Universal Audio today announced that the UAD-2 SOLO, a compact ExpressCard-based DSP Accelerator, is now shipping worldwide.

The new SOLO/Laptop DSP card brings Universal Audio's world-class analog emulations–authenticated by Neve®, Roland®, SPL®, Moog®, and more–to laptop DAW users. The UAD-2 Solo/Laptop enables large, professional mixes on laptop DAWs without the need for cabling or power supply. It includes studio staples like UA's 1176SE Compressor/Limiter, Pultec EQP-1A Equalizer, RealVerb Pro Room Modeler, and CS-1 Channel Strip, and offers access to the entire Powered Plug-In library.

Like all UAD-2 hardware, the SOLO/Laptop supports VST, AU and RTAS plug-in formats on both Mac and PC.

The UAD-2 SOLO carries a MAP price of $499US.

D16 Group has announced that Nithonat has been released for Windows and Mac OS X in VST and AU plug-in formats and is now available for purchase for €79. The final release version includes an updated GUI and a revised feature list since the original announcement.

Nithonat is a fully synthesized drum machine based on the classic Roland TR-606. The unique sound of this machine has been used by many artists over the years in the production of Electro, Hip-Hop, R'n'B, etc... Nithonat emulates the original 606, however, since Nithonat is software based, D16 were able to enhance the original with extra functionality.

Features :

• Fully synthesized drum sounds.
• Additional parameters to get yet more control over the sound.
• Many ways of controlling the device :
  ...

Toontrack Music is proud to announce a major update of Toontrack Solo, the Toontrack host software for Toontrack drum plug-ins.

Toontrack solo 1.2 boosts significantly the versatility of Toontrack's standalone host, offering long time requested features and then some :

• Graphical interface has been rebuilt, main drummer is treated as any other.
• Re-organization of the application menus for a cleaner, more OS compliant experience.
• Convenience toolbar for common application components and EZplayer.
• New Master mute button to supplement existing shortcut.
• New metronome feature, with time signature setting and volume control.
• Support for multiple MIDI interfaces and ports (to be used at the same time).
• Support for MME audio drivers on PC.

Toontrack solo 1.2 also introduces support for Rockband® and Guitar Hero® drum controllers, expanding further the appeal of the award winning range of Toontrack products.

The first Snyderphonics product is the Manta, a touch-sensitive interface for controlling music or video. Each sensor in the hexagonal array knows exactly how much surface area your finger is covering, and this data can be routed to any audio or video parameter you choose.

Features :

• 48 touch sensors in a 6 X 8 hexagonal array - each sensor can independently send both continuous control data and note-on/off events with velocity sensitivity simultaneously
• 2 assignable touch sliders
• 4 assignable touch-sensing function buttons with LED feedback - can be either momentary or latching
• USB device, showing up as a HID (Human Interface Device) to the operating system, and therefore will operate on Mac OS X, Windows (XP or Vista) and Linux without special dri ...

Spectrasonics has released an updated version of Stylus RMX. Version 1.8.2d includes the following fixes :

• Loading a MIDI learn template now clears current assignments.
• Improved timing precision in RTAS version when using very large audio buffer sizes.
• Changed Time Designer templates so they have an effect when non-Main edit group selected.
• Improved graphics performance with some video cards.
• Fixed Flame Distortion in 64 bit version of plug-in.

This is a free update for all registered users.