64-bit, enhanced audio engine, better MIDI timing, new devices - Ableton released Live 7 this week. It also has programmed time signature changing as a landmark, and has a new device for handling beats and grooves: Drum Rack. Another nice feature is the new compressor which was modeled after vintage hardware units. You can visualise your real-time audio with Spectrum, a newly-developed device, and there are much more to mention, just check the what's new page here. Price is 500 USD as usual.

A new bundle product is also public now - Ableton Suite costs 800 USD, and consists of a full Live 7 plus a bunch of Ableton virtual instruments; best-known of them is Sampler, which costs alone 200 USD itself if purchased separately.

A new, 2.0 version is distributed by Synesthesia from Mandala, one of world's finest electronic drum controllers. The instrument now communicates via USB also, and its surface has 7 zones, plus 128 positions from the center to the edge - a huge possibility for expression. Its sound is generated by a softsynth called Virtual Brain, bundled for Mac and PC, with four gigs of sample content. All these goods cost 350 USD, click here for more info and pictures.

E-mu has released all the Proteus sample content they have for Cakewalk's Dimension samplers. The full package is called Proteus Pack, and consists of the next elements:

- Proteus 2000 - general purpose samples,
- Mo' Phatt - hiphop-kit,
- Xtreme Lead - dance/electronica,
- Planet Earth - world music,
- Virtuoso 2000 - orchestral,
- PX-7 - drum/percussion.

You can purchase the elements separately for 80-100 USD, or the full package for 300 USD. Here.

Attention Mac users: this DJ software, DJ-1800 on the picture was designed to you exclusively. It has four separate digital file player, and four channel on the mixer consequently. The crossfader itself is a four-channel solution, and all the mixer channels have high/low EQ. BPM calculation is implemented, too. The program handles multiple audio outputs, and every knob and fader can be controlled from outside, by MIDI controller units. Costs 80 USD, here is the site where the transaction could take place.

It's hard to believe but true: now, in 2007, bassline softsynths are still top hits on the market. We discovered two new pieces that are shared here now with you. First is SilverBox from Spectralhead Audio. It wants to be very authentic soundwise, every elemnts are modeled almost perfectly, it has nice interface, has the almost-compulsory distortion unit built-in, and the MIDI CC-table is customizable. Important feature is the sequencer on board, which accepts graphical key input, and has a random function, too. You have to pay 49 euro via Paypal to get this small wonder - but, at first, check the audio demos at their site, they are organized as A/B test comparing with the original TB-303.

The name of the second contestant is Alien303, from G-Sonique. It goes beyond the original TB further, having not less than 10 different oscillator waveforms, and provides more effects: unison, chorus and delay. Unfortunately there is no distortion! Alien costs only 10 euros for the first 100 customer - and the chance is open at the time of writing this article. But no news about the regular price. Check here the official data.

This tracker program, Milkytracker is running on Windows CE, and is a must have for all of you, 8-bit Amiga folks. Though the version number is still 0.90 it seems to me it should be a good fun for every body who dealt with this kind of music making. If you don't own a PocketPC, this is the best chance to buy one. Here is the website to download.

You can download Wavepad from NCH right now: it is a fancy little wave editing application for both PC and Mac which costs nothing to you. It does everything that you use within your warez Sound Forge and Wavelab: visual wave editing, a huge bunch of effects, million of file formats, spectrum analyzer, and, as a bonus, a text-to-speech converter. It also features noise reduction and declick. Works with files up to 96 kHz and 32 bits of resolution, and rips CDs, after reading CDDB for track names. Go here and download.

It's hard to imagine how, but it is working: Circular Logic's InTime is a software which translates the MIDI flow of a human playing a MIDI controller (keyboard, guitar, wind etc.) into a standard MIDI Clock signal. If you feed a sequencing application with this clock, it will go after the tempo of the player consequently, inluding slowdowns and speedups. The program costs 160 USD, runs on PC and Mac, if you want to read more about just click here.

Everybody needs this small but beautiful software which was released by Native Instruments. There is nothing easier than getting it: Beatport SYNC is free to download and use for anyone visiting this page. The software is a small DJ desk with two music file player with adjustable tempo (while making tempo correction pitch shifting is optional). Its audio engine handles ASIO with no problem so latency is not an issue. It also has a built-in music browser for Beatport web shop, and a client for Proton web radio station. Grabs and burns CDs. On PC and on Mac.

Native Instruments spread the shops with the long-awaited version 2 of their Kore hardware-software system. Kore 2 was previewed already during the Musikmesse of this spring but we had to wait more than a half year to get the final product. This is rather an integrated hard-soft solution than the first, slightly chaotic version - Kore 2 now has six different synth engines bundled, with 500 very complex sound programs which use the sophisticated hardware features extensively. List price is 500 euro, all the other details can be found here.

