Mac and Music News

We are going to celebrate the MacMusic 6th birthday and also celebrate the MacMusic presence at the Paris Apple Expo (Stand F14 ! didn't you know?). Last year, 200 of us were at the party, there's no doubt that we'll be more this year.

The webmaster find out a place in Paris where it will be possible to meet each other and have a drink and exchange informations about midi connexion and firewire analogic guitars and so on...

On saturday sept 20th (after the end of the Apple expo) this event will take place near the Gare de Lyon (Paris 12ème) at "Taninna" (drink but also food possible...).

As admitance will be limited, you need to register ASAP using the following link. After this registration you'll have the ab ...

Since it became tedious to do a search in thousands pages of MacMusic, a new global search tool is now available (from the home page). This tool includes all the MacMusic search forms mixed in one convenient form. You will also find a Google powered search tool. Enjoy...

The Digidesign software bundle, officially named as "Music Production Enhancement Suite for Pro Tools" including
Reason Adapted, Live Digidesign Edition, SampleTank SE, AmpliTube LE, et T-RackS EQ, will be available for the Pro Tools owners registered before August 2003 and for a price of 99$.

You can purchase it through the Digidesign store, for the time being only in the U.S but Europe should come soon.

Avid with Protools should now be able to store Dolby E audio channels. Dolby E is specifically intended for the distribution of multichannel audio within professional production and distribution environments. Any time prior to delivery to the consumer, Dolby E is the preferred method for distribution of multichannel/multiprogram audio with video.

If you're a digital musician who's got hordes of sound sample files scattered all over your hard drive, this handy app will help you locate and audition them to find the ones you want to use in a project. It works kind of like an audio file browser, culling through your hard disk to find sound files (AIFF, AIFC, SDII, REX, and WAV formats supported), and then allowing you to play each file from within its easy-to-use interface. From there, you can flag all the desired files in the favorites directory and then simply import them from the directory to your audio sequencer of choice. It also has a BPM feature that will either guess the beats-per-minute in a drum loop or song sample for you, or let you tap out the beats of the rhythm on its BPM Tap Pad to manually determine the tempo.

Ableton announced the upcoming release of Live 3, a new upgrade of their award-winning sequencing instrument for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and Windows. Live 3 is scheduled for release in October of this year and will be available for public beta testing from www.ableton.com this weekend. Live 3 is the first integrated audio sequencing tool that gives users control "inside" of the sample. Live 3 now offers sound designers and musicians a whole new world in which they can easily and flexibly animate their samples.
Some of Live 3 new features : MIDI Key mapping, velocity sensitivity, clip envelopes, new legato mode, new effects, new quantization values, VST plug-in improvements...
Live 3 for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X : EUR/US$ 399 (MSRP) in October. Upgrades from previous Live versions will be availabl ...

The Digital Performer 4.1 update is now on the MOTU site! This a free update for Version 4.0 users that supports the Digidesign Audio Engine (DAE) and runs Audio Units plug-ins and virtual instruments. The update also include numerous other enhancements such as new virtual instrument tracks.

LinPlug announced the Mac OS X version of the RM IV. Built using LinPlug's enhanced high-quality audio engine, the RM IV features 18 velocity sensitive Drum Pads that can be used to trigger any of 11 different Audio Generator Modules.

The instrument features a modular design that currently includes 10 percussion synthesis algorithms, as well as a fully featured percussion sampler.
The Sampler module provides single-sample, multi-sample, velocity-layer and velocity-crossfade support, at up to 32-bit resolution.
The instrument also includes an AHDSR-controlled multi-mode filter, a fully-featured compressor designed specifically for percussion sounds, a flexible "Humanizer" and a 6 x 6 Modulation Matrix.

The RM IV comes with the renowned Manytone Acoustic Drums series, a set of 8 mult ...

The famous « Reason Adapted, Live Digidesign Edition, SampleTank SE, AmpliTube LE, et T-RackS EQ» bundle that is now being shipped with all the Pro Tools systems continues to stir jealousy amongst the other customers. Rumor has it, that Digidesign is considering offering the bundle to the already registered users either for free or, as someone has been informed by the American Digidesign support, for a fee of 99-144$.

It is worth pointing out that a free version will be shipped to all new Pro Tools customers, as well as those who are in the "002-002r" exchange program. One thing's for certain, and that is the Digidesign Forum administrator message saying, "Specifics of this offer and ordering info will be posted there within the next 48 hours". In clear language, that means – KEEP AN EYE ON THE DIGIDESIGN SITE!

PrimeSounds CD Division have just announced the release of their new sample CD - Session Strings. The Session Strings sample CD is multisampled pop strings (violin, viola, cello and contra bass) performed by Stockholm Session Strings.The material on Session Strings was performed by Stockholm Session Strings, a 12-piece String ensemble. All instruments were recorded using Neumann U87 microphones placed at a distance of approximately 1 meter/3 feet. The end result was created by blending the "dry" signal with room ambience picked up by two Bruel&Kjaer 4006 microphones. The formats on this CD: HALion, EXS24 and Kontakt.

Dan Brockett has written a free tutorial on Apple Soundtrack, the loop-based composition tool included with Final Cut Pro 4 and available now as standalone software. Dan's tutorial goes over instructions for beginners who are new to music-making and digital audio, but there's intermediate and advanced information, too, plus tips and downloadable finished projects and media. Brockett is a writer/director/producer.

This software working under OSX is a must: Combining the hardware modular sequencers with all the power and the ease of a software. For sequences and complex rythmn patterns, this soft is a real creativity tools to create sequences ala Steve Reich, Tangerine Dream (Chris Franke) and others...

This particular sequencer drives external MIDI instruments and sine the 1.2 version: the AUdio units (synths, effects...)
Surely a track to follow....