Mac and Music News

M-Audio has announced that its Keystation Pro 88 is now available. Keystation 88 pro is a USB powered master keyborard which features : 88-note hammer-action keyboard, 59 MIDI-assignable controllers, USB bus powered and MIDI I/O.

The Keystation Pro 88 costs USD 599.95 .

Live 4 Public Beta is available now for all registered Users!

For those of you who just can't wait to check out Live 4, you are invited to participate in the public beta test* now available at http://www.ableton.com/index.php?main=live4beta. The Live 4 beta is limited to registered Live users only. A public beta for all users (even non-registered) will be coming soon. We will keep you up-to-date.

New in Live 4 : In Live 4, you will find a complete and inspiring approach to MIDI sequencing, pattern recording, drag-and-drop sampling, virtual instruments and MIDI hardware support. Ableton has also made substantial extensions and enhancements to existing functionality, including such features as swing/groove for audio and MIDI clips, a powerful new channel-routing scheme, simplified recording, sample reverse, and several exciting new creative options for the Session View.

More info on Ableton web site.

Kreativ Sounds announce the releases of Active eBass Plus and his little brother, Active eBass LE, bass refills for Reason 2.5. Active eBass Plus is now coming with many new features and new bass multisamples sets.

The full version costs 19.5 EU / 24.5 USD.

Few days ago we were proud to announce the release of the iPod mini in Europe on July 24th. Unfortunately Apple announces that because of a tremendous amount of pre-orders, its portable audio player will only be available with a 4-week delay. This strange Apple business strategy is growing more and more frequent and annoying for the image of Apple Inc. Once more, Apple can't ship its new products on the scheduled timetable.

Beware Apple !! The iPod clients aren't Mac clients, they are much less faithful and lose patience much faster. What a shame, it is precisely these same new clients that Apple had to appeal to !!

Chopitch 0.8.5 is a VST plug-in for pitch shifting without delay , which features :

- dramatic pitch swoops in perfect time with the music
- make drums sound bigger without losing the attack
- intelligent gating system, and more....

More info and download on the MM software section.

Next Event: Listening Party Tuesday July 27th 2004 at 7pm
We're really excited to announce that the next Pro Tools Users event will be a listening party. The event will be co-hosted by Apogee the converter manufacturer, ADAM Audio the respected speaker manufacturer and RSPE Audio Solutions and a great opportunity to listen to products from other leading manufacturers including Apogee, Cedar, Digidesign, Mackie, Humanscale and more... If you're not already a Pro Tools users member...

click here to sign up.
 

M-Audio company announces the availability of three new drivers for Mac OS X, for their FireWire audio interfaces. This 1.2.4 package contains drivers for all M-Audio FireWire products family : FireWire 410, Audiophile and FireWire 1814 .

info and downloads from the MM Soft section.

Digidesign has just announced the availability of a new "Blue Factory" bundle for Pro Tools LE systems. This bundle sounds very friendly since it is composed of a Pro Tools LE system (mBox, Digi 002 or OO2 Rack), a LE Factory plugins pack, and last but not least a Bluebird microphone, designed by Blue Microphones Inc., and shipped with its complete accessories kit (anti-pop BirdNest filter, BirdCage suspension and Blueberry cable).

These bundles are available through Digidesign dealers. We don't know yet if ProTools LE current systems owners can get this new "Blue" bundle separately.

The Atmosphere Dream Synth Module, is a new type of software plug-in instrument that integrates a massive, three gigabyte core library of more than one thousand unique sounds and layer elements, with a powerful and intuitive interface for shaping new textures. Atmosphere works as a native plug-in instrument in all major hosts like Logic, Digital Performer, Cubase, Nuendo and Pro-Tools. This version 1.2 adds : LFO Sync, up to 192k sample rates now supported and authorization with Cubase fixed.

Atmosphere 1.2 is a free upgrade.

Charlie is a virtual retro organ which brings you the authentic sounding organs in a convenient plug-in with total recall of your edits. Charlie is powered by the award-winning UVI-Engine, offering an amazing CPU efficiency.This update fixes an authorization issue in Cubase SX 2.

More info on MacMusic Soft section.

TC Electronic has released a new version 1.9.2 of its Powercore driver :

- better firewire support
- some bugs fixed (1.9)
- Screen troubles fixed with Digital Performer.

Drums On Demand's new "Upbeat & Aggressive" is a 2-CD set featuring 1,700 royalty free loops, Loop Layers and matching single hits in 25 easy-to-use Song Sets. Users simply drag and drop from an average of 45 modular verse, chorus, fill, bridge, break, intro, ending and other loops to to quickly build a drum track that feels and sounds like a live session drummer with a veteran engineer at the console.

Price for the 2-CD set is $79.95