PC and Music News

Ableton proudly presents the Ableton Certified Training program. The doors to several Ableton Certified Training Centers are now officially open for those looking to learn about Ableton Live in the US and the UK. The Ableton certificate means that these courses meet our high standards for Ableton Live training.

Live trainers came to three certification sessions in NYC and Berlin recently, and we gave their product knowledge and teaching skills a real once-over. After a grueling couple of days, we were proud to award all participants the Ableton Certificate of quality training.

Image Line Software, the developer of FL Studio, has announced the upcoming release of Sawer, its latest virtual synthesizer.

Described as "a powerful vintage modeling synthesizer that cuts through the mix with precise articulation and a punchy sound", Sawer pays homage to the envelopes and filters of a rare 1980's Soviet analog synthesizer, Polivoks. Maxx has devoted meticulous attention to the detail of Sawer's filter and envelope designs, ensuring Sawer delivers a unique sonic character reminiscent of the Polivoks hardware. But Polivoks, like all analog synthesizers, wasn't without its problems. Keeping the oscillators stable and in tune has been likened to 'moving a pile of live frogs, by wheelbarrow', impossible! As Sawer is algorithmic, this solves the problems of tuning and stability, however, in the same way electrical component instability makes analog gear unique (if not cranky), Sawer benefits from the 21st century equivalent, a coding error.

While programming the SAW oscillator, Maxx accidentally set some incorrect variables and immediately the sound gained bass, acquired some light but pleasing noise on the attack and an overall richer sonic spectra. Maxx realized this was no mistake but a discovery and built on this, adding some frequency modulation to give it a touch of analog authenticity and so 'Sawer' was born.

Key features :

- Main oscillator for subtractive synthesis: SAW shape with Sync frequency.
- Sub oscillator (-2 to +2 octaves) with level, phase & detune controls.
- 1 Noise Oscillator.
- Variable polyphony (1 to 24 voices).
- 8 voice Unison with user-adjustable stereo panning, detune and 'Octaver'.
- Sync & Ring frequency modulation.
- 2 ADSR envelope generators (one user-assignable to modulation parameters).
- 4 Filter modes - low pass (24 & 12 dB/Oct), band pass and high pass.
- Chorus, Phaser, Delay & Reverb effects.
- Multi-mode Arpeggiator.

Sawer is currently available for pre-order for $79 (instead of $99) until the end of March 2009. It will be available for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU, FL and stand-alone formats. Pre-release demo versions are already available for download.

London-based 2twenty2 may be the newest sales agency on the block, but with 25 years industry experience between them they're bringing a wealth of expertise to their clients…

2twenty2 are proud to announce the launch of the newest sales and brand management agency for the Music Technology sector. The 2twenty2 team, headed up by Stephen Parker, Greg Prendergast and Cedric Coudyser, will be combining a range of skills gleaned over the last 10 years to deliver unparalleled service to their roster of A-List clients.

Amongst the companies confidently entrusting 2twenty2 with their sales and brand management are Native Instruments, Celemony, Arturia and EKS – undoubtedly some of the biggest hitters in the industry. Having previously managed these brands in the UK for Arbiter, Stephen, Greg and Cedric are already vastly experienced at helping great brands realise their full potential, something they're keen to build upon within the framework of their new venture.

Stephen Parker, Managing Director, said: "Here at 2twenty2 we're very excited to be continuing our work with these companies – without doubt some of the most respected brands in the industry. Having already spent a number of years developing Native Instruments, Arturia, Celemony and EKS in the UK we're looking forward to seeing continued innovation and momentum through a raft of new products for the year ahead. We know that 2009 will be a great year for them, and also any dealer who invests in their products !"

2CAudio, a sister company of Galbanum, announces the immediate availability of Aether 1.0. Aether is described as "an ultimate fidelity Auto Randomizing Algorithmic Reverb Software plugin".

Specs & Features :

- Extreme precision floating-point engine which rivals the best hardware reverb units available
- Impeccable specifications in Space, Time, and Frequency response
- Unique pervasive Auto-Randomizing scheme throughout the entire algorithm which keeps mixes sounding alive
- Non-Exponential Decay curves for incredibly lush sound
- Discrete Early Reflection and Late Reflection Engines
- 33 Space Type Models
- Over 250 professionally designed factory presets ranging from sublime acoustic emulations to extreme sound-design ambiences
- Reverb Decay Time range from 0.10sec to 120sec plus an Infinite Decay Mode
- Frequency Dependant Decay Time Scaling
- True Stereo and Hybrid Stereo modes
- Coded in assembly and optimized with SSE for extreme efficiency
- Only 4 sample latency! Suitable for use in tracking and performance!
- Supported Sample Rates of up to 192 kHz
- Intuitive futuristic GUI designed for maximum control and ease of use

Aether is available imediately for Windows VST hosts under windows XP and Windows Vista, and for Mas OSX VST and Audio Units hosts, under Leopard (OSX.5.n) and higher. The MSRP of Aether is $349.95. Introductory pricing of $249.95 is available through April 01, 2009. Orders are handled via the Galbanum store during this period.

Note that audio examples are also available at :

Elysia announce the museq — the musical equalizer — as their third major product. The basic idea behind this analog EQ is the combination of premium sound shaping capabilities with optimally matched parameters which enables the user to find the desired results fast and precisely. The provided bands with their ample control ranges as well as some elysia-specific special features make sure that the museq can be flexibly used in any recording and mixing situation, and the stepped controllers are especially dedicated to mastering applications.

Each of the two channels offers three parametric bands with a switchable Q. The additional outer bands are low/high shelf designs which can be separately switched into a low/high cut mode with an extra resonance peak as a special finesse. Each gain controller of the two times five bands can be altered from boost to cut mode which results in a notably well resolution of the control ranges and twice the number of available settings. Both channels have a switchable option for a stronger coloration of the signal to complete the musical master plan.

The circuit design of the museq is completely based on discrete analog technology. The entire signal processing is realized with single transistors in permanent class A mode, and even the power supply is composed of fully discrete circuits. An oversized transformer, selected capsuled conductive plastic potentiometers as well as special current feedback amplifiers are part of the technical refinement. The combination of these elements aims at maximum signal quality and guarantees clean and powerful sound characteristics even when extreme settings are used.

After the presentation of the prototype at the AES in San Francisco, the serial version of the museq will be shown at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt/Main: Hall 5.1 Booth C81.

Nugen Audio has just released an update for Visualizer, its audio analysis tool.

New in Visualizer 1.7 :

. PDC option added.
. Spectrum analysis peak envelope improved in banded modes.
. Level meter clip warning now respects 'number to clip' parameter.
. Level meter margin now respects 'peak hold time' parameter.

Fixes :

. -20dBFS Pink Noise fixed.
. Audio Unit sample rate change in existing projects issue fixed.