One of the biggest gifts that GigaSampler has given the production world is the availability (at long last) of a realistic MIDI-driven piano. Until now, the available options were rated more in terms of irritation factor. They ranged from no good to pathetic to please kill me.

It's little wonder that Nemesys includes the GigaPiano with the fully-licensed GigaSampler application. Since the piano is a percussive instrument, and it does eventually decay into full silence, that makes it an instrument that can be almost completely captured and mapped, given GigaSampler's capability to provide unlimited sample length. It shows off the paradigm quickly and effectively.

With GigaSampler you can have a hyper-realistic piano sample. That's been proven. But the exciting thing is to be able to compare the hyper-real qualities of different source pianos.
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Nullsoft Winamp is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity freeware music player for Windows 95/98/NT. Winamp supports MP3, CD, WMA, Audiosoft, Mjuice, MOD, WAV and other audio formats, custom appearances called skins and audio visualization and audio effect plug-ins.

The Power Mac G4 is quite simply the fastest machine ever designed to run audio applications.

Sound Forge 4.5 is professional sound editing software for Windows that includes an extensive set of audio processes, tools, and effects for manipulating audio. Combine Sound Forge 4.5 with any Windows-compatible sound card to create, record, edit, and refine audio files. The clean interface and familiar Windows environment make editing fast and easy.

ACID PRO 2.0 is a revolutionary loop-based music production tool that offers musicians unprecedented creative flexibility. ACID PRO 2.0 allows you to preview any loop before adding it to your mix, automatically matching the tempo and key in real time. Click-and-drag to easily add or delete loops. ACID PRO 2.0 allows real-time changes to pitch and tempo to unlimited tracks. Control the volume, pan, and effect envelopes for each track to create a perfect mix between loops.

The MOTU PCI328 family of interfaces is a powerful system that allows you to build digital audio system of up to 72 inputs and outputs in virtually any conceivable configuration. Any combination of three interfaces may be used simultaneously. Supported formats include 24 bit balanced analog, ADAT optical, Tascam TDIF, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and more.

GigaSampler™ is the only music software product to stream samples - in real-time - directly from the hard disk when played via a keyboard controller or other MIDI device. By leveraging the hard disk for instrument playback, instead of RAM (as in conventional samplers), GigaSampler™ is capable of delivering complex, ultra-dynamic replicas of world-class instruments that load in seconds, not minutes.

This full rack mount unit packs the punch of the more expensive Joemeek equipment and offers identical sounds and quality to the home recordist and musicians at a fraction of the price. The VC6Q provides a Joemeek Microphone Pre Amplifier, the Joemeek compressor, the instrument pre amp on the front panel, and one channel of the stunning Joemeek EQ "Meekqualizer".

The RØDE™ NT2 Large Diaphragm True Condenser Mic is hand-assembled in Australia. In the tradition of the great microphones, it's designed to furnish outstanding, vintage-flavored vocal or instrumentation miking at a truly untraditional, breakthrough price.

SoundBlaster Live! provides access to up to 64 voices of synthesis and sampling, 20 bit digital I/O, MIDI, and up to 64 DirectSound streams. Based on the EMU10K1 audio processor and supporting Creative's SoundFont sampling format, the low-priced SoundBlaster Live! provides very high-quality MIDI synthesis and sampling at a truly unprecedented price point.

The Mackie HR824 is a biamplified two-way loudspeaker for nearfield use. It utilizes an 8 inch polypropylene cone, 6x12 inch passive radiator, and 1 inch alloy tweeter in an internally braced enclosure.

Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is a multitrack audio workstation with integrated MIDI sequencer. Pro Audio 9 features support for 24/96 audio, internal 32-bit mixing and effects, DirectX support, 480 PPQ MIDI sequencer, support for MIDI effects, frame-accurate video preview, and more.

The VS-1680 Digital Studio Workstation represents the new definition of recording power: a 16-track, 24-bit recording, editing, mixing and effects processing system in a compact table-top workstation.

Waves L2 significantly increases the average signal level of typical audio signals without introducing audible side effects. It's superb for mastering, mixing, and recording, but equally capable of extreme limiting, intentional pumping, and vintage dynamic processing effects.

Renaissance Compressor recreates the warm sound qualities and simple operation of classic analog hardware in the digital domain. Including support for both native and TDM/DSP Macintosh applications and any DirectX plug-ins supported PC applications, Renaissance Compressor delivers blazing guitar sounds and thumping bass and drum tracks, plus many more dynamic effects, from classical to radical!

Minnetonka Mx 5.1 is the premiere surround-enabled DAW application. Mx 5.1 features fully customizable Surround Mixers, Automatic 5.1 bussing, Fully automated Surround Panning on every channel, User-adjusted Surround Sound Panning Algorithm, Per-channel SubBass Crossover with user-defined parameters, True Center / Virtual Center Blend Control, Automatic 6-track master creation to hard disk, Breakthrough Tactile-Feedback Interface and Midi Timecode generation.

