Behringer has announced the B-CONTROL FADER BCF2000, a fader-based USB control surface for MIDI hardware or software, and the ROTARY BCR2000, with rotary controls.

The BFC-2000 has eight 100 mm programmable faders, 8 programmable encoders, MIDI 1 In/2 Out/1 Thru (read carefully the manual about these, it doesn't seem to be a full fledged MIDI interface, and the Thru eats a MIDI Out). 4 virtual groups and 20 buttons also assignable to MIDI, syssex, MMC, transport functions are possible.

The similar ROTARY BCR2000 features 24 rotary controlers, plus the same buttons and 8 top rotary encoders.

Unfortunately the editing software is PC only but profiles will be available shortly, both units are supported under OSX and should work with all MIDI software. Announced compatibility is for Cubase and Logic, check the Behringer site for more.

All products are due second quarter of 2004
BCF2000: $249.99, BCR2000: $189.99

CUBE by VirSyn is a software instrument that gives you the power and flexibility of additive synthesis together with easy editing and morphing capabilities. The 1.5 release adds additive resynthesis capabilities with new features: decomposition of samples into 512 partials and a special "Formant" Analyzer that enables automatic extraction of the sound characteristic.

Cube is a standalone app and a plugin VST and AudioUnit support. Minimum requirements: PowerPC G4 400 Mhz with 128 MB RAM on Mac OS 9, Mac OS X version 10.2. CUBE version 1.5 will be available January, 21th. Registered Users of CUBE 1.0 will get the downloadable upgrade for free

Kurzweil has announced the VA1, a new instrument (61 keys, 16 polyphonic notes and 4 multi voices). The kind of synthesis is "virtual analog". Each note allows 7 audio sources with no reduction of the polyphony. The VA1 has a large FX module (from the famous KDFX and DSP8), and a 48-band Vocoder (with a stereo preamp and phantom power supply to process external tone).

At Namm, Emagic announced its new Logic line with two products :

- The Logic Pro 6 includes Logic Platinum 6 music production software plus the complete Apple/Emagic DSP and audio instrument product line ( ES1, ES2 and EVOC20 software synthesizer, the software sampler EXS24 mk II, the EVB3, EVD6 and EVP8 Vintage Collection and Space Designer). Logic Pro costs 999 euros.

- The Logic Express includes a 48 tracks Logic software, plus the EXSP24 sample player, the EVP73 Vintage Piano and the ES1 Synthesizer. Logic Express costs 299 euros.

Ed: also check out my analysis of what this means. We'll be covering this story as it develops. -PK

Native Instruments announces that its effects processor Spektral Delay is now available for Mac OS X. This new version of Spektral Delay fully supports the modern technologies and interfaces of Mac OS X, including AudioUnits, RTAS, VST and standalone operation with CoreMIDI and CoreAudio. With this, the complete NI product range is now available on Apple's most recent operating system.

The Spektral Delay update 1.5.5 is immediately available to all registered users as a $29 / 29 Euro direct download. Customers who bought their copy after November 1st, 2003 can download the update for free or receive an update CD 19 Euro. Registered users of Spektral Delay Pro Tools Edition can also download the update for free.