VideoSystems review Acid Pro 5: “if you are looking for some cool new features that will make you think about using the program in new ways, then Acid Pro 5 dishes up some interesting surprises.” One such surprise is Groove Mapping, which looks to be their favourite new feature. With Groove Mapping, you can alter the “feel” of a track, rather than just the pitch or tempo. It works by automatically making tiny adjustments to the tempo all the way through a track or song, based on another track. So you can create a straight 4/4 song, and quickly use Groove Mapping to give it “the live sway of jazz or the immediate kerbump of hip hop”. Very nice.

They also especially appreciate the new media manager, and recommend investigating Sony’s loop CD collections. I can agree with that — I especially like all of the distorted, industrial sounds on CDs like Electronic Point-Blank, Extremely Abrasive Beats and Electrocution. Nowadays they sell ’em in packs like their Electronica Pack 1. They also talk about the acidplanet.com community, which features work by many Acid users around the world. Including me!

On the downside, Acid Pro 5 does not export to MP3 out of the box — you have to pay more money for this. They also think the interface wastes too much space. But overall they really like this new version: “It has a few new killer additions that keep it the powerhouse it has been, as well as lots of little touches that users have been asking for. … It’s the king for a very good reason. The program is smart and makes it very easy to be creative. Acid continues to be the leader in loop scoring. I highly recommend it for a first purchase, and the upgrade price is low enough to make it a no-brainer.”

Remix magazine reviews Cakewalk Project5 Version 2. They say, “this latest incarnation of Project5 is designed to be a complete recording, composition and performance platform that will work right out of the box with essentially infinite expansion possibilities.” The review runs through the features of this program and says that Project5 is excellent: it’s intuitive and easy to use, yet it’s very powerful and sounds great.

The only real problem they noticed is that there were performance problems running on a slower PC: “If you wish to run Project5 Version 2, you should absolutely heed the package’s advice on minimum system requirements and avoid running it on a Celeron.”

They like the interface, which is clean and efficient and allows for a smooth workflow. They also rate the MIDI implementation highly, calling it “deep and responsive”. Every area of Project5 receives praise, and the conclusion is overwhelmingly positive: “Project5 is easy to learn yet feature-deep, the instruments and effects sound rich and original, the user interface is well-laid-out and intuitive, and its stability and expandability are to be commended. However, it is like an old hot rod: It sports a large engine and consumes a lot of gas (CPU cycles). Project5 is definitely not for wimpy computers. But if you have a powerful PC workstation and want a one-size-fits-all MIDI and audio composition, synthesis, sound-design and live-performance tool, Cakewalk’s Project5 is a great way to fit the bill.”

PC Plus reviews Propellerhead Reason 3 and rate it as an excellent 87%. “Still the king of the softsynths, this is a package to be reckoned with.” They note the new Combinator, which allows instruments to be combined into, well, a combination. They also mention the new mastering tools and the improved hardware controller support. They have some issues with the sequencer (who doesn’t?) and the sound quality, as well at the unique “rack” interface, but they don’t consider them to be showstoppers. Reliability is still very good.

Overall they do like this program: “For Reason’s core home studio market, it’s a fantastic product exploding with creative potential and capable of results that can more than hold their own against much pricier musical toys at almost any level. It’s also a lot of fun. For the price, you really can’t go wrong.”

Do I really need to explain why I’m writing about this? The Big Knob is a controller from Mackie that features, well, a big knob. It looks more geared to the pro user that to people like me, but I want one anyway just so I can invite people over to my house to see my Big Knob. Oh, the hilarity.

More details from Mackie’s website: The Big Knob is a simple yet powerful desktop audio control center that lets musicians and engineers get right to the business of making music in four major ways: Level Control, Studio Monitor Selection, Input Source Selection and Talkback & Headphone Control.

Precise Level Control
Using a big, convenient volume knob, Big Knob lets you adjust volume levels the way our ancient audio ancestors (Analogus Engineerus) did – with a simple, intuitive knob, not with a mouse and screen. The end result is a higher degree of precision and much quicker level adjustments.

Monitor Selection
When it comes to mixing, pros know it’s best to get a second, and third, opinion. So Big Knob lets you quickly switch between 3 pairs of studio monitors, or 2 studio monitors and a subwoofer, or studio monitors and a home stereo, or any other combination of powered speakers.

