Gospel Musicians has announced the release of Neo-Soul Keys 5X Ultimate for UVI and the Neo-Soul Dyno Expansion for Native Instruments Kontakt.

Neo-Soul Keys 5X Ultimate for UVI contains 5 electric pianos: Suitcase, Stage, Wurli, Dyno, and EX5.

Neo-Soul Keys 5X Ultimate features

• 4GB Uncompressed Samples.
• Ensemble 505 chorus emulating the Roland RS-505.
• Pickup Effects taken from EX5 FDSP engine.
• Guitar Box Effects with Mice Type and Amp models.
• 5 new spring reverbs with pre-delay, time, lo-damp, hi-damp, and width parameters.
• Amp Sims.
• Impulse Response Amp sims with pre-delay, time, lo-damp, hi-damp,and width parameters.
• Stereo spread effects with dedicated Color knob.
• Ping Pong Delay.
• Phaser effect.
• Flanger effect.
• Funky Wha effect.
• Crunch distortion effect.
• Three vibrato waveform types that can sync to DAW.
• Bonus Features Include:
  • 44 Neo-Soul beats directly recorded from an MPC from top producers.
  • 24 MIDI chops with neo-soul bass, drum and MIDI keyboard phrases.
  • Dedicated slice engine that syncs to DAW.

The Neo-Soul Dyno Expansion for Neo-Soul Keys licensed version includes the following features:

• New “Dyno-My-Piano” emulation.
• Warm Chorus sound.
• New pickup effects.
• Enhanced bell/tine.
• Mechanical effects (tine, key-up, key-down, pedal noises, pickups).

Neo-Soul Keys 5X is available to purchase for $99.99 USD. Existing Neo-Soul Keys 3X Lite UVI customers can upgrade for free. Existing Neo-Soul Keys Kontakt users can upgrade for $49.99 USD.

The Neo-Soul Dyno Expansion for Kontakt costs $49.99 USD.

More information: Gospel Musicians

Tracktion Software has announced that a public beta for its Tracktion 4 music production software is now available for Linux.

Tracktion for Linux features 64-bit performance, compatible with all native Linux VST and LADSPA (no GUI) plug-ins.

Continuing the momentum that began with a brand re-launch and release of Tracktion 4 last January, followed by a recent bundling agreement with Behringer, Tracktion Software Corporation (TSC) is pleased to announced yet another milestone for their popular music creation software.

Beginning immediately, Tracktion 4 is available for 64-bit Linux systems. This release—along with the current 64 and 32-bit versions available for Mac and Windows—solidifies Tracktion’s position within a very small family of music creation applications to broadly support all three of the major operating systems.

“Linux users, much like Tracktion users, have always been on the cutting edge of technology and willing to look beyond the status quo for alternative solutions,” explained Julian Storer, creator and chief developer of Tracktion software. “In that spirit, bringing Tracktion to Linux just makes sense. I’m extremely excited to open a whole new community to the joy of music creation in their preferred environment.”

With a powerful and elegant single-screen interface, Tracktion forgoes the complex, multi-screened designs that have been standard for conventional DAW’s since developers first digitized tape-based workflows over 20 years ago. Tracktion replaces this paradigm of the past with a modern, drag-and-drop interface that dramatically simplifies the recording, editing and mixing process. Truly unique, Tracktion has earned a loyal following of users who appreciate its power, simplicity and unique ability to unburden the creative process.

Tracktion 4 for Mac, Windows and Linux is available to purchase $59.99 USD. An upgrade from previous versions is $29.99 USD.

The Tracktion 4 Linux version is initially free to everyone during the current public beta phase at www.tracktion.com/linux (scroll to bottom of page). Tracktion 4 is also free with the purchase of select interfaces, mixers and control surfaces from Behringer and Mackie.

More information: Tracktion

Roland has announced the release of the INTEGRA-7 Editor Plug-in for Mac, offering powerful music production capabilities within your Mac-based DAW for the INTEGRA-7 SuperNATURAL® Sound Module.

The INTEGRA-7 Editor plug-in for editing the parameters of the INTEGRA-7.

Roland’s latest plug-in editor provides visual control of the INTEGRA-7 parameters, which include more than 6,000 highly expressive sounds (SuperNATURAL sounds, PCM sounds, and all 12 SRX expansion boards), independent SuperNATURAL acoustic, synth, and drum sounds, and much more. A VST instrument (VSTi) version and an Audio Units (AU) version are both available, seamlessly integrating the INTEGRA-7 into your Mac-based DAW for rapid workflow and instant recall.

