Sweden — Finally the long awaited (and announced) title in the Toontrack Music Toontrack Software Tools series is ready for release. Taking a new angle on the conversion of drum audio to drum MIDI and drum sound replacement, Drumtracker(R) features stand alone operation and all out manual operation. Like other tools in the TST series Drumtracker is compatible with all major drum sampler MIDI mappings in the market. Drumtracker is another step in Toontrack Music’s endeavor to deliver a complete solution for production, composition and drum performance for players and producers alike. Drumtracker will be available through Toontrack Music distributors and retailers at the end of December.

Drumtracker is a stand alone, host independent, multi-track audio to MIDI converter. Specifically designed to convert drum session audio recordings to MIDI files for drum replacement purposes, Drumtracker will grant your drums a new lease of life.

The built-in filters in Drumtracker allow you to quickly detect the most common instruments and specify the velocity threshold for each section of your song. In addition, you may, of course, save your own filter presets to gain valuable time when sound replacing.

Best of all, Drumtracker lets you select which part or parts of a drum audio track to convert, down to each single hit. You can change the velocity, delete, add or move trigger points to your requirements, giving you manual control of tracking and converting audio to MIDI, to supplement automatic detection.

Audition the triggered parts using Drumtracker built-in sample library, then, when you are happy with the result, convert the MIDI rendered by Drumtracker to the mapping system of your favorite drum sampler.

More information: www.toontrack.com/drumtracker.asp .

Technorati Tags: Toontrack Drumtracker, drum replacement software

London, UK — Ministry of Sound and iZotope today announced that, in a groundbreaking collaboration for iPhone and iPod touch, fans can now buy the iDrum: Ministry of Sound Anthems album from the iTunes Store and also purchase a companion application from the Apple App Store that lets them create original music. “This is a truly unique experience where some of the best known dance music sounds of the last two decades are now available to be recreated on iPhone at the touch of a button.” said Van Uong, licensing account manager at Ministry of Sound.

“With the combination of iDrum’s simple Multi-Touch user interface and Ministry of Sound’s incredible sample content, you can create your own club anthems right in the palm of your hand,” said Nick Dika, content manager at iZotope.

iDrum: Ministry of Sound Anthems lets iPhone and iPod touch owners recreate their favorite club tracks of yesterday and today. This special edition of iDrum is the perfect companion to Ministry of Sound’s newest album representing clubbing history, “Anthems II.” Starting with professionally produced iDrum kits that emulate the greatest anthems in clubbing history, users can customize the included beats any way they like or mix and match over 300 original samples to make their own epic tracks. iDrum’s simple interface lets even novice users build beats layer by layer by tapping the touch screen or create music with simple shapes and color combinations that let anyone visualize the rhythm.

Features:
* Includes professionally produced samples and beats from Ministry of Sound ­ over 300 original classic and old school dance samples and 20 unique kits with dozens of pre-made patterns
* Customize patterns to create your own unique beats
* Take control of the rhythm of every drum sound and sample
* Tap the screen to play and record your own musical patterns

A collaboration between Ministry of Sound and iZotope, this special edition of iDrum is the perfect companion to Ministry of Sound’s newest album representing clubbing history, “Anthems II,” now available on the iTunes Store. The follow up to last year’s over half million selling album, “Anthems II” includes three discs filled with the best club classics of all time.

iDrum: Ministry of Sound Anthems is available for $5.99 USD from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch.

About Ministry of Sound (www.ministryofsound.com)

Headquartered in London, Ministry of Sound is a global dance music and digital lifestyle entertainment brand delivering content, music and lifestyle products both offline and through multiple digital channels. Since first opening its doors as a London nightclub in 1991, Ministry of Sound has become a truly international brand with offices and clubs worldwide. Ministry of Sound is also the world’s largest independent record company.

About iZotope, Inc. (www.izotope.com)

iZotope is a research-driven audio signal processing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its hardware products, software products, and audio technology are used by millions of people in over 50 countries, from hobbyist musicians to GRAMMY Award winners. iZotope focuses on developing innovative audio technology for professional and consumer applications. This core technology is presented to customers in its award-winning product line and through its extensive licensing program.

