Tascam has announced the DP-008, an 8-track Digital Portastudio small enough to fit into a guitar case.

Based on the DP-004, the DP-008 adds four more tracks for a total of eight tracks with built-in mixing. The DP-008 has dedicated knobs for volume and pan for each track, plus a reverb send knob for the built-in reverb effect. The DP-008 has two XLR microphone inputs with phantom power, a guitar level input and even built-in stereo mics so you're ready to record anything. Tracks are mixed down to a dedicated stereo track and EQ is available on each track, but the Portastudio interface keeps it simple to use. It records to SD Card media, and a 2GB card is included with the unit.

The DP-008 will be available in October with an estimated street price of $299.

Mytek Digital, manufacturer of high end mastering audio converters announced a brand new Stereo 192 DAC, top performance 192k PCM and DSD Digital to Analog Converter. The new DAC features USB and Firewire, as well as standard AES, SPDIF and Toslink inputs, capable of handling stereo PCM playback of up to 24 bit 192k as well as playback of DSD files with absolute state of the art accuracy and transparency.

Numerous features include: high end headphone amplifier, precision volume control with memory (separate for phones and main output), selectable upsampling to 192k and optional remote control.

The DAC will be available in Q1 2010, in both industrial and hi-fi 1/3 rack highly portable enclosure, at Mytek dealers worldwide. It's priced at $1595 for industrial version and $1695 for black or silver Hi-Fi version with RCA outputs.

Waves makes vocal processing easier than it's ever been with their upcoming Vocal Rider plug-in. The name says it all - Vocal Rider is designed to match your vocal tracks to the rest of the mix and then keep the relative volume throughout the song. All you do is instantiate it on your vocal track, bus a summed instrumental mix to the side-chain, and hit play. The plug-in fader then takes over, keeping the relative volume of the vocals and the rest of the mix constant. And, unlike compression, Vocal Rider doesn't crush the dynamic range or color the vocal track at all.

Features :

• Intelligent adjustment of the vocal track based on the dynamics of the music
• Saves time doing the kind of automation you would have to do manually
• Writes automatic volume riding to the track as automation for fine tuning

More details will be available soon at :

Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Inc. ("BIAS") today debuted PitchCraft EZ, a new pitch correction and special effects tool. As a plug-in for popular audio host applications on Mac and Windows computing platforms, PitchCraft EZ is both easy to use and highly effective.

"Super-natural" sonic quality with ease
BIAS first developed advanced pitch correction and modification technologies for their Master Perfection Suite — a professional plug-in suite for Mac and PC that includes PitchCraft (also available in the company's flagship Peak Pro XT audio editing, processing, mastering, and delivery software application exclusive for Mac). Using essential algorithms from PitchCraft, PitchCraft EZ offers many core features while focusing on ease of use and quick, pro-quality results. The pitch, transposition, and formant preservation DSP algorithms employed ensure natural-sounding, pitch-correction and transposition, while offering additional options not found in other low-priced solutions.

IZotope, Inc. has announced plans to release a new line of Digidesign Pro Tools TDM plug-ins starting with their IRC Limiter in early 2010.

"We are committed to making our professional audio tools and effects available to users in all different environments," explained Jeremy Todd, CTO of iZotope, Inc. "Support for Pro Tools TDM systems is an important step to achieving this goal."

iZotope's first offering will include their IRC Loudness Maximizer featuring the transparent "Intelligent II" mode for exceptional handling of transients. Designed specifically for studio, post and live performance applications, this powerful tool allows users to prevent clipping while dramatically lifting the perceived overall audio level.

iZotope plans to follow-up this release with advanced EQ and multiband dynamics effect plug-ins. These releases expand iZotope's Pro Audio line which already includes the ANR-B adaptive noise reduction hardware unit and RX Advanced.