Windows Vista SP1 released

Windows-based musicians who have been having reliability and performance issues with Vista may be interested to know that the final version of the first service pack release is now available to download. Microsoft claim that it will make your machine "more reliable, run more smoothly, and even more enjoyable to use, all at no charge".

Very generous of them.

They're are encouraging people to wait until mid-April when SP1 will be available via automatic updates, but for the impatient or adventurous, there is a direct download available now.

Native Instruments release free Kore Player with 300MB sample set

This actually came out a few days back, but this blog didn't exist then, so my excuse is relatively sound! :)

According to the NI website, "KORE PLAYER brings world-class Native Instruments sound within the reach of any musician or producer". Lovely. As well as the 300MB sound library that comes with the download, it can load and play Kore Soundpacks which are available separately (although you have to pay for those ones!)

I've not really jumped on the Kore bandwagon, but there are some nice sounds in there, and the price is right! When you consider that you're getting the sound engines from Kontakt, Reaktor, Massive, Guitar Rig, FM8, and Absynth (albeit not directly accessible - you can tweak some parameters from the Kore interface though) it's definitely worth a download if you have the bandwidth. It runs as a VST, AU, or RTAS (Pro Tools 7) on either Mac universal binary or Windows.

Celemony brings polyphonic pitch manipulation to the table with DNA

Recording purists were given something new to gripe about recently with Celemony's announcement of their DNA "Direct Note Access" technology. Set to be released to the public as part of Melodyne 2, Celemony are claiming that DNA will "change forever the way we handle audio", and while that may be drawing something of a long bow, it's certainly a technology to keep an eye on.

There's an impressive video demonstration at the Celemony website.

Although I have to ask - what's "meedi"? ;)