Mac and Music News

Arturia announces the upcoming release of Analog Factory. This powerful yet extremely easy to use virtual instrument comes loaded with 2000 legendary synthesizer sounds that have shaped modern music production. From classic phat lead lines to crystalline digital pads, Analog Factory provides the contemporary musician with a broad, versatile and instantly striking sonic palette. The intuitive interface includes a smart Preset Manager that allows in just a few clicks to find desired sounds from within the huge preset collection. But Analog Factory is not only a collection of sounds. Since it is based on synthesis, all sounds are dramatically modifiable. A set of the most essential parameters provides the user with an efficient way to tweak and alter the sonic character of the sound. Presets all carefully selected from the Arturia Classic Synths (minimoog V, Moog Modular V, CS-80V, ARP 2600 V, Prophet V and Prophet VS).

Analog Factory will be available in July 2006 as Stand-alone, VST, Audio Units, RTAS (ProTools 6 and 7) for $249 / €199.

Ohm Force annonces that MacIntel compatible versions of Ohm Force plugins will be available on June 6th. These MacIntel versions will be available as "release candidates", so you may still encounter a few problems with them. Ohm Force also announces that these upcoming versions will also fix several bugs and will add some new features.

IZotope announced the release of iZotope Radius for Logic, iZotope Radius for Logic is a time-stretching and pitch-shifting for Apple's Logic Pro. It integrates directly into Logic Pro's Time Machine and offers a separate application for control of additional parameters. You can easily change the pitch of a single instrument, voice, or entire ensemble while preserving the timing and acoustic space of the original recording. iZotope Radius is designed to preserve natural timbres even with extreme pitch shifts.

iZotope Radius for Logic is available for $399.99 and requires Logic Pro 7.2.1.

It's been in the air for a while. Rumors have thrived but the real thing is here at last. The very latest, greatest version of Macmusic has just unfolded before your eyes! Its new features, super fluid navigation, its new forums and its brand new engine will give you a close-to-perfect web experience. After many months of hard work it's everything but premature. Nevertheless, it may exhibit some quirks and strange behaviour in the next few weeks of your navigation through the new features....

Welcome everyone to this new version of MacMusic, presented to you with great pride and joy by the whole team.

WWaym announces the release of the Mac OS X version of NWBass v1.1. This classic mono bassline synth features : analogue modelled high quality oscillators with 2 waveforms (saw and square), unique filtersound with 3 selectable characteristics, filter envelope, velocity sensitive accent, note slide and full MIDI controll with MIDI learn function.

This free NWBass v1.1 update features : 'click' bug on noteoff events fixed and uninstaller registry cleanup bug fix.

Universal Audio today announced the imminent web launch of v4.3 software for the UAD-1 DSP Card & Powered Plug-Ins systems. Version 4.3 will ship immediately following AES and include a 14-day fully functional demo of the Neve 1073 and 1073SE.

Full authorizations of the Neve plug-ins will be available to registered UAD-1 customers for US$249 (includes both plugs).

Eliosound has released a pre-release demo version of their first product, the upcoming AirEQ plug-in. This is a new musical equalizer created to meet every single expectation of musicians, mixing engineers and producers. It's been conceived to be the high quality equalizer you need in most situations. Mixing, mastering, tracking, whatever your sampling frequency is, AirEQ always brings you the same quality of equalization in the whole audio range. And you can use it on every track, without overloading your CPU.

The full version will be soon available in VST, Audio Units and RTAS formats., for $269 or 219€. A Syncrosoft dongle is required to try the AirEQ demo.

MXL Microphones announced the M3 (standard) and M3-P (female voice) mics. They are featuring a 25 mm gold splattered capsule condenser and a unique FET design with transformer-coupled output (very british inspired…). The polar pattern is cardioid, the s/n ratio is of 76 dB, the dynamic range of 124 dBA SPL and the frequency range from 20 Hz to 23 KHz.

Available now, M3 $349.95, M3-P $369.95.

Today is a good day for all Reason users : Propellerhead announces that Reason is now available as version 3.0.5 Universal Binary for both Intel and PowerPC Macs. This new Intel Mac compatible version that also packs some serious ReWire performance gains for owners of older macs.

This free update is available in the MacMusic software section.

Joemeek opto compressor comes back in a half rack unit. There's balanced and unbalanced I/O, side chain, the usual suspects Input Gain (there's a peak led), Compress (threshold), Slope (ratio), Attack, Release and Make Up Gain. Two series of 8 and 9 LEDs provide gain reduction and level visual feedback. The special features are: Gain Reduction Hold parameter, to suppress noise hiss in quiet parts; Stereo Width, to move from mono to normal stereo.

Already shipping, $199 or £135 or €170.