PC and Music News

FXpansion has released just a few screenshots on their official forum... and nothing else except those words :

"BFD2 is more CPU efficient, depending on how you use it. We've added a lot of new features and unfortunately things like component modelled compressors and EQ's do tend to be quite CPU heavy. We are doing everything to make this more acceptable. As a rough guide to CPU usage, on my macbook pro it currently runs at about 15% of CPU with a 32 piece kit, song timeline running in the groove engine, multiple effects in the mixer as well as several concurrent busses running. (which for comparison is about the same as running 30+ tracks in cubase, plus maybe 10 fx)."

No release date for now but we will keep you informed.

A-Designs Audio has released the HM2EQ, a new vacuum tube-equipped EQ better known as the HAMMER. Housed in a 2U metal chassis with an aluminum faceplate and beefy toroidal power transformer under the hood, the HAMMER is a dual mono channel, three band, analog equalizer engineered with an ingenious filtering system that allows the even harmonics to flow through its 12AT Philips tubes filtering out unwanted noise. Each channel features identical controls, including switches for bypass, high cut and low cut, as well as six large aluminum rotaries for the EQ section – knobs for the LF (30/50/100/200/300/400), MF (250/500/1.2k/1.6k/2k) and HF (2.5k/3.5k/5k/7.5k/10k/15k) bands, plus accompanying knobs offering ±13dB of boost/cut for each frequency range. Connections to and from the product are accomplished on the rear panel via a pair of balanced Neutrik XLR input jacks and pair of balanced XLR output jacks.

Available now, the HAMMER carries a US list price of $2,695.00.

At the coming AES, TL Audio will unveil their new Fat Track Tube Production Suite, which is described as a complete solution for tracking, summing and monitoring.

Main Features :

- Mic, Line and Instrument inputs
- 3 band swept EQ on input channels
- 2 tube stages
- Balanced insert points on channels and master
- Effects send / return
- Phantom power, 30db pad, phase reverse.
- 4 stereo returns (DAW / tape returns) switchable +4 / -10
- 2 Headphone outputs with independent level control
- Alternative loudspeaker mode
- Main volume large knob control
- Balanced I/O +4 / -10
- Compatible with DO-8 ADAT interface

Propellerhead Software announced public availability for Reason version 4. The new version boasts Thor, a highly sophisticated, superior sounding synthesizer, the ReGroove mixer, a new way to adjust the rhythmic feel of tracks, RPG-8, a versatile arpeggiator, a completely rebuilt sequencer coupled with many other workflow enhancements.

Thor, Polysonic Synthesizer, takes sound creation to a new level delivering a veritable "museum" of synthesis techniques wrapped into one instrument. With six open "slots," Thor brings together six different oscillators with four different filter modules plus wave shaping, enveloping and effects. Thor offers a plethora of modulation routings that enable users to exchange audio and control signals just like original analog synths.

The ReGroove Mixer takes traditional groove and swing quantization from sequencers to a more flexible, user-friendly paradigm of a mixing console. Using the ReGroove Mixer, users can apply in real-time varying amounts of swing, shuffle and groove to tracks. This revolutionary hands-on approach gives users 32 "groove channels" that can be assigned to sequencer lanes, providing individual settings for groove strength, timing shift, velocity, duration and other parameters nondestructively. Users can create their own templates. In addition, Reason ships with a large selection and variety of grooves-extracted from live recordings, famous beat boxes and even vinyl funk gems of the 70s.

Our Partners at audioMIDI.com are giving the local Los Angeles market an exclusive look and tutorial on one of the most revolutionary keyboards/DAWs in the market today -the Neko Keyboard from Open Labs.

On October 27th from 10am-2pm, film composer, Nicholas O'Toole, will be demonstrating exactly how the Neko makes touring and film scoring easier for both the touring keyboardist and composer. "This workshop will be an excellent opportunity for touring keyboard players to see how easy it is to have a studio DAW setup on the road without sacrificing any power from the professional studio. This is an especially useful product, especially when taking film scoring into account," says Nicholas O'Toole, also a consultant with Open Labs.

Neko Keyboards are currently used by a venerable "Who ...

Royer Labs, the well-known high quality ribbon microphones manufacturer, is pleased to announce the new Live Series microphones. Starting with the SF-24 Phantom Powered Stereo Ribbon Microphone, the R-121 Ribbon Microphone, and the R-122 Active Ribbon Microphone as the source for the three new Live Series offerings, Royer Labs has created road ruggedized versions of these three models—enabling live sound/touring professionals to capture the most subtle details of a live performance with the warmth and sonic transparency Royer's studio models are known for.

For Royer's new SF-24 Live Phantom Powered Stereo Ribbon Microphone, the thickness of the two ribbons has been increased from 1.8 microns to 2.5 microns. With the R-121 Live and R-122 Live models, ribbon thickness has been increased f ...