PC and Music News

Akai Professional announces the iPK25 keyboard controller for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Features :

• 25-key MIDI keyboard controller for iPhone and iPod touch
• Velocity-sensitive, synth-action keys for expressive performance
• Pitch and modulation wheels, octave +/-, and sound-bank buttons
• Stereo RCA line outputs and headphone jack
• USB/MIDI for virtually any MIDI music software or MIDI hardware devices
• Seamlessly compatible with Akai SynthStation Studio app

The iPK25 will be available from pro audio and musical instrument retailers in March 2010. It has a U.S. Retail Price of $199.00 and an estimated street price of $149.00.

Dave Smith has unveiled a keyboard version of the Mopho, his monophonic analog synthesizer. It has all the features of the original unit plus knobs, switches and a weighted keyboard with velocity and aftertouch. On top of that, owners of the Tetr4 synth can connect the Mopho Keys up to it and create a 5-voice synth with the Mopho as the controller.

This keyboard version will be shipping in about two months with a price tag of $800 US dollars.

Picture by Syncro1.

Universal Audio has announced new partnerships with Harman Pro Group, Ampex Corporation and Dunlop.

Each company in the Harman Pro Group has a near-mythic status in the professional audio world - ranging from reverb (Lexicon), to compression and other processing (dbx), tape machines (Studer), and spring reverb (AKG). Under the terms of this agreement, Universal Audio will develop, market and sell plug-in emulations of select Lexicon, Studer, dbx, and AKG equipment for the UAD-2 Powered Plug-In Platform.

Ampex is famous in the professional audio world as innovators of magnetic tape and tape recorder technology - widely praised for its rich, almost magical sound quality. For the first time ever, Universal Audio's renowned team of DSP engineers will exhaustively and faithfully model these complex devices and media, bringing accurate emulations of Ampex magnetic recording tape to the UAD-2 Powered Plug-Ins platform.

Dunlop is a leading manufacturer of guitar stompboxes and studio-oriented effects under the Dunlop and MXR brands. Under this partnership, Universal Audio will deliver a range of unique and classic effects to the ever-growing family of plug-ins available on the UAD-2 platform.

On top of that, Universal Audio has also announced the upcoming release of the highly anticipated Manley Labs Massive Passive EQ plug-ins in Q1 2010.

Working with Manley Labs, Universal Audio's Massive Passive EQ plug-ins represent their most ambitious EQ modeling project to date, bringing UAD-2 users both the standard and mastering versions of this world-renowned hardware EQ. Specifically, the two-channel, four-band Manley Massive Passive EQ utilizes design strengths from choice console, graphic, parametric and Pultec EQs - delivering a fundamentally different type of EQ. The Massive Passive's natural treatment of a signal lends itself to both radical tonal shaping as well as delicate vocal shading or subtle mastering enhancement.

Softube is about to release a new EQ plug-in based upon the famous Trident A-Range EQ. It will be available on february for both Mac (TDM, AU, VST, RTAS) and PC (TDM, VST, RTAS).

Introductory Offer during february :

• Native version : $229 ($70 off)
• TDM version : $329 ($120 off)

Arturia has released Brass v2.0.

Brass is a software recreation of three wind instruments - a trumpet, a saxophone and a trombone. Version 2.0, Brass offers an entirely redesigned interface with major new features and improvements :

• New physical modelling of the saxophone.
• Two new Saxophone mouthpieces.
• Possibility to play four instruments at a time using a new Harmonization module.
• Advanced spatialization possibilities.
• Improved MIDI control.
• Better integration into DAW software.
• Entirely redesigned interface.

On top of that, Arturia has announced a new limited edition bundle featuring the Brass 2 software and the Akai Pro EWI-USB wind-controller. This bundle will start shipping on January 25th, 2010 at a price of €399 / $449.

Arturia announces the Analog Experience Series, a new series of three hybrid synthesizers: Analog Experience The Player, Analog Experience The Factory and Analog Experience The Laboratory.

Analog Experience The Player - with 25 keys this is the smallest, most lightweight and simple version of the series. It features a compact MIDI keyboard controller and light version of Analog Factory software giving a very easy-to-use and affordable package including the very best of Arturia's signature sounds and a dedicated quality keyboard perfect for the mobile musician.

Analog Experience The Factory - with 32 keys (previously named "Analog Factory Experience") this adds a dedicated keyboard to the Analog Factory software, allowing all sounds to be dramatically modified instantaneously.