Synthetic Instruments (SI-KTK) is a CD-ROM library with 43 waveform sets and more then 250 individual synthesizer instruments. SI-KTK will work in Kontakt version 1.2 and up. SI-KTK's instruments are true subtractive synthesizer programs, taking advantage of Kontakt's synthesizer engine, filters and modulation capabilities. Carefully prepared and unfiltered audio spectrums has been programmed and sampled, using an Analogue Systems 5-VCO modular and a Waldorf Microwave XT. The instruments were made by combining the audio data with parameter and filter tweaking - inside Kontakt.

Garritan has annouced that Garritan Personal Orchestra is now shipping. Garritan Personal Orchestra is an impressive orchestral sample library, and ships with Native Instrument KONTAKT Player and Ambience Reverb. GPO works with notation programs and will run on Mac OS either as a standalone program or as a plug-in (supporting VST, RTAS, and OS X AudioUnits).

Garritan Personal Orchestra costs 249 dollars.

I thought it was deja vu at first but there is in fact another AudioFinder upgrade in just a matter of days. Our friends at Iced Audio just don't sleep! 3.1 adds a waveform overview for convenience, so you can see what's going on in your audio files. This app is ideal for running alongside a production session or, better yet, routed to your headphones during a live set with software like Ableton Live.

As you know, running Pro Tools on Mac OS X requires users to have OS Administrator Privileges. So Digidesign works to respond to the many requests received from facilities and schools who cannot grant Administrative Privileges to all of their students or engineers using Pro Tools and has produced a beta version of the Pro Tools v6.2.3 application (Mac OS 10.3.2 only) that removes the Administrator Privilege requirement.

Pro Tools TDM 6.2.3b1 has been posted on the Digidesign web site for download and Pro Tools LE 6.2.3b1 will be posted shortly after the release of Pro Tools LE 6.2.3. These beta versions of Pro Tools will also be included in the Additonal Beta Software folder of Pro Tools TDM and LE 6.2.3 CDs.