SOUND ON SOUND
To find the exact phrase, put the words in quotes or join them together with a plus sign e.g. live+recording or "live recording".
To find, say, all live recording articles that mention Avid, enter: live+recording +avid - and use sidebar filters to narrow down searches further.
All sorts of weird and wonderful instruments have been recreated in software, but IK Multimedia's Sampletank is the first serious attempt to make a high-quality workhorse sound module available in virtual form.
We take a journey through a new software instrument that aims to put the distinctive sound of the famous ARP Odyssey analogue synth into your computer.
These days, if your sample library is going to be a success, it seems you've got to release it with a virtual-instrument front-end. Analogue synth fanatic and long-standing sample-library producer Ian Boddy does not disappoint with his latest creation...
Sampletank was a hit: a sample-based virtual instrument with great sounds and, at the time, not much competition. Two years on, there are plenty of fully-featured software samplers and non-sampling virtual instruments too. Can Sampletank 2 keep up?
Since its launch in 2000, NI's B4 has been the software instrument of choice for those who want realistic tonewheel organ sounds from their computer. But NI are clearly convinced it can be better...
Applied Acoustic Systems, known best for their Tassman software synth, have now used their modelling technology to create an electric piano plug-in. But of course, theirs isn't the only one around...
Like Ronseal products, EWQL's Colossus is pretty much as it's described on its container, offering the user a vast 32GB sample collection supplied on eight DVD-ROMs. Size, however, isnt everything — or is it?
Until now, MADI interfacing has been restricted to high-end digital desks, but RME's affordable hardware brings it to the project studio market. If you need a lot of inputs or outputs within an ASIO environment, their soundcard and 64-channel MADI-to-ADAT converter could be the perfect choice.
Edirol's latest offering is a well-specified multi-port USB MIDI interface which claims to offer excellent timing.
With their latest Firewire interface, Presonus promise high audio quality at an affordable price, thanks to the use of software controls instead of physical knobs.
This plug-in produces essentially the same results as its analogue rackmount counterparts, so if you already know and like the BBE process, you should take no convincing.
Joining the growing market for one-box devices that combine audio and MIDI interfacing with control-surface functionality, Tascam's latest Firewire unit might be all you need for multitrack recording and mixing.
IK have given their popular guitar amp emulator a radical makeover, with a huge range of new models and a sound that's more accurate than ever. Is it an improvement? Read on...
Yamaha's list of mLAN products continues to grow, and their rackmounting i88X offers high-quality mic preamps, analogue, digital and MIDI I/O in a 1U rack unit.
With their latest recording tool, Tascam aim to entice hobbyists away from their cassette multitrackers and onto their computers.
Version 2 of TC Works' Spark XL stereo audio editing software offers several unique new features and a very fast new Virtual File Engine that should speed up the operation of the program with large files. Paul White fires it up...
Echo's range of computer hardware has always been popular with musicians, and the company have now launched the third generation of their Layla and Gina multi-channel audio and MIDI interfaces.
If you dream of controlling your analogue synths from within your DAW software, it may be that your audio interface will let you do just that — with a little help from this plug-in suite.
As the name suggests, FXpansion's utility allows VST effects and Instruments to be used in Pro Tools, but how well does it really work?
The market for software that emulates guitar amplifiers is pretty crowded these days, but Native Instruments have found a new angle with a modular program that comes with a dedicated hardware controller and interface.