RM IV now comes standard equipment with Mackie's new Tracktion 2. You get one sequencer and a full version RM IV with 260 drum kits and over 1000 MIDI Grooves that are only available at the present time with Tracktion 2. The RM IV is a flexible and easy-to-use drum machine that combines analog-style percussion synthesis with a fully featured, intelligent percussion sampler.

Editorskeys announces its new keyboards set for Pro Tools. The key set transforms your standard keyboard into a fully functional Pro Tools audio editing keyboard. Each Key is easily applied to your standard keyboard using their handy applicator, and contains the program shortcut, icon, key letter and also a handy text reference telling you exactly what each tool is. In total there are 70 keys!

Editorskeys Pro Tools set costs £ 8.99.

Native Instruments has announced that demo versions of Guitar Combos are now available. The Guitar Combos series by Native Instruments consist of the Twang Combo, the AC Box Combo and the Plexi Combo. The Twang Combo is modelled after the Fender Twin Reverb and delivers a wide range of clean and crunch tones suitable for Pop, Jazz, Blues and Country styles. The AC Box Combo is modelled after the Vox AC-30 and delivers a wide range of clean and crunch sounds that lend itself to Pop, Rock, and Alternative styles. The Plexi Combo is modelled after the Marshall JMP50 and delivers a wide range of crunch and overdrive sounds, which makes it the first choice for various flavors of Rock, Metal and Psychedelic.

LinPlug announces CronoX3. nHere's some of the new features: A new "Free Filter" with modulatable filter-types(lp/hp/bp/br continuously adjustable and modulatable), Full 5.1 support, Increased quality of all generator algorithms, 4 generators now available simultaneously, loop sampler now has a much bigger preview window and up to 64 samples per generator (velo-crossfade/split and keysplit), new modulation sources and destinations, and a sophisticated Albino-type arpeggiator.

New hardware solution, which adds more DSP power to plugins, is offered with the new NetShell APA, announced by Waves. Connects to your computer via Ethernet, the new APA 32 (1U 19") and APA 44 (half rack-size) gives more freedom to the host cpu and supports the more-demanding proccessing power needed by todays high quality software solutions. Most Waves plug-ins are supported by the NetShell APA, and more should be supported soon. As it uses a LAN connetion, the new avialable DSP power is instantly available without opening the computer case or modifying hardware, and you can still use your CPU or installed hardware-DSP for plugins.

ps Clouvel : You can connect 8 APA modules (with 8 millisecondes time latency). An APA 32 module can support (at 48 KHz) 6 IR convolution reverbs, or 6 L3 multiband compressors, or 7 Lin Phase MB, or 14 C4 compressors, or 11 Renaissance reverbs. APA 32 will cost 1.600 US$, and APA 44 will be 2.400 US$ (with free IRL and Q-Clone plugins). They will be available in June or July.