Source Selection
On the input side, Big Knob lets you connect up to 4 stereo input sources at once. This means you can simultaneously connect to your computer/DAW outputs, CD player, cassette deck and even a turntable using the premium onboard RIAA preamp. You can even connect keyboards, guitars, drum machines, samplers – anything you’d like to hear – through your monitors. This makes Big Knob great for comparing your mixes-in-progress to your favorite CDs, for archiving your old LPs, jamming along to your favorite tune, and lots more.

Talkback Section & Headphone Control
With its built-in Talkback mic and spring-loaded activation switches, Big Knob lets you quickly communicate with musicians in both the studio and tracking room – no more hand signals through the glass! Big Knob also sports two high-powered headphone outputs with a discrete headphone mix bus, solving the communications needs of most computer-based studios.

All the Right Connections
Although its shiny silver knob is a head-turning feature, Big Knob’s rear panel is equally impressive. There you’ll find three distinct Monitor outputs with individual level control; 2-Track A and 2-Track B stereo outputs with level selection switches; a DAW stereo output for your computer; a Studio output with level control; a Phones Mix input with level selection switch; 2-Track A and 2-Track B Stereo Source inputs with level control; a DAW Mix input from your computer with level control; and even a Phono input with level control for direct connection to your turntable.

Sound Quality
Because Big Knob plays a crucial link between recording output(s) and studio monitors, we placed the utmost importance on pristine, no-compromise sound quality. For this reason, Big Knob features ultra low-noise op amps, extremely low-tolerance components and state-of-the-art surface mount technology. All of this ensures superb sound in critical listening environments and long-term reliability – even under daily, and nightly, studio use.

The Ray Gun line of noise filter plugins from Arboretum systems now includes an Audio Units version for Mac OS X. Aside from the cool name, the plugins have a number of noise removal features. These are the features of the Pro version (from the website) — reduced versions are also available.

Intelligent Search Function Ray Gun finds and eliminates noise, all by itself. Fine-tune the processing using Ray Gun’s simple Attenuation, Threshold and Sensitivity controls.

Noise Reduction Ray Gun uses fast spectral analysis, a downward expansion function and special search-and-destroy noise busting technology to reduce or eliminate broadband noise, including fan sound and tape hiss.

Pop/Click Removal Ray Gun finds the spikes, clicks and pops in your file, and seamlessly removes them from your audio.

Filtering Get rid of pesky 60-cycle hum and low-end rumble. For European electrical systems we’ve also included 50-cycle hum filtering.

Level Correction If the noise reduction you’ve selected is so extreme that the overall level is decreased, you can make up for the volume loss at the output stage.

Enhancement The Enhancements section of Ray Gun DirectX offers a classical bass/treble equalizer and a stereo enhancer.

Automation When used within a Mac OS X Audio Units plug-in host that supports this feature Ray Gun Pro AU parameter changes can be fully automated.

The TranzPort wireless DAW from Frontier Design Group allows you to control your music software from anywhere in the room. (Or in another room, but that would be silly.) It’s a nifty-looking piece of plastic with a jog wheel, transport controls and a whole bunch of buttons, and it’s completely wireless.

The TranzPort works with a number of DAWs right out of the box. They list Adobe Audition, Digital Performer, Cubase, Guitar Tracks Pro, Logic, Nuendo, Pro Tools, Reason, SAWStudio and SONAR on the website, with more to come, though it should be possible to do it yourself if you’re brave.

The website has more, much more. They say: Frontier Design Group’s new TranzPort represents a revolutionary way to interact with your Windows or Mac digital audio workstation (DAW). Instead of being stuck in front of your computer to compose, record, and produce music/audio, TranzPort gives you the freedom to control DAW functions from anywhere in your studio.

TranzPort is easy to set up and use. Right out of the box, it’s compatible with popular DAW software such as Pro Tools, Sonar, Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer and others. You can arm tracks, use transport controls, set markers, control pans, punch in/out, start loops, and more from TranzPort’s simple and intuitive interface. TranzPort is a bi-directional controller, so it also provides feedback to you on signal levels, timecode position, track names and more, via a backlit LCD display and LED indicators.

