The Week in Computer Music #5

Our release radar has been going bananas this week. First up, here's a CM world-exclusive: plug-in legends LinPlug have a new synth on the way, called MorphoX! Unsurprisingly, it's big thing is morphing - you can read all about it right here in our exclusive first-look.

Other recent announcements include Overloud SpringAge, a spring reverb simulator; and Brainworx bx_XL, a mid/side multiband loudness maximiser/limiter. There have been some solid updates too: iZotope RX2 is for those who like to take the hiss; spectral mastering dynamics courtesy of Voxengo Soniformer 3; and SonicProjects OP-X Pro-II, a lush Oberheim synth emulation.

Hey, wanna see a Commodore 64 do timestretching, vocoding, autotuning, sub bass generation, filtering, delay, tube distortion, bit-crushing, compression and dither? Of course you do! Here it comes, courtesy of C64/Amiga demoscene legend Mahoney (tech info and clearer vids right here)…

Back to modern-day technology, and there are yet more compact controllers to consider. Akai's MPK Mini seems to be an amalgamation of their nifty LPK25 and LPD8 units.

Vestax's Pad-One, meanwhile, features an X/Y pad, 12 dual-colour backlit pads (velocity- and pressure-sensitive), aluminium chassis, onboard editing, and more. It looks set to give Korg's nanoPad a serious run for its money, but speaking of which, we suspect that the Vestax will cost a fair bit more (pricing is TBA). Check it out:

The word on the street is that Mac daddies Apple will be announcing a new version of OS X next week, seemingly with a lion theme. Speculation is also rife about a new MacBook Air and iLife '11. No official word on this yet…

In further unofficial news, last week we were shown a major new version of, er, a rather big product. We're sworn to secrecy, unfortunately, but as soon as we're able to say more, you'll be the first to know - trust us!

Computer Music

Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.