NATIVE INSTRUMENTS ABSYNTH 3
Computer musicians and sound designers will rejoice at the news that Native Instruments has updated its unique virtual synthesizer to Absynth 3 (Mac/Win, $339; updates, $119). The new version's comprehensive multichannel implementation is optimized for surround production in formats ranging from 3.1 to 8.0, presenting new possibilities for sound placement and movement in three-dimensional space. You can even adapt sounds from previous versions to take advantage of Absynth's new resources for location modulation.
To supplement existing techniques such as FM and granular synthesis, the oscillator section now offers a real-time Fractalize mode and frequency-shifting modulation. To fatten up your sounds, a new Unison function lets you combine as many as eight detuned oscillators. Free-Run Oscillator mode can create subtle changes in polyphonic timbres. Absynth 3 can process three external stereo signals simultaneously, routing each to a separate oscillator channel for processing with Absynth's filters, envelopes, and effects.
Absynth 3's revised user interface presents a single window that reduces screen clutter and simplifies workflow. Working with multiple-breakpoint envelopes is easier than ever, thanks to a new envelope editor with features such as copy/paste functionality and an envelope cursor that shows its current position in real time. A library of more than 1,000 presets includes 256 new sounds that make the most of Absynth's new features, as well as over 800 presets from the previous version. Native Instruments; email info@nativeinstruments.com; Web www.nativeinstruments.com.
SPECTRASONICS STYLUS RMX
Are you itching to get your groove on? Spectrasonics has completely rewritten its popular percussion-groove virtual instrument to create Stylus RMX (Mac/Win, $299). The new plug-in incorporates the Spectrasonics Advanced Groove Engine (S.A.G.E.), an innovative foundation offering vastly improved real-time control and flexibility. Stylus RMX has a redesigned user interface, a core sample library with well over twice the content of the original, and lots of new tools to manipulate sounds on the fly. Its 7.4 GB library of sounds and patterns includes all the sounds of the original Stylus and adds plenty of new material.
Stylus RMX offers a much wider range of musical styles than its predecessor. Grooves are now broken down into individual tracks and single hits, and two-dozen built-in effects are at your command. Stylus RMX is expandable; if thousands of grooves and hundreds of kits aren't enough, it can import content from five new S.A.G.E. Xpanders ($99 each) as well as from Groove Control sample libraries and from REX files. Create your own drum kits and groove libraries and share them with other users. Stylus RMX can even improvise new patterns using a new feature called Chaos Designer — one of five main screens that also include a mixer, a browser, and an effects rack.
Stylus RMX is 8-part multitimbral and supports Audio Units, VST, and RTAS on the Mac and VST in Windows. It comes on two DVD-ROMs and has a tutorial CD-ROM. Upgrades are free if you bought Stylus in 2004, and $99 if you registered your copy before that. Spectrasonics; email info@spectrasonics.net; Web www.spectrasonics.net.
METRIC HALO CHANNELSTRIP 2.0
Until recently, making the transition to Mac OS X meant that recordists depending on Metric Halo's ChannelStrip had to sacrifice using that comprehensive dynamics processing plug-in. ChannelStrip Native 2.0 (Mac, $345) and ChannelStrip TDM 2.0 ($699) now offer full support for OS X. ChannelStrip re-creates the experience of working with a world-class mixing console by furnishing input gain and trim, expansion and gating, compression with an integrated sidechain filter, 6-band parametric equalization with six filter types, and high-resolution metering on every processing block. It includes more than 100 practical presets to handle almost any mixing situation.
ChannelStrip Native runs on VST, MAS, RTAS, AudioSuite, and Audio Units hosts. The TDM version, of course, requires Digidesign Pro Tools and compatible hardware. Downloadable upgrades from previous versions range from $149 to $354. Metric Halo; email in-foo@mhlabs.com; Web www.mhlabs.com.