Pioneer, Beatport, DJ Magazine and Let’s Mix have announced the Next Generation DJ (NGDJ) talent competition. (Hmmm, sounds familiar… —Ed.) To win, DJs will have to demonstrate their skills by uploading and promoting a mix on the new mixing and social networking platform, letsmix.com as well as prove that they have the entrepreneurial aptitude required to make it big in the world of dance music.

NGDJ is being supported by Pioneer, Beatport, DJ Magazine and Let’s Mix. Let’s Mix was developed by the team from Tonium, who introduced the Pacemaker, hand held, portable DJ system to the world.

However, to be a superstar DJ these days takes more than just skills behind the decks. You need to be able to create your brand, manage your profile and promote yourself relentlessly. Entrants to NGDJ will be required to create their www.letsmix.com profile and upload their DJ mix. From there they will need to show they can navigate the world of promo, pushing their DJ mix across all social networking / blogging platforms to generate a specific amount of votes to reach the next round. Not to mention significant traffic to Tonium’s Let’s Mix site.

Amongst all those who have been able to promote themselves effectively, 100 finalists will compete in a second round, creating a mix around a special theme with their DJ skills judged by a panel of industry heavyweights. All 100 finalists will also feel the heat of the media spotlight throughout the final round, (whatever that means…)

The eventual winner of NGDJ will soon feel what it’s like to be a superstar DJ, with a set of brand new Pioneer CDJ2000’s (and inclusion in the exclusive Pioneer test DJ group), a Pacemaker, huge media coverage across DJ Mag, Beatport, Let’s Mix and many more, their own compilation release on Beatport, flights to the huge WMC event in Miami, flash hotel and massive gigs at the Beatport Pool Party and the DJ Mag opening and closing party at the Shelborne. This is a competition designed by the biggest, most influential brands in dance music to find genuine, unrivalled DJ talent, and so the final and ultimate reward for winning the competition is a future career as a DJ. The winner will be offered an exclusive contract with a major DJ management agency, giving them the chance to show dancefloors around the world exactly what they can do. 2010 will the year when the NGDJ winner will become the next big DJ brand.

More information on The Next Big Thing, ah, we mean, Next Generation DJ.

Considering the sheer amount of new iPod dock announcements we receive every week, FutureMusic could literally create a new section detailing all the new products. While we don’t report on every new model, every now and again a new system catches our eyes and ears. JVC’s new XS-SR3 iPod speaker system features a unique wraparound design, Dolby Virtual Surround, and a dock that can position an iPod vertically or horizontally, which is great for video.

The new JVC XS-SR3 surround dock contains a sleek, glossy black speaker tube with a curved design that allows the iPod to nestle between the speakers. The iPod holder rotates for viewing video in widescreen mode and comes with four clips to hold selected iPod models. The speakers’ neodymium magnets deliver big sound, while Dolby Virtual Surround creates the illusion of a wider sound field when viewing video content. Power output is five watts and the system features two audio inputs, one analog and one digital optical. A remote control is included. For double-duty, the XS-SR3 can also be used as computer speaker system.

The JVC XS-SR3 is available now for $150. More information on the JVC XS-SR3

Eigenharp has announced that it will be adding the Pico, to its lineup of instruments that were inspired by the Cantina Band in the first Star Wars movie. The Pico is the baby brother to the Alpha, a £4000 experimental musical instrument that utilizes a breath controller to shape software-driven sounds.

Eigenharp claims the Pico is simple to use and anyone can play it. You can play it solo by jamming along with recorded loops, and it allows you to change scale and key, transpose, alter tempo, program beats, create arrangements, switch and layer multiple sounds, all while playing live.

With 18 playing keys and 4 mode keys, a strip controller and breath pipe, the smaller Pico has the majority of the playing features of the Eigenharp Alpha. It plays an unlimited range of sounds and is available in two finishes. The Eigenharp Pico, with its ease of playing and transformational approach to learning scales and music theory, represents a new and easier way to learn to play a musical instrument.

