Mac and Music News

Bomb Factory is announced the immediate availability of OS X versions of its plug-ins for Digidesign Pro Tools systems. All products are compatible with Pro Tools 6.0 and are available for immediate download.

The OS X upgrade is free for all 3.0 users. Simply download the latest Bomb Factory version for OS X, insert your iLok, and commence your journey into the relatively unexplored world of Pro Tools on OS X

It's available before Protools 6 is released!!! Should we expect protools 6 in a few days? ;-)

Drawing on his 30 years of experience in the synthesizer industry, John Bowen (of Zarg Music) has been known for his important contributions to various analog creations (Prophet 5, Wavestation) and excellent software synths for the Creamware platform (Orion, Red Dwarf, Dark Star, Ambient, Pro One & Prophet Plus). What you may not know is that he also adept at discovering brilliant emerging synth designers (such as 'wavelength'), and helping them get started in the business. Now Zarg Music is introducing a new synth for the Pulsar/Scope platform called the Python Pro, done in collaboration with new designer Paul van der Valk, of XD7 Systems.

"Paul had entered an earlier version of the Python in the Creamware Modular contest and received 2nd place", says John. "But when I listened to what ...

On December 5th, we informed you that MacMusic would be closing in the near future. This brought on an important mobilization and every solution was analyzed in order to consider the survival of your site.

We presently know that neither advertising - at least for now - nor a request for 'charitable' donations would ensure the continuity of the site. Its future rests upon users motivation: for this reason, a fee will now be a charged for prolonged access to MacMusic.

In order to do so, a method similar to shareware will be put into place very shortly which is a first for an Internet site. The procedure is simple enough: access to MacMusic contents will always be available to all but surfing will progressively and more int ...

Edirol released Version 1.0 Mac OS X drivers for several of their USB audio interfaces. These new drivers include:
- UA-700-24-bit/96kHz USB Audio & MIDI Interface with a variety of connections & Roland's COSM microphone & guitar amp modeling;
- UA-5-24-bit/96kHz USB Audio Interface with a variety of connections & Phantom Power.
- UA-20-24-bit USB Audio & MIDI interface;
- SD-90-USB Studio Sound Module with 24-bit Audio Recording & Effect Processing features; and
- SC-D70-USB Sound Module & Audio interface.

With this release, all Edirol USB devices (19) are formally compatible with Mac OS X. These latest devices now work fully under Mac OS X with the following key driver features:
- Compatibility with Apple's standards of CoreMIDI and CoreAudio
- Optimized for Mac OS X v10.2
- Dual Processor support
- Customizable buffer settings in System Preferences
- Adjustable recording and playback latency

Apple today announced the newest Power Mac G4 line ever featuring a choice of a single 1 GHz, dual 1.25 GHz or dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 processors with prices ranging from $1,499 (US) to $2,699 (US). The new line also features FireWire 800 and has internal support for 54Mbps AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth wireless networking.

Apple today introduced the 20-inch Apple Cinema Display, a professional-quality, wide-format active-matrix LCD with 1680-by-1050 pixel resolution at a breakthrough price of $1,299 (US). Ideal for demanding color work, the all-digital 20-inch flat panel display provides more work area than Apple's previous 22-inch Cinema Display.

Apple also dramatically reduced the price of its 23-inch Cinema HD Display, with 1920-by-1200 pixel resolution -- enough to view High Definition Television (HDTV) content with room to spare -- from $3,499 (US) to an amazing $1,999 (US).

Apple also reduced the price of its 17-inch Studio Display, providing 1280-by-1024 pixels, from $999 (US) to just $699 (US).

Geethree provide a new Plug-in for Apple's Core MIDI software to enable serial MIDI devices under Mac OS X .

Those configurations have been tested :
- 1 Emagic Unitor 8
- 2 Motu MIDI Time Piece II AV
- 1 MAC Midiman
- 1 Motu MIDI Time Piece AV
- 1 J L Cooper synclink serial
- 1 Motu MidiExpress+ MT4
- 2 Motu MIDI Time Piece II
- 1 Opcode Studio 4
- 1 Opcode Studio 128
- 1 Opcode Studio 5 LX
- 1 Opcode Studio 64 + Emagic Unitor 8 MarkII (USB)
- 1 Motu MTP A/V and 1 Motu MTP II
- 1 Opcode Studio 4 + 1 Motu MTP 1 + 1 AMT 8 US

For instance, a Gport Card users may installed the Stealth Mac OS X drivers. (remove the Gport driver and set the Stealth driver and the Plug-in)

Novation's synthesis technology is now available to the desktop computer music market for the first time. The new Novation V-Station virtual analog synthesizer recreates the power and rich sound of the K-Station synth as a plug-in for Mac or PC platforms.

