Compact and exceedingly easy to use, the Cherry Picker is a 'straight wire' passive switcher that features a balanced mic input with four outputs.

Front panel 'radio-style' selector switches enable the engineer to select the active preamp while the Cherry Picker automatically shuts off the others. Audio signal switching is actually performed using military-grade gold contact sealed relays. This ensures the signal will be transferred from input to output without introducing distortion, coloration or artifact of any kind.

KV331 Audio releases Nori Ubukata's "Sounds of the World", a new preset expansion bank for their SynthMaster 2.5 software synthesizer.

The new bank features 62 MBs of sampled ethnic instruments, in SFZ multi-sample format. Nori Ubukata sampled the following instruments to create this bank:

- Bowed Sarod
- Can Drums.
- Manjeera.
- Ragdan.
- Rattles.
- Santoor.
- Sarod Loops/Phrase.
- Shaku-hachi.
- Shaku-hachi Loops/Phrases.

Registered users of SynthMaster can purchase and download this bank for $15.

EarMaster just released the 6th version of its ear training software EarMaster Pro 6.
The new version adds hundreds of new features to the program, as well as brand new activities such as real-time sight-singing exercises and singing back melodies by ear.

Here are some of the major new features of EarMaster Pro 6:
- New activity: Melodic Sight-Singing
- New activity: Melody Imitation
- Over 2000 new lessons
- New streamlined interface
- New notation engine featuring 2 types of notation: standard and jazz (Real Book style)
- New vocal range setting that adapts the lessons to the user's vocal range

EarMaster Pro 6 will ship for US$59.95. Current users of EarMaster Pro 5 are offered the possibility to upgrade to the new version 6 for half the price of a straight full version.

Florida based Holderness Media introduces Echo Pad for iOS devices, which is described as a realtime effects processor featuring a unique delay engine + sound on sound looper controlled by a multi-touch XY interface.

Echo Pad is great for live electronic performers and creative sampling, process live audio using the device's built in microphone or external USB audio interface for. Echo Pad is a Universal app that supports sharing via AudioCopy/Paste, Export to Audioshare and more.

Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH announced today that it is establishing an R&D center in London, United Kingdom, to focus on developing software for the music notation and education markets.

Marketing director at Steinberg, Frank Simmerlein, comments: "Steinberg has a good standing in both the education and composing markets, but we've always believed that these markets and its customers deserve the best support we can give. Therefore we are more than delighted to have found the perfect team of extremely talented and experienced individuals to make this possible in the foreseeable future."