SOUND ON SOUND
Designed to interface the Kurzweil K2000/K2500 synths directly with digital recording equipment, the DMTi also has a role as a general-purpose digital format convertor. Hugh Robjohns checks it out.
Most MIDI sequencers now include some notation facilities, however, these fall some way short of the needs of the scorewriting professional. Arranger and conductor Mike Crofts checks out one of the few dedicated scorewriting programs.
Midiman have a reputation for niche products at reasonable prices, and their latest, SAM, could do a number of useful jobs in the ADAT-based studio. Bob Dormon makes the connections.
Offering an integrated MIDI + Audio sequencer and hardware controller with motorised faders, StudioMix mimics some of the features of high-end digital audio workstations — but at under £800, how good can it be?
Waldorf's long-awaited Q synthesizer is now shipping, but without many of the features it will ultimately possess. Gordon Reid takes a hands-on look at what's here now and what's to come.
Last month, Gordon Reid reviewed the babies of the Technosaurus range, the Microcon synthesizer and Cyclodon sequencer. This month, he tackles their (very) big brother, the Selector modular synthesizer...
The latest version of Behringer's Composer dynamics processor appears to provide all the facilities anyone could ask for, with a separate expander/gate, compressor and limiter for each of its two channels.
A new studio microphone from Shure is always well worth investigating. Hugh Robjohns checks out the KSM32 cardioid mic.
Italian firm Generalmusic have made their reputation in the home keyboard market, but their new Equinox is an extremely well-specified professional workstation.
Paul White gets inside Focusrite's new compressor to find out what really makes it tick.
Most US synthesizer manufacturers followed the now all-too-familiar corporate history of rapid growth in the 1970s followed by acrimonious dissolution in the 1980s. What happened to Octave, however, was a little different...
Norm Leete waxes lyrical about the mega-synth that introduced sampling to the world back in 1980 and went on to appear on innumerable hit singles and albums.
Pro Tools owners can now reap the benefits of a stack of vintage guitar amps thanks to a new plug-in from the masters of physical modelling. Paul White tunes up, plugs in and starts cranking up the virtual knobs.
Bob Moog's analogue filter in a pedal certainly has the vintage look — but does it capture that vintage Moog sound? Paul White does the stomp and finds out.
In a departure from their normal approach, Soundscape have developed a system that works inside your PC rather than outside it. Martin Walker takes a closer look at the Mixtreme environment.
The SU700, Yamaha's entry into the 'groove sampler' stakes, is derived from their A3000 studio sampler and inherits some of its sibling's most impressive features — including adventurous effects and imaginative sample-manipulation facilities — while adding quite a few tricks of its own. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser go loopy.
Digidesign's latest Pro Tools MIX card offers even more power than last year's PT24, providing higher plug-in performance and improved mixing and processing capabilities — and there's a new software version with some useful enhancements. Mike Collins weighs up the pros and cons.
The complete virtual studio comes a step closer with sophisticated software sampling. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser look at a cross-platform program that aims to take sampling out of the rack and onto the desktop.