Open a DAW from the year 2000 and it’s highly likely you’ll recognise the vast majority of the features — both functionally and visually — from any...
DAW
Emerging technology has left the DAW at a crossroads. A combination of legacy code, compatibility restrictions and a user base who expect their favourite tools to remain familiar has left music-making software lacking innovation. As the pandemic, cloud-computing and generative AI shift expectations of how music-making tools should look and feel, Declan McGlynn asks: will the DAW adapt or die?
The DAW has rolled out a range of new features
Customisable digital audio workstation Reaper has rolled out a new update.
Available for (a very competitively-priced) $60, the Cockos-developed Reaper 6 includes a range of...
The latest update allows users to load Reason Racks as a VST/AU...
Reason, one of the longest-running and most popular pieces of software for electronic music, is now available as a plugin to load into any DAW...
The long-running DAW hits double figures...
Steinberg have announced Cubase 10, the newest version of the long-running music making software. The latest version mainly looks at tweaking existing features such as...
The latest major update adds new sampling functions and MIDI features...
Bitwig have updated their popular music-making software to version 2.4, adding extra features to their Sampling instrument, improving MIDI channel support, new modulation routings, devices...
The change comes off the back of Gibson's closure of Cakewalk last year...
Cakewalk SONAR has re-launched as a free DAW called Cakewalk by BandLab. The popular software was discontinued by owners Gibson last year, but has...
The long awaited update is now available to download...
Ableton Live 10 is now available to buy and download. Announced last November, the major update has been teased out gradually, with the public beta...
Some of the best studio software for making those killer tunes, which one will win outright?
Steinberg Cubase Pro 8
£369
Hype
A fantastic set of new features, improvements to the workflow and interface that make Cubase even easier to...
With guest reviewer ThermalBear
Will the new V2 upgrades to Allen & Heath's DB4 and DB2 mixers warm up the fingers of our guest reviewer, or will they leave him with a severe case of frostbite?
Kings of the road
Once upon a time DJs roamed the planet with boxes filled with enough vinyl to cripple a sherpa and synthesisers that were so big and heavy they required two roadies to wrestle them onto the stage. Fortunately, these days, all it takes is a laptop with a couple of controllers plugged into the USB ports to do the job. Korg have been around since the beginning of the electronic music revolution, and while once they were manufacturers of hardware behemoths, they have kept abreast of the times by releasing a wide range of products in both hardware and software formats, from bulky workstation synthesisers designed to live in a studio to their micro range of keyboards, which are the perfect size and weight to be taken on the road.
The latest iPad studio app.
Studio apps on the iPad are coming out thick and fast, and as they do, are just getting better. The newest app for producers to look at is Synergy Studio from 4PocketsAudio. They also made the Meteor Multi-Track recorder and StompBox guitar effects rack apps.
Cubase 7 on the bench!
It’s a New Year and an especially exciting time for many producers and musicians due to the release of the new versions of Cubase and Cubase Artist, which have now reached version 7.