Winter NAMM Show: Digidesign announced updates Hybrid, its high-definition synthesizer, and Strike, its virtual drummer plug-in.

Hybrid Version 1.5 offers a number of important new features, as well as a vast increase in the program’s already wide sonic palette. Boasting an entirely new VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter) vintage filter, this plug-in update makes it easier than ever to achieve the classic, retro analog synthesizer sounds of the ’70s and ’80s.

Hybrid 1.5 also features five new filter saturation modes (Distort, Hard Clip, Rectify, Bit Crush, and Resample), providing additional tone-shaping flexibility. Along with more than 330 all-new patches, all of the original 256 Hybrid 1.0 patches have been reprogrammed to take advantage of the new vintage filter and saturation modes.

Also new is Strike Content Expansion, a software add-on that expands the capacity of Digidesign’s immensely popular Strike virtual drummer plug-in, opening it to an even broader range of musical styles.

Strike Content Expansion adds over 300 MB of classic drum machine samples to Strike, all recorded in high definition and making full use of the instrument’s unique control parameters, such as Complexity, Intensity, and microphone placement options. Also included are 100 new “Style” settings, all expertly programmed by artists representing a wide variety of musical genres, expanding the instrument’s functionality to encompass a broader range of drum sounds and rhythm styles.

Pricing and Availability

Both Hybrid Version 1.5 upgrade and the Strike Content Expansion package will be available as a free download for registered Hybrid users from January 22 through March 22, 2008. After January 22nd both upgrades will cost $19.95 (USD).