Synapse Audio has announced the release of Orion 8, the biggest update of their Windows-based music production system to date. Below is an excerpt of the new features introduced.

The Pro-9 added in this version is a complete overhaul of the former XR-909 generator. It offers virtual-analog drum sound modelling of breathtaking quality and accuracy, not only making it indistinguishable from the analog reference hardware, but also providing that analog "feel" which mere sample-based recreations lack. Additional sound parameters furthermore give a lot more fine control over the electronic drum sounds, particularly for the Bass and Snare Drum.

The effects section gains a high-quality lookahead limiter and a new compressor, both matching professional standards now and thus allowing to master tracks in Orion, without having to resort to 3rd party plugins. The new Vintage Chorus effect is a detailed recreation of the warm, analog stereo chorus sound employed in 70s and 80s hardware gear.

The DrumRack gains many important features, such as full GM Drum Map compatibility, improved LM4 support, a 12-bit vintage switch for MPC-type sounds as well as the ability to drag+drop MIDI clips into it directly.

The revised mixing console doubles the number of busses to 8 and adds an extra insert slot. Most controls of the mixer can now be pattern-automated, a great help in sequencing. Furthermore, additional pan laws are available, including Equal Power 0dB, Equal Power -3dB and Linear -6dB for broadcasting.

Many workflow improvements make Version 8 extremely fast to work with. The new navigation bar in the arrangement window gives an overview of the entire project, and allows instant zooming or navigating to any bar with a single click. Furthermore, full mousewheel support has been added to all views, including the piano roll, arrangement, mixer, instruments and effects. The new, innovative Template system allows you to fully customize the plugins you work with. For instance, you may create MIDI maps, route instruments to specific busses, apply insert effects, define keyboard splits or even throw in automation. A template is added to a project in the same way as a plugin, with only a single mouse-click.

A rather unique feature is Song Merge: Suppose you programmed a great bass line in an older project, Song Merge allows you to incorporate that track into a new project easily, preserving the patterns, arrangement, Mixer/EQ settings, applied effects and so on.

The sample content for Orion 8 has been provided by well-known sampling experts Yellow Tools. Whether you're looking for a high-quality acoustic drum set, percussion samples or an electric bass or acoustic guitar- the new content added to Orion consists exclusively of finest 24-bit quality multisamples, a dramatic improvement compared to the content that came with earlier versions of Orion.

The new skinning system introduced allows full customization of not just all instruments and effects, but the window frames and buttons as well. Two skins are provided, a new skin as well as an adapted skin from V7.

Pricing & Availability

Orion 8 is available in the Synapse Online Shop for $249. The upgrade price for Orion 7 users is $99. Until March 14, 2011 there are introductory prices of $199 for the full version and $69 for the upgrade.

More information is available at www.synapse-audio.com