Cycling ’74 has been busy lately; the company had a lot to announce from booth #6404 at NAMM on Thursday.
First up was Pluggo 3.1, which is now compatible with Mac OS X, complete with multi-processor support; it also adds Audio Units as a supported plug-in format. The latter builds on existing VST and RTAS support and allows Pluggo to work with Emagic Logic Audio, MOTU Digital Performer 4, and Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack.
Pluggo features more than 100 real-time audio effects — including filtering, delay effects, distortion, granular synthesis, and more — as well as a collection of synthesizers and samplers called Essential Instruments and Max/MSP, Cycling ’74’s companion application that allows you to build your own plug-ins.
It’s available now for US$199, with a $99 upgrade from Pluggo 2. The 3.1 update is a free download for registered Pluggo 3 owners.
Next up was the release of Ron MacLeod’s Sustained Encounters, the first volume in the Cycles series of audio source libraries. It was assembled from MacLeod’s private collection of surreal, cinematic audio stylings and it features effects, ambient sound, rhythmic loops, and incidental music. Its .wav files are 24 bit/48kHz, with 44.1kHz versions included for compatibility with music composition applications.
Sustained Encounters is available now for $99.
If you use Cycling ’74’s Jitter application, you may be interested in the fact that’s now available for Windows, with the Mac OS and Windows versions included in the same package. The set of video/matrix/3D graphics processing extensions for the Max/MSP graphical programming environment is a free crossgrade for anyone who currently owns Jitter for Mac OS. In addition, those who own Max/MSP can purchase it for $395; the full dual platform release of Max/MSP/Jitter is $850, with Max and Max/MSP selling for $295 and $495, respectively.
The company also noted the release of M 2.6, which adds Mac OS X compatibility. It’s a composition and performance application that takes your notes and chords and creates a live musical composition which you can shape as it plays. Its compatibility with Mac OS X Core MIDI means that it can power the wide variety of software synthesizers available, like Reason, as well as other applications such as Ableton Live.
If you own M 2.5.7, the upgrade to M 2.6 is free. The full version is $74.
Soundflower is another free download. It’s a system extension for Mac OS X v.10.2 (Jaguar) and 10.3 (Panther) that allows you to route audio between OS X Core Audio applications. Cycling ’74 notes that it can also be used for other tasks, such as patching 2- or 16-channel data at 32-bit sample depth between applications that support standard Core Audio driver selection, or being used as the default device in the Audio/MIDI Setup utility when programs like iTunes don’t allow you to select a specific output device.
Soundflower isn’t on the company’s Web site yet, but it will be soon, and the source code will be available during the first quarter.
Finally, Cycling ’74 also demonstrated MODE 1.0, a set of five instrument and effect plug-ins for Mac OS X, at NAMM. It features: BANG, a single-voice percussion module that creates sounds ranging from basic emulation to outrageous hybrids; MONO, which combines the filter effects of an analog synthesizer with the control and clarity of an FM engine; the versatile polyphonic synthesizer POLY, which is based on classic DCO synths; a rhythm-based effects processor called SPIN; and WASH, an effects processor built around an interconnected network of 6 fully-controllable, re-circulating delay lines that’s also an instrument in its own right.
MODE will be available during the first quarter for $199.