Mac and Music News

In partnership, Vision DAW and East West announce an 8-Core Xeon Server-Class Workstation, including the complete Quantum Leap Orchestral collection. This set runs with Play software (64 bits) and the virtual orchestra takes up a 4U rack with 2 Quad-Core Xeon 5440 at 2.83GHz, with 16 Go RAM (8 x 2Go at 667MHz), 1 Teraoctet storage, a dual screen video card and a sound card RME Hammerfall 9652. Possibility to customize RAID configuration.

Dreamin' Price for the whole symphony orchestra starts at 5 800 $.

[CodeOperator] has just announced that PlugAdmin Pro will be released on February 12th. PlugAdmin Pro is designed to administrate all types of audio plugins on your computer.

A lot of new features and a completely new structure were designed. PlugAdmin Pro can handle a lot more Plug-In types and you can create own groups to arrange your Plug-Ins for a better overview. The new history function is comfortable to jump to every step you want and undo previous steps.

PlugAdmin Pro will be available for Mac and Pc next week. Note that a special discount for PlugAdmin 1.x customers will be available.

Steinberg has just released updates for Cubase 4, Cubase Studio 4, Nuendo 4 and Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK) ; they all go v4.1.2.851.

The new Cubase update includes a range of minor enhancements, and incorporates feedback from Cubase customers. This update also officially supports Apple's Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard operating system. Note that Cubase Essential 4 will already ship as version 4.1.2 on its release.

The new maintenance update for Nuendo and Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK), version 4.1.2, includes a range of minor enhancements for a smoother workflow with Nuendo.

On top of that, the 4.1.2 update introduces support for the new Euphonix Artist Series MC Mix and MC Control surfaces.

Kenton has just released Merge 4, a 4-way MIDI merge box. As far as the Merge 4 goes it really doesn't get more straightforward – take four opto-isolated MIDI Ins, merge the four streams of data and deliver the combined results to two MIDI Outs (both carry identical MIDI data).

Features :
- 4 x opto-isolated MIDI In
- 2 x opto-isolated MIDI OUT (both carry identical MIDI data)
- Merges all MIDI data – including SysEx and Clock
- DC power input jack 2.1mm (centre +ve)
- Power indicator light
- 9V unregulated power supply included (UK, EU and USA types available)

Kenton Merge 4 is available now at a retail price of £74.97 (inc VAT).

VirSyn has just updated Matrix Vocoder to v1.1.

New features :

- VST3 Compatibility with Steinberg Cubase/Nuendo 4.1.2.
- Sidechain input with VST3 for Cubase/Nuendo 4.1.2
- Polyphonic internal generator.
- Pitchbend for internal generator.

Special introductory offer extended

Until February 15th, 2008 you can buy Matrix for only €129 instead of €199.

Alesis introduces the SR-18 their new drum machine inspired by the SR-16 . With sounds from Hip-Hop to Country, the SR-18 includes a reverb, an équalizer, a compressor and works with the power supply or battery.

Features :

- 32Mo Sound bank
- Integrated effects
- works on AC or battery
- Patterns can be launched from the pads
- Mute and solo function for every part

The SR-18 is expected for Q2, 2008 at a retail price 399$.

Eiosis has updated ELS Vocoder to v1.6. This new version brings a smaller interface option which allows using the ELS Vocoder with laptop screen resolutions more comfortably.

You can now switch between both sizes with a simple option, and you need to reload the ELS Vocoder to apply the GUI settings. With the small interface size, you can access the same modules than with the normal size interface, by clicking on the corresponding tab.

Of course this update is free for all registered users.

SAE Institute was founded in 1976 as the world's first audio school. It has since grown to become a network of around 50 colleges in 20 countries offering courses in Audio Engineering, Digital Film, Web Design and Interactive Entertainment. This year they're set to open the world's biggest technology school alongside the very best seats of learning in the UK. Not only will the Oxford campus be the largest SAE Institute to date – more than 14,200 square meters – it's also set to become the global headquarters of the SAE operation, the flagship school amongst the 50 existing SAE Institutes that already exist on five continents.

Based in Littlemore, Oxford, the new campus will offer state of the art facilities with a number of fully residential places available for the anticipated influx of overseas students. SAE is spending £12million updating the old Littlemore hospital for the new campus (a further £8million will be spent on the company's London college later this year). It will have bespoke teaching facilities, individual workstation areas for students, recording studios equipped with the latest technology (including one capable of recording an entire 88-piece orchestra), comfortable student accommodation and an extensive library packed with books, films and other creative new media.

MOTU ships V3HD, a brand new audio and video FireWire interface which turns your Mac or PC desktop or laptop computer into a powerful HD/SD video production workstation equipped with all the video and audio I/O you need.

Feature Highlights :

- HD/SD FireWire video interface for Mac and Windows
- Supports Apple Final Cut Pro on the Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro on Windows
- Plug-and-play connectivity via FireWire - provides HD and SD capture and playback for any current-generation FireWire equipped computer, including Mac & PC laptops
- Capture and play back 720 and 1080 HD over FireWire via industry standard DVCPro HD capture format for direct, native import into - and playback from - Final Cut and Premiere
- Across-the-board compatibility and pristine quality - DVCPro HD capture fo ...

TC Electronic announces that it has released version 2 of the Konnekt software package for MAC and PC. The drivers have had a major overhaul, and have been significantly improved in regards to stability and reliability.

A new safety buffer setting ensures that the Konnekt audio interfaces are now more immune to system activity, and users that before had problems with audio drop outs will experience glitch free audio streaming. On top of the driver improvements and bug fixes, new features have been added to the TC Near control panel as well as the included plug-ins.

Version 2 is compatible with Windows XP and VISTA (32 bit) as well as OSX 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard), and the update is relevant for all Konnekt audio interfaces. Konnekt Software v2 is downloadable at :

Presonus has finally announced that the Monitor Station desktop studio control center is now shipping. Based on the Central Station this new device allows you to listen to your mixes on different speakers; with and without the subwoofer, compare your mixes to your favorite CDs and vinyl, listen in mono to check phase cancellation, use talkback to communicate to the artists during recording, and send Cue Mix to the four headphone amps and the Main Mix to your speakers.


Features :

- Main Speaker Volume control
- 3 stereo inputs (two balanced TRS, one RCA Aux/Phono)
- 3 sets of balanced TRS speaker outputs, each with level adjustment
- Talkback microphone with volume control to feed headphone and Cue output
- XLR input for external dynamic talkback microphone
- Accurate fast-acting dual 8-segment LED for metering
- 4 loud and clear headphone amplifiers with separate volume control and input selection
- Main and Cue stereo output have independent input source selection
- Dim with variable level adjustment
- Aux and Phono level adjustment
- Mute and Mono

The Monitor Station is available now at at a suggested retail price of $399.95.

Open Labs, designer and developer of computer based music production solutions, is proud to introduce the Timbaland Special Edition MiKo keyboard workcenter.

Building on the standard features of the MiKo LX, an all-in-one portable studio powered by Windows XP that is capable of running virtually any Windows XP compatible software including a variety of DAW software, virtual instruments (VSTi), virtual effects (VST) and other music applications, the Timbaland Special Edition is dressed in an all-new Arctic White Chassis. The Timbaland Special Edition MiKo upgraded to 4GB of RAM features E-MU new Proteus X2 Streaming Sound Module V2.5 with over 7,000 instruments, including the new Ensoniq Urban Legends Sound Library that contains the sounds from Ensoniq's ASR/EPS/MR/ASR-X/ZR instruments. ...