Universal Audio is proud to announce Apollo, a high-resolution audio interface that combines UA’s analog design heritage with esteemed UAD Powered Plug-Ins in a sleek, elegant recording system. With Apollo, music producers and performers can finally track through UAD Powered Plug-Ins in real time, via a professional 18 x 24 FireWire/Thunderbolt-ready audio interface that delivers class-leading 24-bit/192 kHz sound quality.

“Apollo is the culmination of 10 years of analog and digital audio development here at UA,” said Bill Putnam Jr., Universal Audio founder. “In many ways, it’s brought the analog and digital sides of our company together. With Apollo, we’re delivering the sound, feel, and flow of analog recording with all the conveniences of modern digital equipment, including next-generation Thunderbolt technology.”

Apollo is, first and foremost, a well-built, high-resolution audio interface, featuring premium mic preamps and top-end converters to deliver the lowest THD and highest dynamic range in its class. Its Core Audio drivers ensure compatibility with all major DAWs, including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Live, and more. Moreover, Apollo’s Console application and companion Console Recall plug-in (VST/AU/RTAS) provide control and recall of all interface and UAD plug-in settings within individual DAW sessions, even months and years later.

Apollo differentiates itself from all other audio interfaces, however, via its onboard UAD-2 DSP Acceleration. This onboard processing allows for recording through UAD-2 Powered Plug-Ins — with nearly instant sub-2ms latency — so that music producers can quickly monitor, audition, and “print” audio using a wide range of popular analog emulation plug-ins from Ampex, Lexicon, Manley, Neve, Roland, SSL, Studer, and more (sold separately). In this way, Apollo’s sonic character and tonal options are virtually limitless. The onboard UAD-2 processors are also available for mixing and mastering, offloading processing from the host computer.

Notably, Apollo offers compatibility with Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology, as found on the newest iMacs, MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs. Available via a user-installable Thunderbolt Option Card, Thunderbolt provides lower latency, reduced audio buffer size, improved performance at high sample rates, and greater UAD plug-in instances versus FireWire.

“Thunderbolt technology makes possible a whole new class of products to enhance music production workflows and creativity,” says Jason Ziller, Director of Marketing and Planning for Thunderbolt technology at Intel Corporation. “Products like Universal Audio’s Apollo are using Thunderbolt to rock music producers’ worlds.”

Apollo incorporates numerous design hallmarks from classic UA analog gear, including its fast, easy workflow. Dedicated front-panel controls are present for all the most common features, including preamp gain, channel selection, mic pad, +48V phantom power, low cut, monitor level, and dual headphone controls.

Apollo’s connectivity includes 4 digitally controlled analog mic preamps, 8 balanced line inputs and outputs, dual front-panel JFET DIs, digitally-controlled analog monitor outputs, 8 channels of ADAT, 2 channels of S/PDIF, word clock I/O, FireWire 800 (standard), and a Thunderbolt expansion bay — making it a well-equipped centerpiece for the modern project studio.

On the Mac, Apollo requires OS X 10.6 or later, an Intel processor, an available FireWire or Thunderbolt port and a compatible AU, VST or RTAS host application.

The Apollo High-Resolution Audio Interface will be available in both DUO CORE and QUAD CORE processing formats (with either two or four Analog Devices SHARC processors, respectively). Apollo will be shipping in the first quarter of 2012, with an estimated street price of $1,999 (DUO processing model) and $2,499 (QUAD processing model). Apollo’s Thunderbolt Option Card will be shipping in the first half of 2012, with an ESP of $499.

www.uaudio.com/apollo

FXpansion is proud to present Tremor, a software drum machine with powerful synthesis, effects, modulation and step-sequencing. DCAM circuit-modelled sound generation is fused with new ideas to produce original sounds with the punch and extreme sound pressure of old-school analogue. Tremor’s dance drums, funky beatscapes, abstract machines and undiscovered sonic terrain are suited to all kinds of electronic, urban and experimental music.

