SONiVOX today offered a pre-release preview complete with MP3 and Video examples of the first instrument from their new NEMESYNTH Audio Research Group, VOCALIZER - Vocal Production Synthesizer.

Sugar Bytes have released the perfect Guitar emulation! With Amps, Effects and different guitars. And the guitar player is included as well, represented by a step sequencer system which makes it easy to create the most impressing riffs and licks on the fly! Guitarist comes as standalone and VST/AU plugin for mac and pc.

BOSS Pedal Sketch app for iPhone is here! The easy-to-use applets you save the connection order and knob positions of your BOSS compact effect pedals. You can also import pertinent sounds and photos from your iPhone mic and camera as Memo data. BOSS Pedal Sketch is useful for recreating your pedal settings at live performances. Download free from the Apple App Store.

Dangerous Music announced today that it has begun shipping its new stereo 'Dangerous BAX EQ' to international distributors and US dealers in quantities. The new one-rack space unit is ideal for use in mastering and as a final mix buss shelving EQ.

Native Instruments not only released serveral new instruments and updates today but they have also released new effects to be used in your DAW. Firstly they released Traktor's 12, a collection of Traktor effects that now can be used outside of Traktor. And then there are Reflektor and Rammfire, two effects based on the Guitar Rig 4 Pro engine.

Today Native Instruments have released several new products and the long-awaited update for Reaktor. Next to version 5.5. of Reaktor they released a new reaktor instrument called Prism. For Kontakt Native Instrument have released Vintage Organs.

In this brief chat he lets rip about all things 2000, including the brand new DJM-2000 and the CDJ-2000s. Hear how he now organises his music and utilises the incredible functionality and connectivity of the DJM-2000. He explains how he can connect up to four CDJs into the DJM-2000 so that no additional hub is needed and also plug his laptop straight in via USB to use Ableton, not forgetting the touch screen to control midi functions. How the DJ landscape is changing as he explains how his whole DJ set just fits on his key chain. He only carries two 2GB SD cards! James was originally involved this time last year with the seminal Dawn of a New Species campaign that launched the CDJ-2000s, which you can watch here on DJsounds.

Jointly designed by Ableton and Novation, Launchpad places Ableton Live at your fingertips. Whether you're a DJ, performing musician or studio producer, Launchpad gives you all you need to truly 'play' Live. Launchpad is ultra-portable. It is USB bus powered (no need for power sockets), and weights in at just 717gms (one third the weight of a macbook!). With a multi-colour 64-button grid and dedicated scene launch buttons, Launchpad is purpose built for triggering and manipulating clips in Live, it also offers a totally new way of controlling Ableton Live's mixer.

Korg announced two limited color editions of thier products. Now the Wavedrum is available in a limited edition black color with a solid black metallic rim and an exclusive BLACK SUEDE Remo drum head – projecting a different vibe than the aura of the original silver. Korg also announces the limited edition SP-170RD, a vibrant red color option for the SP-170 Digital Piano, further expanding the striking visual style of this popular model.

Recently, Loopmasters introduced the first three sample packs in the Mixtools series (check them out here). Today they introduced the new Deep and Soulful House edition of the Mixtools series. In-house Loopmasters producer ANDY LEE who is know internationally by his CENTRAL AVENUE alias is one of the UK's foremost DEEP & SOULFUL HOUSE producers is proud to bring a selection of four brand new royalty free tracks which are broken down into progressive stems allowing you to mix, remix, loop and add that ultra-cool groove element to your set.

The microKEY features 37 velocity-sensing mini keys, using the same Natural Touch keybed found on the Korg microKORG XL Analog Modeling Synthesizer/Vocoder and microSTATION Music Workstation. This keybed has been designed with careful attention to the touch and feel. The proportions of the black keys and white "waterfall" keys have been adjusted for optimal playability, and the key touch makes it easy to play chords, glissandos, and rapid-fire phrases. The microKEY accurately conveys the dynamics of your performance to any software package.

Today is the day that Roland released the details of many new products for this year through the Roland Connect website. Amongst others Roland announced a Black AX-Synth, the mobile Juno-Gi synth, a new Octa-Capture audio interface and a software editor for the GAIA synthesizer.

Already present in our Gearjunkies lab in beta edition but now widely available through the iTunes App store is touchAble. A controller app for Ableton Live. touchAble will be discussed more in one of the coming parts of our iPad and music app series.

