PC and Music News

AcousticsampleS updates five of their instruments to the ASPlayer, their own sample player.

• Kawai-EX PRO (and LITE),
• A-Pian (Baby grand piano),
• B-Pian (Bad upright piano),
• E-Pian (Electric Piano),
• VibysM (Concert Vibraphone).

Those libraries are now available in VST and AU format for mac and VST for windows.

The updates are free for existing customers and the price of those instruments stays the same.

SAE Online has expanded the range of courses on offer, making the choice bigger than ever before! Among these new short courses – there are now over 30 to choose from – are Mixdown Techniques 101 and Cubase 101. Both courses are tailored for those wanting to get the most out of their music production environments.

Cubase 101 has been developed in conjunction with software developer Steinberg and sets out to get students up and running with one of the world's most popular music production packages. They will learn all about recording, editing and music production within Cubase, as well as more advanced techniques to ensure better mixes and creative integration of effects. Cubase 101 is a four-week course requiring about 10 hours of input from students each week.

Mixdown Techniques 101 is the perfect overview to successful mixing 'in the box'. It takes students through all of the important steps of a complete mixdown procedure in their favourite DAW – be it Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase etc. Mixing Techniques 101 is a four-week course requiring about 10 hours of input from students each week.

Tascam has introduced the DR-03, a new portable 24-bit stereo digital audio recorder that's about the size of a energy bar.

Features:

• Stereo condenser microphone design
• Up to 24-bit, 48 kHz WAV recording or MP3 recording modes
• Records to microSD media
• Auto-recording function starts when input exceeds a reference level
• Limiter, low-cut filter, and auto gain control for input
• Variable Speed Audition changes the playback speed without changing the pitch
• Loop playback mode
• USB 2.0 connection for file transfer
• 1/8" stereo microphone / line input
• 1/8" stereo headphone output
• 96 x 96 backlit LCD display
• Powered by two AAA batteries or USB bus power
• Built-in speaker
• Built-in desktop stand
• Includes a 2 GB microSD card and AAA batteries

The DR-03 is now available with an MSRP of $149.99 and a retail price of about $100.

M-Audio unveils the Oxygen 88, a new USB MIDI Keyboard/Controller.

"The M-Audio® Oxygen 88 USB MIDI controller delivers a highly expressive playing experience that's designed to satisfy players who need the feel of a piano combined with the power of a modern MIDI controller. The 88-note, graded hammer-action keybed offers an impressive feel and response—while 32 assignable buttons, knobs, and faders provide complete control over your music software. DirectLink mode automatically maps these onboard controls to common DAW functions* including transport, mixer, track pan, and plug-in parameters. Built-in presets offer support for popular virtual instruments right out of the box—no complicated setup required. Featuring an unparalleled combination of great feel, total control, and ease of use, Oxygen 88 is the perfect choice for both studio and stage."

4Pockets.com presents StompBox which turns your iPad into a "great sounding fully fledged digital effects unit", complete with chromatic guitar tuner, metronome and recording tools. It allows you to chain up to 12 effects in any order and then save your settings as patch files that can be recalled at the press of a button.

Take a look at this trailer :


StompBox will be available in the next couple of weeks for your iPad.

Audio Damage has updated Axon, the Neuron Sequencer/FM Percussion Synthesizer plug-in, to version 1.1. This update includes :

• Multiple Outputs: Axon now has 7 additional stereo outputs, one for each voice/neuron. These are pre-mixer, and are not affected by mute, solo, pan, or fader.
• Zero Reset: A third sync mode has been added, RST. In this mode, Axon syncs to host, but every time you stop the host transport, the counters in each Neuron reset to zero. The net result is that Axon becomes much more determinate.
• Bug Fixes: The timing bug in Logic has been dealt with, as well as another obscure automation bug in the AudioUnit version, and some other minor bugs.