Audiotechnews doesn’t really write about promotional offers that often. We’re a bit arty, and like to keep it real, man.

However, we have been away for a long time, it IS Christmas, and this is particularly amazing.

Containing a collection of ten virtual instruments, Symphonic Cube has been specially designed by the Vienna Symphonic Library to orchestrate vast numbers of samples with an elegance and simplicity never seen in the history of orchestral music production. Until 15th January 2010, the Symphonic Cube is available to buy for just £2285.50, saving you almost £1000 on the normal RRP!

The VSL holiday offers also include discounts of 20% when ordering at least 5 Standard or 5 Extended libraries. Or 30% off when ordering 10 or more Standard or 10 Extended libraries. This offer also includes the boxed versions of Vienna Ensemble Pro and Vienna Suite.

You can go here for more information

Since the official launch of its dedicated download site on 8th October 2008, ProducerLoops.com has partnered with these sample pack, reason refill and virtual instrument developers:

Sonic Reality
Bluezone
Precisionsound 
Soundcells
Digital Juicyness
Kreativ Sounds
Inner Rhythm Studios
RadioActive Beats

ProducerLoops.com now offers over 740 Downloadable Products from 55 soundware developers. Every style of music is covered, so there is something for everyone. Prices start from £4.95 per download.

More Information

The company that brought you Breverb,  has released TH1 – a guitar amp modelling sim “based on 4th-generation technology”.

Overloud says  TH1 delivers huge sound with flexible and intuitive control. Modelled after a wide variety of amplifiers, one of its most unusual features is its ability to ´morph´ between amps, so the guitar player can build his own personal amp.

TH1´s Smart Control strip is a row of 8 soft buttons, pots and switches controlling the vital parameters of the current sound. The logic behind these devices allows the user to control more than one parameter at once. The Smart Control strip and Preset Selection can also be controlled by host automation and MIDI control.

Features

• 4th generation analog emulation technology
• 3D, gapless positioning of microphones
• SRL technology allows morphing between two amplifiers
• Advanced cabinet emulations with ReSPiRe technology
• Realistic and easy-to-get rendition of the signal path
• Easy to build or modify your own signal path
• Revolutionary GUI, host or MIDI real-time control via Smart Controls
• RTAS, AU, VST, Standalone for Mac (Universal) and RTAS, VST and Standalone for PC
• Further demo’s are available at the Time And Space website

RRP Inc: £189.00 / €249.00

Altiverb
Altiverb is a highly acclaimed convolution reverb. It comes with a huge, and ever expanding collection of top quality room samples available anywhere, ranging from Sydney Opera House to the Gol Gumbaz of India.

Speakerphone

Speakerphone gives you authentic speakers of any size together with their natural environments. The end-all speaker simulator plug-in, with 12 DSP modules and 5 gigabytes of ambiences to build the absolute most realistic and complete environment of any speaker.

Snapper

When you select an audio file in the Mac Finder, Snapper immediately appears right beneath the current window, showing you the wave form. Play, Drag, Drop and Convert snippets of files, upload to your Pro Tools cursor, turn selections into mp3’s file and much more, right from the Finder.

Periscope

Graphic analyzer and surgical phase correct eq. Grab faders where you see the audio happening. Unprecedented low frequency resolution.

Riverrun

Granular Soundscape Synthesizer oozing tiny particles taken from your original audio. Build rhythmic textures or wide harmonic soundscapes.

Deep Phase Nine

The dramatically deep Phaser with unprecedented control and visual feedback. Up to 24 notches per channel, with beat locked sample and hold.

Orbit

Control the virtual position of your sound source. Accurately calculates the sound source’s reflections of the walls of a virtual ‘outer room’.

Follo

Dynamic amplitude following bandpass resonator. Creates autowah on a guitar, or adds thumping resonating bass.
Roger

Apply vowel filters to your audio. Use the vowel bar at the bottom to click through vowels, or use rhythmic gibberish mode.

The suggested retail price of the All In Bundle XL is £1110 inc VAT, and the All In Bundle Regular is £799.00 inc VAT.

