The newest member of the Moog Etherwave Theremin family is also the newest member of their Controller family. The Etherwave Plus extends the Theremin's gestural playing technique to the world of analog synthesis and beyond. Control synthesizers and effects while playing the Theremin or use as a stand-alone CV (Control Voltage) controller.

The Etherwave Plus has all the great features and tone of the standard Etherwave theremin. The "Plus" makes it an ideal controller and performance instrument :

- Pitch & Volume CV Outputs - control a different CV parameter with each hand
- Gate Output - trigger envelopes and other events
- Pitch Preview/Headphone Output - with volume control, lets you hear your note before the audience does.
- Power LED - instant visual power status on dark stages

The CV outputs control signals are proportional to the pitch and volume of the Theremin's audio signal. Connect to the pitch and volume CV inputs of a Little Phatty, Voyager or other analog synthesizer for a completely new way to play your synth. These CV signals are not limited to pitch and volume control. Route them to any CV destination and create a new world of expression. Control anything from the cutoff frequency of a Moog Ladder Filter or the LFO Amount on a Moogerfooger Ring Modulator to the stereo panning on a Minimoog Voyager.

Arturia, the company behind such products as the Jupiter-8V or the Origin, announced the release of the Minimoog V 2.0.

New features :

- An advanced automation mode
- A revolutionary preset navigation system
- A new formant-analysis-based FX.
- Various improvements to the sound structure
- A fresh bunch of presets.

This upgrade will be free for all registered users.

Solid State Logic is proud to announce that the quality, precision and DSP driven power of SSL plug-ins is now available in new affordable Duende Expanded & Duende Studio Pack options.

There are three new options available :

- Duende Mini Expanded: Duende Mini (includes Channel Strip) + Bus Compressor + 16 to 32 Channel Upgrade.
- Duende Mini Studio Pack: Duende Mini (includes Channel Strip) + Bus Compressor + 16 to 32 Channel Upgrade + Drumstrip + Vocalstrip + X-EQ + X-Comp.
- Duende PCIe Studio Pack: Duende PCIe (includes Channel Strip & Stereo Buss compressor) + Drumstrip + Vocalstrip + X-EQ + X-Comp.

Duende Mini Expanded & Duende Studio Packs are available as of February 2009 via SSL Resellers.

Duende Mini Expanded - $1049
Duende Mini Studio Pack - $1749
Duende PCIe Studio Pack - $1399

Steinberg has also announced a remote controller application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch products.

Utilizing the iPhone and iPod Touch onboard WiFi capability to directly control Cubase 5, Cubase RC supports a large range of functions, including comprehensive transport control, Marker location, toggling of essential functions such as Metronome, Cycle Mode and many more. Cubase RC also controls the unique Cubase Arranger functionality, allowing iPhone and iPod Touch owners to play segments of a production live, display the song position and chain status and use the Jump control to skip to a predefined song section.

Cubase RC is based on the powerful Steinberg Kernel interface (SKI) technology for seamless integration into the Cubase software core. Cubase RC controls Cubase 5 running on both Mac OS X and Windows platforms.

Cubase RC will be available free of charge exclusively through the Apple iTunes Store from Q2 2009.

Muse Reseach unveils a low-cost portable virtual instrument player called The MuseBOX in booth 6729 at the Winter NAMM show. The MuseBOX is based on the same MuseMachine software technology that powers the company's RECEPTOR 2 line of virtual instrument players and features a solid state drive for storing both the OS and many plug-ins, a CF card slot for removable storage of additional plug-ins or smaller "ROMPLER" libraries, and an option for installing an internal hard drive for storing large sample libraries.

The hardware I/O features 1/4-inch stereo line outputs, a 1/4 inch input, stereo S/PDIF output, front panel headphone outputs, a VGA monitor output, MIDI input, and a 2-line LCD display and rotary encoder similar to its bigger brother, the RECEPTOR 2. Like the RECEPTOR 2 line of music instruments, The MuseBOX is both a highly efficient and ultra-stable way to run virtual instruments and effects.

The MuseBOX will retail well below $1000 US, and is expected to ship in late Q2 or early Q3 of this year.