Avid Technology, Inc. announced that its audio division, Digidesign, will receive an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statuette, which will be presented at the Scientific and Technical Academy Awards on February 14, 2004, will recognize Digidesign for the design, development, and implementation of the Pro Tools digital audio workstation, which is renowned "as the standard for creating and editing motion picture soundtracks."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents Scientific and Technical Awards to the creators of devices, methods, formulas, discoveries, or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures. In the 76-year history of the Academy, only 42 Oscar statuettes have been awarded for scientific and technical achievements. The award presented to Digidesign is the fifth Oscar statuette to recognize innovations in sound technology.

In the "blast-from-the-past category," it's the sequencer/audio program Metro, now owned by Sagan Technology. Here's the latest from Sagan. -PK

Due to repeated request, Sagan Technology has released Metro 6 LX. This is the middle sibling in their product line. Bigger than Metro SE yet much more compact than the full version of Metro. This product, like their others, is available for download only. However, unlike the other products, LX is an OS X only product. The price is currently $129.99 and upgrades from Sagan Technology's SE product are just $49.99. (more)

PowerFX has announced the release of a new collection of CD-ROMs entitled Apple Disc Jams. These Apple Loops libraries are optimized for use with Apple's Soundtrack & Garage Band applications. The first 3 titles of the series are available for $49 USD exclusively from the PowerFX website. The new products are:

- Invincible Dance: A fresh collection of Club & Dance oriented loops featuring everything from bass & drum loops to synth pads and FX loops.
- NuJazz House: Authentic acoustic & electric instrument samples in the Jazz vein that include drums, bass, electric piano, minor 7th chords & much more.
- Electro Clashmatic: A Neo-Retro combination of classic Vocoder & Electro style beats & bass as well as modern synth & FX one shots.

Ed: Garage Band users, tried these out yet? Apple's Jam Pack? Write a review if so. -PK

The Continuum Fingerboard shown at NAMM 04 is a different take on the traditional keyboard. But, as the name implies, your fingers are still involved. Lepetitmartin reports.

This controller offers a surface roughly similar in size to a traditional keyboard and can be played with the 10 fingers (sorry if you have 6 fingers per hand, it can only manage 10 notes simultaneously). Finger pressure controls tremolo (ask a violonist or a clavicordist) and glissandi.
Pitch (x axis), timbre (y axis) and dynamics (z axis) are controlled by finger position. Total pitch ambitus is 8 octaves. The unit is compatible with Kyma and any MIDI device with MIDI In/Out/Thru and supports a direct Firewir connection.

Ed: Just saw this fantastic device via a contributor to the U&I list. Looks tremendous. I hope to try one in person soon! -PK

Not to be outdone by Apple's Emagic Logic, MOTU's got some tricks up its own sleeve for the future of Digital Performer, the company's flagship DAW MIDI/audio environment. At NAMM, MOTU demonstrated several new features being worked on in Digital Performer, including a consolidated preferences window and enhanced MIDI arpeggiator. MOTU also previewed Digital Performer's Beat Detection Engine . This new audio processing technology examines the transients in waveform data and applies artificial intelligence to determine beat locations and the overall tempo of the audio, even when the audio file is not trimmed to measure or beat boundaries. This core engine has been deployed throughout Digital Performer, allowing users to manipulate the beats and tempo of their audio and MIDI data. That's without using predefined loops, so this is a major feature for DP that could set it ahead of the pack.