Despite being small enough to fit in your pocket, this no-frills five-channel mixer provides all the most important features required for those building their first home studio around a computer.
Sampletank was a hit: a sample-based virtual instrument with great sounds and, at the time, not much competition. Two years on, there are plenty of fully-featured software samplers and non-sampling virtual instruments too. Can Sampletank 2 keep up?
With their new VST Instrument, Linplug are aiming to combine the flexibility of a software synth and sampler with the simplicity of a hardware drum machine.
Few audio companies have the reputation of Solid State Logic, but their premium equipment has remained beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest project studio owners — until now! SSL's new all-in-one recording channel boasts preamplification, EQ and dynamics from the awesome XL9000K mixing console, but at a price to which mere mortals can realistically aspire.
If you could have one VST Instrument that emulated a hardware workstation, giving you enough polyphony to produce a complete arrangement with a fairly standard computer, would you be interested? Steinberg and Wizoo think you would...
This Voice Modeler plug-in is designed to change the character of a recorded vocal, adding breathiness, chest resonance and 'growl', and allowing you to modify inflection and vibrato.
It seems as though every audio card manufacturer is keen to promote high sample-rate audio formats. Terratec's Phase 28 and Phase 26 attempt to do this in PCI and USB formats respectively.
The biggest music technology manufacturer in the world has stuck to hardware — until now. Do Yamaha's first plug-in processors have what it takes to compete with the big names in Mac and Windows software?
For years bands have needed unwieldy, expensive PA systems to play live, and separate monitoring systems to hear themselves play. Bose's new system aims to do away with much of this complexity and expense. We take a first look...
Many users probably never venture into Pro Tools's Calibration Mode, but you could be compromising the sound quality of your Pro Tools rig and external gear if you don't think about lining up your analogue connections correctly.
Steinberg have made available the results from a set of uniform Cubase SX tests that pitted different computers against each other — but what does it all mean for your choice of processor?
The music world is going soft — but the economics of software production run up hard against the inadequacies of software protection. Cutting Edge speculates on a possible solution.
With the promise of improved battery life and more compact designs with no compromise in performance, Intel's Centrino technology should be the answer to the mobile musician's prayers. But does the promise hold true when running the most demanding music and audio software?
As more musicians and audio professionals begin to embrace G5 Power Macs, we take a look at quantifying just how much host-based DSP power you can expect. Plus, news of the 20-inch iMac and an explanation of 'Journaling'.
If you are relatively new to PC music, it can seem like a maze of acronyms and mystifying computer-related terms — so here's a useful glossary to clear up any confusion.
In the final part of our series on Roland's family of sound modules, we show you how the more advanced synthesis parameters can breathe life into your patches.
We're taking a break from examining Sonar 3 to look at some useful features, available in previous versions of Sonar, that we haven't yet covered in this regular column.
David Ashman felt that his mixes lacked energy and were sounding 'too digital', so the SOS team set off to his home in Bristol to sort out his monitoring system and mix processing.
As with so much surrounding the Hammond organ, there's much more to the Leslie rotary speaker than meets the eye, and synthesizing its effects involves considerably more than just adding vibrato, as we find out in this installment.
An established studio in the USA is planning to rely on software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet. Are they crazy, or do Linux-based recording applications offer a real alternative to the established Windows and Mac packages?
I bought a Rode NT1A a few months ago and I'm now considering buying a second one. How can I tell whether the two mics are closely matched enough for use as a stereo pair?
I have just purchased the new Novation KS4 keyboard and want to have a complete drum kit playing in performance mode but there's nothing in the manual explaining how to do this! Can you program full kits to sound like the keyboard demo or must you use an external sequencer?
I've recently started using the Antares Auto-Tune plug-in (version 3), and I need help! Even when using the plug-in's Automatic mode, I can't get a good sound out of it — the corrected voice sounds 'warbly' and fake. Can you offer any advice?
I had four tracks transferred to vinyl and told the pressing plant to do any necessary EQ'ing required. I got the test pressings back and found them to be very harsh in the upper frequencies when compared to my CD master. Should I get my tracks professionally mastered for vinyl next time?
I produce electronic dance music. Much of the time I work with headphones on, to help me focus on detailed sounds in repetitive loops. However, I often notice that when I switch to listening on speakers (to check the actual mix and so on) the track seems a bit faster. What could be the cause?
When label boss David Geffen teamed respected engineer 'Bones' Howe with an unknown and very strange songwriter called Tom Waits, he set in motion one of the great artist-producer partnerships.
A heady blend of world music, dance and Irish folk, Afro Celts' music has been heard on film soundtracks and festival stages across the globe. Their latest album Seed was the first to be produced in their own studio, built in the Britannia Row premises that were once the home of Pink Floyd.
Chinese manufacturing has brought the price of microphones down to levels unthinkable a few years ago. But does the quality suffer accordingly? SOS visited one of the biggest mic companies in China to find out...
Although many of the most famous music mixing engineers have been in the business for decades, we find out how a new generation of up-and-coming stars are combining traditional and cutting-edge recording techniques to make their mark on modern production.
Building a home studio is not just about choosing the right gear. The real challenge is making it fit in with the decor. And keeping hold of your wife/husband...
The success of Apple's iTunes Music Store has revitalised online music sales, and not just for the major record labels. Plenty of home-based musicians are now selling music digitally, and making real money. Find out how...
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