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A weekly roundup of hot topics and buzz-worthy conversation from the Logic Studio community:

Sorry for the delay in the posting of this weeks Logical Links. I know how much you audiophiles do hate those withdrawal symptoms, so without further ado.

First off…

M-Audio may have officially won me over this weekend. After a few bad experiences with an older interface, a poor MIDI controller, and a mic that made a better paperweight, I had been turned off by the company for some time. However, since their acquisition by Avid in 2004, the former Midiman brand has grown by leaps and bounds and has recently produced products that I find once again in my arsenal including an Axiom 61 and a Keystation Pro 88. Both of them continue to work flawlessly for me, but I have still shied away from any major M-Audio production hardware. That may have to change now though as a recent review in Sound on Sound (not the review, but a related link) introduced me to the ProFire 2626 Firewire interface. The reviewer found very little about the unit to put down, and with its high bandwidth of 26 simultaneous ins and outs, 8 mic pres and support up to 24-bit/192kHz at a blockbuster price ($899.95msrp) I don’t see myself passing up a chance to add 8 more inputs in my project studio.

Image Line Software has released a new sample library titled, The Sounds of India. This 1.5 Gb collection contains over 800 samples and 36 instruments ranging from traditional Indian instruments to rare and oft overlooked folk instruments. No resampling was done on the instruments so you get a new sample for each keystroke and special attention was paid in the recording process to eliminate the need for noise correction in post. Also, all the natural finger board and fret sounds were untouched to maximize authenticity. All this at $89msrp means that any studio can now try out that Bollywood spice.

If you are a project studio owner and you still haven’t invested in some for of room correction tool, now is the time. Thru the end of October, IK Multimedia is running a special promotion on their ARC System for room correction, and they are sweetening the deal by giving away the T-RackS mastering plug-in suite with every purchase. ARC (short for Advanced Room Correction) analyzes and corrects acoustical problems in your studio creating and environment that is ideal for working and mixing your tracks with maximum accuracy. And with your room sounding just like it should, it is also the perfect environment for T-RackS mastering suite to work it’s magic helping you create that radio-ready sound on all your tracks.

Native Instruments has restructured its take on KORE 2 by releasing KORE 2 Software Edition. The revamp now allows KORE 2 to be used with any MIDI controller without the need for the dedicated KORE Hardware. This unchaining allows you to work with the full functionality of KORE 2 but keep your hands on your MIDI controller of choice all while slashing the price tag more than in half. The Software Edition will sale at the drastically reduced price of $199, and the traditional KORE 2 with the hardware also sees a price drop to $449. While you are loading up your cart, you may also want to look at the new KORE Electronic Experience, a bundle of seven KORE soundpacks with over 800 instruments plus a voucher for an additional soundpack of your choice all for the reduced price of $229

And Finally…

Our friends over at Ultrasone have announced a new pair of S-Logic Plus equipped headphones, the Pro 900’s and I think CrunchGear said it best when writer Devin Coldewey said, “If my ears could salivate, they’d do so now.” You all remember how I ranted and raved over the HFI-580s I recently demoed, so this newest offering has more than piqued my interest. A staggering 6Hz-42kHz frequency range is pumped out of the 40mm Titanium plated drivers, and of course they are equipped with the next evolution of the natural surround sound technology that Ultrasone does so well. They will be shipping soon and will run you about $600msrp, so start your penny saving now…your ears will thank you.

Enjoy this week’s Logical Links and as always if you have a tip on a hot story, drop me an email at logicallinks@magnetmediafilms.com