Mac and Music News

Digidesign posted an update to v6.7 cs 2 for Pro Tools TDM 6.7 and Pro Tools LE 6.7. This update fixes : Doing a "Save Session Copy In" with audio could result in an empty session (Item #55092), "Divide By Zero" Errors would result when Using "MIDI To Tap Tempo" (Item #55775), Selecting patch names would cause Pro Tools to unexpectedly quit (Item # 56161) and the left-surround output of a mixer could be 6 dB too hot in certain configurations (Item #56031) .

NI Guitar Rig v1.2 is available today. The free update adds four more stomp boxes to the guitarists arsenal, allpainstakingly modelled after popular real world units. It features : Fuzz Ace" (fuzz pedal based on Arbiter Fuzz Face), "Big Fuzz" (fuzz pedal based on Electro Harmonix Big Muff), "Cat" (distortion pedal based on ProCo Rat), "Demon Distortion" (distortion pedal based on MXR Dime Distortion), more than 40 additional presets which make use of the new components and various minor improvements, cosmetic changes and fixes.

This 1.2 update is available as a free download for all registered Guitar Rig users.

ApulSoft has ported Big Tick Audio's free plugin Ticky Clav to OS X in VST and AudioUnits formats. This plugin emulates the ultra-funky sound of the Hohner Clavinet, forever associated with Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". The synth engine is based on a physical modeling algorithm, faithfully reproducing the strings vibration and the 2 pickups of the Clavinet Model C.

Audio Damage has released two plug-ins modeled after vintage digital outboard effects. These two new plugins are : Discord - A model of the first mass-produced pitch-shifter, which was a studio standard found in control rooms the world over. Deverb is a dark digital reverberator which features twin filters for extreme shaping of the reverb tail, and unique MIDI controls allowing rhythmic "playing" of the effect.

Discord and Deverb are available as VST plug-ins for OS X and cost US$39 each or can be purchased together for US$68.

Crystal is a semi-modular software synthesizer, in Audio Units format, featuring both subtractive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. This 2.4.9b version features a new GUI and is now compatible with Logic 7.

Crystal is available in MacMusic softwares section.

Minky Starshine v1.0 beta 1 by Expert Sleepers is a new additive and subtractive hybrid synth available in Audio Unit format for Mac OS X. It allows user to control 16 independent partials and to assign them to three groups (each group has an envelope generator and an LFO). A resonant filter is available and a flexible modulation section too (with chorus, flange and delay effects).

This beta version will expire at the end of November 2004.

VST Wrapper by AudioEase allows user to run VST Plug-ins as MAS (Motu Audio System) in Motu Digital Performer. The VST Wrapper 4.1 supports multiple outputs for instruments, VST bank and preset saving and loading, Sample Accurate MIDI timing, Beat lock and Parameter Automation.

The aim of the MBROLA project, initiated by the TCTS Lab of the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons (Belgium), is to obtain a set of speech synthesizers for as many languages as possible, and provide them free for non-commercial applications. The first release of the MaxMBROLA Package is online and is developed for Max/MSP 4.5 on Mac OS X.

The VST audio editor Audacity is a freeware which features an amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency analysis window. This new version 1.2.3 fixes a bug that causes random crashes on Mac OS X. It also includes several updated translations, and some other minor bug fixes and improvements.

Audacity is available in MacMusic softwares section.