November 2003 Magazine Contents

This limited edition collectable synth comes complete with the advantages of new features in the latest Virus OS — and these features can also be added to previous Virus synths via a free update.

The monster AS modular synth system continues to expand with the launch of another batch of new sonic tools.

Buzz Audio's MA2.2 preamp made an excellent impression a year ago, but does its new little brother continue in the family tradition?

Until now, if you wanted multi-channel or high-resolution audio I/O in a hot-swappable external interface, Firewire was the only way to go. Edirol's UA1000 offers an alternative, using the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 protocol that is standard on nearly all new PCs.

These affordable active monitors from Fostex provide a tight and punchy sound, despite their compact dimensions.

This useful digital router can handle 12 channels of S/PDIF or ADAT optical digital I/O with full MIDI control.

Fruity Loops has built itself quite a cult following in dance music circles. The latest version comes with a new name, FL Studio, as well as some interesting new virtual instruments and proper audio recording features.

INTA Audio's music workstation boasts some of the latest PC technology, including hyperthreading, dual-channel DDR400 memory and Serial ATA, making it one of the fastest systems around.

This new member of the Korg tribe offers synthesis, sequencing, drum programming, tons of real-time control plus genuine valves to light up your studio and your sound.

These two stereo multi-effects boxes from Kurzweil bring the powerful processing of their flagship KSP8 more easily within reach of the home studio owner.

• The Dark Side Of The Groove **** • Kick-ass Brass ***** • Drum N Bass Fast Forward **** • Phat Beats From The Box ******

Phase cancellation can play havoc with your sound if you're using multiple mics, or combining mic and DI signals. This clever little box offers a solution, providing powerful phase-alignment facilities which go far beyond those of most mixers and preamps.

Absynth gets a significant overhaul, including tempo syncing, sample playback, granular synthesis and a module library. What do we think of it? Read on...

RME's latest PCI soundcard is their first to support 192kHz sample rates, and offers a different balance of features compared with their existing Hammerfall cards.

This impressive-looking instrument provides modelled classic organ, piano and supporting timbres, and is designed to appeal to keyboard players looking for an all-round stage tool — though it could easily form the centrepiece of a home setup too.

This Samson microphone offers true capacitor design and multi-pattern operation at an extremely affordable price.

This first major revision to Steinberg's Cubase SX incorporates the newly developed audio engine from Nuendo 2, new features for media composers, and classic features from Cubase VST. Does it all add up to a substantial improvement over version 1?

The FW1884 is more than just a well-specified Firewire audio and MIDI interface: it also offers detailed control over almost every MIDI + Audio sequencer thanks to its motorised faders, rotary controls, transport buttons and more.

TL Audio's monster new tube voice channel gives you mic/ line/ instrument preamp, EQ, compression, limiting, and optional A-D conversion — twice over!

Another affordable mixer from Yamaha offers 16-channel, four-bus architecture, with a surprisingly good built-in effects section.

Many laptop PCs that bear a specific brand name are not in fact manufactured by the company in question — and that includes some specialist music PCs. But does this really matter to the musician?

This month, Sound On Sound begins a major new series, looking back in detail at the engineering and production behind some of the most historically significant recordings ever made, with the story of the first and greatest British rock & roll record.

Ultra low-cost PC setups are all very well, but can we be sure they'll run everything we need them to? Cutting Edge finds out from personal experience.

The Doc proffers diagnosis and suitable cures for another batch of reader-submitted meisterwerks.

PC paper specifications can vary so much that it's hard to know how one PC compares to another in terms of its performance with real-word audio apps. Hence the need for tests designed just for music PCs...

Sonar's version number has just been incremented by a Significant Digit, so it's time for some exploration of what this new release means to Sonar aficionados.

Legal action by The Beatles' Apple Records caused the iTunes Music Store to hit the headlines recently, but there's no denying it has been an instant success that could change the way music is distributed forever. We look at the background to the Music Store and consider its implications for independent musicians.

Is the sound of your kick drum letting the rest of your mix down? If so, find out how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with this bass-drum processing workshop.

Since Pro Tools 6, there's been some additions to the set of built-in plug-ins. This month we look at how to get the most out of the D-Verb reverb.

DP 4.1 is here at last, with significant increases in stability and efficiency, as well as support for Apple's Audio Unit plug-in standard. So is Digital Performer finally ready for the big time in OS X?

If you play live regularly, sooner or later someone will suggest that you use a backing track on stage to enhance your performance. So here's how to go about creating them, based on experience learned the hard way!

Ubiquitous though Roland's long-lived range of sound modules appear to be, not many users get the best out of the vast synthesis and processing potential they offer. So here's how to coax circus-pony tricks out of your studio workhorse.

Musicality isn't everything when you're trying to make a decent-sounding recording at home, even if you're as talented as the multi-instrumentalist Harding family. So the SOS team travelled north to help them get their engineering techniques up to scratch.

Long before Bob Moog built his first synth, there was the Hammond tonewheel organ; effectively an additive synthesizer, albeit electro-mechanical rather than electronic. So emulating a Hammond with an analogue synth shouldn't be too hard, right? Well...

We report on Steinberg using Nuendo to record a three-day music festival, and look at how a Cubase Drum Map can assist you in finding and working with all the one-shot drum and percussion sounds in your studio.

I've noticed that many virtual analogue soft synths claim to offer FM capabilities, and provide virtual analogue besides. Is there any advantage to the extra expense of something like FM7?

I've just been looking at buying a cheap condenser mic and I was wondering how useful it is to have the low-frequency cut and 10dB pad options that are on some mics?

What's the best way to turn a dull thud into a tight, clicky thrash/black metal kick sound?

How does a converter actually make an analogue signal into a digitally represented signal? What are a converter's components that enable such A-D conversion?

I'm going to be adding some woodwind parts to a track, recording flute, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones one at a time. Can you offer any advice on how to mike them up?

I have recorded an acoustic guitar into Cubase SX, both with a mic and DI'd. As I had expected, there are some phase issues...

I heard of how you can increase perceived stereo width by using extra mixer channels out of phase. Can you explain how it's done?

I'm currently mixing a full funk band recording and have borrowed a pair of Behringer Truth B2031 monitors to do it. Everything sounds great to me, until I switch over to my Technics hi-fi to check it and it loses all bass definition and sounds muddy...

I'm looking for a decent stand-alone Leslie-style rotary speaker effect, mainly for use with keyboards, but also for guitars. Can you offer any suggestions?

What is the difference between audio and data CD-Rs? Surely digital audio is just data?

Business End enables you to have your demo reviewed by a panel of producers, songwriters, musicians and managers from the Music Producer's Guild.

Following up the timing problems our reviewer encountered in his review of the Motif Rack...

When Jimmy Page decided to mine a massive archive of decaying Led Zeppelin live footage for a DVD and double CD, the epic task of restoring, editing and mixing the audio went to rock specialist Kevin Shirley — who has gone on to help veteran metallers Iron Maiden return to the upper reaches of the charts.

Over the last decade, Mouse On Mars have become one of the leading names in European electronic music. Their experimental approach brings together analogue and digital, lo-fi and hi-fi, real instruments and samples to create an organic-sounding whole.

Some people say that software is killing off the hardware market. But is it the hardware manufacturers' own software?

Our Editor-In-Chief encourages you to help direct the future content of the magazine by completing our 2003 Reader Survey.