Mac and Music News

Native Instruments Traktor Final Scratch was updated to version 1.5.1 and it is now fully compatible with Mac OS 10.3 Panther. Aside from the new highly optimized ScratchAmp drivers, version 1.5.1 also adds the following features:

· High-quality key correction (preserves pitch when changing tempo)
· Record Lead-In graphics in wave display
· Stripe Preview in browser deck
· Customize "Needle Display Position" in wave display
· Shading of played track portion in stripe view
· Flashing stripe in track end warning zone
· Fully resizable interface
· 4 font sizes
· Larger sound stripes

This update is available via download (49 euros) or as an update CD (69 euros).

We announced it in january on MacMusic, it is now available ! The Mayhem VST plug-in suite by Audiodamage is a collection of four different effects designed to provide new tools for aggressive contemporary musical styles. Included in this package are Filterpod (a low-pass filter with LFO), Crush (the World's Most Dangerous Compressor...), MasterDestrukto (a plug-in featuring four different distortion algorithms for massive audio manipulation), and TimeFnk (a rhythmic delay).

Mayhem pack is available for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X and costs 149 euros.

Native Instruments has announced that the new Reaktor 4.1 update is now available. New features in Reaktor 4.1 include: savable screensets for managing individual window arrangements, a batch converter for analyzing audio files and converting Reaktor 3 instruments and a new Total Recall system for saving all settings with a song.

The 4.1 update for Mac is available as a free download for all registered Reaktor 4 users.

Facing all the competition for data storage and even more so for musical storage, MiniDisc needs a serious lifting. It's almost done as Sony has announced the release in April of it's Hi-MD. It will contain up to 45 hours of music at 48kbps and also serve as a 1 GB USB removable Data storage.

The 1 GB Hi-MD discs should cost about 7 euros each. As for the current minidiscs they should be compatible with the new players, these should cost less than 400 Euros.

Steven Philips has released volume 1 of his sounds for FM7. The CD includes 20 banks - each including 32 patches for Native Instruments FM7. More details on the included sounds can be found here.

Berkleemusic, the online extension school of Berklee College of Music, is now enrolling three brand-new online music production courses for their April 5th semester. Essential knowledge for engineers, producers, or hobbyists who have their own home studio up and running, Mixing and Mastering with Pro Tools will provide you with a greater understanding of advanced mixing and mastering techniques using Pro Tools. Sound Design for the Electronic Musician walks you through the necessary steps to create your own electronic sounds and musical productions, as well as explores more detailed aspects of sound creation and manipulation using the software synthesizers provided in Logic and Reason.

Learn to create musical-sounding MIDI arrangements and gain a firm understanding of the roles of the various instruments and arrangements used in the creation of dance and blues music in the MIDI Sequencing Intermediate course. Berkleemusic's Student Advisor is available toll-free at 1.866.BERKLEE (237.5533) for one-on-one advice or questions on any of these courses. To view the complete course catalog, or to enroll in an online course, please visit:

Digidesign has announced a bugfix for its Impact compressor Plug-in (ProTools with HD Accel). The patch is available (beta 1.1 version) on the Digidesign site.

Ed: Melenko has pointed us to free plugins for RTAS, AU, VST, OS 9 and OS X. Inspector is a mastering plugin for spectrum analysis with peak and RMS meters. Free demos are also available for some of the other plugins, as well. These plugins are new to us here, so hit that link, give them a spin, and let us know what you think! Thanks, melenko. -PK

Roland has rolled out a new Fantom series with some impressive specs. The FantomX
models are shipping with your choice of 61 keys (Fantom-X6), 76 keys (Fantom-X7) or 88 keys (Fantom-X8), and boast 128-note polyphony, 1 GB of sound data, and a sampling section with up to 544MB RAM. I/O includes USB and S/PDIF digital I/O as well as the usual analog audio and tradition MIDI in/out/thru. More details below, but to sum it up in one word: drool.

clouvel and ptilou contributed to this report

Zygoat Creative has announce a 1.1 version update to Doggiebox 1.1 , its easy rhythm sequencer. The update contains bug fixes, simplified preference options, and a better song editor and better undo options. Doggiebox is a EUR39 download, free for registered users.

IK Multimedia has annouced the release of the Sampletank 2.05, a major update for stability with Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. Here are the new fixes in this 2.05 version : crash in Pro Tools OSX while changing PT tracks midi channel, crash in latest Metro, occasional system crashes when loading sounds, click at the beginning of sequence playback on certain systems...and more !!

This update is strongly recommended by IK Multimedia and is available on free download for registered users.