SOUND ON SOUND
BBE's new Sonic Maximizer combines enhancement with single-ended noise reduction. Paul White finds out whether the marriage of the two systems is a happy one.
Paul White visits the future of home recording, where tape heads never need cleaning, cassettes never jam and mistakes can be undone at the touch of a button.
Long-time Akai sampler user Paul Ward tries to stop his credit card from leaping out of his pocket as he gets to grips with the tempting additions to Akai's mid-range sampler.
Derek Johnson opens up the latest effects box from Ensoniq and finds that they do sometimes do things by halves!
The latest big thing in computer-based sequencing is the integration of real-world audio and MIDI data within the same program. Mike Collins puts the four leading Macintosh contenders head to head to see how they compare across a range of facilities.
Paul White tests Audio Technica's latest low-cost back-electret mic and discovers thats its performance is out of all proportion to its size.
Paul White tries out a new overdrive pedal that was clearly named after a very large T-shirt.
With hardware almost becoming a 'taboo' word these days, David Mellor investigates what Digidesign's hardware-free recording software can offer the budget-conscious musician.
Anyone into sampling or hard disk recording appreciates the need for a low-cost, high-capacity, archivable storage medium — and that's exactly what Iomega's Zip 100 drive delivers. Paul White gives it a spin...
Panicos Georghiades and Gabriel Jacobs checks out the long-awaited upgrade of this popular and professional PC sampler editor.
Enclosed headphones that are sensibly priced, comfortable, and sound as accurate as a pair of good monitors — is it possible?
Following on from last year's modular MSR2 synth, Marion Systems' new stand-alone Pro Synth seeks to capture the analogue sounds of yesteryear in module format, without recourse to sample-based synthesis techniques. Paul Nagle lends an ear.
Once simple one-channel units, MIDI-CV converters have become multi-output devices capable of handling various kinds of pre-MIDI control protocols. Design Labs' latest offering even sports a built-in resonant filter! Gordon Reid bleeps and oscillates with delight...
Paul White looks over the smallest mixer in Soundtracs' new Topaz range.
Hot on the heels of their astonishing new Prophecy monophonic synthesizer, Korg are already near completing work on their next range of workstations, entitled Trinity. Gordon Reid was allowed a sneak preview of the next generation...
Alesis rereleased their Quadrasynth early last year to mixed reviews, and in response, an updated version has now been launched. Does it address some of the comments levelled at the previous instrument? Original Quadrasynth owner Mike Best finds out.
Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser examine the rise and rise of Roland's most sought-after beatbox, the TR909.
The SampleCell II PC card can turn your humble PC into a fully-featured, 32-voice sample replay unit with eight individual outputs. Brian Heywood investigates.
Although it offered a GM mode, Yamaha's QY22 Walkstation was not a true General MIDI instrument. With the release of the new fully GM-compatible QY22, have Yamaha rectified the shortcomings of the previous machine? Derek Johnson finds out.
Paul White tries to establish whether a separate mic preamp really does make a difference, using the MX2, the latest in the LA Audio Lite range of signal processors.