Audio Damage release Phase Two plugin, a recreation of the Mutron Bi-Phase vintage phaser unit. Phase Two features two separately controllable phasers, and like the original unit, these two phasers can be routed in series or parallel, for everything from subtle stereo washes to full-blown alien attack. Using the extra CC feature, which takes the place of the "Opti-Pedal" in the original unit, you can manually sweep the phaser frequencies with a MIDI controller, such as a mod wheel or aftertouch.

Phase Two is available as an AU/VST effect for Mac OS X and costs $49 (download version).

Green Oak announces an update to version 2.4.9c for Crystal, in order to add support for new Intel-based Macs. Crystal is a semi-modular software synthesizer featuring both subtractive synthesis and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. It offers abundant modulation control with over 60 parameters which may be modulated, multi-stage envelopes with graphical editors, extensive tempo sync of envelopes/lforates/delay times, built-in effects for chorus/flanging/comb filtering/echoes, and a band splitter for effects processing by frequency band.

Native Instruments today announced its development plans regarding the newly announced Intel-based Macintosh computers. The company welcomes Apple's move towards new, powerful processor technology and is already working on enabling its products for use on the upcoming iMac and MacBook Pro computers. As part of Native Instruments' commitment to the new platform, all future product releases will include "Universal" versions that will take full advantage of the new Intel-Mac platform while maintaining compatibility with PowerPC-based Macintosh computers.

Existing NI products will be updated to support Intel-based Macs within 2006. Updates will come in the form of either a dedicated Intel-Mac update that will be made available for a small fee, or as part of a major product update for all platforms.

Another update for Pro Tools today : Pro Tools HD software has been updated to version 7.1cs3. This new release features :

- Fixed: Destructive Record Could Intermittently Leave Out the Left Side of a Stereo Track (Item #71408)
- Fixed: When Using The Expansion|HD, Audio Tracks Could Get Out of Sync Alignment with Each Other (Item #71296)
- Fixed: When Recording with the Expansion|HD, Audio Tracks Could Drop Out or Loop (Item #71697)
- Fixed: Automation Breakpoints Were Not Being Created in Some "Write" Mode Circumstances (Item #71130, 71131)
- Fixed: On ICONs with Newer XMONs, Dim Could Become Stuck (Item #68289).

This update is of course freely available in the MacMusic software section.

Cycling'74 announces that Octirama 1.0 TDM is now shipping worldwide. Octirama is a full-featured dynamics processor for 5.1 surround mastering for the Digidesign TDM environment. Octirama incorporates four- and five-band processing for each of five channels plus sophisticated bass management for precise control of peaks and loudness. Features for each of the 5 surround channels include an input AGC, four- or five-band dynamics processor, five in-band peak limiters, band mixing, and a final peak limiter.Over 40 simultaneous meters provide detailed information on gain reduction, downward expansion, and output levels. Unlike other multi-channel dynamics processors, Octirama's processing algorithm preserves the surround image.

Octirama costs $495.