We open the english book and documentation section on macmusic.org with "Mixing with your Mind" from Michael Paul Stavrou.

Well, you know on MM we not only comment books but we read them ! It's the truth! Mixing with your Mind is an encounter with tips and techniques comming from Michael Stavrous engineering experiences. And this man has done a lot. The purpose of this book is not to teach the basics, but to make you award of how your ears and your magnificent right brain can make a huge difference in dealing with sound recording and mixing. Let the tech specs on the side and try to do like Michael does, you shall be a winner. You will discover what a speaker "flame" is, how to avoid ribbon effects between 2 speakers, how to go on advanced microphone techniques (the drum and piano section is really usefull), get the best of lead vocals, find the secret combination of compressors, and finally get immerged in the best part revealed : the Mix process. Did you ever know that mixing is a real kind of meditation state ? Learn how to communicate with the gohsts beetween the speakers. A very intersting book, easy to read and usefull for all kind of composers.

SoundShuttle by PowerFX is now available as RTAS plugin for Mac OS X. Made for ProTools based systems, SoundShuttle allows users to search for sounds and preview them. More than 40,000 sounds in the PowerFX database can be previewed and downloaded directly.

SoundShuttle is compatible with Pro Tools 6.4 and costs $19.95, including ten free sound from PowerFX website.

PolyRingtone by Andy Drabble is a polyphonic ringtone converter for mobile phones. You can use it to create SP_Midi compatible files, as used for ringtones in modern mobile phones, from standard Midi files which are freely available on the Web.

PolyRingtone is a shareware and is available from the MM Softs section.

Best Service have just released Artist Grooves, available for Mac OS X as a VST and AU plug-in. Artist Grooves is a sound module for Native Instruments Intakt that features original drumkits : Tama Drumkit, Pearl Drumkit, Yamaha Drumkit, Paiste Cymbals, Zildjian Custom Cymbals and Zildjian K-Series Cymbals.

Artist Grooves costs 169 euros.

Symbolic Composer is one of the most advanced and largest music composition language available with over 1000 music algorithms, suitable for modern, dance, classic, electronic, ambient and experimental styles.

Info on this 5.1 version and dowload available from our softwares section.