Almost everyone is familiar with his legendary hits, such as 'Sledgehammer', 'Biko' and 'Big Time', and his videos are considered to be milestones in the history of pop culture: Peter Gabriel, rock musician, songwriter and video artist, will be awarded the 2006 Frankfurt Music Prize during the international Musikmesse. He was singled out for the prize because, with his creative work, his appearances and his support for young talents, he laid a vital foundation stone for the future of rock and pop music.

The Frankfurt Music Prize was founded in 1980 and is awarded annually by the Trustees of the Frankfurt Music Prize Foundation on the occasion of the international Musikmesse in Frankfurt.

At Musikmesse (Hall 5.1, D93) Celemony Software will announce version 3.1 of the audio software Melodyne cre8/studio. The new version runs native on Macs with Intel processors, supports as an option the iLok dongle and is compatible with the new 'Melodyne Sound Library'. In addition, numerous requests from customers have been implemented and improvements in all areas carried out. The upgrade to Version 3.1 will probably be available at the end of April and is free for all registered users of Melodyne cre8/studio.

Beer, sausages, plugins and synthetizers ! All these products - that MacMusic is fond of - deal with Frankfurt. This 600,000-inhabitant charming town, in Hesse, is not only famous for Goethe's birthplace, its Cathedral and its lovely gothic houses, but it also welcomes the MusikMesse. This international trade fair for musical instruments, music software and computer hardware, sheet music and accessories starts tomorrow and closes on Saturday. Of course the whole MacMusic team is busy to get you informed about this major trade show in this "MusikMesse 2006 Special Report", and in the MacMusic Daily News Section.

Rob Papen just updates its Blue virtual synth to version 1.5 in Audio Units and VST formats. This 1.5 release adds MacIntel compatibility, a 32 step arpeggiator, and new effects (Gator, Speaker Simulator, Wah/Delay, Chorus/Delay and Waveshaper). This version also responds to midi program change and midi bank select and features new presets. Blue is a plug-in synthesizer featuring six Oscillators modules which include Analogue, Additive and Spectral type waveforms. Osc. A and B offer PWM modulation and symmetry control. Oscillators can be combined in several ways using 32 different modulation routings in the Algorithm screen. Oscillators can have FM modulation or Ring modulation and can be oscillator hard synced.

This free update is available in our software section.

Octopus has been updated to version 1.1 in order to fix Filter muting problem and slightly inaccurate timing. The Octopus by Linplug is a Dual-Matrix synthesizer containing one Matrix for Oscillator/Filter frequency modulation synthesis and another Matrix for general modulation. The instrument features 8 additive Oscillators, a Sampler and a unique and powerful approach to modulation.

CronoX has also been updated to version 3.0.5 in order to be 100% sound compatible with the new Sophistry plug-in.