CAKEWALK

A new series of loop discs has been released by Cakewalk in support of its Sonar digital-audio sequencer. From well-known remix producer X-Mix comes X-Mix Studio Loops ($89). Subtitled X-Treme Dance and Hip-Hop, the collection contains the same samples used in tracks by Puff Daddy, Janet Jackson, New Order, and others.

Smart Loops: Rockit Fuel ($89) is a compilation of pop, rock, and funk loops. The CD offers drum, percussion, bass, and guitar loops.

Power FX: In Your Face FX ($89) contains special effects targeted at radio, television, and film projects. The sounds are recorded, processed, and mastered digitally. Sounds include sci-fi effects, machine noises, DJ effects, atmospheric pads, and more.

The series is compatible with any software supporting Acid loops. Cakewalk; tel. (888) CAKEWALK or (617) 423-9004; e-mail sales@cakewalk.com; Web www.cakewalk.com.

PRIMESOUNDS

PrimeSounds is an online subscription club ($10 monthly for one-year membership) that provides a huge library of samples for downloading. Sound developers for the company produced sample CD titles such as Methods of Mayhem, On the Jazz Tip, and X-Static Goldmine; samples from those collections are available at the Web site.

The service offers a searchable sample database. Once you locate something of interest, you can audition sounds with RealPlayer. As a member, you can download as many samples as you need with no charge other than the subscription fee. All samples are royalty-free and original, so there are no clearance issues. PrimeSounds; tel. 46-823-5316; e-mail info@primesounds.com; Web www.primesounds.com.

SONIC FOUNDRY

David Torn is no stranger to fans of adventurous guitar; sounds that issue from his instruments are as intriguing as any found in the latest synthesizers. Textures for Electronica and Film Music ($59.95) contains warped guitar sounds inspired by his Splattercell recording project. The collection is designed for Sonic Foundry's Acid and Acid-compatible programs.

Textures for Electronica and Film Music provides a grab bag of cinematic textures and sound beds, unusual solo instruments, sound effects, ambient and experimental sounds, sounds suited for techno and hip-hop music, and lots more. Sonic Foundry; tel. (800) 577-6642 or (608) 256-3133; e-mail customerservice@sonicfoundry.com; Web www.sonicfoundry.com.

ACCESS

Users of the Virus TDM software synthesizer will be happy to know that Virus TDM Bonus Sound, vol. 3, is available for free download at www.access-music.de. The file offers about 300 additional patches. Owners of hardware Virus synthesizers have not been left out of the picture: also available at Access's site is Matt Picone's Rock and Fusion Signature Set No. 2, which offers 256 free patches. Digidesign (distributor); tel. (800) 333-2137 or (650) 842-7900; e-mail prodinfo@digidesign.com; Web www.access-music.de.

DS SOUNDWARE

Ultimate Marimba and Vibes ($199) is a two-disc library for NemeSys's GigaSampler and GigaStudio software samplers. The collection provides samples from a Marimba One five-octave rosewood marimba and a Musser Gold Century vibraphone.

The producer sampled each instrument over its entire range and used four sets of mallets. Among the patches are four-velocity strikes, rolls, muted strikes, and strikes with a rattan handle. Marimba patches offer resonator strikes, glissandi, and idiomatic runs. You also get bowed vibes, strikes with pedals up, and other special effects. DS Soundware; e-mail donnie@dssoundware.com; Web www.dssoundware.com.

EPINOISIS SOFTWARE DIGITAL EAR

Converting digital-audio data to MIDI can be a thorny undertaking; the ability to capture a performance accurately depends on dynamics and articulation, and many audio-to-MIDI software programs fall short in that regard. Epinoisis Software's Digital Ear ($79.95; Win) boasts a number of features that enable accurate conversion of monophonic audio files to MIDI data.

The program translates the audio file's vibrato into Pitch Bend data to one-cent accuracy. The software's Pitch Quantize can resolve MIDI events to the nearest semitone, or use Soft Quantization for a less rigid but more in-tune performance. An In-Tune Wizard can automatically tune performances that are below or above standard tuning.

To further ensure that a MIDI file follows the expressiveness of the audio performance, Digital Ear can capture the amplitude envelope of the audio file, converting the information into MIDI Volume messages. Dynamic control of timbre is analyzed and can be changed into MIDI Control Change messages for managing filter cutoff. You can edit the resulting pitch, volume, and brightness contours of the MIDI performance using an onscreen keyboard, chart, and sliders.

Digital Ear supports General MIDI — and XG-compatible synthesizers, but you can remap MIDI controller messages to support synths that don't comply with those standards. Digital Ear requires at least a 100 MHz Pentium with 32 MB RAM and Windows 95/98/ME/2000. Epinoisis Software; e-mail info@digitalear.com; Web www.digital-ear.com.

IK MULTIMEDIA SAMPLETANK

IK Multimedia's Sampletank ($499; Mac/Win) is a VST sample-based software synthesizer. The package includes a CD-ROM collection offering 450 banks of multisampled instruments. If that isn't enough, you can import WAV, AIFF, and Akai S1000/3000 — format samples.

Sampletank offers 128 notes of polyphony, and its proprietary compression algorithm doubles the number of instruments available in RAM. You can also load sounds without compression.

