Archive for the ‘New Products’ Category

Okay, so there’s been a lot coming out of the Pioneer camp recently. We’ve seen the CDJ-2000 (which will replace the 1000-MK3), the CDJ-900 (replacing the 800MK2), the DJM-2000 (replacing the DJM-1000), and now we have the CDJ-350 (replacing the CDJ-200/400) and the DJM-350 (replacing the DJM-400).  Phew. That’s a lot of new gear.

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Are you in a band? If so, you probably have some merch to sell. How have you done it in the past? Cash? If you were a somewhat sizable band on a bigger indie label, you might’ve had a credit card reader on your table. I personally don’t have any experience with those, but I’m willing to bet that VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile will blow all that old tech out of the water.

PAYware Mobile’s card reader attaches right to your iPhone 3G/3GS and allows fans to instantly swipe there card for a t-shirt, CD, etc, and have a receipt instantly emailed to them. There’s a built-in stylus for them to sign with and end-to-end encryption to reduce any type of fraud.

The iPhone app also allows you to view real-time reports as well as a transaction history.

PAYware Mobile is free with a 2 year contract, $49 to activate, and, as with any other credit card reader, merchant fees do apply. That being said, this seems to be the best way to deal with merch and credit cards.

Check out www.paywaremobile.com for more.

Image-Line is unleashing a powerful drum and percussion modeling plugin entitled Drumaxx. There’s a total of 16 different drum pads that can all be sent to external outputs for FX processing.

Image-Line is doing something fairly progressive by offering Drumaxx on a “pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth” model. There’s a minimum of 9 euros, but after that it’s all up to you. Image-Line is also donating $1 USD to Haiti earthquake victims.

Check out the feature set:

• 16 Physically modeled drum pad
• Multi-output for individual effects processing on each pad
• Huge range of modeling possibilities covering sounds from cymbals to kettle-drums
• Velocity modulation matrix for detailed expressiveness
• Integrated Stepsequencer with trigger-key playback
• Integrated effects
• Single-pad version ‘Drumpad’ available for tight integration with FL Studio

Check out Image-Line’s website for more info: http://www.image-line.com/documents/drumaxx.html

Brainworx has unleashed the bx_control v2 beta which I would recommend for everyone who likes good plugins (I’m not joking).

Major changes from v1 to v2 include the improved M/S matrix and stereo enhancer with mono maker. Add to that list indiviual M/S panning, dynamic range metering, and a solo-in-place feature for all solo modes.

I’m serious when I saw Brainworx makes my favorite plug-ins right now. Not only are they designed well, but they sound amazing. They may be little intimidating upon first run, but stick with it, learn how to use it, and you won’t regret it for a second. These guys at Brainworx are like mad scientists in the best way possible.

bx_control v2 will be 99 euros (native) or 149 euros (TDM with VENUE support). People upgrading from v1 will pay 49 euros for both Native and TDM versions.There’s also a 25% introductory sale that starts in February (and applies to upgrades!), so try the plug-in and grab it on the cheap when it becomes available.

Hit the jump for links to everything!

PS: Stay tuned for my review of a very lovely Brainworx plug-in as well as a review of Elysia’s mpressor plug-in.

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In the world of guitar gear, there are thousands of sleek, gritty, cool or knob-overloaded boxes out there.  With all the flashy pedals out there with “X-treme!!!” names, it’s easy to overlook some of their less-than-exciting counterparts – namely tuners.

Sure, they’re brilliant devices that provide important and necessary features, but let’s be real about it.  Every time I see someone walking out of a guitar shop with a $100 tuning pedal in his hand, he seems less than excited.  No new sounds or tones? No badass names?  In most cases, there aren’t even any novel tech features.  But no more!

<trumpet fanfare>

Finally something new!

<enthusiastic fingers-on-desk drumroll>

Polyphonic tuning!

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