Last Winter NAMM 2009, Beat Kangz threatened to give Akai's MPC serious competition with Beat Thang, a mobile music workstation. Since then, folks have been wondering when or if it would ever reach the real world market place (Beat Kangz have since announced a release date for the Beat Thang of October 2009). Perhaps in an attempt to appease the salivating masses, Beat Kangz Beat Thang Virtual -- a software take on the Beat Thang -- has been released at Summer NAMM 2009.

Similar to its hardware counterpart, Beat Thang Virtual has sampling and resampling functions that have easy key grouping, pad layering, and multi-editing capabilities in a kit or patch. Add to that pre-loaded sounds, waveform editing capabilities, as well as production-ready beats, patterns, and loops, and you've got yourself instantaneous production power in a portable package.

FEATURES:

• One octave pad layout with 8 banks so you can bang out beats or play the keys.
• 16 tracks so you can create patterns that can be performed and remixed on the fly.
• 16 layers of velocity sensitivity for emotive performance.
• High Quality Sampler & waveform editing. Onboard sampler & resampler.
• Edit sample start and end times. Process samples using features like normalize, reverse and resample.
• Easy to use Realtime Sequencer. Create patterns in real time using quantize, swing, individual bar lengths, tap tempo then string them together in SONG mode.
• Mixer with built in FX Change track, pad and pan levels.
• Add 24bit reverb, delay, flange, phaser, pitch shift, old record and many more.
• Onboard mastering.
• Export your songs as .wav files or save them to your Beat Kangz Playa Thang equipped iPhone or iPod Touch.

Beat Kangz Beat Thang Virtual has a launch price tag of 149 USD. Ordering your copy entitles you to a 149 USD discount for a purchase of the hardware Beat Thang. In a similar fashion purchasing the hardware Beat Thang Production Workstation entitles you to a free copy of Beat Thang Virtual. With these crazy promos, the summer heat is really still the main thang.