Central to each of Tremor’s 8 synthesis engines is a specialized DCAM oscillator with harmonic partials akin to a drumskin’s modes of vibration. Mixed with a sub-oscillator and tuned noise source, the signal is sculpted by modelled drive/filter/FX sections and razor-sharp envelopes. Tremor’s diverse output includes classic kicks, snares and claps, organic hats and body-shaking subs alongside futuristic zaps, scrapes, textures and sounds that defy classification.

The TransMod modulation system in Tremor is easier and deeper than a mod-matrix. It offers new sound design possibilities and lets you animate sounds with LFOs, step-automation sequences and real-time macro controls while the synthesis engine reacts just like real analogue circuits. Tremor’s sonic potential is showcased in the included suite of presets by a team of elite sound designers.

Feature Hightlights

• Synthetic drum machine software
• DCAM-modelled synthesis and FX
• Specialised oscillator with drumskin vibration partials
• Filtering and drive with multiple responses
• Deep, intuitive TransMod modulation system
• Polyrhythmic pattern step-sequencer
• VST, AU, RTAS and standalone

On the Mac, Tremor requires OS X 10.5.8 and above, a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM. FXpansion recommends a 2.9 GHz Intel i5 processor and 2 GB of DDR3 RAM.

Tremor is available now via download from the FXpansion web shop for $149 / €119 / £99. Until 9 February 2012, Tremor is available for $99 / €79 / £69 to all registered owners of Geist or DCAM: Synth Squad (and for customers purchasing Tremor at the same time as Geist or DCAM: Synth Squad).

http://www.fxpansion.com/

ValhallaDSP has announced the release of ÜberMod, a unique mutltap delay and modulation plug-in. With up to 32 modulated delay taps, extensive diffusion and overdrive sections, and parallel slow and vibrato LFOs, ÜberMod can be used to create lush dimensional choruses, classic string ensembles, tape and BBD echoes, nonlinear and reverse reverbs, and a bunch of sounds that defy categorization.

Feature List:

• True stereo signal path, for maintaining the spatial image of stereo inputs
• Delay times that can be synced to tempo, to create modulated delays and nonlinear reverbs at specific beat rates
• Unique WIDTH control, that varies the spatial image from mono to stereo to “super-stereo”
• Separate parameters for the detune and vibrato oscillators, to have high level control of up to 32 independent LFOs
• OverMod control, to turn up modulation depth beyond the bounds of sanity
• A high level DEPTH parameter, for quick adjustments to the overall chorus modulation amount
• A large number of chorus tap modes (2/4/6/8/16/32 Taps, Dual Ensemble, 16Phase) for dialing in specific chorus, ensemble, and nonlinear reverb sounds
• Diffusion section (with adjustable amount, size, mod width and mod depth) for creating delays that smear over time, diffusion choruses, and modulated reverbs
• Drive section (with pregain, postgain, and noise gain) for emulating tape saturation & analog delays
• Taps menu, for adjusting the spacing, slope, left/right skew, and randomization of the output taps
• A simple yet powerful EQ section, for rolling off the high and low frequencies, and switching between bright and dark color modes
• SPEED control, to double the delay time and drop the pitch of the signal within the delay buffers
• All parameter changes are smoothed to avoid clicks, and to generate tape echo-esque effects — the smoothing time can be adjusted to create a variety of swishing, whooshing boing sounds
• Resizable GUI influenced by NASA Human Interface specifications & Swiss School of graphic design — “Minimalist GUI, Maximalist Sound.”
• High level controls have dedicated sliders, while the “tweakier” controls are selected via their own panels
• Cross platform/DAW preset mechanism, that allows presets to be easily exchanged with other ÜberMod users via text based copy and paste

ÜberMod is available in AU (32/64-bit), VST (32/64-bit) and RTAS plug-in formats, and may be purchased via direct download from ValhallaDSP for $50. A free trial version is also available.

http://www.valhalladsp.com/valhallaubermod

Audio Ease has announced the release of Altiverb 7, the original cross-platform convolution reverb that uses samples of actual spaces and classic gear to generate ambiance with software. Version 7 features an updated user interface, keyword searching and new modulation capabilities.

