PC and Music News

Tascam has upgraded their best-selling audio interfaces to the US-122mkII and US-144mkII USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interfaces.

The US-122mkII features improved audio performance along with a new, eye-catching compact design. The US-144mkII shares the design improvements, adding S/PDIF digital audio I/O for four channels of 96kHz/24-bit audio to and from a computer. Both interfaces use USB 2.0 technology for hiccup-free low-latency performance to Mac or Windows computers.

The US-122mkII and US-144mkII feature a pair of XLR microphone inputs with phantom power for recording condenser mics into a computer. Balanced line inputs and a guitar level in are also provided. MIDI in and out jacks allow for synthesizer and control messages to be passed to the computer, and the unbalanced line outputs connect to studio monitors. The US-144mkII has the addition of digital in and out, for a total of four channels, and a dedicated headphone level control means you don't need to switch off your monitors when recording on phones. A copy of Steinberg's 48-track Cubase LE4 is included to begin recording right away.

Tascam's US-122mkII and US-144mkII will be available in October. Estimated street price for the US-122mkII is $129, the US-144mkII is expected to sell for $149.

Waves makes vocal processing easier than it's ever been with their upcoming Vocal Rider plug-in. The name says it all - Vocal Rider is designed to match your vocal tracks to the rest of the mix and then keep the relative volume throughout the song. All you do is instantiate it on your vocal track, bus a summed instrumental mix to the side-chain, and hit play. The plug-in fader then takes over, keeping the relative volume of the vocals and the rest of the mix constant. And, unlike compression, Vocal Rider doesn't crush the dynamic range or color the vocal track at all.

Features :

• Intelligent adjustment of the vocal track based on the dynamics of the music
• Saves time doing the kind of automation you would have to do manually
• Writes automatic volume riding to the track as automation for fine tuning

More details will be available soon at :

Mytek Digital, manufacturer of high end mastering audio converters announced a brand new Stereo 192 DAC, top performance 192k PCM and DSD Digital to Analog Converter. The new DAC features USB and Firewire, as well as standard AES, SPDIF and Toslink inputs, capable of handling stereo PCM playback of up to 24 bit 192k as well as playback of DSD files with absolute state of the art accuracy and transparency.

Numerous features include: high end headphone amplifier, precision volume control with memory (separate for phones and main output), selectable upsampling to 192k and optional remote control.

The DAC will be available in Q1 2010, in both industrial and hi-fi 1/3 rack highly portable enclosure, at Mytek dealers worldwide. It's priced at $1595 for industrial version and $1695 for black or silver Hi-Fi version with RCA outputs.

Korg presents the M3 XPanded. This free major upgrade of Korg's M3 Workstation offers 668 MB of expansive new sounds, interactive interface functionality, advanced sequencer enhancements, additions to Korg's exclusive KARMA technology and more.

The new M3 XPanded upgrade is available for free in the box with all new M3 purchases, with a USB memory stick included containing the new OS and 640 MB of PCM (USB-PCM-04 is available for download only). The complete M3 XPanded upgrade is also available for download for existing users.

Tascam has announced the DP-008, an 8-track Digital Portastudio small enough to fit into a guitar case.

Based on the DP-004, the DP-008 adds four more tracks for a total of eight tracks with built-in mixing. The DP-008 has dedicated knobs for volume and pan for each track, plus a reverb send knob for the built-in reverb effect. The DP-008 has two XLR microphone inputs with phantom power, a guitar level input and even built-in stereo mics so you're ready to record anything. Tracks are mixed down to a dedicated stereo track and EQ is available on each track, but the Portastudio interface keeps it simple to use. It records to SD Card media, and a 2GB card is included with the unit.

The DP-008 will be available in October with an estimated street price of $299.

Tascam has unleashed the US-2000, a new 16-input USB audio interface condensed into only one rackspace.

Features:

• 16-in / 4-out USB 2.0 audio interface
• 96kHz / 24-bit audio resolution
• (8) XLR microphone inputs with phantom power
• (6) 1/4" balanced line inputs
• (4) 1/4" balanced line outputs
• (2) 1/4" instrument inputs (chan. 7&8 on front panel "combi "jacks)
• Stereo S/PDIF digital in and out
• 100-LED meter bridge (5 segments for each input and output)
• Zero-latency direct monitoring with mono/stereo switch for each pair of inputs
• 1/4" balanced stereo monitor output with its own volume control
• 1/4" stereo high-powered headphone output
• Mac and Windows compatible
• Steinberg Cubase LE4 48-track recording software included

The US-2000 will be available in October at a projected street price under $500.