It's been 70 years since the original Shure model 55SH Series II Unidyne Microphone debuted in 1939. Now, the model once advertised as 'The Microphone That Needs No Name' is getting an upgrade. Shure has taken the iconic 55SH body that has been in production since 1951, dropped in a new supercardioid motor, and added some vibrant blue color. The resulting hot rod has the same retro-cool look as the original when parked on a mic stand but with a contemporary upgrade in performance. Its name is the Super 55 Deluxe Vocal Microphone.

Features :

• Modern Sound : Tailored frequency response for natural vocals and speech
• High Output : Neodymium magnet and output transformer for increased sensitivity
• Vintage Design : Iconic chrome-plated design with vibrant blue color additions
• Supercardioid Polar Pattern : High gain-before feedback and excellent off-axis rejection
• Internal Shock Mount : Minimizes handling/stage noise and ensures quiet operation
• Rugged Die-Cast Chrome Casing : Reliable under rigorous conditions

The Super 55 Deluxe Vocal Microphone is now shipping for $249 and carries a two-year limited warranty. Note that the current 55SH Series II model will continue to be available at a price of $179.

Imagine, if you will, being able to sit in on a major recording session with Alan Parsons. What do producers do ? And, specifically, what does producer Alan Parsons do ? In a phrase, he makes sounds and parts sound like a record.

Alan Parsons' Art & Science Of Sound Recording is a top-to-toe, soup-to-nuts examination of the sound recording process. The program covers everything from dealing with room acoustics to creating timed delays. From demo loop to iTunes.

This set of 3 DVDs will be available next month with an MSRP TBA.

GotharMusic has announced the release the Gotharman's deMOON, an affordable 4 note polyphonic filterbank synthesizer with build-in granulator and distortion effects, step-sequencer and note randomizer.

Features :

• 4 voices with each 1 oscillator or 1 voice with 4 oscillators in unison mode.
• Oscillators has continuously variable and modulatable waveforms.
• 4 resonant multimode filters (lpf/bpf/hpf) that are separately programmable and each can be parallel or serial connected to each other.
• Distortion effect with 5 different types.
• Granulator effect build in.
• 4 LFOs with continuously variable and modulatable waveforms.
• 2 envelopes.
• Note randomizer.
• 32-step step sequencer.
• Most parameters can be controlled by a midi-controller.
• Small and compact.
• Memory: 128 sounds and sequences.
• Output: 16-bit delta-sigma with 256x oversampling.

The Gotharman's deMOON is available for a fee of €250. For more information, please follow the link below :

Heartbeat by 9 Soundware is an instrument in EXS24 format. The sound set was constructed from samples of human heartbeat recordings, which were enhanced for drum-like punch. The percussive instrument features sounds of pulses resembling kick drums, as well as other internal organ activity.

The instrument is based on 224 samples. They were captured using an electronic stethoscope, which is more sensitive and capable of capturing quieter sounds compared to acoustic stethoscopes. In addition to heartbeats, which can augment or be used as an alternative to kick drums, also included are samples of the abdomen and a wide variety of sounds created by manipulating the stethoscope.

Heartbeat includes 224 samples, which are arranged by velocity (1 to 19 levels), and mapped across an 8 octave range in an EXS24 instrument.

The 24 MB download includes 1 .EXS file and 402 WAV files (24-bit/44.1 kHz).

Heartbeat is available now for $29.99 at :

Tube Amp received a major update and now supports most user interface features latest Voxengo plug-ins offer : multi-channel support, routing matrix, mid/side processing, channel grouping, and others.  Beside that, the tube overdrive algorithm itself has been improved.  Tube Amp now features a built-in output soft-knee limiter which can be used as a loudness maximizer.

Tube Amp is an audio effect plug-in that applies asymmetric tube triode overdrive usually found in single-tube microphone pre-amp boxes.  The sound this plug-in produces varies from a mild "warm" overdrive to a fuzzy distortion.  Beside that, Tube Amp includes a -6 dB/oct low-pass filter that is built-in into plug-in's valve modeling equation, and can be used to imitate a lower-quality tube triode.

Icing on the cake, Tube Amp is available for free for both Mac (AU/VST) and PC (VST).