Apogee Mini-DAC • Benchmark DAC1 • Lavry DA10 Black
If your music relies on soft synths and samples, playback quality is more important to you than your recording chain, so adding a high-quality, stand-alone D-A converter may be the most targeted way to improve your system.
Virtual instruments haven't taken over the world quite yet: the hardware drum machine concept is still alive and kicking, as demonstrated by Alesis' follow-up to their incredibly popular and long-lived SR16. Is the '18 destined to match its older brother's 20-year reign?
More and more musicians are experimenting with the sounds of 'world' instruments — so is Best Service's Ethno World 4 Professional a one-stop-shop for all your virtual ethnic-instrument needs?
Since we first reviewed Cockos' shareware Reaper multitrack recording package, it has undergone hundreds of improvements — but the bargain asking price has barely changed.
Digital Audio Workstation Software For Mac & PC: Part 1
Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. Will this eighth version of Pro Tools bring prosperity to Digidesign, as they try to establish their world-leading recording and mixing application as a serious contender in the music-creation market?
The MC Control's programmable touchscreen and 'Soft Keys' technology offer the exciting possibility of building your own custom DAW controller. Is it too good to be true? Let's find out...
Regular readers will know that our Technical Editor isn't prone to excessive use of hyperbole — so when he calls a product "awesome", "stunning" and "sublime", it's probably time to sit up and take notice...
These compact, lightweight mixers are designed with live DJ-style performance in mind, but with an audio interface on board, there's plenty of flexibility when it comes to recording too.
Multi-gigabyte drum instruments are of limited use if you don't have the time or skills to program realistic MIDI performances. Can SoundTrek's Drummer plug-in fill the gap?
Steinberg's CC121 controller is, as you might expect, designed to work seamlessly with their DAW software — so is this the perfect companion to Cubase and Nuendo?
It's easy enough to make a guitar and amp sound loud and gutsy in the live room, but how do you capture the same sense of volume and distortion on your recording? Phase alignment, that's how...
These audio files complement the article 'Bigger, Badder Electric Guitars' by Jack Ruston in SOS January 2009. The audio file titles should be self-explanatory.
Composing for an animated series presents a different set of challenges to scoring for film or conventional TV. We look at what it takes to be a cartoon composer...
In 1977 Status Quo brought in producer Pip Williams to help them clean up their act. The result was a hit album and a best-selling single — 'Rockin' All Over The World'.
Version 6 of DP comes with improved hosting of Audio Unit plug-ins — but what does that mean for the MAS format? We consider the issues, and bring you a guide to DP's new bundled convolution reverb, ProVerb.
Sonar 8 introduced Beatscape, a new Cakewalk instrument designed specifically for the groovily inclined. We dig behind the interface for some tips and tricks you won't find in the documentation.
Despite offering powerful new features and an innovative design, Apple's new MacBook and MacBook Pro could pose problems for musicians dependent on Firewire audio interfaces. We consider the good, the bad, and the incompatible.
How do you capture the essence of pure rock & roll? For Mike Fraser and AC/DC, the answer was simple: get the sound right at source, track to analogue tape, and don't mess about with the results!
Here are the links to the MP3 and WAV files that accompany the January 2009 Mix Rescue article for our newsstand/bookstore readers who do not have eSub-access to the main web article and don't fancy typing in all the long URLs by hand.
Many of us put lots of effort into programming or seeking out great sounds and presets for our plug-ins, and amass large libraries. So why do some manufacturers make it so difficult to back up these hard-won assets?
Dynamics control without compression, tuning for dummies, and vocoding for fun and profit... There's all this and more in part one of our complete vocal production masterclass.
When it comes to pitching music to TV executives, there are only two golden rules. The first is to meet the brief, however sketchy it might be. The second? Never, ever try to be cool.