March 2003 In This Issue
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Reviews Motion-controlled Synth Alesis brought us Air FX, a motion-controlled effects unit, just before they ran into financial trouble in 2001, so the planned synth version never really appeared at the time. Now that they're back, the Air Synth is with us at last... Behringer MDX2600 Composer Pro XL Dynamics Processor Behringer have redesigned their popular Composer Pro, adding tube simulation, de-essing and dynamic enhancement. Microsoft Smart Display When you launch a new product, it's always best to have a clear message. You buy a dishwasher because you hate washing up, you buy a car because you can't walk 20 miles to work, or wait for the bus that comes once a week; and you buy a Microsoft Smart Display because, um& Master Word-clock Generator & Sample Rate Converter Drawmer's affordable new combination of master clock and sample rate converters provides an ingenious solution for high-quality digital interfacing in the home studio. USB Audio & MIDI Interface For Mac & PC Emagic's latest hardware device is a six-input USB audio interface that can also handle MIDI. Is it too good to be true or sheer magic? 10-channel 96/192kHz Digital Audio Interface For Mac & PC Price barriers continue to tumble in the soundcard market, as Esi Pro introduce an interface offering four analogue inputs and eight outputs, plus digital I/O, two mic preamps and 192kHz playback, for under £200. Digital Multitracker Fostex enter the card-based multitracker market with a bang, offering eight tracks of uncompressed CD-quality audio from a single Compact Flash card. Halion String Edition Volume One Steinberg/Wizoo String Library/ Virtual Instrument For Mac & PC Steinberg and Wizoo's latest collaboration aims to provide high-quality string sounds at an affordable price, with a software interface to make string arranging so easy that even drummers can manage it. Have they succeeded? DVD-Audio Authoring Software For Windows DVD-Audio offers high-resolution digital audio and surround sound, but authoring packages have been too costly for the home studio - until now. Sampling Groovebox The latest in Roland's line of MC-series workstations is their best (and most expensive) yet, incorporating synthesis, sequencing, real-time control, and sampling. But in an increasingly software-driven world, can a Groovebox still cut it? Turntable Controller For Pro Tools TDM, HD & LE We are used to the idea of using fader boxes and other MIDI controllers to manipulate our music software, but now Serato want to get us using our turntables to scratch digital audio. Can it possibly work? Capacitor Microphones Two new small-diaphragm mics from Shure provide solid all-round performance with an extended low-end response. Tube Direct Instrument Preamp & Leveler Two surprisingly affordable units from a premium name in high-end valve processing. Eight-channel Preamp & A-D Converter Swissonic's new high-quality preamp and A-D converter caters for 24-bit/96kHz digital audio in AES-EBU and ADAT formats. Active Nearfield Monitor A striking monitor from Tannoy couples a revitalised dual-concentric driver design with a new Supertweeter, providing increased resolution for 24-bit/96kHz playback. | People + Opinion Voyage Of Discovery Unquestionably the best-known name in synth design, in 2003 Bob Moog was still creating innovative electronic instruments. With the new Voyager synth about to hit the shops and the rights to use his own name restored, his star seems to be on the rise once again. SOS chats to this founding father... Producer: Steve Levine Twenty years after Steve Levine first produced Culture Club, he reveals how he has been using a new generation of digital tools to restore those original recordings. Songwriter & Producer: Alanis Morisette Glen Ballard was already a first-call songwriter and producer in LA - and that was before a young, unknown singer called Alanis Morissette walked into his studio... Results of Software Piracy Music software companies have warned us about the effects of piracy since the dawn of history; but are we now starting to see the results as smaller companies become absorbed into larger corporations? Steinberg & Pinnacle: The Buyout What It Means For You The shape of the music-technology market changed dramatically in 2002, with the two largest German music software companies gaining new ownership from American corporations. Have Steinberg reached the summit with Pinnacle? Technique Airport Extreme; Biggest & Smallest Powerbooks Apple Notes Apple christened 2003 'the year of the laptop' by introducing their biggest and smallest Powerbooks ever — are these the Mac portables musicians have been waiting for? Audio File-handling Digital Performer's audio file-handling has been streamlined in v3.1, making it easier to manage and archive large audio-based projects. We take a closer look... Steinberg Cubase Tips & Techniques Cubase provides powerful features for working with grooves, but they aren't totally intuitive. We shed some light on the subject for users of VST and SX/SL. Driving Logic From Control Surfaces This month we show you how to drive Logic from control surfaces with endless rotary encoders, and also investigate the powerful MIDI processing available from the Transform window. Plus, there's advice on copying plug-in setups between Songs, as well as another collection of useful tricks and workarounds. Maximising The Loudness Of Your Masters We provide some tips for making your masters sound as loud as commercial tracks, without sacrificing too much sonic quality along the way. Partitioning PC Hard Drives For Multi-boot Systems As hard drive sizes rise into the hundreds of Gigabytes, it's crucial to consider the benefits that partitioning can bring. Digidesign (Avid) Pro Tools Tips & Techniques Pro Tools' plug-in power continues to grow. A port of Cycling 74's Pluggo provides Mac users with over 100 RTAS plug-ins, while you can now run multiple VST Instruments with the new Multi VST Shell. Using Your Sequencer's Compressors & Limiters All of the main MIDI + Audio sequencers now have a bewildering array of compression and limiting plug-ins built in, but many home musicians are unclear about what all those controls and options do. And with so many varieties of each plug-in available, which one should you choose for the job in hand? Sonar As A Waveform Editor Can Sonar also serve as a waveform editor? Craig Anderton thinks that with a little bit of work, it can... Comparing Stereo Mic Techniques We take a practical look at the pros and cons of coincident and spaced stereo miking techniques. Tom Fox Recording in a converted attic, Tom Fox was having serious problems with his acoustics while recording drums, so the SOS team drove over to Yorkshire to sort things out. Synthesizing Strings • PWM & String Sounds Pulse-width modulation is a vital tool in achieving lush-sounding synthesized string pads - so what if your synth doesn't have it? Fear not - for PWM can itself be synthesized. Here's how... PC Notes To accompany this month's PC Musician, we look at how Windows' multi-user accounts can be used as a potential alternative to setting up different versions of Windows on multiple partitions. Music Business
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