Unlike infrared remotes, you don’t need line-of-sight between the TranzPort and your computer. TranzPort uses high frequency radio waves (RF) to send and receive control data, and uses advanced coding and frequency-hopping techniques to operate without causing interference, even in the presence of other wireless devices.

Using TranzPort, you can:

• Adjust monitor mix settings from inside an iso booth, or easily record instruments that are physically incompatible with your workspace (piano, drums, etc.)
• Get creative in an environment away from the computer (living room, lounge, etc.) without having to run back and forth to the workstation
• Control your recording while physically removing yourself from unwanted computer noise and monitor hum
• Add a set of basic DAW controls to a second location in a studio (producer’s desk, separate room, etc.)
• Remotely control your computer from onstage in live performance without messy cable runs
• And much more!

TranzPort is small and lightweight, runs on standard AA batteries, is mountable to a mic stand (using optional adaptor), and even has a footswitch input. As a very affordable alternative to keyboard/mouse DAW control, TranzPort offers control tools that will speed up your workflow.

Compatible with Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X (10.2.8 and above), and requiring only one USB port for the small receiver, TranzPort is the remote DAW control solution for everyone from personal/project studios to large commercial recording facilities.

Computer Music magazine (August issue) reviews Guru, the whiz-bang drum machine program from FXpansion. They call it a “state-of-the-art drum machine” — it’s really a hybrid program. First, it’s a normal sequencing drum machine. But more importantly, it’s a loop-slicing program that lets you import drum patterns as audio and then slice and dice them to form your own kits and patterns. The review is positively glowing.

They note that Guru uses eight audio engines for playback: “you get eight very capable drum machinesin one interface, all of them fully synced and working in perfect harmony wioth each other.” They also praise the user interface, which they call “attractive and well designed”.

They really like Guru’s loop-processing features. Its SmartSlice technology analyzes audio drum loops and automatically slices them up into individual beats. It also categorizes them according to whether they are a kcik, snare, hi-hat or other percussion hit, and assigns them to one of its four drum pads. It can even convert the loop to MIDI.

Overall, Guru gets the maximum rating — ten out of ten — and the conclusion speaks for itself: “FXpansion have done it again. Guru looks great and is easy to use, yet can create very complex beats. … Thoughtful design features, highly configurable sample pads and extensive sequencing abilities make Guru a truly phenomenal groovebox.”

Modern handheld game consoles are powerful, portable and have pretty good sound capabilities — perfect for making music on the move. There are several ways to make music on these devices– you can work on that killer drum loop on a bus, in a pet shop or while skydiving. Here are a few programs that can help you make music on your portable game console.

The Sony Playstation Portable has PSPKick and PSP Rhythm Composer. PSPKick is a simple drum machine that lets you set up a sequence and play the result or save it to a WAV file. The PSP Rhythm Composer is also just a drum machine, but its interface is based on the Roland TR series drum machines for all you retro freaks out there.

The Game Boy Advance has Nanoloop. “Nanoloop is a synthesizer / sequencer for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. Stored on a normal game cartridge, it allows to produce nice electronic music without further hardware, using either headphones or an external amplifier (home stereo, active speakers, etc) as sound output.” The interface is minimal, but this is probably appropriate for such a small device. Nanoloop has an 8-voice synth — voices can be a rectangular wave, FM synth or noise. There are filters, envelopes and LFO available. It’s all programmed using an 8-track step sequencer. You can even synchronise up to 4 GBAs together for a group jam session.

Even the plain old Game Boy isn’t left out in the cold — there’s Little Sound Dj: “The basic idea is to transform a plain Game Boy/Game Boy Color into a full-fledged music workstation.” There’s a subtractive synth with resonant filters — you can draw your own waveform! — and an arpeggiator. There are also samples available for drum programming and speech synthesis.

For the Nintendo DS, there’s Nanoloop, which works on this as well as the GBA. There’s also the weird and wonderful Electroplankton. Happy musical plankton bounce around the sea, making harmonious sounds as they move. You can set up their environment to help shape and channel the music they make. There are several different types of plankton, each with different movement and sound characteristics. This is more an interactive fishtank than a music-making tool, but the sounds are lovely and the graphics (as you can see) are simple but beautiful.

So the PSP doesn’t have too much going for it yet — Nintendo users have the better option so far. I’m sure more will be in the works. I could see Sony creating a version of Acid for the PSP — now that would be nice.

