SOUND ON SOUND
Paul White and Mike Senior walk down three roads to filtery wierdness for cash-strapped musicians.
Hardly a week seems to go by without the announcement of another VST instrument, and virtual analogue software synths have been particularly common of late. But when a company like TC Works get involved, it's worth taking notice. Paul Ward plugs in...
Paul White checks out a new emulation of vintage tape echo, and tries not to mention Hank Marvin...
Although there is a lot of interest in the idea of portable, silent PC-based recording, only one company has taken up the challenge of supplying and supporting laptop systems that are guaranteed to work well for music recording. Martin Walker tries one out.
Paul White's fast and furious with the new Wave Mechanics Speed.
With Sony's flagship sampling reverb processor you can now sample the acoustic signature of any space you want. Hugh Robjohns nips down the village hall to check it out.
Reflecting the growth in the number of VST Instrument plug-ins, as opposed to those designed purely for processing of effects treatments, established plug-in developers FXpansion have now produced DR005, a 'soft drum machine'. Paul Ward snares a copy...
Paul White tests the latest Marantz CD writer, which combines simplicity of operation with technical sophistication.
Stardate 02/2001: the most compact and affordable of Waldorf's bright yellow workstation synths is beaming into the SOS Editorial dome. Is it the work of a superior intelligence, or does it have all the appeal of a Vulcan nerve-pinch? Mind-meld with Paul Nagle and find out...
It may not be well known, but it is sought-after. Simon Lowther relates the history and mystery of an early 48-note polyphonic analogue synth and its well-connected family.
Samson have expanded their range with some new headphones: the PH60 and the Rrange, comprising RH100, RH300 and RH600. These...
Paul White finds out how Tascam have transferred their affordable Portastudio concept into the high-end world of 24-bit digital recording.
Derek Johnson looks at Glyph's new SCSI and FireWire drives, and investigates the advantages of dedicated audio storage.
Hugh Robjohns auditions the latest addition to Neumann's renowned range of KM-series condenser mics.
With its host of programmable backing patterns and an audio track for live recording, Boss's JamStation is designed to enliven the tedium of solo practice, or provide an instant sketchpad for ideas. Nicholas Rowland strikes out on his own...
Paul White steps back in time with the Line 6 DM4, and revisits fuzz boxes through the ages.
With both PC and Mac platforms switching over to USB as a standard interfacing protocol, the original serial and SCSI...
Ego Sys' WaMi Box is one of very few comprehensive recording interfaces for laptop PCs, providing analogue, digital and MIDI I/O along with a synth/sampler, DSP effects and mixing and no fewer than six separate software control utilities. Martin Walker gets to grips with it. Eventually...
Magma's ingenious PCI Expansion Chasses attach to portable computers via PCMCIA and allow you to run PCI audio, video and SCSI cards. Paul Wiffen tries out the latest model, which works with current Apple Powerbooks as well as PC portables.