PC and Music News

AcousticsampleS releases BassysM-S, a Slap Bass sample library.

The bass used for this library is the same as the BassysM-J, a 4 strings Musicman Stingray Bass. It has all the basics you can find in a bass Library plus a lot of articulations like legato, hammers, slides and even autoSlides easy to play on a keyboard or to program in a daw.

Features :

- The BassysM-S bass is a four strings Musicman Stingray bass with roundwound strings recorded at 24bits 44.1khz from the direct output of a tube preamp
- 1.52Go sample bank, no loops
- 12 velocity layers for pops and 12 for slaps separated in two Round Robin Layers
- 10 velocities for the release
- Additionnal string noises, frets noises played randomly, Multi velocity Ghost notes and harmonics
- 4 different play modes: normal, legato, hammers, slides, automated slides
- Playable instrument, everything can be controlled from the keyboard
- Kontakt 2 and 3 format only due to the scripting for hammers, pops, slaps, slides, noises levels, release level. Easy to use Kontakt interface.
- Includes the demos midi files as well as some basic midi files that show the bass functionalities


Special Introductory price: 39€ until March 31, then 49€. It's a downloadable product, but you can also get a dvd shipped at a reasonable price.

Adern announces the release of two new plug-ins for the Scope platform.

Xor is a Variable Wave synthesizer. Xor's combination of varying waveform oscillators, rich sounding multi-mode filter, diverse pattern LFOs and intuitive modulation routing allows the creation of new and exciting soundscapes revealing the darker, and electric side of Scope - like never before.

Mojo is an ultra dynamic guitar amp emulation. Mojo has been designed to achieve the most expressive tone in current emulations, have a smooth, elegant, very light crunch and be extremely dynamic and touch responsive. Mojo's character is unique, yet its sound palette is rich, ranging from blazing hot lead guitars, through scooped and crunchy blues sounds, to sensitive and dynamic clean tones.

Xor and Mojo have fully functional demos on adern's site.

Celebrating the release, Adern's online shop is offering a time limited discount to all of its products until May 1st 2009.

D16 Group unveils Nithonat, a Roland TR-606 emulation. All instruments in Nithonat are fully synthesized and offer more advanced and extended sound shaping capabilities than its predecessor. The whole functionality of Nithonat is very similar to the other drum machines from D16 Group, which makes it an easy-to-use and creative instrument. Nithonat's GUI is in the same fashion as D16 Group's Phoscyon.

Nithonat is planned to be released as both VST and AU for Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously. More information should be available "soon".

NUSofting has just released Prima Delay, its new effect plug-in capable of producing a myriad of echo types and a compelling array of reverbs. And as if that isn't enough, it's also able to produce stereo chorusing and a cluster of unique phasing effects that will provide complete transformations of your sounds.

Features :

- Number of Delay Taps adjustable from 1 to 128.
- Tap Delay Time, each from 1 to 2000 ms (dependant on Sample Rate).
- Amplitude Envelope for taps with adjustable curvature.
- Tap Times deployment for accelerated or decelerated delay effects ("bouncing ball").
- Positive or Negative Feedback.
- LFO modulation of delay lengths (Rate and Depth controls).
- 3 Delay Line Quality types.
- 12dB Highpass and Lowpass filters on input signal before delay.
- Mono, Stereo and inverse Stereo output of the Taps, alternated on left and right channels.
- MIDI learn for each parameter, preset selection by Program Change.
- Graphic Display of the series of taps, with zoom focus.
- Works at any Sample Rate.
- Skinnable interface, 3 skins already included.
- Use Alt key and click on the display to open the PDF Manual from the GUI.

Prima Delay is priced at $45 and is currently available as a VST effect plug-in for Mac OS X and Windows. The AU version will be released shortly. Note that audio examples are available on their website.

MOTU has just announced that a new software update is now available as a free download for all owners of MOTU "mk3" FireWire audio interfaces. This new software installer package includes an updated version of CueMix FX, the cross-platform software application that gives users graphic, on-screen access to the many mixing and processing features in their mk3 interface.

The CueMix FX software update provides three new advanced diagnostic tools for visual analysis of individual audio signals and entire mixes : a real-time FFT graph, a Spectrogram "waferfall" display, and an Oscilloscope. This CueMix FX software update enables these new tools for owners of all currently shipping MOTU "mk3" FireWire audio interfaces, including the 828mk3, 896mk3, UltraLite-mk3, Traveler-mk3, and even the V4HD FireWire video interface.

FabFilter has released updates for the Twin 2 synthesizer, Volcano 2 filter and Pro-C
compressor plug-ins.

Changes :

- The VST 3 versions of all plug-ins have been updated for Steinberg Cubase 5, and contain improved MIDI support and bypass functionality.
- Fixed problems with the external side chain input in combination with the envelope generators in FabFilter Twin 2 and Volcano 2.
- FabFilter Twin 2 fixes various minor problems with loading Twin 1
presets.
- All plug-ins contain various other fixes and improvements.

The updates are free for existing customers.

Last but not least, FabFilter also announces a preset contest. Since Twin 2 already contains an impressive grand piano preset, we are looking for an equally impressive vintage-sounding Rhodes piano preset. Submit your presets before April 15. The winner gets a FabFilter goodie bag including a free Total Bundle! More information can be found here: