PC and Music News

Sound Skulptor ships the MP573, a single ended class A preamp, based on the classic Neve 1290/1073, ported to the API Lunchbox format. The sound of the MP573, like its model is full, silky, detailed and musical, slightly larger than life, very complimentary to a digital recording environment.

This product is a new addition to the Sound Skulptor range of DIY kits. The DIY approach on these products makes them affordable to most - without compromising on quality. The skills needed to build the kit are basic, thanks to careful design and to the very detailed instructions. Of course, the products are also available fully assembled for the non-technicians.

Highlights :

• Single ended class A design
• Carnhill/St. Ives transformers on input and output
• 0 to 70 dB of ga ...

Inside ''Dance Drum Samples'' you will find a large selection loops and one shots that are suitable for most styles of dance music. Drum breaks such as the ''amen'' drum break to hip-hop & half time dubstep loops. Alternatively create your own drum tracks with our large selection of one shot hits. These can also be used to customize any of these drum loops.

Specs :

• 658.1 MB
• 24-bit, 44,1 Hz
• Aiff Slices
• 103 x Rex2 & MIDI Loops
• 116 x wav Loops
• 316 x Hits
• 106 x Sound Effects

Price: £14.95

The Sonoris Parallel Equalizer (SPEQ) is a minimum phase parametric equalizer in VST, AU and RTAS format for Windows and Mac. The plug-in is suitable for mixing and especially mastering. It has fixed filter types on each band and band 2 to 6 are connected in parallel. The filters are build in a feedback/feedforward manner to provide cutting and boosting. Band 3 to 5 are constant-Q bells and 2 and 6 are shelves. Band 1 and 7 are low/high cuts and connected in series with the rest.

The main feature is that this eq is a lot more subtle and needs more work to set up right because there is some interaction between the bands. In normal series connected eq's the gains of two bands just add up but in a parallel eq it doesn't. The filters are parallel to each other as well as the unprocessed signal and this makes that if you have for example a low shelve boost and switch on a low freq bell boost too, it just doesn't do much more. You can't easily overdo things, but have to work harder to get it right. Also, the signal path is cleaner because the filters al work on the same input. The filters have correct gain up to Nyquist. The plug-in has a large graphical display that shows exactly what you get. The size of the plugin can be changed to your liking by dragging the lower right-hand corner.

Pricing : €199

TouchAble is an iPad app that lets you control Ableton Live.

Navigate around your live set with the touch of a finger, tweak Lives mixer, instruments and fx with full automapping and unlimited tracks & parameters. touchAble allows live users to walk away from their computer and perform live from anywhere within Wi-Fi range while keeping latency at a minimum.

Play your favourite synths with the unique double keyboard or record your rhythms with the 16 drum pads, including 5 velocity steps & octave selectors. Access the most important transport and clip functions without losing focus on your set and tweak the same set with two iPads with the unique Dual-User-Mode.

You need to adjust volume, launch a new clip and play a device? Don't worry - a smart and intuitive screen menu empowers the user to arrange and switch modules on the fly.


touchAble is available now for $13.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Reaktor 5.5 is a free update available now for existing Reaktor 5 users. It includes number of interesting improvements.

New features :

• A complete overhaul of REAKTOR's interface delivers a new level in usability and improved workflow.
• Addition of two powerful new synthesis modes : Additive Synthesis and Modal Synthesis
• Fresh sounds and ensembles : now-included REAKTOR Electronic Instruments 1 and 2, and a new synth from the creators of MASSIVE - Lazerbass.
• Improvements made to the Structure editor and audio engine.
• Reworked documentation, with the Application Reference manual (400 pages) completely rewritten to reflect the latest improvements, updates and enhancements.

Pricing :

• Free update available now for existing Reaktor 5 users.
• 119 € for REAKTOR 2, 3 or 4 users
• 379 € for Full Version

SSL has just updated the Duende OS to v3.5.2. For more details, follow the link below and scroll down the page to see the vast list of updates and fixes :