Breakbeat scientist bitshift has created 40 MB of exclusive Apple Loops, available for free download, perfect for GarageBand and Soundtrack. And since Apple Loops are plain AIFFs, of course, you can load them into non-Apple Loops software like Ableton Live and loop them there, too. Best news: if you saw this item a few days ago, just tried the download and thanks to a new server it's downloading nice and fast! Opt-in for their mailing list and you'll get free software instruments, too. Enjoy!

Drums on Demand has released its Vol. 1 loop CD in Apple Loops format for use with GarageBand and Soundtrack. The collection includes nearly 900 live, acoustic drum loops organized into 41 "Song Sets" -- the song-based organization is includes as many as 33 verse, chorus, fill, bridge, break, intro, ending, and other loops, so that you can use the samples to easily build a song structure. Royalty free, with rock, pop, and country styles, 72-170 bmp, 24-bit 44.1Khz; list US$49.95.

In February 2004 the Traktor Final Scratch 1.1 software by Native Instruments will receive an update to version 1.5. This update includes important optimizations for Mac OS X , brings new drivers that have been specially optimized for Mac OS 10.3 "Panther" and Traktor FS 1.5 now offers the high-quality timestretching functionality of TRAKTOR DJ Studio 2.5.

This update will be available in February. For a limited time, it will be offered as a free download to all customers who purchased FS 1.1 after January 1st, 2004. All other customers can get the update as a 49 Euro direct download or an update CD for 79 Euro.

IK Multimedia has announced an update to 2.0.3 version of Sampletank. This update fixes bugs on Mac OS X (authorization window, search function), improves the stretch function and the SampleCell and Akai import process.

Updates for Mac OS 9 (5.3 Mb) and Mac OS X (4.9 Mb) are available on download on the IK Multimedia web site.

We're proud to introduce a MacMusic exclusive -- a music-themed comic from talented Mac animator William "Macboy" Levin, created just for us. Talk to the creator by hitting the comment link. Tune in for the next comic next Monday, same MacMusic time, same MacMusic channel. -PK