The Digital 8•Bus (d8b) is a 72-channel digital mixer with 24 faders, massive onboard DSP, a true workstation-class 32-bit Pentium-compatible CPU processor, support for SVGA monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and an open plugin architecture.

In May of last year ProRec brought you a comprehensive and exhaustive report on Samplitude 2496. Since then, several major improvements have been made to the software package. This report outlines some of the most recent changes to the program. If you're looking for a complete review of Samplitude 2496 in general, please read Jim Roseberry's review.

The most notable improvement to Samplitude 2496 is the new 5.1 surround mixing engine with Dolby Digital encoding and vectorized automatic mixing. The second is MIDI - you can now play and record MIDI from within Samplitude, partially eliminating the need to run a separate sequencer synced up with Samplitude during mixdowns.

Other major improvements include the ability to import and export 24 bit files from other systems. This was extremely useful to me when I needed to de-noise a 24 bit file from a ProTools/Logic audio system. It wasn't exactly easy to import the file ... Read More »

So now we have four tracks worth of audio: a direct bass, a distorted bass, and a stereo drum track. Time to get busy with guitars!

Acoustic Guitars

MetaFlanger is a stereo flanger unit that offers all forms of flanging from subtle stereo widening to full-out jet takeoff effects. MetaFlanger's flexibility is a result of some intelligent decisions to provide the user with options not usually found on flangers.

Controls are provided to adjust the level and polarity of both the effect and the feedback loop. The dual phasing switches are a great feature that can really change the quality of the flanging effect. When setting up the effect I found myself trying all four different phasing configurations, and each one had its own use.

MetaFlanger

This is hands-down my favorite plug-in of the bunch. I've just used this effect to death. I love it. MondoMod is a perfect example of elegance and simplicity, and it just sounds great.

MondoMod is just three basic effects in one simple package: an amplitude modulator (tremelo), a frequency modulator (vibrato), and a pan modulator (autopanner). Don't let the simplicity bore you: MondoMod is capable of bizarre and lovely effects and is totally unique and cool.

MondoMod

There's an old saying that goes, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

There's a corollary to that saying. "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?"

Followed closely by, "If you don't know where you're going, who knows where you'll end up."

There's a point to be made here.

Before I ever hit the record button, the first thing that must be determined is the artist's sonic goals. Sonic goals refer to the kind of outcome the artist wants to achieve. Should the overall sound be majestic and lush, or tight and defined? Will we be developing a Wall-of-Sound mix, or a sparse, "exposed" mix? Aggressive or approachable? Angry or melancholy? Lo-fi or hi-fi? Dramatic, or understated?

If you're the producer as well as the engineer, then these are decisions you'll make with the band or artist. If you're just the engineer, then you'll work with the producer to understand the sonic goals ... Read More »

Four Mile Mule had already recorded rhythm tracks for about twenty songs when "Black and White Movie" was written. We all felt strongly that it was the catchiest song in their catalog and decided to record it and package ten other songs with it as a demo CD.

With only 8 inputs into my recorder, we would cut drums and bass at the same time, then go back and add acoustic and electric guitars and vocals. We made the artistic decision to NOT use a metronome or click track for the rhythm tracks. We wanted to hear the natural ebb and flow of the tempo that you get when a band will "push" and "pull" the energy of the song. Therefore, even though we were only recording the bass and drums, the entire band would set up so that the rhythm tracks would be cut with the live feel.

The band wanted the CD to have a nice, polished sound, so I wanted to get a pure drum sound on tape. Setting the entire band up in the tracking room would create too much bleed on the drum mics, so the drummer set up in ... Read More »

SuperTap is Waves' entry into the delay category, and it leaves almost nothing to be desired. The plug-in comes in two flavors: a two-tap version and a six-tap version. Both are exactly alike except the number of delay taps provided.

Chalk up another user interface victory for Waves. Without a doubt the best, most powerful user interface I've ever seen on a delay unit. Let's take a UI tour through SuperTap and you'll quickly see what I mean.

SuperTap

UltraPitch is a pitch shifter plug-in that comes in three lovely flavors: single-voice, three-voice, and six voice.

UltraPitch is a full formant-correcting harmonizer. That means it detects the pitch of a note and shifts only the note, leaving the harmonics (formant) intact. This creates a more realistic result. UltraPitch also includes the ability to modify the formant, leaving the pitch intact. This can be used to make masculine voices more feminine or to change the harmonic content of an instrument.

UltraPitch

This supplemental describes how to program for the Motor Mix. I figured I'd give the hackers out there a head start on writing code to support the Motor Mix. I really like the unit and figure it can't hurt to get more people writing code for it. Maybe someone will write a user configurable mapping utility to convert Motor Mix actions into whatever MIDI data a music application might find useful (hint, hint).

Reference

Daisy Chains

Let's face it. Working with many music/audio programs using a mouse can be tedious. I love my "studio in a PC", but sometimes I just want to reach out and grab a fader or knob to get the job done.

It's more th