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

At Surround 2002 in Los Angeles, Universal Audio, a manufacturer of high-quality vintage audio hardware and DSP software plug-ins for digital audio workstations, announced the release of three new versions of their Smartcode Pro® TDM plug-ins, all of which are now compatible with Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD format. The Surround Encoders for DTS and Dolby DVD have been upgraded along with the DTS CD version. All existing users of these plug-ins will be able to upgrade for a $99 charge.

Software-based encoders offer an efficient and cost-effective alternative to hardware encoders. SmartCode Pro will allow Pro Tools users to create DVDs or reference CDs directly from their 5.1 mixes created with the new Pro Tools HD system.

“Universal Audio recognized the growing Surround market early on and was the first company to offer software encoders for Surround Production. We see Surround 2002 as the premiere venue to introduce our series of TDM Plug Ins for Pro Tools HD.” Comments Matt Ward, President of Universal Audio. “Digidesign is the undisputed leader in the professional digital audio workstation market. We are certain that the professionals who use Pro Tools HD will appreciate the sonic quality and character of our Plug-Ins,”

SmartCode Pro DTS-DVD, US MSRP of $1,495, SmartCode Pro, DTS-CD US MSRP of $495 and SmartCode Dolby, US MSRP of $795, are now available from Universal Audio authorized dealers and distributors. Registered owners of the existing Kind of Loud SmartCode TDM encoders, will be able to upgrade to the new HD-compatible Universal Audio version for $99

About Universal Audio

Based in Santa Cruz, California, Universal Audio is well known for its vintage analog reproductions. With the recent acquisition of Kind of Loud Technologies, the company is focused on merging the best of analog and digital technology. The company is devoted to this endeavor, following its motto, Analog Ears, Digital Minds.

Universal Audio Web Site

Take the best synthesizer around and multiply that by three. The result of this experiment is called D’cota – by Steinberg. This fantastic VST instrument has the power of three different synthesis forms. The unique aliasing-free D’cota sound engine allows the exploration of new sonic worlds.

Steinberg’s latest VST synthesizer breaks new ground. Equipped with an extremely powerful and aliasing-free audio engine, D’cota comes into its own to produce very, very special sounds.

D’cota provides four ADSR envelopes and two freely synchronizable LFOs for each of the three synthesis forms. Eight different types of filter and two waveform generators feed two independent spectrum stages with user-definable curves. The integrated Morph function allows easy fading between the two spectra in real-time. With its delays, distortion units, modulators and three oscillators featuring more than 60 waveforms for frequency, pulse width and ring modulation, the breathtaking power of the D’cota effect section opens up new, previously unexplored soundscapes.

D’cota is a fascinating new synthesizer that makes it possible to create the most complex, unusual sounds while offering an effortlessly intuitive handling.

D’cota Features:

• 3 synthesis forms: Advanced analog/spectrum/wave impulse
• 8-way multitimbral with up to 128 voices, 4 stereo outputs
• Outstanding sound quality (aliasing-free oscillators)
• Multi-effect unit with distortion, modulation and delay
• Advanced random mode
• Huge range of presets included

D’cota will be available from mid-December for EUR 249.00 at specialist dealers. For more information about D’cota and other Steinberg products, please visit www.steinberg.net.

System Requirements Mac

G4 400 MHz (500 MHz or better recommended), 20 MB RAM in excess of the requirements of the host application, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X Version 10.2, Cubase VST 5.0 or higher, Cubase SX/SL, Nuendo or other VST 2.0, compatible host application.

System Requirements PC

Pentium III, Athlon 600 MHz (800 MHz or higher recommended), Windows® 2000, Windows® XP, 20 MB RAM in excess of the requirements of the host application, Cubase VST 5.0 or higher, Cubase SX/SL, Nuendo or other VST 2.0, compatible host application, PC equipped according to the requirements of the host application.

132dB DAC Complies With Next-Generation CD Formats, SACD and DVD-Audio

Texas Instruments announced today a new Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that offers the industry’s highest dynamic range for high-end audio equipment. The PCM1792 utilizes TI’s proprietary Advanced Segment technology to achieve a maximum dynamic range of 132 decibels (dB) (mono mode), surpassing the standard 120-123dB performance provided by conventional Delta-Sigma DACs. This level of dynamic range enables audio manufacturers to reproduce sound much closer to the original recording source.

