It’s great, iZotope spin Exponential Audio tech into a top end reverb
Today, iZotope announces the release of Equinox, a premium reverb plugin for post and music production. An industry first in immersive and surround reverb, Equinox fuses Exponential Audio algorithms with iZotope’s adaptive unmasking tech to keep your mixes crystal clear. Equinox encompasses over 1250 professional presets to explore, from realistic to experimental.
iZotope Equinox Key Features:
Legendary Reverb Engines — Equinox integrates the natural reverb engine (Stratus) and the character reverb engine (Symphony) into a single, streamlined plugin.
Dynamic Adaptive Unmasking — iZotope’s advanced adaptive unmasking technology, now available in surround and immersive formats, ensures crystal-clear mixes by intelligently carving out space for reverb without muddying the dry signal.
Comprehensive Surround and Immersive Support — Full support for popular surround and Atmos/immersive audio formats, with an intuitive multi-channel balancing workflow, catering to the demands of modern film and television production.
Extensive Preset Library — Explore over 1250 professional presets with an overhauled browsing experience, featuring keyword search and multi-tagging to find exactly what you’re looking for, fast.
Creative Effects — Play with Reverb Freeze, Chorus, Gate, Tempo Sync, and Tail Suppression for unique and experimental reverb sounds.
Preset and Session Compatibility — Easily import Stratus 3D and Symphony 3D presets and automatically replace instances of Stratus 3D and Symphony 3D in Pro Tools projects, carrying over all plugin settings.
For Post-Production Professionals. Equinox can naturally place dialogue and sound effects within scenes, enhance sound design with creative reverb textures, and manage complex surround and immersive mixes with ease.
For Music Producers. Equinox offers the flexibility to add realistic depth to instruments and vocals, create experimental soundscapes, and maintain mix clarity with adaptive unmasking. A suite of creative effects like tempo sync and tail suppression give you the tools to design the perfect space for your mix.
iZotope Equinox is priced at $249, but available, through the end of April, for the introductory price of $149.40. iZotope customers may also be eligible for deeper discounts. Check the My Loyalty Offers section of your iZotope account for the best price.
Today, Native Instruments unveils Electric Keys – Reeds Duo, a pair of virtual instruments that capture the essence of two legendary reed-based electric pianos. These new instruments are the latest in an Electric Keys series, following the Electric Keys – Tines Duo, which introduced Diamond and Phoenix.
The Reeds Duo of Jade and Ivory bring a new style of electric piano into the spotlight. Unlike their tine-based cousins, these instruments use vibrating metal reeds to generate sound, creating tones that range from smooth to soulful and gritty depending on how you play.
To celebrate the classic electric pianos: Jade and Ivory, Electric Keys – Reeds Duo reproduces the sound of two iconic electric pianos – loved for their snappy attack, expressive growl, and unmistakable warmth.
Electric Keys – Jade: A solid-state reed piano delivering a bright, punchy sound with sharp dynamics. Ideal for funky rhythms, cutting leads, and rich chords, Jade adds a confident edge to any track.
Electric Keys – Ivory: A vintage tube-driven reed piano with a warm, soulful voice and organic grit. Smooth and mellow one moment, rough and fiery the next – Ivory is pure expression.
Electric Keys – Reeds Duo Main Features:
Authentic Presets: each instrument comes with 100 meticulously designed snapshots that capture the most iconic original keyboard sounds.
Advanced Sound Shaping: Customize your sound with detailed tone controls like Tonal Shift, modeled tremolo, and a suite of effects from Guitar Rig 7 Pro.
Crank the Color: The Color knob allows for seamless blending of performance dynamics, from soft and intimate to bold and brash.
Realistic Details: Blend direct output with characteristic tremolos and room signals, adding mechanical hammer and pedal noises for enhanced realism.
Seamless Kontrol Keyboard Integration: Electric Keys offers optimal integration with Native Instruments’ Kontrol S Series keyboards (shown below) for intuitive control and browsing.
Created with Galaxy Instruments. This exceptional piano emulation was developed in partnership with Galaxy Instruments, renowned for their expertise in creating high-quality virtual instruments. Founder Uli Baronowsky and his team, who previously collaborated on instruments like Claire, Noire, and The Giant, have brought their approach to capturing the unique characteristics of these reed-based pianos.
Native Instruments flagship Kontrol S MK3 MIDI keyboards just added several features that DAWless music producers have been asking for.
The Kontrol S MK3 MIDI keyboards continue to improve, with the latest firmware update (v1.9.4) looking particularly useful for those who like to use their controller in standalone mode.
DAWless music-making, of course, has become increasingly popular in recent years, as growing numbers of creators have come to the conclusion that it can feel liberating to jam without involving a computer and use a selection of hardware devices instead.
Thanks to the expansion of the Kontrol S MK3’s on-device Play Assist feature, which was introduced last year, standalone users now have arpeggiator and note repeat features built into the hardware, giving them more creative options.
In addition, they can also use the USB and 5-pin MIDI outputs simultaneously, and specify which data should go to each of them.
These features greatly add to the Kontrol S MK3’s versatility, and there are software-specific additions in the firmware update, as well. You can now sync the MIDI tempo with connected plugins, and there’s support for the Maschine 3.1 update.
I am glad that the Native Instruments Kontrol S MK3 controllers are entirely out of their Kontrol software cage and are full standalone controllers.
The new firmware v1.9.4 is available now as a free download for existing users through Native Access.
The Kontrol S MK3 continues to be available in 49-, 61- and 88-note and you can find out more on the Native Instruments website and Amazon site.
iZotope Equinox Key Features:
For Post-Production Professionals. Equinox can naturally place dialogue and sound effects within scenes, enhance sound design with creative reverb textures, and manage complex surround and immersive mixes with ease.
