Native Instruments unveils FM8, the long-awaited successor of the popular FM7 software synthesizer. The new FM8 features an enhanced high-resolution audio engine, intelligent sound morphing, new performance features and a new KORE-compatible preset manager. Included with FM8 are over 960 ready-to-play factory presets. From clean, dynamic, percussive sounds to pads, leads, brass and piano sounds, the presets exemplify the strengths of FM synthesis. Also included are a number of effect rack, sound morphing and arpeggio presets.

FM8 will be available in October 2006 for a suggested retail price of $ 339/ 299 Euro and an update for owners of FM7 will be available for $ 119 / 99 Euro.

Native Instruments announces BATTERY 3, a significant revision of its popular drum and percussion sampler. The addition of time-stretching and advanced loop capabilities, innovative "play parameters", a powerful master effects section and an integrated wave editor all serve to strengthen the role of BATTERY as the premier creative drum and percussion sampler, with an enormous library of more than 100 high-quality drum kits providing a wealth of studio-quality material for all styles and genres.

BATTERY 3 will be available in October 2006 for a suggested retail price of $ 219 / 199 Euro. An update for owners of will be available for $ 119 / 99 Euro.

FabFilter has released updates to FabFilter Twin and FabFilter Volcano. The new versions contain bug fixes as well as improvements and new features : Added MIDI program change handling. Any preset can now be loaded by sending bank select and program change MIDI messages, Added optional interactive help. When this feature is activated, help texts will appear when the user moves the mouse over any control in the plug-in interface, Fixed a bug that could cause Twin or Volcano to freeze on Apple G5 Quad systems when changing presets, Added a 'polarity' option to the LFO's in Twin, which can be used to produce either waveforms between -1 and 1 (original behaviour) or positive-only waveforms between 0 and 1, Reduced memory usage of Twin by 50%, Slightly reduced memory usage of FabFilter Volcano ...

Not a lot of huge news from the Paris Apple Expo, but some Apple announcements :

- Apple introduced the all-new iPod nano with a new aluminum body, a 24 hours of battery life and more than twice the music capacity for the same price as the previous generation. Available in 2GB, 4GB and 8 GB.

- The new iPod features a 60 percent brighter and more vibrant 2.5-inch color display perfect for watching TV shows and now Hollywood movies right in the palm of your hand. The new iPod is available in a 30GB model at the new low price of $249 and an 80GB model, which holds up to 20,000 songs or 100 hours of video, for $349.

- The new iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce and features a stunning all-new aluminum design and a built-in clip which makes it the most wearable iPod ever. The new iPod shuffle contains one gigabyte of flash memory, which holds up to 240 songs, and is more affordable than ever at just $79.

- The iTunes Store now includes over 75 Hollywood movies, 220 television shows and popular video games designed specifically for the fifth generation iPod.

- iTunes has been updated to version 7.0 in order to add compatibility with new features of the iTunes Store, and updates are also available for QuickTime (v7.1.3) with a lot of bufixes, and Front Row (v1.3).

Info on the Apple Store .

Celemony has just updated Melodyne cre8/studio to version 3.1.1. This updated version adds several improvements (detection can now be switched between MS-Mode, better RAM usage of MSL, MelodyneBridge supports offline-rendering now) and bugfixes (batch-detecting many files could lead to a crash, "Revert and reset position" could lead to a crash, presets of the built-in Podolski synth are installed properly again, MIDI EQ setting is now displayed correctly on the screen, and more).

This free update is available in the MacMusic Software Section.