Mac and Music News

I's a Sunday news ! Zelle Style produces amazing jewelry and accessories for both men and women, by transforming old geeky and computer music materials. For girls : cuffs made with MIDI cables, or the very sexy necklace (made from ¼" stereo audio plugs). Boys will be happy with the "Electronic Musicians' Emergency bag" which contains all imaginable adapters you need...

Happy Sunday !

Bias announced today that the current shipping versions of SoundSoap 2 and SoundSoap Pro audio restoration products are compatible with Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger. Bias will release free downloadable updates in May with full Tiger compatibility for Peak and Deck.

URS plugins announces BLT (for Bass Level Treble), a new two band equalizer, available for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X in VST, Audio Units, RTAS and TDM formats. BLT costs $199 (TDM, RTAS...) or $99 (native, RTAS, AU).

Note that URS is currently running an "I'll EQ you in May" special offer whereby you can purchase BLT for half price.

Tiger compatible versions of Motu products are now shipping. You may need to download the latest driver package or software update for your Tiger-equipped Mac to run :

- any MOTU Firewire audio interface (828, 896, 828mk2, 896HD and Traveler).
- any MOTU PCI-324 or PCI-424 audio interface.
- any MOTU USB MIDI interfaces (USB Fastlane, micro lite, express 128, micro express, Express XT and MIDI Timepiece AV).

Today is a "Tiger compatible day" ! So Edirol announces new drivers supporting Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger for eleven current and legacy devices. This includes the complete complement of Edirol's current USB audio and audio+MIDI devices, as well as some legacy devices. In addition, a number of Edirol Audio Devices are supported natively in Mac OS X so therefore require no driver update with Tiger, namely FA-101, FA-66, UA-1X, UA-1D and UA-3D.

New drivers support 64-bit audio files and device aggregation.

Motu has just posted a free Version 2 upgrade to MX4, its multi-synth instrument plug-in for MAS, Audio Units and RTAS. All MX4 users can download MX4 Version 2 and begin using it immediately. MX4 Version 2 comes with new features and new presets that instantly expand your sonic palette. It all starts with the pulsating, rhythmic textures of MX4 V2's new Pattern Gate, Arpeggiator, Pattern Sequencer and Trigger Sequencer.

A demo version of MX4 is also available.

URS has released version 1.2.4 of the Classic Console EQ Bundle. It features : support Mac OS 10.4, improved Knob control for A series EQ and N series EQ, fixed normalization bug with N series EQ Low and High Pass Filters causing CPU spikes, improved DSP efficiency.

The demo version has also been updated.

Apple just released quickTime 7 for each and everyone. So you can upgrade automatically to the number 7 (you know the way) or download on Apple website the installer. Now, important thing, If you use Quicktime Pro, you must buy a new code for the 7.0 version…

FXpansion announces Guru, a new plug-in for advanced step sequencing, groove manipulation, sample editing, and beat slicing. Guru features an advanced step-sequencer (128 steps, 16 channels, 24 memories per engine, full graphical automation, MIDI remote control, independent tempo multipliers, real-time and step recording with undo), an intuitive mixer, hight stereo outputs. It can load audio loops (WAV/AIFF/REX) and MIDI loops, and works as stand-alone application, ReWire device, and VST, AudioUnit and RTAS plug-in formats.

Bitcartel announces updates to its audio recording software, RadioLover and iRecordMusic, bringing compatibility with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. RadioLover enables you to record MP3 radio streams as separate songs, with support for iTunes Radio Tuner, Shoutcast-compatible radio streams, and MP3, M3U, and EXTM3U radio stream playlists.

RadioLover (Free demo, $15) is for Mac OS X 10.2 or later.

Rogue Amoeba has updated Audio Hijack Pro to version 2.5, which now features : full OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Compatibility, new 'Radio' Input Source, supporting Griffin's RadioSHARK and D-Link's DSB-R100, new 'System Audio' Input Source, overlapping timer detection, and disk status window, showing available disk space on all volumes.

Audio Hijack Pro is available in the MacMusic softwares section.

Wave Arts announces that the PowerSuite bundle is updated to version 4.1 for Mac OS X only. This new release features : MAS latency compensation implemented, VST preset saving bug fixed, Audio Units compatible with Logic 7.1 and open user manual functionality improved.

A new beta version 0.9 of Prosoniq's own ASIO driver is available from the downloads/drivers page of Prosoniq Web site. This ASIO driver enables sonicWORX to play back audio files in OS X Classic more smoothly than with the Steinberg SoundManager ASIO driver that is selected as a standard when you install sonicWORX. This driver is only needed if you're running sonicWORX in OS X Classic

RME announces a new version of the Hammerfall Multiface II, unveilled at MusikMesse. This interface stays fully compatible with the current model's firmware and driver, and offers the same set of features, but improves the Hi-power headphone output with volume knob, and the analog input and output stages (the reference level of the analog inputs and outputs can now be changed with two separate switches on the front panel).

More info on the RME web site.

Tap.Tool 2 for Max/MSP/Jitter is now available. Tap.Tools version 2.0 has over 150 "externals" objects for Max, MSP and Jitter, and introduces a number of features, including the extensive use of attribute arguments to objects, as introduced in Max 4.5. This allows the objects to be directly tapped by the new pattr system in Max 4.5 with no extra effort. It also makes it easy to read patches and understand the arguments to any given object.

Tap.Tool 2 costs $65 and $99.

Silverspike has released an OS X version of R2 Reverb in VST plugin format. This release features room simulation and reverberation (with rooms of variable size), frequency response fully adjustable, optimized DSP code for low CPU consumption and sample rates from 32 KHz up to 192 KHz.

R2 Reverb VST for Mac OS X costs $99.