Computer / Software

It's tempting to save money by assembling your own PC, but unless you're an expert it can be a frustrating experience. Martin Walker shows you how to go about choosing components and putting them together.

All sorts of weird and wonderful instruments have been recreated in software, but IK Multimedia's Sampletank is the first serious attempt to make a high-quality workhorse sound module available in virtual form.

Mark Wherry investigates Beatnik, a powerful way of adding interactive music content to your web site.

USB latency is reduced by new Mac ASIO drivers, mLAN development activity steps up, and there's more news of MIDI and audio support in OS X. Meanwhile, Paul Wiffen is making a movie...

Most of us assume that only big businesses and financial institutions will fall victim to hackers, but the reality is that someone could be attempting to invade your personal computer right now. Martin Walker tries to make the world safer for PC users.

Martin Walker offers some practical advice on choosing soundcards that will work in modern PCs without falling foul of chipset or driver compatibility problems.

Derek Johnson rounds up the latest Atari news and software availability.

Ear training - learning to intuitively recognise note intervals, chords and progressions, and even absolute pitches - is something that many musicians could benefit from, although few actually attempt it. Richard Leon explains the skills involved, and rounds up some software which can help you improve in this area.

Version 2 of TC Works' Spark XL stereo audio editing software offers several unique new features and a very fast new Virtual File Engine that should speed up the operation of the program with large files. Paul White fires it up...

Your Atari can connect to loads of peripherals you might not expect it to be able to use, including removable hard drives, DVD-RAM drives, and CD writers. Derek Johnson plugs in.

Like a phoenix from the ashes, Martin Walker's PC rises once again, in a new (and hopefully more robust) configuration.

As with any recording system, the first goal of recording on a PC is to preserve as faithful a copy of the source sound as possible. Achieving this, however can be a complicated business. Martin Walker goes back to basics.

There are dark mutterings against Steve Jobs on planes, trains and automobiles, as Paul Wiffen continues to struggle with phantom crashes and difficult reboots of OS9.1 since installing OS X on his computer...

Want to write really great songs, sell millions of records and discover that money can't buy you happiness? There are plenty of sites on the web that aim to help you be a better songwriter, but there's also a lot of worthless rubbish out there. Sam Inglis tries not to waste too much time...

More and more vintage hardware instruments are now being modelled as virtual instrument plug-ins. With EVP88, Emagic have turned their attention to electric pianos, producing a Logic-only plug-in which models several different piano types. Paul White discovers that the tines they are a-changin'...

Cakewalk's Pro Audio range is one of the most widely used sequencers in the PC world, but their latest package has a new name and a new image, as well as lots of new features. Martin Walker tries out Sonar.

Martin Walker has had more than his fair share of computer hassles recently, including exploding monitors, audio glitches, and the mysterious death of Word...

Derek Johnson experiences the weirdness that is Dr T's, in the shape of MIDI-Ax, and helps out a reader who wants to use his Atari as a dedicated TX7 editor.

With a new computer, pumped-up RAM, and a copy of the release version of MacOS X, Paul Wiffen is all set to take you through the first stages of using the new operating system for music — though the only music going on so far is solo organ!

Studio wiring may not be the most fascinating of subjects, but a little knowledge can go a long way when it comes to sorting out cable-related problems. Martin Walker rounds up the best of the wired web.

Emagic's Waveburner CD-writing package has grown to incorporate new editing features and powerful plug-in support, but retains its intuitive user interface. Paul White tests the new, improved version.