New Gear Alert: Waves V12.7, HX Stomp XL from Line 6, Novation x Tracktion & More

Waves announces V12.7 – the new version of Waves plugins.

With a revamped User Preset System and crucial GUI updates, Waves unleashes V12.7.

Waves V12.7 plugins feature a new User Preset System that makes it easier to save, load, and organize your own custom-created plugin presets, and share them with other users or between different systems. No more confusing files with multiple presets; each preset is now a single file. You can now find your saved presets directly from each plugin’s dropdown menu, making it incredibly fast and easy to use and manage user-created presets.

In addition, the popular Waves SSL plugins and Waves Tune Real-Time now feature new ultra-sharp HiDPI GUIs, enhancing your workflow with crisp user-friendly graphic interfaces.
These latest updates join the other new features released recently in Waves V12 plugins: the ability to resize Waves plugins, and the new Waves Preset Browser, which lets you find and audition the perfect presets quickly with instant text search.

Waves V12.7 ensures full ongoing compatibility with the latest DAWs and operating systems. Updating to V12.7 is free to all users with V12 plugin licenses.

Line 6 unleashes the HX Stomp XL.

Line 6’s new HX Stomp XL can run up to eight processing blocks simultaneously.

The HX Stomp XL is the latest addition to Line 6’s HX family of pedalboard friendly products, expanding the popular HX Stomp processor by adding five capacitive-touch footswitches for a total of eight.

The same SHARC DSP chip found in Line 6’s Helix products enables the HX Stomp XL pedal to run up to eight processing blocks simultaneously, and the assignable footswitches let you access and control those blocks in powerful ways, making it flexible enough for use in nearly any application. Use HX Stomp XL as a “super stompbox,” a backup or travel rig, an add-on tone expander with other modelers, a professional-quality audio interface, or even a complete guitar or bass rig. The HX Stomp XL processor’s Command Center functionality, MIDI capabilities, and external expression pedal jack also make it an ideal master controller for your entire setup.

HX Stomp XL comes loaded with more than 300 amps, cabs, and effects, including world-class polyphonic pitch-shifting effects. The 128 factory presets include both vintage and modern sounds, and there are also presets created specifically for bass players, as well as individual bass amp and cab models.

The HX Stomp XL is available now, priced at $1,049.99.

Novation and Tracktion team up to deliver the Retromod 106 synth to Sound Collective members.

Novation and Traction join forces on this next attractive offering for Sound Collective members.

RetroMod 106 comprises painstakingly multisampled renditions of the Roland Alpha Juno, Juno-60, and Juno-106, and gets you up and running with a 291-strong categorized library of mix-ready preset basses, leads, pads, keys, sequences, brass, and more. Its successful combination of thoughtfully crafted presets, intuitive controls, and spectacular effects will have any producer cooking up their own polished, impactful synth sounds in seconds, no matter what their level of experience.

Built on their proprietary Acktion engine, Tracktion Software’s RetroMod series of sample-based plugin synths aims to “capture the soul of classic hardware and add something new,” and draws on a broad array of instruments by Moog, Clavia, Korg, Sequential Circuits, Kawai, Novation, Yamaha, Waldorf, and many others. And with 15,000 samples under the hood, the rich detail and character of the three legendary instruments it represents shine through.

RetroMod 106 is free to download for Sound Collective members from March 4th to May 6th (reg. $49), and comes with a 50% discount code to redeem against any other RetroMod instrument in the Tracktion Software store.

Audio-Technica unveils the ES945 and ES947 boundary microphone variations.

Closely tuned into user feedback, Audio-Technica implements key upgrades to select boundary microphone models.

The existing standard ES945 and ES947 models are being replaced and enhanced by the new ES945O/XLR (omnidirectional) and ES947C/XLR (cardioid), which feature upgraded functionality including IPX4 water resistance. These mics are designed for surface-mount applications such as conferencing, recording, monitoring, and other demanding sound pickup applications.

These upgrades were developed as a direct response to market feedback, intended for surface flush-mount installation and include Audio-Technica’s UniGuard RFI-shielding innovations for unsurpassed immunity from radio frequency interference. The ES945O/XLR and ES947C/XLR come standard in black, and are also available in white variations (ES945WO/XLR and ES947WC/XLR).

The ES945 and ES947 boundary microphones are available now, priced at $249 each.

Roland releases the JD-800 Model Expansion on the Roland Cloud.

Roland expands the ZEN-Core Model Expansion lineup with the new JD-800.

The Roland Cloud JD-800 Model Expansion is the latest addition to the ZEN-Core Model Expansion lineup available through Roland Cloud. With this latest introduction, the JD-800 Model Expansion celebrates the 30th anniversary of Roland’s influential JD-800 hardware synthesizer.

In an era dominated by preset-focused digital synths with limited hands-on controls, the JD-800 brought the synthesizer world back to its roots with a massive control-laden panel and an aggressively electronic sound palette. With its retro workflow, evocative sounds, and powerful effects, the instrument became a favorite for top electronic music producers through the ’90s and beyond. Combining the original JD-800 waveforms with advanced modeling techniques, the JD-800 Model Expansion captures the sonic behavior of its vintage counterpart with 100-percent authenticity, coupled with deep sound-shaping potential through a full recreation of the JD-800’s vast control architecture.

The JD-800 Model Expansion is currently supported with Roland’s ZENOLOGY and ZENOLOGY Pro software instruments and JUPITER-X and JUPITER-Xm hardware instruments.

For more information, and to join the Roland Cloud, click here.

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