Chimera, the hybrid pre-amp by Sontronics, is finally available.

Chimera is a pre-amp/DI box single channel including two separate circuits, with a simple switch you can choose: a transparent sound from a solid state pre-amp, or the warmer tone of a Tube pre-amp. Each of these circuits is an original conception from Sontronics.

Fine adjustements can be done with the help of a variable high pass filter, a 3 way attenuator and a phase control, allowing multiple sonic colors. The frequency response is flat between 20Hz to 20kHz, In/outputs are balanced electronically.

Features :

- frequency response : 20Hz to 20kHz max. +/-0.5dB (solid-state), max. +/-0.7dB (valve)
- inputs (analog) : XLR balanced on front and rear panel, jack
- outputs (analog) : XLR balanced on front and ...

Yellow Tools has released the Independence Pro 2.5 Software Suite that contains the bundle of the new Independence 2.5, Independence Live 2.5 and Independence FX 2.5.

The Independence Pro 2.5 Software Suite is both available as separate product and also already included in all Yellow Tools products that contain a sound library : Independence Pro, Independence Basic, Candy, Culture & Majestic. User who already own a registered version of these products can purchase the Independence Pro 2.5 Software Suite for a very small update fee (€39 for Independence Pro users and €59 for Independence Basic, Candy, Culture, Majestic users) - and users who purchased their product after April 1st 2009 will get a the Software Suite for free.

The Independence Pro 2.5 Software Suite comes with ...

Modartt presents the brand new Rock Piano add-on (YC5) for Pianoteq 3. It is developed to meet demands for a specific pop/rock piano, modelled from a well-known Japanese grand piano, frequently seen on stages and very much appreciated by touring artists for its musical qualities and reliability. Its bright and vivid tone makes it addictive and cuts through elegantly in pop/rock oriented mixes. The instrument comes with three variants :

• YC5 Stage has a percussive and bright tone suitable for pop/rock mixes, and fits also very nicely to dreamy solo ballades.
• YC5 Chamber has a coloured and singing tone, well adapted for solos that demand a full and rich timbre.
• YC5 Studio is designed for achieving a particular strong and close presence, often appreciated in studio production.

The Rock Piano add-on is embedded as demo instrument in the latest Pianoteq update 3.0.5 and can be purchased by all customers for €29.

Summer promo offer : Buy a Pianoteq licence before September 30 and you will receive the new Rock Piano add-on for free !

The Daking FET3 is new dual channel limiter from Geoff Daking, built in the US with the same audio path and detector circuits as the single channel Daking FET II limiter. The FET3 compressor circuitry and gain stages are all discrete and fully Class "A" with sound quality that will be at the very top of the scale. The single channel FET II was known for its speed, high performance and its unique ability to sound great on an extraordinary variety of sources. The FET3 will equal this benchmark plus add several unique features to improve user control. The differences are as follows :

• New variable High Pass Filters from 0 to 200Hz are added to the detector stage of each limiter channel to improve and customize limiter behavior. The HPF's tell the limiter NOT to trigger limiting based ...

Akai announces their RPM8 reference production studio monitors specifically intended for use with the company's MPC music production workstations and production controllers.

RPM8 studio monitors are two-way, active, bi-amplified, nearfield loudspeakers intended for producers, recording engineers, remix artists, DJs and other musicians. The two-way monitors each feature an eight-inch woven-kevlar low-frequency driver with 80W RMS of continuous amplification for robust, full bass all the way down to 39 Hz. The monitors' high-frequency system consists of a one-inch silk-dome tweeter with 40W RMS of continuous amplification, mounted on a custom, functionally optimized waveguide for excellent control of directivity and reduction of unwanted early reflections.

RPM8 studio monitors contain ...

Akai Professional announces the LPD8 laptop pad controller and LPK25 laptop performance keyboard controller. The LPD8 and LPK25 will make their debut at Akai Professional's booth, number 400, at the Summer NAMM Show held at the Nashville Convention Center, July 17 — 19.

The LPD8 and LPK25 are USB-MIDI controllers for musicians, producers, DJs and other music creators. Each model is less than 13 inches across and weighs less than a pound to easily fit into a laptop case, backpack or messenger bag for extreme portability.