The synth on the picture is Zebra 2.2, the current version of u-he.com's flagship instrument. It is a multisynthesis device since it does additive and subtractive synthesis, together with wavetable, FM and modeling. Their website plays tons of audio demos which are really worth of noting. Sound programs come freely in chunks of thousands via the website so you really don't have to be a wizard to use the instrument extensively. It costs 200 USD but you can spare a reasonable 50 USD if you send an original, good quality photo of an old synth that you own. U-he.com has a dedicated gallery of these photos and they are very proud of showing a real huge bunch of synths that were replaced by Zebra - as they interpret this small game...

Adobe's sound editor, Audition recently got a new version number: 3. The 350 USD software package has numerous new features: supports VST instruments with an integrated sequencer, parameter automation, surround encoder, spectrum editing, multitrack handling, sound restoration tools, new effects and handling of multi-core processors. Here are the details.

Nine Inch Nails was already known of their innovative solutions regarding fan communication and business, and now they sure write history: their new remix album arriving next week, titled "Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D" (what a nice, poetic one...) will bundle a DVD-ROM with every CD sold which will be filled with separated instrument tracks of their latest album, Year Zero. On the day of the release, a special community site will open at remix.nin.com where you can post your creations from this material if you like it.

"Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D" will be available as digital download and on triple LP also. This news was posted by numerous web sites, we read here.

PowerFX has compiled a specialized synth plugin, too: War Machine is a sample player synth VSTi which is filled tons of noises and sounds of various weapons like guns, machine guns, explosions, jets, tanks and so on. The size of the package is 254 megabyte, which means 87 cleverly assembled presets. The price of the sampled war is 99 USD for the download. The sound engine under the samples is PowerFX's own sample player synth called Maize. For more info visit their website.

Almost a year ago we had a preliminary info on this beautiful software: now it is out for anyone interested. Morgana from 112dB is an emulation of the old 8-bit samplers from Mirage to the first E-mu Emulator since it has the same voice architecture and the same, reduced quality of sampling resolution and frequency. Unfortunately it doesn't bundle the old classics of sample libraries but it reads WAV, AIFF and ReCycle formats, and runs on Macs and PCs, under VST. The full version costs 169 euro, and there is a demo version which works 30 days from the installation. If you pay until 9th December, 5% of your money will be sent directly to the Moog Foundation.

We still didn't find such keyboard until now: M-Audio's KeyStudio 49i seems to be a four-octaves master keyboard controller, but inside it has a stereo in-out audio interface also (16 bit/44.1 kHz), and has a 20-note hardware sound generator which has one preset only. This sound program is a sophisticated sample of a Steinway grand piano so we don't find the 300 USD price too high for this product at all. The situation is even better if you consider the software bundle: an Ableton Live Lite and a decent-quality GM-softsynth are also parts of the package. Check it here.

A company specialised in guitar effect software, Softube has released Acoustic Feedback, a plugin which emulates a real feedback process of your guitar. It costs 99 USD, works on Mac and PC under the VST and RTAS platform - we can't write more, rather you should check the website.

Some weeks ago you had to pay 135 USD for Shortcircuit, Vember Audio's fine software sampler but from now it is totally free for anyone. It reads wave, Akai S5000/6000, ReCycle, Battery and Soundfont files, has a maximum of 256-notes polyphony, calculates 32 or 64 bits inside, and works on PC/VST platform. If you need detailed info check it here - you can also download and try it immediately.

I cannot imagine Swedish steel can be so rusty like this synth plugin's design but you can compensate with it's sound: Industrial Tones is a great instrument to generate heavy industrial noises. Its developer, MHC has a great general-purpose sample-playback synth modul which was customised with lots of samples of this genre to fulfill the needs of musicians that are interested in it. It works under VST on PCs and in AU on Macs, costs 139 USD, and has a very small free demo version. See and hear it here.

Galaxy Pianos has launched the second version of their top piano instrument based on Kontakt 2 Player. Galaxy II includes three sampled piano: Steinway 5.1 (recorded in surround), Vienna Grand Imperial and a Baby Grand. The programs consist of more than 6000 samples taken at 24 bit, and has a lot of extra functions like real soft pedal action, damper, hammer and string noises are adjustable, and there are serious real-time sound manipulation tools. From this group we have to mention Pad machine, a processor that makes nice pads based on the piano samples. Here is the product page - the price of the Galaxy II is 250 euro.

The history of the DJ CD-players can turn easily with Pioneer's new device, CDJ-400. This is the first CD deck that sends MIDI controller information about everything you make with his buttons, faders - and, the scratch pad, also! With it you can command your favourite DJ application on your PC, just like the CDs inside. MIDI commands are transmitted via a standard USB output.

