Puremagnetik has released alphaSynth, a library of old-school sounds captured from an early Apple home computer with an Alpha Syntauri music system.
The Alpha Syntauri was a music system designed around the expansion capabilities of the Apple ][. The hardware consisted of an external piano-style keyboard, with a 3-card set that plugged into the Apple ][, including a keyboard interface card, and the two-board Mountain Computer Music System. Software was designed to support music composition and performance.
Puremagnetik has captured the 8-bit charm of this early home computer music system and reprogrammed everything for the modern music workstation.
Whether you are looking for aliased chippy sounds, lo-fi leads or quirky percussion, alphaSynth brings one of the best things about 1982 right to your desktop!
alphaSynth features
- Over 20 multi-sampled instruments with expressive articulations.
- Hundreds of expertly recorded multi-samples.
- Advanced Ableton Live Racks with customized Macro Controls.
- Kontakt KSP easy edit GUI.
- Logic EXS version includes Channel Strip Settings with Logic effects.
- EXS Universal file format for easy importing into any audio host.
The alphaSynth micropak is now available to download for Puremagnetik subscribers.
More information: Puremagnetik / alphaSynth
Apple has updated its Logic Pro music production software for Mac to version 1.9.6.
Logic Pro 9.1.6 is an update to Logic Pro 9 (which is part of Logic Studio 2). Logic Pro 9.1.6 is also the version of Logic Pro available for purchase on the Mac App Store.
Changes in Logic Pro v1.9.6
- Compatibility
- On OS X Lion 10.7, “Revert to Saved” is now possible after a project has been renamed.
- Performance and Stability
- Logic now uses multiple available cores as expected when performing offline bounces.
- Resolves an issue in which Logic sometimes quit unexpectedly when deleting multiple Marquee selected tracks with the Drag Mode set to Shuffle L.
- Fixes an issue in which clicking in an automation lane with the Marquee tool could cause Logic to quit unexpectedly.
- Channel strip level meters no longer sometimes momentarily stop responding when the playhead is moved to a new position during playback.
- Loading a Kontakt 4/5 factory preset in 64-bit mode no longer causes Logic to quit unexpectedly.
- Logic now reliably initializes MIDI ports when Logic is launched by double-clicking a project file, choosing “Open with” from the project file contextual menu, or when using the Load Most Recent Project startup action.
- Audio
- Channel strips with pre-fader sends now mute consistently.
- Audio playback while using Prelisten in the Audio Bin now properly updates when changing the selection of files or regions.
- Fixes an issue in which record repeat would delete the wrong take.
- Plug-ins and Instruments
- Dropping multiple samples on the EXS editor keyboard and choosing the Contiguous Zones option now correctly results in a chromatic mapping of the samples.
- Using the + key to step through EXS instruments no longer causes Logic to sometimes quit unexpectedly.
- The Key Release Time for a Group can now be set to values greater than 1000 as expected in the EXS editor.
- Fixes an issue in which EXS24 did not play one-shots in mono or legato mode.
- Resolves an issue in EXS24 in which instruments containing zones triggered by key release via a group were susceptible to stuck notes.
- In EVB3, the extended parameter area no longer shows controls already available in the main plug-in window.
- Ultrabeat now properly maintains the set pitch of a previously loaded sample after browsing for a new sample and then canceling.
- Resolves an issue in which auditioning samples in Ultrabeat with Voice Auto Select and “Preview in Voice” active could lead to a sample endlessly looping.
- Control Surfaces
- Changes made to a project using a control surface now reliably activate the control surface Save button.
- The Undo LED on Logic Control now correctly lights to show the availability of undo steps.
- Setting parameter assignments on Control Surfaces to fixed values other than 1 now works correctly in 64-bit mode.
- General
- Clicking on an unused take after deleting a comp section no longer selects the entire take folder.
- Resolves an issue in which using Auto Set Locators by Marquee Selection with very small Marquee selection lengths could result in the playhead getting stuck.
- Playback now reliably starts from the beginning of the project after using the “Return to Zero” button in the Transport, no matter what Play setting is active.
- With Catch Clock Position active and Cycle enabled, Logic now centers the cycle area if it fits within the current view.
- Fixes an issue in which the visible area in the Arrange window would sometimes jump a few pixels to the left after scrolling to the right on OS X 10.7 Lion.
- Resolves an issue in which using the Fade tool on a region could cause audio regions to be deleted in projects that contain unused audio regions.
- “Bounce – Replace All Tracks” now places regions on the correct tracks in songs that contain MIDI take folders.
