PC and Music News

Here's a new Pro Tools Corner issue by our VIP Moderator Brian White from audioMIDI.com.

"While the new interface is stunning to say the least, it is hard to ignore the mother load of new plug-ins that ship with Pro Tools 8. Dubbed the "Creative Collection," the fresh suite of plug-ins from Digidesign's Advanced Instrument Research division shines with creativity from every angle. While many have fixed their ears eagerly on the new virtual instruments, the 20 new AIR effects are sure to have the mixer in us screaming for attention. As a toast to all of these free new effects, I thought it would be appropriate to showcase a handful here at the corner as an on going series I am dubbing "Mixing on AIR." The goal being to both introduce you to some of the plug-ins you get with Pro Tools 8, and share with you some tips and tricks for integrating them into your projects. This week I thought I would kick of the series by showing you how to add some presence and sparkle to lifeless signals using the AIR enhancer."

If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would like Brian to take a shot at answering or have any feedback, please post-it in our Mac ProTools Forum or Pc ProTools Forum. Brian will do his best to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.

Universal Audio today announced that the UAD-2 SOLO, a compact ExpressCard-based DSP Accelerator, is now shipping worldwide.

The new SOLO/Laptop DSP card brings Universal Audio's world-class analog emulations–authenticated by Neve®, Roland®, SPL®, Moog®, and more–to laptop DAW users. The UAD-2 Solo/Laptop enables large, professional mixes on laptop DAWs without the need for cabling or power supply. It includes studio staples like UA's 1176SE Compressor/Limiter, Pultec EQP-1A Equalizer, RealVerb Pro Room Modeler, and CS-1 Channel Strip, and offers access to the entire Powered Plug-In library.

Like all UAD-2 hardware, the SOLO/Laptop supports VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats on both Mac and PC.

The UAD-2 SOLO carries a MAP price of $499US.

Toontrack Music is proud to announce a major update of Toontrack Solo, the Toontrack host software for Toontrack drum plug-ins.

Toontrack solo 1.2 boosts significantly the versatility of Toontrack's standalone host, offering long time requested features and then some :

• Graphical interface has been rebuilt, main drummer is treated as any other.
• Re-organization of the application menus for a cleaner, more OS compliant experience.
• Convenience toolbar for common application components and EZplayer.
• New Master mute button to supplement existing shortcut.
• New metronome feature, with time signature setting and volume control.
• Support for multiple MIDI interfaces and ports (to be used at the same time).
• Support for MME audio drivers on PC.

Toontrack solo 1.2 also introduces support for Rockband® and Guitar Hero® drum controllers, expanding further the appeal of the award winning range of Toontrack products.

D16 Group has announced that Nithonat has been released for Windows and Mac OS X in VST and AU plug-in formats and is now available for purchase for €79. The final release version includes an updated GUI and a revised feature list since the original announcement.

Nithonat is a fully synthesized drum machine based on the classic Roland TR-606. The unique sound of this machine has been used by many artists over the years in the production of Electro, Hip-Hop, R'n'B, etc... Nithonat emulates the original 606, however, since Nithonat is software based, D16 were able to enhance the original with extra functionality.

Features :

• Fully synthesized drum sounds.
• Additional parameters to get yet more control over the sound.
• Many ways of controlling the device :
  ...

Arturia unveils "The 10 Year Suite", a collection of 9 software instruments Arturia built over 10 years.

The luxury box contains the following virtual instruments :

• Minimoog V
• Moog Modular V
• CS-80V
• ARP2600 V
• Jupiter-8V
• Prophet V
• Prophet VS
• Brass
• Analog Factory

Each instrument will receive a free online upgrade this summer – as part of Arturia's 10th anniversary celebration.

This bundle is available now for Windows and Mac OS X in Standalone and VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats at a price of $649 / €549.

The first Snyderphonics product is the Manta, a touch-sensitive interface for controlling music or video. Each sensor in the hexagonal array knows exactly how much surface area your finger is covering, and this data can be routed to any audio or video parameter you choose.

Features :

• 48 touch sensors in a 6 X 8 hexagonal array - each sensor can independently send both continuous control data and note-on/off events with velocity sensitivity simultaneously
• 2 assignable touch sliders
• 4 assignable touch-sensing function buttons with LED feedback - can be either momentary or latching
• USB device, showing up as a HID (Human Interface Device) to the operating system, and therefore will operate on Mac OS X, Windows (XP or Vista) and Linux without special dri ...