“With such a large number of new products aimed at every aspect of music creation, from fun learning for the youngest student to advanced production and live sound tools for the most demanding professionals, the Avid Audio brands are bringing new power and creative capabilities to customers across the music and audio industries,” said Dave Lebolt, general manager of Avid Audio. “These products—several of which have already won awards at the show—are the result of our continued strategic focus on this growing and dynamic marketplace, and our vision of enabling a ‘revolution in music creation’ for all kinds of musical styles and a wide variety of customers.”

Among the new products introduced and/or demonstrated at NAMM 2008:

• On display at the Digidesign booth is Version 7.4 of Pro Tools®, the industry-leading software for digital sound recording, editing, mixing, and MIDI sequencing throughout the music, film, multimedia, television, and radio broadcast industries. Pro Tools 7.4 has been updated with numerous music and post-production features and workflow enhancements, as well as improved networking compatibility with industry-standard Avid® video systems. Affirming its place as the gold standard for the industry, Pro Tools 7.4 has recently marked over 15,000 paid upgrades since its October 2007 release.
• Digidesign unveiled two compelling new product bundles that offer musicians and home recording hobbyists everything they need to create, mix and output a finished recording in one package. Based around the industry-standard Pro Tools software, the Pro Tools Music Creation Studio and Pro Tools Personal Studio bundles combine products from Digidesign and M-Audio and will be available this year from leading music instrument retailers, including Guitar Center, Sweetwater and Musician’s Friend.
• Continuing the evolution of its Venue live sound systems, Digidesign introduced Mix Rack, which opens the award-winning VENUE range to numerous new live sound markets including theatres, houses of worship and live-to-air TV and radio broadcasting. In just two years since its introduction, VENUE has already become the live sound mixing console of choice for iconic touring acts such as Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Barbara Streisand, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, Beck, Dixie Chicks, U2, Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty and Pearl Jam.
• Significant new updates for two of the most popular virtual instruments created by the virtual subtractive synthesizer, Hybrid™ 1.5, includes a host of feature enhancements, as well as a generous collection of 336 new patches spanning a wide range of sounds and categories. Strike™ Content Expansion is a software add-on kit that expands the capacity of Digidesign’s Strike “virtual drummer” instrument, adding over 300MB of classic drum machine settings and 100 new, expertly programmed Style settings in a range of drum sounds and rhythm styles.
• Building on a legacy of award-winning FireWire audio interfaces, M-Audio’s new flagship ProFire™ 2626 audio interface features 26 x 26 I/O at 24-bit/192kHz, DSP mixing, Octane™ preamp technology and Pro Tools M-Powered™ compatibility for next-generation performance with a PC or Mac host-based recording system. ProFire 2626 makes a professional feature set accessible to home recordists.
• M-Audio Torq™ 1.5 brings even more creative options to the only digital DJ workstation designed to merge live DJ performance and advanced music production. New features in Torq 1.5 software include Tempo Anchors, Tempo Master, zplane élastique time stretching, send/receive MIDI clock, a new toolbar and a variety of workflow enhancements. Torq 1.5 now enables DJs to work with music with a fluctuating tempo, and in technical settings that would have been previously problematic.
• M-Audio Studiophile™ BX5a Deluxe and Studiophile BX8a Deluxe monitors feature new waveguides, enhanced driver integration and other advancements to deliver a cohesive and refined sound. M-Audio is a leading manufacturer of reference monitors, and the Studiophile series regularly resides at the top of the ranking of best-selling monitors.
• M-Audio is celebrating the company’s 20^th anniversary with special editions of the best-selling MIDISPORT 2x2 and MIDISPORT 4x4 USB MIDI interfaces. The MIDISPORT products are the most popular USB interfaces available for Mac and PC.
• Sibelius 5 software, the essential new version of the award-winning music notation application and Sibelius® Groovy Triple Pack for Education, which includes Groovy Shapes, Groovy Jungle and Groovy City, provide both educators and students with the most advanced and compelling music learning capabilities in the market. At NAMM, Sibelius 5 was awarded the 2008 Electronic Musician Editors' Choice Award in the “Music Notation Software” category.
• Sibelius announced US availability of a major update to Sibelius Student, designed for music homework and coursework. Sibelius Student is now based on the award-winning Sibelius 5 and includes many of the same groundbreaking features.

About Digidesign

Digidesign is a worldwide leading manufacturer of digital audio production systems and the winner of the 2001 Technical Grammy^® Award and 2003 Oscar^® statuette representing the Academy Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development, and implementation of the Pro Tools digital audio workstation. Digidesign provides the professional music, film, video, multimedia, and radio broadcast industries with tools for digital recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, signal processing, and surround mixing. Digidesign products are marketed in more than 40 countries worldwide through a distribution network of value-added dealers, distributors, and OEM relationships. M-Audio, a leading provider of creative tools for computer-centric musicians and audio professionals, and Sibelius Software, the market leader in software for writing, teaching, and publishing music, are business units of Digidesign. For more information, visit www.digidesign.com.

About M-Audio

M-Audio, a part of Avid Technology, Inc., is a leading provider of innovative tools for today's computer musicians and audio professionals. Founded with the goal of democratizing music creation, the company's products deliver the latest production and performance technology at accessible price points. M-Audio has received numerous industry accolades, including Music Trades' "Company of the Year" and "Fastest Growing Company" distinctions. The company's award-winning and comprehensive product line includes PCI-, FireWire- and USB-based audio interfaces; USB/MIDI keyboard controllers and digital pianos; microphones, preamps and reference monitors; and DJ tools. M-Audio was acquired by Avid Technology Inc. in August 2004 and is now part of Avid’s Audio group along with Digidesign and Sibelius.

About Sibelius

Sibelius is a leading music technology company for professionals, students, educators and enthusiasts. Sibelius was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in the UK, with offices in California, Australia, and Japan. Since the introduction of Sibelius music notation software, Sibelius has developed and delivered a complete suite of products for the professional, educational and home user, ranging from Internet publishing to guitar software. Sibelius software is used in many schools in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, used by most of the major music academies and colleges, and many of the world’s leading music publishers. In 2006, Sibelius was acquired by Avid Technology, Inc., and is now part of the Avid Audio group along with Digidesign and M-Audio. High-resolution images of Sibelius products are available at http://www.sibelius.com/press/index.html. For information about Sibelius 5 visit www.sibelius.com

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, 3D animation, gaming and broadcast professionals – as well as for home audio and video enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid, Digidesign, M-Audio, Pinnacle Systems, Sibelius, Softimage and Sundance Digital. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning students, Avid’s products and services enable customers to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid^® Film Composer^® system for motion picture editing. For more information about the company’s Oscar, Grammy and Emmy^® award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com.