French broadcaster NRJ Group airs all of the programming on its new NRJ 12 TV channel in Dolby® Digital 5.1 surround sound. The channel offers a mix of music and entertainment shows. NRJ 12 is the first French channel to be aired with Dolby Digital 5.1 on terrestrial TV (and available free of charge to viewers across France). NRJ 12 is predominantly aimed at teenagers and young adults, with a strong emphasis on popular music and American sitcoms. NRJ plans to expand the content eventually, with dramas, magazine shows, talk shows, games, and reality TV.

TC Electronic announces that an update to version 2.0 of its Restauration Suite, which includes the new DeThump plug-in. With the new 2.0 update, Restoration Suite includes five real-time plug-ins: DeScratch, DeNoise, DeClick, DeCrackle, and now DeThump, which can be used with any VST, AU or RTAS compatible audio system. Restoration Suite 2.0 will be available in June 2005 at 1495 euros (ex. VAT) and the upgrade will be free of charge for existing users via the TC web site.

TC Electronic also announces that System 6000 stereo plug-ins will now be available for Pro Tools HD. With the System 6000 plug-ins from TC Electronic, some of the most sophisticated algorithms for mixing and mastering are finally made available to the Pro Tools platform. TC Electronic expects four new TDM plug-ins, MD3 (1295 euros), VSS3 (795 euros), DVR2 (595 euros) and NonLin2 (495 euros), to be available during the second half of 2005 (prices - ex. VAT - are preliminary).

TC unveils a new reverb, the DVR2 Digital Vintage Reverb, which is an emulation of a well preserved EMT250. The DVR2 (VST, AU or RTAS) will ship in June 2005 a 395 euros (ex.VAT).

At last, the PowerCore PCI mkII card - announced at MusikMesse Frankfort - is now shipping at 1140 euros (ex. VAT).

Hotwork Ltd announced the release of The Analogue Ripper 2.03, a major update to it's OSX software for recording and editing sound. The Analogue Ripper allows you to :

- Record sound from any analogue source (LPs, Cassettes, radio, VHS, etc.);
- Record sound at various speeds shortening your recording sessions;
- Find and save tracks easily from the recorded sound file with its Track Hunter feature;
- Schedule recordings to take place while you are away from your computer;
- Send your tracks to iTunes and encode them using any of iTunes' encoders.

Native Instruments announces that a User Library for Kontakt 2 users is now online. This convenient database allows registered users to freely exchange their own Kontakt 2 creations on the NI website - similiar to what users of Reaktor, Guitar Rig and Absynth have been enjoying for some time now. Users can share their scripts, license-free samples and impulse responses as well as instruments and effects.

The M-Audio iControl will start shipping in June at 179 euros. The iControl is a controler for GarageBand. USB powered, it packs transport controls, a jog wheel, 8 encoders assignable (control volume, pan, aux bus sends or effects), 7 mode assign buttons, 8 sets of buttons for Mute, Solo, and Record-enable… The icontrol include also a MIDI In for a keyboard.