Universal Audio’s LA-6176 is a channel strip comprising three emulations of classic gear in one. You get the 610 mic preamp, designed to give the warm, smooth tube sound of an original UA 610 console, as used by artists ranging from Van Halen to Fran

Synthesisers come in many shapes and sizes; from hardware to software, East to West coast, there are many different takes on the familiar form factors. But if there’s one country that has a tendency to innovate in the realm of music technology, it’s

One of the notorious legacies of ARP synthesisers, is their ability to create beefy bass sounds. There have been many examples of ARP’s being employed for bass duties; Japanese synth-pop masters, the Yellow Magic Orchestra, often used an ARP Odyssey

Shreddage was one of the first metal guitar instruments and has now become a brand in itself, spawning several titles including fretless, 8-string and blues versions. This is the original, now at v3, and features 45 tones, over a dozen articulations,

Download all assets for this issue at bit.ly/cm340downloads This month, optimism is our watchword, and we commissioned some samples to match our mood… “A collection of melodic phrases to add or enhance an uplifting element in your tracks. A variety o

Guitar Rig 7 Pro gives you 115 effects and utilities and, really, it’s hard to think what else you’d possibly require processor wise. The best bit is that it is so easy to drag and drop these devices into whatever chain you want to create or, better

You might well think that the plugin-stuffed computer you use to make music on has been around forever. But when we launched this magazine, over 25 years ago, such technology didn’t exist, and the world of computer music-making was a very different o

There are a handful of audio editors that can stray into spectral (that is, frequency-specific) territory – Steinberg WaveLab and Adobe Audition spring to mind. But if you wish to unlock the true potential – and, let’s face it, near magic – of this n

Drum machine sounds are a most bizarre thing. The fat Linn Drum snare was recorded in Roger Linn’s wardrobe. The iconic 909 hi-hat was a physical hi-hat, owned by one of the machine’s designers, and recorded at Roland HQ, while the clap from Oberheim

Mastering your music used to be a dark art. You’d send it off to experts in white coats who would scratch their chins, and send it through large pieces of black outboard gear. They would EQ this, wibble that, and transmute the other. Your music would

The world of robotic tuned effects is still big business, whether you agree with the fact that the music industry still seems overly fixated with the effect – over a quarter of a century after Cher made it famous with Believe – or not. Baby Audio is

NEW RELEASES > COMMENT > INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS One of our favourite software hubs, IK Multimedia’s T-RackS, has now been updated to version 6, and boasts an expanded collection of 60 modules covering mixing, mastering and effects processing. Modules ca

There’s a new hard dance sound emerging in dance music that’s tough to put a label on. Some call it 'modern trance', some call it 'Gen Z' trance and some label it as euro dance or simply hard house. This movement re-envisions an older rave sound, and

When it comes to bundles, Arturia is the company to beat. Its multi award-winning V Collection X gathers 39 classic keyboards and synths under one roof, and presents you with an almost overwhelming number of classic and vintage key options. The compa

In our guitar technology history, we’re just about at the turn of this century, this magazine is in its infancy, and software is just about to come of age. Which is just as well, as we’ve been envying guitarists who can wield their axes with aplomb f

When you discover the vast range of features within Horizen, and that it’s at version 2.5, you might well ask, as we did, ‘how did I not know about this before?’. Maybe it’s because it’s one of those ‘is it a synth? Is it a sampler? Is it a ROMpler?’

Next issue, we’re digging deep into the world of modulation and movement. It’s the ultimate guide to getting your tracks to be more kinetic, crafting sounds that have an organic, living quality. We’ll detail all you need to bring your work to life! T

For the better part of five decades we have been wrestling with technology to try and get it to imitate the sound of the guitar – and all for the very good reasons we just mentioned: it’s a damned hard instrument to master! Early synthesisers were of