PC and Music News

Tascam has announced three recording bundles designed to "supply musicians with the tools they need to make great recordings".

The Track Pack T1 combines the US-122L audio interface with a dynamic microphone, headphones and Cubase LE4 recording software. The Track Pack T2 matches the US-144 interface with Tascam's new TM-78 condenser microphone. The Field Pack pairs the DR-1 portable recorder with the TM-ST1 stereo microphone.

Pricing :

- Track Pack T1 sells for $299 MSRP/$179 street.
- Track Pack T2 sells for $369 MSRP/ $199 street
- Field Pack sells for $498 MSRP/$349 street.

Sonoris Audio Engineering has just announced the release of Sonoris Dither, a professional, high quality audio plugin for mastering purposes.

With this plugin you can quantize audio to a lower bitdepth with dither and/or noiseshaping. The dithertype is selectable between TPDF and High Pass (HP) TPDF. TPDF is short for Triangular Probability Densitity Function, a form of dither that eliminates non-linear distortion during re-quantization and has no signal modulation artifacts.

The noiseshaping can be set to three flavors: Curve A, B and C or "Off". It is also possible to set noiseshaping without dither.

The output bitdepth can be set to 16 and 20 bit or "Off" for no quantization.

Sonoris Dither is available now for both Mac OS X and Windows in VST format and is priced at $75.

Native Instruments has just released Absynth Twilights, the latest entry in the series of Kore SoundPack libraries.

Highly suitable for film and game scoring as well as for various electronic music styles, the new collection offers 200 pads and soundscapes based on the Absynth synthesizer. Originally created by Camel Audio / Biomechanoid, all sounds in Absynth Twilights take full advantage of the powerful sound shaping and preset browsing features in Kore 2 and the free Kore Player.

Absynth Twilights is available for download purchase in the NI Online Shop for a suggested retail price of $59/€49. More information including audio demos can be found at :

Soniccouture has released Bowed Piano, a new sampled instrument for EXS24 and Kontakt.

First suggested by the composer Curtis Curtis-Smith in 1972, the Bowed Piano technique uses flexible bows made from monofilament nylon fishing-line which are then coated in rosin. The nylon is threaded under the strings, and the performer can coax a sustained tone from the piano.

The Soniccouture Bowed Piano instrument was recorded using a 9 foot Baldwin Grand, a popular model with Bowed practitioners. Each key has alternate samples to prevent repetition of attack transients, and there are 3 articulations per key — Normal bowing, Hard bowing, and short, staccato bows. The Normal and Hard samples are looped long, for infinite sustain. When playing, you can crossfade from normal to hard bowing using the mod-wheel, and the staccato bows are activated via a keyswitch.

Features :

- 1.6 GB Sampled Instrument
- 24 bit Stereo 44.1 Recording
- 9' Baldwin Grand Piano
- Multiple Articulations
- Alternate Round Robin Layers
- Convolution Reverb From Piano Cabinet Kontakt 2 / 3 or Logic EXS24 Required

Bowed Piano is available now fand is priced at £49 (download) / £52 (DVD). Audio examples are also available at the following address :

Yamaha presents the Pocketrak CX, a new compact pocket recorder equipped with big diameter and high sensitivity 90° X- Y microphone.

Unlike his "big brother", the Pocketrak 2G, this new device works with micro SD or micro SDHC cards. The included re-chargeable "eneloop" AA battery makes 22 hours continuous recording in CD-quality. The "eneloop" battery does not suffer from the self-discharge problems of similar batteries - so it will be ready for at any time.

You can connect the Pocketrak CX to a computer with the enclosed USB cable. High performance DAW software Cubase AI4 customized for exclusive Yamaha is bundled. A variegated play-back function is built into, and plenty of accessories provides a big conveniences for you.

Features :

- Memory micro SD-Card / micro SDHC-Card
- Recording format 16 Bit, 44,1/48 kHz, Linear PCM / MP3 Stereo 32 kbps, 64 kbps, 128 kbps, 192 kbps, 320 kbps
- Playback MP3, WMA, WAV, PDDRM-WMA
- Built in 90°X-Y stereo microphone
- Battery 1x AA Alkali battery or 1x AA "eneloop" battery
- Battery life ("eneloop") MP3: 40 hours, PCM: 22 hours
- "eneloop" recharge: 220 minutes
- Inputs Mic / Line (stereo mini φ3.5mm)
- Outputs Earphone / Line (stereo mini φ3.5mm)
- Computer connector USB 2.0
- Monitoring integrated loudspeaker or enclosed earphone
- Dimensions / Weight (Width x Height x Depth) 4,65 x 12,95 × 1,75 cm / 92 gram
- Accessories Stereo earphone, USB cable, AA "eneloop" rechargeable battery, Wind screen, 2GB micro SD card, CUBASE AI4 DVD, Carring case, owners manual, Microphone stand adaptor

Price and avaibility TBA.

The Vienna Symphonic Library has added plenty of new download products to its web shop.

47 brass and woodwind instruments in the categories of Flutes & Reeds, Clarinets & Bassoons, Saxophones, Horns & Tubas and Trumpets & Trombones are now available instantly and wherever on the planet users might need them — provided they have Internet access, a credit card, and a ViennaKey.

Prices start at €60.