Archive for July, 2008

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MC2 Audio Announces T3500 2-Channel Amplifier

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

MC2 Audio has announced the T3500, a top-of-the-line, 2-channel amplifier targeted for fixed installations. The T3500 produces 1750W of power per channel and comes with a full 5-year warranty.

Specs:
» Output power per channel, continuous sine wave (Watts RMS):
— 8 ohms @ 1 kHz – 950
— 4 ohms @ 1 kHz – 1750
— 2 ohms – Not possible
» Mono Bridged:
— 8 ohms @ 1 kHz – 3300
— 4 ohms – Not possible
» Output Power per channel, continuous music (Watts):
— 8 ohms – 950
— 4 ohms – 1850
» THD @ rated power:
— 4 ohms @ 1 kHz – <0.008%
-- 20Hz-20 kHz - <0.03%
» Input CMRR: >90dB
» Hum & Noise: -105dB
» Gain: 32/36dB (Internally selectable)
» Sensitivity: (rated output@4 ohms)+8.5dBu / +4.5dBu (+2.0v / +1.3v; Intern.selectable)
» Damping Factor 1 kHz, 8 ohms: >400
» Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz – +0/-0.5 dB
» Input impedance (actively balanced): 20k ohms
» Dimensions (mm) – 2U: 88 x 482 x 428
» Weight: 22.5kgs

Power requirements: T3500 is fitted with either a 100/120V or 220/230/240V tapped transformer, according to customer requirements.

The MC2 Audio T3500 will be available in short order, no pricing has been announced. More information on the MC2 Audio T3500.

Posted in New Gear, Sound Systems | No Comments »

Plastinkus Introduces DJ Trading Cards

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Designer Anton Schnaider has played on the idea of portable DJ trading cards to develop these Plastinkus dealios. About the size of a credit card and embedded with a textured surface, the Plastinkus is said to produce “scratching” sounds by rubbing your nail over the “record.”

The Plastinkus DJ cards come in a wide variety of color combinations, making them collectable, and are great for comic relief at your local pub.

The Plastinkus DJ Cards cost are available now and cost $4.27. More information on the Plastinkus DJ Cards.

Posted in Music Gadgets | No Comments »

Best Buy Readies In-Store Musical Instrument Retail Centers

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Best Buy is targeting the healthy musical instrument retail space by ramping up sub-stores within select locations that will stock guitar, keyboard and DJ products. Modeled after their Apple Computer Centers, the new MI initiative will roll out over the next year to about 85 retail locations throughout the United States.

Best Buy will feature Fender, Gibson, Roland and several other brands along side high-margin accessories like cables.

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Disc Makers Premier Reflex USB Flash Drive Duplicator Line

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Disc Makers is embracing the future like no other duplicator. Unlike Kodak, who flat out refused to accept the digital camera revolution until it was almost too late, Disc Makers has jumped into the Home Duplication market with both feet.

With a large arsenal of affordable CD and DVD solutions now available under the Disc Makers moniker, as well as a full compliment of supplies, Disc Makers has announced a new line of USB duplicators. The new Reflex Flash USB drive duplicators will service not only labels who want to distribute new releases on this savvy format, but also for marketing departments and small business who want to disseminate company promotional collateral at trade shows and corporate events.

The Reflex can handle USB Flash drives are in sizes up to 16GB for large content distribution. And with transfer rates of up to 10mbps, the ReflexFlash line of duplicators will duplicate at speeds comparable to today’s fastest 20X DVD duplicators, up to 330 units (256MB size files) per hour in its largest model.

As with all Disc Makers duplicators, the Reflex Flash duplicators come with a standard one year warranty and the company’s exclusive perfect fit guarantee – if this product doesn’t fit your needs, Disc Makers will give you full credit towards one that does.

Disc Makers also offers a line of flash media that can be customized with company logos and other graphics, custom packaging options, and storage capacities. USB Flash drive media is great for delivering custom marketing presentations, promotional give-aways, catalogs, software distribution, and more. Because of its reusable format, portability, and solid state design customized USB Flash drives are in circulation much longer than traditional content delivery methods giving you greater opportunity to leave positive impressions. USB flash drive storage formats can by used on all modern operating systems including Windows XP, Vista, MAC OS and Linux.

