Vapor, the “large plug-in ROMpler” from East West gets a good review in Grooves magazine. This software playback sampler has over 2GB of sounds, and “a flair for the decidedly synthetic”. They note some interface glitches, but overall like the sounds that come out of Vapor. Vapor uses the Native Instruments Kompakt engine (as used by NI’s own Kontakt sampler). The reviewers says Vapor’s feature set is light, but that can be a blessing as well as a curse. (more…)

GarageBand 2 gets a great review from Computer Music magazine. They call it “one of the most intuitive, easy-to-use applications on the market.” “GarageBand sits in a genre all of its own… and, in its own way, is revolutionary.” (more…)

PC Plus magazine’s review of Steinberg WaveLab 5 is quite positive. They emphasize WaveLab 5’s new surround sound processing functions. The monitoring has been upgraded accordingly: “WaveLab’s excellent visual metering tools have been extended to allow full surround metering. Eight channels of spectral analysis running in real time is quite a sight – this is one area where WaveLab has always excelled, and this update carries on that tradition.” (more…)

Grooves magazine reviews Steinberg WaveLab 5. The new version of WaveLab, they say, focuses on DVD features — you can now create various DVD formats, though the options aren’t as extensive as you would expect from a high-end DVD authoring program. There are also lots of other goodies in this general-purpose audio editor. (more…)

Waves have updated their IR-1 parametric convolution reverb to version 2. This new version has tools to capture your own impulse responses, so you can capture the natural reverb of your own bathroom or closet, if you want. It also has a number of other tweaks and a bigger, better library of impulse resp0nses. (more…)

GarageBand 2.0, Apple’s music-making program for the Mac, has been reviewed by CNET. They quite like it as a comprehensive music creation tool, but say its lack of depth means it’s not for the experienced user. They would recommend it to “Indie bands that want to easily add electronic effects to live instruments; parents and amateur videographers who want to make unique soundtracks for personal movies; novice music enthusiasts with an itch to create their own electronic tunes.” (more…)