August 2002 Magazine Contents

Access have managed to add some excellent features to their Virus synth in the past simply by upgrading its OS, but the march of progress means that a hardware revision is eventually necessary. Does the new Virus C do enough to keep up with the virtual-analogue crowd?

**** 4/5 stars. Pretty much every form of mainstream percussion is represented here in this velocity-switched sample-plus-ambience collection.

Alesis update their cost-effective nearfields.

Legendary designer Rupert Neve brings us the third in the Amek Pure Path range, a dual preamp and dynamics processor with unusually flexible filtering and side-chain facilities.

Despite the prevalence of digital processing, stand-alone analogue filters continue to have an important part to play in modern production. It's no surprise to find Analogue Solutions releasing one - but the low price might cause a few raised eyebrows...

The Buzz MIA 1.0 is designed to solve interfacing problems between unbalanced instruments and balanced recording systems.

**** 4/5 stars. e-Lab set out to produce a house sample CD. All the loops are either 125 or 130bpm, thumping bass drums dominate and every other element is designed to either reinforce or unobtrusively complement that all-important rhythm.

Edirol are best known for their desktop music products, but they're heading into the professional arena with the DA2496, a high-quality eight-channel audio interface with a PCI card and breakout box.

Edirol's latest offering is a well-specified multi-port USB MIDI interface which claims to offer excellent timing.

The Holy Grail is probably the simplest digital reverb unit on the planet. Designed for guitar, the pedal will work with any instrument-level source...

Does this preset-based dual-channel multi-effects processor produce a performance that belies its entry-level price?

4/5 stars **** Hollywood Edge market one of the largest sound effects libraries in the world on audio CDs; we check out two of their massive collection...

***** 5/5 stars. Copious use of live performances and real percussion in these loops give them much more groove than you'd associate with a dance market library...

The straightforward but effective Windows-based sequencing package Making Waves has been upgraded to include multi-channel recording, DirectX and MIDI support.

The Mellotron has had a chequered history, from '60s 'must-have' to '80s has-been, but it's survived bankruptcy and technological progress, and now it's back, in a brand-new, reworked form. We relate the story of this classic instrument, and see how the new version compares to the old.

Although Native Instruments' Reaktor has offered sampling options for some time, it's taken the company a while to produce a dedicated software sampler: Kontakt. Can it make headway in what has become a crowded market?

*** 3/5 stars. This CD-ROM contains just over 1800 live drum loops, fills and hits for use with any sampler or MIDI + Audio sequencer that accepts WAV files.

Elevata is a 16-voice polyphonic, eight-part multitimbral modelling synth from UK innovators Red Sound. But with a number of virtual analogue synths available at the same price point, does the Elevata offer enough to distinguish itself?

Do you prefer doing stereo recordings with two separate mics or with one dual-capsule mic? With their NT4 and NT5 models, Rode cater for both techniques.

Roland's new V-Bass refines the technology developed for the pioneering V-Guitar systems to meet the demands of bass players.

Roland have enhanced the VGA monitor graphical interface of their flagship 24-track recording workstation to make it easier to use, and have also thrown in a few extra features for good measure.

Digital audio is now very much a part of everyday studio life, but do you ever wonder how well your system is really working?

The Voice One offers the second generation of TC-Helicon's pioneering modelling technology, along with powerful tools for manipulating and correcting pitch.

5/5 stars ***** Based on samples taken from Ludwig and Sonor kits, Drumkit From Hell offers both the individual elements of a drum kit plus ready-made jazz and rock kits recorded to the highest audio quality.

*** 3/5 Stars. Pure Tabla is based on a library of rhythmic tabla loops performed by Aref Durvesh, who has recorded with artists as diverse as Sting and Jeff Beck.

A PC with CD burner and soundcard provides the ideal means to preserve old tape recordings or transfer your vinyl collection to CD.

Multi-band compression is one of the most powerful processing techniques available to the recording engineer. However, if you don't know how to apply it effectively it can just as easily ruin the sound of your entire production.

With a software sampler such as Emagic's EXS24, creating multisampled instruments from your favourite patches on your hardware sound modules needen't be a chore.

The SOS team answer a reader's cry for help, and assist him to improve his recordings of guitar and vocals.

Having come up last month with a reasonably realistic cymbal patch, it's time to take the principles of synthesizing metallic percussion one stage further, and produce bell sounds. But there's more to this than you might think...

Is it safe to switch all my gear off using one power switch? How can I get a vocal sound that's dry, but fits in the mix? How can I measure my soundcard's background noise level? Can I connect my keyboard's output to a mic input on my desk? How can I calculate the frequency of individual pitches? Will silica gel have a limited lifespan in my mic box? 

The creative force in the modern pop music business seems, increasingly, to reside with songwriter/producers like Gary Miller, who specialise in getting the best out of artists in collaboration.

What's the connection between SOS, a set of bagpipes and Richard Branson's round-the-world balloon escapades?

Before we've learned half the capabilities of a synth or a piece of software, it's been replaced, upgraded or discontinued...

Dance-rockers the Sneaker Pimps have spent years in the studio together. For their next move, they're going to split up - virtually...

From triumphant moptops to dismal flops: charting the spectacular fall from grace of British music in the US.