SOUND ON SOUND
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This month's hot topic is processors — lots of them! Martin Walker goes into OverDrive.
Simon Price concludes his three-part series on Digidesign's flagship recording system with some power-user hints and tips.
It's one thing to make music in your bedroom, quite another to run a successful record label from it. No wonder Mike Paradinas doesn't get much time to tidy up...
Features like software synthesis, frequency-domain editing and resynthesis seem impressive when modern sample editors incorporate them — but they were the stuff of myth when Steinberg released Avalon nearly 10 years ago. Paul Sellars chronicles an Atari legend.
Is it a Filofax? Is it a Stylophone? No... it's Roland's answer to Yamaha's portable music Walkstation family. Faster than a speeding bullet, Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser apply their X-ray vision to the new PMA5.
One of the advantages of a software-based instrument is that it can evolve over time, as its makers add new algorithms and refinements. Clavia's Nord Modular has undergone exactly this process, and its editing software has also migrated to the Mac. Gordon Reid tries out the latest version, along with its baby brother, the MicroModular...
There are now quite a few MIDI Control surfaces on the market, yet the knob-laden Drehbank, which offers interesting possibilities for interconnection between vintage CV synths and modern MIDI gear, is sure to excite much interest. Paul Nagle turns on and tunes in.
Algorithmic music generators can produce unique and unexpected results, and now Atari users can try out a well-programmed example, Charming Chaos from Electronic Cow, for just £15. Derek Johnson explains a little Chaos theory...
There are now several PC MIDI + Audio sequencers available that provide real-time EQ and effects via plug-in software — but it can be difficult to assess just what works with what, and whether your PC is powerful enough to run the plug-ins you'd like to use. Martin Walker investigates.
This month Dave Shapton reports on the latest in broadcast video, from the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam, and predicts how these innovations will be used by musicians as promotional tools. He also takes a look at the future of software-only video editing.
These compact, lightweight mixers are designed with live DJ-style performance in mind, but with an audio interface on board, there's plenty of flexibility when it comes to recording too.
The SOS team are back in London this month to help some high-profile remixers sort out the monitoring problems in their new studio.
Yamaha have taken a weighted keyboard from their latest digital pianos, added high-quality piano samples and Motif sounds, and thrown in a playback sequencer and arpeggiator, and master-keyboard facilities. Left to simmer, the S90 is the result...
If you were offered a Roland JV2080, complete with Session expansion card and software editor, for around half the price of a JV1080, you'd probably wonder what the catch was. OK, so the JV1010 isn't quite that, but it comes surprisingly close...
To get the maximum quality from audio sample CDs, you need to transfer the sound data to your PC in the digital domain. Martin Walker explains why the process isn't always as easy as you might expect.
Modern software allows you to turn a spare PC into a synth of sampler that's perfectly tailored to the needs of your studio. Martin Walker tells you how.
SOS's resident MOTU expert Robin Bigwood looks at ways of working with audio loops in Digital Performer, and hands out tips on using Propellerhead's Rewire to interface DP with software synths.
When it comes to controlling sequence tempo and imposing a meaningful beat structure on freely-recorded MIDI and audio, DP has plenty of tricks up its sleeve — including Live-like 'liquid audio' powers.
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.
The budget MIDI controller market is pretty crowded these days, but Evolution are giving you the most for your money with the UC33, eschewing expensive rotary encoders and large displays for affordable non-moving faders and wipe-clean overlays.