Wave Arts is pleased to announce the 5.40 update for their Power Suite 5 product line, which features TrackPlug external sidechain improvements, including support for VST.

A new VST plug-in called TrackPlug 5 ExtSC allows external tracks to be routed to TrackPlug as sidechain signals in hosts such as Cubase 4 and Sonar 7. External sidechaining allows one track's dynamics to be controlled by the signal of another, for example, engaging a compressor on a bass track whenever a kick drum on other track occurs. External sidechain is now supported in Audio Unit, VST, RTAS and MAS formats.

The update is free for registered v5 users.

Rogue Amoeba has just released Audio Hijack Pro v2.8. With this update, all of Rogue Amoeba's applications are now 100% ready for Leopard, as well as Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

This update includes myriad minor bug fixes and improvements but also Instant Hijack 2, enabling the hijacking of audio from applications which are already running on Leopard, as well as Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). The System Audio Extra has also been updated with Soundflower 1.3, more ID3 tags are supported, and bookmarkable recordings have been made more reliable.

BBE announces its all-new D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin. Based upon BBE's 882i and 482i hardware Sonic Maximizer processors, this plug-in aims to restore the high frequency definition and detail while focusing bass frequencies for any sound source.

The D82 Sonic Maximizer is compatible with all VST, AU and RTAS hosts on Mac OS X, Windows XP and Vista. It will be available on February 2008 via download and March 2008 in retail boxed product at BBE dealers worldwide.

Sontronics has just announced a major add in it's microphone line : the CHIMERA, a hybrid pre-amp, a real new cornerstone for futur development of the company.

CHIMERA is a pre-amp/DI box single channel including two separate circuits, with a simple switch you can choose: a transparent sound from a solid state pre-amp, or the warmer tone of a Tube pre-amp. Each of these circuits is an original conception from Sontronics.

Fine adjustements can be done with the help of a variable high pass filter, a 3 way attenuator and a phase control, allowing multiple sonic colors. The frequency response is flat between 20Hz to 20kHz, In/outputs are balanced electronically.

Features :

- frequency response : 20Hz to 20kHz max. +/-0.5dB (solid-state), max. +/-0.7dB (valve)
- inputs (analog) ...

In partnership, Vision DAW and East West announce an 8-Core Xeon Server-Class Workstation, including the complete Quantum Leap Orchestral collection. This set runs with Play software (64 bits) and the virtual orchestra takes up a 4U rack with 2 Quad-Core Xeon 5440 at 2.83GHz, with 16 Go RAM (8 x 2Go at 667MHz), 1 Teraoctet storage, a dual screen video card and a sound card RME Hammerfall 9652. Possibility to customize RAID configuration.

Dreamin' Price for the whole symphony orchestra starts at 5 800 $.