PC and Music News

BOSS celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Loop Station with a dynamic new lineup of RC-series loopers. Introducing the RC-3 and RC-30 … portable, powerful pedals with super-sized internal memory that captures up to three hours of stereo looping! The RC-3 is a one-track stereo Looper housed in a compact pedal; the RC-30 is the two-track version in twin-pedal format. No matter what instrument you play or noises you make, the new RC series is ready to loop it. Plug in your instrument of choice, even a microphone; the RC-30 has an XLR input, complete with phantom power. Both pedals are equipped with USB 2.0 ports that let you save your loops externally, as well as import and export WAV files.

Spectrasonics' flagship virtual synth has received a major new update that includes a wealth of new features and additions, the most prominent being the inclusion of a fantastic new interactive interface called "The Orb" which delivers real-time synthesis manipulation capabilities.

The update also includes many features that have been requested by users since Omnisphere's release back in 2009 including the new 5-Column Browser view and support for polyphonic aftertouch. The new version also integrates a significant update to the factory patch library, taking advantage of all the new sound design capabilities and bringing the total number of included sounds to a whopping 8,000!. Avalaible around February 15th

Cubase 6 and Cubase Artist 6 offer enhanced workflow features within the Project window. The newly introduced Track Edit Groups option** refines the work with multitrack recordings, allowing related events on multiple tracks to be grouped and edited simultaneously, while the new Lane Track offers convenient multitake comping for selecting and consolidating audio parts to form the perfect take. The redesigned transient and automatic tempo detection, phase-accurate audio quantization and drum replacement functions incorporated in Cubase 6 help to smooth out any glitches in live-recorded drum tracks.

The Key Editor has further been enhanced with an Inspector panel and the groundbreaking Note Expression feature for creating and editing multiple controller values on a single-note level. Also included is the new Dynamics Lane, which allows real-time listening of dynamic changes while automatically in sync with dynamic notations from the Score Editor

Karma-Lab announces the development and upcoming release of "KARMA Motif Software" for the PC/Mac ($199 direct from Karma-Lab).

This brand-new entry in their line of software applications brings the award-winning and patented KARMA algorithmic music technology, previously only available for Korg workstations, to the Yamaha Motif XS and the new Yamaha Motif XF platforms.
Some features in Karma V3:
- 8-track design (6 KARMA Modules, 2 Keyboard Layers) per Performance
- Per-track Volume and Mute stored in each of the 32 Scenes - individually adjust the mix of all parts in each scene, and which parts are playing
- Velocity Response Curves - individually tailor the velocity response for the left hand keyboard, the right hand keyboard, the input to KARMA from the keyboard, and the Chord Triggers (pads), without editing the Motif's programs or songs.
- Fill/Stop Feature - use one or more modules as a melodic or drum fill, with the ability to stop and start other modules automatically
- Advanced Stutter Feature - rapidly "stutter" (retrigger) the entire groove at different rhythmic resolutions, providing an effect similar to how it would sound if you sampled the entire KARMA groove and then replicated small slices of the beginning of the sample in your DAW. From machine-gun like stutters to slow triplet hits, it adds a completely new dimension to a KARMA Performance.
- Master Transpose - play in one key, generate output in another, switchable in real-time.
- Chord Triggers (Pads) - Individual Vel. Sensitivity and Transpose...

Kronos comes with more than 12 GB SSD hard disk samples, 9 synthesis engines together, 16 units of effects and KARMA technology. 73 and 88 keys are avalaible.


- SGX-1 Premium Piano: German piano with more than 4 GB in samples. 8 layers and the choice of opening angle of the tail of the piano.
- MDS EP-1 Electric Piano, electric pianos (with "signature" by Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Jordan Rudess...)
- Tonewheel CX-3 Drawbars controllable from the faders.
- MS20-EX Legacy Analog Collection
- EX Polysix Legacy Analog Collection
- NOD-7 Waveshaping VPM Synthesizer
- STR-1 Plucked String Synthesizer
- HD-1 High Definition Synthesizer
- Audio/MIDI Sequencer with 16 MIDI tracks +16 Audio Tracks
- Combination with 16 parts (like the Oasys Workstation)
- Special Virtual RAM (Korg Technology) for smooth fades between sound and for simultaneous play between engines.

Available for the Slim Phatty and coming soon for the Little Phatty with OS v3.0, this free download makes experimenting with alternate scales a breeze. Tuning data is easily editable and is displayed as a ratio, frequency and in cents. Scala files (www.huygens-fokker.org/scala) can be imported and exported for use with other tuning software. An unlimited number of tunings can be saved on your computer and the synthesizer's hardware can store up to thirty-two different tunings; enough to take you around the world and back again.