PC and Music News

SPARK is a complete drum solution made of a software application and a dedicated hardware controller.
Combining the power of analog synthesis, physical modelling and samples, through the intuitive workflow of a hardware drum machine, Spark is a highly creative beat production center.
Main Features
- 480 Instruments / 30 Kits : o Vintage drum machines : Analog recreations in the spirit of the TR-808, TR-909,
Simmons SDS-V, and Eprom based LinnDrum, Drumtraks, DMX, and more.
- Electronic kits covering the most popular modern music styles : Dub, House, Techno, Hip Hop, RnB... as well as experimental fields thanks to the physical modelling engine.
- Acoustic drum kits subtly mixing physical modelling and samples for high audio realism.
- 16 track mixer with 9 high quality effects : compressor, reverb, bit crusher, multiband EQ, chorus, delay, distortion, phaser, plate reverb
- Song Mode with up to 64 patterns by song
- Shuffle and Shift modes to humanize grooves
- 16 key – 64 step sequencer
- 8 velocity sensitive pads

The M-Audio Venom 49-key synthesizer combines the character of classic analog synths with modern digital processing to deliver an aggressive, infectious new sound. Whet your appetite with the included presets, then sink your teeth into creating original sounds—from atmospheric and subtle, to angry and downright nasty.

Some features
- 512 single-sound patches and 256 layered patches
- 49-key, full-size, synth-action keyboard
- 3 osc per voice
- Resonant multimode filter features 12dB/octave (2-pole) and 24dB/octave (4-pole)
- Vyzex software editor included
- USB MIDI and Audio interface

With eight velocity-sensitive drum pads, kick and hi-hat inputs and over 500 multi-sampled Dynamic Articulation sounds, the PerformancePad Pro is an all-in-one drum station. It even has inputs for kick and hi-hat triggers.

The PerformancePad Pro contains the sequencing engine from Alesis' best-selling drum machines. This three-part sequencer enables you to program drum, percussion, and accompaniment parts for creating complete tracks or playing along with loops.
The PerformancePad Pro also contains powerful Alesis studio effects including Reverb, EQ and Compression for customizing sounds to perfection.

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