New update now available for download

Steinberg Media Technologies has announced the latest update to its Cubase Essential 4 Personal Music Production System.

New features include:

• Support for Steinberg’s new MR816 CSX/X and CC121 Advanced Integration hardware products
• VST Sound, a new and improved universal media management format that is a fundamental part of Steinberg’s VST3 standard
• Full compatibility with the new Sequel Content Sets (Rock, Hip Hop,, Industrial, Elektro and Funky)
• Each of the new sets offers over 200MB of content that is fully compatible with the Cubase MediaBay.
• Enhanced support for the Yamaha MOTIF XS series and the KX USB Music Studio series is also available.

“Cubase Essential 4.5 shares many of the enhancements that have made Cubase 4.5 and Cubase Studio 4.5 probably the most technologically advanced music production systems available today,”comments Helge Vogt, Steinberg’s Product Marketing Manager for Cubase. “Combined with its entry-level price and legendary ease-of-use, Cubase Essential 4.5 looks set to enhance its appeal even further to anyone looking for a low-cost production solution for their music,” Vogt continues.

The update is now available for all registered Cubase Essential 4 customers through Steinberg’s website

Latest version of industry-standard mastering suite to ship in January 2009

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).

Officially endorsed by Moog and developed by Universal Audio, the new Moog Multimode Filter employs UA’s proprietary analog filter modelling and captures the best of the Moog designs, past to present.

Version 5.1 includes the all-new Moog Multimode Filter plug-in for UAD-1. The latest plug-in is available as a fully functional 14-day demo. UAD-2 support for the Moog isn’t available as part of v5.2 later in 2008.

The Moog Multimode Filter is available at a special introductory price of US $199.

If UA were able to conceive a product with Moog, what would it be? The answer is revealed in the new Moog Multimode Filter, which delivers the first truly analog-sounding VCF (voltage controlled filter) emulation made for mixing, performing, creating, or destroying. The Moog Multimode Filter is a ‘digital-only’ tabletop filter set that combines the best of Bob Moog’s classic designs with select features from his final Voyager instrument. UA modeled the analog behavior of the historical 4-pole ladder filter conceived by the world’s most recognizable electronic instrument maker right down to the self-oscillation, saturation and non-linearities of its analog counterpart. As the name suggests, the heart of the Moog Multimode Filter is the switchable Lowpass, Highpass and Bandpass filter that allows Moog’s signature self-oscillation and extreme resonance in any of the three modes, bringing a new level of sophistication to Moog filter designs of the past. Also includes the SE low-DSP version.

•Stunningly “analog”; Self-Oscillation, Smooth Saturation, Zero Artifacts/Quantization
•Several classic and modern Moog instrument features combined into one simple control set
•Classic Moog ladder-type 24dB/Oct (4-pole) & 12dB/Oct (2-pole) LPF/HPF/BPF
•Extreme distortion via 0/+20dB Input Gain, replicating Minimoog external input
•Moogerfooger Enveloper Follower, Six LFO wave shapes, and DAW tempo synchronization
•Mono & Stereo processing with Spacing/Offset features from Voyager
•Includes Free low-DSP Multimode Filter “SE” version for high instance counts

To tempt you further, here’s an unsolicited quote from Moog’s man who did the beta evaluation of this breakthrough plug-in:

“The overdrive is truly an outstanding feature; it’s so detailed and organic, with all kinds of beautifully-unpredictable sonic results depending on the source material and settings.  The envelope follower is smooth and musical, with a very natural response.  It’s easy to get a lot more life and interest out of almost any kind of digital source material with the tools this plug-in provides.  I think your customers will find that the Moog filter sounds and feels like working with a classic piece of analog hardware.”

-Moog “guru” Amos Gaynes, Moog Applications Engineer.

Cluster Sound launches Quantic House, a powerful download library for House producers: 800 Mb of punchy and worldclass quality construction loops and percussions, filtered micro breaks, sexy dark voices, fat basses, and chord synths. All samples and instruments are extracted from the acclaimed Tech Producer DSP and its Xpander Packs and cover a wide range of House music styles. In addition to the WAV loops and the multi-format instruments you can use the included MIDI loops, drumkits and sliced versions (Rex2 / Drum Racks) to easily create your favourite music.

