News Archive for December 2000

M a x i m | Digital Audio have released a new free analogue emulation synth VSTi for both PC & Mac users - mda JX10:

• 2 fixed oscillators (Mix selectable between 100:0 to 50:50) & Noise
• Oscillator tune +-24 semitones
• Resonant filter (Controllable by Env/LFO/Velocity)
• ADSR for VCF & Amp/Env
• Glide - 6 modes (Poly, P-Legato, P-Glide, Mono, M-Legato, M-Glide)
• LFO
• Vibrato
• Synth tuning +-2 Octaves
• Low CPU usage
• Default bank of 52 patches
• No GUI
• Free

Baesil has resolved the problem with the Pro-52 banks cross platform compatibility and we now have a version that will work with both Mac's and Windows PC's. There is also now a short tutorial on how to save cross platform Pro-52 banks on a Mac in the tutorials section

• Pro-52 - Baesil's Pro-52 SoundBank
  (Mac & PC)

PPD Tritium has been updated to v2.0 fixing all the current known bugs

• Slide(Glide)
• Mono mode
• Velocity control of Volume, Env Mod, & Accent
• Master level & Pan settings now saved
• No longer crashes in Cubase v3.7
• New default patch bank
• Hi Pass filter

Native Instruments have released two new Reaktor and Dynamo ensembles, they are both freely available and work with the demo versions too.  Junatik is a Roland Juno like synth and Weedwacker is just plain weird!

funkelectric have interviewed Brian Clevinger, creator of Absynth a Mac only soft synth. Absynth isn't a VSTi yet, but is in development and should be "very soon"

Another beta of Virtual Sampler has been released - v2.5 beta 2:

• New option for creating e.g. drum presets from multiple WAV's loaded at once
• "shift" option (in semitones) for splits (Volume-page)
• Multi-page now at 2nd place, with bank manager activated
  
• Fixed import problems with some SF2's (wrong Rootkeys, doubled imports, wrong split ranges)
• Fixed filter-mono-problem with Stereo-splits
• Fixed rootkey problems with some AKAI-CDs

3 new synth banks and 1 new drum kit for you today!

The LM-9 909 kit is by MuRAYA whose music you can listen to here. The Atom and Pro-52 banks are by Baesil and were created on a Mac, I've added a PC version of the Atom bank but we haven't been able to test the Pro-52 on a PC so you may have to experiment with file extensions (fxb, p5b, etc.) to get it to work under Windows. This is an updated version of Baesil's Pro-Five bank and now features 64 patches. Lastly the Rainbow bank is from Big Tick, Rainbows creators:

• LM-9 - 909 MuRAYA
• Atom - Baesil's Atom SoundBank (Mac format)
• Atom - Baesil's Atom SoundBank (PC format)
• Pro-52 - Baesil's Pro-52 SoundBank (Mac format)
• Rainbow - Big Tick's Bank5

JXPlugins have posted some info on their site about their forthcoming v1.1 update to JXSynth, including Anti-Aliasing Oscillators, MIDI CC Control and a cool new look user interface [PC]

Steinberg Nuendo v1.5 update has been released that finally adds VSTi support [PC & Mac Host]

Sonic Syndicate Orion v1.7 update has been released with numerous fixes and enhancements, the demo version has been updated too [PC Host]

Steinberg have posted some real info about HALion. It is an extremely well specified sampler, as expected, hopefully as good as EXS-24 is for Logic! [PC & Mac]

• 32 bit support
• 2 envelopes with up to 8 edit points and 2 LFO's
• Notch / HiPass /LoPass / BandPass / 12dB / 24dB Filter with fatness function
• New navigation (diagonal using a virtual navigation ball)
• Easy-to-use keyzone editor with drag&drop function (easily create keyzones, layers and choose the velocity just by moving the samples)
• 16 Midi channels (full VST integration, sample accurate timing), 128 programs
• Filter and settings can be made individually for each sample (or global for the whole program)
• absolute or relative change of settings
• Embedded loop-editor with crossfade, snap to zero, loop, release loop, loop tuning settings
• Virtual keyboard for direct trigger and to prelisten to the samples
• Modulation / Tune Page for various settings
• Virtual Outputs
• AKAI - import, LM4 scripts, WAV, AIFF (Emu, Roland, SF2, REX ... in progress)

Check out its main page HERE

Screenshots:

• Envelope screen
• Keyzone screen
• Waveloop screen
• Modulation screen
• Program screen

Bojo Impulse has been updated to v1.01 [PC]

• Fix - When using "Large fonts" in Windows, the knobs were positioned wrong

Tritium has only been available for a day and already v1.1 has been released fixing several bugs and adding a bank of 12 patches [PC]:

• Notes no longer click
• Some parameters weren't saved, now fixed
• Oscillator's pitch tuning fixed
• You can now save up to 12 patches
• Default patch bank included

