SpectraFoo is a signal metering and analysis tool from Metric Halo. It looks useful for the pro sound engineer, not so much for the run-of-the-mill Laptop Studio musician, but it deserves mention here for its fun name at least. Metric Halo write: SpectraFoo provides all of the tools today’s digital projects demand. Whether you are a live sound engineer or a studio mixer, you need the power that Foo provides. Including standards-based level metering, high-speed, high-resolution spectral analysis, the unique Phase Torch, correlation metering, triggerable waveform display, power balancing and a variety of power, envelope and spectral histories and phase analysis on any number of input or output channels, the SpectraFoo range is absolutely essential for broadcast production and critical mixing & mastering. (more…)

Native Instruments Kontakt 2 is favourably reviewed by Keyboard magazine. They write: “Only at version 2, Kontakt is arguably the most flexible, creative, and usable sampler to take up residence on our hard drive since software instruments first became viable alternatives to hardware.” (more…)

Pro Audio Review take a look at Sony Acid Pro 5 and say it’s an excellent consolidation of all the features that Acid is famous in an improved interface. They are particularly pleased with the ReWire support in Acid Pro 5, as well as the new support for VST plug-ins and multiport VSTi soft synths. They also like the new Media Manager for organising your Gigabytes of samples and sounds. This kind of function is more and more necessary these days; some reviewers have found the Media Manager to be a bit heavyweight, here they found no problems with it. (more…)

3D World magazine reviews Ableton Live 5. They talk a lot about the general features in previous versions of Live and how they are useful to various types of musician — live performer, DJ, studio musician — and also mention their favourite new features: “DAW features have been added to Live 5 enabling audio professionals to access high-end studio effects and processors such as clip-freeze and compression. This is a fantastic addition to Live as in the past I have found many Live users still using other sequencing software to master a Live mix.” (more…)

M-Audio make a nice Mobile Laptop Studio Backpack, which I feel must be included on this website simply because of its name. As M-Audio say, you can “carry your studio on your back — and in style. Our padded ballistic nylon Studio Pack conveniently carries an M-Audio Ozone or Oxygen8, a laptop and accessories.” Unfortunately, it does not come emblazoned with the Laptop Studio logo. (more…)

Bhajis Loops is a software DAW for Palm PDA devices. It looks surprisingly full-featured — it contains a complete sample editor, virtual instruments with wavetable synthesis, pattern editor and sequencer, effects and automation. And like every other music production software these days, it has a special mode for live performances — Ableton Live has a lot to answer for. It sounds perfect for those long commutes on the subway in the mornings. (more…)

Ableton Live 5 gets a top review in the October issue of Future Music magazine. They have always had good things to say about previous versions of Live, and they think this new version is a huge improvement on an already great program. They give Live 5 their Platinum Award for general all-round excellence. It scores 8 out of 10 for value for money, 9 for build quality, ease of use and versatility, and a perfect ten for quality of results. (more…)

The TimewARP 2600 is a digital software emulation of the classic ARP 2600 analog synthesizer. It’s sufficiently impressive that it is apparently the only ARP 2600 emulation product endorsed by the creator of the original ARP 2600, Alan R. Pearlman. The great thing about it is that the emulation runs very deep; you can “mistakenly” patch the wrong things to each other and the weird noises you’ll get are the same weird noises you’d get with the original hardware. There are some improvements over the original too — of course you can save your patches, and it has 8 voice polyphony compared to the original mono synth. (more…)

Apple Soundtrack Pro gets a good review in Mix magazine. Soundtrack Pro is Apple’s full-featured audio editor, a much more powerful version of their old Soundtrack software. Soundtrack Pro is available on its own, or as a part of the Final Cut Studio video editing software suite. This includes Final Cut Pro 5, DVD Studio Pro 4 and Motion 2, and these three programs work together with Soundtrack Pro. The review talks about his integration, calling it “seamless”, and also has some very good things to say about Final Cut Pro towards the end. However, most of the piece describes Soundtrack Pro’s features and how well they work in normal conditions. (more…)

The Australian newspaper’s IT section doesn’t often review music software, but they’ve just published a look at Sony’s Acid Pro 5. It’s a pretty bright and breezy review — hey start by comparing Acid to the obvious competition, Apple’s Garageband. Among Acid Pro 5’s many features, they mention the Groove Mapper quantisation tool as being ripe with possibilities. And even though the review is short, there is one simple nugget of wisdom that we should all keep in mind: “While no actual instrumental or vocal ability is required, you need your wits about you and a modicum of taste to aid in the development of the music.” (more…)