McDSP is proud to present the new vintage Retro Pack plug-in line, originally styled and designed for the ultimate vintage audio vibe. The Retro Pack bundle includes the 4020 Retro EQ, the 4030 Retro Compressor and the 4040 Retro Limiter.

The 4020 Retro EQ is a four-band EQ and complimentary filter set. The HF and LF bands are shelving EQ, with two additional parametric EQs at the HMF and LMF bands.

The 4030 Retro Compressor is a new dynamic range control topology coupled with a wet/dry mix control to balance compressed and uncompressed signals. An active attack and release design allows aggressive compression settings with minimal artifact generation.

The 4040 Retro Limiter combines a look-ahead brick wall limiter function with several subjective treatments to make the limiting action subtle, and yet vintage.

Shipping in Spring 2009, the Retro Pack HD Bundle will be available for $995, and the Native Bundle will be available for $495. Retro Pack will not be included in the Emerald Pack bundle. Emerald Pack HD 4.0 customers will be eligible to purchase Retro Pack HD for $695 and Emerald Pack Native 4.0 customers will be eligible to purchase Retro Pack Native for $295. The McDSP HD line supports TDM, RTAS and Audiosuite formats and the Native line supports RTAS and Audiosuite formats.

Bluezone is glad to announce the launching of a new Pack called "Tribal House". If you are looking for House and Tribal drumloops, this pack is made for you.

All of the loops are recorded in 136 bpm of high quality and are ready to be used. A mixture of slightly salty style and very refined sounds for those who enjoy this style. The pack is in WAV and AIFF with 128 drumloops and 232 drums: filtered loops, twisted percussion and dirty drums, which received a very precise mastering, are available in this volume.

Technical Specifications:
722 files in 176 MB
Data Royalty-Free

For more information, please visit the link below :

Alesis announces that the MasterControl audio interface and control surface is now shipping. MasterControl will be on display at the 2009 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif., January 15 — 18, 2009 at the Alesis booth, number 6400.

Features :

- FireWire connectivity: one cable carries all audio and control data
- DICE II chip with JetPLL technology for stable clock sync
- Up to 192 kHz (highest available) recording / playback capability
- Eight analog inputs, expandable up to 26 simultaneous
- Nine Touch-Sensitive, 100mm, motorized, capacitive Alps faders
- Eight assignable knobs, three banks each
- Two banks of eight assignable buttons, two banks each
- Dedicated transport controls with multifunction jog wheel
- Three pairs of independently assignable stereo outputs
- Dual, independently assignable stereo headphone outputs
- Flexible, direct monitor routing, assignable through any/all output pair(s)
- Dedicated talkback microphone with control surface or footswitch operation
- Steinberg Cubase LE included
- Ableton Live Lite included
- HUI+ Control Surface
- Compatible with all popular DAWs, virtual instruments, and other audio software

MasterControl is available from pro audio and musical instrument retailers. It has an MSRP of $1,299 and a street price of $899.99.

Synful has just updated Synful Orchestra to version 2.5.1. This new release includes a new French Horn.

The new Synful Orchestra 2.5 French Horn is an important step in the evolution of Synful's RPM technology. For most playing just set the Expression Brassiness control to a desired level and play in a normal style. Synful produces natural slurs, attacks, and varying note shapes automatically. Solo horn or sections from 2 to 16 players are easy - just turn the number of players knob. Like all Synful Orchestra instruments, when you play harmony in a section the players distribute themselves over the notes of the chord - automatic divisi. You can change continuously from a very dark sound to an extremely brassy sound. Realistic slurs, glisses, rips, trills, dramatic crescendi and dimuendi are simple and intuitive. The new French Horn is the first fully expressive instrument to use our second generation RPM Synful synthesis engine. The new French horn does not use Delay for Expression. Everything you play live is the final product. It is based on new 24 bit recordings which have been translated to a new generation additive synthesis format.

For more information and sound examples, please follow the ink below :

Leoné has released a Mac OS X version of MusicReader, an innovative software that makes reading music easy and convenient. The software offers solutions for all kinds of problems musicians have with (paper) sheet music, both individually and in orchestras and ensembles. This includes easy page turning, a convenient music library and flexible annotation making. It also anticipates on the developments of sheet music offered online. Digital sheet music can easily be converted to MusicReader and paper sheet music can also be digitized by using an easy to use scanning and conversion program.

There are two versions of MusicReader available, Solo Basic ($59) and Solo Pro ($99). MusicReader Solo Basic version contains the annotations, navigation and music conversion features. In Solo Pro also full screen and two page display, measure detection and tuner/metronome/music player are present. Note that an evaluation version is also available.