PC and Music News

M-Audio has announced that its new USB MIDI Keyboard/Controller, the Oxygen 88, is now shipping.

Top Features :

• 88-note graded hammer-action keybed
• DirectLink mode for instant controller mapping to common DAW functions—no setup required
• Compatible with Pro Tools, GarageBand, Logic, Live, Cubase, and more
• Dedicated transport and track select buttons
• 32 assignable knobs, faders, and buttons

Oxygen 88 is available worldwide for £540/€640.

ESI has announced that the MIDI keyboard KeyControl 25 XT is now available.

Features :

• 25-note MIDI keyboard
• velocity-sensitive keys
• pitch-bend wheel and modulation slider
• four endless rotary encoders that can be programmed to send your choice of CC numbers
• octave buttons
• input for a sustain pedal
• USB powered
• Cubase LE 5 and Toontrack's EZ Drummer Lite included

Pricing : £79

BIAS is shipping SoundSaver - a new software solution for Mac and Windows computing platforms that greatly streamlines the process of converting and restoring LPs and tapes. Simply connect, record, clean, and export — directly to iTunes, as MP3, or uncompressed WAV files for CD/DVD burning.

Easily Record and Define Tracks:
• Records from tape decks, turntables, mobile devices, etc - with included free cable (boxed version only)
• Record at HD quality (up to 32-bit/96kHz)
• Record timer sets recording duration
• Set input level automatically or manually with precision meters
• Define tracks manually or automatically
• Retrieves artist, track, and album info from the Internet

Intuitively restore & enhance:
• Remove pops, clicks & crackle ...

The Deep House library is another new Ueberschall release which includes 24 Construction Kits providing 3.2 GB of full-range Deep House sounds and songs, taking its inspiration from sounds straight from the clubs around the world.

Features :

• 24 Construction Kits including a main part, variation, intro/outro and some Vocal addons
• tempo range of 119 bpm to 127 bpm
• more than 1100 loops and samples
• drum loops, synth patterns, voices, bass lines, chord progressions, atmospheres, percussion and fx sounds
• Elastik Soundbank for Mac/PC/AU/VST/RTAS/StandAlone
• Elastik Player included — no sampler required!

Available now for €99.

Apogee Electronics officially announces today the end of production for its X-Series and Rosetta 800 converters.

While production will continue on Rosetta 200 and all X-cards, the torch will be passed to Apogee's new flagship interface, Symphony I/O, as the historic X-series and Rosetta 800 converters step down from their notable place in Apogee's 25-year history. Full customer support service for the X-Series and Rosetta 800 converters will continue as usual.

Current owners of these legacy product converters can feel free to contact technical support at support@apogeedigital.com, or contact sales for information on upgrading to Symphony I/O at askapogee@apogeedigital.com.

An Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument, introduced in 1981 and manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate, and buttons for major, minor, and diminished chords. The most basic method of playing the instrument is to press the chord buttons and swipe the touch plate with a finger or guitar pick in imitation of strumming a stringed instrument.

Puremagnetik has taken the Omnichord concept to a new level, building a sophisticated adaptation of a truly classic instrument.

Digital Strumming - To emulate bi-directional strumming, Ultrakord has the Harpomatik instruments with key down and release strum samples. Seven One-Finger-Chords are mapped across seven octaves to make them all available in every key.

Accompaniment - Ultrako ...