Specifications:

Size: 800 Mb (Zip: 600 Mb)
Content: 685 Wav / 280 Rex / 670 Instruments / 55 Midi

60 Punchy House Kick loops (WAV/REX)
60 Fat House Snare loops (WAV/REX)
60 House Upbeat HHat loops (WAV/REX)
60 HHat Break loops (WAV/REX/Dracks)
140 Percussion loops (WAV/REX/Dracks)
120 Fragmented grooves (WAV/REX/Dracks)
80 Micro Breaks (WAV/REX/Dracks)
140 Tuned Percussion loops (WAV/REX/Dracks)
160 Vocal Defrag loops (WAV/REX/Dracks)
96 Quantic Chord loops (WAV/REX)
62 Quantic Bass loops (WAV/REX)
326 WAV Samples
55 MIDI loops

Even more specifications:

Basses: 90 LIVE Impulse Clips & Devices
Basses: 15 Kontakt Instruments
Basses: 15 Reason NN19 Instruments
Chords, Brasses, Organs: 120 LIVE Simpler Devices
Chords, Brasses, Organs: 25 Kontakt Instruments
Chords, Brasses, Organs: 25 Reason NN19 Instruments
Drum Kits: 60 LIVE Impulse Clips & Devices
Drum Kits: 30 Reason ReDrum Kits

For more information and MP3 demos, visit their web site

The folk over at Waves plays things pretty close to their chests. In fact you could say they give nothing away.

Waves has announced that Z-Noise has been added to its Restoration, Broadcast & Production, and Diamond bundles.

Z-Noise is Waves most advanced noise reduction processor, featuring advanced real-time noise profiling, innovative transient preservation, and increased low-frequency resolution.

The new Restoration Bundle lists for $1,800 Native / $3,000 TDM.

Diamond, Broadcast & Production, and Restoration owners with Waves Update Plan coverage can add Z-Noise for $400 through their user accounts.

Ableton are taking ‘Live‘ on the road and offering some freebies, advice and deals to all attendees of the show.

Ableton is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for all musicians, producers, DJs and composers! This October, the company are launching a series of events across the South and Midlands showcasing their Live software. (Scotland and the North of England will get their own tour soon – dates to be announced). The events are designed to introduce Ableton’s  software to any DJs and producers who are unfamiliar with the product, while offering hints and tips to existing users, plus some fantastic freebies for all attendees, including a free trial version of the software, plus a Loopmasters CD with over 700  samples.

There will be an introduction to ‘Live’ – together with a demonstration of its intuitive user interface for people who may not have used it before. This will include advice and information about using Ableton for all aspects of composition and performance in the live, studio and home environments. Our experienced Live specialist will then be on hand to talk to existing users about how to get the most out of the software, demonstrating some of its less well known features and offering advice on how to integrate Ableton with users’ existing set-ups.

Ableton are bundling Operator – a frequency modulation synthesiser worth £99 – free with Live and the end of this promotion coincides with the final dates of the Roadshow. In addition, there will be special offers available to those who wish to buy Ableton software during the tour.

You can register HERE

Everyone who attends will be entered into a prize draw to win a pair of KRK Rokit 5 monitors, a Novation Remote SL Compact, a Novation Nio 2/4 and Ableton Live Suite.

The tour dates and venues:
Sunday 5th October: Oxford, SAE – 12pm
Monday 13th October: Bristol, Digital Village – sessions throughout the afternoon
Wednesday 15th October: Cambridge, Digital Village – sessions throughout the afternoon
Friday 17th October: Birmingham, Digital Village – sessions throughout the afternoon
Monday 20th October: Southampton, Digital Village – sessions throughout the afternoon
Tuesday 21st October: London Clapham, Digital Village – sessions throughout the afternoon
Saturday 25th October: London, Point Blank – 11am
Tuesday 28th October: Guildford, Andertons – 4pm
Monday 3rd November: Liverpool, SAE – 6pm and 7pm
Tuesday 4th November: Liverpool, Dawsons – 11am onwards

More information here