2 new LM-4/RM2/DK1 kits today (LM-4 format anyway) and a large multi sampled Rhodes piano for Virtual Sampler

• LM-4 MC303 Kit by The Silver Surfer
• LM-4 Scratch Kit by Droid
• Virtual Sampler Rhodes Multi Sampled Bank (5mb) by Chak

ppd have just released their freeware Tritium Bassline synth [PC]

• 32-Bit Oscillator
• Saw and Pulse waveforms
• 4 voice polyphonic (When in polymode)
• High & Low pass filters
• Cutoff, Resonance, EnvMod, Decay, Accent, and Tune controls
• Future version - Slide mode
• Future version - Mono Mode
• Full MIDI control for every parameter

A new beta of SpeedSoft's Virtual Sampler has been released. v2.2 beta 3 (2.5 beta) fixes numerous bugs and also adds a whole slew of new features. You can view a complete list HERE [PC]

Bojo Software have released a new shareware VSTi, an analogue synth called Impulse [PC]

• 16 voice polyphony (Voices can be limited)
• 1, 2 or 4 oscillators for each voice
• 5 different oscillator waveforms (Sine, Triangle, Square, Saw, Noise)
• Waveforms effectively anti-aliased
• 4 resonant filters types (LP6, LP12, LP24, HP) with ADSR, Env Mod, & Keyboard follow
• LFO with 8 different waveforms (Sine, Triangle, Square, Saw up, Saw down, Exp up, Exp down or random) can modulate Osc 1&2, Volume, and filter
• Several MIDI-controllers implemented (inc. Resonance and Cutoff)
• Costs $25
• Fully functional demo (Limited to Monophonic)

Good news for all the Mac users out there, Muon have finally ported their VSTi/fx range over to Mac OS so you can all now enjoy the delights of the Atom, Atom Pro, Electron, & Tau.

The Electron and Atom Pro are available to buy for $75 and $30 respectively, or you can save yourself $10 and buy them both for $95 (This is the same for PC users)

Atom, Tau, and the bonus M-Drive distortion fx plugin are free, so I suggest you download them straight away and discover why PC users love them so much!

Another snippet of info you may all be interested in, Muon are officially putting the finishing touches to the Tau Pro! It will build on the successful Tau adding Velocity triggered Accent control, and full MIDI CC parameter control. Expect to see it sometime early in the new year with a retail price of just $15

Progressive Production Development (///ppd) have launched a new web site with details of the much anticipated Tribone and Tracy, they also announce two new VSTi's, Nebulosa Lead and Tritium Bassline. Tritium will be free and is due very soon, Nebulosa is due in Spring 2001. Tribone and Tracy are still in development with no scheduled release date yet. [All PC Only]

LinPlug have a special Christmas offer, buy GakStoar Delta and RM2 together for $75, that's almost two for the price of one, GakStoar is usually 75$ and RM2 $45! This promotion is running until December 31st. [PC]

RM2 has been updated to v2.02

• New in v2.02: Supports more LM-4 scripts
• New in v2.01: Longer Filenames up to 105 characters
• New in v2.01: Block aligned AIFF Files supported

They've also posted a bank of 39 patches for Roagine, go straight to their download page HERE

We've added Magix Music Studio Generation 6 to our list of Hosts as it now supports VSTi's, a demo is available HERE

We've got our first Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V bank today, courtesy of DocT, it contains no fewer than 60 excellent new patches:

• DocT PPG

Also, 2 new Drum Kits for FXpansion's DR-005, thanks to CMccar:

• More Rock
• Scratch This

Finally, we have version 2 of Tom Leppkes LM9 Edit, adding many of the features of LM-4 Creator:

• MIDI Audition
• MIDI Learn for key mapping
• Multiple mute groups
• Load kits
• Download HERE

er, it seems we made a bit of a cock up with the n-Track news from the 1st December. n-Track Studio v1.2 is being given away free on the cover CD with Computer Music, which of course isn't VSTi compatible, VSTi compatibility was only added in v2.1.4... Doh!

Sorry about that :o

The Mac Pro-52 v2.1 update was released a couple of days ago, along with a manual update for Dynamo v1.03

• Pro-52 v2.1 Update (Mac)
• Dynamo v1.03 manual update (English)
• Dynamo v1.03 manual update (German)

Big Tick have released version 2.0 of Rainbow, new features include:

• 16 step sequencer
• Bandpass filter
• A 'double' mode filter (adding 2 filters in series)
• Improved performance
• Many other additions
• Check out a Screenshot

Dr SynC may have stopped development of SynC Modular but that doesn't stop the updates. v2.08.002 has been released [PC]

• Fixed: Multiplication module bug
• Fixed: Win2k registration bug

Muon have re-released the Atom as a free download again after being inundated with email requests for it. They are also working hard on their new products with the promised Mac versions of their products due very soon. For Netscape users they've also tweaked their site so its displays better. Stay tuned!