Mac and Music News

Propellerhead announced it has recently supported the Bob Moog Foundation with a monetary contribution. In addition, to raise awareness and entice others to donate, Propellerhead is releasing a free Moog-inspired ReFill to registered users.

With this donation to the Bob Moog Foundation, Propellerhead wishes to help pay tribute to the enormous contribution Bob Moog made to the music industry. The Foundation's overall mission is to document, celebrate and teach innovative thinking and to support and honor the legacy of synthesizer pioneer Moog. Presently, the Foundation seeks to raise awareness and funds to preserve Moog's extensive archives.

Industry pro's (and Reason experts), Craig Anderton, Mark Vail and Gordon Reid, donated their best Moog-style patches, built using Reason's Thor polysonic synthesizer, with the aim to shed some light onto the world of music synthesis that Bob Moog pioneered. Those patches have been assembled into a single Reason ReFill and are available free to registered Reason users on Propellerhead's website.

RealTraps has announced the new educational video All About Diffusion as the latest release in their "See and Hear" video lecture series. Most people have no way to hear what diffusors do or how they sound in a room. So this video explains diffusion in plain terms with no math, then lets you hear an acoustic guitar recorded in close proximity to five different surface types — a QRD diffusor, a poly diffusor, absorption, a bare wall, and a typical bookcase.

Find this video and more at :

The d16 group has just released Fazortan, the new plug-in in their "Silver Line" of effects.

Fazortan is a controllable space phaser based on a retro phaser from the 70s but it has been expanded to take advantage of the flexibility software can provide.

Features :

- True emulation of classic analog all-pass phase shifter.
- 2 full controllable LFOs.
- Unique sound different from the others digital phasers.
- Presets organised into groups.
- MIDI learn function.
- 64-bit internal processing.
- No harmonic distortions at output.

Fazortan is available now for both PC and Mac in VST and VST/AU formats respectively for a fee of €29. Note that audio examples are available.

Event Electronics unveils the Opal, a new nearfield monitoring system which provides a raw response of 30Hz-10KHz and a power handling of 1000 watts.

After purchasing Event Electronics in 2006, Peter Freedman set upon a quest to redefine the nearfield studio monitor, to provide sound recording artists and engineers with a truly reference monitoring system. He approached experienced product designer Marcelo Vercelli, formerly of Mackie, RCF and KV2, with his plans for the future of Event.

After two years of engineering, Marcelo and his R&D team presents the Opal. Its high-power neodymium motor offers 24mm of linear excursion which results in up to four times the output of some of the most expensive studio monitors. This gives the listener a more detailed and high level of high-speed b ...

Alien Apparatus Company, Inc. announces the release of The Alien Hand Microphone Stand, a microphone stand designed specifically for miking speaker cabinets.

The Alien Hand was designed to overcome the inadequacies of the traditionally used floor-mounted microphone stand. Its design consists of a plastic spring clip with an extended arm to hold a microphone. The spring clip is simply inserted into the gap between an amplifier and speaker cabinet. The flexing of the clip between the amplifier and the cabinet provides friction to hold The Alien Hand in place, but yet it can be easily positioned by lifting up one side of the amplifier. Because of the unique spring clip design, no permanent attachments or modifications need to be done to the music gear.

The Alien Hand Microphone Stand retails for $24.99 and can be purchased though Alien Apparatus Company's online web store and through their reseller network.

Orwell Digital is proud to announce the immediate availability of The Ultra-Bundle Sound Collection, a comprehensive patch library for use with Apple's Logic Pro music production software. This collection includes four complete Orwell Digital sound packages, in addition to a special bonus collection of unreleased patches and samples.

Every current Orwell Digital patch collection for Logic Pro is included, all for $34.95 via instant digital download, and all for just a limited time.

Livid Instruments has released Livid Looper, a new free audio looping software.

Features :

• Up to six files loaded in each looper for quick recall and playback
• Loop is automatically pitch shifted to match the BPM
• Automatic segmenting for slicing up a loop
• Interactive waveform display for arbitrary loop selections
• Assignable to crossfader
• Record live audio and instantly loop it
• Multiple audio effects, including a VST effect
• Granulator for scramble or time-shift effects
• Record up to 8 synced sequences of knob turns and effect changes
• Record up to 8 synced sequences of segment and file changes
• All actions are quantized to the master BPM
• Easy MIDI learn function
• Tight integration with Livid's Ohm controller
• Free of charge and open source (developed in Cycling 74's Max/MSP)

Livid Looper is available now for both Mac OS X and Windows.

Six weeks have passed since the official release of Sequel 2 and Steinberg has finally launched a free trial version... better late than never !

The Sequel 2 Trial Version showcases all the new features introduced with Sequel 2 such as the Controller Learn Mode, Track Freeze, Track Icons, the enhanced Sequel MediaBay, the Virtual Keyboard and much more.

Sequel 2 is available for both Mac OS X and Windows at a retail price of €99. Updates from the previous version are available exclusively from Steinberg's online store for €29.00.

Today, IK Multimedia announces an extended range of downloadable products for purchase from the IK online store.

Previously available only for single FX plug-in downloads, IK's downloadable product range has now been extended to include the following instruments, workstation plug-ins and bundled effects :

- Virtual Instruments -

- SampleTank 2.5 XL
- SampleTank 2.5 L
- Miroslav Philharmonik
- Miroslav Philharmonik CE
- Sonik Synth 2
- SampleMoog
- SampleTron

- Effects Bundles -

- Total Effects Bundle
- Total Guitar & Bass Gear Bundle

After purchasing downloadable products from the online store, customers will receive a serial number that, once registered, will enable them to download the purchased software and sounds from their IK user area.
...

Earlier this year Celemony introduced the new Direct Note Access technology, followed by a huge echo in the public. Now a film team came to visit Melodyne inventor Peter Neubäcker in his laboratory for a preview to this groundbreaking technology. Their result is a 14-minute interview that gives you a deep insight into the possibilites of Direct Note Access.

Groovebox Music presents Brainwerks: Pro Tools Operator Tutorials, a collection of Pro Tools video tutorials by Pro Tools super genius Stefan Hedengren.

From the basics, such as I/O Setup and fast track creation, to more advance topics such as making stems and submixes, Elastic Time, and daily clean up, Stefan shows you his personal tricks and techniques in detail, and sometimes wacky way, to becoming a serious Pro Tools operator.

You can view all the video tutorials in the "Pro Tools Operator" collection online for 30 days for $14.99 or download and own the full disc for $49.99. The boxed disc version will ship in 2-3 weeks for $54.99 plus shipping, but you can order it today and get the instant digital download included for free so you can start learning right away.

Urbano Lounge is the second sound pack from Percussa which contains over 140Mb of loop content recorded and produced exclusively for Percussa AudioCubes by Cuesounds (UK). Although the pack was designed to work with Propellerheads Reason 4, the samples can be used with other software too.

Included are three main folders, two of which contain sampled loops, and one containing four combinator tools. The sampled loops are included in both WAV and RX2 file format. The included combinator patches were designed to use the RX2 format. The sampled loops have been created around a general lounge and hip hop theme. Some of the sounds included are not typically representative of this genre, however help balance an eclectic palette of sounds that can be used in a variety of styles.

Urbano Lounge is available now and is priced at €14.95.