The player itself seems to be a regular Pioneer deck, playing mp3 files from the disc, or any digital file from a pendrive that inserted. It has some extra , newly developed function which could be interesting to the pro user so check the product's page for more info.

Sentences containing the "robot" word did not cover useful, practical tools in the world of musical instruments until now. But here is Gibson and the Robot Guitar: it can be the world's most practical guitar ever made. Its secret is the precision technology that handles the instrument's tuning in hand and adjust it when necessary. Of course it can solve alternative tunings with a press of a button, too. Shipping of the first, limited serie of robot guitars come in 7th, December, but price is still not known. Gibson built a nice big web page for this revolutionary instrument.

NuDSP is not a well known brand still but they have a brilliant idea now: their modular softsynth works muck like a Reactable, but without the table! The instrument called Mod271 runs on PC/Windows, ASIO-compatible, and has several unique feature: processing units work on MIDI commands almost the same way like on audio signals. For example, the delay unit delays the MIDI line, too. Check it on your machine, it is free though it is a pre-alpha version only as the developer writes.

Erasure's synth master Vince Clarke is moving and he decided not to bring most of his studio equipment to the new place. He offers more than 160 studio tool - mainly recording, effects and some instruments - for sale in a dedicated Ebay shop. He opens auctions continuously from day to day and has a full list which includes some nice rarities for the collector. Start prices are quite fair but we suspect some of them will end surprisingly high...

The Hungarian plugin factory, Wwaym renewed their top filter called NWRCFil. The new version 2 has two-pole and four-pole design, with crossfadeable low pass, band pass and high pass modes, has an own LFO and envelope generator, learns controller info from MIDI, and filled with lots of presets. It costs 55 euro, and the operation platform is PC/VST.

Four octaves, ultraslim design, under 100 USD: it's the new keyboard from CME called M-Key. It's got an extra programmable joystick if you compare it with the competitors of its class, check the product page for more.

Digidesign is out with a new version of Pro Tools software, 7.4. It supports Vista, iintegrates better into Avid, and has a new time manipulation tool set called Elastic Time. For a deeper knowledge click here.

This is not the next digital mixer monster but Digidesign's new top controller for Pro Tools. Its name is C24 because of the 24-channel architecture, has motorised faders of course, and could be told a lot of things about - rather if you need more info check the product's webpage.

1.6 gigabytes of 24 bit samples: Zero-G has packed the disco-funky sound of seventies into a huge construction kit called Classic Disco. It is an instrument loop set only so don't buy it if you want a playable decent hard clavinet sound. Price is still to be announced later, here is the original news source at Eastwest.

Musicrow started to manufacture tons of patches for Arturia synths. At first they produced an ARP 2600 V set of 200 sounds, then came a Minimoog V set with 200, too. Patches for Moog Modular is on the way, price will be the same as the predecessors: 29 euro. Free demos are available, here.

Hero of the freebies this week is Free Djembe from Audiowarrior. It is a 24 bit Kontakt program which includes a huge bunch of hand drum samples, divided into 15 MIDI keys and 10 velocity layers. With using pitch bend you can reach a quasi talking drum effect also. So go here, it is worth downloading.

We have a spare news from AES: Eventide has announced E-Control, a special plug-in software for Pro Tools. With E-Control, you can integrate external Eventide effect processors into Pro Tools: it solves parameter automation and program change. Check their website though they still doesn't mention anything about it: launch is expected in December.

After a long public development and testing process KarmaFX releases Synth Modular 1.0, a very visual modular synth software for the PC/VST platform. From now you have to pay for the full, unlimited version: 100 USD is the price, or you can test drive free for 30 days. Fortunately now they filled up the synth with patches: a total of more than 500 presets are available if you purchase. Here.

After the freeware preview, Studio Devil now launches the full version of their knowledge: the Virtual Guitar Amp. Here you can read more of the modeled amps, and you can buy the software for 63 euro, if you are PC/VST user.

Australian producer, Neon Stereo (working also as a tester for Ableton) gave 35 effect racks to Puremagnetik, which are now freely downloadable from here.

Samplebase.com has released a free sample player, Satellite, which can be downloaded right now for PC/Mac. It runs in VST/AU environments, plus has a stand-alone version also. The maximum polyphony of the instrument is 1024, and reads the site's own sample format, Sampleblock (and has a 100 USD Pro version which reds wav, Rex and AIFF). Download it here.

The big notation system, Finale has a free version which is now coming in a serious new edition: Finale Notepad 2008. It runs on Windows (Vista too) and Mac OS, and have some exciting new features like the humanized music playback which makes playback more human rather than the mechanical, robotic translation of the mouse-inserted notes. Read more and download here.

You can download a free BPM-analyzer program for Windows from MixMeister's web site. It works in batch mode also with multiple files and prints the results.