Kong Audio rolls out ChineeGuanZi - the Pipe of Tristesse - to the world.

Characterized by the triste tone, GuanZi (literally means Pipe) is a one-of-a-kind double-reed instrument from China. Originated in Central Asia, like many other existing Chinese instruments, GuanZi was embraced dearly and became an integral part of Chinese instruments ever since the great Tang Dynasty (7th -10th centuries).

GuanZi was once one of the standard instruments of court music. It was also used in military and festival events, as well as monumental, burial ceremonies. It is, sometimes, considered to be too distinctive to be a team instrument though, hence resulted its slightly being overlooked today.

The combination of pitch-envelopes with keyswitching in the patch programming makes ChineeGuanZi a much lively and expressive instrument to play with. ChineeGuanZi (in G) contains legato, tremolo, and various other playing techniques. The note range is from D4 to D6.

ChineeGuanZi is now available for $60.

QuikQuak announces the upcoming release of version 2.0 of its freebie UpStereo plug-in.

Changes :

- Completely 3D user-interface:
- Retains usability of traditional 2D design.
- Movable camera and light - alter the mood of the plug-in.
- Lays the foundation for future 3D interfaces with the potential for zoomable, multi-side plug-ins, and realistic 3D copies of hardware devices.

UpStereo v2.0 is currently available as a public beta for Windows in VST format, Mac versions will follow.

To celebrate its 11th anniversary, Thermionic Culture has announced the Culture Vulture Anniversary Limited Edition. The Anniversay model will be based on the companies current standard Culture Vulture but it has far more radical possibilities, in particular for guitar and bass applications. The production will be limited to 80 units and will have the front panel finished in Thermionic red instead of black.

MULLARD & PHILPS VALVES
The valves selected for the anniversary edition are Mullard and Philips NV, who owned 50% of Mullard.

Prosoniq is about to unveil sonicWORX Pro at Musikmesse 2009.

sonicWORX Pro uses the latest advances in Digital Signal Processing to access your audio material in a totally new way allowing you to view and edit audio at an unprecedented resolution. Working in tandem with intelligent pattern detection used for signal separation and realtime mouse-over preview Prosonic's time-frequency transform technology helps to quickly identify, select and isolate interesting features in a mix, such as individual notes, instruments and voice. This versatile tool allows both micro-editing as well as easy suppressing, extracting or processing instruments within a mix for remixing, mastering or restoration.

Mixer Feedback by 9 Soundware is the third and final release in a series of sample packs featuring DJ Shiftee, the winner of the 2007 DMC World Championships. The WAV format loops of mixer performances are intended to complement the mixer feedback samples found in DJ Shiftee: Extreme Turntablism.

These loops showcase DJ Shiftee's innovative techniques, in which he uses nothing but a mixer to create an astonishing variety of textures. By manipulating a feedback loop with the mixer's onboard controls, he performs phrases ranging from simple feedback rhythms to blistering walls of noises and bassline-like phrases. The ingenuity behind the unique performance is simply extraordinary and gives new meaning to the phrase "mixer as a musical instrument". Created in the spirit of experimental music traditions with the artistry of a world class DJ, these unusual samples would surely make for interesting additions to loop libraries in need of something different.

The set consists of 131 loops (1 to 4 bars in length) at tempos 70, 80,90, 100, 110, 120, 130 and 140 BPM. The 212 MB download contains files in WAV format (24-bit/44.1 kHz).

Mixer Feedback is available now for $29.99 at :