Technorati Tags: iDrum Ministry of Sound Anthems, iZotope

MADISON, Wisc. — Sony Creative Software, a leading provider of professional video and audio production applications, today announced ACID Pro 7 digital audio workstation software, available in early November. Unlike any other software offering in its class, ACID Pro 7 software offers powerful and intuitive DAW functionality for today’s media professional including multitrack recording, 5.1 surround sound mixing, robust MIDI sequencing and best-in-class loop-based music production. Now Microsoft Vista compatible, ACID Pro 7 software enables a faster and more flexible creative environment by providing precise control over the music creation process through enhancements such as a new mixing environment, MIDI track freeze, tempo curves, improved Beatmapping, and additional import/export options.

“The key to developing a superior professional digital audio workstation has always been about providing a better means for channeling one’s inspiration from the first, initial creative spark, to the final output coming from one’s computer. ACID Pro 7 is no exception,” said Dave Chaimson, Sony Creative Software vice president of global marketing. “Whether tracking a live band, performing on stage, scoring film, working in post-production or simply trying to cut a new demo in your studio, there is no other professional application that can provide the intuitive solutions by which to make it all happen. From our rock-solid stability, to the depth of unique features for enhancing creative expression — Sony’s ACID technology has been at the heart of digital music production for a decade and will continue to offer more innovations for multitrack recording, MIDI sequencing and loop-based music production for those whose who want their creative ideas to truly make a difference.”

“ACID has long been an invaluable tool for my work in composing film and commercial soundtracks,” said Jason Gleed, New York-based producer, music composer and musician who has recently worked on movie soundtracks for the Sex and the City, Speed Racer and Hamlet 2 films using ACID Pro. “With ACID Pro, the software never gets in the way of my creativity. The new features in version 7 will help me work even more quickly to produce imaginative music that keeps my phone ringing with requests for new projects.”

New ACID Pro 7 Features

ACID Pro 7 software advances the application’s DAW functionality with new features that make the music production process flow even smoother by leveraging the Transparent Technology that Sony is so well known for in all of its professional music applications. The software provides extensive digital audio production tools that support many different production workflows in one complete application. In addition, ACID Pro 7 software now includes interactive tutorials to help new users get started quickly.

New ACID Pro 7 features include:

Audio and MIDI mixing console
The new audio and MIDI mixing console offers additional routing options, providing a much more efficient in-studio recording environment. The mixing console offers an integrated look at all tracks and busses in an ACID project with the appearance of a traditional hardware-based mixer, yet can be customized to provide users with the best view of even the most complex session.

MIDI Track Freeze
With ACID Pro 7 software users can freeze MIDI tracks that use multiple soft synths and render them as a .wav file which can then be streamed and played back as audio files. MIDI Track Freeze provides faster results and greater CPU efficiency during a mixing session when using multiple soft synths.

Real-time rendering
Real-time rendering allows users to incorporate live input from external sources such as an instrument, microphone or MIDI controller device. Users can route audio to external hardware, and effects processors.

Input busses
With input busses, users have greater control over routing input signals, including the ability to record from external devices with effects, mix external audio sources with projects, use external effects processors with tracks and busses and perform real-time input monitoring.

Enhanced timestretch and pitch shifting with Zplane élastique Pro
Mixes created with ACID Pro 7 software sound better than ever using new élastique timestretching from Zplane. The Company’s state-of-the-art processing technology provides ACID Pro 7 software with new algorithms that provide nearly artifact-free time stretching and pitch shifting. Beatmapped tracks can be time stretched and pitch shifted even more dramatically while retaining maximum sound quality.

Enhanced Beatmapping for tracks with multiple tempos
The enhanced Beatmapping in ACID Pro 7 software allows users to Beatmap songs with varying tempos and time signatures, providing more flexibility when composing songs and performing remixes.

Tempo curves
Users can create dramatic or subtle tempo changes in their ACID Pro projects using new tempo curves that provide a more efficient way to linearly adjust your music’s pacing.

FLAC, AAC, AC-3 Studio, and MPEG-2 format support
Users can import and export additional file formats with ACID Pro 7 software, allowing for more options with streaming media and hardware devices including the Apple iPod.

