Mac and Music News

PSP audioware unveils its new plugin PSP MasterComp, a high fidelity stereo dynamics processor. It's double-precision (64-bit floating point) and double-sampled (FAT - Frequency Authentication Technique) processing offers transparency even at extreme compression settings and high sample rates.

PSP MasterComp will be available soon, and Mac version is still in development.

URS has updated its URS Everything EQ Bundle to version 4.0.1 for Audio Units/VST on Mac OS X. This release fixes several bugs : buffer overrun error, default "off" position not available, and automatic turning on of the highpass and lowpass filters. URS Everything EQ Bundle includes series EQ - four band EQ, N series EQ - 5 band EQ, A10 series EQ - 10 band graphic, N12 series EQ - 12 band graphic, S series EQ - 6 band parametric, BLT 2 band Program EQ and FullTec 5 Band Program EQ.

MacMusic is proud to publish in its article section the "Top Ten Picks for Mac Audio Freeware" by our friend Jay Shaffer from Macaudioguy.com.

Thanks to Jay. Enjoy your reading !

Steinberg announces Studio Case 2. This new pack includes new version of Cubase SE sequencer, and six entry-level versions of Steinberg VST instruments : Groove Agent, HALion, The Grand, Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition, D'cota and the new Virtual Bassist SE.

Studio Case II will be available for 279 euros from September 2005.

Rob Papen, famous soft synth designer (Albino synth and soundsets for Emu, Native Instruments and others) announces Blue, a new virtual synth project. Blue will be available as a VST and Audio Units plugin for Mac, and three MP3 demos are available at Rob Papen web site, but we have no more information about this new synth.

Rop Papen web site announces that Blue go on sale at the end of august

CreamWare announced in April its new Authentic Sound Box (or ASB), two new digital emulations of classic synthesizers. The first one is the Minimax ASB, a recreation of the famous Minimoog, which fully integrates with your computer via USB and offers polyphony and preset management. The second one is the Profit-5 ASB, a recreation of the classic Prophet V synth, with features similar to those of the Minimax ASB.

The first one, the Minimax ASB, is on its way to the dealers and will soon be available at 730 euros.

Digidesign announces two new Avid MediaDrive standalone SCSI hard drives (146 GB and 300 GB) and a new MediaDock Shuttle 146 GB removable SCSI drive. Digidesign is also lowering prices for the 73 GB MediaDrive and 73 GB MediaDock Shuttle. At the same time, the 80 GB FireWire drive and the 36 GB versions of the MediaDrive and MediaDock Shuttle are being discontinued.

Cycling '74 has just announced the release of version 3.5.2 of Pluggo for Mac OS X. this update adds multi-channel input support for plugin (up to 16 channels) and includes multi-threaded Javascript. Pluggo is a collection of more than seventy-four audio plug-ins that work with Mac OS sequencers and audio applications. Effects categories include delays, filters, pitch effects, distortion, granulation, spectral effects, modulators, multi-channel effects, synthesizers, audio routing, reverb and dynamics, and visual display.

Native Instruments announces that Kontakt Experience is now available in stores. Kontakt Experience is the first instrument collection specifically designed for Kontakt 2. Kontakt Experience includes 128 new instruments that cover a wide range of musical styles and include lead synths, bass, vocal sounds, drum kits, pads, guitars, various construction kits, and much more.

Kontakt Experience ships on a single DVD and is exclusively for use with Kontakt 2. It costs $119 or 99 Euro.

Luxonix has updated Ravity(R) and Ravity(S) to VST and AU version 1.2. This version now works as a stand-alone application, is ready for Apple Logic (passes AUvalidation), adds Full-down Preset menu when Main LCD right-clicked, fixes several bugs. CPU performance was also improved.

This update is available as a free download.

After the beta version, here's the full updated version of Pro-Tools M-Powered. This release version 6.8r2 adds full Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger compatibility. Please note that there is currently no demo version of Pro Tools M-Powered for Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger". These downloads will not work as a demo version or update the previous demo version, and your prehaps need to update your M-Audio interface current driver.

More info and download in the MacMusic software section.

FireWire 800 drives with the Oxford 912 interface have been officially qualified by Digidesign for record and playback with the following systems on Mac OS 10.4: Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel Systems (with Pro Tools 6.9.2 or higher), Pro Tools LE Systems (with Pro Tools 6.9.2 or higher) with Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" only (not tested on Mac OS 10.3 and earlier). Please Note: Hard drives using the Oxford 912 interface have USB 2.0, FW400 and FW800 ports on them. Only the use of the FW800 port is supported on these drives with Pro Tools.

Xylio unveils FutureDecks Lite, a new DJ mixing software, featuring : a classic DJ setup with 2 decks, mixer and playlist, automatic mixing, one-click beat matching, seamless looping, automatic BPM counter, lots of effects, eqs, filters, vinyl simulation including scratch, pitch, reverse play, separate headphones output and song pre-listening and record your mixes.

A demo version is available in the MacMusic software section.

PreSonus announces a pretty nice rebate : Presonus is offering a free FireBox ($499.95 value) FireWire Recording System with purchase of an M80 - eight channel microphone preamplifier or DigiMax96k - eight channel microphone preamplifier w/ ADAT and digital output.

PreSonus is offering this rebate from August 1, 2005 through October 31, 2005.