The Impulse response (sampled spaces) library is more accessible then ever because of Altiverb’s new picture browser: quicker loading, organize-by-size, and single click favorites are among its features. Altiverb 7 looks and feels better. Often used controls all line up on the front, while the more exotic ones are in drawers beneath. Keyword searching makes it easier to find the right space among the many hundreds of spaces Altiverb includes.

Altiverb 7 adds an algorithmic reverb that is closely fit to the impulse response. It can optionally add brightness and chaotic modulation in ways only synthetic reverb can while preserving the nature of convolution reverb.

The Impulse response library can be kept up to date from within the plug-in. The TDM structure has been sheavily simplified, altiverb is now the only total recall convolution reverb (without the use of snapshots). It adds drag and drop impulse response making from sweeps, slate claps or anything experimental from piano chords to overhead thunder. Altiverb 7 is fully backwards compatible: you can open up any old project and it will load and sound the same as Altiverb 6.

Altiverb 7 supports 64-bit operation, is Intel Mac only for now, runs in all major VST, Audio Unit and MAS hosts and in ProTools 8, 9 and 10 as a TDM plugin and as RTAS.

The upgrade is free for all Altiverbs purchased in 2010 or later: A grace period of close to two years! Otherwise the upgrade is $215 / €159.

www.audioease.com/altiverb

Flux:: sound and picture development is proud to announce Elixir, a novel kind of program limiter designed to achieve a pure natural sound without altering the audio material and its timbre. Aimed at broadcast, post-production and the mastering industry, Elixir provides real True Peak output level in accordance with the ITU-R.BS 1770 and EBU R128 norms, and for surround/multichannel operation Elixir provides up to 8 channels of simultaneous processing.

Elixir’s straightforward interface makes it exceptionally easy to achieve great results, even under a tight deadline. Simply set the input level, adjust the Threshold according to the amount of limiting desired, and finally enable Make Up for gain compensation and loudness addition. That’s it! For truly delicate and fine processing tasks like mastering, Elixir presents a new innovative concept called Stages, providing the option to set the algorithm to perform limiting in multi-stages, in order to achieve even more precise and natural sounding results.

Example: If the threshold is set to -3 dB and the ‘Stages’ parameter set to 3, the first stage will limit at -1dB, the second stage will limit at -2dB and the third will limit at -3dB, with analyzing performed in each of the three stages.

The algorithm uses an oversampled representation of the audio sample as reference when defining the gain envelope, while the actual processing is applied only to the original non-oversampled data, in order to reduce artifacts (like aliasing) and to achieve the most precise and excellent sounding result presenting none, or effectively reduced, conventional limiting pumping effects even during heavy processing.

In addition to Stages, Elixir presents the option to run the algorithm in a higher resolution mode with even more detail put into the processing, obviously, at the cost of additional CPU-consumption.

On the Mac, Elixir requires OS X 10.5, 10.6, or 10.7, an Intel processor, a 32-bit VST or AU compatible host application, or Pro Tools 8 or later for 32-bit RTAS.

Elixir is available via direct download from Flux:: for $199. An introductory price of $139 is on tap for a limited time. Discounts are also available for current Flux:: customers and bundles.

http://www.fluxhome.com/products/plug_ins/elixir

Sound Radix is happy to announce the release of SurferEQ, an innovative pitch-tracking equalizer AU, VST and RTAS plug-in. It is capable of locking onto a vocal or an instrument pitch and adjusting the EQ frequency to its fundamental pitch, or any of its harmonics thus “surfing” on the sound waves.

Sound Radix designed the EQ filters with new and original algorithms, making every effort to preserve the energy and size of the original recording. In addition to the HP, LP, shelf and bell shaped filters, they have developed a unique harmonic filter, which makes it possible to control the complete harmonic series using only a single band of EQ.

As it is always relevant to the sound source, SurferEQ is a tool like no other. It enables tone shaping in ways that were impossible to achieve previously by other tools.

Features

• Pitch-Tracking Equalizer
• Original Assymetric EQ Algorithms
• Innovative Harmonic Filter
• 64 Bit Internal Processing

SurferEQ is available as RTAS, VST & Audio Units plug-ins.

