FracturedSoftware has announced the immediate availability of Rondo 2.8, an update to its award winning MIDI Player for OS X. This latest version of Rondo has a number of interface improvements, an integrated help file and the ability to specify the absolute rate at which a MIDI file plays.

Rondo is unique among MIDI players as it has been designed to help non-score reading musicians follow the music as it plays. Its horizontal live-playing pianos located directly over vertical scrolling note columns make it very easy to see what notes are about to play while the innovative visual track filter allows you to visually isolate a track without affecting the audio. Users who just enjoy listening to MIDI files will also find Rondos simple and uncluttered interface a delight to use. Rondo has a set of intuitive controls to play, pause, fast forward and rewind your music while individual track muting allows you to switch off unwanted tracks. Other features include the ability to jump to a specific bar or section and play through an external sound module or keyboard connected to your computer.

GenoQs has released v1.60 of the operating system for their hardware sequencers Octopus and Nemo.

The new OS is a significant leap forward and it includes numerous new features, and workflow improvements. Too many to list here really, but all minutiously captured in the latest release notes document. Their main page links to all that information and more.

Discover what those units are able to do on these videos at 440tv...

Do you remember few month ago when I was talking about the Korg DS-10, a music-creation software for the Nintendo DS based upon the famous Korg MS-10 synthesizer ? Well, this little software is now available in Europe !

Wanna know how it sounds like ? Take a look at those videos on 440tv then...

Continuing in the tradition of creating unique and useful tools for the pro audio engineer, Little Labs introduces the Redcloud 8810U8ERS balanced attenuator pack. Born out of necessity for recording engineer Don Smith, aka Redcloud (Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks), who liked lots of gain on his mic pre amps but needed a simple flexible way to attenuate the post mic pre signal.

The Redcloud 8810U8ERS is a rock solid and very compact, 8 channel balanced attenuator pack utilizing the now universally popular db25 connector (tascam type) in/out pin out. The highly flexible unit can be button selected for stereo or mono attenuation in groups of two. The Redcloud 8810U8ERS can be utilized as eight balanced mono attenuators or up to four balanced stereo attenuators or even externally wired as eight stereo unbalanced attenuators. The special attenuators used are a 5kΩ impedance, allowing devices to easily drive the attenuator but also able to drive relatively long cables without high frequency loss. The Redcloud 8810U8ERS can also be rack mounted, making it possible to have up to 32 channels of attenuation in a 1U rack space. Uses include, simple analog faders pre or post pro tools, volume controls for multiple speaker systems, or any job that needs a stereo or mono rotary attenuator. Plug it into your db25 modular patch bay and patch it in anywhere you need high quality passive attenuation (more places than you might initially think). The Redcloud 8810U8ERS will be a must have accessory in any engineers tool
box !

The Little Labs Redcloud 8810U8ERS will be shipping November 1 2008 for a suggested retail price of $400.00.

The d16 Group has just released the latest addition to its "Silver Line" of products : Decimort, a a bit crusher plug-in.

Electronic music producers have always been aware that classic samplers had a character and sound of their own. They added a "grit" and "colour" to the samples and loops they played back which made them sound "Fat" and sit well in a mix. This sound colouration was due to the encoding techniques, lower sample rates, lower bit rate and conversion circuits which these early samplers used. Decimort aims to recreate this colouration in order to add the vintage sampler magic to any loop, bass line or sound played through it.

Features :

- Ultra accurate resampling algorithm (ADC emulation, no harmonics above 22kHz).
- Anti-alias lowpass filter conjugated with resampler.
- Analogue-like filters with adjustable resonance and cutoff.
- Two independent process paths in stereo mode with different parameters per each channel.
- Presets organised into groups.
- MIDI learn function.
- 64-bit internal processing.
- No harmonic distortions at output (unwanted).

Decimort is available now for both PC and Mac in VST and VST/AU formats respectively. It has a retail price of €35.