We were never bullish on Qtrax’s prospects when they announced their ad-supported music service a year-and-a-half ago. Now they look to be down for the count by announcing they had cemented deals with the four major labels when in fact that wasn’t the truth. The free, ad-supported, P2P service launched at MIDEM today with a shaky “beta”...

Arturia has confirmed that they will begin shipping their hardware synth, Origin, sometime in May 2008. The French concern did not a reveal official release date at NAMM, but we are now pleased to report that the TigerSHARC-powered synth will be shipping earlier then we thought. Learn more about the Arturia Origin. More information on the Arturia...

Peavey has unleashed ReValver Mk III for Mac and PC, a 64-bit amplifier modeling software that captures the true characteristics of vacuum tubes while allowing users control over their tonality and gain structures. Peavey ReValver Mk III models 15 popular guitar amplifiers, including several Peavey amps, through an exclusive algorithm that analyzes the...

Amazon has announced it will begin an international rollout of its Amazon MP3 DRM-free MP3 digital music store sometime in 2008. Amazon said it is the only retailer to offer DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels as well as thousands of independent labels, and now includes more than 3.3 million songs.

Applied Acoustics Systems has announced Strum Acoustic GS-1, an acoustic guitar virtual synthesizer based on the latest AAS physical modeling technology. Strum provides a collection of steel and nylon acoustic guitars, and includes voicing and strumming modules for the realistic reproduction of a guitarist’s playing techniques. Chords played on the...