In support of the Ministry of Sound's latest release Drum & Bass Arena Anthology they are giving away the parts to DJ Fresh’s recent crossover hit Gold Dust for all budding producers and DJs to remix. The winner will be rewarded with a set of Pioneer HDJ-2000 headphones, a SoundCloud Pro account and an hour live DJ set on D&B TV. The three runners up will receive a SoundCloud Lite account.

This month, Scratch Live 2.1 was released and included support for the CDJ-2000 and the Novation Dicer. Our dev team have also given DJs a new “Ultra Knob” for effects, with brand new effects included. For those interested in the Serato/Ableton partnership, Scratch Live with The Bridge went into Public Beta this month as well, and is open to all those who own Scratch Live and a registered copy of Ableton Live 8.

iVoxel is not only an amazingly sounding vocoder for iPhone/iPod and iPad - the unique concept of iVoxel turns this vocoder into a singing machine going far beyond the capabilities of traditional and software vocoders on any platform.

The Korg M01 is a palm-sized Music Workstation for the Nintendo DS and DSi, based on one of the most populair synths in the eighties, the Korg M1 workstation.

MOTU is now shipping the MasterWorks Collection, an advanced audio plug-in bundle for Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, and other Mac OS X hosts that support RTAS, Audio Units, and VST3 audio plug-ins. "MOTU has received many requests from Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, and Live users who wanted to get their hands on Digital Performer's MasterWorks plug-ins," said Jim Cooper, MOTU Director of Marketing. "Now they finally can."

This just came along (via Matrixsynth). As we just released part one of our iPad story last week we thought to share this with you. Not only because of our own iPad story but also because the video below is really good. The iPad Orchestra was founded in 2010 to demonstrate the latest achievements in digital mobile music. They strongly believe that some day people will be able to play any music instrument from mobile devices, such as an iPad. In this first performance, they used a new iPad app called Seline HD.

Karma-Lab introduces Reincarnated - Groove Nirvana, a new set of 32 exciting and inspiring KARMA-fied combis for the Korg M3 and Korg M50. Priced at only US$32, the sound set includes grooves and sonic textures in a wide variety of styles, ranging from a mixture of Hip-Hop, Dance, Electronica, Trance & Techno categories to Ambient, Jazz, New-Age, Film Score, and World/Ethnic categories.

Earlier this year Peff releases CycleOn which is a real-time playback system for ReCycle REX loops. This combinator based instrument patch is designed to create live performance and DJ Style effects using Propellerhead Software Record + Reason 4.0 (both applications are required).

The iPad has been available for a while now and as promised we are gonna try to give you an insight on the use of the iPad in the studio and on stage. As the release of the iPad in the US was much earlier (then Europe) I have gotten a good overview of apps that are available and what is about to be released. This review or maybe better said, this iPad story mainly focuses on the use of the iPad with music/audio apps in an studio/stage environment. The apps that will be discussed are just a selection of the large amount of apps available at the moment. And allthough the iPad is only just released there is already so much to discuss that there will be several parts to this story.

These are the releases we have encountered this week on the Loops and Samples front. Just like the quality of the audio software we use these days the quality of the content we use (loops and samples) equally matches the high standards of this software. Below is this weeks selection.

Producer Sessions Live is only four weeks away! And our friends at FutureMusicMagazine are gearing up for one of the biggest music-making shows of the year. Ever wanted to ask Dave Spoon which EQ he used on the lead line in At Night? Or pondered the Freemason’s compression settings on Kelly Rowland’s vocal? This is the ultimate opportunity as, over two days, ten famous producers will be presenting live tutorials, taking apart their tracks and giving you the juicy details on how they were made.

IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality are pleased to introduce DrummerTracks™ - a new series of style-based full-length drum backing tracks performed by top studio drummers.  Unlike loops, DrummerTracks are full song drum tracks, recorded in world-class studios by sound powerhouse - Sonic Reality, and designed for use as play-along tracks for the AmpliTube range of software and mobile apps.

Wacom today announces the launch of the second generation of nextbeat – an interface device aimed at professional DJs, that provides a new way of creating and performing music. nextbeat MK2 will be available in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Finland, Romania, UAE and Lebanon from September,10.