Archives for 2002

Acacia Licenses DMT Technology to Virgin Radio

Acacia Research Corporation announced today, that its Acacia Technologies Group has licensed its Digital Media Transmission (DMT) Technology to Radio Free Virgin, a leading digital broadcast company. Acacia’s DMT Technology is a patented process for the transmission and receipt of digital audio and digital video content.

Radio Free Virgin is a privately held company funded by Richard Branson, which provides CD-quality streaming audio via the Internet through over 40 genre-based music channels. Listeners receive Radio Free Virgin’s streaming audio content via the Internet by downloading a media player.

About Acacia Technologies

The Acacia Technologies group is the part of Acacia Research Corporation that focuses on media technology, a business that licenses its V-chip technology to television manufacturers, and owns pioneering Digital Media Transmission (“DMT”) technology. DMT technology covers the transmission and receipt of digital audio and digital video content, commonly known as audio on-demand, video on-demand, and audio/video streaming, and is supported by 5 U.S. and 17 international patents.

Composer Richard Marvin Uses Mackie UAD-1 to Score HBO’s Six Feet Under

Richard Marvin considers himself the luckiest guy in Hollywood, as this week he begins scoring the third season of HBO’s highly regarded Six Feet Under. The 13-episode season will air in March 2003.

Marvin, whose credits comprise numerous film and television scores, including the highly regard U-571, scores 4-6 minutes of original music for each episode. “This show has spoiled me for other television. It’s so touching and real that everything else that I work on seems so commercial. The people involved are just fabulous; it’s a great experience. Alan Ball is very clear about what he wants – It’s almost like doing a movie every week; we’re using the same sort of approach.”

Just as he values the quality of the process, Marvin also values his creative tools. Running a Digital Performer-based Macintosh desktop system, Marvin uses the Mackie UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins, Propellerheads Reason, Ableton Live and various plug-ins from Native Instruments to create the uniquely characteristic music for Six Feet Under which Marvin describes as “an interesting hybrid between ambient electronica and acoustic music with solo piano and orchestral violins”.

He first came across the Mackie UAD-1 when looking for a way to ease the processor demand on his system. “It’s working so great; it’s flawless – I’m using it all the time, every day. My favorite plug-in by far is Nigel. I just love it. I use it to fake guitars. I can put anything into it, really, and by tweaking it I can get a guitar sound that I’m happy with. There are so many variables to it, so many great qualities to the sound. I’ve used a lot of different things like Amp Farm, the MOTU Preamp, but this has a rich quality to it – it’s real believable. But I also use it on drum loops – it’s just so strange and easy to use. I simply pull up one of the presets to get started, tweak some of the controls and get really interesting sounds.”

Building on the success of his tenure with Six Feet Under, Marvin is looking forward to the numerous film and television projects now on his plate. He also looks forward to expanding his Mackie UAD-1 with the recently announced DreamVerb plug-in.

Mackie Designs Web Site

Propellerheads Web Site

Native Instruments Web Site

Pinnacle Systems Agrees to Acquire Steinberg Media Technologies

Pinnacle Systems announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the stock of Steinberg Media Technologies AG based in Hamburg, Germany. Steinberg specializes in digital audio software solutions for consumers and professionals (Cubase, Wavelab, Nuendo etc).

The companies expect to close the transaction in early January 2003 and have agreed on a total purchase price of approximately $24 million, consisting of $8.2 million in cash and $15.8 million of Pinnacle Systems common stock. At closing, Pinnacle Systems will acquire all products, software, and intellectual property rights, along with all other assets and liabilities of the company. Pinnacle will account for this transaction as a purchase in Pinnacle Systems’ fiscal Q3, ending March 31, 2003.

J. Kim Fennell, President and CEO at Pinnacle Systems said, “We are delighted to welcome Steinberg’s customers and employees into the Pinnacle family. Steinberg is a recognized industry leader in digital audio and this transaction significantly broadens Pinnacle’s digital media offerings. By adding the talent and technology of Steinberg to our company, we believe we can bring our customers an even stronger solutions portfolio.”

“Steinberg is pleased to be joining forces with Pinnacle Systems. Our customers and products will benefit greatly from the combined resources of the two companies and we look forward to bringing audio production expertise to the award-winning Pinnacle Systems’ product lines,” said Manfred Rürup, President of Steinberg Media Technologies AG.

About Steinberg Media Technologies AG

Steinberg Media Technologies AG is known the world over for its professional audio software. The company has been developing, manufacturing and selling software products for professional musicians and producers in the music, video and film industry since 1984. Steinberg products are also enjoying success in the fast-growing consumer market with music creation and other multimedia applications. Steinberg is today one of the world’s largest audio software houses.

