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Interested in Granular Synthesis? This book explains all...

We sample the delights of: Bombay Loops & Sounds **** • Da Nu RnB Hip Hop Two ***** • PMI Yamaha C7 ***

One of the most famous mastering engineers in the world has written the definitive work on mastering, and in the process has created an indispensable resource for anyone working with audio.

This deceptively simple recording channel incorporates some very clever circuit design to overcome many of the potential limitations of this type of unit.

MOTU's range of PCI audio interfaces is based around a single PCI card, with three different rackmounting units offering combinations of analogue and digital I/O.

This affordable miniature mic from one of the top names in condensers can neatly solve a variety of common recording problems.

Creative Labs have updated their popular Audigy 2 soundcard, improving its audio performance and adding new features.

Native Instruments' flagship modular software synth has now reached version 4, dispensing with the dongle copy-protection that bothered v3 owners, adding many user-friendly features and allowing even greater scope for personalising your patches.

TC Electronic's new flagship stereo reverb not only gives you their state-of-the-art VSS4 reverb algorithms, but also emulates a variety of reverbs through the ages.

This addition to the Platinum range offers a variety of useful tools for the computer-based home studio owner.

Widely admired for their hardware synths, Novation have now taken the bold step of releasing a software plug-in synth. But is it the wave of the future, or a software pirate's delight?

If you fancied the well-specified, Firewire-based I/O of Digidesign's Digi 002 but didn't need its control surface functions, you now have a cheaper alternative in the shape of the Digi 002 Rack.

Behringer's cost-effective take on amp and cabinet modelling, plus effects, is now available for bass players

The Ion might be a latecomer to the world of analogue modelling, but this has afforded Alesis the opportunity of learning from all the virtual analogues already on the market. Free and radical, or negative particle? We find out...

Since its first release three years ago, Nuendo has raised a great deal of interest among those who need a professional audio production tool, and with Nuendo 2, Steinberg have developed one of most ambitious native-based audio systems yet seen. But in an industry dominated by Digidesign, will it be enough to lure potential users away from their Pro Tools rigs?

Hot on the heels of Zoom's eight-track MRS802 comes the diminutive and affordable MRS4 four-track, recording to Smart Media cards. Is this the death knell for cassette multitrackers?

German manufacturer EMES return with the Black TV Actives, a set of full-range nearfield speakers that can be used with or without the optional Amber subwoofer.

• Drumkit From Hell Add-ons **** • Nu Metal **** • PMI Historic Keyboards **** • Pukka Masala ****

The advantages of laptop PCs used to be undermined by lower performance and higher prices. Now, however, machines like Millennium Music's notebook are claimed to offer a reasonably priced, mobile replacement for a desktop PC.

Over the last 20 years, several hardware manufacturers have tried to harness the power of additive synthesis in an accessible format. Can soft-synth designers Virsyn succeed where they didn't?