PC and Music News

Akai Professional announces that the APC40 Ableton Performance Controller will launch worldwide on May 30, 2009.

Key Features :

- Designed in partnership with Ableton
- Unique clip matrix with multicolor lighting displays current clip status
- No mapping required for use with Ableton Live
- Exclusive bidirectional communication between the APC40 and Ableton Live
- Professional feel with rugged, metal chassis and premium controls
- Comes with Akai APC40 edition of Ableton Live Lite, free upgrade patch for full versions of Live
- USB plug-and-play connection for Mac and PC
- Premium controller with rugged, metal chassis


The APC40 will have a retail price of $599 and an anticipated street price of $399.

Steinberg is proud to present a new all-in-one production package offering a complete hardware and software solution : Cubase Producer Pack.

The limited edition package includes Cubase 5 and the MR816 CSX FireWire audio interface, and is now shipping to Steinberg resellers throughout Europe. Cubase Producer Pack supports Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista and is priced at €1555.00/£1296.00*.

To coincide with the launch of Cubase Producer Pack, Steinberg has also announced a special competition to win a 2-day production workshop at its Hamburg headquarters by one of its product specialists, with travel and hotel accommodation included.

*Suggested Retail Price. Pricing may vary regionally.

DontCrac[k], the Ultimate Audio Software Store and Flux, manufacturer of hi-end professional audio plug-ins are proud to announce that they have signed an agreement that makes Flux products available to all at very competitive price and via instant download delivery.

To celebrate this new partnership, DontCrac[k] offers 40% discount on the complete line of Flux products including bundles and that until May 15. Up to 20% extra discount can be obtained by adding products to your cart (-5% per product added). That is their permanent "Make your own Bundle" offer found exclusively at DontCrac[k].

Ueberschall announces the release of Club Toolz. Each sound, of the over 2GB assortment of material, has been individually processed, branded with a tempo and key signature. This enables you to adjust this library in a variety of ways and create your own additional content. This library doesn't rip sounds from standard drum sequencer or synth romplers, content is genuine and has never been sampled before. Full mixes can be assembled completely from scratch with this engine alone.

With this sample library you can create your own club tracks within the various House and Techno styles such as :

. Deep Tech
. Electro
. Tribal
. Minimal
. Maximal
. Oizo-ish
. Progressive
. Neo Trancy

Club Toolz has an MSRP of $119 / €99 / £69. The included Elastik Players is available for Mac OS X and Windows in AU, VST and RTAS plug-in formats. To hear a demo go to :

Let me introduce you to Tank-FX, a non-virtual effect device. The reverb is generated by a huge [11m] tank made of ferroconcrete. Some mics and speakers have been put in it and connected to a unix box, so everybody can use it now from the internet.

To try it out, just upload some audio material. It will be processed in real-time. Check it out !

The XLR to XLR combo 16 point patch bay is a simple unit that allows 16 XLR Combo on front available as 16 Male XLR on back. The XLR F/TRS combo and XLR male connectors are gold plated contacts and high quality Neutrik products. The Female and Male can be interchanged (front or back) in group of 8 or customized to your need.

Features :

• 16 channels of XLR F/TRS on front
• 16 channels of XLR Male on back or Combo
• Reversible in group of 8 or 16 or customizable
• Compact 1U rack mount chassis & solid steel
• Neutrik XLR quality, gold plated and durable connectors
• Solid mounting of connectors to chassis and board
• Modular approach with reversible options
• Mount the unit front or rear on the rack
• Enclosed box to shield any outside interference
• Only 2" depth
• All connectors are mounted on PCB
• All connections are routed on board (No wires)
• No interference and clean analog pass thru

Pricing :

• 16X2C - 16 XLR F/TRS to 16 XLR M : $199
• 16C2C - 16 XLR F/TRS to 16 XLR F/TRS : $229