October 2002 Magazine Contents

Applied Acoustic Systems, known best for their Tassman software synth, have now used their modelling technology to create an electric piano plug-in. But of course, theirs isn't the only one around...

Hot on the heels of the recent Virus C comes the Virus Indigo 2, now upgraded to include the new Virus C synth engine. And what a difference it makes!

**** Score = 4/5 stars. To save wading through the stacks of unwanted vinyl at the local charity shop, Big Fish Audio have produced Breakbeat 3, a two-CD set of live drum loops.

Many UK music technology retailers are now building specialist PCs to order, and Digital Village are no exception. Their Pentium 4 systems promise careful optimisation at a very competitive price.

A compressor and front end combining pedigree Drawmer performance with ease of use.

***** Score = 5/5 stars. A choral library with a difference. VOTA aims to provide the composer with the samples needed to recreate the sound of a Hollywood choir.

This pair of nearfields from EMES offer precision monitoring for small rooms.

As well as bringing 192kHz capability to the project-studio market, ESI Pro's new range of soundcards also features revolutionary drivers which allow the PC user new freedom to route audio between applications.

Digital hardware that models classic guitar amps has been big business in recent years, but in the software field Line 6's Amp Farm has had the market to itself. Now, however, IK's Amplitube looks set to provide some serious competition.

* Score = 1/5. Format: Audio. Over three hours of warm and punchy drumming well suited for modern pop, electronica or hip-hop...

**** Score = 4/5 stars. LOP is a superior, consistently played, musically thorough and sensibly programmed library.

We check out MXL's most affordable tube microphone yet.

**** 4/5 stars. Post Musical Instruments' Grandioso is a sampled piano library, which modestly claims to be "the best sampled piano ever"...

A new company adds another affordable effects unit to the market. But does it have what it takes to compete with the established big names?

CDXtract 4 is a handy cross-platform utility for extracting and converting sample data from CD-ROMs.

Spectrasonics' new software instruments are based around a vast library of sampled material, but also contain enough processing options to make them more like virtual synths. We check out the rhythm-oriented Stylus...

The German team behind the inexpensive MARS have been responsible for several SOS-reviewed products in the past, although the MARS is the first under their own brand name Vermona. But is it more of a Trabant than an Audi?

After seven years, one of the most successful digital consoles has been completely overhauled, improving the sound quality and ergonomics, and catering for new high-resolution and surround-sound formats.

First there was the 4416, then the 2816. Now Yamaha have announced a baby brother for their AW audio workstations, in the form of the AW16G.

Nashville is still a place of legend when it comes to music. Although overall sales of the city's flagship genre, country music, have dipped somewhat from their mid-'90s peak, Nashville still has a recording legacy matched by few cities in the world.

The SOS team rushes to the rescue of a reader in Somerset suffering from boxy vocals, a weedy mix, and a dodgy tweeter.

Surely the only convincing synth pianos are sample-based ones? A sound as rich and expressive as that of an acoustic piano is far too complex to be rendered by subtractive synthesis... isn't it? Let's find out...

In the second part of our investigation into the real-world delays caused by PC hardware and software, we consider the differences between different MIDI applications and versions of Windows. Are some sequencers really 'tighter' than others?

Should I buy a second-hand tape recorder or cheap digital multitracker? How can I stop my speakers from 'booming'? Should the earth pin in an XLR plug be soldered to the shell? How reliable is the word clock on Yamaha's SW1000XG? Can you advise me about connecting a classic Leslie to a VK8?

Internationally renowned DJ John Digweed and studio partner Nick Muir make cutting-edge dance music as Bedrock.

When we first came up with the idea for Studio SOS, we didn't quite know what to expect. To our knowledge, no other recording magazine had attempted to solve readers' problems actually in their own studios...

According to Oval's Markus Popp, traditional definitions and categories are inadequate when it comes to evaluating electronic music. Instead, his highly conceptual projects aim to make us understand music in terms of the software processes used to produce it.

From Rain Man to The Lion King, and Gladiator to Mission Impossible 2, Hans Zimmer's music is known by audiences worldwide. With business partner Jay Rifkin, Zimmer is also responsible for Media Ventures, a music studio that offers a unique environment for media composers.

Copyright law may be very rigid these days, but in the context of creativity, who actually 'owns' a sample?

In Part 1's introduction to this series, we explained some of the legal issues which you need to consider when setting up a record label to release your own material. This time, we take a closer look at publishing and royalties.

Over the 40 years of their existence, Korg have produced a huge variety of groundbreaking music gear, from electronic percussion to industry-standard synths, and from guitar tuners to digital recording workstations. This month, we look back at how it all started...