PC and Music News

Native Instruments has just released Kore Player, its free software instrument designed for use with Kore SoundPacks. KORE Player is now available for free directly from NI web site in VST, RTAS, AU and Standalone formats for Mac OSX and Windows. On top of that, four new KORE SoundPacks have also been released.

New libraries include :

- Massive Expansion Vol. 1 : contains 200 production-ready leads, basses and pad sounds based on the powerful Massive wavetable engine.
- Best of Absynth : with 200 soundscapes, pads and keyboard sounds from the library of Native Instruments' semi-modular synthesizer.
- Pop Drums : featuring studio-grade acoustic drum kits specifically engineered for pop productions, and equipped with an extensive collection of MIDI grooves.
- Kontakt Sax & Brass : a library of highly sophisticated trumpet, saxophone and trombone instruments, recorded by renowned sampling specialist Chris Hein and designed for Jazz, Funk, and R'n'B styles.

The new Kore Soundpacks are now available for download purchase on the NI website for a price of $59 / €49, with Pop Drums being priced at $79 / €69. For more information about KORE Player, please visit :

MHC Synthesizers and Effects has announced updates and new product structure.

The Studio Setup plugins have been split up into separate products, which means that the Space Synthesizer, Fatsondo and Voxynth synthesizers are available separately. The same applies to the effects which were part of the Studio Setup; Vox FX, Space Effect and Flex FX. This doesn't change anything for customers who bought the Studio Setup. They will still be supported.

On Mac OS X these plugins used to be installed by dragging and dropping them into the Audio Unit folder and then the user would have to activate them by running a "registration tool". This procedure has been changed and the plugins are now installed using traditional installers which prompt for the user's name and code before the installer puts the plugin
in the correct folder. On Windows, the installers have been changed and the activation is carried out during the installation phase too, in a similar manner.

Finally, note that the Space Synthesizer manual has been updated.

Antelope Audio unveils Trinity, a new master clock based on the same Oven Controlled Crystal technology as in their well-known OCX and OCX-V master clocks.

Specifications :

- 3 Independant Audio Generators up to 384 kHz, with Varispeed Control
- 3 Independant SD Generators, simultaneously offering PAL and NTSC
- 3 Independant HD Generators, presenting a choice of 16 Formats
- Intuitive Menu-Free User Interface with Triple Display
- 4th Generation of Acoustically Focused Clocking, now employing 64 bit DSP
- Dual Redundant Power Supply for added reliability
- Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator or Atomic Input for Supremely Low Jitter
- Factory calibrated to better than +/
- 0.02PPM accuracy via Atomic Clock
- Field recalibration to Atomic for better than +/
- 0.02PPM accuracy ...

NuGen Audio has updated Monofilter, Stereoizer and Stereoplacer (also available collectively as the Stereo Pack bundle) and the freeware utility Line-up. This free update includes performance optimizations under Mac OS X (AU and VST) and for Windows Vista 64 bit and is recommended for all users.

NuGen Audio has also updated Visualizer, SEQ1 and SEQ2. This free update includes performance optimizations for Windows Vista 64 bit and is recommended for all users using this OS.

Those updates are available on their web site. Note that NuGen Audio products are also available from our partner DontCrac[k].

Sonic Core is going to introduce its newest addition to the SCOPE product line at the upcoming MusikMesse show in Frankfurt (Hall 5.1, Stand D10). The SCOPE XITE-1 device combines DSP-based accelerated audio processors with a high-end audio interface. The external 19inch/1U rackmount unit is connected to a laptop via PCI-Express interface.

Using state-of-the-art SHARC signal processors allows for an increase of processing power by a factor of 10 compared to the older 14DSP SCOPE-Board.

A continuously developed low-latency technology allows the professional user to work with an agreeable, quasi-analog behaving audio platform. The flexible software environment includes a full range of plug-in audio devices: A selection of digital mixers, more than 50 audio effects, samplers and synthesizers in uncompromising sound quality. Additional compatible plug-ins developed by well-known third-party manufacturers continue to be available.

Planned to be released at the same time, the latest SCOPE software (Version 5) is intended to be available for Windows Vista, Windows XP and also Mac OS X. Scheduled release will be May 2008 at a retail price of 2698,- EUR excl. VAT (Introductory Price).

PreSonus has just announced that they will showcase the StudioLive 16.4.2 Digital Performance and Recording Mixer next week in Frankfurt.

Designed for both live performance and studio music production, StudioLive is a powerful and flexible sixteen-channel digital mixer loaded with sixteen high headroom XMAX microphone preamplifiers, built-in 22x18 FireWire recording and playback engine, "Fat Channel" processing with 4-band EQ's, compressors, limiters and gates, DSP effects, six aux buses, four sub-groups, extensive LED metering, talkback and much more.

Key Features :

- 16 inputs, 6 auxiliary mixes, 4 subgroups
- 16 class A XMAX microphone preamplifiers
- Hi-Definition analog to digital converters (118dB dynamic range)
- Unlimited headroom 32-bit floating point digital mixing an ...