SurferEQ is currently available at an introductory price of $129 until January 2012. As a thank you to early supporters, users of Auto-Align can purchase SurferEQ for an introductory price of $99 in the User Area.

http://www.soundradix.com/products/surfer-eq

Vertigo Sound, in close cooperation with Brainworx, has announced VSC-2, the first software plug-in based upon Vertigo’s “Big Impact Design”. The VSC-2 plug-in captures all the fine nuances of this $6,000 flagship VCA compressor in convenient a TDM, RTAS, AU and VST compatible download.

“We are amazed how accurate the plug-in simulates the real deal. We have compared it to the hardware several times now in a professional studio and cannot hear any difference at all. Is that good or bad?!?” says Andreas Eschenwecker, CEO of Vertigo Sound.

Although VSC-2 was developed as a Stereo Bus Compressor, each channel provides a complete set of controls which also makes VSC-2 a dual mono “must have” in recording and mix situations. Its precision makes VSC-2 a first choice for mastering applications and the stereo mix bus. A true mono version of the plug-in is available as well.

On the Mac, VSC-2 requires OS X 10.4 or higher, an Intel or PowerPC processor (2 GHz or faster recommended), 2 GB of available RAM, Pro Tools 7.0 or higher or a VST / AU compatible host, and an iLok USB dongle. 64 Bit & AAX versions will be free upgrades in January 2012.

VSC-2 is available as a direct download from Brainworx for $331. An introductory 20% discount price of $265 is in effect until November 30. Further discounts are available for current Brainworx customers. The same installer will also serve as fully functional trial version for 14 days, no iLok necessary.

http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plugins/vertigo_vsc-2

iZotope, Inc. today announced the release of Ozone 5 and Ozone 5 Advanced. Ozone 5 is an update to iZotope’s critically acclaimed software mastering suite. Ozone 5 Advanced is a professional mastering suite that expands Ozone’s feature set with individual component plug-ins, extended features, and the brand-new Ozone Meter Bridge.

“Whether you’re a musician, engineer, or mastering pro, Ozone 5 lets you master music and other audio simply and efficiently,” says Nick Dika, iZotope Senior Product Manager. “Ozone 5 is the biggest update we’ve ever offered, with improvements that will appeal to Ozone experts and new users alike. Ozone 5 Advanced is designed to set a new industry standard for mastering tools. Advanced includes many exclusive features, and offers mixing and mastering engineers an even higher level of flexibility, precision and control.”

New in Ozone 5

• Pristine Sound and Enhanced DSP – Each module has been updated with refined signal processing algorithms to bring you a new level of mastering quality. The most complete mastering suite available has never sounded better.
• Optimized Workflow and Updated Interface – iZotope has redesigned Ozone’s user interface to allow for finer control while placing important features right at your fingertips. New users can jump in without a steep learning curve while experienced Ozone fans will feel right at home.
• Visual Feedback – Every module features updated metering to help guide you to the perfect-sounding master.

Ozone 5 Advanced builds on iZotope’s reputation for superior sound quality and industry-standard audio mastering tools. Each module in Ozone 5 Advanced is equipped with extended features made specifically for mixing and mastering professionals. For added flexibility, Ozone 5 Advanced allows customers to use each of the mastering modules as individual plug-ins. Combining essential visualization from Ozone’s modules with new metering tools, the all-new Meter Bridge provides a suite of audio analysis tools that help you visualize changes made during the mastering process, troubleshoot problematic mixes, and compare reference tracks.

Ozone 5 Advanced Includes

• Extended Features – Ozone 5 Advanced provides deeper control within every module in Ozone. Advanced exclusives include a variable-phase EQ, Loudness Maximizer modes with Transient Recovery and Stereo Link controls, mono-compatible stereo synthesis features and much more.
• Meter Bridge – The powerful Meter Bridge introduces a high resolution real-time 3D spectrogram with unique mix analysis features, BS.1770-2 compatible stereo loudness metering, resizable spectrum analyzer, and a vectorscope with stereo balance and correlation meters.
• Meter Taps – For mixing and stem mastering, multiple audio streams can be superimposed on a 2D or 3D plot using Ozone 5 Advanced’s Meter Tap plug-ins. Meter Taps enable unprecedented visualization of how a mix’s elements fit together.
• Component Plug-ins – Use Ozone 5 Advanced’s mastering modules as an integrated mastering system or as individual plug-ins. Move module presets between Ozone 5 Advanced and its components freely.

