For the "lunch box" frantics, LaChapell presents a small imprint vacuum tube preamp the 583s. The input stage is based on the company 992EG platform in single-ended form coupled with high quality Burr-Brown and THAT Corporation output drivers. The 583s will be able to deliver 70dB of gain with a typical non-weighted EIN of -120dB referencing 150 ohm load. Equipped with one 12AX7/ECC83 tube and a frequency response of 12 Hz to 70 kHz, the 583s utilizes the Cinemag CMMI-10 or the optional Jensen JT-115k input transformer and features a max output of >26dBu.

A mysterious 583e is on the way…

The 583s is shipping and available for $1,249

Blue Cat Audio is realeasing an update for its all-in-one dynamics processing DirectX and VST plugin for windows. This new version of Dynamics includes improved skin loading speed, improved user interface performance, improved the display of parameters values in the MIDI settings panel and the host application.

Blue Cat Audio is realeasing also a new version of its spectrum analysis DirectX and VST plugins for windows. What's new: undo/redo support, load/save presets in a host-independent format: you can now share presets between the directX and VST versions, new toolbar, improved skin loading speed, improved user interface performance, it is now possible to choose wether displayed curves are filled or not, improved the display of parameters values in the MIDI settings panel and the hos ...

Bitter Sweet II is an improved version of the previous Bitter Sweet. The transient processing doesn't depend anymore of the signal level. Three new parameters have been added to allow a tighter control of the transients. Three transient durations can now be selected and a varying period of integration for transients processing can be accessed and a link function sets the output gain depending of the processing amount.

Pettinhouse has announced DirectGuitar 2.0, a new version of the first guitar sample library direct recorded for amp simulators. Highlights include new articulations (Slap, Palm Muted, strum, Metal and more), Round Robin up/down strokes, key switching (Slide Up/Down, Blues, Jazz, Rock Licks; Trill; Harmonics; Chords; Strum noises), and new release noises (Pick noises, Hand noises).

Works with Mac OSX and Windows XP operating systems, and NI Kontakt 2.2 sample format.

X-ISM is a state of the art VST/AU plug-in which can interpret inter-sample peaks, allowing engineers to make informed judgements about the resultant sound quality of the mix.

There is currently a trend in the in the audio industry known euphemistically as 'The loudness war' in which the engineering process is driven to produce a product which is as loud as is technically possible within the constraints of the medium. Debate rages as to whether this produces problems that degrade and distort the audio. One reason for this distortion is often blamed on the presence of 'inter-sample peaks', where signals that are usually missed by the Fs sampling of DAW meters, may actually exceed 0dBfs in reconstruction from digital to analogue domain in some Digital to Analogue Converters (DACs).

X-ISM uses significant processing to provide a combination of up-sampling and filtering that mimics the operation of an oversampling DAC's reconstruction process. The result is a meter that shows inter-sample errors and provides a useful tool that most DAW metering misses.

The plug-in is available in VST, AU and RTAS formats making it compatible with virtually all audio software currently available on both PC and Mac.

Sonicccouture has made their popular VA Brush Kit product available for free download. The 150mb Drum kit features mixable direct and ambient microphones, Drum roll emulation via the Roll Control KSP script, multiple velocity layers and articulations. The kit was recorded at Peter Gabriels Real World Studios in Bath, England.

Brush kit is available in Kontakt 2 + 3, Battery 2 + 3 format, and is taken from the larger VA Drums drum library.