Jakob Reinhardt has released the US Dream Guitar, a free Kontakt instrument library featuring the sounds of a rich clean American solid body guitar. The instrument library features 51 velocity sensitive pitches and unlocked Wav files are included for use in your favorite sampler or DAW. This is a sample library of a clean American […]

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Plugin Boutique has launched an exclusive sale on the SplineEQ linear phase equalizer plugin by Photosounder. SplineEQ is a linear phase equalizer plugin. Designed to be simple and flexible, SplineEQ allows you to create filters using Bézier splines, the best known way to design curves. SplineEQ features Linear phase equalizer. Spline-based filter design. Up to […]

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FeelYourSound has announced the release of The Piano Sessions, a free songwriting package for producers of any genre. It contains over 26 free chord transformation presets for the ChordPotion songwriting plugin. The new presets transform the chords in your DAW into completely new piano melodies. With a few clicks, you can turn any chords into […]

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8Dio Productions has announced its new sample library Studio Tenor Saxophone, a deep sampled saxophone for Native Instruments Kontakt. The instrument comes with advanced controls and layered legatos, and chordal legato. The Studio Tenor Saxophone has its own fully capable mixer with functions such as Solo, Mute, Output Routing, Volume, and Panning. All featured alongside […]

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Audio Plugin Deals has announced a flash sale on the Veevum Trilogy by Audiofier, a bundle of three Kontakt instruments designed for creating interesting textures and ambient sounds. VEEVUM Trilogy offers 3 instruments at once in one bundle: VEEVUM ONE (LO-FI Sampling), VEEVUM A/D (Analog & Digital Synths Sampling) and VEEVUM REAL (Acoustic and Hybrid […]

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ADSR Sounds has launched a new sample pack by GHST PRJKT titled The Weekdys, a collection of loops, samples, MIDI files and Serum synth presets inspired by The Weeknd. Taking inspiration from past albums and his production evolution to his current sound, GHST PRJKT is proud to introduce The Weekdys – our take on The […]

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Spitfire Audio has announced the release of BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, a universal starting point to explore and create with 35 instruments impeccably performed by the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra, brought to life inside a beautifully designed, easy-to-use plugin. A whole orchestra of the highest quality at your fingertips. Designed to make orchestral scoring accessible […]

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Ugritone has announced the release of KVLT Drums II: Speed Metal, a new expansion pack for the KVLT Drums II virtual drum instrument. For this new expansion, the KVLT Drums II virtual instrument has been updated with improved loading times, less CPU consumption, and tuning options. KVLT Drums II is a Drum Sample Library catered […]

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SampleScience has announced the release of Toy Keyboard v2, a new revamped version of the Toy Keyboard rompler based on the sound of a ’90s Yamaha PSR-78 home keyboard. Version 2 of Toy Keyboard features 72 sounds and 1 drum kit. The plugin has multiple modulation routing possibilities and only weights 39 MB. Toy Keyboard […]

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Monster Sounds has released its new sample pack Hip Hop Acapellas Vol. 2, a new collection of royalty free Hip Hop acapellas by Scor-zay-zee. Following on from the amazing response from the first volume, Monster Sounds put the call in and linked up for a second time with one of the UK Hip Hop Scenes […]

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Rast Sound has announced the release of its new sample library Distant Choir, a free Kontakt instrument library featuring a collection of solo vocal recordings from over 20 countries. The 210 MB library includes 5 playable choirs. Distant Choir is our solo vocal recordings, coming together as a choir through sound. We are releasing the […]

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In India, under traditional business interruption insurance policies, physical damage to property is the only criteria to trigger business interruption loss, while pandemics and epidemics are specifically excluded. Insurance companies, therefore, are refusing to accept any claims arising out of shutdown.

It can be noted that shopping centres and malls, which tend to attract a lot of crowds, have been shut since mid-March, much before the lockdown was announced and if the social distancing strategies continue post lockdown as well, such facilities are unlikely to open.

While big-box retailers that enjoy a revenue-sharing model with malls will have some cushion to absorb the impact of the lockdown, smaller brands and restaurants may have to pay the price by reducing the number of outlets.

The government feels this will allow shopping and leisure activities to start up while maintaining physical distancing as traffic will be less than usual and easy to control. On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh notified retail stores to open from 6am until midnight.

The company which retails Savlon range of sanitisers, has stepped up production at the facility in Himachal Pradesh to produce an additional 1.25 lakh litres.

Mondelez, owner of Cadbury’s, said its sales in the first phase of the lockdown was reduced to nil due to closure of plants, lack of have people from the distribution centers and non-availability of trucks.

The survey, conducted by YouGov, an Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, showed that between March 15-April 16 this year, Zomato witnessed a weakening customer base from 46.3 to 41.7 whereas for Swiggy, the scores were from 48.8 to 42.4.

