HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Rebelling against the current downturn for traditional record companies, Chris Honetschlaeger, President of BETA Records, has announced a new generation of record deal which partners the company with the artist in a non-exclusive three song contract and plans to sign 100 artists in 2008.

BERLIN and LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Native Instruments this week announced an upcoming expansion of its recently established KORE SOUNDPACK line, with four additional high-quality libraries scheduled for release in March. The new sound packs will offer a wide selection of inspiring, production-ready sound material for various musical applications and styles, ranging from state-of-the-art synthesizer sounds to highly authentic horns and versatile acoustic drums.

HIGH WYCOMBE, UK — Novation has announced the worldwide launch of Nocturn, their latest MIDI controller. Novation’s most affordable hardware controller to date, Nocturn promises to unleash the full potential of all your favourite instrument and effect plug-ins. Featuring the latest Automap Universal 2.0 software, exclusive to Novation controllers, Nocturn provides automatic, instant and intelligent control of all automatable plug-ins within every major sequencer, including Pro Tools.

Cakewalk, maker of leading DAW application SONAR, has announced an expansion of their strategic relationship with Roland. According to the company, this is the natural progression of a relationship that goes back more than a decade. In 1995 Roland began distributing Cakewalk products in Japan.

ANAHIEM, Calif. — WINTER NAMM 2008 — Cakewalk, the world’s leading developer of powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording, today announces The Minimoog Tribute Expansion Pack for Rapture and Rapture LE. Created by Craig Anderton, the Minimoog Tribute Expansion Pack pays tribute to Bob Moog’s legacy and pioneering work in the field of music synthesis.

ADELAIDE, Australia — Crysonic have announced their first new product of the year, CryCoder Vocoder, to be released this month including the availability of free Mac OS AU/VST versions of SINDO V1.0 and Spectra C1 for previous license holders.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Latin Thug Records presents the debut album from ground-breaking artist SOLOW13. The album will be available in stores and online February 26, 2008. Produced by SOLOW13 and Aaron (T-Bone) Boatright, the project represents a lifetime of work and experiences from this breaking talent. Legendary mastering engineer Brian “Big Bass” Gardner (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Linkin Park, Madonna) mastered the project to create what will surely become a classic, iconic album.