PC and Music News

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%]

AlgoMusic and BK SynthLab has released Atomic, a new VSTi for Windows.

Inspired by circular step sequencers such as the Buchla Arbitrary Function Generator and Future Retro Revolution, Atomic is a 16 step sequencer composing tool with a built in synth that also has the ability to control other softsynths or even hardware via it's MIDI out function. The design is circular which allows a different approach to composing and sound design. Note that this VSTi is dedicated to electronic music pioneer Allen Strange (1943-2008).

Atomic is available now at a retail price of $39.99 / €25.31. Demo tunes are also available.

Synthogy unveils Ivory Upright Pianos. a new virtual instrument which presents the unique, intimate sound of upright pianos using Synthogy's technology and piano-building expertise.

This all new collection of Vertical Pianos consists of four complete instruments. Each piano was carefully chosen, and the vintage instruments selected after an exhaustive search among hundreds of vintage uprights. Each of these authentic pianos was recorded with Synthogy's usual meticulous attention to detail to capture the unique personalities of these instruments.

Features :

- 4 hand selected Upright Pianos including :

. Yamaha U5 Modern Upright
. 1914 A.M. Hume Vintage Upright
. Honky Tonk, Barroom Upright
. Real Tack Piano

- Comes with Ivory piano engine
- More than 50 GB Core Library
- Over 5000 Samples
- Up to 10 Velocity Layers
- Custom Upright Soundboard Emulation DSP
- Separate, selectable "creaks and clunks" layer, for added funk
- Release samples triggered by velocity and duration
- Full EQ and Effects section
- All of Ivory's Piano Specific features and controls
- Dozens of new programs and effects presets

Note that Ivory's "unified interface" feature enables you to use just a single instance, and one interface, to play and control all of Ivory's pianos, no matter how many pianos you install.

Ivory Upright Pianos will be available soon for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU, RTAS and Standalone versions at a retail price of $299.

Sinevibes announces the immediate availability of vastly-anticipated 5th edition of the Fantom Tweakbook, the sound design and music post-production guide for Roland Fantom-S, Fantom-X, Juno-G and SonicCell synthesizers.

This new edition is the biggest update to the Tweakbook ever: there are now 62 illustrated articles explaining the capabilities of these amazing instruments even deeper. The look and layout has been totally reworked from scratch and, in addition to the helpful synthesizer and effects parameter map, there is a little dictionary which makes it even easier to navigate and understand the book.

The Fantom Tweakbook now covers an overwhelming amount of topics, including subtractive, additive and vector synthesis, ring modulation, analog sound replication, creating complex effects on patch level, envelope, LFO and matrix modulation, using effects processors as synthesis blocks, sampling and re-sampling, advanced processing of internal and external sounds, using in conjunction with other gear and much beyond. The 5th edition comes with over 220 example patches and templates, as well as a new collection of raw sample material and rhythm kits — so you can instantly start making your own sounds and music.

The Fantom Tweakbook 5th edition is available online from our partner DontCrac[k] for $19.