After the warm reception for its first mixer, the TAPCO 6306, the new Mackie branch is releasing the S-5 Studio Monitor. The high quality S-5 has impressive sound and is solidly built, all for just US$560 (for the two monitors).

The S-5 is a bi-amplified compact monitor. It features two high-precision amplifiers with 120w overall (60W for the Boomer and 60w for the tweeter). The 5.25-inch boomer delivers punchy bass and a detailed middle. The 1-inch dome tweeter is coupled to wave guidance intended to deliver precise and less aggressive treble.

On the back side of the S-5 are a bass boost and treble (+/-) switch for further adjustment. The S-5 also features TRS jack, XLR asymmetric and asymmetric RCA inputs.

Emagic has announced it is renaming its USB audio interfaces, formerly the 2|6 and 6|2m, as the A26 and A62m. No other changes are being made to its hardware line other than the rebranding. Same box with a new name, in other words.

John Keane, a prolific TV composer for such shows as the US CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, is interviewed today on the Native Instruments website as a frequent user of the German developer's products. Dig down and you'll see Mr. Keane is a full-time Mac user. He has also been interviewed by Emagic as a Logic user. You can check out Mr. Keane's record, as well, on his website. (Warning: incompatible with Apple Safari.) Hopefully Mr. Keane will join us on this site, too!

It's not the iTunes Music Store, but it's an event in the little world of electroacoustic and contemporary music : the Canadian Electroacoustic Community set up the SONUS project.

SONUS is an online listening library (jukebox) of electroacoustic works, electronic or contemporary music works. For the very first time, about 1000 contemporary music works in full time version, are available for free listening.

Native Instruments is now shipping the 1.1.1 update to FM7, its FM synthesis virtual instrument, with new Mac OS X support and cross-platform RTAS Pro Tools support on both Mac and PC. Like previous OS X releases from Native, full support for AudioUnits, RTAS, VST, and standalone operation with CoreMIDI and CoreAudio is included, so you can use FM7 on its own or in whatever host software you prefer. The update isn't free: Native is charging US$29 for the update as a download (US$59 bundled with FM7 Sounds Vol. 1), US$49 for a CD (US$79 with sounds bundle).