Mac and Music News

Solasynth SE is an ensemble file for Reaktor from Native Instruments. It is made with version 4.13 of Reaktor. Solasynth SE is a modular synthesizer with a modulation matrix. It features a 2 complex multi mode filters, 4 envelopes, 2 different ringmodulators, pitchbend adjustable, modulation matrix, 3 flexible LFOs, chorus, reverb, delay, eq and more...

Moog Music and the Orange Peel announce a three-day celebration of the theremin. Ether Music 2005 will be held in the home of Moog Music, Asheville, NC, from Thursday, August 4th through Sunday, August 7th. The event will include workshops, speakers and performances by incredible thereminists such as Pamelia Kurstin, Lydia Kavina, Barbara Buchholz, Armen Ra, and Barbez (featuring Pamelia Kurtsin). Workshop topics will include theremin technique, how to build and customize a theremin, historical perspectives from Bob Moog, and more.

Tickets for Ether Music 2005 are available online at ethermusic2005.com.

RM IV now comes standard equipment with Mackie's new Tracktion 2. You get one sequencer and a full version RM IV with 260 drum kits and over 1000 MIDI Grooves that are only available at the present time with Tracktion 2. The RM IV is a flexible and easy-to-use drum machine that combines analog-style percussion synthesis with a fully featured, intelligent percussion sampler.

Editorskeys announces its new keyboards set for Pro Tools. The key set transforms your standard keyboard into a fully functional Pro Tools audio editing keyboard. Each Key is easily applied to your standard keyboard using their handy applicator, and contains the program shortcut, icon, key letter and also a handy text reference telling you exactly what each tool is. In total there are 70 keys!

Editorskeys Pro Tools set costs £ 8.99.

Native Instruments has announced that demo versions of Guitar Combos are now available. The Guitar Combos series by Native Instruments consist of the Twang Combo, the AC Box Combo and the Plexi Combo. The Twang Combo is modelled after the Fender Twin Reverb and delivers a wide range of clean and crunch tones suitable for Pop, Jazz, Blues and Country styles. The AC Box Combo is modelled after the Vox AC-30 and delivers a wide range of clean and crunch sounds that lend itself to Pop, Rock, and Alternative styles. The Plexi Combo is modelled after the Marshall JMP50 and delivers a wide range of crunch and overdrive sounds, which makes it the first choice for various flavors of Rock, Metal and Psychedelic.

LinPlug announces CronoX3. nHere's some of the new features: A new "Free Filter" with modulatable filter-types(lp/hp/bp/br continuously adjustable and modulatable), Full 5.1 support, Increased quality of all generator algorithms, 4 generators now available simultaneously, loop sampler now has a much bigger preview window and up to 64 samples per generator (velo-crossfade/split and keysplit), new modulation sources and destinations, and a sophisticated Albino-type arpeggiator.

New hardware solution, which adds more DSP power to plugins, is offered with the new NetShell APA, announced by Waves. Connects to your computer via Ethernet, the new APA 32 (1U 19") and APA 44 (half rack-size) gives more freedom to the host cpu and supports the more-demanding proccessing power needed by todays high quality software solutions. Most Waves plug-ins are supported by the NetShell APA, and more should be supported soon. As it uses a LAN connetion, the new avialable DSP power is instantly available without opening the computer case or modifying hardware, and you can still use your CPU or installed hardware-DSP for plugins.

ps Clouvel : You can connect 8 APA modules (with 8 millisecondes time latency). An APA 32 module can support (at 48 KHz) 6 IR convolution reverbs, or 6 L3 multiband compressors, or 7 Lin Phase MB, or 14 C4 compressors, or 11 Renaissance reverbs. APA 32 will cost 1.600 US$, and APA 44 will be 2.400 US$ (with free IRL and Q-Clone plugins). They will be available in June or July.

Camel Audio announces the availability of the Complete Camel bundle, comprising of Cameleon 5000, the additive synthesizer with morphing and resynthesis abilities, CamelSpace, the rhythmic multi-effect and CamelPhat 3 their phattening multi-effect.

Complete Camel bundle costs $299 USD.

Released concurrently with Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) on April 29, 2005, Metric Halo is currently shipping the version 2.0 update of Mobile I/O Console and driver software for Mac OS X. This update provides new functionality and increased performance across all Mobile I/O hardware models. Users of the Mobile I/O 2882, 2882+DSP, ULN-2, and ULN-2+DSP can now take advantage of the update with Mac OS X 10.2.6 through 10.4.

This update is freely available to all registered users of Mobile I/O hardware.

Sonic Studio announced today that their restoration tool, Manual DeClick, has come to Mac OS X. Manual DeClick forms now the foundation of Sonic Studio's definitive NoNOISE restoration suite, which also includes DeCrackle, a distortion reduction tool, and Broadband DeNoise, which delivers high fidelity noise suppression.

Manual DeClick is available as an option for version 2.0 of SonicStudio DDP and will also be available for upcoming software packages. The Manual DeClick 2.0 option is priced at US$495 .

The Moog Movie is documentary film by filmmaker/musician Hans Fjellestad. It explores Moog's collaborations with musicians over the years, and his ideas about creativity, design, interactivity and spirituality. The film was shot on location in Asheville, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and London, featuring appearances by Keith Emerson, Walter Sear, Gershon Kinsgley, Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert, Rick Wakeman, DJ Spooky, Herb Deutsch, Bernie Worrell, Pamelia Kurstin, Tino Corp. with Charlie Clouser, Money Mark, Mix Master Mike, and an eclectic mix of performers.

The Moog Movie DVD is being offered at a special price of $20 until May 31 and then it will sell for $24.95. It will begin shipping June 5.

Apple has posted an update to version 10.4.1 for its operating system Mac OS 10.4 aka Tiger. This version delivers overall improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.4 and is recommended for all users. It includes improvements for:

- file sharing using AFP and SMB/CIFS network file services
- using DHCP in wireless networks
- user login when accessing LDAP and Active Directory servers
- core graphics including updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- synchronization with .Mac
- Address Book, iCal, Font Book, Mail, and Preview applications
- Dashboard widgets: Address Book, Flight Tracker, Phone Book, and World Clock
- creating and burning disk images using Disk Utility and System Image Utility (Remove)
- compatibility with third party applications and devices

Bass Line by AudioRealism is a virtual recreation of the legendary silver box. Sophisticated analog modeling techniques have been employed to create a DSP algorithm that accurately emulates every aspect of the original Bass Line, from growling basses to hollow middles and beeping highs with metal rattling accents. This update 1.5.1 features : tripplets added and CPU usage slightly optimized.

M-Audio, a division of Avid-Digidesign, announces that Pro Tools M-Powered, the Pro Tools software designed to work with M-Audio interfaces, is now compatibile with six additional M-Audio peripherals. Pro Tools M-Powered now supports M-Audio's FireWire Solo, FireWire Audiophile, Delta 1010, Delta 1010LT, Delta 44, and Delta 66. These interfaces come in addition to previously supported FireWire 1814, FireWire 410, Ozonic, Audiophile 2496, and Audiophile 192.

It means thar M-Audio's complete FireWire audio interface and Delta PCI card lines are now compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered.