PC and Music News

D16 Group has announced a Half Price Sale : until December 1st, 2009, all products in D16's online shop can be purchased for half price !

BBE Sound Inc. and Nomad Factory are proud to announce their collaboration in the development and design of the Sonic Sweet Plugins.

The BBE Sound Sonic Sweet includes :

• the D82 Sonic Maximizer which is identical to the physical unit it terms of utility and processing
• the H82 Harmonic Maximizer which increases Presence and Clarity, Restore Natural Brightness and adds Deeper and Extended Low Frequencies
• the L82 Loudness Maximizer which is a mixing and mastering multi-band limiter plug-in

Available now for Mac (AU, VST, RTAS, AS) and PC (VST, RTAS, AS) at a price of $149. Note that if you already own the D82 Sonic Maximizer V2, you can upgrade to the BBE Sonic Sweet for only $50.

Toontrack Music has just announced the release of the Electronic EZX, their first electronic drum collection.

"It is with great excitement that we introduce the Electronic EZX®.

A modern collection of classic, circuit bent and resampled electronic drum sounds suitable for a wide variety of genres and production styles. Pristine classics, otherworldly one of a kind bends, and gritty must haves make this the hottest collection of electronic drums imaginable. This EZX® includes 33 meticulously crafted kits with additional menus of the most requested electronic kick and snare drums. It also features our ever-popular use of parallel FX processing for unlimited variation and new sonic depths. With this EZX®, you will be able to cover a broad range of popular and emerging electronic genres. You name it.... House, Dub, Techno, Progressive, Pop, Hip-Hop, Rap, Electro, Grime, Jungle, DnB, RnB, Dub-Step, Trip-Hop, Acid, Disco, Electro-Crunk, Ghetto-Tech, Baile Funk, Industrial, Garage, Experimental, Noise-core, Hard-core, Minimal, Glitch, Gabba, Ambient, Trance, Miami Bass, 2 Step, B-more and many more... its in here!!

Cinematique Instruments has announced the release of Celtic Nylon Harp, a small-sized harp with a height of nearly 39 inch, usually designed for traditional music. The wooden instrument ranges in three octaves and has got 22 strings which are made of nylon and are plucked with the fingers.

Celtic Nylon Harp was recorded in several velocity layers and 4 Round Robin variations in two different mic positions (firstly very close and secondly at the sound hole at the rear of the harp), giving you different sound variations. With the ModWheel you can control the length and decay of the strings giving you feeling of damping. Beyond that you have got the possiblity of using the harp in a glissando or an arpeggiator mode.

Summary of all 4 patches :

• Celtic Nylon Harp Close MW damped ...

Akai Professional announces that the MPK88 is now shipping.

This new addition to the MPK series of keyboard controllers with MPC pads and technology brings the utility and creative control of its siblings to more dedicated piano and keyboard players, thanks to its fully-weighted, hammer-action keyboard with assignable keyboard split and aftertouch.

In addition to the premium keybed, the MPK88 gives the player 16 MPC pads that are velocity and pressure sensitive and can access four banks of sounds each, for access to 64 sounds at any time. The MPK88 also puts the player in command of their software with assignable Q-Link faders, knobs and buttons. The user can assign any Q-Link to control nearly any parameter in their software for hands-on, mouse-free performance. The MPK88 also has ...

Ableton and Cycling '74 are pleased to announce the release of Max for Live, the long-awaited product that puts the power and potential of Max/MSP inside Live. Co-developed by Ableton and Cycling '74 over a period of more than two years, Max for Live effectively opens up the Live platform, allowing users to create and edit their own devices.

Users are free to create whatever they can think of: unique synths and effects, algorithmic composition tools, or hybrid hardware/software music machines. Devices created with Max for Live are seamlessly integrated into Live's interface and workflow, just like the "home-grown" Ableton instruments and effects.

For those not interested in building their own devices, Max for Live is still an interesting opportunity. It includes a collection of premi ...