Results for firewire

Symbolic Sound Corporation has expanded the list of real-time controllers and software that can communicate with its Kyma sound design environment by adding support for Open Sound Control (OSC) to its Paca(rana) sound engine.

By connecting a Paca or Pacarana to the Ethernet, sound designers, musicians, and researchers using Kyma on Windows or Macintosh computers can establish bi-directional communication with OSC-enabled devices and software on the network to control parameters of Kyma sound synthesis and processing algorithms. Open Sound Control (http://opensoundcontrol.org/introduction-osc) is an open communications protocol that delivers higher speeds, greater resolution, and more flexibility than is afforded by the standard MIDI protocol. (For a partial list of software and hardware currently supporting the OSC protocol, please see http://opensoundcontrol.org/implementations).

Doug Kraul, CEO of Harmony Systems, Inc. is enthusiastic about Kyma’s new OSC technology. “OSC is a brilliant addition to the already stellar Kyma sound design workstation”, said Kraul. “It immediately enables exciting new ways to use Kyma on stage or in the studio. But the true impact of this forward looking technology is the new, innovative controllers and applications that OSC makes possible for the Kyma platform”.

Symbolic Sound Paca(rana) with ethernet port on the back panel

Bidirectional MIDI streams over OSC is available for those who don’t have any OSC-enabled devices or software yet.

Symbolic Sound has announce that several third-party development partners are concurrently announcing new software that supports bi-directional communication with Kyma over OSC:

• OSCulator: Known as the Rosetta Stone of music controllers, Camille Troillard’s Mac OS X application OSCulator (http://osculator.net) is already familiar to Kyma users who utilize it for sending individual MIDI controls, OSC, and HID control data over FireWire to Kyma. Now, in OSCulator 2.9.2, you can also send OSC messages directly to the Paca(rana) over the network. OSCulator 2.9.2 also implements Symbolic Sound’s Bi-Directional-MIDI-streams-over-OSC protocol, enabling you to send streams of MIDI events from your software directly to Kyma without need for a MIDI interface on your computer and without having to map each controller individually in OSCulator.
• vM2 and PacaMidi: Harmony Systems, Inc. is offering two new Mac OS X applications in its Delora product line, vM2 and PacaMidi, that incorporate Kyma’s new “MIDI-over-OSC” technology to further enhance and facilitate real-time interaction with Kyma. vM2, a “virtual MotorMix”, enables JazzMutant Lemur owners to enjoy automatic, fully integrated tactile control over Kyma’s Virtual Control Surface. Recently updated to include several exciting new features, vM2 2.0 employs “MIDI-over-OSC” to eliminate the complication of physical MIDI cables and interfaces. PacaMidi, Harmony’s newest product, uses “MIDI-over-OSC” to create a “virtual MIDI interface and patchbay” that adds three merged MIDI inputs and one MIDI output to a Paca(rana). This expands Kyma’s connectivity options, while saving you the expense and complexity of using physical MIDI interfaces, hardware mergers, and numerous cables. For more information see http://www.delora.com.
• Max & M4L: If you are one of the many artists using Kyma in conjunction with Ableton’s Live and/or Cycling74’s Max, you’ll be happy to hear that Andrew Capon has written a Max external for bidirectional MIDI communication over OSC that works with both Max and Max For Live. For more details, please see: http://www.symbolicsound.com/Learn/AndyCaponMaxExternalOSC

OSC-enabled Kyma X.74 is a free software update for registered Kyma X owners. OSC communication requires the Paca or Pacarana sound engine.

Kyma X.74 also comes with additional features, including an 11-times speedup in the Virtual Control Surface, support for the MOTU UltraLite Hybrid mk3, TC Electronic Impact Twin, and Prism Audio Orpheus converters, track-pad compatible menus, refinements to the Tau resynthesis, and more.

More information: Symbolic Sound

PreSonus has introduced the StudioLive 24.4.2, a digital mixer designed for both studio recording and live sound, without compromising the requirements for either.

Here, in one portable device, are high-headroom XMAX™ microphone preamplifiers, a built-in FireWire recording and playback interface, more than 90 signal processors, a big library of DSP effects, 6 (16.4.2) or 10 (24.4.2) aux buses, 4 subgroups, extensive LED metering, mixer save and recall, channel-strip save/recall/copy/paste, talkback, and more.

Create live mixes that glisten with clarity and detail—then record and enhance the performance with the power of StudioLive.

Get creative in the studio. Build mixes, loops, sound effects, and more, then bring them out to your show and mix them with the live performance. Process channels using your favorite plug-ins and completely automate your entire performance. StudioLive revolutionizes music production, opening endless creative possibilities.

