PC and Music News

Modartt has releases its latest add-on, free for all Pïanoteq users : a CP-80, famous electro-acoustic piano, heard on numerous recordings of the 70's-80's (from Tony Banks to Tania Maria).

The add-on offers two versions :
First, the "CP-80 original", which is an attempt to be as close as possible to the original recorded instrument.
Second, the "CP-80 restored", which is an attempt to provide a 'virtual' restoration of the instrument renewing particularly the wounded strings which lacked the brilliance from brand new strings.

The 2.2.1 update is also available, which offers a 'flat' temperament that supports tuning of certain synthesizers with octaves having exact ratio 2.

BandmateLoops unveils the Sounds Like Drums Basket House Series and Electro Series of instrument Kits for iZotope's iDrum.

The SLD Basket House Serie features Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, House and other popular musical styles. The SLD Electro Series is built on extensive vintage analog recordings, with style-specific sculpting suited especially for Electro Pop, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), Glitch and DrumNBass.

Built from an ultra-large base of over 13,000 individual samples, each kit is precision recorded and offers 50 powerful patterns in one convenient package. Each Kit is premixed and supports 100% of iDrum's parameters for full customization and efficient beat production.

The SLD Basket House and Electro Series Kits are available 24/7 via electronic delivery for just $19.95 each.

The long awaited BFD2 is here. Redesigned from the ground up, its new easy to use interface give more power and control for shaping drums. It's fast and easy to set up and integrate into any DAW.

Recorded at AIR Studios in London, BFD2's sound library combines extreme realism with stunning sound quality, offering up to 55GB of rare, vintage, boutique and classic drumkits.

There's also a totally new mixer page, with flexible routing, submixing and built-in EQ, compressors and other effects.

Meanwhile, BFD2's Groove engine offers advanced editing, performance and humanization functions for creating realistic drum parts. You can even lay out a full song's drum track entirely within BFD2!

Some features :
-10 full kits, extra snares, cymbals, and more, recorded with multiple mic p ...

Cognitone, based in Hamburg, Germany, creates unusual programs that help with chords, scales and harmony and support the composition of original music.

The actual procedure of composing original music is rarely supported well. It usually requires a lot of experience, physical skills and a formal education in order to write a decent song, or setup an orchestral arrangement. When it comes to developing new ideas from scratch, the choice of tools is limited.

Cognitone's intelligent software companions simplify the early stages of the musical creation process. The first product, Harmony Navigator (MacOS X and Windows), is already available. The more comprehensive Music Prototyping Studio is intended for professional use and is announced for 2008.

The software can be purchased for 99 Euros on the vendor's website. A free 30-day trial version is available for download.

RME releases the RME DMC-842, the first multi-channel digital microphone controller. The manufacturer guarantees it to be the most flexible and most compatible AES42 interface available.

In addition to its role as an interface, the DMC-842 also acts as a power supply and control device for digital microphones according to the official AES42 standard (you can download a pdf HERE). Mode 1 and Mode 2, are currently supported by Neumann, Sennheiser and Schoeps, among others. In both modes control data for adjusting gain, polar patterns, hi-pass filter and compression settings can be sent to the microphones.
Using the same interface connec ...

Alesis has announced immediate availability of the M1 Active 320 USB, combining USB audio playback and USB audio input for computers.

The speakers are not only audio monitors but also an audio interface. You can directly plug any pro hardware (keyboards, mic pre's, guitar effects, DJ mixers, CD and tape players, etc.) into the line input jacks on the M1 Active 320 USB in order to record them (no special drivers required).

Features include:

- USB 1.1 audio interface
- 16-Bit /44.1-48 kHz recording and playback
- Pro-grade 1/4" plugs and standard RCA jacks
- TRS Headphone output
- Stereo 1/8" TRS mini-jack input
- Stereo RCA inputs
- 1/8" TS output to passive speaker
- Switchable power supply
- Magnetically shielded for placement near TV and computer monitors.
- etc.