Today's Top Stories:

  Announcing the Toontrack Holiday Sale
During this holiday season, Toontrack has decided to thank its loyal users with what it's calling the EZX Holiday Sale. It's pretty simple, really: Just buy two EZX expansion packs for the company's EZdrummer - choose from any of the six current titles - then get another EZX title absolutely free! Let's say you want Nashville and Latin Percussion. Cool! Buy those two and get another free. Maybe Twisted Kit, Claustrophobia, or Vintage Rock: Brushes and Sticks or (if you dare) Drumkit from Hell! This special offer will expire at midnight on December 31, 2007.

  Take the Liquid Mix Challenge
Think you have a pair of "golden ears?" Well, here's your chance to prove it. Focusrite has launched the Liquid Mix Challenge. You are presented with ten different audio excerpts, with the original dry sample, followed by two processed samples tagged A and B. One of these was processed using hugely expensive vintage and classic hardware, while the other was processed using a Liquid Mix digital emulation of the exact same equipment. For each processed sample, you have to correctly choose the one that was processed using Liquid Mix. You also get to choose which clip sounds better. At the end of the Challenge, your score is displayed, as well as an aggregate score from people just like you from around the world that have taken the challenge. You can even enter to win a brand new Liquid Mix 4PRE. Just go to:

  Updates and Upgrades
Owners of IntelMacs running OS X will definitely want to download version 5.1.4 of Native Instruments' Reaktor sound design studio. This new version offers support for Mac OS X "Leopard" and improves the performance of Reaktor on Universal Binary Macs. It also delivers improved integration with NI's Kore 2 system. There have also been several bug fixes, including a MIDI clock host sync issue and the stability issue related to event transmission.

  New in Stock at Sweetwater

• electro-harmonix Knockout - With the Knockout Attack Equalizer, electro-harmonix packs an amazingly powerful 2-filter combination into a stompbox that makes your humbuckers sound like single-coils and your Strat sound like a Tele. Place it post-distortion for the heavyweight punch of the metal masters. Knockout is also an awesome add-on to your bass effects rig! The operation is simple with a 7-pole low-pass filter control, a 6-pole high-pass filter control, and a dry knob that controls the overall volume of the dry signal coming from the input jack. There's also a low-frequency cutoff at 85Hz and high-frequency cutoff at 6.5kHz to keep your signal clean.
• IK Multimedia ARC - Correct your room and get better mixes instantly with ARC! Using the included professionally calibrated measurement microphone, IK Multimedia's ARC room correction software system first measures, then quickly calculates, the acoustics in your room, then it applies whatever correction is required via an advanced EQ plug-in. The system uses an extremely accurate frequency/time-correction processing plug-in to work in perfect harmony with your DAW, giving you a "corrected" environment every single time time. Moved some furniture? Changed speakers? Added acoustic treatment? Then you just run it again need ARC. You won't believe how good your system can sound until it's been tweaked by ARC! Also available as a crossgrade - ask your Sweetwater Sales Engineer for details.

  Guitar of the Day
If you could find a time machine that could take you back to 1958 to buy a Gibson ES-335, this is very much like the guitar you'd find. Unlike later versions, this "dot neck" 335 has a big, fat neck. Well, once you start talking necks, you're likely to end up talking about designs that Gibson came up with in the late 1950s, like the iconic '58 Les Paul, which seems to epitomize the classic guitar with a big "tree trunk" neck. But it wasn't all alone. In 1958, Gibson released another legendary model that also sported a fat mahogany neck - the original ES-335. And by the way, for you lovers of guitar trivia, the model numbers on many of Gibson's early models were (as some of you already suspected) the list prices, so an ES-335 carried a $335 price tag when it was originally released, while the ES-355 cost $355. In any case, just like the Les Paul, the 335's neck got thinner until by 1960, it had Gibson's "slim-taper" neck, which was built for speed, though some builders and players feel that a larger neck contributes to a bigger sound and more sustain. Today's Guitar of the Day, the Gibson Memphis ES-335 "Fat Neck," is not officially a specific reissue, but rather a combination of characteristics that made the original 335 so popular, beginning with that chunky '58 neck profile. It has a slightly slimmer body, which is closer to the Ô59 335 and the top, back, and sides are constructed out of a maple/poplar/maple laminate, which makes for a very sturdy instrument. (Despite what some believe, laminates are very good materials, particularly when you're talking about electric guitars.) To aid in producing a fat tone, Gibson has equipped this Dot Neck with a pair of '57 Classic humbuckers, which deliver the sweet, warm tone of the original PAF (Patent Applied For) pickups. Today's examples range from Antique Natural to Vintage Sunburst, Antique Ebony, and the quintessential Gibson color that became so popular in the 1960s, Cherry, which is called Antique Red here. Both the top and back, as well as the 22-fret rosewood fingerboard have single-ply cream binding. Naturally, a deluxe hardshell case is included, as is free FedEx delivery right to your doorstep!