SOUND ON SOUND
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.
It may be Swiss, but there's nothing cheesy about the idea of a synth that lets you rekindle your rusty analogue programming skills. Paul Nagle dons his boots and goes hiking through the peaks and troughs of the ProTone's analogue waveforms...
Paul White discovers that Dynaudio's new nearfield monitors show economy of scale, not performance.
Paul White nervously opens Pandora's box — and realises that instead of being the mythical source of demons and sorrows, it's just Korg's new compact guitar multi-effects processor...
Few people would deny that there's nothing like a real acoustic piano — but they're not always the most practical of instruments. Paul Ward looks at an electronic alternative that could be the answer.
Now that Sound Designer II no longer provides sampler support, the way is clear for an improved version of the veteran Alchemy software. Mike Collins thinks it's worth its weight in gold.
Inside the GX700 lies a heart of gold: Roland's innovative physical modelling technology. Paul White straps on his guitar and puts this advanced multi-effects unit to work.
Studiomaster's new desk joins the long list of other contenders in the crowded 8-buss mixer market. Unlike many of its competitors, however, the Classic 8 is a split console, and includes MIDI muting and a meter bridge as standard. Is this enough to encourage musicians to settle for Studiomaster? Paul White finds out.
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.
Inquisitor-General Paul White puts Samson on the rack, but finds few guilty secrets.
With the addition of digital audio, version 4.0 of this popular, PC-based sequencing package isn't so much a cake as a chocolate gateau. Janet Harniman-Cook takes a walk in the Black Forest...
The battle for control of the affordable digital multitracker market has intensified in 1996. Paul White puts Fostex's latest weapon, the rackmounting D80, to the test.
Now that Waldorf have released their 4-pole filter as a stand-alone unit, giving your digital synth an analogue spin is as easy as popping it in the microwave. The result, as Paul Ward discovers, isn't always fast food.
As a child, Norman Fay was cruelly cheated of the thing he wanted most — a Memorymoog. Never one to bear a grudge, he reviews Moog's most unruly synth with the benefit of hindsight.
Just as spinal Tap have amplifiers that go up to 11, Audio Technica have six-packs that go up to seven — as Paul White discovers after counting them twice!