The X1 by sE Electronics is a new large diaphragm condenser microphone which is hand built in sE's own facility in Shanghai like all their products. It features a 10dB pad and a bass cut.

The X1 will be available in December at a price of €120.

The Plugin Discounts website has published a teaser about a new reverb plug-in... We don't actually have any details, just a picture which looks like a Lexicon 480 reverb.

Wait and see...

Propellerhead has announced the immediate availability of Reason Soul School ReFill for Reason. This ReFill explores the classic sounds coming out of three of soul's biggest capitals: Detroit, Memphis and Cincinnati.

The Soul School ReFill sample library features twelve unique soul and funk instrumentals with all their musical elements – bass, drums, guitars and horns - in Propellerhead's tempo-independent REX format, as well as a collection of the 60's and 70's-sounding instruments multisampled for use with Reason's NN-XT sampler and Combinator device. Reason users will find the library organic sounding and extremely flexible; they can use the ReFill as a starting point for song creation, play their own tracks from the instruments or add "classic spice" to any style of music.

Composed exclusively for this ReFill and recorded using the finest in vintage technology, all material was played live by funk-savvy session musicians simultaneously, without overdubs, for that genuine feel.

The Reason Soul School ReFill is available exclusively for download through Propellerhead's web shop at a price €79/$99.

Sugar Bytes has updated Artillery to version 2.1. This update includes several bug fixes/improvements and four new effects :

• Timestretch: Stretches your audio tracks and shrinks your editing time.
• PitchLooper: Pitchshifting combined with a looper.
• Scratch Looper: Scratching on highest level.
• Reverb HQ: High quality reverb algorithm at the usual low CPU charge.

On top of that, Sugar Bytes has also announced some "Christmas Special Deals" :

• Buy 3 - Pay 2 : When you purchase three Sugar Bytes products, the cheapest one is free.
• Unique cheaper : Sugar Bytes' Unique Synthesizer is now available for €99 / $129.
• Sugar Bundle cheaper : The Sugar Bundle is now available for €399 / $599.

U-he presents ACE (Any Cable Everywhere), a new modular virtual synth.

According to u-he, ACE delivers top quality sound at a highly competitive price. The selection of modules and clear layout make ACE the ideal instrument for newcomers delving into the fascinating world of modular synthesis. The number of ways to connect modules together is practically infinite, and you will soon discover how much more fun it is to make your own sounds in ACE than in a non-modular synthesizer.

Details :

• ETA: early December 2009
• pricing: 69EUR (includes 19% VAT, ca. 85 USD net when bought from overseas)
• formats: VST on Windows, VST/AU/RTAS on MacOS X
• system requirments Mac: Apple Macintosh Computer running MacOS X 10.4+ on a G4 processor or newer, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• system requirments Win: VST2 compatible host software on a PC with SSE2 supporting processor, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• number of presets and such: tba
• fun factor: high !

Cartec is a new British company that has stepped up to fight in the 'clone wars' with their version of the classic Pultec EQ. After a conversation at Olympic studios in London regarding their Pultecs and the noise/maintenance issues Liam Carter set out to build a no compromise alternative.

The Cartec EQP-1A features :

• All valve gain stage and valve power rectification
• Transformer balanced input and output (authentic hand-wound British Sowter models)
• Point-to-point wiring (no circuit boards inside) and hand assembled in England
• Sealed switches and control pots (military grade Grayhill and PEC models respectively)
• JJ ECC83s, ECC82 and United Electronic CV4005 rectifier valves
• 150mm deep aluminium chassis/engraved aluminium faceplate
• Custom made knobs by Davies molding (Manufacturer of the original Pultec knobs)

The Cartec EQP-1A is priced at £1955.