Ueberschall unveils Urbanic II, the follow-up to their well known Urbanic collection. This massive release includes 30 Construction Kits providing 3.8 GB of full-range HipHop music as well as surrounding styles such as Crunk R&B and Dancehall.

All Construction Kits are filled with samples, beats, guitars, basslines, synths, pads, fx sounds and a whole bunch of drum- and Percussion-sounds. Every sample on Urbanic II is labeled with BPM information and root key (key signatures). Furthermore, every kit contains 3 sub-kits and a drum-shots folder, material is organized as follows :

• Main Kit - Includes the main theme, sounds and phrases
• Variation Kit - Provides an alternative track and phrases which are used to add contrast to the main theme
• Intro/Outro Kit - Here you can find the matching intro/outro track for the overall kit, along with it's individual parts
• Drum Shots - The single-shots are centralized in this folder, making it easy to find all percussive sounds used to make the kit.

This structure makes it easy to select the correct vibe needed for your track. Plus the integrated Elastik player allows you to fit the samples to your individual needs. The Content is geared toward Urban Music producers looking for authentic club sounds.

Urbanic II was made from well-established music industry professionals: Beneluxus, Drastic and Marc Steinmeier. This team has worked produced and remixed for well known artists such as, LL Cool J, Bootsy Collins, Alica Keys, DJ Tomekk and Eminem to name but a few.

Urbanic II is available now for Mac OS X and Windows in VST, AU and RTAS formats at a retail price of €99.

MOTU announces that BPM version 1.01 is now available as a free, downloadable update for all registered BPM users. This is not just a "maintenance update". Version 1.01 is loaded with significant new features, including the ability create slices in audio files that don't have them yet, plus the ability to drag and drop slice loops onto a pad bank to automatically load loop slices into the pads.

In addition to many optimizations and enhancements "under the hood", here is a brief overview of the new features in BPM version 1.0.1 :

- Loading slice loops into banks : you can now drag & drop a slice loop onto a bank to automatically load individual slices onto the bank's 16 pads.
- Slicing loops : you can now create slices in audio files that do not yet have slices. Using new controls in BPM's Clip window, you can slice by transient or by beat grid, then save or even export the individual slices. You can also automatically slice loops when loading them into a rack part.
- Importing multiple samples : you can now drag & drop multiple samples to import them, either into separate pads or as layers onto a single pad.
- Pad templates : you can now load and save MIDI note mapping templates for BPM's sixteen pads. Factory templates for popular 3rd-party pad controllers are provided, including the Akai MPD16, Akai MPD32, KORG padKONTROL, and the M-Audio Trigger Finger.
- Mono sampling : BPMSampler is now available as both a mono and stereo plug-in, allowing you to sample external sources in either mono or stereo.
- Saving performances with samples : there is a new command that allows you to save an entire performance, together with all associated samples, to create a self-contained snapshot of everything in the performance.

SPL has announced the availability of the brand-new TDM versions for all their Analog Code plug-ins : TransientDesigner, TwinTube and EQ Ranger Series. All TDM installers contain the Native versions as well (RTAS, VST, AU).

SPL has also updated native versions to 1.0.3 which contains AudioSuite support for all plugins and minor fixes.

Wusik announces that it has licensed EVE (Electronic Vintage Ensemble) from Dash Signature / NUSofting and updated it to v2.5.1. This is a free update for all existing EVE owners.

Changes in v2.5.1 :

- Fixed: problem with message boxes freezing the host/sequencer.
- Added: Mac VST, double-click on any parameter will open MIDI-Learn (and/or Right-Click for the AU or Windows version).
- Changed: no more multiple messages when loading a preset which has missing sounds. - Only the last error message will be showed in the GUI/Editor.
- Fixed: Demo version, expiring message will no longer popup and free the host/sequencer. It will show in the GUI/Editor only.
- Fixed: missing sounds from the sounds popup-listing (WusikSND files only).

Changes in v2.5.0 :

- Added: New permanent preset browser at the right area. Plus, Up and Down buttons for easier selection of presets with the mouse.
- Added: Mouse Middle-Button click and drag does fine-tuning of any parameter. The same for Left-Click while holding the Shift key.
- Plus some minor GUI improvements and a few small internal bugs were fixed too.

EVE is available for Windows and Mac OS X in VST and AU plug-in formats and costs $99.95. New EVE orders also now include the Mellotronix sound library.

Note for the MAC version. In some hosts, you may need to Right-Click, hold and click with the Left button, in order to open the MIDI-Learn option.

This great actor of the sound synthesis scene has just passed away on February 28, he was just turning 51.

He was mainly active on the Camel Audio website where he was a main player of the sound design of the production. A memorial of him is online here :