Mathijs Indesteege aka Mathew Lane has announced the release of DrMS, a spacial processor plug-in which presents a new way to approach the manipulation of stereo audio.

Based on MS (Mid-Side) processing, DrMS splits the stereo signal into four sections rather than the normal two, giving you new levels of control: zoom in, add depth, change width or any combination and more. Each of the four sections has a resonant high pass filter to clean up the lows and a tilt equalizer to soften the highs, plus a sample-based delay line to slightly shift the signal against the other sections. The level and combination of the different sections will result in various changes of the stereo field.

The flexible controls ensure a wide range of applications, both for mixing and mastering as well as for post production. Use DrMS for tasks going from simple MS encoding/decoding, over stereo field and depth enhancement, to fixing mono compatibility issues and more.

For easy A/B comparison between original and processed signal, an autogain circuit is build in to ensure a level matched output.

DrMS is available now as AU/VST2/RTAS plug-in on Mac OSX and as VST2/RTAS plug-in on Windows for a fee of 25€ (ex. VAT). A demo version is also available.

Yesterday LinPlug has announced that it has reduced the license fees for both the LinPlug Organ 3 and the LinPlug Octopus plug-in instruments. They are now available for €99 (previously €129) / $129 (previously $149) each.

The upgrade from daOrgan to Organ 3 is now also €10 / $10 cheaper than before: €49 / $69.

Imagine a control surface with real knobs, sliders, real switches for your favourite sequencer, plug-in, virtual synth or whatever. Let me introduce you to SenseSurface, a working demonstration prototype from Girton Labs.

Applications that would normally use a mouse, Qwerty keyboard or MIDI controller can be now controlled with traditional knobs. The scroll bar on the right hand side of your computer screen can be controlled with a real slider button. SenseSurface can be used with most laptops with a USB input. The sensing knobs have a custom designed movement sensor to determine position within a range of 180 degrees with a 10 bit digital output, linearity typically 1%.

The magnetic knobs can be removed and repositioned immediately by picking them up and moving to a different part of screen. A unique sensing x/y matrix is attached to the rear of the laptop screen to detect the control's position. The distance of the sensor from the screen can also be detected.

The system is multitouch and scaleable , the number of controls on the screen is limited by the size of the screen. The screen can be at any angle. The SenseSurface should cost less than $100 in production.

Girton Labs is looking for interested business partners and manufacturers. For more information, please visit the link below :

Tune It! is a piece of software that helps musicians to tune their instruments. It can also be used to monitor the pitch during live performance. It is based on an original and very accurate pitch detection algorithm. It can tune a wide range of instruments such as guitar, bass, piano, flute, violin, saxophone, etc.

Available for both Mac and PC, it can be ran as a standalone application or as a plugin within a VST or AU host. The good news : Tune It! is totally free !

DSK Music has just announced the release of a new free VSTi : DSK Analog Matrix, an "Analog FM Synth" VST instrument plug-in for Windows.

Features :

- 2 OSC with 6 waveforms.
- Amp. Envelope.
- Octave & fine tuning.
- Advanced pulse modulation.
- 2 LFO with 6 waveforms.
- 2 Filter (4 modes).
- Osc 1/2 Balance.
- Osc sync.
- Velocity response knob.
- OSC & Filter route.
- 7x14 Matrix panel.
- 3 Effects: Chorus, Reverb & Drive.

Ableton Live 7 is now available absolutely free for 14 days. This is a great opportunity to test drive the new Ableton instruments or discover the new features and functions in Ableton Live 7.

The trial version includes :

- Ableton Live 7
- Sampler, Operator, Electric, Analog, Tension
- Extensive built-in step-by-step tutorials
- Localized software menus, tutorials, and PDF reference manuals

Try out all the features, including save and export, for 14 days by following the link below.

Note that each session requires connecting to the Ableton server to activate saving and exporting.