Mac and Music News

IK Multimedia announces Sonik Synth 2 plug-in synth workstation, a cooperation between IK Multimedia and leading US sound designer Sonic Reality. Sonik Synth 2 is a RTAS, VST, Audio Unit and MAS plug-in for Mac0S9-Mac0SX. This virtual instrument features the Sonik Synth virtual synth module and more than 500 sounds and textures, more than 1000 sampled instruments and performance elements designed by Sonik Reality. Sonik Synth will be available by Q2, 2004 at 399 euros.

T-Racks 24, the stand-alone mastering software will be available for MacOS X by the end of January 2004 for a retail price of 299 euros.

The plugin version of T-Racks will be available for Audio Units and VST on MacOS X by the end of January 2004 for 399 euros.

And at last, AmpliTubeT, the guitar amp and effects plug-in will be available for Audio Units and VST for MacOS X by the end of January 2004 for 399 euros.: Amp

The Virtual Orchestra is a multimedia library of the contemporary orchestra. It includes sample banks with more than 15,000 instrumental sounds, pictures and the software sampler Osiris. The Virtual Orchestra is a system developed by Thomas Hummel at SWR Experimental Studio in Germany.

Virtual Orchestra goes now to Mac OS X and is available from Forum IRCAM.

Ed: You have to join Forum IRCAM to acquire this software, but what an impressive collection -- good reason to join! English readers, look for the flag in the upper right corner on the link below. -PK)

The 25th-anniversary festival and competition Ars Electronica will take place in Linz, Austria, from 2 to 7 september '04. The Prize Ars Electronica is devoted to new media artists, and a total of EUR 130,000 in prize money will be awarded in the following six categories in 2004: Digital Communities, Net Vision, Interactive Art, Computer Animation/Visual Effects, Digital Musics and u19 freestyle computing.

There's an open call in the "Digital Musics" category, as well as for works combining sound and media, computer compositions ranging from electro-acoustic to experimental music, and sound installations.

The international cyberarts competition kicks off on January 12, 2004 with online registration.

GT unveiled at NAMM beside the Groovy Comp some means to get sound In and Out, in tubes, as you can imagine…

- For the guitarist: the Power Pick, a Pick with a patented lever, to bring more power and harmonics than standard picks. $12.95 (hey, no tubes!)
- The PDI: Passive Direct Input, well it's a passive DI Line/instrument level to balanced low impedance level… $39.99 (hey! no tubes either!)
- The SFX Spacestation, that's the out ;) It's a compact powered stereo monitor with SXF (Stereo Field Expansion) 300-degree stereo sound field technology. Two models are available for guitarists $695 and for keyboards/voice $795. the units are build to stand going out so it'll spark tubes everywhere. (ahhhh!)
- Groove tubes announced also the availability of new "build to match the original standard" 12AX7M and 6CA7GE. (tubes everywhere!)

IR-1 is a convolution reverb which has flexible classic controls of the key reverb parameters and comes with an extensive library of samples and presets that recreate the sonic environment of over 60 carefully sampled real acoustic spaces and over 60 samples and presets created by classic hardware devices. IR-1 introduces the first Convolution based reverb that allows classic parameters to actually affect the convolution, not just "filter the result" in order to produce parameter changes.
Supported on selected hosts via RTAS - HTDM - VST - MAS - Audio Units.
Requirements: G4 867mHz or faster, OS-X 10.2.2 or later, 512MB RAM, 800x600 minimum display.

Matt Ingalls, well known for his CSound work, has announced the Soundflower utility, developed with Cycling '74. SoundFlower is a virtual audio driver for OSX. It provides an easy and simple way for any application to send audio to another application.

