Ok the Winter NAMM edition is over, not so many great news but one great suprise at Euphonix and the highly expected Omnisphere from Spectrasonics.

Maybe the MusikMesse will bring out more striking news..Hope and pray :o)

VirSyn has released version 1.1 of VTAPE which includes a new Tape Flanger plugin simulating the playback of two tape machines running at slightly different speed.

VTAPE 1.1 :

- Tape Flanger :

* Manual tape flanging simulation.
* Authentic "through zero" Flanging.
* Unique stereo flanging mode.

- RTAS/AudioUnit Mono versions of Saturator.

- Bug fixes:

* Mac/Digital Performer: Settings lost on render to file.
* Latency compensation now working.
* "Kill" Parameter now automatable.
* Sync button state was not saved.
* Save button - Enter key no longer required.
* AudioUnit: GUI problem with more than 16 instances.
* RTAS: Automation with SATURATOR working now.

Here is a video of the two main news of the Winter NAMM show 2008, enjoy !

After the announcement of DP6, MOTU unveils Electric Keys, a cross-platform virtual instrument that delivers "authentic sounds" of 50 classic, vintage electric keyboard instruments from the last 40 years.

With a massive 40GB sound library Electric Keys includes over 20,000 meticulously crafted 24-bit 96 kHz multi-samples of legendary electric pianos, electric organs, clavinets, Wurlitzers, tape samplers, string machines, keyboard basses and other rare and exotic electric keyboard instruments. Samples are streamed from disk, so even large presets load quickly and conserve computer memory. Sounds are organized in 12 banks, each with its own authentic look ("skin"), allowing users to install on their hard drive only the banks they wish to use. Electric Keys presets can be loaded into MachFive 2 for advanced sound design and layering.

The Electric Keys window offers a few simple controls, including volume, pan, tone and tremolo settings, along with two preset slots, which allow users to layer two sounds using the convenient multi-column preset browser. All parameters can be automated via convenient "MIDI learn". Users can click the FX button to open the FX-Rack, which is a separate window with eight effects that can be applied individually or in combination as a multi-effect to any preset. Effects include amp simulation, filter, chorus, flanger, phaser, UVinyl (to add "wear and tear"), delay and reverb. Users can load and save "combis" consisting of a snapshot of the entire plug-in, including effects.

Electric Keys supports all major plug-in formats on Mac OS X and Windows (XP and Vista), including VST, DXi, MAS, Audio Units and RTAS. It also runs as a stand-alone application. Electric Keys will ship in February, 2008 for a list price of $295.

Nomad Factory and NUSofting are proud to announce their collaboration in creating "top-of-the-line" virtual instruments. The first announced of this collaboration is the Analog Strings Station, an advanced emulation of vintage electronic keyboards known as "String Ensemble Synthesizers " or "String Machines".

Differently to other string machine emulations available as virtual instruments, the Analog Strings Station (ASS) doesn't use samples recorded from the original hardware keyboards, NUSofting developed a native emulation of the "octave divider" circuitry that is the essential technology of the vintage polyphonic synthesizers. The ASS digital "octave divider" can reproduce the same "phase synced" sound of the original Solina, Crumar Performer and similar vintage keyboards.

Priced at $189, Analog Strings Station is "coming soon" for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU and RTAS formats.