News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
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Native Instruments has released five Mac products, all compatible with Logic, Pro Tools and Cubase/Nuendo or any application that supports VST/Audio Units/RTAS.
Komplete Synths ($649) contains four software synthesisers: Absynth 4 (modular synth, more than 1200 presets), Massive (bass and lead sounds), FM8 (FM synthesis including replication of all Yamaha DX series synths) and Pro-53 (emulation of the Prophet-5 synth). There’s a lot of bang for your buck here.
Komplete Classics ($649) is for the more acoustically-minded. Akoustik Piano emulates three grand pianos and an upright piano (the Steinway D™, Bechstein D 280, Boesendorfer 290 Imperial and the Steingraeber 130 upright). Elektrik Piano covers off four well-known pianos (Fender Rhodes MK I and MK II, Hohner Clavinet E7, and the Wurlitzer A 200).
Kontakt 3 ($649) is the latest iteration of Native Instruments’ sampling platform. For your money you get six collections of instruments: Orchestral, World, Vintage, Band, Synth and Urban Beats, making over 1000 sounds totalling 33GB.
Guitar Rig 3 ($849) is a virtual guitar and bass studio. Your instrument is connected to the provided foot pedal, which then gives you access to the 17 guitar and six bass cabinets, 12 amplifiers, 44 effects and nine adjustable microphone positions. If you have a laptop, then it and Guitar Rig 3 would make a formidable live performance unit.
Komplete 5 ($1699) is a significant bundle of applications that includes: Kontakt 3, Guitar Rig 3, Massive, Reaktor 5, Absynth 4, Battery 3 (a dedicated drum sampler), Akoustik and Elektrik Piano, B4 II (B3 organ emulator), FM8 and Pro-53. If you’re not afraid if throwing all your eggs in one company’s basket, this bundle would come close to covering all the bases. It’s also reasonable value for money, particularly if you add up the cost of purchasing the bundled applications separately.
The Australian distributor is Major Music 1300 306670 and all products should be available by the time you read this.
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Online retailing giant Amazon.com launched its MP3 download service last September, but as of February 2008 customers trying out the new service are not coming at the expense of Apple’s iTunes Store. According to a new report from market research firm NPD, only ten percent of AmazonMP3 customers had previously purchased digital music from iTunes. iTunes recently claimed the top spot in the music retailer market, beating out retail megalith Wal-Mart. However, in February Amazon claimed the number two spot, just behind Apple in the number of a-la-carte music tracks downloaded by consumers in the US.
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As I type these words, I am waiting for Apple's Developer Connection web site to ease up sufficiently for me to download the long-awaited Software Developer Kit for the iPhone (and iPod touch, just by the by). In a way, I hate developer-oriented announcements — "here's a really cool thing we're working on, and it's available now, and hoi polloi can have it in about six months". Actually, it's the six months I hate.