On the Mac, Ozone 5 requires OS X 10.5.8 or later, an Intel processor and a compatible AU or VST host application (or Pro Tools 7.4 or later for RTAS/AudioSuite). For use of the scrolling 3D Spectrogram, Ozone 5 Advanced requires a graphics card that supports Open GL 2.0.

Ozone 5 and Ozone 5 Advanced will be available for a suggested retail price of $249 and $999 respectively. Special discount pricing of $199 and $599 is available through 2 January 2012. Current Ozone customers may upgrade for $149 to Ozone 5 or $499 to Ozone 5 Advanced. Ozone 4 customers who purchased after October 1, 2011 will receive a free upgrade to Ozone 5 Standard upon release.

www.izotope.com/ozone5

Update November 11: Current Ozone 4 customers may upgrade for $99 and $399 respectively.

Update November 28: The introductory discount pricing has been extended an extra month to January 2.

Slate Digital has released the VCC RC-Tube, an authentic emulation of a classic 1950′s all tube broadcast console. With two separate plug-ins intended to be placed on channel inserts or as the first insert on your master fader, this plugin package promises to recreate the sound of a vintage tube mixer, giving your mix a rich, fat, warm, and deep sound that until now, was unattainable with a 100% digital mixer.

Slate Digital CTO Fabrice Gabriel employed new state of the art analog modeling techniques to capture the sound of this classic tube mixer in the digital domain. Using the same techniques required to model the four analog consoles in the Virtual Console Collection plugin, Fabrice managed to emulate the exact sonic characteristics in a nonlinear and dynamic way, including such precise details as tube saturation response and crosstalk.

By using the VCC RC-Tube on your mixes, you’ll get the classic vibe of an analog desk. Your music will come together faster and easier, and the result will be the best sounding mixes that you’ve heard coming from “In The Box”.

RC-Tube consists of two plugins, Virtual Channel and Virtual Mixbuss. Virtual Channel is applied on individual mixing channels. Virtual Mixbuss goes on the first insert of the master fader. “When using the Virtual Console Collection, your DAW instantly takes on the personality of a real analog mixing desk. The imaging and depth improves, instruments sit better in the frequency spectrum, and mixing becomes easier and more musical. You can even push the DAW faders up to find each mixer’s “sweet spot”, says Slate.

On the Mac, the VCC RC-Tube requires an Intel processor, a compatible 32 or 64-bit AU, VST or RTAS host application (RTAS is 32-bit only) and an iLOK2 USB dongle.

For a very limited time, you can purchase the VCC RC-TUBE plugin package WITH an iLok2 protection device for $49 plus shipping and handling.

http://www.slatedigital.com/rc-tube.php

Mellowmuse Software has announced EQ3V, a flexible 7-band vintage equalizer plug-in. EQ3V offers 5 bands of fully parametric EQ, plus variable Q High Pass and Low Pass filters, and its own unique harmonic coloration using analogue modelled saturation.

All EQ3V equalization and saturation algorithms are oversampled, using 64-bit internal processing for superior clarity and resolution. Current values are clearly displayed for all parameters, each EQ section may be individually bypassed.

Features

• High Pass: 10hz – 400hz
• Low Shelf: 30hz – 400hz
• Low Mid Peaking: 200hz – 7.0k
• Mid Peaking: 3.0k – 10.0k
• High Mid Peaking: 8.0k – 14.0k
• High Shelf: 8.0k – 16.0k
• Low Pass: 8.0k – 20k
• Bypass per band, phase invert and overall bypass switch
• Analogue modeled saturation
• 4x Oversampled
• 64bit internal processing

On the Mac, EQ3V requires OS X 10.4 or later and a compatible 32-bit AU, VST or RTAS host application, or 64-bit AU or VST host.