The flagship INTEGRA-7 brings Roland’s farthest-reaching realm of creative power to keyboardists and composers, both live and in the studio, and the new editor plug-in gives an already powerful vehicle enhancements that allow for deeper and more streamlined access to creative flow and musical inspiration. With the development of SuperNATURAL sound and Behavior Modeling, Roland has blurred the boundary between acoustic and electronic instruments. Built upon these core technologies, the INTEGRA-7 gives musicians a goldmine of the latest SuperNATURAL sounds in a fast-access, fully stocked 16-part module. With the immense power of the INTEGRA-7, musicians can create amazingly realistic and detailed orchestral arrangements, immersive spatial sounds, and beyond.

The core of the INTEGRA-7 is its wealth of SuperNATURAL sounds with Behavior Modeling technology. SuperNATURAL not only mirrors the sounds of acoustic instruments, it also simulates the behavior of instruments when they’re played. With SuperNATURAL, sounds come to life under your fingers. Whether used in acoustic or electronic domains, the INTEGRA-7 puts a world of expressive sound in your hands. Go deep inside the programming engine and customize your own sounds, or let the INTEGRA-7 do it all for you. With so many great sounds onboard, and with the INTEGRA-7’s organic response to how you play your keyboard/controller, you’ll experience a new level of realism and effortless expression.

Roland’s new A-88 and A-49 MIDI Controller Keyboards are perfect partners for the INTEGRA-7. The SuperNATURAL mode button on the A-88/A-49 automatically assigns the INTEGRA-7’s most appropriate parameters to the mod lever, knobs, and D-BEAM for controlling the selected SuperNATURAL sound.

More information: Roland / INTEGRA-7

The Unfinished has announced the release of Massive Polaris, a collection of 200 sounds for NI Massive aimed at classic synth enthusiasts.

The project was born out of numerous hours spent watching demonstration videos on YouTube of a host of great digital and analogue synthesizers from the 80s and 90s. So, if names like Korg M1, Roland JX8P, Yamaha DX7, Oberheim OB-12, Waldorf Microwave II and Moog Source fill you with fond thoughts, then this soundset might well be for you.

This is not a collection of emulations of classic patches, more a tribute to those deep, crisp, lush, atmospheric sounds, with an added edge of modern synthesis options courtesy of Massive’s aggressive waveforms, oscillators and filters.

The soundset is available to purchase for £19.99 GBP. A free demo pack can be download from the product page.

More information: The Unfinished / Massive Polaris

Sample Magic has announced the release of its Magic AB referencing plug-in, a simple, powerful reference tool that allows the producer to switch between the audio they are working on in their DAW and up to nine reference tracks in an instant.

With A/B referencing playing an essential part in the production, mixing and mastering process, Magic AB offers an infinitely faster, easier and more accurate method to compare multiple audio streams to those available in any DAW or audio editor.

A uniquely powerful utility to aid and speed the mixing and mastering process, Magic AB’s controls and ergonomically-designed GUI can be learned in two minutes, and will lead to a lifetime of better mixes.

Magic AB allows you to compare the realtime audio you are working on with up to nine reference tracks at the click of a mouse.

Magic AB features

• Effortlessly shape mixes: Love the sound of a commercial track? Fire up Magic AB and shape your own sound ever closer to what you want.
• Compare multiple mixes quickly and simply: create and save your own ‘go-to’ playlists to radically speed up mixing and mastering.
• Hone in on the details: play/cue the reference track from the precise point you want to hear and loop the section you want to focus on – there’s no need for tiresome rewinding and endless internal waveform navigation.
• Balance the relative volume of mixes: with extensive, accurate, easy-to-read metering – particularly useful for critical mastering sessions.
• Give your ears a chance to recalibrate: with manually changeable crossfade times.

Magic AB for Windows and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS/AAX) is available to purchase for the introductory price of £19.90 GBP (regular £24.90 GBP).

More information: Sample Magic / Magic AB

Hal Leonard has announced it has published the The Worship Guitar Book by Doug Doppler and The Worship Drum Book by Carl Albrecht, two Worship Musician series books.

With the release of The Worship Guitar Book, acclaimed guitar talent and music industry expert Doug Doppler has written the most comprehensive guide for today’s worship guitarists. Being an accomplished musician and a true worshipper himself, he understands the challenges that worship guitarists face every day, and provides answers and help for those who want to express their love for God through the gift of music.

The Worship Drum Book: Concepts to Empower Excellence is a powerful guide for drummers playing in both contemporary and traditional churches that are transitioning into using full rhythm sections rather than just organ or piano. This book covers methods of playing and explains concepts for touring with ministry groups and worship artists. But most of all, it will help drummers understand their calling as a minstrel for the Lord in the modern worship world, and have the drums speak from their heart.

Both book/DVD sets are available to purchase for $19.99 USD each.

More information: Hal Leonard Books