Akai has designed a new controller for Ableton Live. It is based on their APC40 but is smaller and cheaper. It can be used to access many of Ableton's functions directly, from launching clips to inputting notes. And a row of faders is perfect to set track volumes and effect sends.

More info: APC20 product page.

The developers of Audacity are pushing out regular updates lately and are working hard towards a new stable release. The current stable release 1.2.6 is already very old (from May 2008) and it is now recommended to run the latest beta, especially if you are running Windows 7 or Vista.

The new version fixes a number of serious bugs - crashes, freezes, data corruption on exports - and a large number of minor bug fixes, as well as some new features. See the release notes for the full monty.

Audacity is an open source audio editor which runs on Windows, OSX and Linux. It can be downloaded for free on the Audacity download page.

The German hardware and software manufacturer Sound Performance Lab is offering a slimmed down version of their EQ Rangers plugin for free.

The Free Ranger is a graphic EQ that works on the 4 most important bands: sub (40Hz), bass / warmth (150Hz), definition / presence (1.8kHz) and air / sparkle (16kHz). It also has an option to store 4 sets of adjustments so you can easily compare different EQ settings to find out what works best.

While it is mainly intended to warm you up to their top range EQ software, the EQ Rangers this plugin is perfectly usable on its own, inserted in individual tracks or on the master.

Links: SPL Free Ranger homepage - Download link (at the bottom).

The Pultec EQP-1A Program Equalizer is one of the most sought-after hardware equalizers ever made. It was designed in the 1950's and revolutionized the use of EQ because of its outstanding quality and tube gain circuit. It has has been used on tens of thousands of recordings in the past 50 years.

Nomad Factory, known for their analog sounding plugins, have put their expertise into a faithfully sounding digital version dubbed 'Pulse-Tec', available in VST, RTAS, AU or AS format. Emulations of both the EQP-1A and the Pultec MEQ-5 Mid-Range Equalizer are included in the plugin. The price is USD149, more info and a demo version can be found on the Nomad Factory Pulse-Tec homepage. The plugin will be released on October 12.

Other plugin designers have also tried their hand at an emulation of this legendary hardware unit. Amongst others you can find interpretations by Bomb Factory (627€), Universal Audio (free with any UAD card), IK Multimedia (75€) and URS (USD200).

Izotope, the developers famous for their mastering plugins, have released a new do-it-all plugin called Alloy. It sports a complete channel strip featuring a sidechainable dynamics module, 8 band parametric EQ and several useful extras such as a transient designer, exciter, de-esser and to finish off a good brick wall limiter which is not surprising considering their heritage.

The entire package is presented in their trademark highly polished look and comes with a large range of presets to get you off to a quick start. The price is USD249, and a free demo is available on the Izotope Alloy homepage.

so pretty

Available as a free download in the samples page (registration needed)