Audio equipment manufacturers can now rely on the 132 dB (mono mode) performance of the PCM1792 in a wide range of high-fidelity audio applications such as A/V amplifiers, universal players (which play both DVD-Audio and SACD) and professional mixing consoles. The PCM1792 supports audio sources that comply with next-generation music CD formats, DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). TI will also offer the DSD1792, a companion device equipped with a dedicated SACD signal input terminal.

Dynamic range is a parameter that expresses numerically how accurately sounds of small amplitude can be reproduced without distortion. The higher the dynamic range, the higher the quality of the sound. The PCM1792 has a dynamic range that significantly exceeds SACD’s specification, making it possible to more accurately reproduce recorded program material. Prior to this device, there was no integrated circuit DAC available with a dynamic range exceeding 130dB.

TI’s proprietary Advanced Segment DAC architecture is characterized by a constant current, multi-level configuration that enables the DAC to achieve the industry’s highest dynamic range and offer increased tolerance to clock jitter. This architecture also provides an analog Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter, which the industry recommends as the filtering process to best utilize SACD’s superior performance.

Key Features of the PCM1792 D/A Converter

• Dynamic range

– 132 dB (9.0Vrms, Mono)
– 129 dB (4.5Vrms, Stereo)
– 127 dB (2.0Vrms, Stereo)

• Sampling rate: Up to 192kHz
• THD+N: 0.0004%
• Resolution: 24 bit (PCM)
• Compliance with DSD and PCM formats

Pricing, Availability, and Packaging

Samples of the PCM1792 and the DSD1792 are available today, with volume production scheduled to begin in March 2003. Both products are available in a 28-pin SSOP package. Each product is priced from $13.00 in 1,000 piece quantities (suggested resale price).

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company’s businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Sony/Tree Studios in Nashville has significantly streamlined its ability to handle digital audio data with the installation of an A/V SAN PRO system from Studio Network Solutions. According to studio manager Pat McMakin, an engineer, producer and mixer who has worked with artists such as ‘N SYNC, Brooks & Dunn and Olivia Newton-John, the A/V SAN PRO has eliminated “sneaker-net” through the ultra-high-speed Fibre Channel networking of three Pro Tools systems, one of which is located in a separate building. The studio is currently working on linking the A/V SAN PRO to yet another facility several blocks away, via fiber-optic cable.

“Prior to the installation of the A/V SAN PRO, my assistant engineer spent most of his time moving and managing hard drives throughout the three-room facility,” explains McMakin. “Now that we can access any drive in any room, my assistant engineer can go back to being an assistant engineer. Plus, with SCSI’s maximum cable length of about three feet, we never would have been able to link studios that were blocks apart. But now, with the Fibre Channel’s ability to reach some seven miles, that idea can become a reality.”

McMakin first learned of the A/V SAN PRO through the strong endorsement of his local Pro Tools dealer, Frank Conway at Audio One. “That caused me to look further into the system and ultimately purchase one,” says McMakin, who had been considering networking options for a couple of years. “The A/V SAN PRO has really made a huge difference for our entire workflow, combining speed and centralized storage with ultra-reliability and multi-user access. The A/V SAN PRO is a real problem-solver that has allowed us to unify our entire production workflow.”

Previously, McMakin continues, “it took an incredible amount of time to back up the considerable volume of work produced at the studio. Now, with the A/V SAN PRO, everything is backed up in one place automatically. We don’t have to haul drives in from other rooms and have my assistant sitting there backing up each individual drive. It’s nice to have the peace of mind that the whole network is backed up every night.”

Conway based his A/V SAN PRO recommendation to McMakin on his experience with other SAN’s. “I think the biggest reason I like the A/V SAN PRO is because it was designed by audio people, for audio people,” says Conway. “Many other SAN’s are built with off-the-shelf components. SNS has customized cards and software built specifically for audio and video. Audio files are transferred in small bits very quickly, whereas video files are transferred in bigger slower chunks. The A/V SAN PRO does that and is so powerful; it allows me to have some 128 tracks of 48/24 audio with heavy edit density on a single drive. With other storage solutions that is not remotely an option.”

The A/V SAN PRO becomes the backbone of any studio facility by employing fiber channel technology connecting multiple systems like Avid, Pro Tools, Sonic Solutions and Final Cut Pro into one storage/access location. Studio Network Solutions systems are designed to remain stable under the most extreme conditions. The A/V SAN PRO has earned respect among industry leaders as being nothing less than bulletproof and is scalable from a single-seat to 20 seats or more as requirements increase.

Studio Network Solutions Web Site