Native Instruments has realised Electronic Instruments v2 for use with Reaktor 4 and Reaktor Session. The eight instruments included in this collection 2 are: Photonec (Hybrid Master Synthesizer), Limelite (Advanced Beat Composer), Metaphysical function (Dynamic Soundscape Synthesizer), Krypt (Granular Drum Machine), Akkord (Sequenced Chord Generator), FastFX (6 Advanced Performance Effects) , Resochord (Programmable Polyphonic Resonator), and Cyan (Extended Vintage Chorus).

This Electronic Instruments 2 pack will be available on September 17th and will cost $119.

As we announced yesterday ;-), Steinberg just released Cubase SX3, the new version of their well known sequencer. New features include:

Audio Warp: Realtime Time Stretching and Pitch Shifting offer extensive new audio editing and processing capabilities, including ACID® File support: loops automatically adopt a project's tempo; audio files can follow tempo changes in realtime.

Intuitive Play Order Track for pattern-based arranging: Divide your song into sections, and then re-arrange it on the fly. Compare alternative versions of your song and then convert them back into a linear form for mixdown and mastering.

New Inplace Editor supports ultra-fast direct MIDI event editing from within the project page. Edit MIDI events in context with audio or ...

Digidesign has announced Smack, a new professional compressor/limiter plug-in designed specifically for music applications. Smack features three compression modes, unique compression ratios, and harmonic distortion ideally suited for achieving a wide range of sonic variations and colorations. Additionally, the plug-in supports side-chain processing, multi-channel track types, and the full range of ProTools sample rates and plug-in formats.

Smack for Pro Tools HD & HD accel costs $595, and Smack LE (for Pro Tools LE) costs $395.

Synthtopia has published a set of Garageband Tips from author Jeff Tolbert. Many of these suggestions are taken from his book, Take Control of Making Music with GarageBand .

You Software Inc. is offering Mac iTunes music lovers a free download of You Control:iTunes, the custom menu tool for Mac OS X that lets you control iTunes from the Mac OS X menu bar. You Control iTunes is a custom menu utility for Mac OS X that gives you full control over iTunes even when you are not in iTunes. With You Control:iTunes you can take control of iTunes from any menu or customized set of hot keys that you define. Pause, play, rewind or skip any song from within any application. You Control:iTunes lets you set hot keys to select and adjust any or all of the iTunes controls including Next or Previous Track, Play, Pause and even the Volume.

You Control:iTunes is a free download.