Computer / Software

News, tips and advice for Mac-based musicians.

The Giga sampling platform may be coming back from the dead, with the news that developer Gary Garritan has acquired it from Tascam. PC Notes reports.

With the latest version of GarageBand, Apple have become the first company to integrate educational training into music-creation software. But is this merely a simple gimmick, or a powerful new way of learning to play an instrument?

If youve built your own music PC in the last couple of years, you might now be finding that aspects of it need upgrading. PC Notes offers some advice.

After much recent speculation concerning Apples desktop trinity, the company quietly made big news this month by unveiling new Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis.

Our monthly round-up of news and tips for PC musicians takes in faster AMD quad-core processors, assesses Microsofts innovative Songsmith program, and offers a guide to the mysteries of defragging.

With the increasing size of audio files and high-quality sample libraries, a Apple MacBook hard drive that seemed capacious just a couple of years ago may now be straining at the seams — but swapping it for a bigger one is easier than you might think.

If youre under the impression that installing your audio apps on a non-Windows drive will lead to better performance, youre in for a surprise. Recording audio tracks to such a drive, though, is a different matter...

Apple unveiled new versions of iLife and iWork this month during their final MacWorld keynote, along with a new 17-inch MacBook Pro. And, despite the fact that they didnt appear at this years NAMM show for the second year running, support for Apples products has probably never been stronger.

The past year saw some significant developments in the world of PC music. PC Notes looks back over 2008 to assess the changes it brought and turns an eye to what we can expect to be doing in 2009.

With new technology on the horizon, and the growing number of musician-friendly applications appearing on the iPhone, 2009 promises to be another interesting year for Apple audiophiles.

Are you running out of space despite having hard drives of seemingly vast capacity? Temporary junk and duplicated files could be the culprit — and PC Notes can help you search and destroy...

Need more PC power? Then meet the latest offering from Scan — and the fastest PC reviewed in SOS to date.

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.

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?

My PC is a few years old now, but I'm keen to try out some recent soft synths and other audio applications. However, I'm not...

As iPhone-mania continues to grip the world, developers have been releasing music-related applications, some of which offer a surprising level of sophistication. Forget the idea of a laptop studio — it's time for the pocket studio!

Digital Village enjoy an established reputation for their custom music PCs, and are clearly looking to build upon that with their new Synergy range...

If you're shopping for a new CPU, the number of processor cores it has may not be the most important factor in how well it runs your music software. Read on to find out why...

Audio MIDI Setup is the Mac OS X utility that allows you to set up audio and MIDI devices. This month we're going to delve into the MIDI Devices tab, in order to explain how applications work with the MIDI hardware you've connected to your Mac.

If you've switched to Vista, or are about to take the plunge, check out our guide to the Vista audio tweaks that work — and those that don't.