Sequencers / Grooveboxes

This new member of the Korg tribe offers synthesis, sequencing, drum programming, tons of real-time control plus genuine valves to light up your studio and your sound.

Filters are at the heart of many of the weirder sequencer plug-ins, so here we check out what each one has to offer, and how you can obtain weird and wonderful sounds for your mixes.

At first sight, Cakewalk's new virtual studio suite might seem like a Reason clone — but it's actually a highly individual product, which offers a new and unique approach to creating music from patterns, sequences and loops.

As musicians rely on computers more and more, we look at an innovative system that isn't so much a studio in a box as a studio in your pocket.

Dave Smith, creator of the Prophet 5 and Wavestation, moved into software synthesis in the '90s, but now he's back with what he calls 'the ultimate dongle' — a hardware analogue and digital synth. We find out if he's still evolving...

With the addition in version 4 of surround sound mixing, ASIO and VST Instrument support and an expanding MIDI functionality, Sonic Foundry are attempting to move Acid beyond its original role in loop-based music creation.