EQ3V is available via direct download from Mellowmuse for $99. A free trial download is also available.

http://www.mellowmuse.com/EQ3V.html

DontCrack is proud to announce the launch of the new V.I.P. Series plug-ins, the result of considerable experience working with major artists and producers around the world. The collection of twenty AU, VST and RTAS effects ranges from dynamics to coloring to reverbs.

This new series delivers the same professional sound you would come to expect from other major plug-in manufacturers, with a nod towards ease of use. Designed with an emphasis on quality and simplicity, each plug-in has a clean interface with only the most essential knobs and switches. With the V.I.P. Series, dialing in a great sound has never been easier: Simply load the plug-in and turn a knob for instant sonic satisfaction. Installing and authorizing DontCrack plug-ins has also been made incredibly easy for end users to move forward with what they have to do.

On the Mac, the V.I.P. Series plug-ins require OS X 10.5.8, 10.6 or 10.7 Lion, an Intel processor and a compatible AU, VST or RTAS (Pro Tools) host. 32-bit and 64-bit are supported. No iLok or eLicenser dongle are required.

Each V.I.P. Series plug-in is $49 individually, or $489* for the entire “V.I.P. Bundle” collection. Trial downloads are available. If you prefer purchasing plug-ins one at a time, DontCrack will upgrade you to the entire V.I.P. Bundle for free as soon as you accumulate 10 plug-ins. Once you have purchased or upgraded to V.I.P. Bundle status, all subsequent plug-ins released for the V.I.P. Series will be free of charge. The DontCrack V.I.P. bundle is expected to expand to over 40 plug-ins next year.

* To celebrate the release, DontCrack is making the V.I.P. bundle available for only $299 until Monday, 10 October 2011.

http://store.dontcrack.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=72

MOTU is now shipping MachFive 3, a major upgrade to their universal sampler for creative music production. Rebuilt from the ground up, version 3.0 includes a new user interface design, an extensive 45 GB sound library, seven signature instruments based on new scripting technology, a new hybrid synthesis engine, licensed algorithms from the IRCAM research institute, and many other new features and enhancements.

“With exciting new features and unified, cutting-edge technologies, MachFive 3 achieves our goal: to deliver an inspiring creative sampler and sound design tool for musicians, producers, engineers, DJs, remixers, and sound designers,” said Jim Cooper, MOTU Director of Marketing.

The MachFive 3 window displays a tabbed list on the left-hand side, main controls across the top, and a tabbed main area in the rest of the window for access to all other features. Sections can be resized, shown, or hidden as needed, to streamline operation for any task or workflow. MachFive’s window is designed to operate at various sizes, from a compact plug-in running inside host software to a full screen application taking full advantage of cinema-sized displays.

To load sounds into MachFive’s unlimited parts, a multi-column preset browser fills the MachFive window and remains open while loading multiple parts to save time. “Favorite” locations are listed along with hard drive volumes, frequently accessed folders, sound banks, and 3rd-party sampler disc images. Type a word or phrase into the new search field to instantly list all matching presets from all sound banks and libraries. Once sounds are loaded, users click any part to view basic settings in the Info tab, including a representative graphic of the sound currently loaded into the part, a virtual keyboard for playing the sound, several basic “macro” controls for tweaking the sound, and text hints for using the macro controls.

Most of MachFive’s thousands of factory-supplied presets provide macro controls for direct access to the sound’s most crucial and interesting parameters, from reverb time to filter cutoff frequency. This allows users to tweak sounds quickly, without having to dig through complicated screens full of controls. Some macros even adjust several parameters at once to completely transform the sound with a simple knob twist.

For deeper editing and sound design, additional tabs are available for the Oscillator Editor, Mapping Editor, Tree Editor, List Editor, Mixer view, Performance (multi) view, Effects Rack, Event Processor Rack, modulation settings panel, and other settings.

MachFive 3 includes 7 DVDs with 45 GB of multi-sampled instruments, synth patches, loops, phrases, sound design elements, and sound effects. The Universal Loops & Instruments sound bank is the most versatile, spanning a wide variety of acoustic and electric musical instruments, genres, eras, geographical regions, and cultural styles. The MachFive BiosphereTM sound bank provides hundreds of fresh, rich synth textures, including sweeping arpeggiations, enveloping atmospheres, soaring leads, anthem stacks, resonating pads and many other sounds developed by leading programmers. From car crashes to space storms, the 8 GB Xtreme FX bonus library developed by ultimatesoundbank.com provides 5000 creative sound effects, foley effects, and provocative sound textures that are ideal for music production and sound design alike.

