Mac and Music News

Luxonix announces that all of Ravity S, Ravity R and Ravity 16 are ported to Macintosh completely. They feature new structure based on PCM synthesizer module, large preset browser, extremely low CPU load / 32bit sound processing, Hyper Layered MIDI assign System for real-time performance and sound editing, and more...

VST format is scheduled for release in 22 March 2005, and AU format in May 2005.

Cycling'74 has updated Max/MSP to version 4.5.4. Max is a graphical programming environment for MIDI. There are 400 objects which are the building blocks of a complete audio application. This new release fixes arround 45 bugs...

Détails and download in the MacMusic softwares section.

Digidesign announces a new EQ III DigiRack Plug-In, which provides a high-quality 7 Band, 2–4 Band, or 1 Band EQ for adjusting the frequency spectrum of audio material. EQ III supports all Pro Tools session sample rates up to 192 kHz.

EQ III is part of DigiRack and is available as a free download for all registered users.

EastWest has just released Quantum Leap Colossus and Quantum Leap RA. Colossus is a Kompakt based General MIDI compatible 32GB virtual instrument that covers all of the basic musical genres. RA is a Kompakt based "rare and ethnic" sound library plug-in.

RA and Colossus are available for MacOS X in VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats and cost US$995 each.

Focusrite announces that its audio interface FireWire Saffire, will be available from May with a confirmed price of £349 (arround 536 euros). Previously shown at NAMM, Saffire is a DSP peripheral, with ultra low latency, 24/192 conversion, 4 ins: 2 preamps and S/PDIF, 8 balanced outs for monitoring/headphones or 7.1 surround. It will come with Cubase LE, and its own Saffire Control software which provides a flexible software mixer and allows control on every parameters of the interface.

Bitcarel announces a bugfix version 1.4b35 for iRecordMusic. This software enables you to surf and record Net audio to MP4-AAC. You can record multiple BBC radio streams, Hollywood movie trailer soundtracks and news webcasts at the same time. Recorded files are iPod compatible.

Info and download in the MacMusic softwares section.

Roland is now offering owners of the Fantom-XR synth module the ability to add Version 2-functionality to their rack with the FAN-XR-UP1 "Sample Tools Expansion Kit". This kist also includes an upgraded Fantom-X Editor Version 2, including S-700 sample-conversion software for Mac.

The FAN-XR-UP1 upgrade costs $49.

Motu announces that its sampler software MachFive is updated to v1.21b1, in both VST and Audio Units formats for Mac OS X. This is a public beta (pre-release) of MachFive 1.21 pending the final update of MachFive 1.21. The AU addresses compatibility with Logic 7's new AU validation process, and the VST adds compatibility with Ableton Live and Max/MSP.

Native Instruments announces that NI Komplete Sound is now available in stores worldwide.NI Komplete Sound is a massive collection of ensembles, sounds and samples for NI's range of software instruments, combining all eight products from the NI Soundline into one single package.

Komplete Sound is now available for $339 /289 Euro. Owners of NI Komplete Care 2005 can purchase Komplete Sound for $229 / 199 Euro.

VSamp is a software sample player. It comprises a program for creating and playing virtual instruments and a plugin for playing VSamp instruments from within a sequencer. These new 3.6, AU and VST versions feature : added option to stream samples from disk, faster and more efficient use of RAM when importing large SoundFonts and improved portability of instruments and banks.

Info and dowload in the MacMusic softwares section.

ReVibe by Digidesign is a powerful room-modeling TDM plug-in exclusively designed to take advantage of the supercharged processing capabilities of HD Accel PCI cards. The 96 kHz-optimized ReVibe provides nine reverb algorithms combined with hundreds of room reflection models.

Info and download of this 1.1cs1 version available in the MM softwares sections.

Solid State Logic announces an automation system for AWS 900 console. This popular console will be shown for the first time with its own automation system (AWSomation) and the recently launched Total Recall software, at NAB 2005, Booth N3211, Las Vegas, 18th-21st April 2005. SSL's C100 and C200 digital consoles will also be shown with major new feature upgrades. Powerful new functions include the ability to cross-fade set-ups and DAW integration.

Our friends from hardmac.com have these last days found some clues Apple has modified some developer tools to support way more than 2 processors. It leads even to think that we're talking about more than one core into the processor, and more than 2 processors. As OS X and G5 (and future G6) are made from the ground up to support multiprocessing, a coherent way to propose even more power when clock frequency increase is in a stale state is to move forward more CPUs and/or more cores (which are CPUs integrated on one chip).

Apple is brewing something maybe, and it means more power for us to use, yummy! ;)

Native instruments announces that a demo version of Absynth 3 is now available. This software sampling instrument and synthesizer now features an optimized user interface, surround sound, 256 new presets, a new stereo input, a unison mode, oscillator waveforms can be fractalized in real-time, a Free-Run oscillator mode, 2 new effects (Echo, Effect Resonator), and more...

The Absynth 3 demo is now available as a free download for Mac OS X on the NI website.

It's new and no press release from Apple, which has posted a trial version for its Logic Express audio and music software. This free download trial version works without limitation, exepted a 29-day trial period.