- Volume automation now works reliably on all frozen tracks.
- Resolves an issue in which the Hyper editor did not reliably update to show new selections at high vertical zoom levels.
- MIDI editors now reliably update to show the contents of MIDI regions selected by rubber-band selection.
- In the Event editor, the up, down, left, and right arrow keys now correctly navigate between fields while in text edit mode.
- Logic no longer sometimes asks to save changes when closing a song that has not been changed.
- The key commands to select projects now work as expected.
- After using Save As to make a new version of an existing project to a new location, the recording path for the project is now appropriately updated to the location where the new project was saved.
- Resolves an issue in which moving an audio region where the anchor had been set caused the anchor to reset to the beginning of the region if the project contained take folders.
- Fixes an issue in which moving or copying a take folder with the drag mode set to No Overlap could alter the take folder.
Logic Pro 1.9.6 is now also available to purchase from the Mac App Store, priced $199.99 USD.
More information: Apple / Logic Pro
Time+Space has announced that tutorial experts ASK Video have released three new titles for Reason 6, ReCycle and OSX Lion users.
Find your way around OSX Lion or get to grips with Propellerhead’s ReCycle or Reason 6 thanks to these new downloadable tutorials from ASK Video.
ReCycle: Featuring twenty high quality videos, this tutorial will guide you from the basics of installing Propellerhead’s ReCycle right up to the more advanced features of beat slicing and effects.
Reason 6: Reason and Record have been combined into one feature packed product aptly titled, Reason 6. The aim of this tutorial is to help those of you who are already using Reason to get up and running quickly with the new elements Propellerhead has added.
OSX Taming the Lion: Whether you’re new to the Mac OS X or a long-time Mac user considering updating to Lion, this tutorial will get you onboard with the world’s most advanced operating system with the help of 2 hours worth of professional videos.
These high quality tutorial videos all feature easy to use interfaces and are Mac OS X and PC compatible.
The tutorials are available to purchase from £12.95 GBP / 14.95 EUR.
More information: Time+Space
TC Electronic has updated its TC NEAR software for compatibility with Apple’s Mac OS X Lion.
Recently, Apple released a major update to its Mac OS X operating system: OS X 10.7 Lion. Now, TC Electronic is releasing an updated version of its TC NEAR software that is compatible with this new version.
The new software package – TC NEAR v. 2.5.1 for Mac – is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.7, and in addition, it offers a general improvement of stability and performance. The new software applies to all of TC Electronic’s audio interfaces, including: Impact Twin, Studio Konnekt 48, Desktop Konnekt 6, Digital Konnekt X32, Konnekt 24D, Konnekt 8 and Konnekt Live.
The software supports both 32bit and 64bit environments.
More information: TC Electronic / TC NEAR
Apple has released version 9.1.5 of Logic Pro, the music production software for Mac.
Changes in Logic Pro v9.1.5
- Compatibility
- Resolves an issue which could cause unexpected feedback in Logic after importing a song from GarageBand for iPad.
- Selecting the “Open Apogee Control Panel” command will now launch Apogee’s Maestro 2 application if a Duet 2 is attached.
- Performance and Stability
- Resolves an issue in which Logic might quit unexpectedly when creating a new project.
- Resolves an issue in which Logic might quit unexpectedly when moving audio regions in the Arrange window.
- Plug-Ins
- Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1.4 in which LFO sync for some Logic plug-ins did not sound as expected.
- Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1.4 in which automating the Wet/Dry mix control in Delay Designer resulted in zipper noise.
- The EVB3 plug-in now correctly responds to sustain off messages.
- Direct text input of the pitch reference for the Tuner plug-in now works correctly.
- General
- Fixes an issue in which performing undo after recording a MIDI take sometimes caused the MIDI track to stop sounding.
- The “Toggle Zoom to Fit Selection or All Contents” key command now correctly recalls the previous zoom view rather than zooming in on the entire project.
- Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1.4 in which some regions might shift out of position after using the Pack Take Folder command.
- Fixes an issue in which Japanese key command sets were not available if Logic was updated to version 9.1.4 before launching Logic for the first time.
- Resolves a rare take folder issue in which performing undo after deleting a comp section could cause regions in subsequent tracks to shift to the next adjacent track.
- Fixes an issue in which take folders would not sound on soloed tracks if the Track Mute/Solo mode was set to CPU-saving (Slow Response).
The Logic Pro 9.1.5 update is a free download for registered users.
More information: Apple / Logic Pro
