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It’s hard to believe that Artruria has anything left to add to Pigments at this point, but here we are. NAMM 2024 is just about ready to kick off, and Arturia is rolling out version five of its home-grown super synth. In the grand scheme of Pigments updates, this is a relatively minor one. But that’s not to say there aren’t new features worth getting excited about.

Perhaps the most important new feature is also the most invisible. Pigments finally supports multi-core processing, dramatically improving performance. It was never the biggest resource hog in the virtual synth space (the current champion in my experience is Moog’s Mariana), but it could be demanding depending on the patch. Now CPU usage in the standalone version sits at about 4 percent when idle on my M1 MacBook Pro. And I rarely see it climb above 20 percent.

There are also changes to the stripped down Play view. It’s more consistent and a bit prettier now, with a new spectral visualizer. It doesn’t really change things in any practical way, and while I’ll admit that the main UI can seem a little busy to a newcomer, I never found it particularly difficult to navigate. Play view might be a welcome improvement for those who use Pigments in performance settings and rarely do deep sound design, but its not something I ever find myself switching over to.

If you’re not one for sound design and rely more on presets you’ll probably appreciate the 150 new ones that are included, not to mention the three new sound banks of 150 patches each, all of which are designed with MPE in mind. Pigments is one of a handful of high-profile soft synths out there with extensive MPE support, but its presets often don’t take full advantage. But now that MPE controllers are becoming more common, Arturia is making an effort to remedy that. Heck, maybe Arturia will announce an MPE controller of its own in the not too distant future.

One of the more exciting upgrades is a new option in the utility engine (only on the second source) for audio input. That means you can process other instruments, or even your voice using Pigments’ effects. Chances are you already have access to a rich suite of effects in your DAW, but being able to seamlessly combine external audio with Pigments’ synth engines and process them through the same effects to help them meld together more seamlessly is a nice new source of timbres. I tested it out by running an Elektron Digitone through Pigments and was pretty happy with the results, but I definitely have a lot more exploring to do. If you’d rather stick to the built-in engines, there’s a selection of new samples and wavetables for you to explore as well.

The sequencer has also gotten some pretty significant upgrades. There’s a new dice icon for generating a random sequence which can be locked to a specific scale. And sequences can now be saved separately as their own presets, which you can lock to try the same sequence with multiple different sound presets. You can even feed the MIDI from the Pigments’ sequencer to other instruments. So if your DAW or synth of choice lacks generative features you can now just let Pigments do the work.

As usual, Pigments 5 is available as a free upgrade for current owners. If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, this is a pretty good time to do so. For a limited time you can get Pigments, plus the three new sound banks for $99. That’s quite a steal since Pigments is normally $199, and each of the sound banks (Beats Exploration, Expressive Explorations and Liquid Explorations) will be $30 at full price.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/arturia-pigments-5-adds-generative-sequencing-and-external-audio-processing-201014331.html?src=rss 

Apple has reportedly scaled back its automotive aspirations, at least for now. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the company’s decade-old vehicle project has pivoted from planning a fully self-driving car to an EV more like Tesla’s. The so-called “Apple Car” is now projected to launch no earlier than 2028 — two years after the company’s last reported target date.

The car’s autonomous features have reportedly been downgraded from a Level 5 system (full automation) to a Level 4 system (full automation in some circumstances) — and now to a Level 2+ one (partial automation). That would mean it offers limited self-driving features like lane centering and braking / accelerating support — while still requiring the driver’s full attention.

Tesla’s Autopilot is categorized as Level 2. Level 2+ isn’t an official designation, but it’s sometimes used informally to describe a more advanced version of Level 2.

What Apple once envisioned as a car without a steering wheel or pedals — and perhaps having a remote command center ready to take over for a driver — now looks more like a Tesla-like market entrance.

Tesla’s Model 3

Bloomberg says Apple views the project’s downscaling internally as “a pivotal moment.” People familiar with Apple’s plans allegedly believe delivering the pared-down Apple Car with reduced expectations could make or break the entire project. “Either the company is finally able to deliver this product with reduced expectations or top executives may seriously reconsider the project’s existence,” Gurman wrote.

Apple has reportedly talked with potential manufacturing partners in Europe about the updated strategy. Bloomberg says the company still wants to offer a Level 4 autonomous system at some point, even as its debut is on track for something more grounded.

Bloomberg describes the meetings leading up to Apple’s decision as “frenzied,” involving CEO Tim Cook, the Apple board and project head Kevin Lynch. The latter took over after former leader Doug Field left in 2021. (Field was a former Tesla engineering head who now leads Ford’s EV wing.) The board reportedly pushed leadership about the car plan throughout 2023.

After starting well out of the blocks, self-driving cars didn’t have a great 2023. Cruise, GM’s robotaxi division, laid off 24 percent of its workforce in December. That came after one of the company’s vehicles pinned and dragged a pedestrian who had been hit by another car. The aftermath was swift, as the California DMV suspended Cruise’s driverless permits over safety concerns. On the brighter side, Waymo seems to be doing well. But government standards are the wild card in this equation, and perhaps Apple saw the wind blowing in a direction that warranted caution.

Apple’s Project Titan has been the subject of rumors since at least the mid-2010s. The company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the initiative. It’s worked on “powertrains, self-driving hardware and software, car interiors and exteriors, and other key components,” according to Gurman. Given how many times the expensive project’s details have changed, don’t be surprised if they do so again.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-car-apparently-still-exists-could-debut-in-2028-with-reduced-autonomy-203458008.html?src=rss 

Nintendo is honoring Princess Peach with a set of appropriately colored Joy-Cons. On Tuesday, the company posted on X (Twitter) that a set of pastel pink Joy-Con controllers will launch alongside Princess Peach: Showtime! on March 22.

The pair will be sold for a limited time at the Nintendo Store and “select retailers.” Although the company hasn’t specified how much they’ll cost, $80 — the standard Joy-Con pair going rate— is likely a safe bet.

Nintendo already sells a pastel pink left Joy-Con, paired with a pastel yellow one as part of a batch launched last summer. So, if we’re being technical, the wholly original part of Peach’s long-overdue tribute appears to be half a controller. Engadget reached out to Nintendo to ask if the shade of pastel pink in Peach’s set is identical to the one in the pink / yellow pairing as it appears to be in the promotional images below. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

The pastel pink left Joy-Con (second from the right), launched last summer, looks an awful lot like Peach’s tribute set.

Of course, the themed Joy-Cons are merely the undercard to the main event of Princess Peach: Showtime! The pseudo-platformer, announced during the September Nintendo Direct, has the perpetual damsel in distress taking heroic center stage in a story about saving a theater (the Hamlet kind, not the Barbenheimer kind) from the villainous Grape and the Sour Bunch.

Peach can wield a ribbon as a whip-like weapon, lent to her by the theater’s guardian, a floating star named Stella. (She may play a similar role to Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey and Prince Florian in Super Mario Wonder). Peach can also draw on her theatrical quick-change abilities to transform into a ninja, swashbuckler, detective, patisserie, cowgirl and Kung-Fu artist — giving the frequent McGuffin in Mario’s stories fun power-ups to counter those of her mustachioed beau.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is available for pre-order now from Nintendo and Amazon. It and the pair of pastel pink Joy-Cons arrive on March 22. You can watch the game’s latest trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-honors-princess-peach-with-a-pair-of-pastel-pink-joy-cons-174854757.html?src=rss