PC and Music News

Sonnet Tech launches the new ExpressCard 34 card allowing any MacBookPro or PC laptop (with and ExpressCard port) to benefit from 2 additionals firewire 400 ports and one USB2 port. Available from october, this card will only cost EUR 65.

BandmateLoops unveiled three new Sounds Like Drums Universal Virtual Instruments today. SLD's Hip Hop/RnB Kit offers multiple styles of Hip-Hop drums in one package. Firstly, the SLD 808 set provides classic emulation of the legendary drum machine. This
set is a powerful hybrid of real drum samples and synthesized sounds. Secondly, The Old School set provides the perfect backdrop for traditional Hip-Hop tracks, offering classic Hip-Hop sound. Finally, the RnB Kit is ideal for contemporary RnB sound. (ala Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, etc.)

Each kit utilizes a one-hundred percent analog recording process. The result is sound with a warmth and richness that is simply not achievable with even todays digital recording. Supported instrument formats include Mac and PC versions of Kontakt 2, Reason and others.

Audio Impressions has updated their website with down loadable demos and the latest information on their Realtime Strings Powered by DVZ. Consisting of 70-Stradivarius and other prized instruments this amazing library offers natural orchestral balance and audiophile quality that result in a realism never before heard in a virtual instrument.

Change the size of an ensemble from a soloist to a full symphony or anything in between while continuously controlling the acoustic environment and instrument location in real-time all with intelligent articulations all controlled by a single intuitive user interface.

Realtime Strings is ideal for anyone using computers to create music for television, film, live theater and for use in music education.

McDSP has discontinued sales of individual LE products. For existing LE customers, McDSP is for the first time ever, offering the chance to upgrade individual LE plug-ins to Native for $195. Individual Native products have never been offered before, so take this opportunity and upgrade your LE plugs to Native.

Native products are full version plugs that are RTAS /AS compatible. Only individual LE sales have been discontinued, the Project Studio Bundle is still available, containing all LE products for $495.

Apogee Electronics Corporation released an update to their X-HD option card to provide better integration with Pro Tools HD.

The X-HD v.2 option allows for direct connectivity between Pro Tools HD systems and Apogee's AD-16X, DA-16X, and Rosetta 800 and 200 series converters, providing superior quality conversion to Pro Tools HD users without the need for an additional interface.

The X-HD v.2 release changes Apogee hardware emulation in Pro Tools to better support I/O setup and auto delay compensation without compromising channel counts or converter configurations.

ReFX has just updated Nexus to version 1.3.6.

Features :

- RTAS compatability. Made a few minor modifications to help our wrapper. Note: The RTAS wrapper has to be downloaded separately but it has not been released yet. It will be available within 24 hours if everything goes as planned.
- The Chorus master-FX now has an additional parameter "width". For old presets and projects this parameter is set to '0' .

Fixes :

- The voice-stealing was broken and wouldn't work most of the time resulting in increased CPU-usage because of the extra voices playing.
- When using Cakewalk hosts (Sonar & Project 5) the arpeggiator wouldn't re-start once interrupted.
- Improved startup-performance when using a different GUI-skin than the default white one.

This update is free for registered users.