Previously available for Pro Tools|HD only, Softube Studios has just announced that Vintage Amp Room is now available as VST/AU plug-ins for native platforms and PowerCore. Straightforward and simple, Vintage Amp Room emulates three carefully selected guitar amps in a complete studio set-up with speaker cabinets and fully flexible microphone positioning.

Main features :

- Three great-sounding vintage amp models that handle like real amps.
- Raw & authentic sound.
- Flexible & continuous click-and-drag mic positioning.
- Fully automatable parameters.
- 3-D rendered photo-realistic user interface.
- Compatible with all effects that work with real amps.

Vintage Amp Room is available in both Native and PowerCore VST and AU formats for Windows and Mac OS X (plus the existing TDM version) priced at :

- Native VST/AU: €349 / $429
- PowerCore VST/AU: €399 / $489

Note that a fully functional 10-day demo version is also available (iLok required).

Apogee has released updates to their Symphony PCI-E card driver and Maestro application. This dual update includes many new features, such as support for Apple's 8-Core Mac Pro and long sought after Maestro improvements, including the ability to assign software and hardware inputs and outputs to multiple hardware outputs.

The new installer, which updates the Symphony driver and Maestro application, is now available on :

FabFilter has just released Pro-C, a new compressor plug-in offering three compressor styles (Clean, Classic and Opto), flexible routing and side-chain options, and various program dependent compression styles with an innovative user interface and animated level display making compression easy to grasp for everyone.

Features :

- Three different compressor styles
- Program dependent attack and release curves
- Super-fast attack times
- Soft- and hard knee option
- Zero latency, click-free 64-bit internal processing
- Auto Gain option
- Auto Release option
- Large input, output, and gain change meters with different scale settings
- Animated compression level display with customizable curves
- Active transfer function display
- External side chain
- 48 dB/oct HP and LP side ...

Apple anounces the update of the SMC Firmware for Mac Pro running under Mac OS X 10.4.10. This update will install 1.7f10 version except for the 8 cores models where the 1.5f3 version will be installed. Before the update it is highly recommended to quit all running applications.

Mac Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.1

Zplane.development has announced the impending release of vielklang v1.1, its audio harmonization virtual instrument for easy generation of vocal or instrumental harmonies with up to four voices. It will be available in September for RTAS (Mac OS X, Windows), VST (Mac OS X, Windows) and Audio Units (Mac OS X) at a MSRP of $249.00/€179.00.

Apart from support for the RTAS interface, version 1.1 will include the following new features :

- Two-voice harmonization mode, generating only a second voice in a typical backing vocal style.
- Availability of 7th chords.
- Timing humanization control.
- Single note splitting and muting.
- Export to audio and MIDI for all plugin interfaces.