You'd think that with the new MPC4000, Akai would be concentrating all efforts into their flagship unit, but no, with demand for the good ol' MPC2000 still on the up they've come up with the Ultimate XL. The Ultimate XL includes the MPC2000XL Studio Plus with 32MB of RAM, an internal 100MB ZIP drive, a 100MB ZIP disk loaded with 50MB of free sounds compiled from the "best of the best" of the legendary Akai MPC library, and the new MFC42 - MIDI analog filter module.

HAMBURG, Germany (Jul. 23, 2002) -- TC Works today announced the bundling of its TC Works' signal processing software with Adobe Premiere 6.5, the latest version of Adobe's professional digital video editing software.

According to Steinbergs' offical realease:
"Cubase SL offers musicians a compact software solution for their project studios, including digital audio, MIDI sequencing, intelligent MIDI input and processing tools, virtual instruments and a wealth of effects that allow music creation and production at the highest technical level. "

PreSonus upgrades the popular Digimax Eight Channel Mic Preamp to handle today's higher sample rate requirements. The new Digimax has switchable sampling rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96kHz. The Digimax features Eight Dual Servo Mic Preamplifiers with two Direct Inputs for instruments. Each channel also features a proprietary Dual Domain limiter to protect the A/D converters from digital clipping. The Digimax also boasts up to 24 simultaneous outputs including: 8 channels of adat lightpipe, 8 channels of AES/EBU or S/PDIF and 8 channels of balanced analog TRS. The retail price of the new Digimax will remain the same at $1699.95. A new digital breakout cable will be available for $29.95 that will allow the Digimax 96kHz to interface directly with Digidesign's 192 I/O Interface.

Mackie Designs and MOTU announced the release of version 2.2.6 software for the UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins, which includes support for Digital Performer, MOTU's flagship audio workstation.
The Mackie UAD-1 consists of a DSP card and a comprehensive package of ultra high quality plug-ins, including RealVerb Pro, the 1176LN and Teletronix LA-2A Vintage Compressors, the Nigel Guitar Processor, the Pultec EQ and the CS-1 Channel Strip, all of which were developed by Universal Audio.