Mac and Music News

VirSyn has just announced that their vocal synthesis software Cantor 2 is in the last steps of development. To give you a first impression how the revolution continues have a first "look and ear" what you can expect from Cantor 2 on this web page :

Eventide announced that its Anthology II plug-in bundle is now available as a Universal Binary and optimized for Intel powered Mac computers. The upgrade is free to current Anthology II customers. Note that Anthology II is fully compliant with ICON, D-Control, D-Command, VENUE and Pro Tools 7.2, and is Mac and PC compatible.

McDSP has begun shipping boxed copy of the ML4000 plug-in, their high-resolution brick-wall look-ahead limiter and multi-band dynamics processor designed for music, mastering, post, and live sound. In fact the ML4000 consists in two plug-ins :
- The ML1 mastering limiter which uses a flexible brick wall look-ahead design coupled with multiple stages of limiting for superior peak processing. The unique Knee and Mode controls allow the ML1 to handle any kind of material with a variety of responses ranging from transparent to aggressive.
- The ML4 multi-band dynamics processor which includes a 4-band Gate, Expander (upwards or downwards), and Compressor fed into the same limiter algorithm found in the ML1. Each band's Gate, Expander, and Compressor can be configured separately or linked tog ...

Apple unveiled its new line of MacBook consumer notebooks that now include Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The new MacBook line is available immediately and features:

The 1.83 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook - $1,099
- 1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 60GB Serial ATA hard drive
- Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch white MacBook - $1,299
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 80GB Serial ATA hard drive
- 6x SuperDrive with double-layer support

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch black MacBook - $1,499
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 120GB Serial ATA hard drive
- 6x SuperDrive with double-layer support

The new MacBook line

Zicos.com has joined our networked sites, "440Network", that from now on include : MacMusic - 440forums - AudioLexic and... Zicos. Zicos is a news aggregator site that allows to browse daily news published by over 200 very specialized sites in a wink avoiding fastidious web surfing. Zicos's clean interface allow users to easily filter the sites they don't wish to consult on daily basis. Zicos covers the following targeted domains : Pro Audio - Mac - Tech/PC and the latest software Downloads.

Our "Around the web" pages should soon benefit from the Zicos technology.

Langevin (part of Manley Labs) has announced the future coming out of the Mini-Massive Stereo Equalizer. This 1U rack is the little brother to Manley's Massive Passive EQ. This new EQ is based on the same passive EQ sections as the Massive Passive's Low Band and High Band and shares most of the same components and circuit layout. The Mini-Massive is smaller at only 1U high and about half the price and includes some new features, refinements and a new level of clarity fit for mastering at its best.
For more details see this web page.

MusicLab has released RealGuitar ToolBox, an add-on product for RealGuitar 2 that lets you use it in a "new and creative way in live performance".

RealGuitar ToolBox features:

* RG Accompanist - split MIDI input with left key range pre-defined for RealGuitar2, and right key range for playing solo part with any third party VSTi/DXi/Dls/AU instrument loaded directly to RG ToolBox.
* RG Dozen - automatically loads 12 default RealGuitars to 12 Pads that you can remotely select by MIDI note or by Program Change command.
* RG Duet - split MIDI input with two RealGuitars pre-loaded: RealGuitar A (right key range for solo part) and RealGuitar B (left key range for accompaniment part).

RealGuitar ToolBox costs $40 and operates as a virtual instrument plug-in in all major hosts or as a Standalone module on Windows and Mac OS X (PPC and Intel); RealGuitar 2.0 or later must be installed.

IK Multimedia has announced the release of AmpliTube 2 Live, a low cost, introductory version of the guitar and bass amps/effects modeling software. Based on AmpliTube 2, the new Live version is available as a part of a much larger bundle software package coming with the StealthPlug, a compact 1/4" jack to USB audio interface cable for guitar and bass. AmpliTube 2 Live is available as a plug-in in VST, RTAS and Audio Unit formats, as well as a standalone application for Windows and Mac OS X (PPC and Intel).

AmpliTube 2 Live Features :

• 3 Guitar and Bass Amp Models
• 5 Cabinets
• 9 Stomp models, plus Spring Reverb and Gate
• 2 Microphone models with selection/position controls
• Full-MIDI Control
• Built-in Tuner
• 128 Customizable User Preset ...

ArtsAcoustic has released version 1.2.0.4 of the ArtsAcoustic Reverb, which is now a Universal Binary on Mac OS X. The demo versions have also been updated and they've launched a new website.

Changes:

* New: Universal Binary Support for Macintosh.
* New: Supports VST 2.4.
* Fixed: Various small fixes.

For more information see their web site.

ExpDigital has released GFlux, a multi-filter plug-in with extensive modulation capabilities. The core of GFlux is the concept of the 'flow'. Each flow represents a different filter layout, controlling which filters feed to others. The flows range from simple 8 pole filters right through to complex serial / parallel networks. These flows cover almost all the possibilities for routing and combined with the separate level control for each filter state you can create very complex filter responses.

Features:

* 4 Filters.
* 5 Simultaneous Filter Types.
* 6 Modulators.
* 5 Modulation Types.
* 18 Filter routing configurations.
* 11 Distortions.
* Full MIDI Control.

GFlux is available as a VST effect plug-in for Mac OS X (Universal Binary) and it costs $125 . Demo versions are available. An Audio Unit version is in development.