PC and Music News

At this year's Winter Namm show, Spectrasonics announced and previewed their brand new virtual instrument 'Trilian', the long awaited successor to their Trilogy bass module.

The recording for Trilian is now complete and, according to Spectrasonics' Creative Director, Eric Persing, the quality and expression of the new sounds they've captured is even better than they had originally planned !

Spectrasonics have also added some new features to the software, which will make a big difference for the end users and, as such, a little more editing and testing time than originally expected is needed to complete the release.

We can therefore confirm that the official release date for Trilian will now be 29th June 2009.

In the meantime, don't forget there will be a special free upgrade offer for Trilogy customers on the Intel-Mac platform and for customers who purchase Trilogy in 2009.

TC Electronic has announced that for two weeks beginning March 25th you can get a 50% discount off the PowerCore Tube-Tech CL 1B plug-in.

The CL 1B plug-in is based upon highly advanced component emulation technology, and brings the legendary analog sound of the CL 1B compressor/limiter to the PowerCore platform. The CL 1B utilizes a carefully crafted algorithm so efficient that it allows the use of up to two instances in stereo at 44.1 kHz or one instance in stereo at 96 kHz per DSP chip on 2nd generation PowerCore hardware (Compact, FireWire, Express, PCI mkII & Unplugged). The CL 1B plug-in is compatible with all types of PowerCore hardware.

Puremagnetik has just released a new Micropak called B-System: Percussives and described as "a unique sonic adventure" through 10 electronic drum kits and 40 rhythmic loops recorded from an original Buchla 200e modular synthesizer.

B-System Percussives for Ableton Live includes ten full 2 octave kits (over 650 individual samples) programmed with advanced Macro integration and effects mapping. Utilizing multi-velocity zones for the ultimate in expression and playability each kit is sonically charged for instant electronic gratification! The Ableton Live version also includes 40 Live Clips of preprogrammed material, each one expertly tailored with effects racks and advanced Macro controls.

The Kontakt version of B-System comes with 10 menus of over 20 multisampled percussion sounds and a menu of looped phrases. Each instrument has been uniquely programmed with a custom Kontakt KSP GUI for instant tweakability.

B-System Percussives for Logic includes a collection of 10 electronic kits, multiple pre-programmed channel strips and 40 advanced SIAL loops that integrate flawlessly with EXS24.

Note that B-System: Percussives is the first in a series of B-System Micropaks that focus mainly on the Buchla 200e's percussion generating capabilities.

Pricing : Basic Monthly Subscription: $5.75/Month Basic Yearly Subscription: $60/Year All Access Pass - $198/Year.

Toontrack Music are delighted to announce the worldwide shipping of the very first SDX expansion pack for Superior Drummer® 2.0, the "New York Studios Vol.2 SDX".

The SDX contains unique recordings from legendary New York Studios Allaire and Hit Factory N.Y. and MIDI played by super session drummer Nir Z.

The "New York Studios Vol.2 SDX" is available now at a price of $179 / €139. Note that audio examples are already available at :

EarMaster ApS releases a lighter version of its ear training software EarMaster 5.

EarMaster Essential 5 offers the core features of EarMaster Pro and represents a valuable alternative for musicians and music students on a tight budget, yet not willing to give in to low-end instructional material. Like its bigger brothers EarMaster Pro and EarMaster School, EarMaster Essential is available in 21 languages for both Mac OS X and Windows. The official introduction of the program will take place at the 2009 Frankfurt Musik Messe on the booth of EarMaster's German distributor Klemm Music Technology.

Central features :

· 139 progressive lessons from classical music to rock, including a set of Jazz lessons.
· 4 exercise areas to learn how to identify transcribe and play intervals, chords, and rhythms.
· User-defined on-screen interfaces: staff, multiple-choice, piano, guitar, bass, violin, cello, and more.
· Interactive answering methods: MIDI instrument, microphone, plugged-in instrument, or the computer keyboard and the mouse.
· Detailed statistics.
· A customized mode to target specific elements of practice, etc.

Suggested retail price: US$/€ 29.95

Doepfer is about to introduce a new monophonic stand-alone Synthesizer with USB and Midi interface : Dark Energy. 100% analog, only the USB and Midi interface contains digital components.

Dark Energy is built into a black metal case with wooden side plates. Potentiometers with metal shafts are used and each potentiometers is fixed to the case (no wobbly shafts and knobs). The distance between the controls is a bit wider compared to A-100 modules and knobs with vintage look are used.

Dark Energy is also available as module A-111-5 for usage within the the modular system A-100. The only differences are the missing power supply and USB/Midi interface and the module uses the standard distances between the controls. The VCO frequency CV input (1V/octave) and the Gate input are normalled to the corresponding signals of the A-100 bus via jumpers. The jumpers can be used to interrupt the internal bus connections.

Dark Energy will be available on June 2009 at a price of €400.