The Disc Makers Reflex Flash duplicators are available now and cost $699 for the 3-drive, $899 for the 7-drive, and $1,099 for the 11-drive model. Disc Makers will be offering customized USB drives in the future. More information on Disc Makers Reflex USB drive duplicators.

Posted in New Gear | No Comments »

EASTWEST / Best Service Release 8 Historical Instrument Sample Collections

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

EASTWEST, exclusive US distributor of Best Service sample libraries, is releasing eight new collections by the concern featuring European historical instruments, Pianoforte, Early Pianoforte, Grand Piano, English Harpsichord, Dutch Harpsichord, Dulcitone Celesta, English Spinet and Italian Harpsichord.

To offer users true to life sounds, each collection features eight different samples of each note, four different release sounds of each note as well as 32 different velocity layers as opposed to the typical four to five found in most piano collections. No mastering is applied to the samples, giving users access to the raw recordings for additional control of the end result. For further realism, each instrument was recorded in 192 kHz/24 bits resolution and down sampled.

All samples offered in each collection are License-free, available in DVD or CD sets and are ready to be played in Kontakt 2, EXS24, GigaStudio, HAlion-Presets or .wav formats (excludes GigaStudio versions).

More information on the new EASTWEST/Best Service Historical European Instrument Sample Collections.

Posted in New Gear, Samples & Sounds | Comments Off

iRiver Readies Spinn Personal Media Player

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

iRiver has premiered their new touchscreen Spinn personal media player (PMP) on their Korean website. Looks notwithstanding, its got several nifty features and a new scrolling paradigm that they’ve dubbed spinn control. The sexy Spinn also sports a very attractive graphical user interface.

The Spinn features a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 pixel AMOLED display, Bluetooth, voice recorder, FM radio, T-DMB TV, a metal / plastic silver housing, and haptic touchscreen feedback. Supported file formats: MP3, OGG, WMA, APE, FLAC, ASF, AVI, WMV, JPEG and Adobe Flash Lite 2.1. iRiver claims the battery’s lifespan is a whopping 24 hours. It will come in two storage flavors, 4GB and 8GB. With so many PMP out on the market it takes a lot to impress us here, but the Spinn has certainly captured our imagination.

Europe is likely to get the Spinn for Back-To-School, whereas North America will probably see it for the Holiday crush.

More information on the iRiver Spinn.

Posted in Digital Media Players, Music Gadgets, New Gear | No Comments »

Steinberg Reorganizes North American Marketing Group

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Yamaha has formed a new division within the company’s Music Marketing Group, dubbed Steinberg North America. It replaces Steinberg Software, formerly a part of the Music Production Department of the Pro Audio & Combo Division. The new department’s responsibilities include marketing Steinberg music production software in the United States and Canada.

To lead the reorganization, Alan Macpherson, a singer and guitarist, has been appointed Director of Marketing, Steinberg North America. Macpherson has worked in various capacities for Yamaha Canada Music Ltd. since 1987. In addition to his last position, as manager of the Corporate Planning and Communications Department, he has served as marketing manager, Combo and Music Production Division, and as national sales and marketing manager of the Pro Music and Audio Division.

Also at Steinberg North America, Brian McGovern will serve as marketing manager and Greg Ondo will serve as field marketing manager. The department will rely on Pro Audio & Combo field sales managers in the United States; Yamaha Canada Music will be responsible for sales in Canada. The Steinberg Customer Support Team will also continue to provide blue-chip service.

Steinberg North America and Yamaha’s Music Production Department, headed by Athan Billias, will maintain a strong collaboration based on the close relationship between their products and the level of synergy between these two business areas. A special task force will assist in the transition of this new organization.

Calls and emails to Steinberg’s current PR/Marketing concern, Mtech Marketing Communications, have gone unanswered, questioning the status of Brian McConnon’s role in the re-organization.

Posted in Industry | No Comments »

Neuenberger Updates JellyFilter To Version 3.0

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Neuenberger has updated JellyFilter to version 3.0. The third incarnation of their free, realtime software synthesizer with filters, effects, envelopes plug-in for Windows now includes a third oscillator, Legato Mode, Lo-Fi “Distortion”, either 12 dB or 24 dB Filter Steepness, Sample and Hold for LFO Modulation, Exponential or Linear Envelopes and a Fast/Slow Modulation Envelope.

