Sugar Bytes has released the "perfect Guitar emulation". With Amps, Effects and different guitars. And the guitar player is included as well, represented by a step sequencer system which makes it easy to create the most impressing riffs and licks on the fly. Guitarist comes as standalone and VST/AU plugin for mac and pc.

Guitarist can be played live as well, with just two fingers you can combine chords and patterns easily. You can choose from factory chords or just create your own chords on the fingerboard. The Action Section allows you to tweak the sequence in realtime and apply timestretch, looper or other crazy effects. Guitar players, keyboarders, producers, Guitarist is the new solution when guitar tracks are needed.

Guitarist Full Version is priced at $249/€199.

Reaktor 5.5 is a free update available now for existing Reaktor 5 users. It includes number of interesting improvements.

New features :

• A complete overhaul of REAKTOR's interface delivers a new level in usability and improved workflow.
• Addition of two powerful new synthesis modes : Additive Synthesis and Modal Synthesis
• Fresh sounds and ensembles : now-included REAKTOR Electronic Instruments 1 and 2, and a new synth from the creators of MASSIVE - Lazerbass.
• Improvements made to the Structure editor and audio engine.
• Reworked documentation, with the Application Reference manual (400 pages) completely rewritten to reflect the latest improvements, updates and enhancements.

Pricing :

• Free update available now for existing Reaktor 5 users.
• 119 € for REAKTOR 2, 3 or 4 users
• 379 € for Full Version

SSL has just updated the Duende OS to v3.5.2. For more details, follow the link below and scroll down the page to see the vast list of updates and fixes :

TouchAble is an iPad app that lets you control Ableton Live.

Navigate around your live set with the touch of a finger, tweak Lives mixer, instruments and fx with full automapping and unlimited tracks & parameters. touchAble allows live users to walk away from their computer and perform live from anywhere within Wi-Fi range while keeping latency at a minimum.

Play your favourite synths with the unique double keyboard or record your rhythms with the 16 drum pads, including 5 velocity steps & octave selectors. Access the most important transport and clip functions without losing focus on your set and tweak the same set with two iPads with the unique Dual-User-Mode.

You need to adjust volume, launch a new clip and play a device? Don't worry - a smart and intuitive screen menu empowers the user to arrange and switch modules on the fly.


touchAble is available now for $13.99 from the iTunes App Store.

The Sonoris Parallel Equalizer (SPEQ) is a minimum phase parametric equalizer in VST, AU and RTAS format for Windows and Mac. The plug-in is suitable for mixing and especially mastering. It has fixed filter types on each band and band 2 to 6 are connected in parallel. The filters are build in a feedback/feedforward manner to provide cutting and boosting. Band 3 to 5 are constant-Q bells and 2 and 6 are shelves. Band 1 and 7 are low/high cuts and connected in series with the rest.

The main feature is that this eq is a lot more subtle and needs more work to set up right because there is some interaction between the bands. In normal series connected eq's the gains of two bands just add up but in a parallel eq it doesn't. The filters are parallel to each other as well as the unprocessed signal and this makes that if you have for example a low shelve boost and switch on a low freq bell boost too, it just doesn't do much more. You can't easily overdo things, but have to work harder to get it right. Also, the signal path is cleaner because the filters al work on the same input. The filters have correct gain up to Nyquist. The plug-in has a large graphical display that shows exactly what you get. The size of the plugin can be changed to your liking by dragging the lower right-hand corner.

Pricing : €199