M-Audio has announced Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 software (Mac/Win), which includes new features such as the Elastic Time composition and production tool.

Elastic Time lets you change audio tempo and timing in real-time without cutting up your audio tracks. You can also audition or import loops and audio files, and sync them with session tempo; quantize audio to the session grid or extracted grooves; and adjust regions over individual beats.

The updated software also includes Digidesign''s Structure Free sample player, which has more than 885 MB of instrument samples. ReWire applications users will find that Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 accepts MIDI directly from ReWire applications for recording controller data to a Pro Tools MIDI or Instrument track. It also supports Unicode characters, which lets you label and edit text within Pro Tools in any language supported by Unicode.

Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4 is available for Windows XP-, Vista- and Mac OS X (Tiger)-based Pro Tools M-Powered systems. A standard upgrade is $75, while an upgrade from Pro Tools M-Powered 7.3 is $49.

If you purchased an M-Powered system or upgrade on or after October 1, 2007, you are eligible for a free software upgrade. More upgrade information is available at the DigiStore.