Audio & music gear guides & articles

About four years ago, Apogee launched a digital audio FireWire interface called Duet that offered two analog ins and outs. In the meantime, competitors have brought out some very interesting products…

A lot of guitar multieffects have a footpedal that can be assigned to various parameters. Volume and wa are no-brainer pedal assignments, but there are a whole lot of other parameters that are well-s…

We don't turn 60 everyday, and we don't always have the opportunity to celebrate the advent of our species to this planet: the "Homo Sapiens Bassistus-Electricus." Although Leo Fender was not the inv…

Grand, colossal, gargantuan… Mammoth, immense, monumental… Promethean, towering, or just plain walloping huge - get out the thesaurus for more adjectives to adequately describe the size and scope of …

Live by these 7 rules if you want your budget to survive technological changes.

We reviewed the Fender Super-Sonic 22 combo in September 2010, and it seduced us with its numerous positive features. A few months later, the American manufacturer decided to complete its range and l…

AVID, formerly Digidesign, took advantage of last year's re-branding to present the third generation of its digital audio budget interfaces: the Mbox series. Today, we'll give the Mbox Pro a try, the…

Having reviewed the Traktor Kontrol S4 at the end of 2010, I got an email from Native Instruments in early April offering me a free upgrade for Traktor Pro 2. The differences between both S4 and PRO …

Five years after having introduced the Little Phatty, Moog decided to launch the compact synth in module version. Did the Slim Phatty succeed in making the famous Moog sound available to anyone?

Ever play the perfect solo or riff except that one note was just a little bit early, or a little bit late? If you never have, then stop reading this article immediately, move to Los Angeles, New York…

About one year ago Fender released the small modeling guitar combo Mustang II. Ever since, they have extended their product line with more powerful products, including an amp head we want to try out …

There's nothing like the sound of real reverb, such as what you hear in a cathedral or symphonic hall. That's because reverb is made up of a virtually infinite number of waves bouncing around within …

We tested the Abbey Road 60's sound bank about one year ago. In the meantime, Native Instruments has already released three more Abbey Road sound banks: 70's, 80's and Modern Drums. Let's get this sh…

Computers can be pretty smart, but when it comes to sound, they need a translator that can convert sound waves into the digital language of ones and zeroes. Audio interfaces provide this translation.

Compact tube amps are definitely "in" nowadays. They are conceived to provide a classic sound in spite of their affordable price and compact dimensions. So, when Eagletone decided to launch a small 5…

Following the Red Ripper, let's check out the new VT Bass version released by Tech 21. The unit is a preamp in stompbox format. It simulates the sound of the legendary SVT amps from a manufacturer wh…

Without any offense to purists who get a nervous breakdown every time they discover the slightest scratch on their guitar, the Road Worn Series instruments have been intentionally damaged: the varnis…

Ever since the futuristic RH450 came out (directly from a Georges Lucas film), the viking manufacturer has kept on developing products for bass players.

After the Highway One, updated in 2006, Fender comes back again with new affordable products from its American production center: the revisited versions of the Precision Bass and the Jazz Bass.

Mixvibes was founded in 2003, when they started to market a product that allowed mixing and scratching digital files using time-coded vinyl records and CDs with the use of a sound card. Nowadays, Mix…

Today, I won't be gentle: kill the Care Bears, throw the wooden cross of the "Little Singers of Paris" into the fire and make place for the distortion god.

String sections from John Williams or Hans Zimmer are pretty nice but they don't sound very rock 'n' roll. So we are very happy to welcome Native Instruments' Session Strings — a string section for K…

Following our review series on virtual pianos, we test the results of a triple collaboration between a manufacturer (Native Instruments), another manufacturer (Scarbee) and an artist (Alicia Keys).

It wasn’t the promise of a performance by Lady Gaga that drew me in to watch the Grammys this year, but rather, some added motivation in having the opportunity to check out the live and broadcast sou…

Vocal effects are present more than ever in modern music, but if you want special effects, you don't give the control to the sound engineer. Loopers are also hip, especially for artists making solo p…