ProjectSAM has announced Symphobia, a new orchestral libraries.

Featuring all-new orchestral recordings of strings, brass and woodwinds, Symphobia gives you out-of-the-box, big, playable symphonic ensembles and cinematic effects. The library delivers extremely fast results and endless inspiration with the deadline-driven, modern day composer in mind. Full string ensemble in numerous articulations, tutti orchestra sustains, staccatos and rips, aggressive violin section glissandi, horrific brass clusters and woodwind textures. These are just a few examples of what Symphobia has to offer. The new "must-have" for any film, TV or game composer ? Listen to the music demos to find out...

Symphobia will ship in July 2008 and will be released with the Mac OS X / Windows Native Instruments Kontakt 2 Player. Pricing TBA.

Based on the technology already proven with Octopus, genoQs Machines is excited to announce NEMO, their new MIDI sequencer.

NEMO is a highend machine, continuing their tradition of realtime everything MIDI instruments. With the interaction and function model of Octopus being adapted to a new interface, NEMO's particular strength lies in its compact, portable format.

NEMO will be available starting July 1st, 2008 for a price of €1399. Further details will be available on their web site in the coming days.

SPL unveils a brand new product : Phonitor. The name already implies the key feature: SPL announces that with the Phonitor headphones now become a full alternative to monitoring speakers. To allow for control of sound impressions comparable to speakers in a room, the Phonitor offers new parameters such as Crossfeed, Speaker Angle and Center Level.

Based upon SPL's unique 120 V technology which was initially developed for their mastering product series, the Phonitor aims at high-end users to fulfill highest demands in sound quality. It is SPL's flagship of a new sort of headphone amps they call Headphone Monitoring Amplifiers. The company plans to launch further units in standard technology soon, e. g. a RackPack module.

Availability of the Phonitor is scheduled for May 2008.

Mackie today unveils its new U.Series production mixers with the U.420 and the U.420d. Designed for the needs of todays musicians, DJs and producers, Mackie U.Series provides flexible connections and an intuitive, centralized user interface to ease workflow and maximize creativity.

Each model features a micro-master section with otherwise full-size qualities such as a prominent master volume knob and high resolution metering. Mic or stereo line channel strips with 3-band active EQ, a built-in DI box and RIAA phono preamps allow you to plug-in, and turn up for live sound and recording via integrated stereo Firewire I/O. Ingenious "loop-thru" routing enables you to mix and record analog and DAW playback with a couple of simple moves. Each offers a stereo aux send, headphone out with pre-main level control and self-monoing outputs.

The U.420 4-channel high-headroom stereo line mixer offers 3-band "full-kill" active EQ on each channel, a built-in DI box and a Mackie designed RIAA phono preamp. The U.420d is loaded with 2 premium Mackie mic channels with 30mm faders, and features 3-band active EQ with mid-sweep, while 2 high-headroom stereo line input channels include 2 Mackie designed RIAA phono preamps, 3-band active EQ, a full headphone cue system and a 30mm crossfader.

Both units will be available in the U.S. and Canada in April 2008 and internationally in May 2008. The U.420 will be €249 and the U.420d will be €299.

Line 6 announces POD X3 Pro. Like all members of the POD X3 family, it offers two discreet signal paths. Split your single-input guitar or bass signal through two different amp and effect chains simultaneously to create new hybrids, or use its dual inputs to individually process two instruments—a microphone and a guitar, for example—at the same time.

Computer-based studios will want to exploit the USB 2.0 connectivity provided by POD X3 Pro for multi-channel recording as well as its S/PDIF or AES/EBU Stereo Digital Audio I/O for sending a direct digital signal to their DAWs. For additional recording and processing flexibility, it also includes software plug-in functionality for integration with DAW recording applications.

POD X3 Pro MSRP: $979.99