Today's Top Stories:

  The Wait is Almost Over!
A few years back, few people even recognized the name "Ableton." Today Ableton's Live software is one of our best-selling products. And now the wait for Live 6 is almost over! Ableton promises that the official release of its hugely popular program will happen in the next few days. With Quicktime video support, Live enters the world of post-production. Now you can drag and drop movies directly into Live's Arrangement View, and monitor the result in a dedicated video window or even a second monitor screen. The new Essential Instrument Collection provides Live 6 users with a comprehensive library of multisampled instruments that cover the entire musical spectrum, from orchestral strings and brass, to classic guitars and keyboards. Ableton's new Sampler is an advanced sound design and sound sculpting instrument, available as an upgrade within Ableton Live 6. In addition to providing perfect host integration, Sampler offers unique processing and modulation options. When combined within Ableton's Instrument and Effect Racks in Live 6, multiple Samplers provide unprecedented depth of control, automation, and nearly limitless sonic possibilities. Sampler avoids RAM shortages and loading wait times by employing Live's exclusive disk preloading technology. Sampler also imports the most popular sample formats, including AKAI S1000, S3000, GigaStudio, EXS, SoundFont, and non-encrypted Kontakt. Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for availability and your special Sweetwater pricing on Ableton Live 6 and Sampler!

  NI's New Synth Isn't Just Big, It's MASSIVE!
Based on an new high-resolution audio engine, Native Instruments' next-generation software synth combines advanced Wave-Scanning synthesis with a wealth of sophisticated sound-shaping and modulation options, resulting in a fat, punchy sound that's so big, they had to call it MASSIVE! According to NI, this new synth excels at powerful lead and bass sounds, but is also sophisticated enough to deliver complex pads and deep, evolving atmospheres. MASSIVE is built from the ground up on advanced processor architectures with intelligent oversampling up to 192kHz and a synthesis engine with three Wave-Scanning oscillators that draw on 82 unique wavetables enhanced through FFT resynthesis. A flexible dual filter section complements the oscillator stage with 11 analog-sounding filter models ranging from lowpass and highpass variants to the fierce "scream filter." A specially engineered feedback stage can be inserted at various points in the signal chain to literally supercharge the sound, creating effects from rich saturation to total destabilization and over-the-top unpredictability. We can't wait to take this one on a test drive!

  New in Stock at Sweetwater

• Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 - The Custom 24 has long been at the heart of the PRS line and Blue Matteo is one of their most popular colors. In fact, a Custom 24 with a gorgeous quilted maple carved top in Blue Matteo is so hot right now, we half expected it to trigger our smoke alarms! It has everything you want in a PRS: abalone bird inlays, amazingly versatile humbucking pickups (an HFS bridge and Vintage Bass neck), a 5-way rotary selector knob, the patented PRS tremolo tailpiece, a wide-thin neck carve, nickel hardware, and a deluxe hardshell case. This one won't last long, so call now!

  Guitar Of The Day
Shortly before his tragic death in 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan collaborated with Fender guitars to produce an Artist Series Stratocaster. Much like fellow Strat slinger, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray literally burst upon the music scene and blew everyone away with his fierce, passionate playing style, though he actually paid his dues for many years in hundreds of gigs in dark, smoky clubs in and around the Austin, Texas area. Like Hendrix, his career was tragically cut short and he was not able to see the Artist Series Strat he helped Fender design, the Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster, which was officially introduced in 1992. The special features are immediately recognizable by any fan of Stevie's music and include an alder body with a rich 3-color sunburst polyurethane finish along with a 3-ply black pickguard with "SRV" boldly engraved on the face. Other distinctive features include the trademark Fender maple neck with a deep, early '60s oval shape, a pao ferro fingerboard with 21 jumbo frets, gold hardware, and a reversed (left-handed) tremolo. To deliver the signature SRV tone, Fender equipped this guitar with a matched set of three scorching hot Texas Special single-coil pickups. What Fender didn't do was put an artificially high price tag on this instrument, which they certainly could have done given this guitar's pedigree. It ships in a genuine Fender vintage-style tweed case and includes all your favorite case candy. This is a very special guitar built to honor a very special musician who sadly never got to see its release.