PC and Music News

Here is an interesting excerpt from an SSL post on GearSlutz :

"Computers are getting faster and faster. They're not going to stop getting faster either. Power is no longer a problem - even for those with 3 or 4 year old computers. The limiting factor for any DSP-assisted system these days is the environment that it has to work in. With Soundscape (as an example) it is written from the ground up to work with DSP processing so you can get latencies of only 4 samples running plug-ins. In an AU/ASIO system latency is driven by the buffers of the host application (which invariably was not written for DSP-assisted signal processing but for host CPU processing) and this is one of the downsides of things like Duende, UAD, Powercore et al. So looking forwards at this we at SSL decided that unless you are in an absolute mission-critical application a Native system is more than adequate for the job of making music. Rather than develop a new hardware platform for Duende we came to the conclusion that most people just wanted Native plug-ins.

I can confirm that we are working on Duende Native. We will be rolling out a public-beta test phase in the next 4-8 weeks and will be looking for people to join in. Register onto SSL's mailing list to find out when."

Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix multiband dynamics processor is the most flexible audio tool Blue Cat have ever released: check out its 5 independent powerful processors and its cross-band side chaining capabilities, you won't find these elsewhere! It is available as a single plug-in or within the refreshed Blue Cat's Master Pack and All Plugins Pack bundles, or the brand new Energy Pack dynamics plug-ins package. As a side note, it is also their first plug-in that supports the 64-bit VST format on Mac.

Main Features :

• Full featured multiband dynamics processor: compressor, gate, limiter, expander, waveshaper.
• Up to 5 bands, with crossover filters from 6 to 60 dB/Oct for optimal separation.
• Unique envelope routing capability for cross-band dynamics effects (one band ma ...

EastWest has announced the TeraPack, the company's entire collection on a terabyte hard drive with free 10-day trial versions of all products. The TeraPack is designed to allow users to demo the entire EastWest/Quantum Leap product line quickly and easily on their own systems without having to install any samples. TeraPack customers can buy full licenses of most of the included products for 50% off the suggested retail price until September 30, 2010.

The TeraPack is supplied on a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 Gb/3.5" internal hard drive with a 5-year manufacturers warranty for optimum performance. The hard drive houses all EastWest/Quantum Leap virtual instrument collections and is used to test drive the 10-day trial versions. Both trial and full l ...

Solid State Logic proudly announces the release of a new module for the X-Rack modular rack system : the Stereo EQ Module.

The X-Rack Stereo EQ Module is a stereo version of SSL's console Channel EQ. It is a classic SSL four-band parametric EQ that is a superb all round frequency adjustment tool kit. Whether you need pinpoint accuracy for surgical problem solving, smoother broader sound shaping, or a little more aggressive character the SSL Stereo EQ will give you what you need. This is a fully featured EQ with high- and low-bands switchable between shelving or fixed Q bell curves and two mid-bands each with variable Q control. This stereo version introduces a 'Selective Mode' switch which enables independent switching of high & low bands and mid bands between SSL's E & G series consol ...

Sugar Bytes has released the "perfect Guitar emulation". With Amps, Effects and different guitars. And the guitar player is included as well, represented by a step sequencer system which makes it easy to create the most impressing riffs and licks on the fly. Guitarist comes as standalone and VST/AU plugin for mac and pc.

Guitarist can be played live as well, with just two fingers you can combine chords and patterns easily. You can choose from factory chords or just create your own chords on the fingerboard. The Action Section allows you to tweak the sequence in realtime and apply timestretch, looper or other crazy effects. Guitar players, keyboarders, producers, Guitarist is the new solution when guitar tracks are needed.

Guitarist Full Version is priced at $249/€199.

Peavey Electronics and Agile Partners have announced that the AmpKit and AmpKit+ Apps are available now on the Apple iTunes App Store. Described as "the ultimate iPhone amp and effects studios with extensive recording and re-amping capabilities", together with AmpKit LiNK, a high fidelity electric guitar interface for iPad, iPhone and second- and third-generation iPod touch, provide guitar and bass players with a powerful and convenient way to jam with high quality tones anytime and anywhere.

• AmpKit is a free app that includes the Peavey ValveKing amp with clean and very-high gain lead channels, two ValveKing cabinets (4x12 and 1x12), two pedals (Noise Gate, Elevenizer), two mics (Workhorse 57 dynamic mic, Germann 87 condenser mic), and a built-in Noise & Feedback Filter.

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