Audio & music gear guides & articles

Music is universal — even people in New Zealand, who live down under, play music. They even make guitar stompboxes. And of course, that's what interests us more here at AudioFanzine. Focus on four an…

A pair of audio heads with a studio based outside Tokyo recently contacted me with their first recorded mic preamp comparison tests. I was impressed and happy to have made friends from studio trench…

Following the Schecter Ultra Bass review published last summer, here we have a brand new product from the Asian manufacturer.

Noise gates aren't as relevant as they were back in the analog days, when hiss was an uninvited intruder on anything you recorded. But noise gates can do some really cool special effects that have no…

Instead of launching the umpteenth reissue of a catalog instrument, Fender decided to innovate by mounting high-output passive humbuckers on a new series called Black Top. This new product range incl…

I got a bit nostalgic when I wrote this review. I was 16 when my first amp was waiting for me under the Christmas tree. Not a 15-watt amp but a big one. To play in a band, do live gigs and be cheere…

The launch of the Montclarion Hall Piano gives us the opportunity to present to you the full range of Tonehammer pianos, characterized by the same original approach of all the other instruments by th…

I like music with a distinctly electronic edge, but also want a human "feel." Trying to resolve these seemingly contradictory ideals has led to some fun experimentation, but one of the more recent "h…

While Avid and Cakewalk launched the new versions of their respective flagship sequencers just before Christmas, Steinberg chose NAMM 2011 to present the wistfully awaited version 6 of Cubase. This n…

There are almost as many ways to capture guitar amplifier sound with a microphone as there are for a piano. And as with piano (and kick and snare drum, for that matter) single-mic approaches can’t al…

It was a dark and stormy night. I was rudely awakened at 3 AM by the ringing of a phone, pounding my brain like a jackhammer that spent way too much time chowing down at Starbucks. The voice on the o…

On today's menu, to get rid of the cold and warm up, we have a light but nourishing pair of SWR class-D heads (an amp/preamp combo and a power amplifier).

Dynamics processing with studio-oriented processors? Been there, done that. But have you re-visited it lately in a guitar context? Dynamics control for vocals or program material is very different co…

An ADAM speaker for under $300? Yes, what used to be a dream is now reality thanks to the small A3X equipped with a 4.5" woofer and the German manufacturer's famous ribbon tweeter. Does it have every…

Vienna Symphonic Library recently presented its Vienna Instruments Pro. What is hidden behind this virtual instrument? Is it just an aesthetic update or a real evolution?

No matter how much caffeine you've consumed today, you're not as wired as your studio - or your stage rig. But how much do you really think about those little spaghetti-like critters that form the ce…

It was THE event at the 2010 AES show in San Fran: the launch of Pro Tools 9 took center stage and generated a lot of expectations. Pro Tools 9 is not merely a simple update. It is in fact a small re…

Today's review is dedicated to a master piece and a living legend — a totem in electric bass guitar history.

Following tradition, we present to you Audiofanzine's Top 11 gear picks from NAMM 2011.

The new Sonar version has arrived. However, instead of being version 9, it is named Sonar X1. Cakewalk actually decided to completely rebuild the interface of its sequencer. And it changes everything…

The Mouth, second effect created by Tim Exile after The Finger, allows you to process any input signal in a creative way, even though it shows some preference for vocals. Is it a vocoder? More? Or le…

It's one of the most used, and most misunderstood, signal processors. While people use it to make a recording "punchier," it often ends up dulling the sound instead because the controls aren't set op…

How about mixing MP3 files without a computer? That's the goal of the DJ-Tech U2 Station MK2...

If you're a guitarist and you're not into multiband distortion...well, you should be. Just as multiband compression delivers a smoother, more transparent form of dynamics control, multiband distortio…

What features does the fifth version of the historical Propellerhead software have to offer? Overview.