New music tech gear of the month: review round-up (November 2012)
Photoshop for audio?
Sony Creative Software SpectraLayers Pro
Every month, MusicRadar's industry-leading sister magazines - Guitarist, Computer Music, Total Guitar, Rhythm and Future Music - publish the best independent and in-depth music-making gear reviews.
We've collated the latest plug-ins, apps, DJ gear and other hardware to have fallen under the watchful eyes of Computer Music, Future Music, Rhythm Total Guitar and Guitarist's test teams. All the gear on show here was originally reviewed in Computer Music issue 183, Future Music issue 258, and Guitarist issue 360.
Scroll on for this month's top picks and click through to read each product's full review. First up: Sony Creative Software SpectraLayers Pro.
Brainworx's bx_rockrack aims to apply a recording engineer's approach to guitar amp emulation, supplanting quantity with quality
Brainworx bx_rockrack
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The 'King Of Instruments', sampled
Garritan Classic Pipe organs
MusicRadar’s verdict:
70s and 80s string synths galore
UVI String Machines
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A pro-level DAW for the iPad
WaveMachine Labs Auria
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Create your own control surfaces by laying out and configuring Beatsurfing's Objects - Lines, Circles, Polygons and Faders
Vlek Beatsurfing
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The Cubase 6.5 synth standard goes it alone
Steinberg Retrologue
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A soundbank of 400 patches by Hans Zimmer and Howard Scarr, as used in the soundtracks for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises
u-he The Dark Zebra
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The mighty 'morphic returns
Intermorphic Noatikl 2
MusicRadar’s verdict:
BussPressor's feature-set and sound makes it more suited to the kind of organic response required for acoustic and rock styles
PSP Audioware BussPressor
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The ARC System claims to compensate for the frequency and phase distortions caused by your monitors and room
IK Multimedia ARC System 2
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Magma gives you a rack with 65 modules covering pretty much all processing eventualities all housed within a single plug-in
Nomad Factory Magma
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Is this new software synth a breath of fresh air?
XILS-Lab Oxium
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The return of the rack synth
Roland Integra-7 Sound Module
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Sonnox EQ recreates the tone-shaping capabilities from the OXF-R3 digital mixing console
UAD-2 Sonnox EQ
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A dynamic duo? More like a quartet, actually...
FXpansion DCAM Dynamics
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A desktop-friendly spring reverb unit
Vermona Retroverb Lancet
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A lightweight 'dock' for the iPad with phono outputs, mono 1⁄4" and stereo 3.5mm inputs, MIDI DIN I/O and a 3.5mm headphone jack round front.
Griffin StudioConnect
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Does this Serato controller scratch the Itch? Not exactly…
Reloop Terminal Mix4
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Array comprises a bank of eight parallel -36dB/octave resonant band-pass filters
Sinevibes Array
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Unlike many new monitors, the controls and connections on The Rock MK2 are reassuringly simple
Unity Audio The Rock MK2
MusicRadar’s verdict:
There's one channel but four flavours on this controllable, top quality valve distortion unit
Thermionic Culture Solo Vulture
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Traktor-powered wheels of steel
Numark 4Trak DJ Controller
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Get your channel strips in shape
iZotope Alloy 2
MusicRadar’s verdict:
A synth plug-in worth hunting down
Rob Papen Predator-RE
MusicRadar’s verdict:
The user-friendly granular synth gets updated
Steinberg Padshop Pro
MusicRadar’s verdict:
Mixcraft becomes a serious DAW contender
Acoustica Mixcraft Pro Studio 6
MusicRadar’s verdict:
An iPad synth that refuses to compromise