October 2015 Magazine Contents

Configurable to your tastes, this handmade guitar amp caters both to studio and stage use.

Akai’s Advance 49 is a tightly integrated controller/software package designed to bridge the gap between musician and computer.

With the affordable and innovative Beatstep Pro, Arturia may have created a sequencer for the masses.

For these premium headphones, Audeze have revived an old but under-used driver technology — and the results are astonishing.

In addition to controlling Pro Tools, PTC is also compatible with other host applications that support the Eucon protocol.

Back in 1977, Scottish company GR International, designed and manufactured a rhythm machine called the Powerhouse. Thirty-eight years later, owner of two Powerhouse machines, Dan Radclyffe, renovated his tapes and hardware and sampled all eight original cartridges to make this 64–loop library.

Can an amp like this be all things to all people? Blackstar have tried very hard to make it so!

Finally, a truly polyphonic guitar synth that you can use with any standard electric guitar — with no need for a hex pickup!

Can musicians be trusted to mix their own monitors? If the system they’re using is as intuitive as this one, the answer might be ‘yes’.

Can a real spring reverb really fit in a box this small and still come up with the goods?

French speaker makers Focal continue their campaign of innovation, with this classy new three–way monitor design.

Focusrite’s Clarett range offers Thunderbolt connectivity and high specifications at an attractive price tag.

Grace have long been associated with sublime studio preamps — and now you can take that superlative sound with you on stage.

This delay pedal was designed to offer ‘that’ vintage Echorec sound. Does it convince?

This intriguing program aims to give your vocals the inhuman touch.

There are many USB microphones around today, but Lewitt’s offering has some surprising and useful extra features.

While high-quality clones of Bill Putnam’s 1176 compressor abound, stereo versions of that much-loved design are rather less common — especially at this price.

The third iteration of Mackie’s ever-popular SRM series incorporates some handy DSP functionality.

Could Radial’s latest processor add a little vintage sum–thing to your mixes?

With Rupert Neve’s pedigree in transformer-based equipment design, a DI box was surely just a matter of time.

These files accompany the Sample Shop article in the October 2015 issue of SOS.

Analogue Witchcraft is an intriguing title, but the product’s creator, Paul Rez, was perhaps trying to evoke a sense of magic and mystery.

This 21st-century emulation of the SID 8‑bit soundchip is accurate down to its three notes of polyphony and ability to export your songs for playback on an actual Commodore 64.

Hardware drum machines and effects pedals have been around a long time but Singular Sound claims that BeatBuddy is the first drum–machine pedal.

Looking for an audio interface that puts all the controls and I/O right where you need them? Check out our round-up of desktop devices.

No effects pedal has managed to pack in all the juicy sonic goodness and delicious mayhem of dual tape machines — until now!

The first step towards treating room acoustics is identifying the problem areas — and that’s where FuzzMeasure can help.

Zero–G have given us bangs, crashes and wallops with Impact Designer, and created a sense of speed with Whoosh Designer. To round off the collection is Rise Designer: Cinematic Build Creator.

In 1987, swimming against the tide of MIDI–powered pop records, Cowboy Junkies went into a church to record an album into a single microphone in a single day.

We get tactile with Ableton Live’s 64 Pad Drum Rack.

Cut the cord and make music with just your laptop and Reason.

Pro Tools 12 makes radical improvements to the way inputs and outputs are handled, which benefit all users.

Working on Muse’s hit album Drones gave Tommaso Colliva and Rich Costey unique insight into the extraordinary methods of hitmaking producer ‘Mutt’ Lange.

Does today’s sample-based drum software mean we don’t need real drummers any more? We find out what a human session drummer offers that a virtual drummer can’t.

Audio files to accompany the article.

Tidy away unused instruments and effects and put your favourites within easy reach with Logic’s Plug-in Manager.

Whether archiving projects, creating stems or saving CPU resources, Cubase 8’s Render In Place feature has you covered.

We make a rare visit to a world-class recording studio, as one of The Church’s engineers takes us through a recent session.

Audio files to accompany the article.

Get to grips with Sonar’s latest MIDI editing tools.

Studio One 3’s new Channel Editor opens up a host of possibilities, including creative M-S processing.

The SOS team travel to the big smoke to deal with some tricky acoustics in a media composer’s writing studio.

Live rooms and headphones can kill the mood for some vocalists — so why not ditch the cans and record in front of your monitors?

Audio files to accompany the article.

My room is not ideally treated, especially in the corners near my monitors, which have no bass traps. Would it help to use monitors with bass ports on the front.

Can I link the S/PDIF out of my Boss DR-880 to the S/PDIF input of my Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 audio interface and get good results?

I have an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff effects pedal that I’d like to try out on vocals, drums and possibly some other things during tracking.

I’m currently looking into a new music PC build and wondered which Windows operating system you’d recommend.

Like any good SOS readers, Scots electro-pop trio Chvrches used the success of their debut album to buy more synthesizers...

In any area of technology, the only thing that you can depend on being consistent is the presence of change.

In this month's video interview  we meet a living legend of the audio industry, Mr Rupert Neve himself. Over 25 minutes, we talk transformers, software modelling, and get the story of how he created the world's first high-Q equaliser.

 Alex Millar is currently working as a stage manager at festivals throughout the UK.

This month, Years & Years, Labrinth, Galantis, Fetty Wap, Major Lazer & DJ Snake and Classic Mix, Alanis Morissette 'Ironic'.

Some world–class studios are housed in purpose–designed buildings, but the majority of recording venues were set up in spaces originally conceived for other duties.

The more serious your responsibilities get, the more important it is to lighten up now and again.

The food consumed in studios hasn’t always been healthy. Could that be about to change?