Grace Design has announced the upcoming release of its m201 2-channel mic preamp. Housed in a 2U, 19-inch rackmount enclosure, the m201 features two balanced mic-level inputs on female XLR connectors, and two balanced line-level outputs per channel on male XLR connectors. Its signal path promises a dynamic range improvement of up to 3 dB over that of the now discontinued model 201. Included on each preamp channel is a dedicated ribbon microphone switch, which shifts the preamplifier's entire gain range up by 10 dB while deactivating 48-volt phantom power and bypassing the coupling capacitors. DI input and an M+S (Mid + Side) decoder matrix for M-S mic techniques are also included. Finally, the m201 has been designed to incorporate a 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution A/D option that the company says will be available in the future.

For more information, please visit their web site.

MHC has released Pianos v1.0, an ambient piano plug-in which is the third plug-in in MHC's series of hybrid synthesizers which combine a set of samples/waveforms with synthesizer functions and an effect section. It includes 256 piano presets and the user may edit the synthesizer and effect parameters to create his or her own piano sounds. In addition there are three optional soundpacks available, which add new piano waveforms and increase the total number of presets to 1024.

Pianos is available for Mac OS X (UB) in AudioUnit format for $139. The three soundpacks are available for $39.

MXL Microphones, the professional audio division of Marshall Electronics, has announced that the MXL 190 cardioid condenser microphone is now shipping. Featuring low-noise FET design, balanced transformer coupled output, and Mogami wiring, the new 190 uses a six micron condenser pressure gradient capsule making it well suited to capture everything from the airy tones of the piccolo to the slap of the bass guitar. It also incorporates a 0/-10dB attenuation switch to help make level matching easy.

The MXL 190 cardioid condenser microphone carries a street price of $149.99 and is available exclusively through MusiciansFriend.com.

Digidesign finally unveils the new 003 Family which includes 003 Factory and 003 Rack.

Digi 003 Factory features :

- 8 touch-sensitive motorized faders
- 8 motion-sensitive rotary encoders for pan/send/meter/plug-in control
- Dedicated mute, solo, and select/record arm switches per channel
- 6-character, 2-line LCD display per channel displays track name; pan, send, fader, and plug-in values; and timeline position
- 5-segment LED display for viewing metering and automation mode status
- Easily assign inserts and sends from the control surface
- Dedicated automation controls and LEDs
- Dedicated transport control
- Standalone MIDI Mode functionality
- Jog/Shuttle wheel
- High-speed FireWire connectivity
- 18 simultaneous channels of audio I/O
...

LinPlug has released SaxLab v1.1, Rob Papen Albino v3.0.2 Beta and CronoX3 / Sophistry v3.0.8 Release Candidate.

SaxLab 1.1 changes :

- Improved compatibility with Sonar.
- Slightly less CPU usage.
- Separately adjustable pitch bend range for up and down.

Albino 3.0.2 Beta changes :

- Fixed problem when loading Albino 2 presets with Triangle osc waveforms.
- Fixed flickering preset name when loading presets.
- Fixed Cubase 4 incompatibility.
- Fixed problem when randomizer changed effects only visually.
- Fixed problem of certain matrix modulations not working.
- All delays are now optimized for smooth behaviour on tempo changes.
- Fixed different filter sound of version 3.0.1.
- 63 new Rob Papen presets.

CronoX3 / Sophistry 3.0.8 Release Candidate changes :

- Fixed effects Wet parameter.
- Improved Reverb module with modulation.