Sweet Notes

Early Fall 1998

by Daniel Fisher, Director of Soundware Engineering Having read your way through much of this issue you

already know just how excited we are about the new products we saw at the Summer NAMM Show. It was also a great chance to show the world some of our own exciting releases. Unquestionably, the biggest draw to the Sweetwater booth was our exclusive K2500SWx keyboard package, which delivers the world’s most powerful synthesis and sampling keyboard along with everything needed to make it a world-class music production station

— one that looks as good as it sounds.

The real oak endcaps and oak music stand along with

the custom wooden keyboard stand will make the K2500SWx the centerpiece of your studio. A customized, lazer engraved brass plate with your studio's name completes the look. The K2500SWx not only comes fully loaded with every possible option inside the 88-note weighted keyboard, including 128 megs of RAM, 28 megs of ROM, 2.5 megs of P-RAM, and the powerful KDFX digital multi-effects, it also sports

an internal 2 gig hard drive.

The K2500SWx has the latest soundware and software upgrades installed as well which provide the very cool KB3 organ simulation and the exciting Live Mode which lets you bring external audio signals in for “VAST-ing.” Our K2500SWx is also unique in that it comes with our entire Sweetwater Soundware Library including the acclaimed Power Translator Series (with the Roland CD-ROMs!), along with some of the best third-party CD-ROMs in the industry for a grand total of over 15,000 megabytes! There’s so much more to tell about the K2500SWx, but I’ll leave it to your Sweetwater Sales Engineer to fill you in on the rest.

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In other Soundware news, we're proud to announce our latest offering for the E-mu ESI-4000 sampler called the ESI Premium Rhythm Section CD-ROM ($99 list). It's the latest of our $99 Mini-Series CD-ROMs which now brings our award-winning Young Chang Stereo Triple- Strike Grand Piano to E-mu owners (an E4/e64 version is currently in the works). The CD-ROM also contains 5 of our GM Standard Drum Kits from the Total Stereo Session Drums CD-ROM, 5 of our best Bass Guitars and a Yamaha Rock Piano and C7 Piano. There's even a classic DX-7 Electric Piano thrown in for variety.

This CD-ROM follows our other already successful $99 "Mini" CD-ROMs including the Electron Bomb CD-ROM which features Dance, Techno, Industrial, Rave, and Ambient VAST programming from Kurzweil gurus An- drew Schlesinger, Gary Phillips, Brian Cowell, and Bruce Duncan. You'll find 100 Synthetica Volume 1 programs (regularly $39) as well as the latest Synthetica Volume

2for Contemporary ROM (also $39). You can “rave-on” with the 100 DEEPRAVED Programs ($39) and push the limit with our 100 Techno/Ambient programs (again $39) and much more, all for just $99!

And don't forget our recent addition to the $99 Mini CD-ROM series, the Young Chang Mini CD-ROM for the K2000/K2500 which features our best 16 meg and 13 meg Stereo Virtual Grand Pianos. It even includes an 8 meg Mono Virtual Piano for your mono PA gigs all for the outstanding "Mini" price of only $99. If you bought these three floppy sets separately it would cost you $227, but we're offering this "mini" CD-ROM for only $99! Get your copy today and start playing piano for real.

Well that's all we've got for this is-

sue. Next issue I'll be back to let you in on some really hot soundware that we're developing for several of the other popular brands of samplers. You won’t want to miss this one.

SIGNATURE 284:THE ULTIMATE DIRECT BOX FOR GUITAR

by Daniel Fisher I have a confession to make: I've been a keyboard player for 30 years now and all that time I secretly always wanted to be a guitar hero, too. This

passion got even stronger after working full time on Sweetwater's Ultimate Guitar CD- ROM for the Kurzweil, with its 115 different guitars. The killing blow came when Sweetwater started its highly successful “Custom Select” Premium Direct Luthiers program which put literally hundreds of top quality guitars and accessories in the same building where I work.

So I gave in and treated myself to an electric guitar. Being a trained musician and soundware engineer, but only a beginning guitarist, I currently find myself focusing more on tone than on highly technical playing. This has led me to explore all of the fantastic tone-shaping products we carry for guitars and I truly believe I've found the "Holy Grail" of all that is TONE! It's the new Lexicon Signature 284 (list $1099), an all tube, Class "A" stereo recording amplifier and direct source. This hand-built, all-tube amplifier was designed by tube guru John McIntyre specially for Lexicon.

What makes it so special? Well, one key factor is its low output power which allows you to get the sinuous touch and gorgeous tone that only a fully-cranked all-tube amp can deliver. With only 3 watts per side, its low-power design makes it ideal for recording as well as live performance applications where high volume levels are undesirable. The Signature 284’s unique design combines a high-gain preamp with a low-wattage, stereo Class A power amplifier.The preamp section uses three 12AX7 tubes and incorporates a switchable high-gain stage and beautifully voiced tone controls. To put the finishing

touch on the 284's tone, a stereo power amp uses two EL84 tubes in a Class A configuration. A tube-driven stereo effects loop lets you place effects in-line

between the preamp and power amp for sonic effects that can't be obtained at the console. Simultaneous outputs let the amp drive any combination of stereo speaker, balanced recording and slave amp outputs. The speaker outputs can handle 4 or 8 ohm cabinets. Built-in speaker simulation lets you select "smooth" or "bright" independently for each recording output. For silent recording, the passive load is automatically connected when the speaker is disconnected. Because the slave outputs tap the signal after the power amp, they carry all of the Signature 284's characteristic tone and can be connected to any power amp and guitar cabinets for greater performance volume.

So what does this all mean to you, the guitar hero? It means that you can get the best fully-cranked all-tube sound all the time, whether you're practicing with headphones,

recording to digital, or blowing away an amphitheater full of fans, using the same hand- wired preamp and power amp. It means that your high quality analog and digital effects

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WE HAVE ALL THE HOTTEST PRODUCTS FROM ALL MAJOR MANUFACTURERS . . . IN STOCK!