Mac and Music News

This spring has been one mega-show after another full of announcements. On the heals of Musikmesse, on the eve of NAB, the MacMusic team offers our look at all that's new in Mac gear and goodies.

Musikmesse, Frankfurt. Native Instruments wins the prize for all-around cool factor, with new stuff for guitarists and keyboardists. Don't miss Native's special NAMM page. IK Multimedia's StudioPhonik could be a big hit, like a pro version of GarageBand's soft instruments. Prosoniq's Orange Vocoder 3 is terrific Mac-only software.

Musikmesse MacMusic Picks. Clouvel's pick: Clouvel gives a nod to the upcoming OS X editor for the Nord Modular G2X. Peter's pick: My pick from the show has to be the Guitar Rig from Native. Makes me wish I could play the guitar. Best photos and news roundups: Synthesizers.de for lots of analog-inspired gear, the colorful SuperBooth by Scheideri (German only), and the venerable PR roundup and videos in Harmony Central's special report.

NAB, Las Vegas. All this week, photos and news from "Sin City" and last week's broadcasters' show, part of joint coverage with OSXFAQ/Inside Mac Radio with Scott Shepard. Numbers are in, and attendance reached nearly 100,000! We'll look at the latest media announcements from Apple and Digidesign. Scott sent us great photos from the show plus audio interviews: a DV special and pro audio special featuring Digidesign.

MakeMusic has released its 2004b update to Finale 2004 for OS X. Most significantly, the release adds Mac OS 9 support. There are numerous bugfixes in the new release, including improvements to the articulation tool, edit commands, expression tool, lyrics, mass edit tool, measure tool, interapplication MIDI, MIDI pan, saving audio files and opening and saving MIDI and Finale files, playback, plug-ins and FinaleScript, printing, setup, entry, and many other tools. The release also adds a fix to a performance glitch with creating TIFF graphics, adds support for OS X patch list names, and fixes a crash with the Search and Replace function. However, there's still no support for EPS export or PostScript listings "because of limitations in OS X." That's a confusing claim, since both features are supported in Finale's competitor, Sibelius. There's also nothing to address ongoing performance complaints. Despite these factors, though, this is clearly a must-have download. MakeMusic has a PDF file with all the changes.

Soundcraft introduces its new concept of a powered mixer: the GigRac. Presented as a compact case and designed for easy carrying, the GigRac offers 8 inputs: 4 mono inputs on combo (XLR/Jack) connectors, 2 stereo inputs on combo connectors and 2 cinch inputs. A global phantom power is available for the first four mic inputs. Each channel features both low and high freq. EQ pots, a send level assigned to the internal effect, a volume pot to an auxiliary output and a volume pot to the main mix output. A graphic 7-bands EQ (BSS designed) as well as a digital multi-effect (8 programs) can be assigned either to the main mix or to the auxiliary output.

The GigRac is distributed in France by Audio SCV.

Get ready for this love triangle, folks. Based on a memo leaked to The New York Times, RealNetworks is looking for an alliance with Apple against Microsoft's Windows Media Player. Here's the interesting part: Real offers an ultimatum -- work with us, or we turn to Microsoft. What's that? Real is a major component of the European Commission's anti-monopoly case against Microsoft, so a strategic alliance with Microsoft could undermine the case. And some outlets are talking more than just an "alliance", saying Real may actually switch to Windows Media format. (If that doesn't send a chill down your spine, nothing will.) Why the switch in philosophy? Real, in ongoing confusion about what their business model is, appears to be moving to content as its primary revenue stream, instead of the Real audio format.

As we continue our look back at Frankfurt to try to catch up with the latest in the world of Mac music, one of the MVPs of the show has to be Prosoniq with their new Orange Vocoder 3. This Mac-only VST plug is more than a simple vocoder: if it's the distinctive vocoded vocals you're looking for, you've got it, but this beast is capable of all kinds of sonic trickery. The new version adds advanced MIDI control of the built-in synth; support for loading sound files, virtually unlimited polyphony OR more old-school mono mode for that distinctive talkbox sound, and nearly endless improvements to filtering, realtime analysis, and a "phenome dial" for creating whole sentences out of raw phenomes, no external input required. Check out Prosoniq's Musik Messe photo gallery for that "it's like I'm there with them in Frankfurt" virtual feeling, or Prosoniq's product page below for the full specs. Available May 04, USD/EUR 249. Upgrade pricing TBA.

LinPlug has released version 2.1 of the Alpha Classic Synthesizer. This is a recommended update for all Alpha users. Enhancements have been made to oscillators, filters
and the user interface. Alpha 2.1 is now also compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 and Cubase SX 2.

The Alpha 2.1 is available as download for 39.00 €/US$; the update from 2.0.x is free.

Ed: Yes, you read that price right, that's for the full synth. The Alpha is undoubtedly one of the best bargain buys for analog synthesis. Make up some instant ramen, skip the nice dinner date out, and play with a synth tonight! -PK

MetaJam is a comprehensive artist promotion and career management software that helps musicians to easily develop a proper online presence, providing various tools to build, organize and control their own stuff, from songs to press kits or websites, and get in touch with the music industry.

It is available with the free MetaJam LE download, or in the full MetaJam package, disclosing key features, and exclusive benefits through the BroadJam community. Minimum requirements are a G3 processor, 64 MB RAM, OS X and a CD ROM drive.

Ed: Looks like really cool software -- so many features there, in fact, you might pick and choose what's most essential to you. Since this is a big release and many of our readers are likely to be looking for tools to manage their music careers, we'll work on a full review soon. -PK

Creamware has returned with a new product line that includes:
- SFP Home (3 dsp + FX)
- SFP Project (6 dsp + FX + synths)
- SFP Pro (14 dsp and lot of things...)

Upgrade should be free for recent customers. There's a new website with a new name on the link below. Hopefully other news will appear soon in regards to OS X support!

Ed:UPDATE: This news was initially sent to us with an incorrect URL. (.com domain instead of the proper .de) Now it's fixed, and check it out: Creamware, back to life! Lots of info there to check out. Enjoy. -PK

Our friend Scott Shepard has gotten Apple's Pro Audio Training Authors Mary Plummer and Robert Brock to chat on Inside Mac Radio about Apple's latest offerings, Garage Band, Soundtrack, and the newly-streamlined Logic 6 lineup. As usual, you can download an MP3 of the show for listening via iTunes or your iPod. MacMusic will be back with Inside Mac Radio later this week with our Musik Messe wrap-up, but if you're still hungry for audio, check out my 3/23 chat with Scott.

Bitstream 3X is the new MIDI controller from Wave Idea, available in July/August 2004. A short preview here: "3X" stands for "3 Axis"; the controller features full control over X, Y and Z dimensions. A joystick allows control of X and Y, while an infrared controller is used for the Z axis. That's just the beginning, though, with 35 knobs, 8 sliders, 16 buttons, an arpeggiator, motion sampler, curve models and programmability, and graphic display. We've got the impressive full specs.

Apple's entry-level eMacs keep getting better for the value conscious with today's price break / speed bump. The US$799 eMac now features a 1.25 GHz G4, 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, three out of five USB ports making the leap to USB 2.0, and faster ATI Radeon 9200 graphics. The US$999 model replaces the combo drive with a SuperDrive and double the hard drive from 40GB to 80GB. The machines got the upgrade to USB 2.0 instead of FireWire 800, but that makes sense: many consumer devices now use USB 2.0, particularly those aimed at the PC market, but consumers should be perfectly happy with the speed of FireWire 400.