Restaurants in the city are looking to slash in-house dining capacities by 40 per cent to ensure social distancing norms are followed and also ramp up their tech infrastructure to handle more orders online.

How to keep customers’ cravings alive has become a challenge for restaurants.

The US burger and fries giant has joined other restaurant chains including Jubilant FoodWorks-operated Domino's Pizza, Tata Starbucks and Speciality Restaurants in seeking waivers from landlords and mall owners.

The company has also built up an auto referencing system for its stores to stock inventory based on target group and purchasing power of customers in a given location.

Mothercare is the latest brand after Mango, Forever 21and Sephora among other global labels to change hands from DLF Brands.

Amazon, FirstCry and J&J’s BabyCenter among those seeking info to offer tailored content, discounts; move may violate proposed data law.

In lieu of an in-person graduation on May 8, the college announced it would recognize for a month on its website 176 graduates receiving associate's and bachelor's degrees, a press release said.

Arizona has the highest student-to-counselor ratio in the nation, and the coronavirus is making a tough job tougher.

Arizona has the highest student-to-counselor ratio in the nation, and the coronavirus is making a tough job tougher.

Each week, The Republic highlights some of the adoptable pets in the Valley. This week also includes a sassy cat.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's stay-at-home order is ending Friday as salons open on Friday and restaurants open on Monday.

Arizona's daily death toll increased this week. Lagging death data and previously overlooked COVID-19 deaths are at least partially the reason.

A second COVID-19 "testing blitz" is scheduled for Saturday in at least nine counties. State officials have not disclosed turnout for the first event.

Arizona colleges and universities have dramatically altered graduation ceremonies to adapt to COVID-19.

As the director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, one of my favorite tasks is choosing a children’s or young adult title to represent Pennsylvania at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. It’s a responsibility I take very seriously. I consult with colleagues and search for information about children’s and young adult books by Pennsylvania authors or illustrators. I look for titles with topics that have some connection to the Commonwealth. I’m delighted to share that this year’s selection is a picture book biography—"A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin”written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Horace Pippin was the grandson of a slave, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1888. He died in 1946 and is buried in the Chester Grove Annex Cemetery. He began and ended life in Pennsylvania. As a child, Horace was always drawing pictures. He won a drawing contest and the cherished prize—colored pencils, a pair of brushes, and a box of

“It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had shoved me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to remain calm.” So begins “Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie,” the first book in the “Flavia de Luce” murder mystery series by Alan Bradley. What appears to be a rather violent kidnapping is actually just the latest episode in a running battle between 11-year-old Flavia and her two older sisters, 13-year-old Daphne and 17-year-old Ophelia. Fortunately, Flavia turns out to be quite capable of holding her own against her sisters by using her love of chemistry to inflict the odd rash or occasional bout of indigestion on them. Set in rural England in the early 1950s, the series follows Flavia as she travels the countryside seeking adventure on Gladys, her trusty two-wheeled steed and partner in all adventures. In many ways, Flavia is a youthful reincarnation of Don Quixote. Her ability to imagine all kinds of possibilities in ordinary situations

“The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life” offers those who usually read novels a chance to enjoy ‘creative non-fiction.’ This book is a well-told narrative about the molecular building blocks of life and how they evolved. David Quammen accepts the challenge of documenting the advancement of evolutionary life science while revealing its significance to all of our lives. Quammen also gives us insight into the vibrant communities of scientists carrying out similar work. Quammen begins by introducing the image of the Tree of Life. He describes how it has evolved from the image of a ladder-to-heaven in ancient and medieval thinking into Darwin’s branching, upward-growing tree. Quammen closes his introduction with his own surprising proposition. He suggests Darwin’s tree image is no longer the precise metaphor for what life is. Quammen introduces each new evolutionary twist and turn until the new Tree of Life ends up looking more like a web than an upwardly-reaching tree with

"The Swerve: How the World Became Modern" by Stephen Greenblatt is the biography of a man named Poggio Bracciolini, and the history of a poem titled "On the Nature of Things." Bracciolini began adult life as a scribe, which is the 15th Century version of a notary public. It was a useful, but not unique, position in what is now Italy. Despite his humble beginnings, Bracciolini used his intelligence, charm, and exceptional penmanship to become the personal secretary to Pope John XXII. That was quite an achievement for a person of common birth. But, it was Bracciolini’s avocation as a book collector that gave him a place in history. Bracciolini spent much free time - and money - searching for rare manuscripts in the monastic libraries of Europe. In particular, he looked for manuscripts containing the works of ancient Greek philosophers. In January 1417, he found a manuscript of the poem, "On the Nature of Things.” Written by Titus Lucretius Carus around 50 B.C.E., "On the Nature of Things

Sanjeev Kapoor's business ventures range from premium cookware and appliances brand Wonderchef to TV channel FoodFood to a chain of restaurants across India and abroad.