SoundFlower is available as a free download on Cycling '74 web site. Ed: this is great news -- think Inter-Application Communication in OMS, but for audio. -PK

Grooves Tubes was showing its all-tube Glory Comp at NAMM, a compressor with more tubes than it's healthy to have. As you can expect, the beast has a distinct character. Key features are entry levels -10dBV and +4dBu, Attack, Release and Compression Threshold controls, and ratios from 1:1 to 10:1. The unit uses ceramic multi-decked switches instead of potentiometers to provide long life and repeatable settings and a sidechain EQ. An additional touch is the Glory knob (must have something to do with the name ;) that works on the 2nd harmonics to bring more presence between the "Hearth" and "Heaven" settings.
The unit will be available in Spring for US$2999.

Ibanez has decided to reissue its mythic TS808, the other 808. The overdrive stompbox "Tube Screamer" is back this year and each one features the original hand-picked chip of the original stomp -- not a DSP model -- packed in a tough-on-the-job green box. Rumour says it's tough enough to resist laptops ;)
It will be available for US$240.

You can now download a demo of MidiBridge9X, a combo OMS Driver/Application that allows OMS applications running under Classic to communicate with CoreMidi devices.

Some of the programs that were tested with MidiBridge9X: Finale 2003, Band-in-a-Box, Nightingale, Reason, Applications created with MAX..
The one application that doesn't work right now is Opcode's Vision. Troika Tronix are investigating to see if there is a way to get Vision working with MidiBridge9X.

This version has a 15 minute time out. When the beta testers will have reported back on the current version, Troika Tronix will release a public beta for sale.

Yamaha has annouced its new portable 1 unit rack audio interface: the i88x. This new 24 Bit/96kHz audio interface works on the Yamaha mLAN (FireWire) protocol and features 2 instrument/mic phantom-powered inputs, 6 line inputs, ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O. The i88x ships with mLAN drivers for Mac OS 9 and drivers for Mac OS X are under development.

The i88x can be used as extension for 01x or MOTIF using mLAN16E due to mLAN support as well as a stand-alone Audio/MIDI interface.

Ed: Well, it's great to see Yamaha finally shipping some mLAN stuff, but with few products supporting the protocol and no OS X support, I think I'll stick with my plain-vanilla FireWire audio interfaces! -PK

At NAMM '04, M-Audio annouced a new FireWire audio interface, the FireWire 18/14, featuring 2 FireWire ports, a 24 bit/192 kHz AD/DA converter, 2 Neutrik phantom powered mic inputs, 6 line inputs and 4 line outputs. The FireWire 18/14 will manage 18 inputs channels (8 analog inputs, 8 ADAT and 2 S/PDIF) and 14 output channels (4 analog outputs, 8 ADAT and 2 S/PDIF).

The M-Audio FireWire 18/14 audio interface will be available in March '04 for EUR/US$700.

Crackle... hiss... rumble... click... pop... hum... When it comes to audio, it can be a filthy mess out there. So Bias announce SoundSoap Pro, a new high-end audio restoration solution for Mac OS X as a companion to its existing SoundSoap, featuring multiband noise reduction; click, crackle & hum removal; plus noise gate - all integrated into a single RTAS, AU or VST plug-in.

SoundSoap Pro will be available Q1 2004 for a retail price of EUR599.

Mackie has just announced 9 new products :
- 3 new Onyx mixing consoles 1220 (12 inputs) , 1620 (16 inputs), 1640 (16 inputs + 4 bus), with ability to add the OnyxFW option (to get a firewire audio interface)
- a new 8 inputs audio interface with lot of outputs
- the new TT24 , a live mixing desk
- The dBx console
- Big Knob, a useful switcher
- Traction, a new sequencer

Tascam has announced several new products at NAMM including:

- 2488 : a 24 bit, 24 tracks, 36 channel Portastudio with CD-Writer and USB2.0 interface.

- US-2400 : a DAW controller interface with 25 100mm motorized faders, 24 rotating encoders, joystick for surround, HUI emulation....

- 2 news DJ-oriented double CD-Players with a new option, an add-on for your turntable to use it as a controller for the two new CD player.

Just enough informations to give you a good reason to read the rest...

Behringer has announced the B-CONTROL FADER BCF2000, a fader-based USB control surface for MIDI hardware or software, and the ROTARY BCR2000, with rotary controls.

