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A nine-pattern valve mic at a surprisingly low price.

A professional surround monitoring controller for a variety of speaker configurations up to 7.1

**** Dirt Bag by Simeon promises "hundreds of grungy, fresh and inspiring dance samples", and that's a fairly accurate description of what's on offer here...

Kurzweil bring flexible multi-channel effects hardware within the reach of many more home studio owners.

TC Works were in at the start of the software plug-in explosion back in 1998. We check out their latest update to the Native Bundle suite.

Focusrite's new preamp offers variable input impedance and an optional multi-channel A-D converter board.

Belgian company Lassence are seeking to gain recognition as a small modular synth manufacturer with their new patchable µVentury II system. But there's plenty of competition in the homegrown analogue market these days. Does the µVentury II have what it takes?

4 stars **** Homegrown Sounds have eight sample CD-ROMs available, each offered either in Soundfont format or as a combined NNXT, Halion, EXS24, Kontakt and Wave set.

Five bands of parametric EQ plus useful high-pass and low-pass filters, all for a bargain price.

As musicians rely on computers more and more, we look at an innovative system that isn't so much a studio in a box as a studio in your pocket.

GEM have made all kinds of keyboards, from organs to home keyboards to synth workstations. Their latest incorporates physical-modelling technology, samples of famous instruments, effects, and plenty of real-time control options to form a 320-note polyphonic monster.

The major audio and MIDI recording applications are slowly migrating to Mac OS X, and the latest to arrive is Digidesign's Pro Tools. The upgrade also introduces powerful new project management features, Groove Template functionality and a more powerful LE version.

When 'close enough' is just not good enough, you need a strobe tuner. Too expensive? Too bulky? Not when it's this palm-sized 'virtual' strobe.

Make the most of Logic's keyboard shortcuts with this dedicated QWERTY keyboard.

• Solo Brass **** • Solo Woodwinds ***** • Solo Strings ***

The newest Spirit mixers offer a straightforward feature set and long-throw faders at a seriously...

A combined sub-harmonic synthesizer and high-frequency psychoacoustic enhancer for live and studio use.

****** 6/5 stars! Dave Stewart is a skilled musician and composer who's been reviewing sample libraries in SOS for years. With so much experience in this area, Dave has produced a library of his own, and rather than sampling conventional instruments, he's focused on a collection of unique instruments built up over many years.

TC's flagship reverb processor, based on the System 6000 hardware, combines 16 channels of world-beating processing with flexible and lightning-fast operation.

As ever, Creative Labs' latest PC soundcard promises a lot of features for £200. But does it deliver the kind of performance that musicians need?