At the 2004 Musik Messe, IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality have announced their next collaborative effort, StudioPhonik, the first Studio Instrument Module. This virtual instrument plug-in is dedicated to reproducing the diverses sounds and instruments of full bands in high-end recording studios. With a wide selection of custom, vintage and top of the line drums, percussion, guitars, bass, keyboards and horns, the user can produce an realistic and professional sounding virtual band in their sequencer, all from one plug-in.

StudioPhonik is expected to be released within this summer and will be available as a plug-in for every sequencer platform including RTAS, VST, MAS and Audio Unit on MacOS. The MSRP will be $/Euro 399.

Paperweight Software inc. is the reincarnation of AFSoft, the former Andrew Logan 's shareware company. Audiophile2.0 Public Beta is the next version for OS X of the popular Audiophile Dj application from Paperweight Software, with new features : Easy to Use 2-channel interface, Auto-fading, 2 Band Equalizer and more. Audiophile is downloadable as a beta version and is an open-source application.

The audio editing software Melodyne by Celemony combines Celemony's musical algorithm technology (Local Sound Synthesis) with enhanced editing flexibility. A new update takes Melodyne to version 2.1 and adds a large collection of new features and minor bugfixes : Support for Mac OS 10.3 (Panther), running on a G5 now, and effect plugins are organized hierarchically. Melodyne 2.1 is a free update.

Ed: To celebrate the last official day of the Pepsi/iTunes promo, a special M&Z. (Don't worry, though, US readers -- there are still Pepsi with iTunes caps you can redeem through the end of April.) -PK

Among other things like a G2X (a G2 with the expansion board added in the factory, 5 octave velocity and aftertouch sensitive keyboard, 3 assignable modulation wheels with position LEDs, goose neck XLR microphone included), Clavia announced at the Musikmesse that the editor should be released under OSX in May. THAT is good news :) and free as usual. It's due "To meet the needs of a large part of the music production community", mhmm I love that.