One of the biggest gifts that GigaSampler has given the production world is the availability (at long last) of a realistic MIDI-driven piano. Until now, the available options were rated more in terms of irritation factor. They ranged from no good to pathetic to please kill me. It's little wonder that Nemesys includes the GigaPiano with the fully-licensed GigaSampler application. Since the piano is a percussive instrument, and it does eventually decay into full silence, that makes it an instrument that can be almost completely captured and mapped, given GigaSampler's capability to provide unlimited sample length. It shows off the paradigm quickly and effectively. With GigaSampler you can have a hyper-realistic piano sample. That's been proven. But the exciting thing is to be able to compare the hyper-real qualities of different source pianos. This is where the fun really begins. For this review, I had an opportunity to evaluate three of the top-rated GigaSampler piano libraries - the GigaPiano (a Yamaha...

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Nullsoft Winamp is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity freeware music player for Windows 95/98/NT. Winamp supports MP3, CD, WMA, Audiosoft, Mjuice, MOD, WAV and other audio formats, custom appearances called skins and audio visualization and audio effect plug-ins.

The Power Mac G4 is quite simply the fastest machine ever designed to run audio applications.

Sound Forge 4.5 is professional sound editing software for Windows that includes an extensive set of audio processes, tools, and effects for manipulating audio. Combine Sound Forge 4.5 with any Windows-compatible sound card to create, record, edit, and refine audio files. The clean interface and familiar Windows environment make editing fast and easy.

ACID PRO 2.0 is a revolutionary loop-based music production tool that offers musicians unprecedented creative flexibility. ACID PRO 2.0 allows you to preview any loop before adding it to your mix, automatically matching the tempo and key in real time. Click-and-drag to easily add or delete loops. ACID PRO 2.0 allows real-time changes to pitch and tempo to unlimited tracks. Control the volume, pan, and effect envelopes for each track to create a perfect mix between loops.

The MOTU PCI328 family of interfaces is a powerful system that allows you to build digital audio system of up to 72 inputs and outputs in virtually any conceivable configuration. Any combination of three interfaces may be used simultaneously. Supported formats include 24 bit balanced analog, ADAT optical, Tascam TDIF, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, and more.

GigaSampler™ is the only music software product to stream samples - in real-time - directly from the hard disk when played via a keyboard controller or other MIDI device. By leveraging the hard disk for instrument playback, instead of RAM (as in conventional samplers), GigaSampler™ is capable of delivering complex, ultra-dynamic replicas of world-class instruments that load in seconds, not minutes.

This full rack mount unit packs the punch of the more expensive Joemeek equipment and offers identical sounds and quality to the home recordist and musicians at a fraction of the price. The VC6Q provides a Joemeek Microphone Pre Amplifier, the Joemeek compressor, the instrument pre amp on the front panel, and one channel of the stunning Joemeek EQ "Meekqualizer".

The RØDE™ NT2 Large Diaphragm True Condenser Mic is hand-assembled in Australia. In the tradition of the great microphones, it's designed to furnish outstanding, vintage-flavored vocal or instrumentation miking at a truly untraditional, breakthrough price.

SoundBlaster Live! provides access to up to 64 voices of synthesis and sampling, 20 bit digital I/O, MIDI, and up to 64 DirectSound streams. Based on the EMU10K1 audio processor and supporting Creative's SoundFont sampling format, the low-priced SoundBlaster Live! provides very high-quality MIDI synthesis and sampling at a truly unprecedented price point.

The Mackie HR824 is a biamplified two-way loudspeaker for nearfield use. It utilizes an 8 inch polypropylene cone, 6x12 inch passive radiator, and 1 inch alloy tweeter in an internally braced enclosure.

Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is a multitrack audio workstation with integrated MIDI sequencer. Pro Audio 9 features support for 24/96 audio, internal 32-bit mixing and effects, DirectX support, 480 PPQ MIDI sequencer, support for MIDI effects, frame-accurate video preview, and more.

