PC and Music News

Yamaha unveils the Pocketrak 2G, a light and compact pocket recorder featuring 2GB of built-in memory, long battery life, easy USB file transfer, and Steinberg Cubase AI DAW software.

The Pocketrak 2G features 2 tracks of CD quality recording in PCM, MP3 and Windows Media (WMA) formats, a rechargeable AAA nickel-hydrogen battery capable of providing 19 hours of MP3 recording to it's 2GB of internal memory, an on-board speaker and a headphone jack. Included in the box is the Pocketrak 2G, a USB extension cable, stereo earphones, a leather carrying case and stand adapter, as well as Cubase AI, an "Advanced Integration" version of Steinberg's legendary digital audio workstation software specially built to seamlessly integrate with Yamaha hardware.

The Pocketrak 2G will be available in April, 2008 and will retail for $449.

Gibson Guitar and TC Group have announced that they are planning to merge. The announcement was made at the NAMM 2008 show in Anaheim, California by both Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and CEO of TC Group, Anders Fauerskov.
The announcement marks a preliminary agreement between the two companies.
Under the terms of the new merger, Anders Fauerskov will remain based in Europe, and serve as Chief Operating Officer of the new combined Gibson Guitar Corp. The two companies expect to finalize the deal by the end of February 2008.

This is quite a surprise, and we don't have much information about this merge, but stay tuned, as we'll tell you more about this as soon as we have.

We hope that it'll lead to a real synergy. Some of us are still waiting for news from Opcode or Oberheim...

Tascam has announced the DR-1, a new portable digital recorder that captures hours of music using built-in mics to its 1GB SD card. It includes unusual functions such as overdub capabilities.

Features :

- Portable, Handheld Recording
- Included 1GB SD card media
- Built-in High-quality Stereo Condenser Microphone
- Variable Angle Microphone Mechanism with A/B Configuration
- 48 or 44.1kHz / 24-bit Recording Resolution
- MP3 and WAVE file Recording and Playback
- Switchable Low Cut Filter
- Analog Auto Gain Control
- Analog Limiter
- Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery
- USB 2.0 Connection to Computer
- Built-in Tuner and Vocal Cancel Features
- Overdub Feature to record narration, singing or instruments over an existing recording

The DR-1 will be available at a retail price of $299.

SM Pro Audio has exhibited several products at this NAMM show : the new HP6E multi-channel headphone amplifier, the PR8DS remote controllable multi-channel microphone preamplifier and their iNano passive volume control.

The HP6E is a high-quality, powerful, flexible, and reliable six (6) channel headphone amplifier housed in a sturdy 1RU 19" standard rack-mountable metal chassis.

Features :

-10 TRS inputs, 5 stereo channels
- 6 class A headphone amplifiers
- Auto sensing switch mode power supply
- Built in flash memory for last state memory recall
- Mix control for each amplifier output
- Nominal output @ 32Ohm 600mw per channel
- Frequency response @100mw output 20Hz-20kHz +- 0.3 dB
- THD @300mw less then 0.02%


The PR8DS is a professional multi-channel p ...

Sonic Timeworks announces the 4081L Digital Reverberator which is a reverb plug-in describe as "super intuitive".

Features :

- World class reverbs Easy to use, yet extremely powerful
- SMP(symmetric multiprocessor) Optimized Digital Reverberation
- Real-time previews
- Supports VST/Pro Tools Automation
- Silky smooth reverbs
- Equalization controls
- Use it like you would use any hardware unit
- Complete with digital in/out level metering
- 64 bit floating calculations (internal)
- 32 bit in/out (external)
- Supports sample rates over 192kHz

Available at a fee of $149 for PC and Mac users, whether you are using VST, DirectX, or Pro Tools, a demo is available online at the Sonic Timeworks website.

Universal Audio today announced new plug-in partners and forthcoming additions to the UAD DSP Platform for Mac and PC. Valley People, Sound Performance Lab and Empirical Labs (Fatso plug-in mid-late 2008 !) join Roland and Neve as the latest companies to sign licensing deals with UA to develop future plug-ins.

UA also announced improved 2008 world-wide retail pricing on select UAD products. The following UAD bundles now offer even greater per plug-in value:

UAD-1 Ultra PAK (PCI) moves from US$1199 to US$999 street price
UAD-1e Expert PAK (PCIe) moves from US$999 to US$749 street price.