PC and Music News

MOTU has announced the MicroBook, a USB bus-powered audio interface that delivers studio-grade audio performance in a compact size small enough to fit in your pocket. The MicroBook turns a Mac or PC computer into a personal 4x2 recording studio with all the audio I/O and mixing needed to make professional-quality recordings.

The MicroBook gives users a complete personal recording solution for a Mac or PC laptop or desktop computer, with four simultaneous inputs for a microphone, a guitar, and a keyboard or other stereo line level device. The mic preamp delivers neutral coloration and pristine sound, with 20 dB pad and 48V phantom power for condenser mics. Programmable analog, digital, and headphone outputs provide flexible monitoring options. The guitar input provides the proper impedan ...

Steinberg announces the release of HALion Sonic, the premier VST workstation instrument and successor to the Hypersonic 2 VSTi. HALion Sonic combines a sample library with a powerful sampling and synthesis engine. HALion Sonic supports both VST and AU plug-in formats and is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.5 as well as Windows 7 and Windows Vista, which also includes a native x64 version. HALion Sonic is now available for EUR 249.

With more than 1,200 synths, hybrid and acoustic instruments spanning across 12 GB of hard drive, the included library is the upshot of a strong collaboration between Steinberg and Yamaha sound design teams. A maximum of 20 articulations per instrument cover a generous scope of playing styles for various instruments, while support for Steinberg's VST Expre ...

Voxengo PHA-979 version 2.2 update is now available for download. Voxengo PHA-979 is a track phase and time alignment audio plug-in, available in AudioUnit and VST plugin formats, for Mac OS X and Windows computers.

PHA-979 is useful during mixing sessions, especially when working with the sound material recorded through an array of microphones. In many cases this allows you to solve various phasing problems arising from the microphone placement chosen during the tracking session. In other cases this process may help you to align drums and other instruments to each other bringing punch and time coherence not attainable by the ordinary time-aligning alone.

PHA-979 version 2.2 includes the following changes:
- Plug-in initial loading time reduced.
- Crash problem on inserting the plu ...

Keith McMillen is introducing StringPort, "The First Computer Platform for Guitar". The StringPort very carefully processes, converts and conveys to the computer the polyphonic audio from industry-standard hexaphonic pickups (like the GK, Graph Tek, Zeta and RMC models) through high speed USB2. They have written custom drivers with extremely low latencies and all their applications take full advantage of multi-threading and multiple cores. High resolution (24bit) converters and impeccable design provide greater than 92 dB SNR from analog in to analog out.

But what really makes StringPort the last string/synth/processor device we will ever need is the powerful suite of software for use with the StringPort Hardware. The suite includes 24 applications including fast and accurate Analysis (for converting every little nuance of your performance into control data), powerful Polyphonic FX Processing (Wave Guide, PolyFuzz, Phase Vocoder, SMACK), a versatile VST FX Wall (perfect for all those plug-ins you've been "collecting"), a side of Synthesis (Classic FM and direct support for the world-famous Synful synthesizer), a friendly and useful Notation application (to capture data for output to your favorite music notation software), and MIDI Out to integrate StringPort into your existing MIDI world.

PreSonus announced that it is now shipping Studio One 1.5.1, the latest update to the company's flagship music recording and production software. This is a free update for all registered users of Studio One Artist and Studio One Pro. To update their software, users should log into their PreSonus accounts and download the new version.

Studio One 1.5.1 includes the following new features:

- A MIDI offset for recording is now available in the MIDI options to correct for poor timing with some devices and drivers.
- Double-click with the Arrow Tool removes a note in MIDI Piano Roll editor.
- Extracting audio from a video to a new track will automatically mute the video player's audio output (Studio One Pro).
- ISRC code validation has been added in Projects to avoid disc-burning errors ...

SONiVOX announced the release of Reggaeton Instrumento Virtual, a new virtual instrument plug-in for MAC and PC. For the first time, Reggaeton producers can enjoy a virtual instrument solely dedicated to their craft.

Designed for quick and easy professional beat construction, Reggaeton's distinctive bilingual (English and Spanish) user interface affords effortless integration of midi keyboards and MPC pad controllers, bridging the gap between MPC style music creation and the computer-based virtual instrument environment.

Reggaeton Instrumento Virtual is packed to the brim with seven gigabytes of premium instruments, as well as a selection of loop based construction kits. Reggaeton Instrumento Virtual runs as Standalone, VST, RTAS or AudioUnit. It is available now with a MSRP of $149 and an introductory street price of $99.