Back in the day....

Allen & Heath System 8 - 16-8-2

The acid was flowing, the ragga was jumping, and mixers like these still fuelled many project studio's. Here's some details, specs & experiences of the great British mixer....

A new classic!

Novation BassStation

Yup.. never underestimate and old Basstation!... VERY versatile unit, now discontinued it provides, both great sounds and a portable & battery power-able controller/keyboard....

Super dark... super flexible

Red Sound DARKSTAR

Seriously under-rated synth which doubles as a superb controller with a slew of controller sending pots AND a Vector Joystick!...

King of the budget samplers ?

Emu EMAX 1

The super dupa Emax 1 gives you classic rock-hard 12bit E-mu sampling thru mega-nice DA converters. Yup!... it's the exact same sound engine as the SP1200, with the Curtis analog filter chips and it's THE secret weapon in the Hip-hop & Grime wars... Beleive it, nothing makes your drums sound quite like an E-max does!...

Supervalue multi in & out...

Hoontech DSP2496 + ADC&DAC2000

This is one of the cheapest bang-for-buck PC audio i/o systems, which a year later was re-named as the 'C-Port' system and bundled into a single box. All the usual stuff for an 8 X 8 system + S/PDIF digital and 2 MIDI out ports....

Free drums... get yer free drums!

Linplug RM-F

Starting out making midi music?.. wanna bang out some beats or make some rock bakcing drums for your songs or just to play along with?.. It's free, it loads samples, it sounds good, it's very light in CPU use, it's RMF... from the LinPlug man Peter, who brought you such products as Albino....

Old but Gold!

SECK 18-8-2

Yup!... at one time not so long ago, the SECK 18-8-2 was a mainstay of home & semi-pro studio setups throughout Britain!... They can be had for peanuts nowadays and offer a small compact 8 BUS mixer ideal for use with an 8 input audio PC device... check it out!...

Get totaly hammered!!...

Bram Bos Hammerhead

The legendary Hammerhead from Bram Bos! - This is the software that started it all.. Hammerhead is a simple, no frills standalone drumbox with audio render output which delivers absolutely banging patterns you can export in audio format and use in your compositions... Check it out!.. Even today in the world of super-plugin synths this baby is a total winner!!...

Superb free polysynth!

Chris Gill SUPERWAVE P8

Fantastic free trance synth heaven!!... Superwave P8 is now an almost legendary plugin, offering a free twin osc' synth featuring a sort of 'supersaw' osc' which then has 7 variable tuners to create those super-fat JP8000 style super-saw trance sounds... Superwave P8 comes with tons of GREAT presets too!... Heckout the review and get it downloaded via the link!...

SSL goes native!...

Waves SSL Bundle Native

Despite the furore surrounding Waves authorisation and updating procedures you gotta check it out! - Waves bring you two of Solid State Logic's finest channel strips and their Bus comp all rolled in to one not so expensive bundle.... What was once only for the TDM elite is available for lesser mortals using host plugin systems and it's damned good! Get the classic SSL sound on your PC or Mac & find out why the SSL sound is so admired!...

A really goooood trip!!

D16 Group Phoscyon

Yeah, that’s more like it!... a totally superb, classic, old-skool, software acid-box, offering higher than usual quality TB303 clone-age with some really nice added extras! (and you can play it live just like the old days with pattern switching)... it's a pimped 303 stylee, and sounds amazing! - check it out - it's one of the most realistic 303 clones you can get!...

The best value audio interface!?

ESI ESP1010

The ESP1010 offers super-stable, ultra low-latency operation and a great sound all rolled into one!.. We've used this unit for a few years and it never fails to deliver at 1ms latency! - If you seek a reliable audio interface capable of low latency work even with an older music computer and all at a super price then you simply MUST checkout this unit!...

A fistful of processors!...

Focusrite Liquidmix

32 channels of classic vintage & modern compressors & eq's emulated with impulse response sampling, all in a dedicated DSP firewire unit with the option to load more emulations as they are released. Could this be the next buzz product for home studio tech?.... See Liquidmix explained while in action in this video preview exclusive...Check it out!...

Super software workstation!

Synapse Audio Software ORION

The sequencer market has major players like Cubase, Logic and Sonar, and indies, like Reason, Project5 and Fruity-Loops... And ORION! - Orion's been around a while, but it all started here! - Orion is a superb sequencer workstation suite, complete with a full selection of quality synths, drum machines, samplers and fx. Orion also uses VST plugins & Re-Wire, so check it out this in depth review - the first major review of Orion ever published!...

Super all rounder rompler synth...

pluggotic Stealth

Yup checkout this baby for a variety of sounds from thin fizzing trance & tech leads to old-skool rave, techno & Grandmaster Flash in between!... Stealth loads soundfonts, and is fre so what are you waiting for!...

Acceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!

AudioRealism ABL Bass Line Synthesizer

Yup the old 303 just will NOT die!... so why not get as near as dammit in s/w and save yourself a whole lot of cash... Aknowledged as one of the top imitators, the ABL is easy to use, wether sequencing by hand/step or playing via controller keyboard....

One for the guitarists...

Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 2

If you have a decent PC, play some guitar, and want to setup to record songs, add some drums, some fx, geared to guitarists, try this... Robbie checks it out; he's dropped guitar for people like The Sugar babes and All Saints, commercial sessions, and at the time of writing this review he was a PC newcomer... How did Guitar Tracks 2 fare?... check it out....

The eagle has landed!...

Rob Papen/LinPlug Albino

Albino is a superb all-rounder synth with sounds designed by Rob Papen & the engine and interface etc designed by Linplug, and it rocks! - This synth will deliver your VA analog sounds, fx, blips, basses, pads and also in a strange way seems to fill a gap in the market for a quality plugin synth which also functions as a classic digital synth due to the included digital waves... So this can do all your lead and analaog stuff as well as the sort of classic pads and sounds you'd expect from a classic rompler synth....

Super valve value!... Chinese style!

the t.bone SCT800

The Chinese invasion brings quality microphones at rock-bottom prices... People's initial scepticism was unfounded and Chinese made mic's are now recognised as potentialy quality products, but at a way cheaper price than equivilent products made in Europe or the USA... Many German & US mic companies already have alot of OEM products made for them in China, and these products can offer fantastic value for money! - We checkout the T-Bone SCT-800 valve mic complete with audio example of the mic in action with a quality vocalist!...

mastering your music

IK Multimedia T-Racks 24

T-Racks has been around for a while, offering a suite of mastering plugins featuring virtual valve simulation modelling. Warm and 'phatten' your mixes in standalone mode, or with the recent versions, use individual T-Racks processors as insert plugins seperately from the stand-alone rack!.... whatever you like, T-Racks is versatile & a very popular affordable way to enter the world of home mastering!...