Sugar Bytes has updated Artillery to version 2.1. This update includes several bug fixes/improvements and four new effects :

• Timestretch: Stretches your audio tracks and shrinks your editing time.
• PitchLooper: Pitchshifting combined with a looper.
• Scratch Looper: Scratching on highest level.
• Reverb HQ: High quality reverb algorithm at the usual low CPU charge.

On top of that, Sugar Bytes has also announced some "Christmas Special Deals" :

• Buy 3 - Pay 2 : When you purchase three Sugar Bytes products, the cheapest one is free.
• Unique cheaper : Sugar Bytes' Unique Synthesizer is now available for €99 / $129.
• Sugar Bundle cheaper : The Sugar Bundle is now available for €399 / $599.

Sennheiser is closing down Klein + Hummel.

According to a dutch website (cf. link below) most employes will be kept and their famous Studio Monitors will be released under the Neumann brand which is also own by Sennheiser.

MeldaProduction is preparing the Mac OS X version of their plug-ins and the first beta version has been released.

The beta version installer features not less than 37 plug-ins, some are even not yet released for Windows. It is designed for testing purposes and :

• it is not stable (probably, seems fine on Leopard in Cubase 4 and Reaper).
• it is not optimized.
• it is VST only (AU support is being worked on).
• it is Intel only (PowerPC support probably will not be added at all)
• it has no licence manager, so most of the plugins (except the free ones) will remain in demo mode and cannot be activated yet!
• The installer occasionally fails installing presets, in that case please try again (ideally after system restart). The plugins should be installed even in this case, there will be no presets though.

MeldaProduction would appreciate testing of these plugins, which will considerably speed up the development.

Cartec is a new British company that has stepped up to fight in the 'clone wars' with their version of the classic Pultec EQ. After a conversation at Olympic studios in London regarding their Pultecs and the noise/maintenance issues Liam Carter set out to build a no compromise alternative.

The Cartec EQP-1A features :

• All valve gain stage and valve power rectification
• Transformer balanced input and output (authentic hand-wound British Sowter models)
• Point-to-point wiring (no circuit boards inside) and hand assembled in England
• Sealed switches and control pots (military grade Grayhill and PEC models respectively)
• JJ ECC83s, ECC82 and United Electronic CV4005 rectifier valves
• 150mm deep aluminium chassis/engraved aluminium faceplate
• Custom made knobs by Davies molding (Manufacturer of the original Pultec knobs)

The Cartec EQP-1A is priced at £1955.

U-he presents ACE (Any Cable Everywhere), a new modular virtual synth.

According to u-he, ACE delivers top quality sound at a highly competitive price. The selection of modules and clear layout make ACE the ideal instrument for newcomers delving into the fascinating world of modular synthesis. The number of ways to connect modules together is practically infinite, and you will soon discover how much more fun it is to make your own sounds in ACE than in a non-modular synthesizer.

Details :

• ETA: early December 2009
• pricing: 69EUR (includes 19% VAT, ca. 85 USD net when bought from overseas)
• formats: VST on Windows, VST/AU/RTAS on MacOS X
• system requirments Mac: Apple Macintosh Computer running MacOS X 10.4+ on a G4 processor or newer, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• system requirments Win: VST2 compatible host software on a PC with SSE2 supporting processor, Intel Core 2 Duo or better recommended
• number of presets and such: tba
• fun factor: high !