Sampletank's synthesis architecture provides two oscillators, two envelope generators, and a multimode filter to better simulate acoustic sounds and instrument damping. Sampletank also offers two multimode LFOs and a waveshaper section.

The software has four stereo outputs, which can be configured as eight mono outputs in the Cubase VST mixer. Effects include reverb, compression, delay, filter, wah-wah, AM and FM modulation, and bit reduction. Control Change messages can be mapped to effects and other synth parameters. A control panel lets you make quick, coarse adjustments to an instrument's settings, including brightness, touch sensitivity, and EQ.

Macintosh users will need a 200 MHz PPC/604 running OS 8.5 with 64 MB RAM. The Windows version needs a Pentium II 200 MHz MMX computer running Windows 95/ME/2000/NT 4.0 with 64 MB RAM. IK Multimedia Production; tel. (866) 243-1718; e-mail info@sampletank.com; Web www.ikmultimedia.com, www.groovemaker.com, or www.t-racks.com.

AKAI DPS24

Akai's latest entry into the portable-digital-studio market is its 24-track, 24-bit recorder, the DPS24 ($4,995). It supports 16-, 20-, and 24-bit recording resolutions and 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz sampling rates. The recorder comes with a 30 GB IDE hard drive and provides a drive bay for another drive or CD-RW.

Thirteen 100 mm motorized, touch-sensitive faders (12 channels and 1 master) control five fader banks. The DPS24 provides scene and dynamic automation. Akai's Q-Link navigation lets you input mix, effects, and EQ parameter changes in real time using dedicated front-panel knobs and the new Q-channel strip. A built-in USB port lets you connect the DPS24 to a computer so you can control it using the ak.Sys software.

The mixer offers 12 input channels that you can use simultaneously. Each channel includes level, pan, dynamics processing, 3-band EQ with a sweepable mid and variable Q, solo, and four pre- or posteffects sends. The DPS24 features a 4-bus effects processor with a real-time pitch corrector, reverb, chorus, delay, phase shifter, flange, and multiband compressor. An effects library lets you store customized effects settings. Track-editing features include time stretching, pitch shifting, and bpm matching. Track Editing mode provides a view of stereo tracks with stereo waveform viewing.

The 20-bus mixer offers 28 analog inputs: 24 combo jacks that accommodate XLR and balanced and unbalanced ¼-inch inputs; a pair each of RCA tape inputs; and two unbalanced ¼inch aux inputs. Each channel also has separate balanced ¼-inch inputs; the first four provide balanced inserts, which can connect external mic preamps directly to the A/D converter, bypassing the gain stage. You get an additional unbalanced ¼-inch high-impedance input for guitar and bass. A pair of optical connectors that support stereo S/PDIF or eight channels of ADAT Lightpipe I/O, and jacks for Word Clock I/O and MIDI In, Out, and Thru are also included. The DPS24 supports MIDI Clock and MTC as well as Control Change messages for dynamic automation.

Analog outputs are two pairs of balanced ¼-inch stereo master outputs for accommodating near-field and main monitors; a pair of unbalanced ¼-inch outputs for talk back; and a pair of ¼-inch stereo headphone jacks on the front panel with independent level controls. A ¼-inch jack accommodates a footswitch or an ADAT LRC remote control. The DPS24 offers a built-in talk-back mic. A jack for an ASCII keyboard lets you name tracks and projects. Akai Musical Instrument Corporation; tel. (800) 433-5627 or (817) 831-9203; e-mail info@akaipro.com; Web www.akaipro.com.

E-MU XL-7 AND MP-7

The XL-7 and MP-7 ($1,695) offer sound sets (based on samples from E-mu's Extreme Lead and Mo'Phatt modules, respectively) in tabletop units with built-in sequencers, arpeggiators, and real-time controllers. You can also rackmount the instruments. What's more, the knobs and buttons can serve as controllers for external MIDI gear.

The synthesis architecture is identical to that of the Proteus 2000. Both units feature 128-note polyphony and 16-part multitimbral capabilities. You get 32 MB of sounds with more than 1,000 sampled waveforms in ROM; if you need more, you can fill the Command Station's ROM expansion slots for as many as 96 MB of additional samples. Eleven ROM cards are available, ranging in price from $249 to $395. You can burn your own ROM cards from an E-mu E4 Ultra sampler.

Sounds can be shaped using any of 50 types of 6th- and 12th-order filters. In keeping with the unit's groovebox orientation, you get more than 100 synthesis parameters to sync to bpm or external MIDI Clock.

The built-in sequencer lets you record in real time, step time, or with classic beatbox-style grid recording. Songs are constructed by linking patterns in a cue list, and Mute and Select buttons allow you to play back or remove patterns on the fly. Pattern-editing tools include copy, cut, paste, quantize, and swing.

You get more than 40 knobs and buttons and a touch strip for real-time control; you can freely assign each of those to a different MIDI channel and Control Change message. The units support 32 MIDI channels, so you can control built-in sounds and external devices simultaneously. You can store different controller configurations in any of 64 memory locations. The units feature 13 polyphonic, velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads; pressure sensitivity can be mapped to any MIDI control messages. You can also input MIDI data with an external MIDI controller. Analog outputs are on six balanced ¼-inch jacks. The XL-7 and MP-7 also come with a coaxial S/PDIF output. E-mu/Ensoniq; tel. (831) 438-1921; e-mail info@emu.com; Web www.emu.com.