New Gear Alert: Bitwig Studio 2.3, Passive Summing via Radial MIX 2:1, UA Friedman Amp Simulator & More

Bitwig Studio 2.3 is now available.

Bitwig 2.3 is here, offering a wealth of new, highly-requested features from its dedicated user base.

This latest version of Bitwig Studio combines highly requested features from Bitwig’s community, along with new and innovative elements, profoundly expanding the sound design possibilities of Bitwig Studio.

Key features include (but are not restricted to): the addition of Phase-4 (a four-oscillator synthesizer powered by phase modulation and phase distortion), expanded device view, support for time signature changes, new and improved time stretching, instrument and FX selector layer devices, voice stacking (with modulator), and much more.

Bitwig Studio 2 (including a 12-month upgrade plan) is available for $399/€379; the upgrade plan alone is priced at $169/€159.

Radial announces the MIX 2:1 passive summing mixer is now shipping.

The Radial MIX 2:1 offers a comprehensive solution for summing two channels of audio into a single balanced mono feed.

The MIX 2:1 is a simple yet highly useful mixer that passively sums two audio channels down to one. This enables you to easily sum the stereo outputs of a console, recording interface, or portable playback device down to mono, or to mix any two signals together and balance their relative input levels.

At the inputs of the MIX 2:1, both 1/4″ TRS and XLR connectors are available, with ground lift switches to eliminate buzz and hum from ground loops and ensure noise-free operation. Each input can be individually engaged or disengaged, allowing you to audition either signal before summing both together. A trim control is also featured on each input, so if you are connecting two separate mono sources (such as the outputs of two mic preamps), they can each be attenuated as needed to match their levels at the output.

Both level controls can be completely bypassed, summing inputs 1 and 2 equally, thereby preventing accidental or unwanted level adjustments. The MIX 2:1 has a 180° flip on input 2 to help solve issues with frequency cancellation due to the inputs being out of phase. After both signals are passively summed together, they feed a single XLR output that can be connected to a powered speaker, or the input of a console or recording interface.

MIX 2:1 is priced at $129.99.

Universal Audio releases the Friedman Buxom Betty Amplifier plugin.

Harness the revered sound of the Buxom Betty Amplifier by Friedman with Universal Audio’s new, Unison-equipped plugin emulation.

Available exclusively for UAD-2 hardware and UA audio interfaces, the Friedman Buxom Betty Amplifier plugin expertly captures all of the dynamic clean and crunch tones of the boutique, dual EL34-powered tone machine. The Buxom Betty Amplifier plugin not only captures the touch sensitive textures of the hand-wired hardware, it adds 100 high-end recording chains, along with onboard vintage delay, noise gate, and low/high pass filters for further tone shaping.

The Friedman Buxom Betty Amplifier plugin also features Unison technology for UA audio interfaces. This means your guitar pickups will see the exact impedance load as if they’re plugged into a Friedman Buxom Betty amplifier—a feature made available exclusively by UA. This plugin is endorsed and fully authenticated by Friedman Amplifiers.

The UA Friedman Buxom Betty Amplifier plugin is available now for $149.

Roland Professional A/V is now shipping the XS-62S six-channel video switcher and audio mixer.

Roland offers a feature-packed solution for live, studio, and broadcast A/V applications with the new XS-62S video switcher and audio mixer.

The XS-62S is an integrated six-channel video switcher and audio mixer with PTZ camera control capabilities in a space-saving design, optimized for installed or portable live events, recording, broadcast, and streaming productions. The XS-62S delivers a powerful feature set in a compact 1RU form factor and can be operated by a single user from easy-to-use front panel controls, or remotely from a Mac, PC or programmable interface.

The XS-62S features an 18-channel audio mixer with four TRS jacks and an RCA stereo pair, plus audio de-embed from the six video inputs. Roland’s innovative discreet eight-channel analog audio embedding enables you to select which audio source to embed separately to SDI outputs 1 and 2, for example, to fix audio issues or separate multi-language audio sources when editing after an event.

In addition to the high quality preamps, powerful onboard audio processing includes a high pass filter, gate, compressor, three-band EQ and delay, plus the ability to select audio-follows-video channels. Processing may be controlled from the front panel screen menus or by using Roland’s powerful Remote Control Software (RCS) for PC or Mac. Integrated auto-mixing automatically adjusts the audio inputs based on weighting, ensuring even levels for the room mix, recording and web streaming—even from hard-to-manage sources as multi-microphone discussion panels.

The XS-62S is priced at $3,295.

Alex B releases the Analog Tape Emulator plugin.

Alex B offers a CPU-friendly solution for tape saturation with their new Analog Tape Emulator plugin.

The Analog Tape Emulator is Alex B’s first product that utilized complex analog circuitry modeling entirely in the analog domain in its design. The result is a faithful recreation of the original response, of course without using the original analog hardware.

The ATE feature set includes (bus is not restricted to): three tape speeds (7.5, 15, and 30ips), three tape simulations (A456, GP9, S111), an “LE” CPU-friendly option, clean line amp/solid state line amp/line amp with NOS tubes functionality, and much more.

For further information and pricing on the Analog Tape Emulator, click here.

Please note: When you buy products through links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.