After many requests, Soniccouture have released the Hang Drum in LOGIC EXS24 format. A Hang is a melodious percussive steel musical instrument created in Switzerland. It uses some of the same physical principles as a steel drum.

The product features 2 different drums, with over 1000 samples each, and up to 21 velocity layers. The Hang drums have been sampled in 6 different areas (Gu, Ding, Outer Ding, Tone-field Centre, Tone-Field Edge, and in-between the Tone-field). Each area was sampled being played with Finger, Slap and knuckle.

Features :

- 2.4 GB Library
- Multiple Articulations
- Up to 21 Velocity Layers
- Includes both Mk.1 + Mk. 2 Hang Drum Models
- Over 1000 24 bit Stereo 44.1 Samples per Drum

The Hang Drum is available now and is priced at £49 (download) / £52 (DVD). Audio examples are also available at the following address.

There's certainly truth to the long-standing adage, "What's old is new again." EastWest, exclusive US distributor of Best Service products, proves this true by making eight new sample collections by Best Service, which feature European historical instruments, available to today's users. The newest sound libraries, developed in cooperation with Realsamples, include Pianoforte, Early Pianoforte, Grand Piano, English Harpsichord, Dutch Harpsichord, Dulcitone Celesta, English Spinet and Italian Harpsichord.

Each collection features eight different samples of each note, four different release sounds of each note as well as 32 different velocity layers as opposed to the typical four to five found in most piano collections. No mastering is applied to the samples, giving users access to the raw recordings for additional control of the end result. For further realism, each instrument was recorded in 192 kHz/24 bits resolution and down sampled.

All samples offered in each collection are License-free, available in DVD or CD sets and are ready to be played in Kontakt 2, EXS24, GigaStudio, HAlion-Presets or .wav formats (excludes GigaStudio® versions). For more information, please visit their web site.

We all know how a multi-band filters work: You can independently change the audio level in each band. Now imagine you could shift the pitch in each band up or down ranging from a few cent to 6 octaves in realtime. That's what VirSyn is working on with the upcoming Prism - The Pitch Designer.

More info to come soon. Until then you can listen to mp3 demos that VirSyn has left to whet your appetite.

Note : VirSyn's new Take Five FX bundle contains its current five fx plugins Bark, Matrix, Reflect, TDesign and VTape. If you buy Take Five FX before July 31st, 2008 you will get Prism for free.

Crysonic today announced the immediate availability of their Mac Pack Audio DSP plug-ins Bundle. The Mac Pack brings together three complimentary products :

- SINDO V2, a stereo image expander (widener) and narrower
- nXtasy V2.1, an "analog" harmonic saturation DSP
- SpectraPhy LE V1.6, a physics based audio limiter and maximizer

The Mac Pack bundle is available now to purchase on-line from the Crysonic web site for $99 until the 14th of August 2008 which is a saving of over 50%. The bundle includes the plug-ins in AU and VST Universal Binary (Intel / PPC) formats.

Yesterday LinPlug has announced that it has reduced the license fees for both the LinPlug Organ 3 and the LinPlug Octopus plug-in instruments. They are now available for €99 (previously €129) / $129 (previously $149) each.

The upgrade from daOrgan to Organ 3 is now also €10 / $10 cheaper than before: €49 / $69.