HALion Player is a new software sampler from Steinberg. It’s a cut-down and simplified version of their HALion 3 engine — more like a ROM-based sampler than a flexible software sampler. But it’s much cheaper than the full HALion 3. (more…)

Studio Reviews give Waves IR-1 Convolution Reverb a very good review. They found the reverb to be “smooth, very clean and detailed. The vocals or instruments being used with the Wave impulses sound like they were recorded in the venues. With synthesized reverb units, a lot of times it sounds like you’re adding a reverb on top of the signal. But with the Waves impulses (as well as many third-party impulses) you get the impression that the signal was recorded in the room you chose.” Of course, this puts demands on the host computer: they recommend a Pentium IV or G5 with a minimum of 1 gig of ram to run it smoothly. (more…)