Features:
» 18 playing keys; Sampled at 2000 samples/second, per key; 10 bit (1024 values) resolution; Sensitive to direct pressure and to lateral pressure in both directions.
» Breath pipe; Sampled at 2000 samples/second; 10 bit (1024 value) resolution.
» Sensitive to blown and drawn breath
» Removable, interchangeable mouthpiece
» 180mm Strip Controller; Sampled at 2000 samples/second; 10 bit (1024 values) resolution
» 4 Mode Switches
» USB powered
» Conformable, height adjustable thumb hooks
» Neck strap

You can load and play your own Soundfonts, Audio Unit Plugins and MIDI instruments with the Eigenharp Pico. In addition, the Pico comes with its own native instruments (at present a software model of a Cello, Clarinet and a Synth engine). The Pico also ships with a collection of loop libraries and several acclaimed instruments from our partners including:
— 1500 AIFF format (timestretch and tempo change capable) varied Percussion and Drum loops.
— Sampletekk ‘Black Grand Steinway D, sampled at 20+ levels in a 6 Gigabyte set that includes three recordings from dry to highly ambient.
— Sampletekk ‘Tubed Rhodes’, a multi sampled Rhodes Electric Piano.
— Sampletekk ‘Tubed Wurli’ electric piano in a Gigabyte multi sample set.
— Camel Audio’s Eigenlabs Player version of “Alchemy” – The sample manipulation synthesizer

Eigenharp’s Pico prices costs £399 and requires a Mac computer to run. More information on the Eigenharp Pico.

Aerial7, a new headphone company in the Skullcandy mode, has dropped a new line of DJ-oriented headphones dubbed the Tank. The company claims the phones are “engineered to deliver the highest-quality listening experience from your mp3 player, cell phone or other music device.” However, your mileage may vary.

What we can say is that this company is definitely trying to be fashion-forward with provocative graphics and color-schemes that make the cans stand out. The Tank features swivel ear cups (very similar to Sony’s 700’s) with spring return for single-sided monitoring, and a rubberized, soft touch finish for a tactile premium feel. The puffy, pliable headband for comfortable extended listening, and ultra-thick earphone pads round out the experience.

The Tank includes two cables: 1) thick coiled 1/4″ cable for standard music players, 2) thin straight cable with microphone for cell phones.

Specs:
» 57mm Diameter Drivers
» Impedance: 64?
» Frequency Response: 5~20KHz
» Sensitivity (S.P.L.): 108±3dB (at 1KHz)
» Input Plug Diameter: 3.5mm and 3.5mm iPhoneTM included.
» 3.5mm~6.3mm (1/4″) adapter
» 3.5mm iPhone, Skype, cell phone adapter

The Aerial7 Tanks cost $80 bucks and are available now. More information on the Aerial7 Tank Headphones.

JDK Audio has released the R-22, a dual channel compressor featuring two channels of API’s patented compressor circuit in a rack mount unit with internal power supply. This is the same compressor circuit originally designed into all ATI Paragon mixing consoles. Each channel includes the patented THRUST switch to protect the sensitive high frequency content of the audio signal even under the most vigorous of compression ratios.

Designed as a companion to the JDK’s R-20 mic-preamp and R-24 EQ, the R-22 compressor provides control of the audio signal with custom VU metering of both output and gain reduction. The two channels can even be linked for use as a stereo compressor with true RMS power summing of the left and right signals.

Features:
» Patented THRUST circuit
» Variable Threshold, Ratio, and Make-up Gain controls
» Switchable metering of output level and gain reduction
» Above threshold LED indication
» Switchable Hard or Soft Knee compression
» Linkable for stereo operation with true RMS power summing
» Fully balanced XLR and 1/4″ inputs and outputs

JDK Audio’s R-22 will set you back $1,195. More information on the JDK Audio R-22 Compressor.

Nord has announced the Piano, a dedicated stage piano with 88 keys and a weighted hammer action. It is designed with the performing musician in mind and very lightweight at approx. 18 kg (39.6 lbs), without compromising build quality, sound quality or means of expression. As all the other Nord units, it is designed with a firm focus on extremely fast response and accessibility of every important function from the panel.

There are plenty of memory locations in a bank/program configuration to provide you with a quick access from the panel, to your favorite sounds. You can quickly adjust the velocity response to suit your playing style with a dedicated control on the panel. A Key Transpose setting are equally adjustable, by either saving a transpose setting to your program or by setting a transposition value in real time from the panel.

The Nord Piano comes equipped with several acoustic and electric pianos and harpsichords. Other pianos are available as free downloads from the Nordkeyboards.com website. The sounds are stored in a Flash memory with a 512 MB capacity. This allows you to replace every piano if you wish and the sounds are kept intact in the memory even when the unit is turned off, no loading time is necessary. As always with Nord downloads, the sounds are available for free and easily exchanged by using the Nord Sound Manager application, which runs on Mac OSX, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 computers. The Nord Sound Manager allows you to quickly organize your programs according to your needs and allows you to create backups of the entire content in your Nord Piano.

String Resonance
Using the Nord Resonance Ready pianos (e.g. the R-labeled Grand’s and Upright’s), you can activate the Resonance feature on the panel, which will add this wonderful acoustic phenomenon to the Nord sound. The Nord crew has gone to great lengths to ensure an accurate reproduction of the acoustic resonance, using the actual sound of the source instrument in an extremely realistic way.

