EastWest has announced that it intends to bring the mystique and splendor of sounds from the "Silk Road" to users' workstations with the introduction of Quantum Leap Silk. This Virtual Instrument features a collection of historic and unique string and woodwind instruments from China, Persia and India.

All instruments featured in Silk are multi-sampled with extreme attention to detail, offering the maximum in expression. Quantum Leap Silk contains extensive articulations, interval sampling (where appropriate), round robin (alternate samples) and phrases to give the feeling of smooth effortless performance – like silk. Each musician recorded for Silk is a master of his instrument, providing the best and most accurate sound available. Silk also allows users to adapt the instruments using dozens of useful micro tunings in the key of their choice.

Some of the instruments featured in Silk include :

- CHINA: erhu, zhonghu, gaohu, pipa, guzheng, yangqin, sheng, suona low, suona high, dizi low, dizi hi, xiao and bawu.
- PERSIA: electric cello, kemenche, nay, duduk, tar, qanun and 30 piece string section.
- INDIA: dilruba, sarod, tanpura and bansuri.

Silk is available now for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU, RTAS and stand-alone formats at a fee of $595 / €455.

Steinberg is pleased to introduce the PlugIn Zone, a new section on the Steinberg website dedicated to renowned software companies and their acclaimed VST products.

"We're happy to offer this additional service to our customers as well as to everyone who employs VST-based plug-ins in their audio productions. Visitors will enjoy perusing the VST PlugIn Zone to find a wide range of useful plug-ins from our VST-partner companies," comments Timo Wildenhain, Marketing Manager at Steinberg. "The PlugIn Zone also features plug-ins that already implement VST3, the new industry standard. An increasing number of manufacturers have recognized the advantages that VST3 brings to the users," he continues.

Several companies have recently released new VST3-based products with exciting new features and capabilities — more information is available on the PlugIn Zone page. Check out popular and newly developed plug-ins by clicking on one of the many company names. And the "Plug-in of the Month" introduces you to a plug-in on a monthly basis, giving you a brief product description, screenshot and link to the manufacturer's website.

Pete's Place Audio is taking advantage of the NAMM Show this year to introduce another exciting product to its lineup, a 500 Series compressor module known as the BAC-500.

Designed by Brad Avenson of Austin, Texas-based Avenson Audio, the BAC-500 (BAC being short for Brad Avenson Compressor) is a feedback-style FET compressor built around two discrete op amps and a custom wound output transformer.

From the top down, the BAC's faceplate features a large silver rotary input knob, smaller pots for attack, release and ratio, and a large output knob at the bottom. Additional features include a three-position sidechain contour switch, eight-LED gain reduction meter, and pushbuttons for distortion and bypass.

For more details, please visit the link below :

Overloud announces TH1 Triode, its Essential Guitar Effects Suite.

TH1 Triode shares with the flagship TH1 the same new twist on the guitar player's stage and recording system by implementing both revolutionary features and a user interface that appeals to every level of player and producer, regardless of experience and technical know-how. Exclusive features such as SLR amplifier morphing, free life-like microphone positioning around cabinets, ReSPire cabinet technology, and Breverb-based reverb, are combined with a radically different and transparent user interface, a selection of mics, cabinets, and amps, stomp-boxes, pedals and rack effects, easy and powerful memory management, and unprecedented real-time control capabilities.

TH1 Triode will ship in February 2009 in RTAS, AU, VST and Stand-alone formats for Mac OS X and RTAS, VST and Stand-alone formats for Windows and lists for €69 worldwide and $99 in the USA and Canada. A 14-day full-featured demo will be available for download.

Digidesign is now offering two new Pro Tools LE system bundles: 003 Factory Complete and 003 Rack Factory Complete. Both bundles combine a Digidesign 003 hardware interface with the new Complete Production Toolkit - the powerful new expansion option for Pro Tools LE systems that combines a variety of plug-ins for both music and post production applications. The bundles offer up to nearly $500 in savings from standalone purchases.

The Complete Production Toolkit, made available with the release of Pro Tools 8 last month, dramatically expands the creative and production power of Pro Tools LE 8 by adding full 7.1 surround mixing, and support for up to 128 simultaneous audio tracks to any Pro Tools LE 8 based system. This bundle includes Digidesign virtual instruments and professional plug-ins valued at $2,650 including: Eleven LE classic guitar amp emulator, Structure® LE advanced sample player, Hybrid 1.5 high-definition synthesizer, Smack! LE compressor, DINR LE noise reduction, TL Space Native Edition convolution reverb, X-Form® time compression/expansion and pitch shifter, and Neyrinck SoundCode Stereo surround-to-stereo down mixer.

Additionally, the toolkit unlocks several powerful, professional processing tools in Pro Tools LE, including multi-track Beat Detective rhythm analysis and correction tool, DigiBase Pro file management, DigiTranslator 2.0 for importing/exporting of OMF®, AAF, and MXF files, and much more.

Both bundles are currently on display at the NAMM show in Anaheim, booth 6606, and both will be available for purchase in Q1 2009 from authorized Digidesign dealers for $3,995 and $2,995 respectively.

The Complete Production Toolkit software option for Pro Tools LE systems can also be purchased stand alone for $1,995.