Our friends at SonicState have just started a new video serie called the Top Five Greatest Sampler Ever : A journey into the world of digital sampling and its bygone age. Looking back, few electronic instruments have influenced the direction of music more than digital samplers. Enabling the creation of whole new genres of music through technology and basically theft, the digital sampler is responsible (via the art of sampling) for many musical twists and turns. These videos features interviews with: Adrian Utely (Portishead), Will Gregory (Goldfrapp), Plaid, Nick Batt (DNA), Richard Termini (Cyndi Lauper Band), James Asher and more..

Ueberschall has released Analog FX sample library, a sophisticated sample collection which contain over 1.7GB of atmospheres, noises, basslines, leads, sweeps, LFO as well as hundreds synth loops. The library is produced for: advertising and gameaudio, trailer creation, cinema and tv post production, animation, sound design, multimedia presentations and for all the different musical styles and producers looking for analog production fx elements. All sounds are simplistically organized into folders. Loops are enhanced with B.P.M. information and tonal effects are accurately described and assigned to their root keys. The complete content provides a wide range of styles. The sound library comes along with the loop player "Elastik" includes features like :

* highspeed timestretching and pi ...

Toontrack Music proudly announces Toontrack Solo, a host application for Toontrack Music samplers providing stand alone operation, multi-instance operation and support for specialist MIDI controllers.

Features :

• Stand alone operation of Toontrack samplers
• Optimized for real-time, low latency operation
• Full ASIO/Core Audio/Core MIDI support
• Routable mixer with support for up to 16 physical OUT
• Each instance can be assigned a discrete MIDI channel
• Support for specialist MIDI controllers

Toontrack Solo will be released as a free download before the end of october 2007 to all registered users of EZ and Superior Drummer samplers.

MHC has just released Extreme, a hybrid synthesizer which plays an extensive set of extreme waveforms/samples, for example distorted, big, punchy, noisy and wicked waveforms, processing these using a filter, envelopes, an LFO, an ensemble, delays and an effect section which features 133 different effect modes, including crossfading effects and layered effects.

Features :

- 1024 presets (if all soundpacks are installed). A soundpack is an expansion which adds new extreme waveforms and presets.
- Crossfading and layered effects which feature distortion, filter banks, a resonator, flanger, sub oscillation, amp modulation, pitch shift etc.
- All knobs can be mapped to MIDI controllers with a simple "learn" function.
- Ensemble with adjustable amount and mix. Stereo delays.
- Full polyphony. Only your CPU sets the limit or you may set a fixed voice limit.

Extreme is available in VST and AU formats for Windows and Mac OS X at a retail price of $139.

M-Audio is proud to announce the KeyRig 25 keyboard controller and software bundle, which closely follows the release of the previously announced KeyRig 49 package. The KeyRig 25 features an ultra-slim, 25-note keyboard with half-depth action, along with eight MIDI-assignable knobs and buttons while the KeyRig 49 features a 49-note, synth-action keyboard designed for users who want a more traditional approach to keyboard playing. Both keyboards also include professional features like pitch bend and modulation controls, an assignable volume slider, octave +/- buttons and sustain pedal input. The units are powered from the computer via a single USB cable and work right out of the box with Windows XP and Mac OS X systems—no driver installation needed.

Both configurations feature M-Audio's Key Rig software (valued at $129)—a single virtual rack that covers all of the basic needs of today's keyboardist. Compatible with most PC environments, Key Rig delivers four modules for stand-alone or plug-in use: SP-1 Stage Piano, MS-2 Polyphonic Synthesizer, MB-3 Tone Wheel Organ and GM-4 General MIDI Module. The master section allows users to route, split, layer and mix these four modules in whatever way best suits their performance and recording needs. A master effects section also provides for adding a common effect in addition to the individual effect section included with each instrument.

Both keyboards are currently shipping. Each keyboard carries a US MSRP of $129.95.