All of these multi-sampled sounds can be used side by side — or even combined — with MachFive 3′s new synth engine, which produces twelve milestone forms of synthesis developed over the past 40 years, from classic additive and subtractive, to frequency modulation (FM), wavetable, and even granular synthesis. MachFive’s granular synthesizer has been licensed from the IRCAM institute in Paris and represents one of the most advanced, yet easy-to-use forms of this technology currently available. Users can load any sound and quickly transform it into completely new material. Further dynamic sound morphing can be be easily applied by simply automating or modulating granular synth controls such as speed, direction, density and grain size.

MachFive’s effects architecture has been redesigned to facilitate the use of effects processing both in sound design and in MachFive’s conventional mixer. 47 different effects, including convolution reverb, can be applied to sound design objects such as individual oscillators/keygroups, keygroup layers, and programs (presets), where they essentially become part of the sound itself. Alternately, effects can be applied throughout MachFive’s mixer as channel inserts, aux bus inserts, and even as master effects on the master fader, limited only by CPU resources.

MachFive 3 excels at audio time-stretching and pitch-shifting with algorithms licensed from the renowned IRCAM research institute. Audio material can be stretched as much as four to five times slower or faster with no noticeable or harmful artifacts, while maintaining stereo phase coherence and rhythmic accuracy. For example, a guitar pick can be heard slowly scraping across each string in the strum of a chord that has been slowed down to 25% of its original speed, with audio clarity akin to the vivid visual clarity of slow-motion high-definition video. Several modes are provided to produce optimum results for various types of audio material.

For professional sound designers with programming chops, MachFive provides a scripting engine to support custom scripted instruments written in MachFiveScriptTM, a straightforward programming API based on an industry-standard programming language (www.lua.org) used heavily in the gaming industry. Script processors perform advanced, customized transformations and analysis of MIDI data streams, as demonstrated by MachFive’s included signature instruments. For example, MachFive’s Telematic script, developed by acousticsamples.net, can generate authentic chord strumming.

Additional MachFive 3 Feature Highlights

• LoopLabTM — An advanced slice loop editor that supports REX, ACID, UFS, Apple Loops, and custom loops.
• Universal 3rd-party sample library support – Directly reads all major 3rd-party hardware/software sample formats and sample discs (Kontakt, Giga, EXS24, HALion, Kurzweil, Akai, Roland, Ensoniq, Sample Cell, and many others) with no conversion, for consolidated sound library management.
• Complete mixing – Graphic mixer with faders, FX inserts, and unlimited channels.
• New Xpander filter — Based on the venerable Oberheim Xpander, this new filter provides 37 modes, each a separate filter in its own right.
• IR VerbTM — A CPU-efficient convolution reverb processor that provides hundreds of presets for acoustic spaces, classic high-end studio reverbs, vintage plates and spring reverbs, plus eclectic impulse responses for sound design. Drag and drop your own IRs, and you can even edit IR waveforms directly.
• Drag and drop operation — Supports easy drag and drop importing of audio files, loops, and samples to and from the computer desktop or a host software application.
• Multi-sample import — Drag and drop multiple samples in one operation to map them intelligently into layers or splits. With straightforward sample-naming conventions, hundreds of samples can be precisely mapped in seconds with a single drag and drop operation.
• Multiple outputs – Submix to 17 stereo output pairs.
• Unlimited polyphony – Includes ultra-low software latency.

MachFive 3 supports Mac OS X (10.5 or later). It operates stand-alone or as a plug-in (AU, VST and RTAS). 64-bit operation is available for supporting systems and hosts.

MachFive 3 is now shipping. Price remains the same at $495. Registered version 1 and 2 users can upgrade to version 3 for $179. A competitive upgrade is also available, with proof of ownership, for $295.

http://www.motu.com/products/software/machfive