Additional Benefits of ACID Pro 7

ACID Pro 7 software comes with a software bundle valued at $500, which includes the Garritan Aria for ACID Pro player and custom sample library developed in conjunction with Plogue Art et Technologie Inc., the ACID Pro Effects Rack powered by iZotope, Submersible Music KitCore and Native Instruments Guitar Combos. ACID Pro 7 software also includes over 3,000 music loops and 1,000 MIDI files. Additionally, ACID Pro 7 enables users to upload songs to the ACIDplanet.com online music community directly from the ACID Pro interface. For even more music creation content, Sony Creative Software offers the industry’s most extensive content collection of over 130 high-quality loop libraries optimized to work with the ACID product line. For a complete listing of all features, please visit www.sonycreativesoftware.com/acidpro.

Price and Availability

The ACID Pro 7 digital audio workstation will be available in early November from retailers worldwide as well as from www.sonycreativesoftware.com. A localized Japanese version will be also available in November. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for ACID Pro 7 software is U.S. $399.95.

Technorati Tags: Sony Creative Software, ACID Pro 7 digital audio workstation

Los Angeles, Calif. — AES: Meet the new Pro Tools® 8 — the most advanced audio creation and production software, featuring a gorgeous new interface; dozens of new plug-ins; five new virtual instruments; exciting new scoring, MIDI, editing, and mixing capabilities; deeper controller integration; improved ease of installation and use; and enhanced performance. With Pro Tools 8, you get the most comprehensive music and sound creation features and functionality, and the proven, dedicated platform for world-class audio production — all in a single application. Pro Tools 8 is coming soon for Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE®, and Pro Tools M-Powered™ systems, so get ready — you’ll never work with audio the same way again.

“Pro Tools 8 benefits from the valuable feedback we received from our dedicated Pro Tools creative community, along with Avid’s passion for creating great audio and video tools that move technology forward,” explains Dave Lebolt, Avid senior vice president and chief technology officer. “Our customers provide a comprehensive real-world knowledge base that we draw upon for inspiration and guidance. It’s a synergy of size and scope unique to Pro Tools in the world of audio. We are very excited to deliver the latest results of this partnership back to our customers in the form of Pro Tools 8.”

At first glance, the most noticeable new feature in Pro Tools 8 is its striking user interface, which has been stylishly enhanced with a more modern color palette, as well as higher-contrast text and graphics. This redesigned user interface frames a dramatically expanded set of creative tools and a host of features for music creators, editors, mixers, and post production professionals. All the key Pro Tools functions that users rely on are still right where they should be, but enhancements, such as dockable Editor windows and a configurable Edit window toolbar, make it easier to navigate than ever before.

For composers and musicians, Pro Tools 8 provides powerful functionality for streamlining the creative process, as well as a robust bundle of over 70 plug-ins and virtual instruments, which deliver the most versatile sonic palette ever available out-of-the-box for Pro Tools. New music creation features include:

Fully integrated, dockable MIDI and Score Editor windows for greatly enhanced MIDI editing functionality and professional score editing and printing

A sizable collection of music creation and sound-processing plug-ins, including 20 all-new AIR effects and five new virtual instruments—Mini Grand piano, Boom drum machine, DB-33 tonewheel organ, Vacuum tube-modeled synthesizer, and Xpand!2™ sample player

High-quality amplifiers simulation thanks to Digidesign’s acclaimed new guitar amp emulator Eleven™ Free as well as Tech21 SansAmp® amplifier emulator by Bomb Factory®

A large bundle of high-quality loops

For music and post production professionals, Pro Tools 8 offers:

Revolutionary new Elastic Pitch makes it easy to transpose music in real time right in the Edit window

10 inserts per channel

Enhanced controller integration with Digidesign® and M-Audio® control surfaces

ICON integration enhancements that dramatically increase speed and efficiency

HD QuickTime support on Mac OS X for dramatically increased versatility

Pro Tools|HD 8 enhances the extensive capabilities of Digidesign’s flagship Pro Tools|HD audio hardware, with support for the new Satellite Link option, which allows users to control up to five Pro Tools|HD systems as one. For the ultimate in post production efficiency, the Media Composer®-based Video Satellite option brings Avid® HD/SD video playback into the Pro Tools|HD audio workflow, while the Video Satellite LE option brings QuickTime HD/SD or Avid SD video playback into the Pro Tools|HD audio workflow, all without sacrificing audio track counts or processing power.

For project studio owners, Pro Tools LE 8 and Pro Tools M-Powered 8 have been expanded to support up to 48 simultaneous audio tracks. Adding the new Music Production Toolkit 2 or DV Toolkit™ 2 (Pro Tools LE only), gives users access to up to 64 audio tracks. And for serious Pro Tools LE users, the new Complete Production Toolkit (Pro Tools LE only) combines the content of both toolkits above, and offers up to 128 simultaneous audio tracks AND 7.1 surround mixing.