Enhancements:
» Added third Oscillator which can be used as sub-bass or additional FM source to Oscillator 1. It also has its own additional Distortion
» A standard Chorus to fatten the sound even more. The Chorus can be adjusted by Dry/Wet, Rate, Depth, Delay and Type (Triangle, Saw, Square).
» For 303-type sounds there is now a new Legato mode: This will not restart the envelopes until the voice is completely released which can be useful for smooth crossovers between different notes
» For Lo-fi enthusiasts there is a Bit Reduction (BitRed) functionality that can reduce the information down to 2 bits. Old Digital-sounding Video-Console sounds can be created with this easily.
» Filters can be set up either to 12 dB or 24 dB steepness (allows the user to produce “warmer” sounds with the 12 dB option)
» The LFO Modulation has been accompanied with a Sample Hold (S/H) functionality that can be synchronized to the tempo of the music
» Envelopes for Amp and Filter now can be switched to exponential as well. This results in even smoother envelopes
» The Modulation Envelope (“Mod-Env”) can be fast or slow

Neuenberger’s JellyFilter 3.0 for Windows is available now and free. More information on Neuenberger JellyFilter 3.0.

Posted in Updates & Upgrades | No Comments »

Public Enemy Remix Contest Announced

Monday, July 28th, 2008

M-Audio has teamed with Public Enemy and Obey to host a remix competition. The Public Enemy Remix Contest challenges musicians to create an original remix of an a cappella version of the group’s track, “Harder Than You Think,” from their current album. Chuck D and Johnny Juice of Public Enemy will judge entries uploaded to the M-Audio website, and the winner will receive a complete home studio setup from M-Audio.

The winning remix will also be released on 12-inch vinyl by Obey Records. Backed with an exclusive unreleased Public Enemy track, the vinyl release will feature unique artwork created by graphic artist Shepard Fairey. All profits from the vinyl sale will be donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Prize Package:
» M-Audio Home Studio
Package includes Studiophile BX8a Deluxe monitors, Pro Tools M-Powered software, ProjectMix I/O control surface, Sputnik vacuum tube condenser microphone, Pulsar II Matched Pair condenser micro phones and Ozone 3 mastering software (valued at $4,500).

» Limited-Edition 12″ Vinyl Release by Obey Records
The wining remix will be officially released on Obey Records and sold through Obey’s distribution channels. Shepard Fairey will design an original label; 500 pieces will be produced, with all profits donated to the Boys and Girls Club of America.

» Complete Set of the Obey Public Enemy Collection
Collection includes two different t-shirts, a military-style jacket, a hooded sweatshirt, three different hats and lace locks (valued at $500).
 
The contest will run until September 30, 2008, with the grand-prize winner announced in late October.

More information on The Public Enemy Remix Contest.

Posted in Events | No Comments »

Mathew Lane Releases DrMS – Spatial Processor Plug-In For Mac & PC

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Mathew Lane has released DrMS, a spatial processor plug-in for Mac and PC that presents a new way to approach the manipulation of stereo audio. Based on MS (Mid-Side) processing, DrMS splits the stereo signal into four sections rather than the normal two, giving you new levels of control: zoom in, add depth, change width or any combination and more.

Each of the four sections has a resonant high pass filter to clean up the lows and a tilt equalizer to soften the highs, plus a sample-based delay line to slightly shift the signal against the other sections. The level and combination of the different sections will result in various changes of the stereo field.

The flexible controls ensure a wide range of applications, both for mixing and mastering as well as for post production. Use DrMS for tasks going from simple MS encoding/decoding, over stereo field and depth enhancement, to fixing mono compatibility issues and more.

For easy A/B comparision between original and processed signal, an autogain circuit is build in to ensure a level matched output.

Mathew Lane’s DrMS costs €25 and is available now. A demo version is available for download. Plug-In Flavors – Mac OS X: AU/VST2/RTAS; Windows: VST2/RTAS. More information on Mathew Lane DrMS.

Posted in New Gear | No Comments »

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