Native Instruments has just released Urban Arsenal, the latest entry in the Kore Soundpack range. Created in collaboration with established urban music producers and sound designers, Urban Arsenal provides a "versatile assortment of professional hip-hop grooves, drum kits and instrument sounds" for use in KORE 2 and the free KORE PLAYER software instrument.

Urban Arsenal is available for download purchase in the NI Online Shop for a suggested retail price of $119 / 99 EUR.

Puremagnetik has released Metalsphere, a sound design toolox of intense soundscapes, suspenseful textures and horrific environments.

Conveniently packaged into 2 multisampled menus of the most nightmarish proportions, Metalsphere contains a huge array of sonic possibilities. With up to four individual distorted and layered sound sources, users can easily tailor their individual textures and signal levels. Sound designers, film composers and producers alike can each find something in this colorful palette of amiences.

System Requirements:
Requires Aleton Live 7, Logic 8 or Kontakt 3
'500 MB of physical RAM
1 GigaByte (GB) of free hard disk space

Overloud has updated its high-quality reverb plug-in Breverb to version 1.5.

Changes :

- New set of dynamic, level driven, parameters.
- Standalone version both for Mac OS X and Windows.
- New additional presets.
- Improved automation on the 6 sliders.
- Improved stability of RTAS Mac.

Of course this update is free for all registered users.

Sonnox has just released the Windows VST version of its new plug-in - Oxford SuprEsser.

The Oxford SuprEsser is both a very highly-featured professional De-Esser and a Dynamic EQ. There is a simple mode for quick fixes, but also an advanced mode for increased functionality and fine-tuning. The combination of an intuitive FFT display and three listen modes enables the user to easily see and hear exactly where the problem frequencies are, allowing the rapid reduction or removal of the offending audio. As well as being able to trigger the full band compression, only the offending frequencies can be carefully carved out. Since the SuprEsser can operate at all frequencies, 'plosives' and other annoyances can also be removed effortlessly, making it more than a simple De-Esser. Additional features include Automatic Level Tracking, Linear Phase Filtering and a Wet/Dry blend control for final balancing.

The Oxford SuprEsser is available for Windows in VST format at a retail price of £180. A 15-day demo version is available.

Steinberg has just announced the release of Sequel 2, a new version of its entry-level music studio designed for newcomers to music production. This version introduces new features, including a hardware Controller Learn mode, Track Freeze, a virtual keyboard, Track Icons and many more.

Sequel 2 is available now for both Mac OS X and Windows at a retail price of €99. Updates from the previous version are available exclusively from Steinberg's online store for €29.00.

Created by Omer Yosha, the AirPiano is an innovative musical interface which allows playing and controlling software instruments simply by moving hands in the air.

Above the AirPiano is a virtual matrix of keys and faders, each assigned with MIDI messages and ready to be triggered. The length of a triggered note is equivalent to the time a hand is placed on the corresponding virtual key. This is also confirmed by LED feedback. The AirPiano Software allows easy setup, loading/saving presets and transposing notes.

The AirPiano is still in its prototype phase and its concept of a virtual matrix might eventually be used for other applications and purposes. The AirPiano concept is filled as a Provisional U.S. Patent Application (Number: 60/989,986).

Specifications: Polyphonic, MIDI protocol, Up to 24 keys / 8 faders, USB connectivity

Note that video examples are available by following the link below :