SOUND ON SOUND
At a price point of around £300, there are already very good contenders for your money on the quality condenser mic market. Does the 4040 SM have what it takes to become a front-runner?
Focusrite's Platinum series expands further with an unusually affordable eight-channel mic preamp boasting dynamics on every channel.
**** 4/5 Stars. A copyright-free collection of conventional, innovative and sometimes downright unusual Hammond licks, fills, riffs, grooves, progressions, slides, growls and funky bass lines all designed to spice up any track.
What if you could access the sound and controllability of a range of the best-known classic analogue compressors and EQs, from a single rackmount box, in the digital domain? Two advanced processors from Sintefex aim to offer just this ability.
Akai's MPC sampling workstations have been a studio fixture for nearly 15 years, and the MPC4000 is the most powerful one yet. But the world of sampling has changed dramatically since the MPC2000XL was released. Can an MPC still cut it in the 21st century?
**** 4/5 Stars. While Ghetto Grooves has an obvious hip-hop and R&B bias, it should appeal to producers of every flavour of downtempo dance music.
This hybrid physical modelling, valve and solid-state design, presented in a classic AC30-style format, aims to offer the best of all possible worlds. How far does it succeed?
The Phantom is the first valveless mic from a company known for their top-quality valve designs. Will their solid-state debut make as good a name for itself?
Users of Propellerhead's Recycle could be forgiven for thinking that sample slicing couldn't get much easier, but Bitshift Audio's pHATmatik Pro aims to prove them wrong by offering an unprecedented level of integration with MIDI + Audio sequencers.
Despite the prevalence of digital processing, stand-alone analogue filters continue to have an important part to play in modern production. It's no surprise to find Analogue Solutions releasing one - but the low price might cause a few raised eyebrows...
Although Native Instruments' Reaktor has offered sampling options for some time, it's taken the company a while to produce a dedicated software sampler: Kontakt. Can it make headway in what has become a crowded market?
*** 3/5 Stars. Pure Tabla is based on a library of rhythmic tabla loops performed by Aref Durvesh, who has recorded with artists as diverse as Sting and Jeff Beck.
Edirol's latest offering is a well-specified multi-port USB MIDI interface which claims to offer excellent timing.
Roland's new V-Bass refines the technology developed for the pioneering V-Guitar systems to meet the demands of bass players.
Digital audio is now very much a part of everyday studio life, but do you ever wonder how well your system is really working?
Alesis update their cost-effective nearfields.
The straightforward but effective Windows-based sequencing package Making Waves has been upgraded to include multi-channel recording, DirectX and MIDI support.
**** 4/5 stars. e-Lab set out to produce a house sample CD. All the loops are either 125 or 130bpm, thumping bass drums dominate and every other element is designed to either reinforce or unobtrusively complement that all-important rhythm.
The Buzz MIA 1.0 is designed to solve interfacing problems between unbalanced instruments and balanced recording systems.
Elevata is a 16-voice polyphonic, eight-part multitimbral modelling synth from UK innovators Red Sound. But with a number of virtual analogue synths available at the same price point, does the Elevata offer enough to distinguish itself?