Steinberg software new plug-ins and the Cubase line-up

The RND Portico 5033 equalizer and RND Portico 5043 compressor are the very first plug-ins incorporating VCM technology emulating analogue Portico hardware. The RND Portico 5033 five-band equalizer comes with three bands of fully parametric filters, each with dedicated gain, centre-frequency, and Q controls as well as one band each of high and low-shelving filters. A global bypass switch and trim control are also available. The RND Portico 5043 compressor features threshold, ratio, attack, release and gain controls for intricate signal compression. The feed-forward or feed-back compression mode allows users to switch between an aggressive and subtle compression response.

Steinberg also announced the release of two new Cubase music production systems, Cubase 6 and Cubase Artist 6. Cubase 6 includes new features, effects and instruments. Cubase Artist 6 is an entirely new product in its segment, providing a newly arranged feature set that reflects customer opinions and requests.

The newly introduced Track Edit Groups option refines the work with multitrack recordings, allowing related events on multiple tracks to be grouped and edited simultaneously, while the new Lane Track offers multitake comping for selecting and consolidating audio parts. The redesigned transient and automatic tempo detection, phase-accurate audio quantisation and drum replacement functions incorporated in Cubase 6 help to smooth out any glitches in live-recorded drum tracks. The Key Editor has been enhanced with an Inspector panel and the Note Expression feature for creating and editing multiple controller values on a single-note level. Also included is the new Dynamics Lane, which allows real-time listening of dynamic changes while automatically in sync with dynamic notations from the Score Editor.

Both Cubase 6 and Cubase Artist 6 feature the VST Amp Rack plug-in, which comes with seven amp models, 16 stomp boxes, six speaker cabinets and two microphone types. A further benefit is added by the HALion Sonic SE virtual instrument, which comes with more than 900 production-ready sounds in Cubase and 550 sounds in Cubase Artist, and the second edition of LoopMash with more than 20 Midi-controllable live and slice-based effects. The redesigned graphical user interface can be customised in its intensity, brightness and tone colour settings. Both new Cubase versions offer 64-bit support for Windows and Mac operating systems.

Steinberg has also introduced a free update for its HALion Sonic VST workstation.The latest version provides 64-bit support for Mac OS X as well as General Midi support including Midi program change, preloaded chorus and reverb effect. The sample library has been expanded to include 1.2GB of new brass and woodwind instrument programs, while audio streaming and loading speed have been improved. Additional effects, such as the 28 legacy effects from HALion 3, as well as four new distortion modes in the filter type section, assignable key commands and improved standalone application are among the new features and enhancements included in the update. HALion Sonic version 1.5 is now also included as 60-day trial version in Steinberg’s new Cubase 6 and Cubase Artist 6. The update can be downloaded for free from the Steinberg website.

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