Nord Piano Pedal with extended functionality
The Nord Piano can use the new Nord Piano pedal, providing the functionality of all the three pedals found on an acoustic grand piano. The Nord Piano pedal functionality have been closely modeled to allow you to “play the pedal” in the same fashion as on an acoustic grand. The soft pedal (also known as the una corda) makes the sound significantly softer. The sostenuto pedal in the middle provides the latching sustain functionality that sustains only held notes, when activated. When you activate the sustain pedal, you can hear pedal noise and the dampers being lifted from the strings. The force with which you operate the pedal will influence the levels of the components and you can even add percussive sounds from the mechanism by just striking the pedal itself. With the Nord Piano pedal (or a continuous sustain pedal from another manufacturer) you can also use half-pedaling and other techniques like “catching” released keys with the pedal, a unique feature on the Nord Piano.

Effects, EQ and Amps
Dial in your preferred sound with the effects and the powerful three-band equalizer with sweep-able mid, and save the settings with a quick double tap on the Store button. The effects in the Nord Piano are just as detailed as the piano sounds them selves. The tremolo adds that perfect vibe, the pan sweeps across the stereo panorama, and the auto-wah brings out the funk in you, like never before. Other available effects include a phaser, a screaming flanger and a lush chorus. These modulation effects are modeled from a couple of highly desirable vintage effects.

The Nord Piano Speaker models faithfully reproduces the overdrive response of different amplifier/cabinet combinations, lending your sound that authentic feel. Select the desired speaker model – Small, JC or Twin – and use the Drive knob to add powerful tube amplifier distortion to your piano sound. Even the slightest amount will make a big difference to the sonic character.

Features:
» 88 keys, weighted hammer action
» 6 selectable categories of pianos – Grand, Upright, EP Tines, EP Reeds, Clavinet & Harpsichord. Each category can contain several different types. Stereo pianos can be played back in mono
» 512 MB is available for the pianos
» Each and every piano in the Nord Piano is exchangeable by the user. New models can be uploaded to the Nord Piano using the Nord Sound Manager application
– Effects Section
» Effect 1 – pan, tremolo, auto-wah, three selectable depths for the pan and tremolo, rate controlled with the Effect 1 Rate knob
» Effect 2 – phaser, flanger and chorus, three selectable depths, rate controlled with the Effect 2 Rate knob
» Comp/Amp – three amp/speaker simulations and a compressor, drive/compression amount controlled with the Drive knob
» Reverb with six algorithms – Room 1 & 2, Stage 1 & 2, Hall 1& 2, Dry/Wet control
» Three band EQ, with sweepable mid. +/- 15 dB gain/attenuation

Connections:
» 2 Audio outputs L & R – ?”, 6,35 mm jacks, unbalanced
» 1 Monitor input – 1/8″, 3,5 mm stereo jack
» 1 Headphone output – ?”, 6,35 mm stereo jack
» 1 Piano pedal input – ?”, 6,35 mm jack
» 1 Aux Switch pedal input – ?”, 6,35 mm jack
» MIDI In, MIDI Out – 5 pin DIN connectors
» USB – type B connector
» IEC320 C7 power connector

No Pricing or availability has been announced. More information on the Nord Piano.

UPDATED!

Image-Line has released Harmless, an additive synthesizer doing subtractive synthesis. Or, a subtractive synthesizer powered by an additive synthesis engine.

What’s Image-Line’s angle? Apparently the company feels that “there are too many subtractive synthesizers already, often bragging about being virtual analog. This one is digital, and proud to be. Everything is fake, the tone generator, the filter & its resonance, the phaser, all performed on the harmonics, before partials are computed.”

With the release of Harmless, Image Line Software also announces an unique pricing system for the synthesizer. Until the end of 2009 customers are asked to pay only what they think is a fair price for Harmless. The minimum, to cover the transaction fees and handling has been set at $9, but after that, it’s entirely up to customers what they are ready to pay based on the demo and their willingness to support future development.

Features:
» Single page color-coded GUI for immediate gratification.
» Efficient CPU usage & multithreading.
» Harmonic mask function.
» Specialized pluck filter.
» Unique phaser & harmonizer

Now, how it’s synthesized shouldn’t matter after all, if the result sounds subtractive. But Harmless is more than a proof of concept, it allows fine control that wouldn’t be possible through classic subtractive synthesis. Filtering and phasing can be assigned unusual shapes & slopes, something normally only possible through offline digital filters. Filter slopes can even be defined in Hz instead of octaves. Finally, you get control on each partial’s frequency, creating timbres definitely impossible using common synthesis methods.

