PC and Music News

De la Mancha has just released erratic 2, a new commercial version of its drum sample player.

erratic 2 is a drum sample player with many randomising and velocity sensitive options to make any drum pattern sound different on each loop. It can be used to add realism or surrealism depending on how you want to set it up. At the core you have a 15 slot drum sampler with 6 velocity layers per slot, each layer can be played according to velocity, cycled (round-robin) or randomly triggered. To vary things up a bit you can determine the hit probability and hit repeat probability for each slot and add a random factor for the velocity, pan and swing for each hit.

In addition to the velocity layers, this update adds velocity-sensitive decay envelopes for volume & filter cut-off, as well as velocity sensitivity to pitch and filter cut-off. Another new feature is the hit repeat probability, with delay time, repeat velocity and velocity sensitive feedback. The step-sequencer is replaced by a more flexible MIDI / piano-roll triggering, which allows better management of note precision, long patterns and different time signatures. Improvements have been made to give 4 choke groups across all samples, better mute/solo options, sample reverse, sample normalisation, MIDI out, support for 32 bit wavs and more samples than ever before.

erratic 2 is available now as a VSTi for Windows and costs $39.

Native Instruments has just released a new software-only version of Kore 2, and also established more affordable pricing for the original Kore 2 version bundled with the hardware controller.

The new Kore 2 Software Edition is offered due to popular demand, and accommodates all musicians and producers who want to primarily combine Kore 2 with their existing MIDI controller equipment. The Software Edition provides the full functionality of the Kore 2 application, but leaves out the dedicated Kore hardware controller in favor of a more affordable price point. All owners of Kore 2 Software Edition will also have the option to add the Kore controller later on at any time as a separate purchase.

Kore 2 Software Edition is available now for a suggested retail price of $229 / €199. The suggested retail price of Kore 2 with hardware controller included has also been reduced to $449 / €399.

Ableton has released Designer Drums, an exclusive free Live pack with brand new presets for Operator users. It features classic analog drums, a number of innovative percussive sounds and dedicated drum racks for instant and intuitive beat-making.

For more information, please visit the link below :

SoundFonts.it has just released Type4, a simulation of a vintage "Type4" spring reverb unit.

Features :

- Four virtual springs with variable tension.
- Variable decay length.
- Variable dampening factor.
- Adjustable pre and post filtering.
- Adjustable timbre.
- Very low memory and CPU power needed.
- Easy MIDI-Learn feature.

Type4 is available now as a VST effect plug-in for Windows and has a list price of €19. It is currently available for the introductory price of €14 until the end of September.

M-Audio unveils the Studiophile DSM1 and DSM2 reference monitors with built-in DSP.

M-Audio engineers worked closely with their counterparts at sister company Digidesign to bring their experience to the Studiophile DSM series. The monitors feature an onboard DSP engine, which provides compensation for phase differences between the two drivers at the crossover point. The onboard DSP also manages a number of functions that enable users to tailor each speaker to their unique space and placement needs, for monitoring in any environment.

Features :

- 1" Teteron soft fabric, high-frequency dome with Neodymium magnet and ferrofluid cooling – accurate to 27kHz
- custom low-frequency driver with anodized aluminum cone provides low distortion (6.5" on DSM1, 8" on DMS2)
- onboard DSP manages the complex, 4th-order digital crossover for pristine imaging
- DSP-based EQ and Acoustic Space Controls optimize monitor for difficult acoustic environments
- bass-reflex port delivers controlled extended bass response
- high-density cabinet yields good damping and reduced acoustic interference
- professional digital inputs (up to 24-bit/192kHz): S/PDIF and AES
- balanced analog inputs: XLR and 1/4"
- bi-amplified with Class D power amps: 100 watts (low frequency) and 80 watts (high-frequency)

The Studiophile DSM1 and DSM2 monitors are expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2008 and carry an MSRP of $649.95 per unit and $749.95 per unit, respectively.

Ueberschall has announced the release of Club Électro, an Elastik Player-powered sample library that provides "synth groove fury and finesse". It features 28 construction kits which contain edgy minimal to maximal electronic club sounds. This collection combines an epic spectrum of sequences, deep lead sounds, resonant bass lines, pads, atmospheres and effects as well as hundreds of finely conditioned drum and percussion samples and loops.

Club Électro was developed with analog synth and signal processing gear of today and classics of yesterday. The instrumentation of this production was derived from synths such as Andromeda, Minimoog, Moog Voyager, Prophet 5, Oberheim OBMX and more.

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