Waves Audio introduces the Waves Rental Plan, a new, easy way to access selected Waves bundles on a short-term basis.

With the Waves Rental Plan, users can now rent selected Waves bundles for the week, for the month, or for however long their project takes. Customers can visit the Waves online store or contact their local dealer to rent Waves bundles immediately. Dealers must log into the Waves VSSD, select "Rentals" and choose the appropriate bundle.

SPL unveils a new design for their channel strips Track One and Channel One.

The new design features include a horizontally brushed aluminium front panel with the controls seated into new smooth milled rounded openings, the brushed aluminium also has the practical advantage of retaining its classic look for longer as it will repel marks such as finger prints. The control knobs are sculpted from massive aluminium giving them a quality look along with much improved haptics.

Note that technically nothing has changed and the recommended retail prices remain unchanged, too :

• Track One - €699
• Channel One - €1099

Rob Papen is one of the world's leading sound designers. He started off with a number one hit in Benelux aged just 18 and has subsequently created patches for the Access Virus and EMU.

Now Rob has a whole range of software instruments which are used by some of the biggest names in contemporary music production, including Armin Van Buuren, Junkie XL and Teddy Riley to name but a few. They are truly unique because of the concepts, sound quality and most of all, the musical and usable nature of the presets. Rob Papen's very first virtual instrument 'Albino' was released in 2002 and quickly became a massive hit with many leading producers.

Since then, other award winning virtual synths have been added to the Rob Papen line including 'Blue', 'Predator', 'RG' and most recently, 'SubBoomBas ...

Voxengo has just updated its bass enhancer plug-in LF Max Punch to version 1.1.

Changes :

• Crossover filter steepness parameter added.
• "Radial" knob mode can be now disabled completely.
• "Off-Line Render" indication added.
• Global level metering parameters added.
• Knob read-outs now require a single click for keyboard entry.
• Occasional crashes in WaveLab and other hosts fixed.
• Host sample rate switch-related problem fixed.
• Minor visual improvements implemented.
• Plug-in initial loading time reduced.

This update is free for all registered users.

LF Max Punch is available for both Mac OS X and Windows in VST and AU formats at a price of $69.95.

Focusrite proudly launches the new Saffire PRO 24 DSP, a 16 Input / 8 Output FireWire audio interface that features VRM, a breakthrough monitoring technology, in addition to real-time DSP-powered tracking plug-ins, all tailor-made for the modern recording environment.

Alongside DSP-powered Compression and EQ for latency-free tracking, there's also a 'Comfort' Reverb and Focusrite's patented VRM – Virtual Reference Monitoring – technology that lets you hear your mix in different acoustic environments, through different speakers and from different positions – all just using standard monitoring headphones

All DSP-based signal processing and effects are derived from the 'Focusrite Plug-in Suite' (also included as VST/AU plug-ins) and are integrated within the Saffire Mix Control software ...