M-Audio has announced the Studiophile AV 40 and AV 20 portable desktop speaker systems designed for travel or tight desktop spaces. The Studiophile AV 40 speakers feature 4" polypropylene-coated drivers, 3/4" silk dome tweeters, 20-watt-per-channel internal amplifier and OptImage III wave guides for punchy lows, crisp highs and an even response. For more mobility, the AV 20 speakers include 2" composite woofers, 1" ferrofluid-cooled Mylar dome tweeters, internal amplification and them same OptImage III technology as the AV 40s.

The Studiophile AV 40 detail at $199.95. The AV 20 are available at a retail price of $129.95.

The d16 Group has released Drumazon v1.0, their Roland TR-909 emulator, and announced a price drop for both Drumazon (€129) and Phoscyon (€59) which can be purchased together as a bundle for €159.

For more information, visit their web site.

Alien Connections has released a public beta version of their guitar amp modeler ReValver Mk II for Mac OS X. Note that this is still a BETA version so it it may or may not work as expected.

For more information, visit their web site.

SampleSwap.org has officially launched a public website featuring 4.6GB of free loops and audio samples. This 4.6GB collection of handpicked 16-bit 44khz professional-quality samples now resides on a dedicated server with ultra-high speed Internet access. An innovative "basket" based sound browser allows members to quickly audition and download 20 to 100 MB of samples as well-organized ZIP-compressed archives instead of individual sound files.

For more information, visit their web site.

The 2007 edition of the NAMM Oddities is now online. It's an annual roundup of the weird and wonderful items found at the NAMM show made by a sound engineer called Barry Wood... just enjoy !!