The LPD8 is based on Akai Professional's MPC line of iconic music product stations. While the smallest model, the MPC500 is quite portable, many producers prefer to work with software on their computer and the LPD8 gives their laptop the controls they prefer over a mouse and keyboard. The LPD8 has eight blue light-up pads that are velocity sensitive for programming rhythmic or melodic parts. The pads can also send program-change information to software. The LPD8 also has eight assignable Q-Link knobs to which users can assign virtually any parameters in their software for hands-on control.

The LPK25 is a scaled-down relative to the MPK series of keyboard performance controllers. The diminutive keyboard is made up of 25 miniature, velocity-sensitive keyboard keys with synth action. The LPK25 contains an arpeggiator, which steps through chords automatically, assisting musicians with creating quick melodic ideas. Sustain, octave up and down and tap tempo controls round out the LPK25's easy-to-learn layout.

Each controller works plug and play with Mac and PC and requires no software driver installation or wall power for operation. Both the LPD8 and LPK25 have four memory banks for programming and recalling settings appropriate to different software programs they use.

The LPD8 and LPK25 will be available from musical instrument and professional audio retailers Q3 2009.

Alesis announces the USB-MIDI Cable which is an handy cable that links MIDI instruments with computers via USB.

The USB-MIDI Cable is the latest addition to Alesis' AudioLink Series of problem-solving cables for musicians. The MIDI-to-USB cable has traditional male and female MIDI (DIN) connectors on one end and a USB connector on the other. Musicians can use the USB-MIDI Cable to control virtually any MIDI-compliant software using any hardware device with a MIDI output jack, such as a keyboard, drum pad or MPC.

The USB-MIDI Cable is class compliant for plug-and-play USB connectivity on Mac and PC, requiring no software-driver installation or external powering. Musicians can use the USB-MIDI Cable with virtually all music production, sequencing and recording software.

The USB-MIDI Cable will be available from musical instrument and professional audio retailers Q3 2009.

Akai announces the MPK61, the fourth model in the company's line of keyboard/MPC performance controllers. The MPK61 will make its debut at Akai Professional's booth, number 400, at the Summer NAMM Show held at the Nashville Convention Center, July 17 — 19.

The MPK61 is a keyboard performance MIDI controller that expands the popular MPK line. Each MPK controller combines a piano-style keybed with a bank of genuine Akai Professional MPC pads, assignable Q-Link controllers and some of the technologies from the icon MPC. Producers, performers and DJs will appreciate the MPK61's mix of 61 semi-weighted keys with aftertouch, 16 MPC pads with velocity and pressure sensitivity, 72 assignable Q-Link, MPC Note Repeat, MPC Swing and an arpeggiator. The MPK61's size is ideal for performers who need ...

With an engineering/mixing career spanning almost three decades, Chris Lord-Alge has worked alongside such artists as Green Day, U2, Tina Turner, James Brown, Nickelback, Rod Stewart, Santana, Steve Winwood, Celine Dion and many others. At the heart of his sound is a command of compression that gives each and every track he mixes its radio-ready punch. During the development process of CLA Classic Compressors, Lord-Alge worked closely with the Waves R&D team, resulting in impeccable models of four compressors considered true classics by audio engineers the world over.

CLA Classic Compressors consist of four plug-ins: the CLA-2A, the CLA-3A, the CLA-76 Blacky and the CLA-76 Bluey. These classic models grant users access to the same tools that Lord-Alge has used to help define hard-hitting rock and pop over the last several decades.

Steinberg is pleased to announce that the new multilingual Knowledge Base is now available to all registered MySteinberg users. Providing answers to frequently asked questions, effective problem-solving tips and other really useful information, the Knowledge Base currently contains all articles in English and German. Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch articles will be added over time to offer the information you're looking for in your own language.

MOTU has updated its beat production machine BPM to version 1.04, offering improvements, optimizations and refinements in the following areas :

Sequencer :
• Default velocity in the step sequencer.
• Entering and dragging notes in the piano roll sequencer when Snap To Grid is enabled.
• Deleting notes with Delete key in the piano roll sequencer.

Scene :
• Pasting shallow copied scene.
• Toggling Live mode.

Browser :
• Loading saved performance file containing audio files loaded via the browser.

This update is free for all registered users.

