Tascam has announced that they are ceasing development of Gigastudio products, which includes the GVI engine. An official statement from the company states, "TEAC America, Inc. will cease further development of Gigastudio and Gigastudio related products as of July 21, 2008. Product sales and technical support will continue through the end of the year."

This comes as sour news not only for GigaStudio users (especially those who have recently purchased GigaStudio 4), but also to software developers who have licensed GigaStudio programs for their own products.

It sounds like Tascam is getting out of the software business completely. If you check their web site, the product category for software is completely empty, and everything Giga-related is now in the legacy software category.

In response, a petition to pass on the torch and make GigaStudio code open source has been started at OpenGigaStudio.com. To sign the petition you just have to leave a comment.

Tone2 has just released Warmverb Multi-FX, a new modular multi effect plug-in with routable modules and 35 types of effects.

Do you want to flange a feedbacked reverb tail and pass it through a vocoder ? Warmverb is a multi effect unit which gives you the flexibility to create unique custom effects in high-end sound quality.

Features :

- High-end quality reverb algorithms.
- 150 professional factory sounds.
- 35 different effect modules (reverbs, delays, vocoder. phaser, flanger, pitch shifter, chorus, etc...)
- Modular design.
- Feedback module.
- Real stereo architecture.
- Smart sleep: Low CPU mode.
- 8x oversampling.
- Anti-aliasing.
- 64 bit processing.
- 22-192 kHz sample rate supported.

Warmverb Multi-FX is available now for Windows in VST format at a price of $79.

MXL (a division of Marshall Electronics) is pleased to announce the introduction of the MXL Studio 1 portable USB condenser microphone for the home recording market. The Studio 1 is the latest addition to the line of existing USB microphones from MXL.

Unlike other products that require mixers, preamps, or expensive studio gear, USB condenser microphones are "Plug & Play". The MXL Studio 1 does not require any special drivers and is compatible with any PC or Mac computer.

The Studio 1 features a large two-micron diaphragm condenser capsule with a 40 Hz-20 kHz frequency response. The digital section features a 16-bit Delta Sigma A/D converter with available sampling rates of 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz. A red LED light behind the protective grill indicates that the microphone is active and correctly oriented toward the user. The Studio 1 also has an integrated headphone jack which provides zero latency monitoring and clear audio playback. This zero latency feature provides a more accurate recording when doing voiceovers and Internet recording such as podcasts, interviews, and personalized radio or playlists.

The MXL Studio 1 includes a hard black plastic carrying case, desktop microphone stand / adapter, 10-foot USB cable, user's manual, and application guide. The expected street price is $99.95 with a MSRP of $129.95.

Native Instruments has just released Traktor 3.4 and Traktor Scratch 1.3, free software updates that equip both products with refined functionality.

They both now offer full Unicode support, allowing for file names and tags in nearly any international script and language including Japanese, Mandarin, Hebrew, Cyrillic and others. Both versions are also based on a revised high-performance audio engine that offers many functional advantages including hot-plugging and instant switching for audio interfaces, WASAPI support for Windows Vista and more.

Other improvements include increased tracking precision for scratching in relative mode, a new intelligent "Tracking Alert" function that gives early warning for adverse conditions like worn-out needles, enhanced MIDI controller handling and a large number of detail optimizations and fixes.

Both updates are available as free downloads for all registered users. For more information, please visit their web site.

Puremagnetik has released Vector - a new collection of Live Racks that turns Ableton Live 7 into a wave sequencing instrument reminiscent of the legendary KORG Wavestation. Vector includes a library of wave sequences, attack transients and vector morphing as found on the original. Users can load up any of the 50 included patches and performances or create their own unique presets from the library of included waveforms.

For more information, please visit their web site.

Roland has also announced shipment of the new ARX-01 and ARX-02 expansion boards for the Fantom-G series. Each ARX board is a synth with its own processor, graphics, and DSP, powered by Roland's proprietary SuperNATURAL sound technology for "organic, emotional expression".

The ARX-01 is dedicated to drum sounds. Once each drum is crafted, you can further refine it with the built-in compressor/EQ, reverb, powerful multi-effects, and an onboard mixer for adjusting the volume and pan position.

The ARX-02 turns your Fantom G workstation into an electric piano. You can change the position of the pickup, and choose from five amp models with dynamic control. Volume and tone change smoothly and realistically, based on the strength of the keyboard performance.

For more information, please visit their web site.