SAE launch entry-level course aimed at aspiring producers, singers and musicians starting a home recording studio…

Opportunities to record and produce music at home have never been greater – or more affordable. Couple that with the ability to distribute music online and you have the ingredients for what is shaping up to be the future of the music industry.

But with so many options available it's easy for the technology to get in the way of creative ability, so spending time trying to figure out how to work the technology rather than getting down to recording your masterpiece is a common problem amongst those wanting to unleash their creativity.

SAE's new Home Studio Certificate aims to change all that. This new entry-level qualification is ideal for the singer/songwriter, hobbyist or beginner wanting to produce their own music, and will leave students fully conversant with the basic equipment and techniques necessary to take control and record music at home.

The Home Studio Certificate will train students in setup and optimisation of any standard home recording system with regards to recording instruments and vocals, editing, adding signal processing and even mixdown into a finished track.

Courses start June '09 – call SAE for further details.

FXpansion is proud to introduce the latest addition to the BFD2 expansion kit range, BFD Oak Custom Expansion Kit, which features a high-end Yamaha Oak Custom drum kit and Bamboo snare.

Oak is a great material for a drum shell : it resonates with a solid fundamental delivering awesome power when played. Consequently, the toms sound very full-bodied and the bass drum offers a devastating low-end response. In order to complete this set, a new 'lite' (16-velocity layers) Yamaha Bamboo snare is included. Its crack and strong tone make it very easy to place in a mix.

Feature highlights include :

• Low-cost expansion kit for BFD2 featuring Yamaha Oak Custom Kick and Toms
• Yamaha Bamboo Snare
• Kick recorded with 2 beater types
• Toms recorded with sticks, mallets, brushes, hotrods
• Bonus samples of the drum cases!

BFD Oak Custom Expansion Kit is a download only product and is available now from the FXpansion web shop. BFD Oak Custom is priced a £25/€35/$50 for all registered BFD2 owners.

Line 6 has announced the release of POD Farm v1.1 (the associated device drivers for all supported devices have also been updated - Win: v3.4.3.6 / Mac: v4.1.0).


Changes :

• Various USB unplug issues with Line 6 hardware - FIXED.
• Loading POD Farm iLok in 64-bit Steinberg DAWs causes VST Bridge Crash - FIXED.
• Model drag & drop not functioning in 64-bit Steinberg applications - FIXED.
• Host Sync button sometimes doesn't properly save within DAW - FIXED.
• Model Sync button sometimes doesn't properly save within DAW - FIXED.
• Speed knob does not affect Random Sample & Hold model - FIXED.
• Input/Output gain knob settings not saved within DAW - FIXED.
• POD Farm settings saved in DAWs reset to "Default" tone when no dongle is detect ...

Blue Cat Audio has released a new version of Blue Cat's Dynamics, its all-in-one dynamics processing plugin for Mac and PC.

What's new in 3.0 :

- Mac VST support.
- Mac Audio Unit support.
- Mid/Side processing capability.
- New stereo linking options.
- Enable/disable processing on each channel.
- Customize the range of the meters and zoom/navigate in the display.
- Automation output can now be disabled for hosts that do not propose automated parameters choice.
- Improved accuracy of MIDI output.
- New Presets.
- New installer (much faster install, improved upgrades).
- Brand new documentation.

Pricing (limited time offers):
- Blue Cat's Dynamics: 95.20 EUR (instead of 119 EUR) or 127.20 (instead of $159)
- Blue Cat's Master Pack: 269.10 EUR (instead of 299 EUR) or $359.10 (instead of $399)

A special upgrade price is available for existing customers, and others can purchase the plugin with 20% discount (one month introduction offer). The plugin is available alone or within the Blue Cat's Master Pack bundle. The company also proposes promotions on all their plugins until the end of May, to celebrate the port of all their plugins to the Mac platform.

Discord by 9 Soundware is a set of instruments for the EXS24 sampler within Apple Logic Pro. The underlying theme of the sound set is ethereal cacophony. Made to create ambient tension, these sounds lead to the more extreme content of 666.

The instruments are based on 100 samples (28 loops, 54 one-shot events, and 18 hits). The source sounds for the samples include performed noise using found objects and electronics, an untuned cello, headphone feedback, guitar noise, voices, and outdoor ambiences. While these samples could be used on their own, Discord was designed for improvising one of a kind soundscapes. The instruments are intended for creating textural progressions in real time.

In addition to the 340 MB Discord.exs instrument which uses all 100 samples, included are 30 instruments which make extensive use of the modulation capabilities of the EXS24 mkII sampler. Among them are tempo synced instruments, free-form textural instruments, as well as impact instruments. Many are designed to be played primarily with the modulation and pitch bend wheels (and less so with the keys). As they lend themselves more to performance than step sequencing, a midi controller is highly recommended when using this sound set.

The 340 MB download includes 31 .EXS files and 100 WAV files (24-bit/44.1 kHz).

Discord is available now for $29.99 at :