Universal Audio today announced the addition of Trident Audio Developments to its roster of premium plug-in partners. The "Trident" name, by way of parent company PMI Audio Group, is famous not only as the now-legendary UK studio that produced a litany of classic recordings, but also as the manufacturer that spawned incredible console designs including the universally loved A-Range desk.

"It's well-understood by the audio production community throughout the world that Universal Audio is an unstoppable force in the circuit emulation business," said PMI President Alan Hyatt. "Their good faith to involve the olders of the original designs and trademarks shows respect to the IP owners and creative contributors such as Trident designer Malcolm Toft. We couldn't be happier to partner with a company so dedicated to getting every last detail right."

Universal Audio's President Matt Ward commented, "Universal Audio has always had a huge respect for the classic Trident designs, and of course Trident's sonic contribution to some of the best records ever made. We're very pleased to add Trident to the UAD product line, and I'm certain that our more than 30,000 users will agree."

"Trident's indelible impact on the sound of record making is nearly impossible to gauge. The consoles made available to Trident's staff, and the studios fortunate enough to acquire them, were legendary in both sound and reliability. Every record made on a Trident was uniquely and quite positively altered by the sonic imprint of its distinctive tone," said UA's Plug-In Product Manager Will Shanks. "It is exciting to offer this same tone on the UAD Powered Plug-In Platform."

New Atlantis Audio Releases Physical Therapy Volume 1, a unique Reason ReFill for $9.99 that helps raise money for charity.

The Real Unreal World
Physical Therapy is a unique collection of Combinators for Reason 4. Featuring exotic physically modeled mallet and percussion instruments infused with sounds of nature, this ReFill provides a diverse set of playable, musical and truly inspiring sounds for your music or film score projects.

Certified Organic
Physical Therapy places an arsenal of lush, organic tones in your hands. You'll find rich wood marimbas, exotic glass bells, dramatic metal chimes, powerful percussion kits and beautiful nature field recordings, all brought to life as playable instruments with the power of the Combinator.

With 54 Combinators, 25 NN-19 instruments, 6 ReDrum kits and 4 long-play nature field recordings, this diverse collection of 24 bit instruments are sure to breathe new life into any track.

For a Good Cause
As part of our ongoing commitment to relief, a portion of sales will be given to charity.

Get the instant download for $9.99 at :

Camel Audio has updated the sample manipulation synthesizer Alchemy to v1.10 and released over 200 free sounds for registered users of Alchemy and the add-on soundbanks.

The factory content has been expanded with almost 150 purer and less experimental sounds, the Electronic bank now has an additional 35 dance sounds and the Atmospheric bank has 30 extra smooth pads and soundscapes. The presets were specially commissioned from sound designers Robert Rich, Luftrum, Lotuzia, bManic, Adam van Baker, Ugo, Ole Jeppesen, Martin Walker, Jim Hunter, Paul Nauert and Christian Kjeldsen.

Alchemy v1.10 has numerous enhancements and fixes including right-click context sensitive help, ability to analyse files up to 5 mins in length, an easier to use file import dialog including scroll wheel support ...

Empirical Labs has just announced that its brand new unit EL9 "Mike-E" is now shipping.

The Mike-E is a modern digitally-controlled Microphone Preamplifier chocked with unusual features to warm and soften the source, along with an excellent compressor/limiter. Mike-E offers an incredible performance transformer-coupled mic preamp, whose noise floor is far below any microphone's self noise. The one-of-a-kind 'CompSat' section is an uncompromising compressor and saturator circuit that offers versatile 'coloring', and classic knee compression.

Mike-E's Seven Circuits :

1. Mic Preamplifier with super low noise & stepped gain switching.
2. Built in 'Direct Box', called the 'Inst In', offers unparalleled distortion, noise, and frequency response when pre-amping instruments.
3. 'Colored' 80Hz High pass filter emulates the warm low frequency cut of our favorite vintage equalizers.
4. Phase Switch to invert the audio signal 180 degrees.
5. CompSat offers both a musical Compressor/Limiter and a unique tape-like saturation circuit.
6. Emphasis high-frequency emphasis system softens high frequency 'pile-ups' and further the creamy color of the Mike-E.
7. Mix Control allows the blending of the Compressed/Saturated signal with the clean unprocessed "Dry" signal.

Mike-E is available now at a price of £1585/€1629.