At the core of the V-Station is Novation's Liquid Analog synthesis engine, delivering rich, dense sounds that offer vast creative potential. The plug-in combines these with a clear and responsive front panel interface, with all the key sound shaping controls a simple mouse click away.

Any one of the 200 factory presets can be recalled, modified and saved instantly in one of 400 program locations. The patches, that are named and not numbered, cover a huge sonic range, from searing leads and passionate pads, to delicate electric piano ...

Waves software version 4.0 initially offers OS X support for TDM, AS, RTAS and VST, with other formats to follow

Version 4.0 will initially support TDM, AS, RTAS and VST, while forthcoming releases will support the full gamut of plug-in formats under Macintosh OS X. The powerful, UNIX-based multithreaded nature of the OS X operating system makes it ideal for audio, and allows the highly efficient DSP optimization coding schemes developed by Waves to be used to their fullest capability, maximizing single and dual processor availability for DSP operations, freeing up the power needed to run many more plug-ins, and in the case of host-based systems such as Nuendo 2.x, making it possible to handle significantly more tracks and simultaneous functions.

The KONTAKT 1.2 update and Direct from Disk extension are now available on NI website. KONTAKT 1.2 comes with many new functions such as a release trigger for triggering groups by releasing notes as well as a key and controller activator for group activation either by keyboard commands or via a Midi controller. The update also comes with a Round and Random Robbin function for consecutive cycling through groups upon keystrokes or for random cycling through groups for playback and much more.

The separately available Direct from Disk extension enables KONTAKT to
play samples directly from the hard drive. Sample size will no longer be
limited by the amount of physical RAM - an instrument can be as large as
available hard drive space. All KONTAKT instruments will load many times faster than RAM-based instruments.

The Direct from Disk extension requires the update to KONTAKT 1.2

Edirol announced the new 10-channel Mixer, complete with a number of audio/voice effects plus a stereo USB audio interface. This mixer is primarily targeted at the videographerand has various connections, such as XLR/TRS combo connectors with phantom power, RCA & 1/4" connections, S/PDIF Optical & Coax out, Aux Sends & Returns, and separate Monitor, Master, & Headphone output. It can also record a stereo track directly to the computer through the USB port, and has a separate volume control for playback of audio on the computer.

This 10-channel mixer/ 24-bit USB audio interface is optimized for the videographer with its wide array of Voice effects, including: Narration and Vocal Enhancers, Compressor, Chorus, Noise Reduction, Reverb, Radio, Robot, Male & Female pitch & formant effects.

TC-Helicon Vocal Technologies announced two new vocal harmony processors, the TC-Helicon VoiceWorks and the TC-Helicon Quintet. Both products debuted at Winter NAMM 2003 in Anaheim, California.

PMI Audio Group announced that they have taken over Joemeek, enabling the company to stay in business after the demise of Fletcher Electro-Acoustics, which is out of business.

Musicians consider absolute ear as an invaluable gift. What is its origin ? Is it acquirable ? Can we say that what's increased in efficiency is lost in musical pleasure ? Answers elements... Isn't it unsettling to be confronted with a sort of walking frequency-meter which instantly names the key, or even the chord that you've just played on your instrument ? Isn't it annoying to be said "you're a quarter of a tone too low", and to see this peremptory verdict confirmed by your electronic tuner ? In the same way, isn't it humiliating, while sweating blood over a four pitches dictation, to observe some gifted pupils of the music class retranscribing it in one go ? But first of all, what on earth is this nearly- mythical perfect pitch, which some people even refute the existence?

The translation from the original article by F. Ernould, translated from french by Simple Cel.

Akai Professional has started shipping the HV-10 DecaBuddy, a rack-mount version of their DecaBuddy VST plug-in, a multi-part harmonies for your vocals. By adding 9 harmony parts to the original vocal, up to 10 voice harmonies can be played: 5 parts (Original + 4 transposed Harmonies) x 2 (Voice Doubler). Harmony can be selected using any one of the many Preset Scales, programmable User Scales or via MIDI. In addition to generating harmonies, pitch correction can be applied to the harmony parts and the Formant parameter can change female voices to male and vice versa. For a more natural performance, apply random pitch-shift and/or random delay to each harmony part independently. The DecaBuddy provides 50 banks, with each bank containing 2 Programs. All 100 programs can be edited, stored and/or overwritten in memory.