The Recording Industry Association of American has announced that it will award Gold and Platinum status to downloaded music. The RIAA will require sales of 100,000 copies for Gold Award and 400,000 downloads for Platinum Award.

M-Audio announced the release of Mac OS X driver for its audio and Midi FireWire interface FW 1814. This driver is the initial release of the 1814 OS X Driver.

More info and download on MacMusic soft section.

Beta Monkey Music Releases Double Bass Mania: Drum Loops for Metal and Hard Rock
Loud. Double Bass Mania offers 13 different "groove folders" dedicated to double kick-fueled brutality: blastbeats, classic 80's metal 16th note grooves, mid-tempo nu-metal riffs, triplet grooves, and flurry after flurry of fills. In all, 697 MB worth of "acidized" .WAV format loops as well as single hit drum and cymbal samples. Enough pounding percussion to satisfy even the most die-hard metalhead for months, so play loud!

1040 (697 MB) original, license-free drum loops and drum/cymbal samples. All loops and samples are "acidized" 16/44 .wav format loops.

LinPlug is proud to release version 2.2 of the Alpha Classic Synthesizer. the version 2.2 has been released, featuring more than 750 presets and many detail enhancements.
Alpha Classic Synthesizer update features: available as Audio Unit , oscillators that can run in "Free mode" ( don't have to be synced to Note On), improved Spread (polyphonic unisono), improved oscillators and improved filters.

Alpha Classic costs 59 Euro in the EU, 59 US-$ outside the EU, and the upgrade is free.

M-Audio announced that Keystation 49e and Keystation 61es Midi keyboards are now shipping. These two models are Usb compatible, with 49 and 69 notes, and Mac OS 9.1/Mac OS X compatible.

Keystation 49e costs 119 euros and Keystation 61es costs 199 euros.