PC and Music News

Block is a compact and programmable MIDI control surface designed for interactive audio performance. Built on the same bi-directional and adaptable platform as the Ohm64, Block provides a powerful interface for creating and interacting with sound in a small easy-to-transport body. Sixty four backlight led buttons provide endless possibilities for visual feedback with the instrument by connecting it to Ableton Live, Max/Msp, our open source sounds apps, or any other software that supports MIDI. The open source blockEditor application lets you reprogram any of the controller's sixty four clip buttons, eight knobs, two faders, and seven function buttons. Block is hand crafted from lightweight wood and aluminum for easy portability.

Block has bi-directional talkback communication allowing the controller to talk to your software, and software to your device. MIDI messages can be sent to the Block to light up the buttons for an interactive performance. Completely programable and mappable, block provides a flexible control surface that be used with any software or setup. Completely USB powered means you don't have to worry about adapters and and power strips, and it is plug and play so no drivers are required.

Block will be available November 1st 2009 at a price of $399.

After many years of development, Spectrasonics is proud to release the brand new virtual instrument Trilian®, the long-awaited successor to the award-winning Trilogy bass module.

Trilian's massive 34GB core library featuring highly-detailed new Acoustic, Electric and Synth basses - as well as enhanced versions of the classic Trilogy sounds. With a brand new user interface and numerous software innovations, Trilian is the first 64-bit native software based on Spectrasonics next generation STEAM Engine, and is the first virtual instrument to feature full library integration with the flagship Omnisphere synthesizer.

Trilian is now shipping, and the MSRP is $299/€229. All Trilogy customers can upgrade to Trilian for $99. There is also a special FREE upgrade offer for Trilogy customers on the Intel-Mac platform and for customers who purchase Trilogy in 2009.

For feature details and videos, please visit the link below :

Shure has announced that the PG27USB and PG42USB Side Address Condenser Microphones are now shipping.

Designed with a flat frequency response and high SPL handling, the PG27USB naturally reproduces a wide variety of acoustic, amplified and vocal sound sources - with professional clarity and guaranteed "Plug and Play" Shure quality.

The PG42USB features a large, cardioid diaphragm tailored with high sensitivity to clearly reproduce refined performances. The voice-tailored frequency response has been specifically engineered to capture the subtle nuances of lead vocal performances. Also included on the PG42USB Microphone is a high-pass filter for additional control of unwanted low-end signal.

Both the PG27USB and PG42USB Recording Microphones feature :

• Large diaphragm ca ...

IZotope has updated Alloy to version 1.01.

Changes :

• Fixed delay compensation when toggling global bypass.
• Addressed issue with harmonic exciter when handling exceptionally loud input levels.
• Many minor bugfixes and performance improvements.

Moog Music and reKon audio have announced the release of the VST Little Phatty Editor,

Created by reKon audio, the VST Little Phatty Editor is a VSTi format software application that provides full control and editing of Little Phatty presets and performance controls via MIDI from within your VST compatible host application. This allows total management of custom sounds directly within the user's sequencing and music production environment. The following actions are supported :

• Full editing of all Little Phatty preset parameters via MIDI CC messages
• Automation of all LP parameters in real time through the VST host application
• Save/Load presets to and from the Little Phatty
• Presets can be saved in VST Editor format

VST Little Phatty Editor is available for Windows and Mac OS X in the VST instrument plug-in format. It is available directly from Moog Music for $69.

Avant Electronics introduces a new version of the Avantone Active MixCubes.

Each MixCube incorporates a Class A/B amplifier module which exhibits extremely low noise and distortions specs (.005% THD @ 1 KHz) that are comparable to the very finest studio rack amps. They are rock-solid; conservatively rated at 60 watts RMS per box. Together with our new power supply, they generate exceptional operating headroom.

The new Active MixCubes in addition to the new power rating and expanded headroom are also a true "Cube". "We were able to maintain the original Cube shape instead of an elongated shape as in the first edition. Furthermore, we have a detented System Gain knob on the back panel along with a pin 1 audio Ground Lift Switch, an illuminated On/Off Switch, Combo-style ¼"/XLR input j ...