The StudioLive 24.4.2 has an expected street price of $2,999 USD.

More information: PreSonus / StudioLive

Cakewalk has announced the launch of the FA-66, a FireWire Audio Interface for Mac and PC.

The FA-66 is a compact, portable 6-in/6-out FireWire 400/800 audio interface designed for mobile recording and performance professionals. The unit has two XLR/TRS combo inputs with phantom powered mic preamps, with one offering Hi-Z for recording electric guitar or bass, plus two RCA inputs – all with zero latency direct monitoring. The FA-66 delivers 4×4 simultaneous performance at up to 24-bit/192kHz sound quality, or 6×6 simultaneous performance at up to 24-bit/96 kHz.

The FA-66 also features MIDI in/out ports, optical S/PDIF I/O, a built-in analog limiter and indicator, and FireWire bus power. Combining premium audio components and solid, compact construction with support for the latest operating systems on Mac or PC (Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7), the FA-66 is a must-have for a wide range of applications, from recording guitar or vocals in mobile or studio settings to connecting a mixer to a computer.

The FA-66 package also includes the Production Plus Pack, featuring SONAR 8.5 LE recording software (Windows only) and 3 high quality virtual instruments for Mac & PC: Rapture LE, Cakewalk SoundCenter, and Studio Instruments Drums.

The FA-66 will be available at select music and sound retailers worldwide in late April, 2010.

More information: Cakewalk / FA-66

MOTU has announced the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid, the world’s first hybrid FireWire/USB2 audio interface for Mac and Windows.

The UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid provides flexible and mobile operation via FireWire or hi-speed USB2 connectivity to a Mac or PC computer, with professional audio quality at samples rates up to 192 kHz and plenty of I/O, including two mic/instrument inputs, six line-level analog inputs, ten channels of analog output, stereo S/PDIF and a stereo headphone output.

“As a FireWire audio interface, the UltraLite-mk3 was an all-time best-seller,” explains Jim Cooper, Director of Marketing for MOTU. “So we added a USB2 port for users who want to connect it to laptop or desktop computers that don’t have built-in FireWire. Pretty much all Macs and PCs now come standard with hi-speed USB2 ports.”

As the first-ever “hybrid” audio interface of its kind, the rear panel of the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid provides both a FireWire A (400 Mbps) and hi-speed USB2 (480 Mbps) port. Users can connect the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid to their computer using either port for full-featured operation and ultra-low bus latency. Using FireWire provides the added benefit of fully mobile bus-powered operation, with enough power through the FireWire cable connection from the computer to support all features, including 48-volt phantom power to both mic inputs. An included power adapter can be used for USB2 connectivity, or operation as a stand-alone mixer.

Other updates include computer-controllable pad and 48V phantom power switches for the two mic inputs, simplified two-way pad switch (-20 dB or off), and an increased mic trim range (0-60 dB).

UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid features

• CueMix FX™ — flexible 10 input/14 bus mixer with on-board DSP effects, including reverb with sends/returns, plus EQ and compression on every input and output.
• 10 inputs / 14 outputs — there’s no channel sharing in the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid; the mic inputs, S/PDIF I/O, headphone out and main outs are all handled as separate channels.
• Classic Reverb™ — provides five different room types, three frequency shelves with adjustable crossover points, shelf filtering and reverb lengths up to 60 seconds.
• Two forms of compression — a standard compressor with conventional threshold/ratio/attack/release/gain controls and the Leveler™, an accurate model of the legendary LA-2A optical compressor, which provides vintage, musical automatic gain control.
• Modeled EQ — provides 7-band parametric EQ modeled after British analog console EQs, featuring 4 filter styles (gain/Q profiles) to effectively cover a wide range of audio material. LP and HP filters are also supplied with slopes that range from 6 to 36 dB.
• CueMix FX cross-platform mixing software — attractive graphic mixing, graphic editing of parametric EQ and a convenient tabbed interface for quick access to all features in one window. Also provides full-screen real-time FFT display, spectrogram “waterfall” display, oscilloscope, X-Y plot and linear or polar phase analysis.
• Front-panel control — access any setting in your entire UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid mix directly from the front panel.
• “Reverb return” stream — allows users to record or mix UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid reverb output separately in their DAW. Effects can also be applied when the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid is operating stand-alone (without a computer) as a complete stand-alone mixer.
• Stand-alone operation — program your mixes at the studio and then bring the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid to your gig, no computer needed. Just plug in the included power adapter and you are ready to go. Need to tweak the mix? Do it on site using the back-lit LCD and front-panel controls.
• Multiple CueMix FX mixes — for example, create different monitor mixes for the main outs and headphones. Or add send/return loops for outboard gear with no latency.
• Two combo jacks provide 1/4” guitar input or XLR mic input with phantom power, pad and plenty of gain.
• Eight 24-bit 192kHz analog inputs and outputs on balanced/unbalanced 1/4″ TRS jacks.
• Precision Digital Trim™ — Digitally controlled analog trim on all analog inputs (mic/guitar inputs + quarter-inch TRS inputs) provides accurate adjustments in 1 dB increments. Fine-tune the balance of your analog inputs and then save/recall trim configurations.
• Direct Digital Synthesis™ (DDS) — a DSP-driven phase lock engine and internal clock source that produces imperceptibly low jitter characteristics (below the noise floor), even when the UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid is resolved to an external clock source via SMPTE time code.
• Time code support — directly resolves to (or generates) time code via any quarter-inch input or output, without the need for an extra synchronizer.
• Sample-accurate MIDI — connect a MIDI controller and/or sound module with no separate interface needed. MIDI I/O is sample-accurate with supporting software.
• Expandable — add additional interfaces for more I/O as your needs grow.
• Separate TRS main outs with front panel volume control.
• Stereo 24-bit 96kHz S/PDIF in/out.
• Includes 64-bit and 32-bit native drivers for Mac OS X and Windows 7, Vista and XP, including ASIO, WDM, Wave, Core Audio, and Core MIDI. Supports all popular Mac and Windows audio software.
• Includes AudioDesk full-featured sample-accurate workstation software for Mac with recording, editing, mixing, real-time 32-bit effects processing and sample-accurate sync.
• Plug-and-play operation with your Mac or PC via FireWire or USB2.
• Front panel volume control for monitoring. Stereo, Quad, 6.1, 7.1 and user-defined surround monitoring setups available.
• Front panel headphone jack with volume control.

The UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid will ship Q4 of 2009 at the same price as the original UltraLite-mk3.

More information: MOTU / UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid

Mackie has announced the launch of its Onyx-i Series FireWire Recording Mixers, delivering premium analog features, tremendous flexibility and built-in 24-bit/96kHz FireWire I/O.

Onyx-i FireWire mixers can be used with all major DAWs, and is qualified by Mackie for use with Pro Tools® M­-Powered™ 8^*, offering those users a host of new hardware options.

“There are real benefits when using an analog mixer as a front end to your favorite DAW,” said James Woodburn, Mackie product manager. “Those who have been intimidated by digital recording will love the familiar layout and feel of a mixer. Those who are already into it will enjoy increased flexibility and speed.” Woodburn concludes, “Onyx-i mixers are the ideal combination of interface and mixer for anybody who needs the best of both worlds…simply put, it’s a better way to record.”

Onyx-i Series features

• 8-channel premium analog mixer with integrated 24-bit/96kHz FireWire I/O
• Qualified by Mackie for use will all major DAWs, including:
  • Pro Tools® M-Powered™ 8
  • Logic®
  • SONAR™
  • Cubase®
  • Ableton® Live
• 3 Onyx boutique-quality mic preamps
• 3-band Perkins EQ with sweepable mids on mic/line channels
• 3-band Perkins EQ on stereo line channels
• Hybrid mono/stereo channel with 4-band Perkins EQ with sweepable mids
• Flexible FireWire routing, including aux sends and pre/post EQ assignment for all channels
• Stereo playback from DAW, returned to control room or into channel for integration into mix
• 2 aux sends with pre/post assignment
• Built-in DI on first two channels for direct connection of guitars, bass, etc.
• Individual 48V phantom power switches on all mic inputs
• Talkback section with built in mic and flexible routing
• "Planet Earth" switching power supply for worldwide use
• Optional rack kit available

The Mackie Onyx-i Series (820i, 1220i, 1620i and 1640i) will be available globally in September 2009.

More information: Mackie / Onyx-i Series

^* The Onyx-i Series Mixers are qualified by Mackie for use with Pro Tools® M-Powered™ 8. Mackie will release a driver (via www.mackie.com) together with full details of how to use the Onyx-i series with Pro Tools M-Powered 8 in the coming weeks.

TC Electronic has announced a Desktop Konnekt 6 Giveaway.

Subscribe to TC Electronic’s YouTube channel and you could win a Desktop Konnekt 6.

As a subscriber you will be updated with new videos featuring our latest products, cool demos, competitions and tutorials. It’s the ideal way to keep up to date with all of the artists and gear in the world of TC Electronic.

And with two Desktop Konnekt 6’s up for grabs there’s never been a better time to subscribe! We’ll be choosing two lucky winners from our subscribers the next two Fridays.

More information: TC Electronic / YouTube