Mac and Music News

Modularing, MilProd's virtual synthesizer, is almost available in an OSX version. They are still looking for beta-testers.

Pinknoise Studio's Soundbank has unveiled a new Reason Refill for the NN-XT sampler featuring sampled analog modular synths. I was skeptical of this approach at first, fearing sampled Moog's or something horrendous like that. Instead, the bright folks at Pinknoise have created a Refill with basic analog components (sine waves and the like) so you can take advantage of the advanced modular features of the NN-XT to replicate the creative synthesis possibilities of a full-featured analog synth. Demos are available, and the full version is just US$19 for a download. With Reason's excellent pattern sequencers, this could be a lot of fun -- stay tuned for a review.

IRCAM, the famous french institute for musical research and Eowave associated last year to develop the eobody. Eobody is a CV to MIDI interface we already talked about in the MM news. It is on demo on AE2003 with its MAX/msp developed editor and the available sensors (light, pressure, piezo pads, ground captors, distance, acceleration etc.) and under developement sensors (ribbon and capacitive keyboards) to trigger sounds (I develop everywhere ;), notes or video events in real time. (see the pics)

Now you can really play your tunes by scratching your head or square dancing!

Lucky you! During all the AE2003 an iSight streams the teamers sleeping nude… uh… working hard on the MM Booth (F14, Hall 4 ;). Expect also pics and news from the novelties at the exhibit in the following days

The Apple booth has uncovered rows of new powerbook G4, we have the pics of the beasts.

I've had a chance now to give Live 3 a test-drive. So far, the new release looks very solid, and even in beta runs fine. An interesting detail: the new plugins ship as VST plugins, as opposed to proprietary Live plugins, so you can use them with other software. The previous plugins remain proprietary. Despite the fit-and-finish on this new release, however, you will want to wait for the final software to ship. Unlike the Live 2 beta, the beta software warns that files saves with the beta may be incompatible with the final release version. I'll have more on Live 3 later this week; in the meantime feel free to email me your impressions.

In a statement by Ableton's Gerhard on the Live user forum, Live's developer says Live 3 won't bring significant audio performance improvements, and furthermore, Velocity Engine optimization (which would benefit Mac G4 and G5 users) would require a complete rewrite of the underlying audio engine that won't occur in this upgrade.

Have you ever wondered if it is possible to seemlessly morph from one sound to another? It's now really possible : Prosoniq announce "morph VST" a very interesting and fast new VST (and stand-alone) plug-in from Prosoniq. For Mac only (OS 9 & OS X compatible too!). Morph VST is availaible for 179 $.

Here it comes the new audio interface 96i for Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools Accel (see the last M.M news for this).

Featuring sixteen inputs with gain control (six switchable levels for the first four and two for the others), two analog outputs with 96kHz conversion, one SPDIF 24 bits input/output, Digidesign announce that the converters of the 96i will be as good as the one of the 96 I/O. Up to six 96i can be use to allow simultaneously up to 96 analog inputs.

Rumors are coming and going, the only thing that can be seen right now (no one is allowed on the huge Apple Booth) are dark veils waiting to be uncovered tomorrow morning during the keynote.

Facts: seems to be some hardware (a huge panel up to the ceiling is covered (haha…) and a row of little booths to touch the gizmos IRL). But tomorrow, not before (rumors are according on this at last).

New powermac G4 anyone? (we want a G5!) As MacNN.com marked it and is showing it, no powerbooks can be seen on the booth now, so… could be… ;)

Musimac, the Italian website targeted to mac-musicians, has an interesting article about the new PowerMacs G5. The tests are music-oriented, and have been carried out on the 1.6 GHz model; They give the first performance scores and impressions on the new machines. Definitely worth reading...

Emagic introduces Space Designer , a premium reverb plug-in for Logic 6, at the IBC show in Amsterdam. Space Designer is the latest member of Emagic's successful range of Studio Tools and Software Instruments, all of which are available separately to expand the functionality of the Logic System.

Featuring a real-time convolution process using reverberation samples - impulse responses (IR) - it is now possible to produce reverbs that are virtually indistinguishable from real rooms or halls. The possibility to create and edit custom convolution reverbs sets Space Designer apart. In addition to sampled reverbs, Space Designer is equipped with a synthesis engine creating custom impulse responses. The reverb can be further shaped using Space Designer's comprehensive parameter set that featu ...

Akai has just given new informations on the mpc 1000 :
- 3,3 kg and small size
- 16 Mo de ram (upgradable up to 128 Mo)
- 6 analog outputs
- S/PDIF I/O
- 16 pads and the sequencer
- Backup to a compact Flash card via an USB connection (very convenient)

TC-Electronic has announced the avalaibility of a new version of their 2 tracks audio editor for mastering. New features include support for burning multiple CDs from a single playlist, Audio Units plug-in support for the batch converter and automatic plug-in delay compensation for the playback cursor. Additionally, new user settings for the Preferences dialog has been added, as well as preloading-support for Waves' plug-in shell.