PC and Music News

XLN Audio has announced the release of Modern Jazz - Sticks, a brand new ADpak for Addictive Drums.

Modern Jazz — Sticks features a beautiful Premier Gen-X kit with a Ludwig Acrolite snare along with cymbals and percussion from Sabian, Meinl and Paiste. The drums have been tuned up slightly for a modern jazz sound.

Get instant access to production styles typical for modern jazz. Tune the kit up or down, go fat or thin, stay really close or spread out with lots of ambience. Control each mic separately and combine them for your perfect sound.

Over 300 live recorded grooves and fills are included in a large range of tempos, styles and different lengths for natural variation. Use them for inspiration or to build complete tracks in minutes.

* 12 Piece Jazz Kit, Played With Sticks
* 300 Live Recorded Rhythms
* 30 Crisp Production Presets

Modern Jazz — Sticks is available in music stores worldwide and in XLN Audio's webshop. The price is set at €59/$59.

Vir2 Instruments has announced the release of Mojo, a new virtual horn section powered by the popular Kontakt engine.

According to Vir2 instruments, Mojo offers the most flexible and innovative approach to pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns ever created in a virtual instrument. Inspired by legendary groups like Tower of Power and the big bands of decades past, Mojo is capable of emulating everything from a sultry sax solo to a screaming full big band playing at the top of their lungs.

Pushing the boundaries of sampling and scripting technology far beyond traditional sample libraries, Mojo offers a simple but feature-packed interface. No need to decide in advance which articulation you want to play. Simply load the instrument, turn the Ensemble knob to specify how many players you ...

After four years of intensive development and extensive real-world gig beta testing, Devine Machine is proud to announce his revolutionary looper: Cycler.

Cycler is a totally new approach to looping on computers, designed to simplify creating music, with or without your screen!

Cycler is a radical departure from hardware emulation software and contains powerful and truly unique functions, such as multiple loop length capabilities, a comprehensive battery of effects and infinite undos for each of the 16 loopers, among many other truly unique features.

It aims to ease and simplify the relationship between musician and computer.

Release date is set for early 2010, price is not yet fixed. Versions for all platforms will be included with purchase. An extensive feature list will be communicated by October 2009.

A commented video demonstrating Cycler in a live gig can be found here :

For the first time since the start of the company Toontrack Music have agreed to allow a 3rd party producer to independently produce and sell an audio expansion for a Toontrack software platform.

Platinum Samples are one of the worlds leading producers of sampled drums, and quoting Toontrack Music CEO Andreas Sundgren, "Their products are cutting edge recordings. We are excited about and are looking forward to a long term collaboration with Platinum Samples"

Platinum Samples owner, Shivaun OʼBrien says "The symbiotic relationship of our samples with Toontracksʼ drum software is very exciting and weʼre honored.

This collaboration is a natural extension of both Toontrack Music and Platinum Samplesʼ product lines, and we look forward to a long and rewarding relationship."

The first joint release, planned for Q4 2009, is the well-known title "Joe Barresi Evil Drums" as an SDX expansion pack for Superior Drummer 2.0.

Les Paul, acclaimed guitar player, entertainer and inventor, passed away yesterday from complications of severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York, surrounded by family and loved ones. He was 94.

One of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and responsible for the world's most famous guitar, the Les Paul model, Les Paul's prestigious career in music and invention spans from the 1930s to the present. Though he's indisputably one of America's most popular, influential, and accomplished electric guitarists, Les Paul is best known as an early innovator in the development of the solid body guitar. His groundbreaking design would become the template for Gibson's best-selling electric, the Les Paul model, introduced in 1952. Today, countless musical legends still consider Paul's iconic guitar unmatched in sound and prowess. Among Paul's most enduring contributions are those in the technological realm, including ingenious developments in multi-track recording, guitar effects, and the mechanics of sound in general.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Les Paul Foundation, 236 West 30th Street, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10001.

FXpansion has just announced the release of DCAM: Synth Squad, their brand new suite of advanced synthesizer instruments. The advanced DCAM analogue modelling technology carefully reconstructs the sound of vintage hardware on your computer at a fraction of the cost.


At the heart of DCAM: Synth Squad are three modeled synthesizers - Strobe, Amber and Cypher - bulging with the weight and power of old-skool analogue, according to FXpansion. These are no mere emulations stunted by the limitations of the past. Instead, they combine the best features from legendary machines with new and exciting ideas to drag them kicking and screaming into the modern world. Also included is Fusor, a semi-modular layering and performance environment for the DCAM synths with a high-quality FX suite, advanced step-sequencer/arpeggiator and flexible modulation.