PC and Music News

HV Synth Design has released the Acoustic Modeled FluteCollection which contains a Bass Flute, C (concert) Flute and Piccolo. The instruments are created with SynthMaker and based on a unique modeling method, called Eclectic Acoustic Synthesis.

Features :

- Very realistic flute sounds.
- Note range: 3 octaves.
- Like real flutes, you can 'blow' the models from very soft to very loud with an increment of brightness (the high frequencies become more and more prominent). This is done via modulation wheel or breath controller.
- The C (Concert) Flute can also be played as Jazz Flute, by modifying the bore and adding a lip thrill.
- Low CPU load.

Controls :

- Breath Pressure: ModWheel or Breath Controller.
- Breath Noise (MIDI Learn).
- Vibrato (amplitude and/or pitch).
- EQ.
- Fine tuning.
- Lip Thrill (MIDI Learn) (C Flute only).
- Bore modification (C Flute only).

The Acoustic Modeled FluteCollection is available now for Windows in VST and Standalone versions at a price of $139.

On top of that, HV Synth Design has also announced that trial versions of all its plug-ins are now available (FluteCollection, TrumpetCollection and LowBrassCollection).

Step into the Chiller's Joint. New from the pristine Ueberschall Nouvelle series comes a distinctive downtempo collection. Chillers Joint is heavily influenced by 60s and 70s soundtracks, Soul, Funk, Dub and Jazz. Garnished with modern Downtempo Hiphop and electronic flavours. Highlights include 20 relaxed c-kits, each over a minute long, all including intros/outros verses and refrains with over 1,100 loops. Tonal diversity is accented by custom recordings of pure vintage drum and instrumental phrases, grooves as well as atmospheric terrains.

This collection contains a lavish variety of :

• vintage drum grooves,
• electric piano licks,
• live played basslines, guitars,
• vibes,
• percussion,
• strings,
• horns,
• synths,
• soundscapes, ambiances, air and fx.

Also included in the set are divided drumloops (bassdrum, snare, hihat loops) and a wealth of single sounds to aid in easy assembly of fresh, organic, chillout styled mixes. Design with peace of mind using the bundled Elastik players powerful mix and match options. Fine tune, filter, tempo sync, chop and re-sort, reverse and other effect essentials come standard.

Chillers Joint is available now for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a retail price of $119/€99/£69.

As E-MU prepares the release of its next generation Emulator X3 Streaming Sampling Synthesizer software, they have released, for free, the full version of the Proteus VX Software Sound Module software which includes the enhanced v2.0.1 Proteus X Composer Bank (a special E-MU tweaked version of the Composer bank) that can be used in all versions of the Proteus X or Emulator X software.

For more information, please visit the link below :

Behringer unveils the new U-CONTROL UMA25S, a super-slim controller keyboard with a fully fledged USB audio interface.

Features :

- Ultra-slim design
- 25 velocity-sensitive keys
- 8 assignable rotary controllers, pitch bend, mod wheel and transport controls
- Stereo USB audio interface with mic and line level inputs
- Headphone with boom mic included
- Gig bag and strap included
- DC, battery or USB powered
- Ships with energy/XT2 Compact BEHRINGER Edition DAW software and 100 plug-ins
- Mac and Windows (XT and Vista) compatible

US MSRP - $189.99

De la Mancha has announced the release of version 2.0 of pitchfork which is now multi-band.

pitchfork is a 3 band pitch shifter / modulator, covering everything from subtle doubling to total pitch destruction. Each band can be shifted in pitch and has its own tempo sync LFO for modulation madness or subtle wandering. You can split the bands into low, mid and high ranges, or leave all 3 as full spectrum bands to double or treble up the original audio.

Features :

- 3 bands, can be split into low/mid/high frequencies or full spectrum
- each band can be shifted and modulated independantly by it's own shifter/LFO
- shift each band by +/- 36.00 semitones
- tempo sync LFOs from 1/16th to 32 beats
- LFOs have 20 waveforms with PWM for pulse and smoothing for random
- LFO gives further modulation by +/- 36.00 semitones
- LFO phase adjustment +/- 360 degrees
- mute each band for sound design
- midi CC's assigned to each control

pitchfork is available now for Windows in VST format and is priced at $15.

ReFX has just released Nexus² which comes with over 70 new features and improvements. Here are most important ones :

- Expansion Dance Vol.2 already included! - 128 new presets, 500 MB of new samples
- Three skins (Black 'evil', Black 'good' and Cobalt) included for free
- New FX: analog phaser from Arts Acoustic - up to 16 stages. Smooth as silk
- New FX: stereo enhancer - widen or narrow the stereo field
- Feature Matrix: layers can be switched on/off separately
- New section: oscillator mix level
- Oscillators can be switched on/off separately
- Volume- and pan-control for each oscillator

Nexus² is available now for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a price of €299.99 / $349.99. Upgrades are available. Note that a Syncrosoft eLicenser (dongle) is now required and can be purchased from reFX if you don't already have one.