Building on a solid 1.0 release, M-Audio unveiled Torq 1.5 today, and it’s packed with new features to this up-and-coming DJ software. Let’s get right to the juicy new bits.

Improved Tempo/Pitch Alteration

•Tempo Anchors allow marking tracks with varying tempos—Torq’s effects and samples follow the tempo changes in the song

•Tempo Master assigns a playing track to serve as the master tempo source for all tempo-related functions

Advanced MIDI Control

•Transmit/receive MIDI beat clock for synchronization with other hardware/software and easy switching between DJs

•MIDI soft takeover prevents parameter jumps when using external controllers

New User Interface Features

•Hide Mixer option conserves screen space

•Preview songs in headphones before loading to deck

•New database categories for bit rate, file type, year and label

•Select multiple files to add to playlists

•Musical Style Preferences improve results when analyzing tracks

•Drag and drop songs into decks while in browser max view

•Warning message if loading a new song onto a Deck that is playing

•Warning message when attempting to exit Torq

•Global Tempo metronome can be monitored in headphones

•Auto Gain feature matches the gain levels between decks

Enhanced Effects Processing

•Internal effects can be grouped into effects chains

•VST effect tempo synchronizes with tempo of playing deck

•Effects can be used in a post-fader configuration

Rock-Solid Integration with Traditional DJ Hardware

•Skip Protection keeps the music playing even if the Control Vinyl or CD skips

•True Key Lock keeps the pitch constant when adjusting external turntable speed

New Looping Functionality

•Loop Points can be set after a section plays

•New QuickLoop option for CDJ-style loop division

•Quantize function for start/stop accuracy

I just sat in on the KRK press conference and saw their breakthrough room correction box they’re calling Ergo. The desktop unit is not speaker-dependent so you can use them with your current setup and the DSP is resident in the box making it truly independent of a host computer. It not only corrects your audio room zombies but offers switching and separate correction of two sets of speakers, has a headphone out switchable between two sources and a large analog speaker level controller. The MAP is $599.

It’s 10am and I think I’ve already seen 4, 227 products. The behemoth that is Digidesign just finished their press conference, and between Digi, M-Audio, Sibelius and the other partners in the group, there were new products for every market segment, ranging from Pro Tools upgrades to music apps for schoolkids.

Prez Dave Lebolt talked about the company’s breadth of products that now reach everyone from entry-level to top-end, giving customers options to upgrade all the way as they grow. The big push at this show is music creation: Pro Tools 7.4, for example, features a hot new tool called Elastic Audio, which lets users time stretch and fit vocals, drums, etc, without compromising sound quality. Speaking of Elastic Audio, don’t miss our hot Power Tools tips column next month, to learn more about this powerful tool.

They also showed a new Virtual Instruments “Box set,” offering a bunch of VI plug-ins, at a $400 discount. We also checked out the MBox 2 micro, a portable PT LE solution on a USB key. The Mbox 2 mini is also sold in Digi’s new entry-level Pro Tools Presonal Studio bundles, featuring PT LE, plug-ins, and a bunch of other goodies, starting at $495. M-Audio showed their flagship new Profile 2626 firewire I/O, with 26 ins and out and an onboard DSP mixer. Check it out-it’s sweet…

We also checked out Venue updates, Sibelius upgrades, headphones, speakers, digital console pianos and more.

And for the entry ENTRY level, Sibelius’ Groovy app lets kids age 5 and up place sound modules in a cool animated environment, and even compose…

After all that, I missed the Torque after-party press conference, but Markkus from Remix is on deck to tell you all about it…

There’s only a few more days before Winter NAMM commences in Anaheim, Calif. And the editors of EM, Remix and Mix will be there each day, scouring the floor for hot new products, blogging, podcasts, videos and so much more! Check out www.emusician.com/ms/wnamm08 for all your Winter NAMM pro audio needs!

—The Editors

I recently installed Windows Vista on my MacBook Pro. Now it‘s a Windows laptop, and unless I choose to restart in Mac OS X, it will remain a Windows laptop. I already have another laptop running Windows XP, but the Intel-based Apple hardware is far superior to my Dell Latitude D610.

The latest version of Apple‘s operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) features the official release of Boot Camp. The version in Tiger was a public beta, and I wanted to wait until Boot Camp was finalized before installing it. Unlike with the beta, you no longer need to burn a disc containing Windows drivers for the Mac; they‘re all included on Apple‘s Leopard installer disc.

Once I‘d installed Vista, I began installing Vista-compatible audio software, including Cakewalk Sonar 7 and Adobe Audition 3. I‘m using an M-Audio Ozonic for my audio and MIDI interface, along with M-Audio‘s Vista-compatible beta driver. Everything works fine, so far, with no surprises. I‘ll let you know how things progress in the next few weeks as I actually begin recording projects. In the meantime, has anyone else been running Vista on a Mac?