The BFC-2000 has eight 100 mm programmable faders, 8 programmable encoders, MIDI 1 In/2 Out/1 Thru (read carefully the manual about these, it doesn't seem to be a full fledged MIDI interface, and the Thru eats a MIDI Out). 4 virtual groups and 20 buttons also assignable to MIDI, syssex, MMC, transport functions are possible.

The similar ROTARY BCR2000 features 24 rotary controlers, plus the same buttons and 8 top rotary encoders.

Unfortunately the editing software is PC only but profiles will be available shortly, both units are supported under OSX and should work with all MIDI software. Announced compatibility is for Cubase and Logic, check the Behringer site for more.

All products are due second quarter of 2004
BCF2000: $249.99, BCR2000: $189.99

CUBE by VirSyn is a software instrument that gives you the power and flexibility of additive synthesis together with easy editing and morphing capabilities. The 1.5 release adds additive resynthesis capabilities with new features: decomposition of samples into 512 partials and a special "Formant" Analyzer that enables automatic extraction of the sound characteristic.

Cube is a standalone app and a plugin VST and AudioUnit support. Minimum requirements: PowerPC G4 400 Mhz with 128 MB RAM on Mac OS 9, Mac OS X version 10.2. CUBE version 1.5 will be available January, 21th. Registered Users of CUBE 1.0 will get the downloadable upgrade for free

Kurzweil has announced the VA1, a new instrument (61 keys, 16 polyphonic notes and 4 multi voices). The kind of synthesis is "virtual analog". Each note allows 7 audio sources with no reduction of the polyphony. The VA1 has a large FX module (from the famous KDFX and DSP8), and a 48-band Vocoder (with a stereo preamp and phantom power supply to process external tone).

At Namm, Emagic announced its new Logic line with two products :

- The Logic Pro 6 includes Logic Platinum 6 music production software plus the complete Apple/Emagic DSP and audio instrument product line ( ES1, ES2 and EVOC20 software synthesizer, the software sampler EXS24 mk II, the EVB3, EVD6 and EVP8 Vintage Collection and Space Designer). Logic Pro costs 999 euros.

- The Logic Express includes a 48 tracks Logic software, plus the EXSP24 sample player, the EVP73 Vintage Piano and the ES1 Synthesizer. Logic Express costs 299 euros.

Ed: also check out my analysis of what this means. We'll be covering this story as it develops. -PK

Native Instruments announces that its effects processor Spektral Delay is now available for Mac OS X. This new version of Spektral Delay fully supports the modern technologies and interfaces of Mac OS X, including AudioUnits, RTAS, VST and standalone operation with CoreMIDI and CoreAudio. With this, the complete NI product range is now available on Apple's most recent operating system.

The Spektral Delay update 1.5.5 is immediately available to all registered users as a $29 / 29 Euro direct download. Customers who bought their copy after November 1st, 2003 can download the update for free or receive an update CD 19 Euro. Registered users of Spektral Delay Pro Tools Edition can also download the update for free.

In 1971, at the NAMM Convention, Bob Moog introduced the Minimoog. 33 years later ARTURIA announces the release of Minimoog V, the recreation of what became the most popular synthesizer of all time.Offering all the features of the original, the Software version also brings polyphony, MIDI management, preset handling. And taking advantage of modern tools, additional functions are hidden beyond the control panels: a modulation matrix, a LFO, an arpeggiator, a chorus and a delay.

The Minimoog V will be OS 9 (VST, MAS, RTAS, TDM) and OS X (Standalone, AU, TDM, RTAS) compatible and available at the end of february '04.

Steinberg Gmbh announced his new Cubase-System 4. This system is made by an audio interface USB 1.1 (USB 2.0 compatible) MI4 featuring 4 audio I/O, 2 microphone preamps with XLR inputs and switchable phantom power, 2 line inputs, 24-bit/96 kHz A/D and D/A converters , Main/monitor/Headphone outputs with level control, S/PDIF stereo I/O, 16 channel MIDI I/O. This audio interface is 100% bus powered and ASIO2 and Core Audio drivers are included. This interface is packed with Steinberg Cubase SL software.