About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Pinnacle Systems provides broadcasters and consumers with cutting-edge digital media creation, storage, and play-back solutions for use at Home, in the Studio and on the Air. Pinnacle Systems’ award winning digital media solutions are in use around the world for broadcast, cable and satellite television, video editing, DVD and CDR authoring, and the Internet. A recognized industry leader, the company has received eight prestigious Emmy Awards for its technical innovations and carries this commitment throughout all of its product lines.

Steinberg U.S.A. Web Site

Pinnacle Systems Web Site

Ableton Announces Free Version of Sonomic Online Library Card with purchase of LIVE 2

Buyers of LIVE 2, the performance-oriented audio sequencer by Ableton, will now be entitled to free sample or sound effects downloads from the Sonomic Online Library.

Ableton, the innovative Berlin-based music software company, and Sonomic, the premier provider of sound library management solutions, have joined forces to bundle the Sonomic Online Library Card with Ableton’s LIVE 2 audio software.

Sonomic’s Library Card will enable LIVE users to search, audition and download 10 samples or 5 sound effects from the Sonomic Online Library. Currently over 200,000 sounds large, the Sonomic Online Library features the complete and most-up-to-date collections from Zero G, Sound Ideas, Sampleheads, Q Up Arts, BBC, Universal SoundBank and many more.

Once downloaded in standard .wav or .aiff formats, Sonomic sounds can be instantly stretched, warped and mangled in LIVE 2, the award winning sequencing instrument for Mac OS9, Mac OSX and Windows.

The Library Card offers LIVE users virtually an unlimited sound palette to draw upon and furthers the sonic possibilities already inherent in LIVE 2. LIVE 2 is currently shipping with the Online Library Card enclosed in the box.

About LIVE

Introduced in 2001 as an audio sequencer to be played like an instrument in live performance, LIVE was quickly embraced by studio musicians and post production professionals because of the swiftness and ease with which they could sketch out musical ideas. LIVE version 2 offers enhancements to the performance and jamming features of the original software and also adds multi-track recording and editing with “Elastic Audio”.

About Ableton

Ableton’s function is to support creative people with modern software technology. Since the company started in 1999, more than twenty developers and business professionals have joined Ableton–many of them active musicians or DJs. Since the launch of LIVE in October 2001, the company has received outstanding press and customer feedback.

About Sonomic

Sonomic (www.sonomic.com) gives you instant access to the sounds you need through a suite of tools designed to optimize production efficiency and enhance creativity. The industry-leading Sonomic Sound EngineTM locates, auditions and imports samples and sound effects with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Sonomic’s flagship Total Library Server (www.sonomic.com/server) integrates your own CD library with the Sound Engine to create a fast, efficient digital resource. Sonomic digitizes, categorizes and indexes your entire CD collection onto a custom-built server, searchable from any networked workstation. The Total Library Server connects automatically to the 200,000 sound (and growing) Sonomic Online Library, featuring the entire collections of Sound Ideas, Valentino, Zero-G, Clack, and many more. The net result is that hundreds of thousands of sounds are instantly available, so you always have exactly what you need right at your fingertips.

Ableton Web Site

Sonomic Web Site

Schoeps Introduces LP-40 Inline Low-Pass Filter, New Logo

German microphone maker Schoeps has introduced a new in-line low-pass filter, the LP 40. It is designed to be added to an omnidirectional microphone to create a fill-in low frequency pickup in conjunction with cardioid and super-cardioid microphones.

No directional microphone is able to pick up frequencies down to as low as 16 Hz as well as high-quality condenser mics with omnidirectional pickup patterns. You can compensate for this by adding the signal of an omni mic which has been filtered with a low-pass filter. The LP 40 has been designed to extend the response of a Schoeps supercardioid (i.e. MK 41) downwards with as little ripple as possible.

Schoeps says the LP 40 is ideally suited for an OCT (front surround, optimized cardioid triangle) system using super-cardioids. When the signal of a Schoeps MK 2 omnidirectional capsule with LP 40 is added to that of an MK 4 (cardioid) or MK 41 (supercardioid) capsule, you get a smooth frequency response down to the lowest frequencies.

Although it is designed to complement the characteristics of Schoeps microphones, the LP 40 can be used with any microphone (with XLR connector) made by any manufacturer.

The LP 40 filter is available at a suggested price of 170 Euros ($160 US).

Shoeps has also announced that beginning in January 2003, the company logo is changing significantly (see new logo above). The new logo focuses attention on Schoeps’ primary interest and manufacturing expertise: microphones. This is the first time the Schoeps logo has changed in more than 50 years.

LP 40 Technical Specifications:

  • Filter: low-pass, critical, 2nd order (12 dB/octave)
  • Cut-off frequency (-3 dB): 40 Hz
  • Output impedance: 40 Ohms @ 1 kHz with SCHOEPS CCM Compact Microphones and CMC Standard Colette microphone amplifiers
  • Gain: 0 dB
  • Maximum output voltage: ca. 1 V @ 4 mA
  • Diameter: 20 mm
  • Length: 94 mm
  • Suface finish: Nickel

Schoeps Web Site