Groovebox Music presents Brainwerks: Pro Tools Operator Tutorials, a collection of Pro Tools video tutorials by Pro Tools super genius Stefan Hedengren.

From the basics, such as I/O Setup and fast track creation, to more advance topics such as making stems and submixes, Elastic Time, and daily clean up, Stefan shows you his personal tricks and techniques in detail, and sometimes wacky way, to becoming a serious Pro Tools operator.

You can view all the video tutorials in the "Pro Tools Operator" collection online for 30 days for $14.99 or download and own the full disc for $49.99. The boxed disc version will ship in 2-3 weeks for $54.99 plus shipping, but you can order it today and get the instant digital download included for free so you can start learning right away.

Urbano Lounge is the second sound pack from Percussa which contains over 140Mb of loop content recorded and produced exclusively for Percussa AudioCubes by Cuesounds (UK). Although the pack was designed to work with Propellerheads Reason 4, the samples can be used with other software too.

Included are three main folders, two of which contain sampled loops, and one containing four combinator tools. The sampled loops are included in both WAV and RX2 file format. The included combinator patches were designed to use the RX2 format. The sampled loops have been created around a general lounge and hip hop theme. Some of the sounds included are not typically representative of this genre, however help balance an eclectic palette of sounds that can be used in a variety of styles.

Urbano Lounge is available now and is priced at €14.95.

Step into the Chiller's Joint. New from the pristine Ueberschall Nouvelle series comes a distinctive downtempo collection. Chillers Joint is heavily influenced by 60s and 70s soundtracks, Soul, Funk, Dub and Jazz. Garnished with modern Downtempo Hiphop and electronic flavours. Highlights include 20 relaxed c-kits, each over a minute long, all including intros/outros verses and refrains with over 1,100 loops. Tonal diversity is accented by custom recordings of pure vintage drum and instrumental phrases, grooves as well as atmospheric terrains.

This collection contains a lavish variety of :

• vintage drum grooves,
• electric piano licks,
• live played basslines, guitars,
• vibes,
• percussion,
• strings,
• horns,
• synths,
• soundscapes, ambiances, air and fx.

Also included in the set are divided drumloops (bassdrum, snare, hihat loops) and a wealth of single sounds to aid in easy assembly of fresh, organic, chillout styled mixes. Design with peace of mind using the bundled Elastik players powerful mix and match options. Fine tune, filter, tempo sync, chop and re-sort, reverse and other effect essentials come standard.

Chillers Joint is available now for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a retail price of $119/€99/£69.

ReFX has just released Nexus² which comes with over 70 new features and improvements. Here are most important ones :

- Expansion Dance Vol.2 already included! - 128 new presets, 500 MB of new samples
- Three skins (Black 'evil', Black 'good' and Cobalt) included for free
- New FX: analog phaser from Arts Acoustic - up to 16 stages. Smooth as silk
- New FX: stereo enhancer - widen or narrow the stereo field
- Feature Matrix: layers can be switched on/off separately
- New section: oscillator mix level
- Oscillators can be switched on/off separately
- Volume- and pan-control for each oscillator

Nexus² is available now for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a price of €299.99 / $349.99. Upgrades are available. Note that a Syncrosoft eLicenser (dongle) is now required and can be purchased from reFX if you don't already have one.

Behringer unveils the new U-CONTROL UMA25S, a super-slim controller keyboard with a fully fledged USB audio interface.

Features :

- Ultra-slim design
- 25 velocity-sensitive keys
- 8 assignable rotary controllers, pitch bend, mod wheel and transport controls
- Stereo USB audio interface with mic and line level inputs
- Headphone with boom mic included
- Gig bag and strap included
- DC, battery or USB powered
- Ships with energy/XT2 Compact BEHRINGER Edition DAW software and 100 plug-ins
- Mac and Windows (XT and Vista) compatible

US MSRP - $189.99