PC and Music News

EastWest presents Hollywood Strings Gold Edition, bringing the sounds from Hollywood Strings Diamond Edition within the reach of any composer.

Designed for film, television, and video game scoring, Hollywood Strings was recorded in EastWest's Studio 1 by their team of Doug Rogers, Nick Phoenix, Thomas Bergersen and engineered by Hollywood veteran Shawn Murphy.

Hollywood String Gold Edition provides all of the sounds from the Diamond Edition in 16-bit resolution and includes a single, mid-tree mic position, all articulations with the exception of bow-change legato, and does not include Divisi mics. The Gold Edition ships on multiple DVDs.

Hollywood Strings Gold Edition is scheduled to ship September 27, 2010 for $795 (€599).

Amp is an Ableton audio effect that adds warmth and drive without hassles. Co-developed with Softube, Amp accurately delivers the sound and simplicity of legendary amplifiers and cabinets.

Ableton has focused on the essentials — tone, vibe and character — so musicians can focus on making music instead of searching for the right knob, allowing them to get good dirt, fast.

Amp comes with Cabinet, a separate effect that provides a selection of classic guitar cabs, with optimized mics and mic positioning. Ableton has also included a wide range of sounds that transform Ableton's instruments and effects with Amp's new sonic character. These include Instrument and Effect Racks, Live Clips and over 400 presets.


Amp is included with Ableton Suite 8 and is available separately for €99/$129 from the Ableton web shop. Live 8 users can also take advantage of a free collection of new Instrument and Audio Effect Racks that use Amp's technology when they download the latest Live update, 8.2.

Universal Audio has released the UAD Software v5.7.0. As usual this update comes with at least one new plug-in and this time it's the EP-34 Tape Echo Plug-In. Here's what they say about it :

"Universal Audio's EP-34 Tape Echo plug-in gives guitar players and mix engineers the rich, warm tape delay effects of vintage Echoplex units, now on the UAD-2 Powered Plug-Ins platform for Mac and PC. One need only listen to classic recordings from Jimmy Page, Brian May, Chick Corea, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson and Andy Summers to hear the Echoplex sound in action. Unlike other Echoplex emulations, the EP-34 is the first plug-in that targets specific behaviors of both the EP-3 and EP-4 Echoplexes.

• Highly desirable sound of original EP-3 and EP-4 Echoplex tape delay units, now available as a UAD-2 plug-in for Mac or PC
• Tape echo effects virtually indistinguishable from those used on countless classic recordings of the past six decades
• Unique movable record head design creates warm, rich sound unlike any other delay unit
• Provides a range of tones, from simple slap effects to self-oscillation chaos
• Amalgam of features from EP-3 and EP-4 hardware units, plus "digital only" extras for modern mix use
• Requires a UAD-2 DSP Accelerator Card"

The EP-34 Tape Echo Plug-In is available now at a price of $199.


On top of that, the UAD VCA VU is now officially licensed and renamed to UAD dbx® 160.

Last but not least, there's a 7-day introdutory offer : buy the EP-34 Tape Echo or dbx® 160 plus a second plug-in and you'll save 20% on the additional plug-in, or add 2 or more plug-ins with your purchase and you'll save 30% on the additional plug-ins. This offer expires on October 1st.

FabFilter has just released two more sound sets for FabFilter Twin 2 : Dirty House and Ambient.

The Dirty House sound set by Thomas Koot contains more than hundred raw and heavy house-oriented presets, instantly injecting a dirty edge into every production.

The Ambient sound set contains 130 beautiful ambient-oriented presets, programmed by rsmus7 (Stephan Muesch). Many of these spacious and spherical sounds use the synthesizer in new and until now unheard ways.

They are both available now for €19/$24/£17 each (excl. VAT).

In addition, a Sound Set Bundle with all five sound sets (Rob Lee, Electro, Synth Classics, Dirty House and Ambient) is now available for €59, $74 or £49 (excl. VAT).

Celemony is proud to announce Version 1.2 of Melodyne editor, Melodyne assistant and Melodyne essential. The update brings full 64-bit compatibility and various optimizations.

With Version 1.2, the new Melodyne generation joins the currently select ranks of plug-ins capable of running native in modern 64-bit hosts and thereby exploiting to the full the advantages of 64-bit technology. For users, this means primarily that Melodyne is more robust and runs more smoothly during the editing of more extensive projects. Broader host compatibility, various workflow improvements – such as in the handling of transfer storage paths – and a number of bug-fixes round off Version 1.2. Naturally, compatibility with 32-bit hosts is maintained.

Version 1.2 will appear in October and is free-of-charge for registered users.

This bank contains 64 new sounds for Gforce software Oddity synthesizer. Suitable for all genres of music, this new soundset features dirty basses, raw overdriven sequences, staccato blips, ring mod synths, and some classic dance sounds.

Price : $20