Berkley Integrated Audio Software (BIAS) Deck 3.5

Record and mix in 5.1 surround sound on Mac OS X with BIAS Deck VST 3.5. (Also compatible with Mac OS 8.6/9.x.) Deck features up to 64 tracks of recording and playback, 999 virtual tracks, VST plug-in support, automated level mixing, built-in DSP effects, and support for remote MIDI control of faders and transport controls. Version 3.5 adds Mac OS X support, 5.1 surround mixing, OMF import and more than 25 additional VST effects. Includes BIAS Peak LE, BIAS Vbox SE, BIAS Freq EQ and Roxio Toast Lite. MSRP: $399.

Peak 3 is now Mac OS X-native and is the most full-featured, powerful, yet easy-to-use digital audio editing program for Macintosh. Peak features playlist direct, Red Book CD burning, contextual menus, new "Duplicate" command and sampler support; there is also support for multiple file formats, including MP3, AAC and enhanced .WAV files. Peak supports ASIO hardware under Mac OS 8.6/9.x and CoreAudio hardware under Mac OS X. BIAS Vbox SE, the powerful VST effects control matrix, is now integrated into Peak. Includes Roxio Toast Lite and more than 25 VST effects. MSRP: $499.
1370 Industrial Ave., Suite A Petaluma, CA 94952
707/782-1866; fax 707/782-1874
www.bias-inc.com

SONAR 2.1 is the industry standard for audio and MIDI production on the PC. SONAR is used daily by thousands of musicians, composers, DJ/remix artists, engineers and producers. SONAR 2.1 includes support for OMFI (Open Media Format Interchange) file exporting for film and video projects.
51 Melcher St., 8th Floor Boston, MA 02210
617/423-9004; fax 617/423-9007
www.cakewalk.com

More than just another loop sequencer for tinkering with tempo, pitch and sample cut-up, radiaL is a modular live performance environment that gives you unprecedented flexibility and customization, coupled with an innovative core interface. Its open architecture lets you add new modules and extensions, write your own, and create alternative "outfits" so you can choose or create new user interfaces. Suggested retail price: $199. Mac only.
379A Clementina St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
415/974-1818; fax 415/974-1812
www.cycling74.com

Damsel is a Macintosh-based translation utility for converting files from RADAR Hard Disk Recorders to Sound Designer II, Broadcast .WAV or .AIFF files. Damsel converts this information in a fraction of the time required for conventional transfers. The output file is a perfect bit-for-bit copy of the original RADAR file; no jitter or artifacts are produced. Price: $749.

QDB is a backup utility designed for audio users. QDB backs up to optical media in a non-proprietary format that allows for the restoration of the backup on any machine; QDB is not required to restore. QDB intelligently divides large backups into chunks that fit on the storage media. Gone are the days of dividing folders into 650MB pieces. Price: $79.
1705 Woodridge Court Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
615/497-2582; fax 425/799-0213
www.digitalaudiomiracles.com

Thanks to the new Pro Tools | HD Extension (PTHD|Ext) for Logic Platinum Macintosh, together with the current Digidesign Pro Tools | HD sampling rates up to 192 kHz can be reached. In addition, more tracks than ever before are supported, and you can make full use of the increased I/O capacity of the PTHD system. Logic Platinum users also benefit from the new TDM II architecture by most efficient use of the TDM time slots. The use of the PTHD|Ext requires an installed copy of Logic Platinum 5.1.3 (or higher) for Macintosh. Price: $499.
13348 Grass Valley Ave.
Grass Valley, CA 95945
530/477-1053; fax 530/477-1052
www.emagic.de

Awarded the Electronic Musician magazine Editors' Choice Award for three years in a row (2000, 2001 and 2002), Digital Performer is an audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software package for Macintosh. Users can record, edit, arrange, mix, process and master MIDI and audio tracks simultaneously to produce musical recordings, soundtracks for film and television, and other audio production tasks. Version 3.1 adds many new features, including unlimited Undo History and flexible track grouping. List price: $795.
1280 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617/576-2760; fax 617/576-3609
www.motu.com

To solve the growing problem of manageability issues for production music library users, mSoft offers the MusicCue production music server system. MusicCue is a LAN server that comes pre-digitized with all of the production music library databases and audio that a facility is licensed to use, and features a unique 3-level "drill down" search, project management and automatic cue-sheet creation.
6355 Topanga Canyon Blvd., #507
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
818/716-7081; fax 818/716-0547
www.msoftinc.com

Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0

This award-winning digital audio editor has a powerful set of audio processes, tools and effects for recording and manipulating audio. New features in Version 6.0 include real-time nondestructive editing, multitask background rendering, Modeless Audio Plug-In Chainer, 32-bit/64-bit float/192kHz support, enhanced time zoom (24:1 ratio), Windows Media and QuickTime import, and much more. MSRP: $499.95 (or $349.97 direct from Sonic Foundry).

Acid Pro 4.0 is an award-winning loop-based music creation tool that allows you to produce original, royalty-free music. Use Acid to create songs, remix tracks, produce 5.1 surround mixes, develop music beds, score videos and create music for Websites and Flash animations. New in Acid 4.0 are plug-in effects automation, VSTi support, alternate time signatures, 5.1 surround mixing, MIDI piano-roll editing, MIDI event list editing and step recording, ASIO driver support and much more. MSRP: $499.95 (or $349.97 direct from Sonic Foundry).
1617 Sherman Ave.
Madison, WI 53704
800/57-76642; fax 608/250-1745
www.sonicfoundry.com

New to 1.1 is the Task Manager, an automated administrator that can be set to troll for new sounds, check the integrity of both the files and the database, and otherwise maintain your database. The Task Manager always poles for activity and goes into maintenance mode only when terminals go offline. Remote access has been improved with startling access times from anywhere in the world, and our 448-bit encryption system ensures complete protection.

A host of new features are being added to this already powerful audio file-management system including new film spotting features allowing sound supervisors to build and organize transfer lists complete with all of their EDLs intact for every sound file, loop playback, the ability to merge database files from other systems, a new and improved thesaurus, the ability to share transfer lists and EDLs, "freelance" mode for sound editors that move, and much more.
157 Princess St., 3rd Floor
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1-866-FINDSFX
www.soundminer.com