May 2002 Magazine Contents

Akai's new 24-track recording and mixing workstation continues the expansion of their DPS multitracker concept with technology derived from the company's renowned post-production machines.

Antares have packed their acclaimed Auto-Tune and mic modelling processes, along with dynamics and EQ, into this 1U rack unit.

Apple's new iMac is as radical in appearance as its predecessor — but how well does it fit into the recording studio?

In Part 1 (of 2) last month, we finished with the question: 'What is the Quadra? Is it a turkey of the first order, or a misunderstood and overlooked masterpiece?' This month, we'll take a closer look at the instrument itself to find the answer.

The latest technological advances in reverb design have yielded expensive hardware units that can 'sample' the sound of real rooms. Now Audio Ease's Altiverb brings the same convolving technology to the Mac — at a fraction of the cost.

AT's new models prove that back-electret designs can offer performance to rival conventional capacitor mics.

A stereo compressor offering the classic dynamic characteristics that only an optical design can provide.

The Genesis 1 is a simplified version of the Genesis 3 modelling guitar preamp/effects unit, offering a reduced feature set at a lower price.

The market for hardware samplers may be on the wane, but Emu aren't abandoning their hardware customers; their RFX32 effects/mixer card can add tremendous processing and routing power to any of their Ultra samplers.

After creating the ultimate harp library, has Gary Garritan managed to succeed again with the most ambitious sampled string library ever undertaken?

Finally the HR824 has a little brother and, like most little brothers, this one has both attitude and confidence!

Roland released the JP8000/8080 virtual analogue synth way back in 1997, but never really followed it up. Now they've combined the modelling synth idea with their Groovebox concept, presenting it in compact form with a wealth of hardware control options...

With competition hotting up in the DMX R100's sector of the market, Sony have released a major new software upgrade to make their contender stronger than ever.

We test two pairs of high-quality closed-back headphones for discerning studio users.

As an all-round package for multitrack audio editing, mastering and CD burning, Steinberg's Wavelab leads the field. Does the new version 4 keep it ahead of the competition?

A plug-in card for the Yamaha AW-series workstations that combines Waves-quality DSP effects with eight channels of ADAT optical I/O.

We all want to improve the quality of our recordings, but there's often no need to rush out and buy new equipment. You just have to take a close look at the way you're using what you already have.

The task of synthesizing convincing metallic percussion defeated many synth giants — you only need to listen to Kraftwerk's weedy cymbals on 'The Model' to be persuaded of that. So why is it so difficult? We find out...

Do hit songs have a hidden ingredient that makes them successful by appealing directly to our emotions? It's a question that musicians and scientists have sought the answer to for many decades. Acoustic researcher Ernest Cholakis has a new take on the theory...

Why can't I run Cubase 5.1 on Windows 95? Is there a software package that acts purely as a virtual tape recorder? What is panning law? How can I get equal monitoring levels? Do multi-client soundcards still exist? Which hard disk format is best for PC audio?

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...

We go through the keyhole of another SOS reader, and ask 'who inhabits a studio like this?'

Once Rob Davis was a pop star himself with Mud. Now his songs have taken Kylie Minogue and Sophie Ellis-Bextor to the top of the charts.

Not being one to let the dust settle after having 'done the business', Big George provides an update on his crusade.

Is Surround Sound and the DVD-Audio format all a plot to 'take the means of production away from the workers'?