WHAT'S NEW

Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

           

M-Audio IE Series

M-Audio (www.m-audio.com) is shipping the IE series of in-ear reference monitors, which comprises three models designed for audio professionals. Designed in cooperation with Ultimate Ears, maker of high-end custom-fitted earphones, the IE-10 ($129), IE-20XB ($249), and IE-30 ($299) each have a lightweight polycarbonate housing and a detachable and replaceable 46-inch cable. All three models include a universal-fit kit with an assortment of silicone and foam ear tips for optimal isolation and comfort. Hanging loops hook over and behind the ears to minimize snags.

Designed for live and mobile monitoring, the IE-10 is a single-driver model with -26 dB of isolation. It includes a soft travel pouch and a cleaning tool. The IE-20XB has extended bass response and -16 dB of isolation. Its dual-bore design, along with a high-frequency armature driver and low-frequency dynamic driver, delivers highs and lows through separate canals. Another dual-bore model, the top-of-the-line IE-30, has high- and low-frequency armature drivers and -26 dB of isolation. The IE-20XB and IE-30 come with a cleaning tool, an in-line attenuator, and a gold-plated ⅛-to-¼-inch adapter.

Roland VG-99

Roland (www.rolandus.com) has rolled out the latest incarnation of its V-Guitar system, the VG-99 ($1,399). Featuring two COSM-based processors and a collection of expressive performance controllers, the VG-99 lets you dynamically switch, layer, and combine guitar and amp models. The rackmountable tabletop unit modifies your guitar's sound to emulate electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, synths, amps, and effects. With two modeling engines, you can simultaneously layer two virtual guitars and amps with your real guitar and switch between them using foot controllers, buttons and knobs, or even your picking dynamics. You can instantly call up alternate tunings that you've saved, and a new Freeze feature sustains notes and chords indefinitely.

The VG-99 requires a guitar outfitted with the optional Roland GK-3 pickup ($199) or another hexaphonic pickup. You can use the unit's built-in guitar-to-MIDI converter to control MIDI hardware and software instruments. The VG-99's dual GT-Pro-class processors offer an array of effects, such as reverb, flanger, delay, and pitch-shift. USB connectivity lets you send audio directly to your computer and use the included editing software for Mac and Windows. The VG-99 has twin D Beams, a ribbon controller, and S/PDIF, XLR, and ¼-inch outputs.

Alien Connections ReValver Mk II

ReValver Mk II (Mac/Win, $219.92) is a unique guitar amp, cabinet, and effects simulator from Alien Connections (www.alienconnections.com). It runs standalone or as a plug-in for AU and VST hosts. ReValver supplies a virtual rack with more than 60 modules that you can configure in any order. Its amp simulation goes beyond other software by furnishing virtual tubes, transistors, resistors, capacitors, and other components, essentially allowing you to design your own amplifier. All the knobs, faders, and buttons are MIDI controllable in the standalone version, and most parameters respond to sequencer automation.

ReValver's selection of amp modules ranges from virtual Fender, Vox, and Marshall heads to home-brewed electronics and various preamps and power amps. You can build your own virtual cabinet by selecting a convolution speaker simulation preset or by using ReValver's Speaker Construction Set, which lets you specify cabinet dimensions, type and number of speakers, and microphone parameters. Fifteen stompboxes supply everything from overdrives and compressors to multitap delays and automatic wah. Additional effects include 8-band parametric EQ, a stereo widener, and even a module that hosts third-party VST plug-ins. You also get tuners, frequency analyzers, signal splitters, an oscilloscope, and other virtual tools.

Mackie Tracktion 3

Mackie (www.mackie.com) has released an upgrade to its digital audio sequencer that introduces more than 150 new features and improvements. Tracktion 3 (Mac/Win) is available in two versions: the Project Bundle ($129.99) and the Ultimate Bundle ($319.99). New features include pitch-shifting, time-stretching, and a loop browser that supports Acid, Apple Loops, and REX formats. You can organize loops by instrument, genre, key, and descriptor, and search for them using keywords. Additional enhancements include Folder Tracks, Marker Tracks, Collection Clips, VCA filters, and user-creatable templates. You also get a streamlined MIDI editor and expanded control-surface and multicore-processor support.

Both bundles contain the same full version of Tracktion 3 with a complete suite of mixing and mastering tools. The Project Bundle comes with a collection of software instruments such as CronoX 3 Lite, SampleTank 2 SE, DrumCore TK Diet, and GPO Lite, as well as the Sonic Reality T3 loops collection and the Tracktion 3 quick-start video. The Ultimate Bundle ups the ante with the full CronoX 3, twice as many SampleTank presets, an 820 MB GPO Lite library, 2 GB of DrumCore content, four times as many Sonic Reality loops, over four hours of Mastering Tracktion videos, and more. Previous Tracktion owners can upgrade to the Ultimate Bundle for $259.99.

Sound Advice

Soundware developer Bass VI (www.basssix.com) has just begun shipping its first product, a massive electric bass sample collection in EXS format. Anthony Jackson Contrabass Guitar Library ($400) comes on ten DVDs and takes 38 GB of hard-disk space to install entirely. Jackson, a renowned master of the 6-string bass, has recorded hits with the O'Jays, Paul Simon, Chick Corea, Steely Dan, Roberta Flack, and many, many others — more than 500 albums in all. The library captures the signature sound of his Fodera contrabass guitar, delivering multisamples of flat-picked, open-finger, and palm-muted variations, each with a choice of DI box or a miked speaker. Some presets let you use the mod wheel to switch string and fret positions in real time. Jackson performs numerous articulations, with up to five Velocity layers for each note, all the way down to the low B string. Anthony Jackson Contrabass Guitar Library will soon be available as a Tascam GVI instrument (Mac/Win, $425), so that no other sampler will be necessary.

