PC and Music News

Univers Sons/Ultimate Sound has just released Percussion Store, a new collection of percussion sounds.

Packed with 100% original sounds, Percussion Store contains more than 150 percussions coming from all over the world for a total of more than 6000 samples:

Afoxe, Agogo, Bata, Bells, Bendir, Berimbau, Birdcall, Blocks, Bongos, Bonko, Cajon, Castanet, Caxixi, Chimes, Chocalho, Claves, Congas, Cowbell-Campana, Cricket, Cuica, Cymbals, Derbuka, Djembe, Dundun, Ganza, Guiros, Jingle Bells, Maracas, Moroccan Tabla, Ocean Drums, Pandeiro, Quinto, Rainstick, RecoReco, Repinique, Shaker, Shekere, Sistre, Sonnaille, Surdo, Tamborim, Tambourine, Tarol, The Blue, Timbalito, Timbau, Tom-Tom, Triangles, Tumba, Udu, Whistles, Wood Block, Yoruba Tamb.

As usual the Ultimate Sound Bank team were really committed into recording quality: first they did use an excellent recording studio with a percussion expert sound engineer, and then use excellent gear: Brawmer and Neumann microphones, Manley, Fearn & Neve preamp and compressors, high end analog to digital converters and the best sounding soundcards in the market.

Percussion Store doesn't contain any loop, only single shots. Of course every instrument was deeply "multi-sampled" in 24 bits / 96 kHz, at dozens of velocity levels when applicable, different playing techniques (depending on the instrument), different hand positions, rolls, etc...

Percussion Store is now available for $149 / €129, and includes the full version of UVI Workstation.

Milab Microphones presents the BDM-01, a brand new bass drum microphone equally at home in the studio and on the road. The condenser capsule is hand built by Milab in Sweden and provides superb attack and high-frequency response, especially when compared to dynamic capsules, which are found in most bass drum microphones.

The electronics have been specifically designed to handle the power of the most hard-hitting drummers - the BDM-01 takes 155 dB without audible distortion. The dynamic range, frequency response, sensitivity and pop filters have been optimised for the sound and power of the bass drum and other bass instruments.

Features :

- Hand built cardioid condenser capsule
- Rubber fitted capsule
- Integrated pop filters
- High SPL handling
- Gold plated XLR-connector

The BDM-01 will be sold separately and as part of the Milab Drum Pack. The Drum Pack is an aluminium case with 7 VM-44 Classics, shock mounts, mic holders, windscreens and now the BDM-01.

This new addition to the Milab product range will be presented at the Prolight + sound fair in Frankfurt. Visit Milab in Hall 8.0, Stand C05. Hosted by the Milab distributor for Germany — FBM Audio.

The suggested retail price will be ca €520, $680 USD (excl VAT).

Showcased at this year's NAMM Show, Steinberg has just announced that Cubase 5 and Cubase Studio 5 are now available worldwide.

Features :

- LoopMash: Brand-new, first-of-its-kind interactive loop synthesizer
- Groove Agent ONE: Powerful drum sampling with detailed sound shaping
- Beat Designer: New beat construction plug-in, works hand in hand with Groove Agent ONE
- VariAudio: Gives you complete control over the melody and intonation in monophonic vocal recordings
- PitchCorrect: Easy and automatic intonation control and scale correction of vocal and monophonic instrument recordings
- REVerence: The world's first VST3-based convolution reverb processor with an impulse library including over 70 pre-sets
- New automation handling: More transparent and flexible than ever before
- VST Expression: Ultra-intuitive new way of working with multiple instrument articulations
- The new HALion ONE Expression Set 01 including a new set of 14 studio-quality instruments with multiple articulations for natural and expressive performances (ideal to try out VST Expression)
- The new Channel Batch Export exports the audible output of multiple mixer channels to audio files, ideal to create archives or exchange projects with other production systems
- Full support for 64-bit high performance computing under Microsoft Windows Vista 64 with up to 1 terabyte of addressable memory
- Support for the new WASAPI audio driver technology, and therefore lower latency with generic on-board sound hardware under Windows Vista
- Plus: A fully functional trial version of the HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition,perfect to exploit the potential of VST Expression in your arrangements. This trial version runs for 90 days, and can be easily unlocked online for €99 for unrestricted functionality
- Of course, Cubase 5 and Cubase Studio 5 integrate perfectly with Steinberg's innovative range of hardware, the CC121, MR816 CSX, and MR816 X.


Pricing :

- Cubase 5 : €599 (Update from Cubase 4 or Cubase SX3 : €199).
- Cubase Studio 5 : €399 (Update from Cubase Studio 4 or Cubase SL3 : €129).
- Cubase 5 Grace Period Update Process for European customers

Learn more...

The Spacebar microphone positioner from Grace Design allows for precise and repeatable setting of microphone capsule spacing, angle of incidence, and rotation around the x axis. With precision scales for angle and distance engraved on the Spacebar components, it becomes easy to make perfectly measured and repeatable stereo microphone setups.

As well as being able to precisely set microphones in standard stereo configurations (i.e. XY, ORTF, NOS, and AB 50cm), the Spacebar allows for exact settings through the entire continuum of angle and spacing. This allows the user to adjust the stereo microphone array and tailor the pickup field to suit virtually any recording environment.

The Spacebar system is precision fabricated from machined aircraft aluminum, brass, and stainless steel. Each system consists of a center stand clamp, horizontal bar, and microphone holders. The SB-30 and SB-66 are both supplied with two microphone holder assemblies and an additional tall microphone holder. The taller microphone holder body can be used to raise one microphone to avoid interference if the mic spacing requires that the microphone bodies overlap.

The Spacebar system comes in two versions – the SB-30 and the SB-66, which provide the following microphone spacing :

. SB-30 ($295) : minimum spacing 7cm (2.75") / maximum spacing 26cm (10.2")
. SB-66 ($395) : minimum spacing 7cm (2.75") / maximum spacing 61cm (24")

British mixer manufacturer, Allen & Heath, has chosen the forthcoming Pro Light & Sound show in Frankfurt to unveil an exciting new addition to their portfolio. For the first time in 15 years, Allen & Heath has designed a broadcast console, which will be introduced from the ZED range of small-format USB mixers.

More info coming soon...

Tascam has updated the DR-1 and GT-R1 Portable Digital Recorders to Version 2.0. The update offers additional features during recording, including a manual track increment for breaking a long session into individual tracks. The new pre-record buffer feature can store audio in a buffer to begin a recording two seconds before the record button is pressed.

Recording can also be delayed by 300ms to eliminate handling noise when the record button is pressed. Editing features have also been added to the recorders in version 2. "File Divide" separates a recording into two files. The DR-1 and GT-R1 automatically make a new file while recording if the file becomes too large. A new "All Delete" function deletes all of the files in the selected folder.

The free update for the DR-1 Portable Digital Recorder and GT-R1 Portable Guitar/Bass Recorder is now available on :