Today's Top Stories:

  Electronic Music Loses a Pioneer
Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away last week at his home in Kuerten-Kettenberg and will be buried in the Waldfried Forest Cemetery in Kuerten. Considered by many as the "father of modern electronic music," and founder of the WDR Studio, he composed 362 individually performable works. Those composed until 1969 are published by Universal Edition in Vienna. All his works since then were published by the Stockhausen-Verlag. Numerous texts by Stockhausen have been published over the years by the Stockhausen Foundation for Music.

  New in Stock at Sweetwater

• Apple Final Cut Express 4.0 - This affordable video editing software lets you work with DV, HDV or AVCHD footage, with precise, easy-to-use editing tools and a range of features that allow you to create a truly stellar finished product. A versatile Timeline, virtually unlimited tracks, real-time effects, and great color-correction and matting tools combine to make Final Cut Express 4.0 as effective as it is affordable! Send your iMovie '08 projects to Final Cut Express 4.0, then take advantage of its additional creative options: professional editing tools; the new Open Format Timeline; over a hundred real-time effects and transitions; animated titles; and multiple video and audio tracks - to create more sophisticated projects. It's almost as good as owning Final Cut Studio 2, but without the steep price tag!
• Sabine Navigator 360 - Here's a complete multi-input/output digital system processor with full loudspeaker management, designed for commercial installation and production audio. The latest in available technology is utilized with 32-bit (40-bit extended) floating point processors and high-performance 24-bit digital converters. All functions operate concurrently and are controlled simultaneously. There is no need to compile any files or settings - the powerful Analog Devices SHARC processors handle the DSP processing. Best of all, you never run out of resources! This new version allows you to choose from two main views: Matrix or Mixer. Equally powerful is the front panel control for those times when you need access at the rack position.
• TASCAM DP-02 - The DP-02 from TASCAM is perfect for those who cut their teeth on cassette Portastudios back in the day, but now want to tap into the convenience of digital recording with a decidedly analog feel. The DP-02 8-track makes recording fun, ditching menus for simple knobs and faders. Based on the legacy of over 25 years of cassette Portastudios, it sports dedicated controls for level, pan, effects send and EQ instead of the menu-cursor interface found on most other recorders. Best of all, the DP-02 user interface is virtually identical to that of a classic Portastudio. Everything is handled old-school, with faders, knobs, and basic transport controls. Record up to eight tracks on the built-in 40GB hard drive. A pair of XLR mic inputs includes phantom power for condenser mics and a direct guitar input. High and low EQ controls for level and frequency are provided for every channel. It also includes a full multi-effects processor!

  Guitar of the Day
Even those of us that are not actually bass players were hugely impressed by this new release from the Fender Custom Shop. It's officially called the Custom Classic Jazz Bass IV. Right now, we've received three of these basses with a totally jaw-dropping highly-figured ash body in a finish the company calls Transparent Ebony. The bottom line is that this is a beautiful instrument - who knew ash could look this good! The neck is built of quarter-sawn maple, with a comfortable "C" shape and a polished satin urethane finish. The premium rosewood fingerboard has 21 medium jumbo frets and gorgeous white shell block inlays. It has a string-through or top-load bridge with a steel bridge plate and chrome-plated, milled solid brass saddles along with Fender/Schaller deluxe lightweight tuners. A 4-ply white pearloid pickguard adds a nice finishing touch. If that were all, you'd have one beautiful bass guitar, but although this is officially called a "Classic," it's actually more of a 2008 model when it comes down to the electronics, none of which were available when the Jazz Bass first made its appearance in 1960. First off, it's equipped with a pair of Custom Noiseless Jazz Bass pickups, a master volume and pickup pan pot. Then Fender adds a cutting edge 18-volt 3-band active EQ system.