Steinberg is proud to announce the return of The Grand with a third version. The Grand 3 is what Steinberg believes to be the epitome of virtual piano software.

The Grand 3 recreates the expressiveness, playability and sound of three of the world's finest and most famous grand pianos: Yamaha C7, Bösendorfer 290 Imperial and Steinway D. Additionally, the classical Yamaha CP80 Electric Grand as well as the charismatic vintage upright piano model by Nordiska Pianofabriken have been included to round out the palette of piano greatness.

Key features at a glance :

- Five top-flight piano models in one VST instrument
- Astoundingly authentic piano sound that comes courtesy of three of the world's finest, most expensive concert grand pianos
- Full-length sustain samples, no loops, with every key sampled individually at varying velocities
- Unrivaled dynamic response
- Amazingly authentic sustain pedal resonance, damper and hammer emulations, velocity adapts individually to suit your touch, style of play and keyboard's response
- Powerful options for tweaking tone and variable room simulations

The Grand 3 will be available in Q3 of 2009.

SPL is the first manufacturer to open their proprietary modular system for API 500 compatible modules.

"Our focus with the RackPack system has always been the modular idea, not a proprietary platform. It was great to find out that API is just as open-minded as we are to offer new choices for our customers." says SPL's CEO Hermann Gier.

The new SPL RACKPACK 500 frame offers eight module slots to host four SPL and four API 500 modules. Available in May.

Line 6 unveils its Relay G30 Wireless Guitar System, the first product from its forth-coming brand of digital wireless systems for guitar and bass.

Free of any frequency roll-off, Relay G30 has a broad frequency response of 10Hz – 20kHz, plus a dynamic range of 118 dB, at ranges of up to 30 meters.

Built for professional use, Relay G30 offers unequalled dependability. It avoids many kinds of signal interference by broadcasting over the 2.4GHz band. Plus, it employs exclusive signal protection technology for an additional layer of defense. Traditional wireless systems broadcast over congested UHF bands, and their signals may be forced to compete with interference generated by devices as far away as 160 kilometers, or more.

Relay G30 is approved for use in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia, and is expected to ship in June, 2009. Note that it won't be available in North America.

MSRP : €333.68 / £263.35.

The Miniak is the first synthesizer from Akai Professional developed in partnership with the Alesis synthesis team. The Miniak brings together Akai Professional's control feel with powerful DSP sound-generation technology.

The Miniak enables users to create programs with up to eight multi-timbral voices, each with three oscillators. The user can create interesting and unique sounds and take advantage of the synthesizer's more-than-600 preset sounds. Users can create complex and refined sounds using the Miniak's two multimode filters, three envelope generators, two LFOs, stereo effects and 40-band vocoder with gooseneck microphone. The Miniak also has a comprehensive sequencer with step and dynamic real time phrase sequencing, a drum machine/rhythm sequencer and an arpeggiator.

Users will appreciate the high-resolution, 24-bit balanced quarter-inch inputs and outputs for excellent sound quality. The Miniak has a 37-key semi-weighted keyboard with velocity sensitivity for all-in-one performance. It can also be used as a sound source for MPCs, computer software and keyboards via MIDI.

Miniak will be available from musical instrument and professional audio retailers Q3, 2009.

Novation unveils the successor to its ReMOTE SL.

The SL Mk II combines a semi-weighted Fatar 'fast touch' keyboard with a full DAW and plug-in control surface that visually feeds back all control information to the user. All knobs and faders are touch sensitive. By simply touching a control, all mapping information automatically appears on the 144 character LCD display. Back lit LED buttons and LED ringed encoders instantly show the status of controls. SL Mk II also includes full transport control, an XY "Xpression Pad", 8 drum pads, sprung pitch/mod joystick and a unique "Speed Dial" encoder, which enables the user to grab any parameter the cursor is positioned over. In addition to 25, 49 and 61 key versions, a keyboardless "Zero" will be available with longer-throw faders and a central crossfader.

Ultra-quick mapping of all 56 knobs, faders and buttons is managed by Novation's Automap 3 PRO software, which provides instant and intelligent control of all your music software. As well as extensive DAW control, parameters on VST and AU plug-ins can be assigned by simply touching the controller and clicking the parameter. Perhaps Automap 3 PRO's biggest asset is "Keystroke Assignment", this enables almost any QWERTY or ASCII keyboard shortcut (and combination shortcuts) to be instantly assigned to the SL Mk II controls.

SL Mk II will be available almost immediately. The 25-key and 61-key models are shipping worldwide, April 2009. Zero SL MkII and the 49-key model will follow shortly after. For further details and pricing, contact your local Novation distributor.

Sontronics presents a new active ribbon microphone called Delta.

The Delta has been designed to deliver the classic tonality of a traditional ribbon microphone, but with the added reliability and consistency that active electronics offer and rugged build to allow it to be used in live sound applications as well as the studio. This new microphone excels in miking electric guitar cabinets and is designed for applications ranging from subtle electro-acoustic finesse to shred-metal mayhem.

It features optimized sensitivity and 48V pre-amplified electronics to deliver solid audio consistency combined with a significant improvement in signal-to-noise compared with traditional transformer-based ribbon mics. The Delta has a 20Hz to 15kHz frequency response and can accept maximum SPLs of 135dB.

Before it reached production, the Delta was beta-tested by various studio producers and engineers, all of whom pushed the microphone to the max. Justin Smith, engineer for Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, states: "The Delta is amazing. It really handles anything you throw at it, from quiet, non-distorted guitar to balls-to-the-wall, amp-on-11 stuff. As soon as you have more, we want them."

The Delta comes in a rugged aluminium flightcase with its shockmount and is available immediately at a list price of $799.