Computer / Software

PC users have had to wait almost two years for many of the improvements which graced version 4 of Steinberg's popular sequencing package on the Mac platform. Now, however, they've leapfrogged straight to version 5, a major upgrade which incorporates all of those improvements and more. Martin Walker finds out if the wait was worthwhile.

Formats: Mac VST, PC VST, Wavelab, DirectX

Reviewed: PC versions

Steinberg's Mastering Edition...

Effectively a drum machine in plug-in form, Steinberg's new LM4 offers the seamless integration with Cubase that is the boon of all VST instruments, as well as claiming far better timing than any MIDI device. Martin Walker pounds the PC beat, while Paul Ward delivers the Mac perspective.

The most affordable of Steinberg's MIDI + Audio sequencing packages has just received a thorough overhaul, to the point where it now incorporates some features not yet found in the full PC version of Cubase. Maritin Walker tries out the new Cubasis VST.

Martin Walker checks out a suite of four plug-ins (Band Pass, Comb Filters, PitchAccum and Shuffling) from Steinberg: GRM Tools.

Steinberg's VST Instrument technology allows software synths to be fully integrated into any VST 2.0-compatible host software, such as Cubase VST. The first major releases to arrive are both recreations of established analogue classics. Martin Walker tries them out.

The latest upgrade to Wavelab, which takes the program to version 3.0, boasts only one major new feature — but it's a killer. Martin Walker is stunned by the possibilities.

In the first part of a new series, Paul White looks at the practicalities of stereo editing. So, if you plan on compiling your stereo mixes into an album master, you'd better read on.