The news have been floating within team Hobnox for some time now and we can finally announce the news about the update of the Audiotool Beta that we're about to roll out in the in two days. Yes, that's Wednesday. We're still waiting for Adobe to release the new Flash Player but will share the details with you anyway. Speaking of Adobe, it really looks like the 'Make Some Noise' campaign was successful as you'll read below and that Adobe finally managed to make some noise. Nice. Thanks to everyone who supported the developers.

As for the update, here is the sneak peak - the key features of the update along with some exclusive screen shots.

For a start, the Hobnox Audiotool Beta update will provide some new features like more robust audio signal processing, dynamically adding plugins and live recording. We also worked hard to prepare the application for future features like sequencing and saving. Here is a detailed list of the new features and some technical notes.

+ Flashplayer 10 support

We may be the first to 'force' you to upgrade to Flashplayer 10, but it is for the best! Adobe finally provides a tiny new Sound API to stream audio to the sound card. Finally we get rid of the Java applet which enabled audio streaming before. Now, entirely processed in Flash, the audio latency is more satisfying and the output more stable. You simply get a better experience.

+ Live Recording

The tool will also finally allow to record a live audio session to the users harddrive: WYHIWYG (What you hear is what you get). We transcoded a Vorbis Encoder (better quality than MP3) to Actionscript to shrink the filesize of the recorded audio in order for you to upload it into your user profile library. We can't wait to hear what you guys will be producing and are really excited about this development. Here are some screen details from the recording function:

+ Plugin Shelf

Have a look at the above screenshot. In the page bottom you will see a 'Dock'-like shelf. With this you'll have full control of the plugins you want to use. You'll be able to drag & drop plugins into and from the shelf. You'll only see the devices you want to use and not the full inital setup like before. Here's a detail from the above shot:

+ New stomp-boxes

To give more spice to the sound we developed some new effect devices like Compressor, Gate, Phaser and a Slope (Filter unit) as well as a Merger and a Splitter.

+ Tons of optimizations and code refactoring

Finally, we have managed to make some hidden technical improvements. The entire audio engine and surface is revised to be ready for coming features like sequencing and saving. An intelligent music event system allows us to quickly add new sequencing units and automation. We are also ready to develop low-level modules which will allow you to create your own synthesizers and effects. Finally, the internal signal processing API has been simplified and it the fastest that Flash can provide at this state.

Again, we're super excited to roll out this update soon. As mentioned above, we shooting for a roll-out as soon as Flash 10 is released. We hope Adobe will announce a date soon and we'll keep you updated about the timing.

Meanwhile, you can download the beta version over at Adobe Labs. Click here, you'll need it.

UPDATE: Adobe released Flash 10 last night (10/15) but made some last minute changes, read about them here on André's blog.