Articles by Christopher Simmons
Christopher Simmons has been writing about music since 1984 when he sold his first feature to Polyphony (now Electronic Musician) magazine. He has composed music for two TV cable shows, is a member of ASCAP and PRSA, and is the managing editor for Music Industry Newswire(TM), as well as the CEO of Neotrope(R) Entertainment. His 80s music can be found on iTunes, CDBaby, and Napster, among others. © Christopher Laird Simmons and and Music Industry Newswire. UNAUTHORIZED RE-PUBLICATION OF THIS CONTENT IS PROHIBITED UNDER U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW EXCEPT FOR QUOTING IN CONTEXT OF ANOTHER ARTICLE OR A SHORT SUMMARY LINKING TO THIS FULL STORY.
SUNRISE, Fla. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Sonic Reality announced today that their new Neil Peart series drum sample instrument library, Neil Peart Drums Volume 1: The Kit, is shipping in the NI Kontakt-compatible edition (requires …
Music Industry Newswire Update: As a long time supporter and customer of Open Labs (see my reviews of the Neko TSE and XXL models on this site), I was surprised, like many, to see the …
Worcestershire, U.K. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Our friends at Camel Audio Limited announced today another great free sound bundle for registered users, bringing yet another massive infusion of sound patches and creation capabilities to their …
WARSAW, Poland /Music Industry Newswire/ — PSP Audioware let us know today they have announced a release of their new delay plug-in: PSP 85, the successor of the PSP 84. According to the company: “PSP …
Recklinghausen, Germany /Music Industry Newswire/ — Access Music has announced their latest “special edition” keyboard, “The WhiteOut Keyboard” limited edition, which will only be produced as 150 units with laser engraved serial number. If your …
COLUMN: — Open Labs yesterday announced and demonstrated their new software application, a ground up reboot of their Open RiFF, now at version 2.0. This new version of RiFF introduced last year brings a huge …
COLUMN: One of the more interesting tidbits I’ve run across this week, was the rumor of a new product from venerable synth builder Tom Oberheim. He apparently told a person that a new “Two-voice” model …
LIVE NEWS: Open Labs announced today that they have refreshed their product line to their new generation 6 (“Gen 6″). The standard Miko and NeKo series have been upgraded from the prior Core 2 Intel …
Worcestershire, U.K. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Camel Audio announces Luftrum: Ambient is “a journey between worlds, from summer afternoons to the icy depths of space.” With dense washes of warm, shimmering pads and soundscapes, gentle …
COLUMN: One of my great joys in life is loving a product made by a great company that stays in business year after year and perhaps decade by decade. I can count these types of …
COLUMN: In a somewhat stealthy mode, Open Labs has finally put up a page on their site promoting custom paint colors, bigger hard drive options, extreme motherboard upgrades, and various customization options for new and …
SYDNEY, Australia /Music Industry Newswire/ — Audinate Pty Ltd, a leading developer of digital media networking solutions, announced it has secured $4 million in additional funding. The latest investment round was led by existing investors, …
COLUMN: — When the word went out that Dave Smith was going to introduce something “new” at NAMM in January, many of us immediately presumed it would be a keyboard version of the highly popular …
COLUMN: — Avid/Digidesign announced this week the latest update to their DAW application, Pro Tools, with a notable update in version 8.03. This new version supports Apple Snow Leopard (OS X), and has a public …
COLUMN: I’m back with our “final” batch of super end of the year deals for musicians, most of which expire very soon, or by end of the month (Dec. 31). Some are “while supply lasts,” …
COLUMN: During their O-Live broadcast/webcast today, Open Labs revealed their newest music PC product, called SoundSlate, which has the Open Labs UI, and about 10,000 sounds built-in, with support for dual monitors. It’s a stand …
COLUMN: Hello again, and I hope some of you are finding these holiday music instrument and software count-down deals of interest. There are certainly more and more of them popping up in anticipation of black …
REVIEW: If you’re a long-time user of Propellerhead’s REASON application, or just coming back to it with the new version 4, as I am, then you are probably impressed by Reason’s new capabilities, and its …
COLUMN: Here I am again with a bunch of new music instrument deals. Couldn’t wait a week for these since many of them are only good for a short time, or only during November. If …
COLUMN: As many of you who know me already know, I’m a bit of a bargain hound, or deal hunter, or whatever you might call it. Every month I get a raft of “wow” deals …
COLUMN: This week Cakewalk announced the latest update to their venerable DAW platform, SONAR. While it’s been updated annually with full incremental versions, sometimes to the criticism by users (e.g., “why not fix all issues …
REVIEW: I’m a big fan of Open Labs’ music workstation instruments, so I was pretty excited when they announced the rebirth of their XXL model this spring, which was not available last October 2008 when …
COLUMN: Applemania 2009. In one of the most anticipated tech stories this week, Apple’s visionary leader Steve Jobs took to the stage at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco. The initial announcements included a …
COLUMN: The kind folks at Best Service today offered our readers a free “demo” version of TITAN, their new virtual instrument which contains samples from over 200 classic synths and modern gear. Unlike most demo …
COLUMN: Access Music has announced that their latest non-beta OS for their Ti line of keyboards is available for download. They are also formally announcing their new website is live, however it’s still a bit …
COLUMN: Sonic Charge announced this week the update to their nifty “organic” virtual synth, Synplant. Version 1.0.1 fixes some minor things, including Cakewalk Sonar support (a problem I experienced, and which held up my review, …
