Hardware manufacturer E-Mu have released the Xboard USB/MIDI controllers. The Xboard 25 and Xboard 49 are 25- and 49-key controllers respectively, as you might expect. They feature a full complement of control knobs and switches in a portable package — especially the little Xboard 25. (more…)

Synful Orchestra is an orchestra instrument plugin. It sounds like a fantastic idea: most orchestral instrument plugins will respond to key velocity and modulation — Synful Orchestra responds as a whole, in a complex way, to a full range of expressive gestures such as staccato notes and portamento. It’s almost as if you are conducting an orchestra rather than playing an instrument. Synful, the makers, put it this way: “Synful Orchestra responds to the performer. When you play a phrase with legato and detached notes, with accents, and pedal nuances, Synful Orchestra responds with realistic sounding slurs, tonguing, and bowing. No laborious editing of performances to select from a limited set of articulations in a sample library.” (more…)

Acoustica is an audio editing program from Acon Digital Media. Acon version 3.3 has been released, adding quality enhancement of old LP or tape recordings, effects chaining and many other tweaks. Acon say that Acoustica’s audio editing engine allows unlimited undo and redo levels, fast non-destructive editing and 24 or 32 bit editing with up to 192 kHz sampling rate. You can import tracks from audio CDs and create audio CDs with your edited material without leaving the program. Acoustica reads and writes Ogg-Vorbis, Wave Audio, Windows Media Audio, MP3 and Sun Audio files, and imports audio tracks from MPEG Video AVI and WMV files. It seems to have decent features for such an inexpensive program. (more…)

Computer Music magazine reviews Key Rig, the first virtual instrument from M-Audio. They note its easy-to-use interface, clearly designed for keyboard players rather than hardcore programmers. The most important module of the four included is the Stage Piano module, which contains various pianos and synth pads. Strangely, the reviewers say that this module does not include any clavinets, but M-Audio’s website explicitly says that this module contains “grand pianos, Wurlitzer, classic electric pianos, FM, clavinet and more” (my emphasis). If your heart is set on a clavinet, you’d better check this first. Apart from this, they rate the Stage Piano module sounds as “serviceable” — if you want the best piano sounds then you should look elsewhere (and probably pay more). This is the price you pay for Key Rig’s simplicity and convenience. (more…)

Wave Arts have released MultiDynamics 5 as part of a major upgrade across their plug-in line. MultiDynamics is a multiband dynamics processor useful for mastering, noise reduction, volume maximization, sound design, and more. It’s one of five plug-ins in their upcoming PowerSuite 5 bundle; once all five plug-ins have been upgraded, PowerSuite 5 will leave the building. (more…)

Intuem is an unusual sequencer that tries to preserve a human feel to the music. Its makers, Companion, say “The most beautiful music doesn’t often come from a sequencer, it usually comes from the heart of an artist and is captured directly to tape. It has long been the problem that a sequencer cannot easily accommodate dynamic, free flowing, beautiful music that respects a sequencer’s bar and beat boundaries so looping tools and rhythm machines keep in sync. Intuem 3.5 puts an end to that.” Intuem version 3.5 adds a raft of new features, including extensions to Intuem’s core functions. There’s also external sequencer control, which means you can use Intuem to control the tempo of your entire studio — and tempo is Intuem’s speciality. (more…)

Dynamix is a sound shaping plugin from Hungarian company WWAYM. I have no idea how to pronounce their name, but this plugin sounds interesting. They call it “a completely new way to waveshape your sounds.” They say it’s not a traditional effect, but it can be used to emulate a compressor, EQ, distortion effect, and many more, as well as having its own tricks. Despite this fresh approach to sound shaping, the user interface has a nice retro feel, if you like that sort of thing. (more…)

Key Rig is one of the first in a projected line of virtual instruments from M-Audio, who are better known for their music hardware. It’s an interesting idea — it’s a VST plugin that can also run standalone, and M-Audio intend it to be usable as an all-in-one keyboard sounds module. Simply load Key Rig onto your computer, plug in your keyboard controller and you’re away. And the really unusual thing about it is that the whole thing fits on a single CD. (more…)

Keyboard magazine reviews Synchro-Funk, a package of loops from Sony for their Acid music composition software (but usable by any other package too). Laptop Studio doesn’t often feature sample libraries, but in this case the review itself makes pretty amusing reading: “Picture this: Prince and Kraftwerk decide to collaborate — Prince contributes the danceable funkiness, Kraftwerk provides the machine soul. But just before they begin recording, someone floods the studio with laughing gas.” (more…)

The Trigger Finger MIDI control surface from M-Audio gets a good review in Keyboard magazine. From their description of the control pads on this device, you can tell they love it — maybe a little too much: “”They seem to have taken great care in choosing the best-feeling pad material I’ve ever had the pleasure to caress. It’s like a baby’s bottom. Like real Corinthian leather. Had Solomon’s beloved had skin that felt like this, the Song of Solomon would be pages longer and steamier than it already is. These pads are dead sexy.” (more…)