We were expecting it for ages, the cauldron was on the fire for a long time, it'll be alive and kicking at the Frankfurt Musikmesse next week: Macbeth Systems unveils the final, production stage of the M5. The M5 is a massive (steel chassis, ooch!) analogue modular, 3 VCO, 2 LFO, 2 VCF, 2 ADSR, 4 VCA, a ring modulator, a noise generator, a spring reverb, VC panning, not one but two S&H, 2 lag processors, glide, audio mixer, CV mixer. It's big, it's heavy, it's modular, it's analogue, it's 1995£ excluding VAT and we know for a year now that it's MEAN.

And I forgot, it's packed with 70 mm/2,75" slider pots!
It'll be a limited run, so enjoy the introductory price before it's too late.

M-Audio has announced its first two virtual instruments. Key Rig is a virtual keyboard rack with stage piano, MS-2 polyphonic synthesizer, MB-3 electromagnetic organ, and a GM-4 General MIDI Module. Drum & Bass Rig is a virtual bass and drums rack which contains real drums, electric bass, LC-5 loop creator, and BL 6 bass synthesizer and step sequencer.

Key Rig and Drum & Bass Rig are available as stand-alone, VST, Audio Units and RTAS version for $129,95 each.

Cycling'74 announces an update to version 3.5.1 for Pluggo (Audio Units, VST, RTAS) which adds a new "latency" message to plugconfig, and fixes several bugs. Plugins bundle Mode grows to version 1.2.1 (Audio Units, VST, RTAS) in order to change the preset format of mode.poly (saved presets in songs may be affected).

MusikMesse 2005 will take place at Frankfurt am Main (Germany) from 6 to 9 april 2005. The International Musikmesse Frankfurt offers with the presentation of the complete spectrum of musical instruments, computer software & hardware, sheet music and accessories a high-grade platform for experts from the international music industry. We note that Apple will be present at MusikMesse in Hall 5, booth 71, and that contemporary music composer György Ligeti will receive the Frankfurt Music Prize 2005 for his lifetime achievements.

DiskDriver mini has just been updated to version 3.3, which now features : auto start shuffle mode, help dialogue, new interface design and unlimited songs and albums for registered users. DiskDriver mini is a light and free version of DiskDriver, and allows you to stream mp3 files from your website or your computer.