Product Update - April 14

For a sneak preview of more hot new products for 2004, visit EM's Frankfurt MusikMesse Pro Light+Sound 2004 Show Report by Senior Editor Gino Robair.

BIAS is now offering Peak 4.1 (Mac) at a substantial discount to users of TC Electronic's Spark and Spark XL audio software. Peak 4.1 includes Roxio Jam 6, for Redbook-standard CD mastering, and SFX Machine LT, a multi-effects sound-design plug-in. For more information about the Spark-to-Peak crossgrade, visit bias-inc.com. To read a review of Peak 3, click here.

DG Software has announced MagicScore Maestro 3.7 (Win), a music notation application with editing capabilities and an internal spell-checker. You can enter notes with the virtual keyboard, an external MIDI device, or by hand using an extended set of musical symbols. MORE.

Image Line Software has announced FL Studio version 4.5.2 (Win), which fixes a few bugs and adds some features. Included is the Sytrus (VST/DX) synthesizer, which has six customizable operators for FM, RM, and plucked-string synthesis. Image Line has also announced that it will distribute ZeroX's BeatCreator Pro, which now supports multitrack quantizing. For more information, visit flstudio.com. To read the EM review of Image-Line Software FruityLoops 3.5, click here.

Kid Nepro has released Motif Sound Series Volume 4: Soundtrack/Film Mix, which offers 128 Programs created for film and TV production. The sounds include pads, effects, alternate tunings, and "spacey rhythms" that use the Motif arpeggiator. Soundtrack/Film Mix is compatible with all Motif-series instruments. Information, sound lists, and MP3 demos can be found at kidnepro.com.

Korg has released the ES-1mkII, an updated version of its Electribe-S Rhythm Production Sampler. The updated version includes an enhanced sound set, an all-new Modulation Delay effect, and a rugged metal case. MORE.

Native Instruments has announced FM7 Sounds Volume 2, a collection of new sounds for the company's FM7 software synthesizer. The sound library offers 256 presets, including leads, basses, organ, e-piano, pads, effects, percussion, bells, as well as sounds that the company says defy categorization. The library also makes use of the FM7's modulation and tempo sync capabilities. For more information, visit ni-soundline.com.

PreSonus Audio Electronics is now shipping the Central Station, which features five stereo inputs and outputs (two digital and three analog). The main audio path is completely passive, with no amplifier stages such as op amps, active ICs, or chips. MORE.

ProSounds has announced the daHornet Collection, a bundle of five sound sets for Dashsignatures daHornet. Each volume has 128 patches in the FXB format, and the collection includes basses, leads, pads, and effects.

Sonorous Code has announced Atmogen, a standalone software additive synthesizer that generates sounds based on images. The results can be saved as audio files. MORE.

SoundToys has released a new plug-in bundle for Pro Tools called UltraFX (Mac), which includes FilterFreak, PhaseMistress, and two new plug-ins, Crystallizer and Tremolator. MORE.

Ultimate Sound Bank is now shipping X-Treme FX (Mac/Win), a virtual instrument that lets you create and trigger sound effects. The instrument includes a 3 GB library of effects to get you started. MORE.

Product Update - April 7

Big Fish Audio has announced Tool Shed Percussion (audio/REX/WAV/Acid), a 4-CD set that combines one-of-a-kind, "found" sounds with more traditional instruments. MORE.

Cakewalk has released Guitar Tracks Pro 3 (Win); which offers 32 audio tracks real-time monitoring of effects and inputs, an updated GUI, ASIO hardware support, VST support, Acid/WAV file support, and support for 24-bit, 96 kHz recording. The software also includes the GT:FX multi-effects suite, IK Multimedia's Amplitube LE amp and cabinet modeler, and a Smart Loops Acid loop library. For more information, visit cakewalk.com. To read a review of Cakewalk Guitar Studio 2.0 (Win), click here.

Clavia has announced the Nord Modular G2X. The 5-octave G2X offers the same functionality as the 3-octave G2 but adds a gooseneck microphone, two additional modulation wheels, and the G2 Voice Expansion board, which doubles polyphony. Each modulation wheel includes an LED for viewing the amount of modulation, and the microphone plugs into the XLR mic input on the front panel. For more information, visit clavia.se

Digidesign has announced Pro Tools 6.4 (Mac/Win) for Pro Tools|HD and LE systems. The update adds features such as Automatic Delay Compensation, on-the-fly track arming and punching, track-by-track input switching, 23.976 fps support for HD video, +12 dB fader support, and an input-mute mode. For more information, visit digidesign.com. The EM review of Pro Tools 6.1, which covers a majority of the latest features in the program, can be viewed here.

Native Instruments announced several new products at this year's Frankfurt Musikmesse. Among them is Guitar Rig (Mac/Win), a software/hardware package offering amp, cabinet, and mic modeling that can be controlled with an included pedalboard. MORE.

Steinberg has announced V-Stack 1.2 (Mac/Win), a 32-bit VST instrument rack offering 16 simultaneous virtual instruments, 8 send effects, 5 insert effects, 4 bands of EQ, 4 subgroups, and 32-bit internal processing. In addition, V-Stack can receive ReWire audio channels from a compatible application. For more information, visit steinberg.net.

Universal Audio has announced the UAD-1 Project Pak (Mac/Win), which combines a PCI DSP card with the v3.5 powered plug-in bundle. MORE.

VirSyn has announced Cantor (Mac/Win), an 8-part vocal synthesizer. The user enters the words in English and then plays them from a MIDI keyboard in real-time. MORE.

Wave Arts has introduced FinalPlug (Mac/Win), a peak limiter and volume maximizer plug-in featuring bit-depth truncation (from 4 to 24 bits) and a variety of dithering options. MORE.

Check out Len Sasso's article on speech synthesis, Voices from the Machine, by clicking here.