January 2011 Magazine Contents

If you were to cross a MacBook with an iPad, would the offspring provide the mobile musician with a powerful convenience or a crippled luxury?

Arturia's Analog Experience range pairs tweakable preset soft synths with dedicated controller keyboards. We put the first two to the test...

For the first time ever, Avid have made the full Pro Tools feature set available on native systems — and you don't even need one of their interfaces to run it!

836 live drum loops: a cross between the Sex Pistols and The Who.

CAD's E100 impressed us, but it's been revamped to create a mic with one of the lowest self-noise figures in its class — or any other, for that matter!

Audio files to accompany the article.

With its tweakable tones, could this be the ideal studio guitar amp?

New to the world of video production and unsure what gear to buy? Our guide to the five best options in three categories will get you started.

They may have the familiar Genelec appearance and family sound, but these big beasts bring some new ideas to the table.

Grass Valley's Edius has always been a capable and versatile NLE. Can version 6 bring it the popularity it deserves?

Live Acoustic Drums, Loops & Hits is another bargain‑priced drum sample pack from Original Music. For a mere...

The Biscuit is as crunchy an 8-bit processor as anyone could wish for, but there's much more to it than that...

Various companies have followed the Reflexion Filter's lead, either with outright imitations or with their own, slightly different takes on the same theme. Primacoustic's Vox Guard falls into the latter category...

One of the world's best high-end audio editing and mixing packages has undergone a radical overhaul, and now works with any third-party audio hardware. Its name? SADiE...

RME have established a solid pedigree for their extensive range of digital interfaces. Their latest model offers powerful functionality, and promises an unexpected extra for the future...

Available ready-made or in kit form, the STS is more affordable than the competition... but is it any good?

Audio files to accompany the article.

We all want to know what the man on the Clapham Omnibus really thinks of our music. Now we can find out — and have his opinions statistically analysed into the bargain.

Steinberg's new sound module software features a rich sound library, a powerful synth engine and the benefit of parent company Yamaha's workstation wisdom...

Paul White checks out a new addition for your Fender Strat.

Tascam's latest 'Portastudio' boasts more hands-on controls than most such recorders.

If you want to get into video editing but not spend a fortune, there are plenty of wallet-friendly NLEs and other tools to get you started.

A couple of Ueberschall's 'Score' titles have been reviewed in the pages of Sound On Sound: both Score FX (SOS...

Video makers need to reduce noise too — and W43 lets them do it in time-honoured style...

Dave Lockwood sees one alternative to miking amps with a stand, and makes a wish...

Yamaha's long-lived Motif range continues to go from strength to strength. Could the latest model be the best Motif yet?

As its title suggests, Nexus is a drum & bass sample library from Zero‑G, produced by the mysteriously aliased Base...

Zoom have launched a sibling for their R16, adding a further eight tracks and some neat loop-sampling and rhythm-track features.

A song named for Christmas-cancelling regicide Oliver Cromwell may seem like an unlikely hit, but the infectious ebullience of 'Oliver's Army' provided Elvis Costello with his biggest-selling single...

Has the recent update to GarageBand narrowed the gap between the bundled music software and its professional sibling, Logic?

Not every enhancement to your audio PC is worth the money — and top-spec graphics cards are a case in point...

Audio files to accompany the article.

Phil Collins began recreating the classic Motown sound as a form of therapy. With the help of engineer Yvan Bing, the results gave Collins his first number one album in 17 years.

Get some 8-way sample action with Reason's new loop player!

If you know what you're doing, plug-ins are best set by ear — but if you lack experience and take care to avoid rookie mistakes, dialling in an off-the-peg preset can still prove effective...

Having looked at routine backups last month, the second of this two-part series explores the more arcane art of archiving.Read Part 1.

This month, we hunt out the devils in the detail of a metal mix!

Audio files to accompany the article.

All you need to know about Live's idiosyncratic preset management...

We explain how to create a tempo map in Pro Tools that will follow your musicians wherever they decide to go!

Make sure your edits go unnoticed with Reaper's audio editing features.

This audio editing walkthrough accompanies the Reaper Techniques column that featured in SOS January 2011.

Logic's processing tools can be used to manipulate stereo width, adding interest to your mixes.

Spending thousands on fancy gear won't get you anywhere — at least, not unless you spend some time sorting out and getting to know your listening and recording environments...

John Walden considers the leap from 32 to 64.

I'm just starting out in learning to record audio but am beginning to expand on what I want to do. Though I'm now fairly...

I'm really new to recording, but I've been getting on well using the Tascam 2488 Neo 24-track digital recorder. However, when...

I've been browsing a vintage microphone site and it got me thinking: what kind of characteristics are actually offered by...

I've just bought an iMac and need a simple audio interface that I can connect via a Firewire cable. I want something simple...

In 2005, a stroke left Edwyn Collins paralysed and unable to remember how to use any of his amazing collection of vintage gear. Together, he and his recording partner Seb Lewsley relearned the studio from scratch.

Paul White gazes into his crystal ball to see the future of handheld technology...

Alice Rock * John Spanyol * Sara Mitra * Aldo Cruickshank * Deadly Circus Fire *

Engineer, producer & director of the Music Producers Guild (MPG) Stevan Krakovic laments the number of uncredited artists on digital records.

Where there's a newly independent republic struggling to establish itself on the world stage, there's an opportunity...