The VS-1680 Digital Studio Workstation represents the new definition of recording power: a 16-track, 24-bit recording, editing, mixing and effects processing system in a compact table-top workstation.

Waves L2 significantly increases the average signal level of typical audio signals without introducing audible side effects. It's superb for mastering, mixing, and recording, but equally capable of extreme limiting, intentional pumping, and vintage dynamic processing effects.

Renaissance Compressor recreates the warm sound qualities and simple operation of classic analog hardware in the digital domain. Including support for both native and TDM/DSP Macintosh applications and any DirectX plug-ins supported PC applications, Renaissance Compressor delivers blazing guitar sounds and thumping bass and drum tracks, plus many more dynamic effects, from classical to radical!

Minnetonka Mx 5.1 is the premiere surround-enabled DAW application. Mx 5.1 features fully customizable Surround Mixers, Automatic 5.1 bussing, Fully automated Surround Panning on every channel, User-adjusted Surround Sound Panning Algorithm, Per-channel SubBass Crossover with user-defined parameters, True Center / Virtual Center Blend Control, Automatic 6-track master creation to hard disk, Breakthrough Tactile-Feedback Interface and Midi Timecode generation.

The Digital 8•Bus (d8b) is a 72-channel digital mixer with 24 faders, massive onboard DSP, a true workstation-class 32-bit Pentium-compatible CPU processor, support for SVGA monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and an open plugin architecture.

In May of last year ProRec brought you a comprehensive and exhaustive report on Samplitude 2496. Since then, several major improvements have been made to the software package. This report outlines some of the most recent changes to the program. If you're looking for a complete review of Samplitude 2496 in general, please read Jim Roseberry's review. The most notable improvement to Samplitude 2496 is the new 5.1 surround mixing engine with Dolby Digital encoding and vectorized automatic mixing. The second is MIDI - you can now play and record MIDI from within Samplitude, partially eliminating the need to run a separate sequencer synced up with Samplitude during mixdowns. Other major improvements include the ability to import and export 24 bit files from other systems. This was extremely useful to me when I needed to de-noise a 24 bit file from a ProTools/Logic audio system. It wasn't exactly easy to import the file, as things...

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So now we have four tracks worth of audio: a direct bass, a distorted bass, and a stereo drum track. Time to get busy with guitars! Acoustic Guitars First up is acoustic guitars. This is easy work with Four Mile Mule. We were recording with a nice-sounding Seagull acoustic with a piezo pickup. For this track I recorded the guitar direct as well as miked with an SM81. We used a rather typical miking position at about 2 feet away from the guitar pointing roughly at the 12th fret. You really need to be careful in setting up a mic on an acoustic guitar as tiny changes in the mic's position can dramatically change the sound. The direct track and the miked track were panned left and right to create a large-sounding acoustic sound that is more focused than a doubled track. The idea for this song was crisp, jangly energy. For rock rhythm acoustic, I like to compress the acoustic hard. Heavily compressed acoustic rhythm guitars are something I learned to appreciate listening to a lot of Boston albums. For these tracks I set up a compressor with fast attack, medium release, and a high ratio (7:1). The compressor was set up for about 6-12 dBs of gain reduction....

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MetaFlanger is a stereo flanger unit that offers all forms of flanging from subtle stereo widening to full-out jet takeoff effects. MetaFlanger's flexibility is a result of some intelligent decisions to provide the user with options not usually found on flangers. Controls are provided to adjust the level and polarity of both the effect and the feedback loop. The dual phasing switches are a great feature that can really change the quality of the flanging effect. When setting up the effect I found myself trying all four different phasing configurations, and each one had its own use. MetaFlanger

The input to the effect also includes a swept high / low pass EQ. The EQ is a great idea that lets you control the color of the effect as well as controlling the bass cancellation that occurs when you start messing with the phase controls. For really "wide and fat" flanging effects you can use the low-pass EQ to get...

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