From Sony Creative Software (www.sonycreativesoftware.com) comes Poptronica ($59.95), a 531 MB collection of loop construction kits that Sony describes as “mind-bending musical widgets and ingenious sonic tweakery.” Produced by Aaron Mellinger, creator of Electrocution and Aural E: Eclectic Electronica, the new collection provides a total of 15 Acid 6 projects in the avant-pop genre. With titles like “Flying Fantastic Fan,” “Superspy,” and “Slam You Off the Edge,” each project folder supplies plenty of synth leads and pads, bass, percussion, and other instrumental loops you can open in any program that imports Acidized WAV files. The CD-ROM also includes a copy of Sony's Acid Xpress 5 (Win).

Korg R3

New from Korg (www.korg.com), the R3 ($799) is an 8-voice synthesizer with an onboard vocoder and a 37-note, Velocity-sensing USB/MIDI keyboard. The R3 puts the Radias MMT (Multiple Modeling Technology) synthesis engine in a more affordable and portable package. Each of 128 onboard programs contains two timbres, a master effect, and an 8-step arpeggiator, and each timbre has two insert effects, 2-band EQ, and a modulation sequencer. LCDs show parameter names above each of five knobs, much as they do on the microKontrol and Kontrol49.

Each R3 voice has two oscillators, two multimode filters, three ADSR generators, and two LFOs. Six virtual patches let you connect 12 modulation sources with 15 destination parameters. The oscillators generate noise and analog-modeled waveforms, as well as DWGS (Digital Waveform Generator System) waves. The R3 further expands the timbral palette with waveshaping, cross-modulation, variable phase modulation (VPM), and more. One filter is switchable from 24 dB-per-octave lowpass to 12 dB-per-octave lowpass, bandpass, or highpass, with continuous morphing between responses, and the other offers an additional comb response.

The R3's 16-step, looping modulation sequencer can apply time-varying changes to almost any parameter, and motion recording can capture and replay real-time knob movements. The 16-band vocoder can record 7.5 seconds of Formant Motion data into each of 16 internal locations. The R3 comes with an XLR gooseneck microphone and a standalone editor-librarian (Mac/Win).

Apple Final Cut Studio 2

Apple (www.apple.com) has debuted Final Cut Studio 2 (Mac, $1,299), an upgrade to its comprehensive audio and video production suite. It comprises six programs for creating and editing media projects: Final Cut Pro 6, for editing virtually any video format; Soundtrack Pro 2, for editing and mixing stereo and multitrack audio; DVD Studio Pro 4, for DVD authoring and mastering; Motion 3, for creating three-dimensional animation that responds to sound; Compressor 3, for encoding in a variety of formats; and a new addition, Color, for color adjustment, grading, and finishing.

Soundtrack Pro 2 is the suite's audio postproduction application. Its streamlined user interface provides graphical tools for working in 5.1 surround, processing or mixing tracks, or doing audio restoration. A new spotting display lets you precisely align sound with picture. The integrated audio-conform process automatically adapts your audio project to match changes you make when editing picture and highlights the modified clips for your approval, without the need to build new and manually work through edit decision lists (EDLs). A surround panner gives you a visual representation of the sound field, and numerous surround plug-ins are included. Final Cut Studio 2 comes with a library of 5,000 sound effects, including more than 1,000 surround effects and multichannel music tracks.

Big Fish Audio Drums Overkill

Big Fish Audio (www.bigfishaudio.com) is shipping Drums Overkill (Mac/Win, $299.95), a Kontakt Player 2-based instrument paired with more than 2.6 GB of content. The collection divides hundreds of kits into ten categories ranging from Analog Syn Percussion to Mixed Dance Effects. The Percussion category includes talking drums, mouth percussion, whistles, and loads of instruments from around the world. The Drum Machines & Rhythm Boxes category features analog and digital beatboxes from days gone by; alongside classics like the Roland TR808 and Maestro Rhythm King, you also get vintage electronic drums such as the Korg Wavedrum, the Simmons SDS-7, and even the Mattel Synsonics. Banks of individual drum hits deliver hundreds of snares, kicks, toms, cymbals, and more.

Because it's built on the Kontakt Player 2 platform, Drums Overkill runs standalone or as a plug-in for AU, DXi, RTAS, and VST hosts. A second DVD provides the same content in WAV format, along with read-to-play instruments for Native Instruments Kontakt, Apple Logic EXS24, Steinberg HALion, and Propellerhead Reason. All told, the collection gives you about 1,200 kits in 16 musical styles.

Zplane Vielklang

Berlin-based software developer Zplane (www.zplane.de) is shipping an innovative audio-harmonization plug-in called Vielklang (Mac/Win, $249). The AU- and VST-compatible processor can generate four voices from a mono source with a minimum of formant-shifting artifacts. Chord-progression and voice-leading models control the synthesized voices, resulting in musically intelligent harmonization with little or no user configuration. Beginning with a melodic phrase, Vielklang can automatically generate natural-sounding, harmonically correct vocal and brass sections, for example.

Vielklang opens in your host program as an instrument plug-in. When you load an audio file, Vielklang automatically provides a piano-roll display of the harmonized output and allows you to control each voice's audio properties. You have the option of transposing any voice to any interval, and you can modulate a major scale to one of ten other scales with a single click. In addition, the VST version of Vielklang will convert harmonized voices to MIDI data that can trigger other instruments. Vielklang can store and reload as many as 32 harmonization snapshots and trigger them with MIDI Notes.