Puremagnetik has released Toybox, a collection of sounds captured from toys, gadgets and music education devices, all expertly programmed for Live, Kontakt and Logic. From squeaky plastic instruments to mini synthesizers and toy pianos, Toybox explodes with a variety of colorful sounds.

Toybox includes the following instruments :

- Lapharp - An organic 12 string plucked instrument.
- Synthjam - 6 instruments and an efx menu from toy synthesizers.
- Stylophone - Includes the "classic" Stylophone® sound as well as 2 new models.
- Junior Piano - A quirky toy piano with multi-velocity sensitivity and mechanical nuances.
- Toy Accordion - A small plastic accordion with a fun squeaky sound.
- Jamboree - Toy vibraphone with both "finger" and "plastic" variations.
- Melodica & Recorder - Legendary educational wind instruments.
- Astroblaster - A menu of laser gun sound effects.
- Drumrock - A lo-fi kit sourced from a toy drum synthesizer.

The Ableton Live version of Toybox comes with 14 multisampled instruments including 2 effect menus and a drum kit rack. Each sound has been carefully tailored with extensive Macro controls for easy editing and tweaking. Toybox for Kontakt comes complete with a customized KSP driven GUI for instant editing and effects processing. The Logic version includes 18 unique channel strip configurations for quick loading sonic exploration.

Pricing : Basic Monthly Subscription: $5.75/Month Basic Yearly Subscription: $60/Year All Access Pass - $198/Year.

The Vienna Symphonic Library team invites existing and future customers to celebrate the season with many special offers and new products. Promotions include free download instruments for users of the Vienna Special Editions, the Woodwind collections, the Brass collections, and the Vienna Konzerthaus Organ.

Special Offers :

- Free Fanfare Trumpets for Special Edition Users
- 15% Off on all Special Edition Extended Libraries
- New Download Instruments and Special Offer: Bassoon 2 and Trumpet in Bb
- Lower Prices for Keyboard Vienna Instruments
- Free Registers of the Vienna Konzerthaus Organ
- Free Jazz Drums for Vienna Suite Customers

The complete information can also be found online at :

E-MU Systems has announced a new white model of their 0404 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface.

This Limited white version shares the same feature with the original 0404 interface. It also comes with a new Vista-compatible version of E-MU's Production Tools Software Bundle.

Windows software bundle details :

- E-MU Proteus VX (with over 1000 sounds)
- Cakewalk Sonar 6 LE
- Steinberg Cubase LE4
- Celemony Melodyne essential
- Ableton Live Lite 6 E-MU Edition
- Waldorf Edition LE (PPG Wave 2.2, Attack, D-Pole)
- IK Multimedia AmpliTube Duo
- SFX Machine LT

Mac software bundle details :

- Steinberg Cubase LE4
- BIAS Peak Express 5
- Celemony Melodyne essential
- Ableton Live Lite 6 E-MU Edition
- Waldorf Edition LE (PPG Wave 2.2, Attack, D-Pole)
- IK Multimedia AmpliTube LE
- SFX Machine LT

The white 0404 USB 2.0 will ship December 2008 at an estimated street price of $219/€219.

Voxengo releases LF Max Punch, an audio effect plug-in for music and sounds where low-frequency thump and punch are most welcome, and where distortion is applied specifically to bring the bass sound to life.

LF Max Punch plug-in dynamically emphasizes selected bass frequency band, applies a smooth saturation over it, and produces additional sub-harmonic content, with the ability to blend it with the original bass band sound. Optional compression can then be applied to the resulting low-frequency sound. LF Max Punch first splits the broad-band signal into low- and high-frequency bands and then applies the aforementioned effects to the lower band only.

Features :

- Puncher module
- Saturator module (2 modes)
- Sub-harmonic synthesizer
- Built-in compressor
- Effect monitoring switch
- Multi-channel processing
- Internal channel routing
- Channel grouping
- Mid/side processing
- Up to 8x oversampling
- 64-bit floating point processing
- Preset manager
- Undo/redo history
- A/B comparisons
- Contextual hint messages

LF Max Punch is available now for Mac (VST / AU) and PC (VST) at an introductory price of $55.95. Upgrading from both previously available LF-Max and LF-Punch plug-ins costs $34.95 if they were purchased earlier than 90 days from now: otherwise upgrade is free during this grace period.

The new microKORG XL is coming, that's for sure now... but when ? Honestly we can tell and we don't know anything about the spec either...

We only have a picture and a couple of crappy videos...

We will probably have more news at the upcoming NAMM 2009. Stay tuned til then !