Cakewalk has announced the release of Cakewalk Studio Instruments. Basically this is a collection of virtual instrument featuring a drum kit, a bass guitar, an electric piano, and a string section.

Highlights :

- An entire band all in one package: Electric Piano, Bass, String Section, & Drum Kit.
- Easy to use animated user interface with powerful controls (cymbals crash, bows bow, bass strings vibrate, etc.).
- Play stand-alone or use it in your favorite recording software.
- Professionally recorded patterns and instrument sounds.

Cakewalk Studio Instruments is available for Mac OS X (UB) in VST, AU and standalone versions at an estimated street price of $49.99.

AraldFX has released StormGate1, a rhythmic gate that lets you shape audio with amplitude patterns.

Features :

- Free drawn amplitude envelope.
- Powerful envelope drawing tools: Free, step, spike and exponential.
- Variable quantization grid.
- 16 patterns with variable length and chaining support.
- Steps of one octave or one octave triplet.
- Intelligent host loop support.
- Advanced synchronization.
- Swing on octaves and sixteenth.
- Volume controls for original and gated audio, with cross-fading control.
- 13 functions for editing the envelope (including randomizations).

StormGate1 is available for Mac OS X (UB) in VST and AU formats and guess what ? It is free so... enjoy !

Antares Audio Technologies has announced the impending release of Harmony Engine - Vocal Modeling Harmony Generator, a real-time harmony generating plug-in.

Key Features :

- Four high-quality, formant-corrected harmony voices with independent vocal character, vibrato, and pan settings
- Antares Throat Modeling technology that processes each harmony voice through a physical model of the human vocal tract
- A variety of innovative Harmony Control modes, from fully automatic to individual control of every note :

* Fixed or Scale Intervals - Simply set the key and harmony voice intervals and let Harmony Engine do the rest
* Scale Degree or Chord Name - Define harmony chord-by-chord, complete with inversions and variable vocal ranges
* Chord by MIDI - Define ...

Puremagnetik has released RackPak for Ableton Live 6. Developed exclusively by some of Ableton's own sound designers, RackPak is a collection of over 100 audio effects racks for performance and studio use.

RackPak includes :

* Over 100 Advanced Effects Racks
* Space, Filter & Distortion Menus
* Live Performance & DJ Racks
* Mastering and Instrument Strips
* Glitch and Beat Processors

For more information, please visit the link below.

M-Audio is proud to announce shipment of the Pulsar II small-capsule condenser microphone.

Features :
- professional small-capsule condenser microphone
- 3/4"-diameter, 6-micron Mylar evaporated gold diaphragm
- thermal diaphragm treatment yields 2dB SPL boost over original model
- solid brass backplate
- solid brass body
- Class-A FET electronics
- switchable -10dB pad
- switchable 80Hz high-pass filter (12dB/octave)
- wooden storage box houses microphone, windscreen and clip

The Pulsar II is currently shipping and carries an MSRP of $199.95. The boxed matched pairs are currently expected to ship in the third quarter of 2007 at an MSRP of $399.95.