Cakewalk Pyro 5 is out now. This is the latest version of Cakewalk’s CD mastering package, though it does quite a bit more than just burn CDs. Essentially, it deals with music recorded on any medium — apart from the obvious CD mastering and burning functions, you can also rip CDs or copy music from cassettes, vinyl, the Internet and so on. You can also put your audio down onto DVD (including dual layer DVD), data CDs, MP3 players or mobile phones. And I don’t mean MP3-capable mobiles. I mean ringtones.

Yes, this is the killer new feature of Pyro 5. You can take any audio, and it will transmogrify it into a ringtone and upload it to your mobile phone. Finally you can become a Ringtone Composer and make your fortune! The website promises unlimited ringtone creation from MP3 or CD: “Cakewalk Pyro incorporates ToneThis technology for the ultimate ringtone generator, with no complicated PC to phone connections.

1. Start with any CD track, MP3, or record your own audio
2. Use simple mouse-clicks to set the start and end time of the ringtone
3. Hit “Upload to Phone” to send an unlimited number of custom ringtones across the internet directly to your phone”

OK, it does lots more, but the ringtone thing is definitely the most amusing. Here’s the full list of Pyro 5’s capabilities:

• Create ringtones from any music source, that are easily sent to your phone
• Advanced burning capabilities including: DVD data disc burning and copying; dual-layer DVD burning and copying; disc image (.ISO) burning, copying, and writing/saving
• CD-extra burning (create audio and data hybrid discs)
• Redesigned, easy-to-use interface with new tabs and transport control to help you get started using Pyro 5 quickly—even if you are new to digital music and media software
• Listen to music using Pyro’s dockable Mini Player
• Improved CD ripping with updated CD-look up engine
• Print and copy track lists and disc content
• Create, save, and open playlists (.M3U and .PLS) with easy transfer to portable players
• Improved audio editing
• Rip CDs, make MP3s, and manage your digital music collection
• Make DJ-style megamixes with crossfades for CDs or your portable player
• Record audio from any source: LP, Cassette, Internet broadcast, microphone
• Digitize and clean LPs and cassettes, and transform them into CDs or MP3s
• Record Internet broadcasts, then put them on CD or your portable player
• Cakewalk-quality editing of audio files
• Locate and organize all the music files on your PC
• Instantly download song, album, and artist names
• Burn and share mix CDs of your favorite music
• Archive important data files to CD, DVD, or Dual Layer DVD
• Create backup copies of your favorite CDs and data DVDs
• NEATO CD-labeling graphics package

Zero-G are about to release Nostalgia, a virtual instrument containing a huge collection of vintage synth sounds. How huge? Here’s the list of gear they used to create this goldmine: Ace Tone ‘Rhythm Ace’, Akai XE8, Akai XR10, Alesis HR16, Alesis HR16b, Alesis SR16, Alpha Juno 2, ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey, ARP Pro-Soloist, ARP String Ensemble, Boss DR220, Boss DR55, Casio CZ101, Casio PT-30, Casio RZ1, Casio VL-Tone, Chamberlin, Chapman Stick, Clavinet D6, CR78, Crumar Performer, D50, Delicia Medlodica , Dubreq Stylophone, Elektronika EM-25, Elka Synthex, Eminent 310, Emu Drumulator, Emulator 2, Ensoniq SQ80, Ensoniq SQ-R, Fairlight CMI IIx, Farfisa organ, Farfisa Soundmaker, Fender Rhodes, Fricke MFB512, Gem DEX20, Gem S2, Hammond B/C3, Hammond M102, Hohner Pianet, Jen bass Pedals, Jupiter 6, Kawai K5000, Kawai R5/R50E, Keytek MDP40, Korg DDD1, Korg DDM110/DDM220, Korg M1, Korg ‘Mini Pops’, Korg MS20, Korg Polysix, Korg Prophecy, Korg Trident, Korg Wavestation, Korg X5DR, Linn 9000, Linn Drum Mk2, Linn LM-1, Mattel Synsonics, Mellotron, MemoryMoog, MiniMoog, MKS50, Modulus Monowave, Moog Opus, Moog Taurus Mk1, Moog Voyager, (more…)