Scarbee today announced Blue Bass, a sample library made for N.I. Kontakt 2 and Kontakt 3. Scarbee Blue Bass has been built to take advantage of the advanced scripting technology originally developed for the Black Bass.

Blue Bass was designed to be very easy to play live. Almost all articulations can be triggered without any keyswitches. Eg. legato playing triggers hammer-on and pull-off, legato playing with sustain pedal pressed triggers slides, fast legato playing triggers grace notes.

Features
• All four strings sampled, more than 4 000 samples and up to 9 velocity layers to capture the full timbre of the bass.
• Real-time playable – with the exception of cross hammering and trills all of the articulations in the list given further below can be triggered without the ne ...

After many years of development, Spectrasonics today previewed their brand new flagship virtual instrument Omnisphere®.
The revolutionary 'Power Synth' breaks completely new sonic ground by combining a wide variety of hybrid realtime synthesis techniques, an epic library of remarkable 'Psychoacoustic' sounds, and many innovative features that have never been seen before in any hardware or software synthesizer.
The new instrument is the first to be based on Spectrasonics' STEAM Engine, the company's newly developed core technology.
Omnisphere is set to be released September 15, 2008, the MSRP is $499 US.

Omnisphere will offer a host of hybrid synthesis and new control capabilities including Variable Waveshaping DSP synthesis, Granular synthesis, Timbre Shifting, FM synthesis, polyp ...

Steve Jobs has unveiled Apple's latest innovations at the Macworld 2008, January 16.
Time Capsule could be interesting for some of us musicians who don't want to use their Mac overloaded USB, FW or Ethernet ports.

But MacBook Air is not for us. No FW, no ExpressCard slot, no SuperDrive (so what if you want to install something ?), only one USB, etc.

It goes without saying : it's a beautiful machine, regarding design and technology challenge. But forget about making music with it.
But it's a beautiful machine...

Weren't we waiting for touch-screen monitors to control our DAWs and plugs ?

At NAMM, Applied Acoustics Systems presents on its upcoming plug-in instrument - Strum Acoustic GS-1, an Acoustic Guitar Plug-in Synthesizer.

- Keyboardist's Acoustic Guitar: Can't learn the guitar in time for your deadline. Your favorite session player is out of town. ROMplers are not quite there. Strum is the just-right solution.
- Play a folk song with open chords: Play the chords you know and Strum voices them as a guitarist would.
- Strum on your keyboard: Auto-strum chords or play them via strumming keys or MIDI loops.
- Pick a guitar from your collection: Go from nylon to steel, from jumbo to concert, or from country rock to finger-style classical.
- Create your own space: Add warmth with the EQ, lush with the chorus, and space with the reverb.

Strum Acoustic GS-1 will be available by the end of Q1 2008 for Windows and Mac OS X (Universal Binary) in VST, AU and RTAS formats.

Novation unveils a new USB controller called Nocturn. Featuring the latest Automap Universal 2.0 software, exclusive to Novation controllers, Nocturn provides automatic, instant and intelligent control of all automatable plug-ins within every major sequencer, including Pro Tools.

Features :

- 8 touch-sensitive rotary encoders, each equipped with a bright eleven-LED ring
- 8 user-assignable illuminated buttons
- smooth, professional 45mm cross-fader
- Novation's unique 'speed dial'; a touch-sensitive rotary encoder that instantly takes control of whatever your mouse is focused on!

Featuring a revolutionary new 'heads-up transparent control GUI', Automap Universal 2.0 places a transparent control map across your computer screen, to be recalled or hidden at will. Little or no user ...