Mac and Music News

Kjaerhus Audio today updates its mastering limiter MPL-1 Pro SE to v1.02.

Changes:

* Fixed Bypass (ignored before).
* Presets are now loading in Mac.
* Fixed copy protection problem where external modem might have been detected as a part of the internal computer hardware.

U-he has released Oldskool Patch Collection for Zebra. Designed by Michael Kastrup, this collection features 128 "playable and lush sounding" patches that cover decades of synthesizer and keyboard history.

Oldskool Patch Collection for Zebra costs $30 (excl. VAT). Various demo MP3s are available.

Gallo Engineering has released Studio Devil BVC (British Valve Custom), a guitar tube amplifier modeling plug-in that is designed to mimic the character of "British"-style vacuum tube heads.

Features :

- Accurate 12AX7A vacuum tube preamplifier stage emulation with DRIVE control.
- Gain structure signal path that's true to those on vintage tube amp schematics.
- Authentic Bass, Mids, Treble, and Presence TONE controls just like those on real tube amps.
- Push-pull tube power amplifier model with DRIVE control.
- FIR-based speaker/cabinet/mic modeling filter built in for a "miked-up" tone.
- 4X Up-Sampling Engine with 64-bit Internal Floating-Point Precision.
- 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, and 192kHz sampling rate support.

Studio Devil BVC is available as a free ...

Defective Records has just released Major Malfunction version 1.5, a new version of the Mac OS X realtime audio plugin specifically created for use in Ableton Live. It allows you to easily mangle, glitch, slice and dice, and otherwise FSU in your audio stream, in either subtle or extreme ways. You use it as either a VST or an AU plugin in Live.

New Features in version 1.5:

- new effects: distortion, vocoder, slow down, & silence
- new enhancements to gate effect
- new master multipass filter
- new click reduction
- new "effect gapping"
- new clock multiplier
- new randomize and evolve functions for effects
- grid state & all parameters now saved with Live session
- improved preset management
- improved automation support
- new ability to turn hints on/off
- new undo featur ...

PSP Audioware has just released version 1.5.4 of its high fidelity stereo dynamics processor PSP MasterComp. This update includes Universal Binary compatibility for Mac OS X and is a free for all registered users.

Changes includes :

- Intel Mac compatibility added (OSX UB).
- Sidechain processing with external control signal allowed.
- Classic mode with alternate release phase response for more focused sound.
- Preset bar supporting preset list editing, bank and preset save/load and A/B memory cells.
- DirectX version has been discontinued.
- Session compatibility between PPC and Intel based Macs in AU version.
- RTAS version latency reporting fixed for delay compensation purposes.
- Other minor problems resolved.

We, at 440Network are proud to announce the launch of the long awaited community site PcMusic. Following our members requests and particularly those coming from our flagship site, MacMusic.org (70,000 registered members and over 30,000 daily visits), we have some time ago decided to follow up and make similar content available to the pro audio community that needs targeted information when facing PCs for their work.

Musicians, DJs, composers, sound engineers, producers, distributors and most of all, PC addicts throughout the world will enjoy finding on a surf friendly web site, recent news items, articles, unbiased reviews, user comments, software updates and drivers, freeware downloads, useful documentation, links, and of course, dynamic forums sent by mail to subscribers via a clean daily mailing list.

ReFX has updated Nexus to v1.3.5 and released two new expansions, Stratosphere and Bass, in its sound shop.

New features :
- Filter- and Amp-Modifier can now also be locked and switched off globally, just like the master-filter, the master-delay and the reverb can.

Bug fixes :
- The voice-stealing was too conservative which resulted in clicking. The new approach is absolutely click-free, but could increase performance usage slightly.
- The trance-gate was prone to clicking in certain cases.
- Internal optimization and minor bug fixes.

[CodeOperator] has released IIR-Reverb which is the first plug-in in its new URSonic series. IIR-Reverb is a colorful reverb effect with a high density. It comes with a 5-Band full Parametric Graphical based Equaliser that you can edit the reverb tail in every frequency you like. You can form every space you need, especially Drum Rooms.

IIR-Reverb is available now for Windows and Mac OS X (UB) in VST, AU and RTAS formats via the Pluggo Runtime and costs $199. Note that audio examples and demo versions are also available.

Steinberg has just released a hotfix update for HALion 3.3, HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.3 and HALion String Edition 2.3 as well as both the HALion Player 3.3 retail and HALion Player 3.3 OEM versions. The new version updates functions within the underlying HALion 3 sampler engine shared by all these products. These include enhancements when recalling tempo settings in standalone mode, with zone display in the Key Zone Editor as well as program change functionality.

For more information, please visit their web site.

Zoom has announced that the H2 Handy Recorder will be available... soon... maybe at the end of this summer...

Features :

- W-XY mic patterns with 4 mic capsules and signal processing allows Front 90° cardioid, Rear 120° cardioid and 360° polar patterns
- Built-in USB 2.0 interface for data storage and audio interface
- Records in WAV 96kHz/48kHz/44.1kHz at 16-bit or 24-bit, MP3 to 320kbps and Variable Bit Rate (VBR) data formats
- Time Stamp and Track Marker functions in Broadcast WAV Format (BWF)
- 512MB SD memory card included
- Accommodates up to 4GB SD memory cards
- Auto Gain Control (AGC) for pristine recordings
- Auto Start function means you're always ready to record
- Low-cut filter eliminates wind noise
- On-board chromatic Guitar/Bass tuner

The H2 will be widely available for a street price of $199.99. For more information, please visit the link below :

Sibelius Software has released Sibelius 5, a major upgrade to their music notation software. This new version is packed with many new features, including :

- Ideas Hub, a powerful tool to capture, tag, find and bring together musical ideas
- Sibelius Sounds Essentials, a 2GB collection of sounds selected from top-name libraries by Garritan, SonicVox and Tapspace
- Full VST & Audio Units support
- Playback handled by Kontakt Player 2
- Panorama - instead of being chopped up into systems and pages, the music is shown in a single, infinitely-wide strip – far easier to read and navigate around
- Easy cues & instrument changes
- Complete and easy layout control
- Reprise, an elegant new music font which is offering a realistic simulation of hand-copying
- Over 80 plug-ins including t ...

Native Instruments is excited to announce that AUDIO 8 DJ is now available in stores worldwide. The AUDIO 8 DJ is a performance-optimized USB 2.0 audio interface specifically designed for TRAKTOR 3 and other professional DJ software.

Features :

- Professional 96 kHz, 24 Bit Audio Interface. Ultra high quality Cirrus Logic AD/DA converters
- Aluminium cased, super-robust, mobile design (slim size) specifically for DJs
- 8 hi-gain outputs (RCA)
- 8 inputs (RCA), 2 optional phono preamps with high impedance input mode
- 1 alternative microphone input with input gain control and input level meter (XLR)
- Headphone output with visual level control
- Low latency ASIO / CORE Audio / DirectSound driver.
- USB 2.0 bus powered
- MIDI I/O
- Over 20 individual channel status LEDs for i ...