SOUND ON SOUND
Paul White explores a few ways of taking nature's most common audio phenomenon and manipulating it to create special effects.
What would modern popular music be like without effects? Can you imagine rock without distortion? Ambient techno without delays? New age without reverb? Effects are second only in importance to the instrument needed to produce the music in the first place. Over the next nine pages, Derek Johnson and Debbie Poyser present their guide to what's on the effects market today...
Whether you see it as sleeping with the enemy or simple self-preservation, Atari users are increasingly defecting to Mac and PC emulation packages. Ofir Gal considers some of the available options: MagiC mac vs TOS.
Paul White takes a closer look at SMPTE and MIDI Time Code, and their role in Tape-to-MIDI sync.
Hell hath no fury like a platform scorned, and Atari's neglect of the Falcon drives the mild-mannered Ofir Gal to rancorous recrimination....
All mechanical meters are VU meters, all bargraph meters read peak levels — and both types will give the same reading if you feed in a test tone. Reasonable enough assumptions, but wrong on all counts, as Paul White explains.
Internet audio is going places — and nowhere faster than for the net-surfing Mac user. Martin Russ looks at the latest developments.
CD-R may be the fastest growing mastering format, but its complicated zip codes and impenetrable protocols have made it anything but user friendly. As prices tumble and software evolves, however, it's an increasingly accessible medium. Mike Collins explains how he's mastered mastering on his Mac...
It might be an unorthodox style of musicianship, but anything that adds strings to the Amiga's bow is to be welcomed. Paul Overaa gets tangled up in Loom...
What do you do if a valuable master tape that you've had on the shelf for the past 15 years tries to weld itself to the playback head as soon as you try to play it? Swear loudly, then pop in in a low oven, advises master chef Jean-Paul White...
Craig Anderton offers a few tips to help you balance your mix without relying solely on changes to relative volume levels — and gets in touch with his Neanderthal past. Additional material by Paul White.
It can all go without a hitch; recording, overdubbing, even the mixing — but the finest ingredients do not always guarantee a feast. Paul White explains how a little forethought and planning can make all the difference to your final mixes...
If you thought you had hassles finding a CD-ROM drive to work with your PC, you haven't entered the soundcard zone. Brian Heywood offers a cautionary tale...
Thanks to Evolution's Music Creator systems, it's never been easier or cheaper to turn your PC into a powerful MIDI sequencing tool. Brian Heywood gets creative...
Just because you've moved over to Mac or PC for making music, it needn't put your Atari on the scrapheap. Colin Owen explains how, with the right MIDI interface, your Atari can become a powerful editing tool.
Last month, Martin Russ got caught up in Apple takeover fever. This month, he explains how the situation has completely changed...
There may be a famine of new applications for the Atari, but there's a positive flood of utilities. Ofir Gal offers some tips on how to turbo-charge your Atari. New products, multi-tasking, NVDI and MagiC v4.
Paul White looks at the many parameters which govern compression, how to improve your recording technique, and how not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
If, like Erasure, you're all fingers and thumbs, an arpeggiator can make inspirational note sequences a cinch. For this versatile synth function, however, that's only the beginning. Paul Ward blisses out on glissandos...
Orphaned in childhood and now suffering a PC brain-drain, the Amiga needs all the help it can get. So, could tracker programs like OctaMED v6 be the platform's saviour? Paul Overaa asks whether the future's IFFy...