MXL (a division of Marshall Electronics) is pleased to announce the introduction of the MXL Studio 1 portable USB condenser microphone for the home recording market. The Studio 1 is the latest addition to the line of existing USB microphones from MXL.

Unlike other products that require mixers, preamps, or expensive studio gear, USB condenser microphones are "Plug & Play". The MXL Studio 1 does not require any special drivers and is compatible with any PC or Mac computer.

The Studio 1 features a large two-micron diaphragm condenser capsule with a 40 Hz-20 kHz frequency response. The digital section features a 16-bit Delta Sigma A/D converter with available sampling rates of 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz. A red LED light behind the protective grill indicates that the microphone is active and correctly oriented toward the user. The Studio 1 also has an integrated headphone jack which provides zero latency monitoring and clear audio playback. This zero latency feature provides a more accurate recording when doing voiceovers and Internet recording such as podcasts, interviews, and personalized radio or playlists.

The MXL Studio 1 includes a hard black plastic carrying case, desktop microphone stand / adapter, 10-foot USB cable, user's manual, and application guide. The expected street price is $99.95 with a MSRP of $129.95.

Tascam has announced that they are ceasing development of Gigastudio products, which includes the GVI engine. An official statement from the company states, "TEAC America, Inc. will cease further development of Gigastudio and Gigastudio related products as of July 21, 2008. Product sales and technical support will continue through the end of the year."

This comes as sour news not only for GigaStudio users (especially those who have recently purchased GigaStudio 4), but also to software developers who have licensed GigaStudio programs for their own products.

It sounds like Tascam is getting out of the software business completely. If you check their web site, the product category for software is completely empty, and everything Giga-related is now in the legacy software category.

In response, a petition to pass on the torch and make GigaStudio code open source has been started at OpenGigaStudio.com. To sign the petition you just have to leave a comment.

Ableton Live 7 is now available absolutely free for 14 days. This is a great opportunity to test drive the new Ableton instruments or discover the new features and functions in Ableton Live 7.

The trial version includes :

- Ableton Live 7
- Sampler, Operator, Electric, Analog, Tension
- Extensive built-in step-by-step tutorials
- Localized software menus, tutorials, and PDF reference manuals

Try out all the features, including save and export, for 14 days by following the link below.

Note that each session requires connecting to the Ableton server to activate saving and exporting.

Puremagnetik has released Vector - a new collection of Live Racks that turns Ableton Live 7 into a wave sequencing instrument reminiscent of the legendary KORG Wavestation. Vector includes a library of wave sequences, attack transients and vector morphing as found on the original. Users can load up any of the 50 included patches and performances or create their own unique presets from the library of included waveforms.

For more information, please visit their web site.

Native Instruments has just released Traktor 3.4 and Traktor Scratch 1.3, free software updates that equip both products with refined functionality.

They both now offer full Unicode support, allowing for file names and tags in nearly any international script and language including Japanese, Mandarin, Hebrew, Cyrillic and others. Both versions are also based on a revised high-performance audio engine that offers many functional advantages including hot-plugging and instant switching for audio interfaces, WASAPI support for Windows Vista and more.

Other improvements include increased tracking precision for scratching in relative mode, a new intelligent "Tracking Alert" function that gives early warning for adverse conditions like worn-out needles, enhanced MIDI controller handling and a large number of detail optimizations and fixes.

Both updates are available as free downloads for all registered users. For more information, please visit their web site.