Founded in 2009 by Kapoor and former Sodexo Pass India MD Ravi Saxena, the company sells premium kitchen appliances, cookware and bakeware under the Wonderchef brand.

Preethi is exporting products to the US, Asian and African countries and it currently constitutes around 8% of its revenue.

We expect to make up Kerala losses in September, October and November as the state rebuilds its economy.

Tupperware India's managing director Deepak Chhabra talks about how integrating the direct sales force with the retail franchisee model is working for the home and kitchen-ware maker.

The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW group’s JSW Paints entered the highly competitive paints industry in India with an initial investment of Rs 600 crore.

Asian Paints' revenue from operations rose 3% to Rs 5,420.28 crore from Rs 5,263.04 crore.

The Ikea compliance team last week visited Vadodara-based Shaily Engineering, the company that had supplied the mugs, as part of the investigation, a source said. Ikea was prompted to recall the mugs after tests found excessive level of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a substance that is used as plasticisers.

With already three stores in Bengaluru and one in Chennai, the company now plans to open two new stores in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 5 crore, it said. In the next 12 to 18 months, WoodenStreet further plans to open 4 additional stores in South India, along with a third store in Hyderabad.

Veteran law enforcement officers Damon K. Jones and Cariol Horne are speaking out against police brutality and calling for reform. They talked with WPSU about the challenges they have faced as minorities in the police force, their thoughts about the Black Lives Matter movement and why change is necessary. Transcript: Cheraine Stanford: Welcome to take note on WPSU. I'm Cheraine Stanford. We're joined today by two activists advocating for law enforcement reform. Cariol Horne was a police officer in Buffalo, New York, for nearly two decades. When she was fired after she says she was assaulted by a fellow officer while attempting to stop him from choking a handcuffed man. Damon K. Jones has worked in the West Chester Department of Corrections for 28 years. He represents the state of New York in the organization, Blacks in Law Enforcement of America. The two came to Penn State as part of a panel called “Black lives inside of blue lives” to discuss the question: What happens when Black

Penn State assistant teaching professor Shaheen Pasha is an advocate for more journalism courses to be taught in prison. She talked with WPSU about a reporting class she taught to both prisoners and journalism students in Massachusetts, the benefits of learning about our mass incarceration system from the people who are living it and her plan to create a program here in central Pennsylvania. TRANSCRIPT: Min Xian: Welcome to Take Note on WPSU. I'm Min Xian. Shaheen Pasha is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State's College of Communications and advocates for more journalism courses to be taught in prison. Previously, she was an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she launched a social justice journalism course focused on mass incarceration at the Hampshire County Jail bringing together prisoners and UMass journalism students. Pasha was a 2018 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard. She's also a veteran journalist who has covered legal issues,

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper responded to President Donald Trump’s plan to reopen the economy by stressing that the state needs the federal government’s help supplying medical professionals to ramp up COVID-19 testing. The state government also said Friday that it was tripling the staff handling unemployment claims as the state faces a crush of hundreds of thousands requests. Trump told governors Thursday that restrictions could be eased to allow businesses to reopen in the coming weeks in areas that have extensive testing and a decline in cases. Hours later, Cooper, a Democrat, said states need more supplies from the federal government to expand testing enough to reopen their economies.

Through a program called “Feed the Soul,” hospital workers across North Carolina are receiving deliveries of nutritious meals as they respond to growing needs to treat COVID-19 patients. The program also supports local restaurants seeing a slowdown in business. The meal deliveries are made possible by contributions made to an emergency response fund created by the North Carolina Healthcare Foundation ( NCHF ), a nonprofit charitable organization. To date, the program has delivered more than 10,000 meals to staff at 13 hospitals in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. The program is now expanding to Greenville and Wilmington in eastern North Carolina. North Carolina has more than 200,000 hospital workers, many of whom are appreciating the delicious and nutritious meals prepared by local restaurants. “While most of us are staying home to eat meals due to social distancing, hospital employees are working around-the-clock to care for growing numbers of coronavirus

If you’re like me, you probably having a hard time changing the idea of social distancing into a habit. That’s not easy. Old habits die hard. Why don’t we wear a mask in public, wash our hands more often…or stay at least six feet apart? We each have our own reasons. Sometimes we just forget. I do. And some people just don’t understand the consequences if someone else is exposed to their cough; their hands or something they touched with the virus on it. Other people resist the whole idea of being told what to do. They think that social distancing imposes on their freedom. Or worse, they just can’t be bothered, no matter who they expose to the virus, even their loved ones. So here’s a thought -- Six Feet is Not That Far Away. Where I live in Princeton, Illinois, right off Interstate-80’s Exit 56, a group of us are asking “What does social distancing mean to us? We’re hoping that artists of all kinds will share their interpretations of that message in photographs, videos and music about