Harmless is more than a proof of concept, it allows fine control that wouldn’t be possible through classic subtractive synthesis. Filtering and phasing can be assigned unusual shapes & slopes, something normally only possible through offline digital filters. Filter slopes can even be defined in Hz instead of octaves. Finally, you get control on each partial’s frequency, creating timbres definitely impossible using common synthesis methods.

Harmless is additive doing subtractive. Harmonics are not produced to be filtered, the timbre is filtered before being generated. This may sound like a detail, but generating sounds this way offers a lot more advantages than drawbacks.

Control Categories:
» Timbre – The oscillator or sound generation controls.
» Unison – Voice thickening & stereoizing effect.
» Phaser – Creates totally unique phasing and partial based effects, only possible with Harmless.
» LFO – Modulation source for adding motion and evolution to sounds.
» Effects – Chorus, Delay, Reverb & Compression.

Powered by a highly optimized, multi-threaded additive engine, CPU usage is comparable to the one of traditional subtractive synthesizers, especially for low-passed timbres. Voices may be generating hundreds of harmonics in parallel and still not overload the CPU.

Harmless was limited by design. No tabs, no hidden controls, no multi-point envelopes. All features are visible at once, and color-grouped. Over 100 parameters, most of which being automatable, are laid over a clear GUI.

Simpler to program, yet packed with evil features. Under the hood, you will find unique options, like linking the phaser’s output to partials frequencies. The LFO section can act as a special modulation source, linking the phaser’s width to the velocity, or the pitch to the filter’s envelope.

Of course, Harmless also offers features typically unique to additive synthesis, like its automatable harmonic mask.

Harmless is also packed with effects, the usual chorus, delay & reverb, but also a multi-band compressor/limiter powered by Maximus itself. It also inherited the powerful unison from Sytrus.

More information on Image Line Harmless.

The evil geniuses at SoundToys have cooked up a little holiday plug-in effects cake for your enjoyment. They have launched a public beta of their new Decapitator analog saturation plug-in… We discussed their new entry at this year’s AES show with the team at SoundToys, and we have to say that if you’re a fan of their effects, you should point your browser to the link below, pronto. Here’s what they have to say:

Try Decapitator free for the holidays.
We’re starting a new public beta program and giving you a chance to check out Decapitator, our new analog saturation modeling plug-in, before it’s available at the stores. This way you get to use it, abuse it and put it through it’s paces while we finish up all the other stuff we gotta do for release. It’s also a way for us to say thanks for all your support and give you something to do with all that spare Holiday time you have…

More information on the SoundToys Decapitator Beta.

Regen, a new company out of San Francisco, CA, has announced several provocative solar-powered audio products for 2010. The technology behind all of their products is the Regen Smart Power Architecture (SPA) ? a patented solar collection, storage, and hybrid power-management platform.

Regen is leveraging this new architecture to power several audio products including the Reverb (shown above) and the BeBop. The ReVerb pairs the ability to draw power from the sun or a traditional electric outlet with a flat format speaker that the company claims to provide “excellent sound reproduction.”

When fully charged the ReVerb can provide up to 12 hours of high quality audio reproduction of the media files stored on an iPhone, iPod Touch or any media player with a headphone jack. Sounds great, so what’s the downside? The price. All this solar powered sleekness will set you back a whopping $2,299.

Reverb Features:
» Integrated photovoltaic panel generates power from light
» Powered by solar or electric power
» Generates sound equivalent to a 60-watt conventional speaker

The Bebop is not currently on Regen’s website, but it has been featured in Fast Company magazine and bring solar sexiness to the over-saturated iPod Dock market. It contains a solar panel on the device’s sloped back and speakers on the front in a Gattaca-inspired design. Regen claims the sound quality will rival the current high-water mark of several high-end brands. It will reportedly retail for $699.

More information on Regen Solar Audio.

The D16 Group have announced Syntorus, a new a double path analog chorus plug-in for Mac and PC.

With this in mind, D16 set out to create a plug-in which would have a rich analog chorus similar to the effect found on classic synthesisers like the Solina, Synthex or Juno. This new effect is called Syntorus and is the latest addition to the Silver Line of plugs.

Syntorus has a unique sound which the company claims will add richness to any instrument it is used on. Synthetic basses and leads will come to life. It will also add extra depth and lushness to acoustic instruments.

Features:
» emulation of analog delay line
» double delay line
» LFOs synchronized with host application
» built-in tremolo effect
» presets organised into groups
» midi learn function
» 64bit internal processing

D16’s Syntorus will be available on January 11 for €35. More information on D16 Group Syntorus.