Mac and Music News

Levelground Media today announces the release of updates to Fattenizer, Vintasion, Super Graphic, and Polishizer. Fattenizer 3.1, Vintasion 3.1, Super Graphic 1.1, and Polishizer 1.1 offer recording musicians and engineers of all skill levels the ability to enhance individual audio tracks and project mixes by adding user tunable vintage style 'coloration' and character enhancement with Vintasion, 'fattening' and low-end enhancement with Fattenizer, configurable adjustable band width 36 band graphic equalization with Super Graphic, and audio polishing using precise 6 band parametric equalization with Polishizer. The LgM Thermal Pack 2.1 bundles all four plug-ins together in one specially priced package.

All plug-ins are available for Mac OS X (UB) in AudioUnits format. The plug-ins cost $59.95 each while the LgM Thermal Pack costs $219.95.

Kjaerhus Audio has announced the release of MPL-1 Pro SE v1.0, a new edition of its Mastering Precision Limiter.

Key Features :

- High-precision limiting with no overshoot.
- Maximum loudness and minimum pumping.
- Over-sampled peak detection with look-ahead.
- Smooth Hold Function.
- Stereo-link with unlinked peak limiting.
- Four stereo meters with peak-hold.
- AES17 compliant RMS output meter.
- TPDF-Dithering for 8, 16 and 24 bit resolution.
- A|B comparisons.
- Silent knobs.
- Low CPU usage.
- Support sampling rates up to 96kS/s.
- VST Automation.
- Parameter control through MIDI-learn.

MPL-1 Pro SE is available now for Mac OS X (UB) in VST, AU and RTAS formats. The VST/AU version costs $118.00 while the VST/AU/RTAS one costs $148.00. Note that until July 18, 200 ...

Propellerhead has announced Reason 4. New features include Thor, a new synth with six different oscillator types and four unique filters ; RPG-8, a brand new unit dedicated to the art of arpeggiation ; and the ReGroove mixer, a powerful tool which enables you to control the groove of each track independently. With a whole new look, a ton of fresh features and a completely new way of handling sequencer data, the Reason sequencer has matured.

The price for the full version of Reason remains the same at EUR449 / USD 499. There is also a discounted upgrade available for owners of previous versions of Reason. The upgrade is EUR99 / USD129. No release date for now but Propellerhead is lookign for Beta Testers... so visit the link below ;-)

Wallander Instruments has just released the Mac OS X AU and VST versions of the WIVI Universal Player which means that WIVI Brass 1 is now also available for Mac OS X (priced at $599). The WI Visual Instruments series (WIVI) are collections of virtual instruments that combine advanced behavioral modeling with extensive amounts of sound data extracted from acoustic measurements and recordings of real instruments.

For more information, please visit their web site.

D16 group has just released Nepheton, their emulation of the classic 808 drum machine.

Features :

- 16 fully synthesized instruments
- perfectly scaled knob ranges
- exhanced control of instruments' sounds
- dynamic signal routing from instruments to outputs
- user defined outputs configuration
- mutes/solos for each instrument (affect triggerring not just the signal)
- fully controllable via MidiCC
- quick midiCC assignation with MidiLearn function

- many ways of controlling the device :

+ external mode (note mode)
+ internal sequencer (pattern mode) with 3 submodes

- external mode :

+ user defined midi map (default set equal to General Midi)
+ midi tune and velocity controls instruments' levels and tunes

- internal sequencer :

+ 16 patterns (1 ...

Bismark has announced the release of Bs-spectrum beta 1.3, a free spectrum analyzer which is available in VST or AU formats on OSX 10.4.

More info at :

The Vienna Symphonic Library team have just released the new Vienna Instruments Collection Special Brass, which is now available from Vienna's worldwide network of distributors and dealers. Like the recently released Special Woodwinds, the 21 Gb Vienna Instruments Collection Special Brass offers "resonant rarities that a first-rate virtual orchestra can't do without".

Features :

- Fanfare Trumpets (6 players)
- Cornet
- Alto trombone
- Euphonium

Vienna Instruments: Special Brass is available now for Mac OS X Universal Binary in VST, AU and stand-alone formats.

Pricing :

- Standard Library: €395 / $515.
- Extended Library: €375 / $485.
- Full Library: €770 / $1,000.


VIP Offer through July 15th, 2007

Users who have registered the Vienna Instrument ...

A startup in Alameda, Calif. plans to release a kind of holy software grail called Lina. This software will allow you to run more or less normal Linux applications under Windows, Mac, or Unix, with a look and feel native to each. The concept recalls Java, which has long promised "write once, run anywhere" compatibility. As with Java, Lina users will first install a VM specific to their platform, after which they can run binaries compiled not for their particular OS, but for the VM, which aims to hide OS-specific characteristics from the application. Open source developers will be able to use Lina for free, while commercial developers will pay an as-yet undecided licensing fee.

Lina is expected to be released on July. For more details about Lina, including some nifty videos and screencasts, visit the link below.

Sonalksis has just released TBK3 - Über Compressor. This radical analogue-modelled compressor can be pushed to extremes: and then beyond ! Subtlety is definitely not a feature of this plug-in ;-)

Features :

- Extreme analogue-modelled compression algorithm
- Optional 'true analogue noise' colouration
- Four selectable fully adaptive attack/release modes
- Modifiable side-chain filter character
- 64bit floating point precision internal processing throughout
- Ultra efficient processing, with specific optimisations for native processors
- Zero latency throughput - absolutely no internal signal delay whatsoever

The TBK3 is available now for Mac OSX (UB) in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a retail price of 119.99€. All current customers of the creative elements TBK series plug-ins c ...