Mac and Music News

MacMusic announced new Moog analog delay in this news, but it's official now. MoogMusic will debut at summer NAMM the new MF-104Z Analog Delay, an all-analog delay processor designed for floor, table-top, or rack mount use and with delay times as short as 50 milliseconds to as long as 1000 milliseconds. Like all Moogerfoogers, the MF-104Z has the user flexibility built-in to all Moogerfoogers.

The MF-104Z will sell for $729 and will be available in limited supply in September.

The PowerMac G5 monoprocessor 1.8 GHz does no longer exist. After it was withdrawn from the American Apple Store, it is now discreetly disappearing from the European Apple Stores. Since its release, the G5 mono 1.8 has visibly suffered from various problems (uncertain sleep mode and shut down, unstable FireWire ports, major problems with Tiger) that touch on a design and production defect rather than a software problem, vaguely brought up by Apple. The total absence of communication from Cupertino on these problems, the endless wait for a potential update of the firmware, and finally its withdrawal from sale after just 9 months can't put our minds at rest, both on this machine and the design and production quality of current Apple products.

If some people considered this machine was an iMac G5 "dressed up" as a PowerMac, for many others it looked like a very attractive choice because of its price, its proper performances and its "tour" architecture. Today in the Apple catalogue there is no PowerMac under $2000. And I personally think it is a serious mistake...

Eventide announced today a $200 limited-time rebate for the Anthology bundle. The rebate, which runs from July 1 through September 30, 2005, gives any Eventide plug-in or Digidesign MassivePack owner, cash back on the bundle. Included in the Anthology bundle are H3000 Band Delays and new H3000 Factory plug-ins. Are also included : five plug-ins from Clockworks Legacy (H910, H949, Omnipressor, Instant Phaser, Instant Flanger) and two plug-ins taken from Eventide's processor Orville.

To claim the rebate, you must be a registered Pro Tools HD owner, have purchased any Digidesign MassivePack or any other Eventide plug-in, and have purchased the Eventide Anthology bundle from an authorized Eventide dealer between July 1 and September 30, 2005.

The whole web is talking about it as if it were this week's event, and I'm snowed under messages asking me to announce the news which is not exactly a recent one. So this leads me to remind you that MacMusic announced last June 20 that the Live 5 Beta version is available. Almost a month later, this beta version is, of course, still available and downloadable.

Ableton is waiting for your bugs reports and other comments.

Native Instruments had updated Kontakt to version 2.0.2. This new release adds a lot of enhancements and bugfixes : output configuration can now be changed and saved in hosts, big browser fonts, output config dialog now allows easy switching between channels, hanging notes problem has been fixed, library issues with incorrect glide default value have been fixed, library issues with loading in non-DFD modes have been fixed, issues with high CPU load have been fixed, issues with start-up crashes have been fixed, and more....

This update is free for Kontakt users.

Today JazzMutant announces that the Multitouch Control Surface Lemur is finally out of the factory and available worldwilde. The Lemur is a sleek portable controller for live performance computer music applications featuring a 12" LCD display and a proprietary touch screen interface that can simultaneously track multiple fingers. The Lemur's interface objects can be customized with JazzMutant's "physical" properties that include friction, smoothing, and fade-in and fade-out.

The street price is 2190 euros and available for European citizens directly from JazzMutant web site. For American and Canadian citizens, they must order their Lemur at $2495 directly to Cycling'74.

The Myriad Music Plug-In enables you to build Web pages in which music will be played, displayed, printed, saved... Music files are ".mus" files created with Melody Assistant or Harmony Assistant. Since the plug-in uses the same sound database as Melody/Harmony, you are sure the result is what you expected. Much more, it provides a digital quality output but files are short. This plug-in work with Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera.

A complete web designer manual is provided.

Steinberg announces that the updated version of its virtual piano instrument is now shipping worldwide. The Grand 2 features an entirely new added grand piano, surround capabilities as well as a range of features designed to maximise computer resource efficiency.

The Grand 2 is available for 239 euros and existing customers can update to the new The Grand 2 version for 89 euros.

Studio Projects announces a new and amazing pop-filter, suitable for all vocal applications. The SP-MPF directional capability allows for different sonic detail depending on which side of the filter faces the artist. The front side (logo facing the artist) offers better midrange clarity and less low frequency detail. Turn it around, you get less midrange and more lows!

The Studio Projects SP-MPF ships at $49,99.

KAE Labs announces the release of VocalWriter 2.0, an update version now supporting Mac OS X. In addition, this release features increased vocal polyphony to 20 voices, downloadable PDF documentation and a lower shareware registration fee. VocalWriter is an application that can automatically sing unrestricted English lyrics. Combining a software vocal / instrumental synthesizer with an interactive music editor, VocalWriter is a MIDI file editor, player and synthesizer in a single integrated environment.

The shareware registration is $39.

The NAMM summer session 2005 will take place from Friday July 22d to Sunday July 24th at Indiana Convention Center and RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana USA. This year NAMM is joining with the Midwest Music Summit to fill the downtown area with more than 250 bands and artists for entertainment after show hours.

More info on the official NAMM web site.