What's New, November 2008

Nov 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

UNIVERSAL AUDIO UAD-2

SHARC HUNT

Universal Audio (uaudio.com) has upped the ante in DSP accelerator cards with its new UAD-2 series (Mac/Win, from $499). You can mix and match up to four of the Solo, Duo, and Quad PCIe cards, which respectively offer 2.5, 5, and 10 times the DSP power of the original UAD-1. The new cards are powered by Analog Devices 21369 SHARC floating-point processors in single and multichip configurations. Universal Audio's existing DSP plug-in partners — Neve, Roland, SPL, Valley People, and Empirical Labs — will be joined by new partners, including Harrison, Moog, and Little Labs, to continue the high level of authenticity of UAD-2 plug-ins.

TOONTRACK SUPERIOR DRUMMER 2.0

CHOPS FOR SALE

Toontrack (toontrack.com) Superior Drummer 2.0 (Mac/Win, $349, upgrades from $129) puts a full-featured drum sampler on your desktop and fills it with a 60 GB (compressed to 20 GB on disk) multimiked drum kit, The New York Studio Legacy Series, vol. 1. The package includes EZplayer Pro for auditioning and multitracking MIDI files. EZplayer Pro supports mapping for a variety of popular drum samplers as well as direct through for playing generic virtual instruments. Both plug-ins come in AU, VST, and RTAS formats for Mac and PC. The bundle also includes Toontrack Solo for standalone operation.

CAPTURE THE MOMENT

TASCAM GT-R1 PORTABLE RECORDER

Tascam (tascam.com) has launched the GT-R1 portable recorder ($349) for guitar and bass players. The unit expands on the DR-1 recorder with features from Tascam's guitar-trainers series to make it an ideal songwriters' sketch pad. You can record MP3 or 24-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV files using the built-in condenser mics or the ¼-inch instrument input. Sketch pad and training features include overdub, speed change without affecting pitch, and guitar and bass cancellation. The package includes a 1 GB SD card, a rechargeable battery, and a USB 2.0 connection for file transfer and charging.

PG MUSIC REALBAND 2008.5

MORE IN THE BOX

PG Music (pgmusic.com) RealBand 2008.5 (Win, $129 [MSRP]) combines the most popular features from PowerTracks Pro Audio and Band-in-a-Box for a complete sequencing solution. Start with a blank slate or a Band-in-a-Box arrangement, add your own tracks (including RealTracks and RealDrums live instrument parts), and dial in DirectX and VST plug-in effects to complete your song. Notation, intelligent automatic arrangements, the Audio Chord wizard, support for all audio and MIDI file formats, and a 48-track MIDI/audio mixer with 16 effects buses per track complete the scene.

LESS IS MORE

MACKIE U.SERIES MIXERS

Mackie (mackie.com) has entered the field of quick-access, easy-to-use mixing with the release of the U.420 ($229.99) and U.420d ($279.99). These 4-channel mixers feature 24-bit, 96 kHz FireWire I/O along with standard ¼-inch TRS jacks and RCA phono inputs. The U.420 offers four stereo line inputs, and you can switch channel 1 to direct input for guitar and bass. The U.420d adds two mic preamps and 48V phantom power. All channel strips have 3-band, full-kill EQ. Both units come with Mackie Tracktion software. Add a pair of Mackie MR5 monitors, and you have a full-performance project studio for right around $500.

VIRSYN SOFTWARE SYNTHESIZER PRISM

SHIFTY BUSINESS

VirSyn Software Synthesizer (virsyn.de) takes a fresh approach to pitch-shifting with its AU, VST, and RTAS plug-in Prism (Mac/Win, approximately $295). Prism divides the signal into 27 separate frequency bands, then applies frequency shift (single-sideband modulation) by a different amount to each band. That preserves transients much better than granular- or FFT-based pitch-shifting, while shifting narrow frequency bands preserves harmonic relationships better than broadband frequency shifting. Prism offers lots of creative potential. For example, you could repitch the kick drum in a drum track to fit better in the mix without affecting instruments, such as cymbals, in other frequency ranges.