At the 2013 NAMM Show, Cakewalk’s Jimmy Landry gave us a quick overview of the latest version of Z3TA+ 2, version 2.1.
Z3TA+ 2.1 not only has a lot of new features, but is now available for Mac, in addition to Windows. Continue reading
Cakewalk has announced SONAR X2a – an update to the popular Windows DAW which includes many fixes, enhancements, plus support for multi-touch.
Since music apps first started appearing on Apple’s iPad, many users have been anticipating the same types of multi-touch interaction coming to traditional DAWs. Sonar X2a is a major step in that direction.
SONAR X2A offers a new creative environment on touch enabled devices. Highlights include:
Is Sonar X2a + Windows 8 the future of DAWs? Check out the video and the details and let us know what you think! Continue reading
Cakewalk has announced Sonar X2 – the latest version of their digital audio workstation for Windows.
Arturia recently introduced Wurlitzer V, described as ?a high end software recreation of the classic Wurlitzer 200A electric piano.?
Wurlitzer V?s physical modeling engine reproduces the acoustic properties of reeds, key action and amplification, in order to deliver realism, while offering maximum flexibility on sound.
Russ Hughes of Pro Tools Expert takes a look at Arturia Wurlitzer V in this video review. He calls Wurlitzer V “an excellent emulation” of the original Wurlitzer 200A.
Arturia Wurlitzer V is available now for Mac OS X & Windows.
Pricing:
If you’ve used Arturia Wurlitzer V, let us know what you think of it!
In this video review, Russ Hughes takes a look at the new iZotope Iris software synthesizer. The review takes a look at the unique visual editing tools within Iris and offers lots of audio demos of what the new synth can do.
“Until you?ve used, Iris you simply can?t imagine working with sound in this way,” says Hughes, “Hearing what emerges from what I can only describe in some cases as ?audio graffiti?.”
“It puts sound design and synthesis in the hands of the masses, not by dumbing down, but by making an elegant and wonderfully powerful interface so damned fun and intensely gratifying,” adds Hughes.
You can download a demo version of Iris at the iZotope site.
via ProToolsExpert
Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8, which will offer a new user interface optimized for tablets, may be a little faster than Windows 7 for digital audio workstation work, according to Cakewalk.
In preliminary testing with Sonar X1, Cakewalk found improved performance in three areas:
If Cakewalks’s early testing holds up, these improvements will be great news for musicians based on WIndows.
Cakewalk On Windows 8 Tablets
While Cakewalks’ testing bodes well for traditional Windows users, what does it mean for people interested in Windows tablets?
Users that think that Windows 8 is going to give existing music apps a multitouch makeover are going to be disappointed.
“Classic Windows desktop applications, built using the Win32 API, will only run in desktop mode and only on AMD and Intel x86 processors, not ARM devices,” notes Cakewalk’s Willy Jones.
In other words, Sonar X1 should run great in desktop mode, but not in the new ‘Metro’ tablet interface and not at all on ARM tablets.
Cakewalk notes:
To support ARM, applications will need to be specifically written as Metro style apps, using the new WinRT API.
WinRT is a new API, completely different from the classic WIN32 API that all Windows desktop applications use, and is not backwards compatible with the older Windows framework. As a result DLL?s such as VST?s cannot be loaded from Metro apps. It is also designed more with mobile devices in mind and lacks some of the power of the classic Win32 Windows API currently.
Don’t expect your favorite music apps to be optimized for Windows 8 tablets when they ship. Music app vendors are more likely to test the waters with some basic Metro-style apps, before they consider DAW rewrites.
That doesn’t mean that Windows 8 won’t offer benefits for Intel WIndows tablet owners, though. While they won’t get the ‘sizzle’ of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 Metro UI, they should get the ‘steak’ of better performance and lower memory use.