Steinberg has announced that its virtual drummer plug-in Groove Agent 2 is now shipping. Groove Agent 2 comes with 50% more musical styles and drum kits. The 27 new styles offer an array of the latest grooves in diverse flavors currently in demand. Other feature refinements include added output busses, with up to 8 stereo outputs now available within the virtual mixer of the host application. The GUI has also been overhauled, with added scales and easier access to vital controls.

Groove Agent 2 (standalone, AU, VST) is now available worldwide for US$249.99. Registered users of Groove Agent can update to the new Groove Agent 2 version for US$79.99.

MindPrint announces that its Trio audio interface is now shipping. This desktop interface features 1 Mic XLR In Class A with phantom power, 1 instrument in and 2 Line In on jacks, 2 aux In and 2 DAW analog In in RCA, 1 Insert send and one Insert return in jack. Out: 2 direct Out and 2 DAW analog Out in RCA, 2 Headphones out in stereo jack, 3 pairs of speakers out (3 pairs: 2 Jack, 4 RCA), S/PDIF optical In/Out (2 TOSlink) at 44, 48, 88 and 96 kHz in 24 bit linear.

MindPrint audio interface costs $499.

Eventide announces shipment of its Anthology plug-ins bundle for Pro Tools TDM systems. Anthology is Eventide's complete catalog of nine TDM plug-ins. Now included in the Anthology bundle are H3000 Band Delays and just released H3000 Factory plug-ins. Anthology also includes five plug-ins from Clockworks Legacy (H910, H949, Omnipressor, Instant Phaser, Instant Flanger) and two plug-ins from Eventide's Orville processor (Eventide Reverb and Ortovox)

The new Anthology bundle costs $1,195. Owners of two or more Eventide software plug-in products will be able to purchase the Anthology upgrade for $599 through June 30, 2005.

Native Instruments has updated its DJ Mixing software Traktor DJ Studio to version 2.6, which now features : compatibility to FinalScratch 2, WMA and AAC Compatibility, internet broadcasting, input Recording, record the Mix and more.

Aggro by Trillium Lane is a versatile compressor plug-in for Pro Tools. At moderate settings it is smooth and transparent, perfect for vocals and acoustic instruments. Crank it up for an aggressiveness similar to a vintage FET compressor, and add intensity and character to mediocre drum tracks. Aggro uses a feedback topology with a program dependent release time which yields more natural compression characteristics.

Aggro is available in both TDM and RTAS versions.