PC and Music News

RightClickMP3 is a small and handy little utility that converts most popular audio formats to mp3, directly from the right click menu in Windows Explorer or Mac OS Finder.

It's designed to be simple and lightweight - it doesn't install anything else on your computer, and won't slow it down. It can easily handle batch conversion of a folder of files (even folders containing varying file types), and there is a bitrate selector for you to adjust the quality setting.

It supports Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6, and all flavours of Windows (32bit and 64bit). Supported formats are WAV, AIFF, M4A, OGG, MP2, WMA, FLAC and AAC.

RightClickMP3 is priced at $9.99, and is available now as a direct download.

Genuine Soundware has updated Key Performer to version 1.1. This is the first version available for Intel - Mac OS X 10.5+.

For the record, Key Performer is described as "the Swiss Army knife of the modern gigging keyboardist". It's a single software instrument which offers a wide variety of keyboard sounds that are used in almost all musical genres where a keyboardist is involved.

Key Performer is available for both Mac and PC in VST, AU and Standalone versions at an introductory price of €99 until December 31st, 2010.

Eventide today announced one of the most highly regarded plug-ins in its Anthology II TDM bundle will be available for the month of March for only $199, a discount of over 70% off of its original retail price of $695.

This full-featured, flexible, multi-effect plug-in born from Eventide's flagship H8000 processor, the Eventide Reverb features nine room types, randomizing modulation, a Low-Fi effect, as well as a compressor, parametric EQ, and stereo delays.

This is a one-time-only promotion. No extensions will be granted and, at the end of March, 2010, the Eventide Reverb will no longer be available as a separate plug-in.

For further information about Eventide Reverb go to:

Biscuit by Oto Machines is a stereo sound effect processor. Thanks to a subtle blend of 8-bit digital and analog processing, Biscuit is able to create a wide range of sounds. It goes from 8-bit character and lo-fi digital artefacts to numeric distortions.

The Vienna Symphonic Library announces a limited time offer in connection with the Vienna Special Edition collections, the company's all-in-one orchestral packages at entry-level prices.

Users who purchase the Standard Library of the Vienna Special Edition or the Special Edition PLUS between March 1 and March 31, 2010, will receive the download collection Soprano Choir for free, a €95 / $133 value.

The offer applies to both the DVD Collections (Standard Libraries) as well as to their corresponding Download Collections. When choosing the download versions, all four instrument groups of the Vienna Special Edition or all three parts of the Special Edition PLUS need to be purchased in March 2010 in order to qualify for the offer.

The special offer also benefits customers wanting to upgrade to the upcoming Vienna Choir DVD Collection. Registered users of the Soprano Choir will get a €75 / $100 upgrade discount when purchasing the big Vienna Choir DVD Collection (Extended Library).

By inventing level-independent dynamic processing in the 1990's, SPL provided the foundation for all transient processing tools. They have once again resorted to this proven and tested technology to develop their latest software tool: the DrumXchanger, a plug-in that can replace drum sounds in multitrack sessions irrespective of their level. According to SPL, it works in real time and replaces samples phase-accurately in the original signal.

DrumXchanger uses the Transient Designer technology for drum hit recognition rather than sound creation. Hence, all drum hits, including the faintest ghost notes, are faithfully recognized regardless of their dynamic level. The samples can be mixed with the original sound and there is also a ducking function available, which only reduces the level of the original drum hit itself without affecting the ambience around it.

Besides the basic functions to process the original and sample signals, DrumXchanger includes two fully operational Transient Designer processors, as well as high-pass and low-pass filters for the original, sampled, and output signals.

All samples can be pitch-shifted one octave above or below in real time, while a delay control allows precise sample replacement.

SPL included a basic library with