Mac and Music News

Russian Ethnic Vocals is the first-ever sample library of real Russian vocal patterns, which includes more than 800 samples. The samples were recorded in one of the oldest Russian provinces, where you still can hear the breath of ancient Russia. Ed: Very unique sounding offering, if you're looking for something different for your compositions! -PK

There was a little bug in the last version of OUTI (v 1.31), now fixed in version 1.32. Now, instead of being limited to 10 seconds for the buffer size, you can set whatever buffer size you like, ideal for adjusting to your amount of RAM.

Jasmine Audio announced today the newest release of their Macintosh-based audio editor, Jasmine Audio 1.8.

The newest release has been rewritten for OS X. As such, Jasmine now has a new Mac OS X interface, a flexible and robust import and export feature, help tags, bug fixes and more. Version 1.8 now allows for support of multiple file formats including MP4/AAC, WAV, AIFF, AVI, 3GPP, System 7, µLaw, and several QuickTime formats. This feature allows for changes in sampling frequency (up to 48 kHz), bit depth, stereo interlacing, and common compression/streaming protocols.

The $30 application is free for 14 days.

It's possible to broadcast your music on the web with NiceCast by Rogue Amoeba, an easy to use audio streaming solution for Mac OS X. This software enables broadcasts from your iTunes library and includes audio effects, a built-in streaming server, broadcast archiving, and voice over. This new version 1.5 supports Live365.com accounts, broadcasts iTunes crossfades and supports Icecast2 servers.

NiceCast 1.0 is EUR40 shareware.This 1.5 update is free.

MTSoftware has posted free VST software for Mac OS X: HostX, a VSTi host application; TsampX, a standalone sampler for OS X; and TdrumX, a standalone drum machine). A spectral filter patch for Max/MSP, "Turn to FFT" is also available for download.

Crossfade Loop Synth is a simple AU instrument - it loads a sample from disk (in AIFF, SD2 or WAV format) and plays it back in the classic sampler way -- i.e., higher notes get shorter, lower notes longer. This new version 1.2 fixes some bugs and adds support for wav. and SDII files. LoopSynth is available for download and is a donationware.

Rayverb by Prosoniq is an inverse retraycing reverb. Raytracing is a technique used in the generation of computer generated imagery (CGI) to create reflective surfaces, so Rayverb allows you to change the position of your sound source within the room, change the material of the walls, apply material from a different ambience or even alter the proportions of the room, all in realtime.

Rayverb will be a VST plugin, but Prosoniq has just posted a standalone version for Mac OS 9 and OS X for download (3.3 Mb).

After the LynxTwo and L22 digital audio interfaces drivers posted in November, Lynx Technology has announced that a Mac OS X-compatible driver is now available for its AES16 audio interface. All 192 kHz interfaces by Lynx are compatible with the 3.3 v. PCI-X interface found on the Mac G5 models.

Synthetic Instruments (SI-KTK) is a CD-ROM library with 43 waveform sets and more then 250 individual synthesizer instruments. SI-KTK will work in Kontakt version 1.2 and up. SI-KTK's instruments are true subtractive synthesizer programs, taking advantage of Kontakt's synthesizer engine, filters and modulation capabilities. Carefully prepared and unfiltered audio spectrums has been programmed and sampled, using an Analogue Systems 5-VCO modular and a Waldorf Microwave XT. The instruments were made by combining the audio data with parameter and filter tweaking - inside Kontakt.

Garritan has annouced that Garritan Personal Orchestra is now shipping. Garritan Personal Orchestra is an impressive orchestral sample library, and ships with Native Instrument KONTAKT Player and Ambience Reverb. GPO works with notation programs and will run on Mac OS either as a standalone program or as a plug-in (supporting VST, RTAS, and OS X AudioUnits).

Garritan Personal Orchestra costs 249 dollars.

I thought it was deja vu at first but there is in fact another AudioFinder upgrade in just a matter of days. Our friends at Iced Audio just don't sleep! 3.1 adds a waveform overview for convenience, so you can see what's going on in your audio files. This app is ideal for running alongside a production session or, better yet, routed to your headphones during a live set with software like Ableton Live.

As you know, running Pro Tools on Mac OS X requires users to have OS Administrator Privileges. So Digidesign works to respond to the many requests received from facilities and schools who cannot grant Administrative Privileges to all of their students or engineers using Pro Tools and has produced a beta version of the Pro Tools v6.2.3 application (Mac OS 10.3.2 only) that removes the Administrator Privilege requirement.

Pro Tools TDM 6.2.3b1 has been posted on the Digidesign web site for download and Pro Tools LE 6.2.3b1 will be posted shortly after the release of Pro Tools LE 6.2.3. These beta versions of Pro Tools will also be included in the Additonal Beta Software folder of Pro Tools TDM and LE 6.2.3 CDs.