Mac and Music News

MidiSwing shows the content of a midi file as a piano roll which you can edit. You can edit any existing midi file, or compose your own music from scratch. MidiSwing has been written in Java and is supposed to run on any Java 2 platform (Linux, Windows, Mac...). MidiSwing has been specially developed with the Mac OS X user in mind. Source code will be available in the final versions.

MidiSwing download is available in MacMusic softwares section.

Roxio has posted an update 6.07 of its Toast Titanium. This update now features new Double-Layer (DL) support for data, audio, video and copy formats. These features require a double-layer capable DVD recorder and double-layer media. This updates any prior version of Toast 6 Titanium to version 6.0.7 and will not update any version of Toast 5 Titanium, Toast 6 Lite or Toast 5 Lite.

Download from the Roxio web site.

Steinberg have released a pre-release "Public Beta" version of HALion v3.0.1.489 for registered owners of HALion 3. This public beta features : added 2 new User-Categories "Favourites" (3 before, total now 5), user-Categories "Favourites 1-5" can now be renamed by keeping Ctrl pressed when selecting added "Save Bank..."in Global Archive menu and fixes several bugs.

Info on Steinberg web site.

Moog Music announced a new software editor for the Minimoog Voyager, to be available this summer. The editor allows instant access to the Voyager's presets, banks, patches, and edit mode parameters through the computer's MIDI interface.

Priced at $79, the editor will be available for download from Moog Music's web site soon.

Done !! Audio Hijack Pro 2 is born today. This software by Rogue Amoeba allows users to record and enhance any audio played by their Mac. This version 2 features : records to AAC and Apple Lossless (ALAC) formats, Built-in CD Burning, Split on Silence/Remove Silence, One-shot and Recurring Timers, New User Interface, Automatic Timers to wake your computer (10.3-only) and launch Audio Hijack Pro, ID3 Tagging and Parallel Effects Processing.

Audio Hijack Pro 2 costs $32.

M-Audio has annouced the availability of the Evolution eKeys49, a little MIDI keyboard. The eKeys 49 is a 49 note-keyboard and features : Midi out, a volume/control slider, advanced function button for programming and a sustain foot pedal input. The keyboard is powered via USB and is class compliant with OS X (also includes drivers for Mac OS 9.1 and later).

Info about the Evolution eKeys49 will be soon online on M-Audio website.

Emagic has posted a beta version 3.1b2 of SoundDiver, a universal editor and librarian program which supports many MIDI devices. This is trial, pre-release, time-limited software meant for evaluation purposes only. this software should not be used in a commercial operating environment or with important data. before installing this emagic software, you should back up all of your data and regularly back up data while using this emagic software.

Info about SoundDiver is available on MacMusic Softwares section.

MakingMusic is an online Musical Instrument Encyclopedia, providing a description, an image and a sound clip per instrument. This is an ongoing Freeware project, with new instruments being added to the database as the research progresses. MakingMusic v2.5 now features 240 instruments & climbing.

All info on MacMusic Softwares section.