Pro Tools 8 software is expected to be available in late 2008 for Windows Vista- (32-bit Business or Ultimate), Windows XP-, and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)-based Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools M-Powered systems.

More Great New Features
Pro Tools 8 is chock full of many other amazing new features that’ll help you become more efficient, inspire your creativity, and provide more flexibility for your workflow needs.

Here’s what you can experience when Pro Tools 8 hits the streets:

- Check for Updates feature keeps Pro Tools and your plug-ins up to date
- Windows Vista (32-bit Business or Ultimate) support on Pro Tools|HD
- QuickTime HD support on Mac OS X-based systems
- Enhanced session open and close times on Pro Tools|HD
- Supports files up to 4 GB in size, letting you work with longer files with higher sample rates.

Technorati Tags: Digidesign Pro Tools 8

San Francisco, Calif — AES: iZotope, Inc., a leading innovator in audio signal processing technology, announces iZotope Ozone 4, an update to its critically-acclaimed software mastering suite. Ozone 4 builds on the program’s reputation for superior sound quality and industry-standard mastering tools with new innovations. iZotope has updated and expanded Ozone’s processing algorithms, optimizing them for today’s low-latency DAW environments. Ozone 4 features a new Intelligent Loudness Maximizer, Perfect Reconstruction crossovers, mid/side processing for superior control over the sound stage, and a new True Envelope dynamics processing mode. In addition, numerous interface improvements and ease-of-use additions make Ozone even more accessible to musicians and engineers who want to quickly finalize their projects.

Key Features:

• Integrated mastering system combining analog warmth and digital precision
• New Intelligent Loudness Maximizer mode provides full-sounding masters while handling transients with unprecedented clarity
• New Perfect Reconstruction crossovers combine analog character with digital clarity
• New mid/side processing adds a whole new dimension of power to Ozone’s EQ, dynamics and harmonic exciter by letting you process different parts of the soundstage separately
• True Envelope dynamics processing introduces a new alternative to traditional Peak and RMS-based dynamics processing for exceptionally transparent compression, expansion and limiting
• Improved and enhanced preset system lets users adjust a few simple parameters to get amazing results
• Many more interface and ease-of-use additions

Plug-in formats:
Pro Tools 7 (RTAS/AudioSuite), VST, MAS, Audio Units, and DirectX

Platforms:
Windows Vista, XP
Apple OS X (Universal Binary)

Pricing and availability:
Ozone 4 will ship in January of 2009 for $249 MSRP.

iZotope Ozone 4 will be distributed worldwide by M-Audio, and will also available direct from iZotope online. Ozone 4 will be available in January of 2009. Customers who buy Ozone 3 after October 1, 2008 are eligible for a free upgrade to Ozone 4 when it is released. Existing Ozone 3 customers will be able to upgrade for only $79 (US).

About iZotope, Inc.

iZotope is a research-driven audio signal processing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its hardware products, software products, and audio technology are used by millions of people in over 50 countries, from hobbyist musicians to GRAMMY® Award winners. iZotope focuses on developing innovative audio technology for professional and consumer applications. This core technology is presented to customers in its award-winning product line and through its extensive licensing program.

Technorati Tags: iZotope Ozone 4, AES 2008

Cambridge, Mass. –­ iZotope, Inc., a leading developer of tools for musicians and audio professionals, today announced that iDrum, its beat creation application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch is now available on the Apple App Store. The new application makes beat-making available to everyone with its simple interface and professionally produced content. “iZotope sees the iPhone platform as a perfect opportunity to bring mobile music making to everyone,” says Jeremy Todd, CTO of iZotope, Inc. “With iDrum for the iPhone and iPod touch, we’ve created a unique music-making application that is fun for everyone from complete beginners to professional beat-makers.”

iDrum allows users to combine professional sound content and patterns to create their own music. The iDrum application takes advantage of unique features of the iPhone platform—users can tap virtual pads to create rhythms, shake the handset to clear patterns, and use slide and flick gestures to navigate the application’s interface. Immersive, colorful visuals show the relationship between different sounds in the beat, allowing users to create new rhythms by creating visual patterns. Using a special companion application, beats can even be turned into ringtones for iPhone.

