PC and Music News

Steinberg announces that its prices for both the MR816 CSX and MR816 X FireWire interfaces have been lowered by about 20% in selected countries*. While the pair have witnessed a remarkable success since their introduction in 2008, an increase in efficiency of production was noted over the last year which allows Steinberg now to adjust the pricing accordingly and pass the benefit on to its valued customers.

The pro-audio MR816 units combine FireWire interfacing with Advanced Integration technology and are the focus of latency-free recording and monitoring environment, taking full advantage of Steinberg's renowned Cubase music production system.

* Selected countries are Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Finland, Denmark, UK & Ireland, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, South Africa, Poland, Israel, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Slovakia, Czech Rep, Portugal, Cyprus, UAE, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Iceland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Malta, Lebanon , Mexico, India, Kazakhstan, Martinique and USA.

Following eSoundz most successful Group Buy, the Ultimate Studio Drums bundle now has a sequel. The follow up title bringing you even more Drum Masters 2 Signature Kits, more Midi Grooves and more Convolution Studio Ambience all to expand your Infinite Player/Kontakt Player set up.

• 0 - 20 : $149.00
• 21 - 50 : $139.00
• 51 - 100 : $129.00
• 101 - 150 : $119.00
• 151 - 200 : $109.00
• 201 + : $99.00

What You Get :

Everything in the "Ultimate Studio Drums Bundle II: The Sequel Group Buy" is downloadable.

• 25 Drum Masters 2 Signature Drum Kits featuring drum kits of legendary drummers such as John Blackwell (Prince, Diddy), Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel), Danny Gottlieb (Pat Metheny Group), Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson), Nick D Virgil ...

Urbanic Guitars is a modern dynamic guitar sample collection made with premium gear, experienced talent and high—end signal path; developed for a multitude of professional applications. Ueberschall provides an abundance of full impact guitar phrases and organizational options to fit with your approach to the implementation of guitar content.

Urbanic Guitars stacks up with 125 themes and 780 loops of smashing guitar melodies, hooks, riffs, and licks. The 1.77 GB content ranges in tempo from 60 to 130 BPM. Urbanic Guitars features essentials of the urban domain, with genres like hiphop, rnb, reggae, soul, funk and many more.

The Themes are divided into three folders of loop packs:
• Acoustic
• Electric guitar 1 (Gibson ES style)
• Electric guitar 2 (Fender Strat style ...

Modartt has updated Pianoteq to v3.5.3 and announced the release of a Clavinet Add-on, which brings you the characteristic sound featured in many rhythm & blues, pop, funk, disco and reggae songs. It also offers additional features not available in the original instrument.

The clavinet add-on is modelled after the well-known D6 electric clavichord. Thanks to the powerful technology provided by physical modelling, it offers in contrast to the original instrument a sustain pedal, an extended range from C0 to C6 (original range F0 to E5), a variable mute bar, continuous pick-up mixing, and of course the well-known Pianoteq's possibilities to adjust the timbre such as hammer hardness, overtones and resonator. There is also a wah-wah feature and customized equalizer presets.

The clavinet was frequently used in recordings during the 1970-80's and is still being used today. It has a seducing characteristic bright staccato sound that many musicians utilize to enhance the rhythmic qualities of the songs. Its portability makes it popular for use on stage as well as in the recording studio.

The clavinet has a similar mechanism as the clavichord. The strings are stroked by small rubber tips and pressed on to an anvil at the striking point. For that reason, it is not loud enough by itself and is therefore amplified electronically, and no sustain pedal could be implemented in the real instrument.

The clavinet add-on is embedded in demo mode in Pianoteq's latest version 3.5.3 and can be unlocked for 49 €. Further details with audio demos are available at :

Sample Logic has taken A.I.R. into the next generation with their upgrade to A.I.R. Expanded. A.I.R.'s sample programming and user interface have been completely redesigned and enhanced from the ground up with five independent screens of more than 40 assignable effects and performance parameters. In addition, Sample Logic has meticulously revamped every original A.I.R. instrument and introduced a whole new collection of performance-ready instruments and multis.

A.I.R. Expanded blends the three essential building blocks of music (Ambience, Impacts, and Rhythms) into one score-effectual toolkit. Powered by Native Instruments Kontakt Player, this extensive 6 GB virtual instrument contains over 900 instruments and multis that include atmospheric soundscapes, impactual transitions, tempo-synced rhythmic loops and much more...

Available now for both Mac and PC (VST, DXi, RTAS, AU, Stand Alone) as direct download. Boxed version will be available March 1st.

Full Retail Product: $359.99 (Download or Boxed)
Current User Upgrade: $49.99 (Download Only)

Serafine FX Tron is an Infinite Player virtual instrument powered by Kontakt that works as stand alone software for the Mac or PC or as a plug-in for every major DAW such as Logic, ProTools, Cubase and many others. It comes with a broad range of sound effects for film, tv, games, radio, music and any multimedia project all in one powerful "Sound Effects Workstation".

From classic sci-fi FX Frank Serafine created for movies like "The Hunt for Red October", "Lawnmower Man" and "Tron" to a wide assortment of first call sound effects that multi-media producers are looking for this workstation has it all. Within the included Infinite Player software sounds can be layered, processed, manipulated and "performed" from a midi keyboard to create an infinite amount of effects for any media or mus ...