Computer / Software

I'm considering buying a laptop for various audio tasks, including recording school choirs, community music workshops, live...

There are many factors that can cause your PC to struggle when playing back your songs — including RAM, your hard drive, your CPU and your system settings. But how do you know which is to blame, and do you have to upgrade or can you work around the problem?

News of Apple allowing Mac users to run Windows on their Macs might sound like an April Fool — but it turned out to be anything but a hoax. This month we investigate the possibilities of running Windows on an Intel-based Mac and discuss why you might want to.

When is an iMac not an iMac, but still an iMac? When it's a new model featuring an Intel processor. We test Apple's first Intel-based Mac and see what the future holds for Mac musicians and audio engineers.

This action-packed PC Notes gives advice on preserving your lovingly crafted presets when you upgrade audio software, offers ideas on keeping your dongles safe and brings you the usual haul of handy hints and tips.

The Small Form Factor (SFF) PC is a useful halfway house between the flexible but bulky desktop PC and the very portable but expensive and not easily upgradeable laptop. But how well does the SFF PC fit the bill for musicians? We find out.

The Mac Mini joins the iMac and the new Mac Book Pro as the latest Apple computer to make the move to Intel processors. We also have the latest news on Universal Binaries, including a look at whether the developer tools used to create these new applications will have a negative effect on performance for Power PC users.

With advantages such as more efficient processing and the ability to address up to a Terabyte of RAM, Windows XP Professional x64 has a lot to offer PC-based musicians — in theory. We put the fully 64-bit system idea to the test.

Intel Centrino laptops, especially those using the brand-new Core Duo processor, offer much to the PC-based musician but can suffer a reduction in their usually generous battery life under certain circumstances. We investigate...

With another major transition occurring in the Mac world this year, it's time to consider the real ramifications of moving from Power PC to Intel-based Macs for musicians and audio engineers.

If you have to record in the same room as your PC, the acoustic noise the computer produces can be more than a mere irritant: it can also compromise sensitive recordings. We take a look at what you can do to restore peace.

If you're thinking about a new PC, do you need to make sure it's ready for the forthcoming Windows XP replacement: Vista? We examine the relevant issues for the musician.

If 2003 was Apple's 'year of the notebook', 2006 is set to be the 'year of Intel', with the prospect that every Mac computer in the company's range will use an Intel processor by the end of it.

Hate mixing by mouse? Intatouch's neat monitor add-on allows you to draw control data directly onto the screen.

Dual-core processors hold the key to unprecedented performance with music applications. But how do systems based around Intel's Pentium D, like this one from Millennium Music, compare with their AMD-based rivals?

Can Harbal's new automatic track EQ solve your equalisation problems with one click? We find out, as well as exploring the mysteries of the Windows Driver Model...

If you've been waiting and wondering whether to 'go dual-core' in your next PC upgrade, which processor to choose is only one of the factors to consider. We discuss the options and implications.

With the rumour mills already grinding away in preparation for Macworld 2006 show, we make a brief survey of 2005, as well as taking a look at using Apple's DVD Studio Pro application to distribute surround mixes.

We revisit the subject of IRQ sharing, to see if the problems it used to cause for musicians have been solved — as well as discussing a partitioning controversy...

If you need more audio interfacing, do you really have to trash an interface that's otherwise perfectly satisfactory and buy a bigger one? Maybe not, as ways of using several smaller interfaces together are becoming easier to find.

I have been experiencing some big problems with latency whilst trying to use Cubase SX. I would be grateful for any help or advice you can offer me.