The original iZotope iDrum application for Mac and PC is already a favorite tool of both home musicians and GRAMMY-winning producers for its ease of use and versatility. The iPhone adaptation of iDrum combines the power and professional sound of the original iDrum with a completely new interface designed to let even users with no musical experience create original beats.

The first two versions of iDrum, Hip Hop Edition and Club Edition, are now available for US$4.99 each from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/ iZotope plans to release different genre-based editions of iDrum in the coming months.

About iZotope, Inc.
iZotope is a research-driven audio signal processing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Its hardware products, software products, and audio technology are used by millions of people in over 50 countries, from hobbyist musicians to GRAMMY Award winners. iZotope focuses on developing innovative audio technology for professional and consumer applications. This core technology is presented to customers in its award-winning product line and through its extensive licensing program.

Technorati Tags: music software for iPhone and iTouch, iZotope Inc, Jeremy Todd, iDrum Application

COLUMN: I knew something was brewing when I went to my favorite online music store (Sweetwater) to see if they had the Tascam Gigastudio GVI 4 upgrade from GVI3 in stock yet, and noticed it had disappeared from the site entirely. Then going to some other music stores who said the item was discontinued. Then going to the Tascam site, where any mention of the new GS 4 and GVI 4 had disappeared, and in doing a search could only find the products in the “legacy” drop-downs under both products and support. Uh oh.

While I could not find any official announcement on the Tascam site in their press release section, it does appear that Tascam has cancelled any further development or release of the GS product line. One anecdotal forum comment I found today stated that support will end Dec. 31 of this year, which I have yet to confirm with Tascam.

One site did post the following last week, but I cannot locate the original source: “TEAC America, Inc. will cease further development of Gigastudio and Gigastudio related products as of July 21, 2008. Product sales and technical support will continue through the end of the year.”

In response to this, a “make Giga open source” movement and petition has started, and can be found here: www.opengigastudio.com . Notable GS figures, including Larry Seyer, seem to have “blessed” the petition, so there is some pretty vociferous commentary going on in that site’s petition/forum page.

I’ve been using GS since it was Nemesys Gigasampler, on a lowly 333Mhz PC. I now have a dedicated dual-core AMD machine running GS3, and I also have GVI3, and I just bought the GS3 Orchestra to GS4 upgrade. I’m now wondering if I should bother to even upgrade my GS3 to GS4, since it may be the only patch we’ll see for any GS4 bugs is the existing 4.01 patch already posted on the Tascam site. And what will this mean for GSIF support on sound cards? Luckily my ECHO audio cards all have drivers from the wonderful ECHO folks, but what about the future?

This is particularly disappointing since I have been working on a new giant sample instrument for GS called Neotrope® Obscura™ which is built around unique sounds from my two Hartman Neurons, Kawai K5000s, Ensoniq Fizmo, Waldorf Q+, Korg Poly 800, Korg Z-1, various vintage Oberheim analogs, and Studio Electronics SE1x and CODE 8 OD synths. I had planned to offer this come January at the next NAMM show, running primarily on GS/GVI, but also available for other samplers and the Cakewalk instruments. But now? Hmmm. Should I even continue tweaking all the thousands of sound files for the Gigastudio environment, or what? Argh!

It is truly bizarre that there has been no formal announcement from Tascam on this (well, at least to the users), and it may be that this caught the Gigastudio development team off guard. Since the GS4 product was being shown at music shows earlier this year, and shrink wrapped boxes are in stores, it seems strange that days or weeks prior to the GVI4 launch for Mac/Intel and Windows, to have it all chopped off at the knees, is strange. One can only assume this is an economic decision based on sales figures. Of course, that’s a catch 22 … if you don’t support your product, kill off any company-sponsored community, don’t release new libraries, don’t put out a customer newsletter for months (sheesh … I can’t recall the last Gigastudio newsletter I got?), then you lose customers since you’re not supporting it. So, then to kill it because people are leaving because YOU are not supporting it, is whacky.

It’s unfortunate, too, because many of us actually using GS are film composers, sound designers, producers, and others who prefer the simpler interface, the rich library of sounds, and the long history and pleasure of using the system (the last year has been an awfully quiet one, ever since the dedicated Gigastudio website went bye-bye).

