Ableton: Live 4
reviewed by Chachi Jones
When the first version of Ableton Live hit the shelves in 2001, it instantly found a hardcore audience of music makers desperate for a flexible arranging tool with an emphasis on playful...
Gear Reviews
Virtual Instruments
Drum Drops: Drops in the Bronx Vol 2
reviewed by Ryan Moore
In true DIY style, UK-based engineer/producer Mike Pelanconi has been building up his Drum Drops catalog via word of mouth over the last few years to become the premier online source of top quality...
M-Audio: O2 Mobile USB MIDI Controller
reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
This inexpensive 25-key MIDI keyboard was a perfect solution to a small problem in my studio. Virtual instrument plug-ins are getting better and better these days, particularly some of the ones we've...
George Pendergast: Essential Rhythm Sample DVD
reviewed by Jon Cohrs
Loops, loops and more loops. The Essential Rhythm DVD sample set crams in 322 drum loops in addition to another 200 rhythm combo, acoustic guitar, bass, percussion, and one-shot samples. Riding on the...
Garritan: Personal Orchestra
reviewed by Mike Jasper
Gary Garritan, owner of Garritan Orchestral Libraries, has just released Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO), a full orchestral software-sampler program for $249 plus $15 shipping. Now that's news,...
Arturia: Moog Modular V, Minimoog V
reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
These two virtual instrument plug-ins are the two best simulations of a real instrument that I've seen and heard to date. Although Walter Sear might disagree with me, both of these simulations do a...
FXpansion: BFD Acoustic Drum Module
reviewed by Rich Hardesty
Back in early 2002, while I was reviewing another acoustic drum instrument plug-in, I had what I thought was an epiphany. Why not design the instrument's interface so that it resembles a fully-mic'ed...
Native Instruments: Kontakt
reviewed by AJ
After reading John's review of various software samplers in the last issue, I thought I'd give my opinion as to what's happening in the soft-sampler scene. NI touts Kontakt as the most advanced...
Drum Drops: A Fistful of Drummers Vols 1-3, Drumdrops in Dub Vols 1 & 2
reviewed by Larry Crane
I reviewed the Drum Drops CD's a while back, which were simply two-track audio CD's of cool-sounding drum tracks for use in recordings, demos or what have you. Now the boys at Drum Drops are hooking...
RGC Audio: sfz SoundFont VST sample player
reviewed by Rich Hardesty
Though no longer as popular a sample format as it was just three years ago, the lowly SoundFont still has a strong legion of users worldwide sharing their home- made (or heavily borrowed) creations...
Steinberg: Studio Case software suite
reviewed by David Huber
For those of you on a budget who are looking to get into high-end, cutting edge digital audio... do I have a tip for you! Recently, Steinberg decided to bundle a "lite" version of their Cubase DAW...
Drums on Demand: Vol. 1
reviewed by Larry Crane
This is a CD-ROM of stereo drum tracks (real drums, real room) recorded as WAV files at 24-bit, 44.1 kHz. There are 41 song sets with up to 33 parts (fill, chorus, etc) per song. Plus, there are solo...