Computer / Software

In order to get the most out of your audio equipment, you need to be able to line it up correctly. Most PC users, however, may already have all the necessary tools and, as Martin Walker explains, they are easy to use when you know how.

Emagic's virtual sampler provides Logic Audio users with a practical alternative to hardware-based sampling. Paul White puts it to the test.

Adaptec's Toast is already the most widely used CD-burning software for the Mac, thanks to licensing deals that have seen it given away with most CD writers. The latest update sees it now being sold as part of a tasty bundle, incorporating other useful applications and a CD labelling device. Mike Simmons finds out if it's too good to be true...

Hugh Robjohns looks at how a music track for film or video is handled at the dubbing stage, and explains much of the jargon associated with this element of a programme's construction.

Derek Johnson rediscovers an entire family of software from lost developer Hybrid Arts.

Vic Lennard gives soume sound advice on hard disk partitioning and also points the way to some useful free music notation software.

Auto‑Tune first started out as a TDM plug‑in (reviewed in SOS August '97), but subsequently...

Formats: Mac VST, PC VST, Wavelab, DirectX

Reviewed: PC versions

Steinberg's Mastering Edition...

Cheaper and larger-capacity hard drives are becoming available all the time. Martin Walker takes a look at ways for PC musicians to manage this ever-expanding audio storage space.

Utilities for monitoring CPU usage and file accesses are less than entertaining, but Martin Walker finds them invaluable for finding out what's going on inside his PC...

Demand is continuing to grow for training courses in sound engineering and in the business of modern music. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser explore some web-based information sources to help you decide which course is for you.

Many home-studio users are moving from systems based around a simple analogue mixer to MIDI + Audio sequencers. These packages include 'virtual' mixer surfaces that can be somewhat daunting when compared with basic hardware mixers. Paul White explains some of the differences and smooths the upgrade path...

Bitheadz' Unity DS1 is one of the best-established software samplers, and the latest incarnation offers several major new features, including DirectConnect support for use with Pro Tools. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser sample its delights.

Style-generation software Band-in-a-box is one of the many still-thriving music programs that started life on the Atari. These days, it's very much a home in the latest Mac- and PC-based studios, as Vic Lennard and Martin Walker discovers.

Though high-quality, real-time pitch-shifting is now becoming a reality, this technology comes with a high price tag. Many musicians will therefore continue to rely on offline processes to carry out pitch and timing manipulations. Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser do just that, with Prosoniq's Time Factory...

Physical modelling may be fashionable, but it isn't always very controllable. AAS aim to change all that for PC owners, by equipping their Tassman software synth with an easy-to-use front end. Martin Walker enters a new world of generators and resonators.

Effectively a drum machine in plug-in form, Steinberg's new LM4 offers the seamless integration with Cubase that is the boon of all VST instruments, as well as claiming far better timing than any MIDI device. Martin Walker pounds the PC beat, while Paul Ward delivers the Mac perspective.

We already have software to sort out tuning problems and now Synchro Arts are providing AudioSuite tools to cure timing problems. Paul White's musical skills prove ideal to test this software to the full!

One of the easiest ways of achieving synchronisation between music and pictures is to run both on the samecomputer. Hugh Robjohns talks to a writer of music for broadcast who does just that.

The Internet continues to offer new opportunities for artists wanting to promote their music to a worldwide audience. Simon Trask looks at who is distributing music over the Internet and the attitudes towards this new distribution medium.

Derek Johnson finds that a picture plays a thousand notes with Fractal Music Composer.