Soooo…. what now? It’s a bit of a shock and awe moment, and one I think a lot of users are going through, since the death of GS was not something we (or at least, I) expected.

Feel free to post your thoughts, below, in the comments box.

Technorati Tags: Gigastudio cancelled, Tascam kills Gigastudio, Christopher Simmons

BERLIN, Germany — Native Instruments and Beatport recently unveiled Beatport SYNC, a free music playback application for Mac and Windows that provides a unique feature set for modern listening habits. Based on the groundbreaking TRAKTOR DJ software, Beatport SYNC combines powerful music management capabilities with basic DJ mixing functions and full integration of the Beatport online store in one easy-to-use application.

Equipped with two playback decks and a crossfader section, Beatport SYNC allows everybody to easily mix and match individual tracks into one consistent flow of music. Aspects like beat detection, tempo synchronization and loudness optimization are all handled automatically and intelligently by the software. This makes Beatport SYNC perfect for getting a feel for the basics of DJing, for effortlessly providing a creative party mix, or for preparing the track list of a professional DJ set.

The comprehensive track management functions in Beatport SYNC also make it an ideal tool to handle today’s evergrowing digital music collections, complete with extensive tag editing options, sophisticated archiving features and seamless iTunes and iPod integration. Beatport SYNC can directly play, browse, catalogue and backup music files from practically any kind of connected storage device, including MP3 players, PDAs, USB sticks and cell phones.

The underlying technology from Native Instruments’ professional TRAKTOR DJ software equips Beatport SYNC with studio-grade playback quality, advanced time-stretching technology and support for a multitude of compressed and uncompressed digital audio formats.

The seamlessly integrated online store in Beatport SYNC allows users to conveniently pre-listen, download and play tracks from Beatport’s unrivalled repertoire of electronic music releases within a single interface. Tracks from Beatport can even be previewed in-sync with each other as well as with any track in a user’s music collection.

“Our alliance with Beatport is about making music performance and music distribution come together with all our combined expertise,” says Daniel Haver, CEO of Native Instruments. “After the successful integration of Beatport and Traktor, Beatport Sync marks the next important step in this direction, and one that should introduce even more music fans to the creative gratification of DJing.”

“Beatport Sync is a great example of how our partnership makes technologies connect,” says Beatport CEO Jonas Tempel. “It offers a great option for people to conveniently discover the latest in electronic music and instantly be creative with it.”

Beatport SYNC is now available as a free download both on the Native Instruments and Beatport website.

More information on Beatport SYNC can be found at
www.native-instruments.com/beatportsync.info

About Native Instruments:
Native Instruments is the pioneer and market leader in the field of software instruments, and one of the key players in the market of computer-based audio production technology. The company’s mission is to develop outstanding musical tools for all styles and genres. The resulting products regularly push technological boundaries and open up new creative horizons for professionals and amateurs alike.

About Beatport:
Beatport is the recognized leader of electronic music downloads by DJs and fans alike delivering content in premium-encoded formats that match the professional performance quality standards of the world’s leading sound systems. Beatport.com allows users to access the world of club music through secure, legal, hi-speed, high quality downloads in MP3, MP4 and WAV formats on a pay per download basis from an impressive library of the world’s leading independent labels.

Technorati Tags: Beatport Sync free music software, electronic music releases, iTunes and iPod integration

RECIFE, Brazil — D’Accord Music Software, the Brazilian leader in music software, announces a new version of its award-winning software - iChords - that recognizes and presents chords from any MP3, WMA files or CDs. By using iChords 2.0, the new version, musicians can learn how to play any song on keyboard or guitar. It also exports song videos to iPods(TM) and mobile phones.

Popular features enable users to automatically retrieve CD chords, and those from MP3, WAV and WMA files. It also creates WMV or MP4 videos with the song, chords and lyrics.

“Musicians throughout the world adopted the first version, and we are excited to release iChords 2.0,” Americo Amorim, D’Accord’s Executive Director, said. “Our users will love the new features such as exporting videos to their iPod.”

D’Accord’s iChords 2.0 is a musician’s dream come true. Chords, in any song, are identified without searching for tablatures or sheet music. The software is easy-to-use and after opening a song file, it automatically processes and extracts the chords.

