SOUND ON SOUND
Just when we thought large-diaphragm capacitor mics couldn't get any more affordable, along come these fiercely competitive models, with a shockmount and aluminium case thrown in just for good measure!
**** Score = 4/5. This library offers around 100 drum loops, divided into Breakbeats and Live Drums categories, plus music loops consisting of gated effects and short licks played on Rhodes, sax and upright bass...
Cutting-edge technology, incredible dynamics, but is it really a studio monitor?
We check out Sennheiser's flagship open-backed headphones, compensated to make them sound more like speakers.
The latest addition to Boss & Roland's SP phrase sampler range, the SP505, is crammed full of sample-editing options and dance/hip-hop-oriented ROM sounds, and continues the current trend towards ever-expanding feature sets.
For applications where space or portability are at a premium, it is hard to beat this compact, two-octave MIDI master keyboard, which also incorporates eight assignable real-time MIDI controllers.
A powerful little half-rack valve preamp including three-band EQ and a digital output with word clock as standard.
Prior to taking over the sampling world, Akai launched a hybrid analogue/digital synth with a unique interface.
**** Score = 4/5. Supplied as a two-CD set containing both audio and WAV-file content, the underlying concept is "the creation of grooves that enter the bloodstream as fast as possible", hence the name Intravenous.
**** Score = 4/5 stars. Celtic Instruments is a collection of 13 multisampled instruments supplied on two Giga-format CD-ROMs (which are compatible with HALion).
The new flagship of the Mindprint range provides a powerful combination of preamp, EQ and valve dynamics. Can it possibly sound as good as it looks?
A plug-in card for the Yamaha AW-series workstations that combines Waves-quality DSP effects with eight channels of ADAT optical I/O.
We test two pairs of high-quality closed-back headphones for discerning studio users.
AT's new models prove that back-electret designs can offer performance to rival conventional capacitor mics.
In Part 1 (of 2) last month, we finished with the question: 'What is the Quadra? Is it a turkey of the first order, or a misunderstood and overlooked masterpiece?' This month, we'll take a closer look at the instrument itself to find the answer.
With competition hotting up in the DMX R100's sector of the market, Sony have released a major new software upgrade to make their contender stronger than ever.
The latest technological advances in reverb design have yielded expensive hardware units that can 'sample' the sound of real rooms. Now Audio Ease's Altiverb brings the same convolving technology to the Mac — at a fraction of the cost.
Apple's new iMac is as radical in appearance as its predecessor — but how well does it fit into the recording studio?
A stereo compressor offering the classic dynamic characteristics that only an optical design can provide.