The whole web is talking about it as if it were this week's event, and I'm snowed under messages asking me to announce the news which is not exactly a recent one. So this leads me to remind you that MacMusic announced last June 20 that the Live 5 Beta version is available. Almost a month later, this beta version is, of course, still available and downloadable.

Ableton is waiting for your bugs reports and other comments.

Native Instruments had updated Kontakt to version 2.0.2. This new release adds a lot of enhancements and bugfixes : output configuration can now be changed and saved in hosts, big browser fonts, output config dialog now allows easy switching between channels, hanging notes problem has been fixed, library issues with incorrect glide default value have been fixed, library issues with loading in non-DFD modes have been fixed, issues with high CPU load have been fixed, issues with start-up crashes have been fixed, and more....

This update is free for Kontakt users.

Today JazzMutant announces that the Multitouch Control Surface Lemur is finally out of the factory and available worldwilde. The Lemur is a sleek portable controller for live performance computer music applications featuring a 12" LCD display and a proprietary touch screen interface that can simultaneously track multiple fingers. The Lemur's interface objects can be customized with JazzMutant's "physical" properties that include friction, smoothing, and fade-in and fade-out.

The street price is 2190 euros and available for European citizens directly from JazzMutant web site. For American and Canadian citizens, they must order their Lemur at $2495 directly to Cycling'74.

The Myriad Music Plug-In enables you to build Web pages in which music will be played, displayed, printed, saved... Music files are ".mus" files created with Melody Assistant or Harmony Assistant. Since the plug-in uses the same sound database as Melody/Harmony, you are sure the result is what you expected. Much more, it provides a digital quality output but files are short. This plug-in work with Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera.

A complete web designer manual is provided.

Steinberg announces that the updated version of its virtual piano instrument is now shipping worldwide. The Grand 2 features an entirely new added grand piano, surround capabilities as well as a range of features designed to maximise computer resource efficiency.

The Grand 2 is available for 239 euros and existing customers can update to the new The Grand 2 version for 89 euros.