PC and Music News

As a Christmas gift to all Pianoteq customers, Modartt is glad to offer a cimbalom add-on, the latest addition to the KIViR family of virtually restored historical instruments.

This is a physically modelled virtual copy of cimbalom Balázs Kovács (2007).

The cimbalom belongs to the ancestor psaltery, quoted in the bible. The psaltery was later developed into different variants which differed in sound but were similar in their constructive concept. One of these, the cimbalom, was a constant member of gypsy orchestras. Legs and a damper pedal were soon added to the instrument and it reached the status of concert instrument in the 19th Century, thanks to Ferenc Erkel and Franz Liszt.

Contrarily to the piano, pressing down a key does not lift the corresponding damper. Hence, unless the pedal is depressed, all notes are immediately dampened.

This add-on is free for all registered users of Pianoteq.

LOUD Technologies Inc. (parent company of Mackie) today announced it has signed an agreement with Avid that licenses the use of Mackie's new Onyx-i Series FireWire Recording Mixers with Avid Pro Tools M-Powered 8 software.

To enable use with Pro Tools M-Powered 8, users will need to purchase the Mackie Universal Driver upgrade ($49.99 USD) at Mackie - Home. Once the driver is downloaded and installed, the Onyx 820i, 1220i, 1620i and 1640i mixers can be used with Avid Pro Tools M-Powered 8 software.

SoundsDivine has announced the release of 'Vinatge Electronic' for D-CAM:Synth Squad Strobe.

This new bank for Strobe contains 128 patches. 'Vintage Electronic' features old keyboard sounds, big poly unison pads, squelchy basses, dub style sequences, textured leads, trance arpeggios and a whole lot more... Like the 'New Retro' presets, each patch is designed to be highly dynamic and expressive, featuring many aftertouch / mod wheel / velocity & pitch tracking modulations.


Available now for $25. 40% Discount for owners of SoundsDivine's 'New Retro' Bank for Strobe.

Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Inc. ("BIAS") today releases PitchCraft EZ, a new pitch correction and special effects tool. As a plug-in for popular audio host applications on Mac and Windows computing platforms, PitchCraft EZ is both easy to use and highly effective.

"Super-natural" sonic quality with ease
BIAS first developed advanced pitch correction and modification technologies for their Master Perfection Suite — a professional plug-in suite for Mac and PC that includes PitchCraft (also available in the company's flagship Peak Pro XT audio editing, processing, mastering, and delivery software application exclusive for Mac). Using essential algorithms from PitchCraft, PitchCraft EZ offers many core features while focusing on ease of use and quick, pro-quality results. The pitch, transposition, and formant preservation DSP algorithms employed ensure natural-sounding, pitch-correction and transposition, while offering additional options not found in other low-priced solutions.

GSi has released version 2.0 of MrTramp, a free physical modeling simulation of the Wurlitzer 200A Electric Piano.

What's different in this new version ? Firstly, it's no more compiled in SynthEdit, it's fully programmed in C++ so is now also available for Mac OSX in both VST and AU formats; secondly, it takes way less CPU and RAM; furthermore, this not the exact same algorithm used in the previous MrTramp, this is a new revised formula which gives more 'bite' on the lower octaves and more 'body' on the high notes.

Panel Controls :

• Velocity : adjusts the velocity response, use this in accordance to your MIDI controller's settings to find the best action response.
• Hardness : adjusts the hardness of the virtual "reeds".
• Tremolo : turns on/off and adjusts the amount of tremolo, with a fixed frequency of 6 Hz, triangle waveform.
• Tone : a low pass filter, use this to brighten or darken the sound.
Volume.

112dB has announced the upcoming release of a new plug-in called Redline PreAmp. Here is what they say about it :

"Redline Preamp livens up any "too clean" signal with a customizable combination of even and odd harmonics, saturation, and soft clipping. Redline Preamp is a vintage console channel, a musical grunge machine, and everything in between.

Unique and concise editing options allow for anything from subtle coloration to high-class grunge, from vintage emulation to fattening of digital mixes. A showcase selection of carefully constructed presets ranging from the American Vintage to the full-blown Beyond Repair is included.

Highlight features include proprietary tube modelling with detailed harmonics control, three individual frequency bands with solo listening, and mid/side processing."

Redline Preamp is expected to release on Jan 8.