SOUND ON SOUND
It's not often that plug-in cards merit the same attention as the equipment they plug into, but these add-ons are capable of transforming Lexicon's PCM80 effects processor into a completely different beast, as Paul White discovers.
The Roland MC50 is one of the best hardware sequencers ever made, but it can be a bit puzzling for the first‑time...
Offering 5-part harmony at a budget price, the MV5 is Digitech's easiest to use pitch-shifter yet. The David Mellor Singers provide the tune...
The predictability of modern digital sound sources, while convenient, may have you longing for some of the chaotic complexity of analogue. Paul Nagle looks at an analogue filter which could put the surprise back into your music.
This year's show-stealer at Frankfurt's Musik Messe, Steinberg's Cubase VST isn't just another 'MIDI plus Audio' sequencer — it adds the effects and processing options hitherto only available in expensive TDM systems, for the same price as the previous, non-audio version of Cubase. Is this the perfect desktop recording environment? Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser find out.
This Italian master keyboard may be completely dumb soundwise, but it's pretty clever in other departments. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser just love being in control.
The idea of making computers rackmounting for studio use is not a new one, but the necessary hardware tends to be expensive....
Digidesign's Session digital recording software has now made the transition from Apple Macintosh to Windows-compatible PCs, a feat made possible by the simultaneous release of the company's first PCI-format digital I/O card, the Audiomedia III. Paul White checks out both.
Shure have recently updated and augmented their 7-year old Beta microphone range. Paul White assesses the newcomers alongside the rest of the range.
On its release in the late '80s, the SQ80 had to slug it out with Roland's D50 and Korg's M1, and didn't come out on top, at least as for sales were concerned. Steve Howell takes a look at an early and underrated workstation that still has a lot to offer.
British company Novation made their name with the BassStation synth, which offered dance music producers instantly tweakable, analogue-style synth sounds in a MIDI-controllable package. The new DrumStation applies the same formula to the de rigueur dance sounds of Roland TR 808 and TR809 drum machines. Paul Nagle moves from station to station...
With prices for an original Roland TB303 as high as £1000 on the open market, it is unsurprising that the last two years have seen a number of manufacturers attempting to emulate the 303 in a cheaper, MIDI'd form. Martin Russ checks out the latest pretender to the throne...
Always ready for some off-road action, Paul White scrambles for his XLR adaptors and test drives LA Audio's latest incarnation of the 4x4.
There have been many inventions aimed at producing a wider or deeper stereo image from conventional stereo speakers, but few...
Paul White takes Tascam's new dual cassette deck into the studio for practical trials.
As Mackie's new 1402 VLZ goes a long way to bridging the gap between their original 1202 and 1604, it comes as no surprise that the new 1604 VLZ has evolved a whole new range of features. Paul White checks out the update of this steel-clad classic...
First observed by the SOS team at the bottom of an aquarium at this year's Frankfurt Musikmesse, Spirit by Soundcraft's new Folio SX mixer has now arrived. Paul White dries it off and removes the goldfish droppings from the insert points.
Paul White tests a pair of US-built studio monitors designed to combine tonal accuracy with affordability.
Prefer a Mackie compact mixer with faders? then the 1402VLZ could be just what you're looking for. Paul White checks it out.
Paul White gets the first ART eight-channel Pro Gate to land in the UK &mdash and discovers that behind the hi-tech facade, it's a bit of a Harley-Davidson.