After more than three years of development, Vir2 Instruments presents Electri6ity, an epic electric guitar virtual instrument containing "the most advanced, detailed, and versatile collection of electric guitars ever made in a virtual instrument".

Waves Audio has announced the upcoming release of its groundbreaking SoundGrid technology. SoundGrid gives users the ability to run large numbers of Waves' plug-ins using standard PCs via Ethernet. SoundGrid offers super low latency performance, which means users can take advantage of even more audio processors and CPU-intensive processors than ever before.

SoundGrid Key Benefits:

• Provides low latency platform for running Waves plug-ins
• Uses standard, off-the-shelf components: computers, switches, servers, Ethernet cables, etc.
• Integration with analog and digital mixing consoles
• Provides a complete Redundancy & Recovery system
• Upcoming SoundGrid versions will implement recording capabilities

Brainworx has announced that Public Beta versions of bx_control V2 are now available for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU, RTAS and TDM plug-in formats.

bx_control V2 contains an all new and improved M/S matrix, stereo enhancer with mono maker, and it is a great control listening tool. Chain any other stereo plug-in into the Brainworx M/S matrix, or use bx_control V2 to check your mixes and speakers.

New features include:

• Individual panning for M & S (pan vocals and guitars/keys in final mixes).
• New dynamic range metering within the LED section.
• Solo in place for all solo modes.

bx_control V2 will be €99 (native) and €149 (TDM incl. VENUE), plus VAT if applicable. Brainworx will have a 25% introductory discount in February. Sales start Feb 1st. The upgrades for existing V1 users will be €49 (Native or TDM). The 25% discount in February will also be valid for all upgrades. They will accept all DIGIDESIGN MASSIVE PACK 8 customers for upgrades.

ART has unveiled the TubeOpto 8, an eight channels Mic PreAmp with ADAT.

Features :

• Eight Fully Featured Class-A Tube Mic Preamps
• Eight Channels of ADAT lite-pipe Digital 24 Bit Audio I/O at 44.1 or 48kHz
• Input Gain and Output Level Controls on Every Channel
• Input Pad, Phase flip and Low Frequency Roll Off Switches on Every Channel
• Two Additional Front Mounted High Impedance Instrument Line Inputs
• Eight 1/4-inch TRS Balanced Outputs

Pricing and availability TBA.

MOTU has announced a major upgrade to Ethno Instrument, their popular world/ethnic virtual instrument software for Mac OS X and Windows 7/Vista. The Version 2 upgrade more than doubles the size of Ethno's included sound library of instruments, loops and phrases. Significant new features have also been added, including preset searching, microtonal scales, state-of-the-art time stretching, and much more.

EI 2 includes new sounds from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Balkans, the British Isles, Latin America, Australia, and many other locations around the globe. Featured sounds include taiko drums, large African drums, thirty new instruments from India, hundreds of urban India loops (in the style of Slumdog Millionaire), Balkanish voices, Arabic voices, Persian voices, an extensive new collection ...