Mac and Music News

Digidesign finally unveils the new 003 Family which includes 003 Factory and 003 Rack.

Digi 003 Factory features :

- 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders
- 8 motion-sensitive rotary encoders for pan/send/meter/plug-in control
- Dedicated mute, solo, and select/record arm switches per channel
- 6-character, 2-line LCD display per channel displays track name; pan, send, fader, and plug-in values; and timeline position
- 5-segment LED display for viewing metering and automation mode status
- Easily assign inserts and sends from the control surface
- Dedicated automation controls and LEDs
- Dedicated transport control
- Standalone MIDI Mode functionality
- Jog/Shuttle wheel
- High-speed FireWire connectivity
- 18 simultaneous channels of audio I/O
...

LinPlug has released SaxLab v1.1, Rob Papen Albino v3.0.2 Beta and CronoX3 / Sophistry v3.0.8 Release Candidate.

SaxLab 1.1 changes :

- Improved compatibility with Sonar.
- Slightly less CPU usage.
- Separately adjustable pitch bend range for up and down.

Albino 3.0.2 Beta changes :

- Fixed problem when loading Albino 2 presets with Triangle osc waveforms.
- Fixed flickering preset name when loading presets.
- Fixed Cubase 4 incompatibility.
- Fixed problem when randomizer changed effects only visually.
- Fixed problem of certain matrix modulations not working.
- All delays are now optimized for smooth behaviour on tempo changes.
- Fixed different filter sound of version 3.0.1.
- 63 new Rob Papen presets.

CronoX3 / Sophistry 3.0.8 Release Candidate changes :

- Fixed effects Wet parameter.
- Improved Reverb module with modulation.

In 540 pages, 500 photos, Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew have signed maybe the "Bible" of all the Beatles work in studios: Recording the Beatles. Parts include Abbey Road EMI, the crew, recording consoles, microphones, tape recorders, effects, amps and monitors, instruments, the other studios.

The book "Recording the Beatles" is $100, and you can buy it directly at the Publisher's website.

Nomad Factory has updated the Audio Unit version of Liquid Bundle II - Classic to v2.3.

Changes:

- Fixed sample rate problem when changing the sample rate from the host.

Expert Sleepers has released a beta version of Crossfade Loop Synth v3.0.0 (beta 3). From version 3, Crossfade Loop Synth is actually two plug-ins: Crossfade Loop Synth and Crossfade Loop Synth Effect. The effect version takes the power of Crossfade Loop Synth and turns it into a live sampler, a looper and a very unusual and powerful delay effect.

Crossfade Loop Synth v3 is expected to be available for purchase some time during March 2007. Beta versions are available in VST and Audio Units formats for Mac OS X Universal Binary.

FXpansion has released Audio Units and RTAS versions of Orca, the freeware experimental monosynth based on detailed and accurate models of analogue synthesizer circuits and components.

Orca v1.11 is available now for Mac OS X (UB) as a free download from FXpansion's website, note that a free registration is required.

Virsyn have announced the release of miniTERA 2 which offers a radically simplified approach to sound design. The new version comes with layer sounds and a new sound browser.

New features :

- Easy Sound browsing with categories and attributes.
- Up to four layer per preset for massive sounds.
- Onboard reverb effect
- Dual mode for modulation effects
- Modified signal flow for better transparency of layered sounds.
- MIDI channel selection
- 100 new presets/sounds
- Intel based Mac compatibility
- VST 2.4 compatibility

miniTERA 2.0 is available for Mac OS X (UB) at a retail price of 89 €. Note that if you already have TERA 3, then you will get miniTERA for free !

Sinevibes is happy to announce the release of the SP-404 Recharger sound library for the Roland SP-404 sampler developed especially for those who are tired of countless reincarnations of the same old sounds. It features hot drums, percussion and effects which were painstakingly created from the ground up - kicks, snares, toms, claps, congas, hats, as well as scratches, spectral, vocoder sounds and more. SP-404 Recharger turns your portable sampler into a real 21st century drum machine monster!

SP-404 Recharger is available as a download for only $19

Apogee Electronics Corporation announced the release of a new version of the FireWire Audio Driver for Ensemble, Apogee's multi-channel, digital audio interface designed specifically for use with Apple Macintosh computers.

This Firewire Audio driver supports a single Ensemble used with any G4, G5 or Intel-based Macintosh in conjunction with OS X v. 10.4.8 or later, providing consistent sample accurate performance at all sampling rates. This version also features enhanced stability on supported Macintosh computers and resolves the few remaining issues associated with previous versions of the beta driver.

The new FireWire Driver Version for Ensemble is available immediately via :

Designed and implemented by Hidetomo Katsura in association with recording engineer Malcolm Cecil, ProPhase is a comprehensive professional digital audio software tool that displays detailed information on the phase, levels and mono compatibility of stereo audio signals in real time.

Features :

- Multiple windows (any two channels of any audio input devices)
- Resizable windows
- 30 frames per second responses

Phase Display
- Four different XY plot types.
- Line/Dots/Rainbow plot modes.
- Linear/Logarithmic scales.
- Gain control.
- Sample slice width control.
- Axis on/off.
- Grid on/off.
- Plot/Grid/Background colors.

Level Meter
- Peak and RMS level meters.
- Peak hold/decay.
- Sum/Difference meter.
- Correlation meter.
- Clip indicators.
- Label text.

ProPhase v1.0 is available now as a shareware for $99.

Faber Acoustical has announced the immediate availability of Electroacoustics Toolbox 1.1 which is a modularized, multi-channel multi-analyzer, offering real-time data acquisition and analysis of electrical, acoustical, and electroacoustic signals and systems. Version 1.1 includes two powerful new tools for spectral analysis, including a new octave and 1/3-octave spectrum analyzer and a new spectrogram analyzer with 3D data visualization capabilities.

Electroacoustics Toolbox is available for Mac OS X (UB). Version 1.1 is a free update for registered users.

Mandolane Ltd, developers of Plumstone and Mandolane MIDI SPI, are pleased to announced that the first beta version of their M3D 3D Audio Output mixer for Java has now been released.

This offers a low latency alternative to the standard Java Sound output mixer, with full 3D positioning of any sound source around the listener. The mixer simultaneously supports 32 Clips and 32 SourceDataLines. Separate controllers are available to individually position each clip or source data line around the listener using either Polar (Azimuth, Elevation, Distance) or Rectangular (XYZ) co-ordinates.