PC and Music News

This year at AES in New York Avenson Audio introduces two new half rack space processors, the Mid-Side and the Blend.

The Mid-Side allows conversion of stereo Left-Right into M-S and back. There is a width control to balance the M vs S as well as a dedicated variable high pass filter for the Side channel.

Blend is a stereo two channel mixer designed for stem mixing or parallel processing. It features a 100mm fader for fine blend control and stereo sixteen segment LED metering.

Pricing and availability TBA.

Ableton has updated Live 8 and Ableton Suite 8 to version 8.0.8.

Improvements since v8.0.5 :

• Updated manuals.
• Updated Help Pages.
• Control Surface support for Novation Launchpad.
• Several improvements for the AxiomPro Controllers.
• Several bug fixes

Waves has announced WNS, or Waves Noise Suppressor.

WNS is a real-time, multiband noise reduction utility specifically tailored for dialog tracks. Waves claims that WNS will offer "superior sound quality with minimal artifacts" and an interface that "will be immediately familiar to Post engineers."


Pricing and availability TBA.

Phoenix Audio is pleased to announce the release of its 8 channel mic pre amp, the DRS-8.

The DRS-8 is an 8 channel solid state class A discrete mic pre amp, each channel has its own dedicated level control, -30db pad, phantom power, phase reverse, high pass filter and mute buttons. The unit has an 8 channel monitoring output facility so all 8 channels can be sent directly to a monitor controller or a patchbay as well as having individual channel outputs.

The design is based on the current family of DRS mic pre amps like the DRS1 & DRS2, that all feature the DSOP2 output stage that offers a full coloured saturated sound. Each unit is constructed to a commitment to high quality sonic clarity whilst still offering a distinctive vintage tone.

Estimated street price :$3500.

XLN Audio announces the release of the free Addictive Drums 1.5 Adrenaline Update featuring full E-Drums Support, Beat Transformer, GM Support, New Beats, New Presets and more.

• E-Drums Support
The Addictive Drums 1.5 Adrenaline Update offers full support for your E-Drums enabling you to simply plug and play. With ready made settings for all the major E-Drum models on the market Adrenaline lets you hook up and go in a matter of minutes. All the functionality for the E-Drums Support is located in the new Map Window where you can tweak the settings to your liking. For example you can edit the velocity control, variable hihat, positional sensing, etc.

• Beat Transformer
Edit the velocity, tempo and length of the MIDI beats and grooves inside Addictive Drums with the new Bea ...

SM Pro Audio unveils the Nano Patch+, a new passive volume controller.

One of the benefits of passive volume attenuation is that you no longer have to control volumes with your software's master volume fader. Reducing levels from your software only reduces the audio bit depth. It is much more appropriate to keep your software masters at unity and attenuate the audio to your active monitors with a passive controller like the Nano Patch Plus. This way you can maintain maximum audio resolution and attenuate your monitoring volume with the confidence that the sonic integrity of your audio is not compromised.

No active circuitry, buffers, transistors, batteries, or power supply of any kind can interfere with the main passive output of the Nano Patch+.

Features :

• Super compact ...