The new export video feature generates a file with the song being played on the guitar or keyboard and allows musicians to create personalized transcriptions. For instance, they can change the transcribed chords and add song lyrics in a karaoke-like style. If lyrics are added and chords transposed, they can be printed together with chord diagrams. For each chord, the software presents fingering and notation.

Novice players can configure the difficulty level of the presented chords and choose from easy, medium or difficult; it’s possible to play from simple harmonies to complex musical pieces.

For guitar players, there are four different guitar-view modes, including one for left-handed players. And, users can control the tempo, according to skill.

D’Accord relies on experienced researchers, software engineers and musicians to work together to develop innovative products and services. Its products are among the most popular on several download sites such as Download.com and are used by millions of musicians in more than 65 countries.

The software is compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000, 2003, XP and Vista.

A trial version of iChords 2.0 is available for download at: www.daccordmusic.com.

Technorati Tags: iChords music recognition software, Americo Amorim, D’Accord Music Software

HAMBURG, Germany — Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH is proud to announce a new version of its award-winning Nuendo audio production environment. Nuendo 4 offers a range of new features and technologies dedicated to mixers, engineers and editors in post production, studio recording and live recording.

“Nuendo 4 empowers audio professionals by elevating both creativity and productivity to new heights,” comments Steinberg’s General Manager Andreas Stelling. “The new functionality accelerates and enhances workflows by increasing efficiency and speed, offering probably the most valuable commodity in today’s deadline-driven world: more time. And because Nuendo 4 caters directly to audio post and studio production, Steinberg is now in the unique position of being able to offer dedicated products for four different target groups: Nuendo for the post and pro audio community, Cubase for musicians, composers and producers, WaveLab for audio editors and mastering engineers, and Sequel for entry-level music creation enthusiasts.”

Among the new functionality in Nuendo 4 is a state-of-the-art new automation system on par with the world’s best. Preview mode, Fill commands, Punch Logs, Virgin Territories and the unique new Touch Collect Assistant are only some of the new functions which unite the best functionality found on traditional hardware mixing consoles with the flexibility inherent in Nuendo 4 as a modern DAW environment.

The new MediaBay file management system for audio, video and other media files can replace many external FX database solutions. MediaBay browses, archives, retrieves and searches media files across any connected drive. Utilizing intelligent database technology, user-definable tags and other features MediaBay allows instant pulling up and filtering of search results, smart file management and much more.

Nuendo 4 sees a vastly upgraded set of 38 new first-class surround- and sidechaining-capable VST3 audio effect plug-ins that cover dynamics, spatial FX and filtering for almost any situation. Standard on each channel is a brand new VST3 Channel EQ, with an audio quality that can replace many expensive additional 3rd party EQ plug-ins. Drag & drop and copy/paste for plug-ins make using plug-ins in Nuendo 4 even faster and more efficient.

Nuendo 4 offers a range of features designed specifically to accelerate and enhance workflows in audio post production. Advanced post pro editing commands allow even faster editing workflows, including many new options to move, place and trim audio faster and with outstanding precision to save valuable time. The highly flexible Post Filter is engineered specifically for audio post, and features special options to remove unwanted noises form audio material, for example from location recording.

Flexible new recording and routing options offer creative new ways to route and manipulate audio, with any track now able to record audio from any summing object such as groups or FX returns. Common recording configurations such as stems and print master recording are now extremely easy to setup, obviating the need to route audio outside the system for recording on external recorders.

Nuendo Expansion Kit: Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4
Together with the launch of Nuendo 4, Steinberg also introduces an additional product: Nuendo Expansion Kit: Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4 (NEK). This add-on module to Nuendo 4 contains optional music compositional functionality, including full Cubase scoring and notation, the Cubase MIDI Drum Editor, four integrated VST instruments as well as support for the MusicXML standard.

Nuendo 4 is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and both Intel and PPC-based Macintosh computers running Mac OS10.4.

Price and availability
Nuendo 4 is priced at $1799.99 MSRP, with the optional NEK module available at $299.99 MSRP and will be available in October, 2007.

About Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH
Steinberg is known the world over for its professional media solutions. The company has been developing, manufacturing and selling software products for musicians and producers in the music, film, post production, and multimedia industries since 1984. Steinberg products are used by Grammy(R) and Oscar(R) award winning composers, engineers, and producers. For more information, please visit www.steinberg.net.

Technorati Tags: Steinberg Nuendo 4, Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4, Cubase MIDI Drum Editor, audio post and studio production