PC and Music News

Synesthesia has released the second version of Mandala which is now an USB Drum trigger pad packed with a Virtual Brain software control module. The Mandala Drum pad is able to detect where and how hard you hit it and translates that information into sound and sound controllers.

Features :

- Every hit gives you a Note with Velocity AND a Strike Position for HD sound control
- Surface detects 128 strike positions from center to edge
- 128 strike velocities from soft to hard with no false triggers
- Multizone configuration allows mapping of up to 7 zones per pad
- USB interface with easy, yet powerful 'Virtual Brain' software for Mac or PC.
- Includes original sound library with scores of instruments, or load your own samples
- Tons of out-of-the-box presets to get you playing right away
- Connect multiple Mandalas to your computer to form a kit
- Also works seamlessly with Logic, Battery, BFD, Live, Reason, GarageBand, etc.

Each Mandala is hand-crafted and thoroughly tested before it is shipped. The Mandala 2.0 retails for $349, and is available online.

Sound Devices is about to unveil the 788T eight-track recorder at this year NAB Show.

Designed specifically for multi-track on-location productions, the eight-track 788T features a significant expansion of input and output capability — eight full-featured microphone inputs and eight tracks of recording. In a stainless-steel and aluminum chassis weighing less than 4 pounds and roughly the size of a hard-backed mystery novel, this unit accommodates individual controls and connectors for each of its eight inputs, plus numerous additional I/O and data connections.

The 788T comes equipped with a 160 GB 2.5-in. internal SATA hard disk drive. This on-board storage provides up to 30 hours of 8-track, uncompressed 24-bit audio recording of industry-standard Broadcast Wave files. Additionally, CompactFlash cards with UDMA support and external FireWire mass storage volumes can be used for recording and playback. All three storage mediums can be selected for simultaneous, redundant recording.

The 788T is powered by 7.2 V Li-ion batteries or external DC (10-18 V) and offers an on-board Li-ion battery charger.

After the announcement in March, Antares has finally released AVOX 2 - the second generation of the Antares Vocal Toolkit.

AVOX 2 is available for native plug-in formats including RTAS (Mac and PC), VST (Mac and PC) and Audio Units (Mac) at a retail price of $599. It will be available shortly at your local Antares dealer and you can already purchase a copy from Antares' online store. Note that a fully functional 10 day trial version is also available. Upgrades to AVOX 2 are available for purchase and download by current owners of the original AVOX, AVOX AT, and Harmony Engine. See the Antares Software Upgrade page for details.

Last but not least, if you purchased and registered a copy of AVOX or AVOX AT after March 12, 2008, you are entitled to a free upgrade to AVOX 2.

AMS - Neve also presents the 4081 Quad Mic Preamp.

Build on the success of the 1081 and 1081R modules, the 4081 is a four independent Mic/Pre or Line input channels in a 3U high robust desktop mounting design with external PSU. 2 x 4081 units can be fastened together, to give 8-channels of Mic/Pre or Line inputs in a 19" wide unit.

Features :

- Gain control per channel (+20dBu to +70dBu in 5dBu steps)
- Signal Presence and Clip LED indication
- XLR Mic input can be switched between Mic and electronically balanced Line
- Line level up to 20dB gain in 5dB steps
- Phantom Power source for microphones
- 20dB pad, Phase and Low Z functions per channel
- Optional Digital output/Sync card (available Q2 2008), with selectable sample rate and Sync Source

Unit can be controlled from front panel or all functions controlled remotely by Mac or PC computers, using a USB connection and the dedicated Neve Remote Control software – or remote control via midi from ProTools. Up to 16 boxes can be connected together off one daisy-chained control cable.

AMS - Neve unveils the Digital Multimedia Console (DMC) at the 2008 NAB Show.

The DMC builds on the legendary success of the Academy Award winning DFC film mixing console. It has been designed to deliver comprehensive mix and DAW control capabilities at an incredible price. The standard package adds the legendary AMS Neve sound, EQ and Dynamics to all your mixes and provides the full stereo and 7.1 surround monitoring modes featured on our Hollywood-dominating DFC Gemini consoles.

Blue Cat Audio has announced a new version of Blue Cat's Triple EQ series, a set of three hybrid parametric EQ / shapeable filters plugins, as well as prices drop on their entire catalog, to follow the fall of USD exchange rate. The new version of these plugins brings a complete user interface redesign and many new functionalities such as undo/redo, presets import/export.

The new TripleEQ 3.0 plugin is now free, and the Stereo and Widening versions are available for a special introduction price, separately or within the TripleEQ Pack bundle.

Prices:
- Blue Cat's Triple EQ: free
- Blue Cat's Triple EQ Pack: 39.20 EUR (instead of 49 EUR) or $55.66 (instead of $69.58) [-20%]
- Blue Cat's Stereo Triple EQ: 24.65 EUR (instead of 29 EUR) or $35 (instead of $41.18) [-15%]
- Blue Cat's Widening Triple EQ: 33.15 EUR (instead of 39 EUR) or $47.07 (instead of $55.38 ) [-15%]