Mac and Music News

No doubt, it is Christmas today ! Edirol has announced the availibility of a driver for its digital interface FireWire FA 101. I hear you think there's nothing really exciting or festive in that, now if I tell you it is a driver for..Mac OS 9, I imagine scenes of joy and debauchery! In a nutshell : ASIO 2.0, OMS, and Free MIDI for our Macs under OS 9 that deserve their little Christmas too!

Edirol is crazy !

No doubt, in the top right hand corner, the menu bar proudly displays a magic date : December 25th ! A day that has been firing the imaginations of old and young for centuries and that - despite its increaingly commercial nature - is still a special day to you, dear macmusicians. Whether Father Christmas (yes, he does exist !) has brought you the toy you hoped for or not, I wish you, on behalf of the entire Macmusic team, a very magic, very happy and very Merry Christmas !!!

Korg has updated the Korg Legacy Collection to version 1.1.2. This new release fixes the following bug : host application might crash when the Wavestation plug-in was removed from an instrument track, or when a project file which included the Wavestation plugin was opened. The KORG Legacy Collection is a virtual instrument pack, consisting of software versions of the MS-20 and Polysix analog synthesizers, and the Wavestation advanced vector synthesizer, together with a dedicated MS-20 Controller that faithfully replicates the original MS-20 at 84% of the original size.

More info and download for registered users on Korg web site.

ApulSoft has updated their audio sample trigger Audio Units plug-in, apTrigga to version 2.2, which now features : better AU implementation, support for wave extensible format, support for AIFF-C format, support for SD2 format, support for 32 bit and 64 bit samples, low and high cut filters improved, and more.

ApTrigga 2.2 costs 35 euros.

Expert sleepers has updated its sample playback synth Crossfade Loop Synth to version 2.1. This new release features : added "equal power" crossfade option, fixed issues with detuned playback of large samples and CPU efficiency improvements.

Info and download on Expert sleepers web site.

Version 1.0.3 of the Autoconnnector application for OSX is now available. mLAN device support has been enhanced in Mac OS X, version 10.3.7 to support the newest devices from the mLAN alliance. This will necessitate a firmware update for the following current mLAN devices: PreSonus Firestation, Kurzweil KSP8 with KMLN8 option card and Apogee Trak2 and AD-8000 with option cards.

AudioEase has updated VST-MAS Wrapper to version 4.1.3. which fixes a problem with opening multiple VST plug-in interfaces in Digital Performer 4.1.2. VST Wrapper allows users to load VST effects and instruments in Digital Performer.

Sony Oxford has announced a new suite of plug-ins aimed at the audio restoration market. The Oxford Restoration Tools are a bundle of three plug- ins : The DeClick plug-in combines click and crackle removal, The DeBuzz plug-in has two modes to minimize signal damage, and the DeNoise plug-in can automatically track noise in auto mode.

Oxford Restoration Tools are available for Digidesign ProTools and costs £625.

Our friends of Native Instruments are pround to announce that a demo version of XPress Keyboards is available as a free download. XPress Keyboards is a new series of software instruments combining the sound of three famous vintage keyboards with maximum ease of use and affordability. It includes the B4 XPress vintage organ, the PRO-53 XPress virtual analog synthesizer and the FM7 XPress digital FM synthesizer.

Info and download on the Native Instruments web site.

Digidesign has announced a new update to version 6.7cs5 for both LE and TDM Pro Tools systems. This "weekly" update fixes bugs : volume and Pan Automation Are Sometimes Improperly Advanced When Using Surround Paths and Delay Compensation (TDM version), occasional System Freeze While Using Pro Tools and random Characters When Using Chinese Simplified OS with Pro Tools 6.7r2.

MOTU has updated Digital Performer to version 4.51 . Quite a few changes: Dynamic CPU Management, Multi Bounce, performance enhancements, Enhanced Digidesign DirectMIDI support, Better previewing of effects plug-in region operations, Plug-in preset enhancements, Bypass automation for AUs and more.