Computer / Software

We transform the humble and inexpensive games joystick into a simple but effective MIDI controller, and find a word processor that will have minimum impact on the clean music partition of your PC.

Your computer's most fundamental system settings are stored in its BIOS. Modifying them can help increase performance and eliminate glitches, but it's not something to approach lightly...

We take a look at the EQ response of the Yamaha SW1000XG soundcard, the possibility of disabling the SMBus to gain an extra IRQ, and more advice on managing your updates.

An hour spent fine-tuning the performance of your soundcard can yield permanent improvements in background noise, distortion levels and frequency response.

Many UK music technology retailers are now building specialist PCs to order, and Digital Village are no exception. Their Pentium 4 systems promise careful optimisation at a very competitive price.

Applied Acoustic Systems, known best for their Tassman software synth, have now used their modelling technology to create an electric piano plug-in. But of course, theirs isn't the only one around...

In the second part of our investigation into the real-world delays caused by PC hardware and software, we consider the differences between different MIDI applications and versions of Windows. Are some sequencers really 'tighter' than others?

Theoretical figures and manufacturers' measurements may suggest that the latency of your soft synths is negligible — but that's no use if their timing is all over the place when you actually play them. Our real-world results give you the true picture.

As Intel and AMD continue to push the clock speeds and architectures of PC processors, music software developers are taking advantage of the optimisations possible, as demonstrated by Waves with the latest update to their native plug-ins.

A PC with CD burner and soundcard provides the ideal means to preserve old tape recordings or transfer your vinyl collection to CD.

Not all PC problems are down to software, and a huge range of difficulties - from occasional glitches to complete system failure - can actually be caused by hardware faults. Here's how to diagnose and cure some of the most common.

Apple's new iMac is as radical in appearance as its predecessor — but how well does it fit into the recording studio?

Windows XP is probably the most important PC operating system upgrade since Windows 95, but as always, its new features come at a cost. Should you upgrade your computer? Here's the definitive guide...

On October 25th 2001 Apple released their first non-Mac device for many years, the iPod. Apple Notes spots a vital clue which makes the iPod rather useful to the recording musician, whatever the general consumer makes of it...

TC Works' neat Mac utility allows you to turn VST plug-ins into sophisticated multi-effects combinations.

Released last year as a web-only download from Rhizomatic, the ground-breaking Absynth is now part of Native Instruments' product line, and can be used as a VST instrument plug-in.

The useful range of Atari software from Cadenza includes the Web Wizard web site creation tool, and is now free.

Shareware can be just as innovative and feature-packed as its fully commercial equivalent — take FXpansion's ambitious DR-008 sampled/synthesized drum machine, for example...

The audio side of OS X receives a big boost with the release of the first major update, as does Islington's MacExpo, as Apple themselves decide to attend their first UK show for several years.

Even when you've installed the fastest processor you can afford and masses of RAM, your PC can still end up being slow and unresponsive. Here's what you can do about it.

Upgrading your ageing Mac's processor to extend its useful working life is an appealing concept, and there are plenty of processor upgrades on the market. But what effect do they really have on musical and recording applications? We tested eight of them to find out...