of it
- fit a voice recording to another key with minimal pitch changes
- produce a perfect vibrato
- visualize how right or wrong you are singing
- create artificial polyphony from single voice recording
- draw frequency curves freely with your mouse
- let the VST plugin improve intonation automatically

Note that VisualVox VST is still in a developmental stage so every feedback is welcome !

Steinberg is proud to present a new member of the WaveLab product family. WaveLab Essential 6 combines a streamlined audio editing, mastering and CD burning features with a complete podcasting module. Professional 96kHz/32-bit audio quality, Audio CD Montage environment and a range of studio-grade effect processors make WaveLab Essential an ideal editing application for anyone on a budget.

Features :

- Podcast creation and publishing
- Redbook compatible CD burning with CD-Text
- Stereo non-destructive editing with versatile clip grouping over multiple lanes
- Powerful real-time engine with integration of clip-based and global effect plug-ins
- Superior audio processors
- Video track for sample accurate alignment of audio and video
- Sample accurate audio editor with crystal clear audio processing at up to 96 kHz and 32 bit floating point resolution

WaveLab Essential 6 is priced at €99.00. WaveLab Essential 1 customers can upgrade to the new version for €59.00.

De la Mancha has released Sumo, an effect plugin to make any sound as fat as you like. It's good for fattening up leads and basses, adding some weight to pads, making your vocals chubby and your drums obese.

Sumo is free and is available as a VST effect plug-in for Windows.

RME has announced the new OctaMic II Preamp, a completely new electronic design with increased features based on the highly acclaimed OctaMic and OctaMic D devices. The new OctaMic II features 8-channel 192 kHz/24 bit hi-class microphone and line pre-amplification and includes some significant enhancements compared to his predecessors.

New Features :

- The balanced TRS inputs of the Neutrik Combo XLR jacks are phantom power-free and can be operated as real line inputs
- The improved design of the input circuits allows for a maximum input level of +21 dBu with a convenient gain range from 0 dB up to 50 dB
- Improved signal to noise ratio (SNR) ADC 107.5 dB
- Improved THD, especially at high gains
- Optimised heat dissipation by a new and larger housing with improved convection
- ...

Odo has just released Double Six, a 6-operator FM synth with 32 DX7 algorithms and 16 4-operator algorithms.

Features :

- 6-operator FM synth with 32 DX7 algorithms and 16 4-operator algorithms.
- Every operator has its own envelope. You can choose between 1 and 8 stages and set the sustain point from 1 to 7 or off .
- 14 different curves for the envelopes. You can disable the envelope to save some CPU. All envelopes have a time knob.
- The operators can be disabled, fixed or pitched and have a octave range from -6 to 3, fine-tune and pulse width.
- 5 different waveforms for the operators (Sine / Saw / Ramp / Triangle / Pulse).
- The filter has the same envelope and there are 5 different filters types (low-pass 12db / low-pass 24db / low-pass db32 / hi-pass / band-pass).
- EZ p ...