PMT Newcastle is on its way!

Sounds Live music shop is being transformed by the UK’s biggest musical instrument retailer, Professional Music Technology.

PMT Newcastle will be up and running very soon and it will be far more than your average city centre music shop. So hold on to your hats and get ready for special offers, deals, endorsed artists, Click & Collect on music gear, 0% Finance and so much more.

The all new PMT Newcastle music store will join the growing team of 10 guitar and music shops very soon, and will allow them to bring their expert knowledge and great prices on all the latest musical instruments to the north east of England. More importantly, it gives musicians across the UK a chance to try out the very latest gear so you can hear how it sounds live!

Other Professional Music Technology music shops include PMT Birmingham, PMT Manchester, PMT Bristol, PMT Leeds, PMT Northampton, PMT Norwich, PMT Oxford, PMT Cambridge, PMT Romford and PMT Southend.

For more information and all the latest news on our stores or for up-to-date special offers join PMT House of Rock their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and social networks.

Universal Audio Apollo Twin released at Namm 2014

Universal Audio Apollo Twin Solo and Apollo Twin Duo receive their official launch at this year’s Namm show in Anaheim California. Apollo Twin heralds the arrival of two desktop styled units loaded with two UA’s stunning Unison mic preamps, boasting 24-bit performance at up to 192 kHz sample rates.

Apollo Twin offers the same pristine performance as their bigger brothers, supporting the high speed Mac Thunderbolt protocol. Apollo Twin Solo and Duo offer the same I/O 10×6 configuration allowing 8-channel input expansion via ADAT, but differ due to their Solo/Duo UAD DSP processing. Both units ship with the superb Realtime Analog Classics software bundle.

Korg MS-20 Kit released for Namm 2014

Ever fancied owning a Korg MS-20? Well, here’s your chance and you will not be taking a chance on old electronics with this superb do-it-yourself kit. Namm 2014 sees the launch of Korg MS-20 Kit, which lets you build your very own recreation of the monster from the 70’s complete with original packaging and manuals.

Don’t worry if you’re not too handy with a soldering iron, as this is basically a nuts and bolts job, but the little work required to get this beast up and running is certainly worth the reward. Korg MS-20 Kit features both filter types from the early and late original models and retains the classic patching matrix. A couple of modern touches add a little bit of finesse with the inclusion of MIDI and a USB port to hook up to your computer based DAW setup.

TC Electronic Ditto X2

TC Electronic release an all new and upgraded Looper in the form of the Ditto X2 stompbox. This announcement on the run up to Namm offers a significant step up from one of the most popular loopers on the planet, Ditto.

TC Electronic Ditto X2 retains popular features and incredible audiophile quality of the original, but adds some serious power in the form of loop export/reload from PC and Mac, plus a bundle of JamTracks backing tracks for free and last but certainly not least are a new range of loop effects that includes reverse, half-speed or both at the same time!

Arturia MicroBrute Analog Synthesizer released

Arturia have established themselves as one of the Worlds most prominent designers of analog synths, which grew from their True Analog Emulation technology that they use to model analog circuits.

More recently, Arturia have incorporated this technology into stand-alone hardware products, delivering an array of superb keyboard synths. Latest to join the party is MicroBrute, a 25-note mini-keyboard rammed with featured from MiniBrute.

If you’re looking for a killer synth on a budget, you’ve just gotta check this monster out!

FXpansion BFD3 released

FXpansion BFD has built up a deserved reputation over the years of offering arguably the finest collection of sampled drum kits, which is available as a virtual software instrument for computer based recording systems. With this latest edition, BFD3 takes another significant step forward offering the most powerful version released to date.

FXpansion BFD3 features 7 new kits, 162 GB sound library of acoustic drums recorded at two of the finest studios you can find and can run as either a standalone program, or integrate seamlessly as a virtual instrument within any host software DAW. Check it out!

ART Auto-Tune Pre Mic Preamp soon to ship!

Looking for an affordable tube microphone preamp to warm up your vocals and ever considered Auto-Tune processing? Well check out the all new ART Auto-Tune Pre, which is due to ship within the next few days.

ART Auto-Tune Pre Mic Preamp features a high quality mic preamp stage, driven by a 12AX7 tube, and comes loaded with Auto-Tune vocal processing technology featuring the same, easy to follow layout as the EFX plug-in software pack. The best bit is that costs under £200!

Steinberg Halion 5 and Halion Sonic 2 released

Steinberg are now shipping Halion 5 and Halion Sonic 2, which offer some serious performance upgrades over their predecessors particularly in the sound department. Both ship with a library that includes over 2,500 top class virtual instruments, offering a wide palette for sound creation and composition.

For those of you in education, there are also low cost EDU versions of Halion 5 and Halion Sonic 2 to help keep the cost down of music production. These versions are available to students, teachers and education establishments.

Line 6 release POD HD500X

Line 6 caused somewhat of stir a couple of years back when it released its new range of HD high-definition guitar modelling processors. Well, they’ve just taken that a step further with the all new POD HD500X.

HD500X brings in a raft of new features, including upgraded amp models and effects and now offers in excess of 500 presets. It even boasts a 48 second looper and comes with an inbuilt chromatic tuner – check it out!

Alto Stealth Wireless released

Alto announces Stealth Wireless, an all new wireless system designed for active speakers. This well thought out product removes the need for hundreds of feet of cables, which can be prone to failure, offering interference free connection to your speakers.

This two 2-channel system can also be expanded to handle more complex setups or PA rigs via the Wireless Expander Kit, offering wireless connectivity for the most demanding of applications.