The Cubase System|4 is priced at EUR 456.00 excluding VAT and will ship mid February 2004.

In a further move to open up its main DAW products to the programming community, Steinberg announces the launch of a new integration interface. The VST Module Architecture allows third parties to program MIDI effect plug-ins for its Nuendo and Cubase SX/SL/SE sequencers.

Apple just announce the last three month sales results and it's a huge progression compared to last year same period: + $63 millions compared to - $8 millions . This result is even the best since 4 years.

This huge success seems to be due to the growing success of iPod and the iTunes Music Store. Our dear Steve Jobs even see a bright future for Apple, betting on the long lasting success of the new products line and the exponential implant of OSX platform.

Distorsion, compression, Noise Gate, Chorus, Flanger, equalizeur, Wah, tremolo, reverb and delay... Here you are the high possibilities of this new McDSP Plug-in. This FX plug-in processes in mono and stereo. Compatible only with Protools. A competitive alternative to the Line6 AmpFarm. Approx. price : 410 Euros

The ADI-2 is a compact 2-channel Hi-End AD/DA-converter. The small 9.5" unit offers top notch AD/DA-conversion from/to SPDIF, AES and ADAT, at up to 192 kHz.

The Hammerfall DSP RPM is a mobile Phono/CD/MIC/MIDI Interface. You can connect 2 turntables or 2 line-sources (CD, DVD, sampler etc.) and a microphone to desktop or laptop computer. RPM offers 5 inputs, 2 stereo outputs, a separate headphone output and a MIDI I/O. TotalMix lets you monitor, PFL and route/mix any of the in- and outputs.

The ADI-4 DD is a simplified and highly cost-efficient smaller version of the renowned ADI-8 DD, providing 96 kHz AES/SPDIF/ADAT conversion.

All of these are package in the usual RME's half-rack space enclosure.

Slim Devices has just announced Squeezebox, a cordless MP3 player. This player works with MP3 Format but also with AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC or WAV and AIFF Format. Easy to connect on your HiFi.

BitHeadz released an update of its Unity line of audio software. The new 3.3 version includes updates for Mac OS X Panther, as well as the inclusion of Osmosis 3 for Mac OS X. The Unity 3.3 update offers enhancements for Mac OS X 10.3 and adds new MESH timing technology and a multi-timbral plugin. Osmosis 3 is a utility for converting Roland and Akai samples to the Unity DS-1 and Sample Cell formats.

A minor update of the OS 9 version is also available. Both updates are freely downloadable on the BitHeadz web site.

Eowave announces his new poducts range at NAMM show '04 :

There's still the Eobody, a 16 CV inputs interface to convert analog signals from any type of sensors to digital signal. Eobody has been produced in cooperation with the Ircam.

The 4 Bugs: Analog Stereo Effects Series for synths and other digital devices with Filterbug (low pass 24 dB filter), Ring o'Bug (ring modulator), Sci-FiBug (sequenced 8 step filter) and SpaceBug (analogue delay).

The Persephone : A New Instrument inspired from the first electric keyboard with a sensored ribbon virtual keyboard, an amplitude controler and a real analog sound source. Great for imitating sounds from horrors movies from the 1950s... The Persephone can also be used as a controller.

During NAMM '04 show, Bias announced that the new version of Peak 4.1 will include Roxio Jam - the professional Redbook standard CD burning software for Mac OS X - and SFX Machine LT, a limited edition of the popular multi-effects sound design plug-in. The inclusion of Jam with Peak, creates a complete solution for stereo recording, editing, processing, and mastering. The addition of SFX Machine Lite adds additional sound design features to Peak.

Peak 4.1 will be available Q1 2004 for 499 euros. Upgrades from version 3.2.1 and earlier will be 149 euros. Customers purchasing Peak 4 after Jan. 1st 2004 will be entitled to a free downloadable upgrade.