Moog Music and reKon audio have announced the release of the VST Little Phatty Editor,

Created by reKon audio, the VST Little Phatty Editor is a VSTi format software application that provides full control and editing of Little Phatty presets and performance controls via MIDI from within your VST compatible host application. This allows total management of custom sounds directly within the user's sequencing and music production environment. The following actions are supported :

• Full editing of all Little Phatty preset parameters via MIDI CC messages
• Automation of all LP parameters in real time through the VST host application
• Save/Load presets to and from the Little Phatty
• Presets can be saved in VST Editor format

VST Little Phatty Editor is available for Windows and Mac OS X in the VST instrument plug-in format. It is available directly from Moog Music for $69.

Ableton has updated Live 8 and Ableton Suite 8 to version 8.0.8.

Improvements since v8.0.5 :

• Updated manuals.
• Updated Help Pages.
• Control Surface support for Novation Launchpad.
• Several improvements for the AxiomPro Controllers.
• Several bug fixes

Ring by 9 Soundware is a collection of presets for the RingShifter ring modulator/frequency shifter within Apple Logic Pro. These settings explore the audio morphing capabilities of the unique plug-in, which combines the two effects.

The sound set consists of 35 presets in Frequency Shifter mode and 15 in Ring Modulator mode. Examples include settings which add delay-based rhythmic layers to drum grooves (e.g., Drum Ricochet 1.pst), generate tempo synced modulations (e.g., Automation Surprise.pst and Space Cake.pst), radically reshape harmonic structures (e.g., Anti-Tune.pst and Fiend.pst), as well as those which maintain tonality of the input signal (e.g., Daguerreotype.pst and Sun Dance.pst).

The 0.2 MB download includes 50 .pst files.

Ring is available now for $14.99.

This year at AES in New York Avenson Audio introduces two new half rack space processors, the Mid-Side and the Blend.

The Mid-Side allows conversion of stereo Left-Right into M-S and back. There is a width control to balance the M vs S as well as a dedicated variable high pass filter for the Side channel.

Blend is a stereo two channel mixer designed for stem mixing or parallel processing. It features a 100mm fader for fine blend control and stereo sixteen segment LED metering.

Pricing and availability TBA.

Akai Professional announces that its MPD18 portable padcontroller is now shipping to retailers.

The MPD18 is the smallest-sized model in Akai's line of MPD MIDI-over-USB pad controllers. The heart of the MPD18 is its bank of 16 velocity and pressure-sensitive genuine MPC pads, an Akai Professional exclusive. Users can access three different banks of sounds from the pads for a total of 48 sounds at once. The MPD18 also borrows the MPC series' assignable Q-Link controllers, enabling users to control nearly any parameters in their software in real time on an assignable Q-Link fader and an assignable Q-Link button.

Users will find the MPD18 to be convenient, sending MIDI information over its plug-and-play USB interface for use with Mac or PC without installing any drivers. The USB connection also powers the MPD18 so musicians can use the controller with no power supply. The MPD18 can control nearly any MIDI software, as well as MIDI hardware, such as synths, sound modules, samplers, sequencers, drum machines and more.

The MPD18 is available from musical instrument and professional audio retailers and has a U.S. Retail Price of $199.00 with an estimated street price of $99.00.