Mac and Music News

Sugar Bytes has just released WOW, a filter-box with 10 Filtertypes, including Vowel Mode, Overdrive and a modulation system. WOW offers a good collection of filter types : High, Band and Lowpass (each 12 or 24dB), Comb Filter, Band Reject, Band and LF Crusher.
The Vowel mode seems to come from their Unique synthesizer (which is worth a try) : 2 Vowels (U, UE, O, OE, A, A:, AE, E, I.) can be mixed via Cutoff, with all available filter types.
The modulators, Envelope Follower, LFO and Step Sequencer, can be mixed in the parameters right-click menus and can modulate each other.

WOW is available as VST and AU Plugin, for Mac and PC and cost 99 dollars (79 euros).
Note that there is a demo version.

Sims Audio has announced the INFRA-SONIC Blow5d digital monitors. The BLOW5D studio monitors feature on-board D/A converters that are constructed with Burr Brown op amps. They support up to a 24-bit/192kHz sample format and have a dynamic range of 123dB and can accept a wide variety of inputs including: SPDIF, RCA, AES/EBU, XLR, TRS, or TS. They also feature room compensation controls and a bass response switch. The room compensation controls (accessible via a switch on the back of the unit) allow the user to alter the frequency response of the monitors to better suit any room. The bass reduction switch allows bass frequencies to be reduced to better accommodate the use of a subwoofer or a bass heavy mixing environment.

The BLOW5D monitors have an MSRP of $550 USD and will be available 1st quarter of 2008.

Flying Haggis: a rare and much sought-after Scottish creature. Those lucky enough to spot this shy little animal are filled with a sense of pride and happiness. Not a coincidence if this legend became the inspiration for db audioware's latest and finest virtual guitar amp, which is said to produce similar feelings in those who play it.

The Flying Haggis will be landing imminently. From 3rd December, registered owners of any previous db audioware guitar amps (including Quantum FX) can download Flying Haggis beta version by logging into their personal support page. More info coming soon...

EXPANSE is a collection of multi-sampled 24bit waveforms that can be played as instruments, used as drones, or to create tonal beds. Some touching on the traditional, others exploring the surreal or etherial, but never too close to the mundane, and never too far away that they loose the listeners connection.

All patches are programmed with modulation wheel support. 1 gigabyte of 24bit multisamples make up the 128 Instrument Patches and 79 Multi Patches. All instrument patches are broken down into the categories: Fast Attack - Pads - String Hybrids - Vocal - Weird. Multi Patches are sorted as either Fast Attack, or Slow Attack.

Now available for the introductory price of $79 until January 1st 2008. Note that additional patches utilizing Kontakt 3 features and fixes (modulation sync) will be available, free of charge to registed users, 1st quarter 2008.

If you have ever had problems with the member's review section of a software, it's over : it works again. So, if you are willing to state your feelings about any software, please go to any software page, down to the "Submit your review" box.
Whether you are a pro user or an amateur, your opinion will, without any doubt, help the whole community.

Sims Audio has just announced The AMON USB recording interface, a two channel USB interface. It features a high quality microphone preamp, a line level/instrument input, and MIDI I/O. Additionally, the AMON includes a full software package from Native Instruments including: Absynth 4, Massive, and Traktor 3 demo software.

Note that this interface is USB bus powered and requires no extra power supply or wall-wart. The lack of power supply and small size make the AMON ideal for location recording. The AMON also supports zero latency direct hardware monitoring so you can hear exactly what is coming from the recording source. A powered headphone amp is also included in the chassis and it accepts a 1/4" headphone input.

The AMON has a MSRP of $225 USD, and will be available in the 1st quarter of 2008.

"Consider that each band of EQ can be selected from any of the five included 1951-1980 classic hardware models, add to that 60 unique compressor presets with an almost limitless set of input stage, compressor and the EQ combinations and clearly you've got one killer channel strip" says Mikail Graham in his review.

Read the whole story here.

This article is proposed to you by in association with audioMIDI

Gallo Engineering has announced that the Mac OS X VST Universal Binary version of Studio Devil BVC (British Valve Custom), the free Guitar Tube Amp Modeling VST plug-in, is now available.

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 196kHz sampling rate support.

The Mac version of Studio Devil BVC's commercial brother, Studio Devil VGA (Virtual Guitar Amp), is not yet ready for release but it will be available for Mac VST and Audio Units soon.

Announcing Major Malfunction version 2.0, 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.

Major Malfunction syncs itself to the Ableton Live tempo automatically, and processes the incoming audio in a number of different user-specified ways, or even randomly if the user prefers.

New Features in version 2.0:

- new Multi Mode, allows for multiple effects per step
- in Multi Mode, allows for serial or parallel routing
- in serial Multi Mode, can rearrange effects in any order
- dramatic efficiency improvements compared with previous versions
- small bug fixes

Major Malfunction v2.0 costs $25 (USD) and is available now; it is a free update to registered v1.0 and v1.5 users. A free demo is also available.