Electronic Musician 2004 Editors Choice Awards

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By the EM Staff

One of the wonderful — and at the same time, one of the most challenging — aspects of the Western political and economic system is that its citizens can and often must make choices. Every year, the EM editors take advantage of this freedom of choice to honor the finest new products we've checked out in the past twelve months. And every year, we struggle to choose the winners, not because the editors fight about it — we're all friends here, and besides, nobody wants to take on Steve O and his German shepherd — but because we have so many hard choices among excellent products.

The number of awards varies slightly each year because we add new categories and drop or revise old ones, reflecting the creation of new product types and the presence or absence of outstanding candidates in existing categories. Last year, for example, we added a DSP Cards category because of hot new cards; this year, that morphed into the DSP Hosts category because specialized host processors are now available in external boxes as well as on PCI cards. We did not give an award for monitor speakers last year, but the category is back this year because we had worthy candidates.

In the end, we gave awards to 27 winners in 26 categories. We had one tie (Ancillary Software), which we decided not to resolve because the two winners were equally deserving and were radically different from each other.

All award-winning products have been field-tested by EM's editors and a select group of top authors. We also solicited opinions from the editors of sister publications Mix and Remix. The final selections were made by our own technical editors: Steve O, Mike Levine, Dennis Miller, Gino Robair, David Rubin, and Geary Yelton. All award-winning products have already been covered in reviews or features or are far enough along in the review process that we feel confident about our conclusions (see the sidebar “The Award Winners in Review” on p. 64).

To be eligible for an Editors' Choice award, products must have shipped between October 1, 2002, and October 1, 2003, when we began editing our January issue. We allow some slack for products that shipped so close to the previous year's deadline that it was not possible for us to test them in time for the 2003 awards. (This was the case with our 2004 Hybrid DAW Control Surface/Audio Interface winner, for instance.) We do not allow such leeway if we believe a manufacturer could have supplied a review unit in time but intentionally delayed sending it.

Keep in mind that these are our picks among the new products we have actually tested; we cannot consider the many products we never got to check out, and we do not consider older products. We give an award to a software upgrade only if we think it offers major and significant improvements over the previous version.

And now, without further ado, please join us in congratulating the winners of the 12th annual EM Editors' Choice awards!

Ancillary Hardware

LITTLE LABS
IBP Analog Phase Alignment Tool ($550)

Little Labs has a remarkable track record in creating elegant solutions to common recording problems. Last year it won an Editors' Choice award for the PCP Instrument Distro 3.0 signal splitter and router. This time, Little Labs is in the winner's circle for its IBP Analog Phase Alignment Tool.

IBP stands for In Between Phase, an indication of what this device has to offer. Although most mixers and preamps have a phase-reverse switch, a simple 180-degree change in a signal's polarity may be more phase change than you need in a particular situation. The IBP gives you 0 to 180 degrees of continuous control over a mono signal. This allows you to fine-tune the phase relationship between a pair of drum mics or a miked guitar amp and a DI signal. The result of such precise control can be as subtle as an increase in presence or as obvious as higher gain and an improved transient response. The IBP tackles the job without introducing coloration, noise, or gain reduction.

Other useful features include phase-invert and ground-lift switches, and the Phase Center Lo/Hi button, which optimizes the unit for wide-bandwidth or low-frequency signals. The IBP also provides a front-panel DI input and rear-panel XLR and ¼-inch ins and outs for reamping line-level signals.

Once again, Little Labs has come to the rescue with a product that is clearly a winner.

Ancillary Software

FXPANSION AUDIO UK
VST to AudioUnit Adapter 1.0 (Mac, $75)

MATT INGALLS

MacCsound 1.0 (Mac, donationware)

All musicians have bread-and-butter tools that they rely on every day, but other tools, used to do special jobs, can be equally important. This year, two such occasional-use tools really grabbed our attention, and although they are intended for very different purposes, both fill important roles.

FXpansion's VST to AudioUnit Adapter converts VST plug-ins to Apple OS X's Audio Units format, expanding the world of VST effects and instruments on the Mac platform. Logic Audio 6 and Digital Performer 4 users will be especially delighted by the ease with which they can add new plug-ins to their audio arsenals.

Converting VST plug-ins to Audio Units is a one-time operation: just copy all your plug-ins to a new folder and tell VST-AU Adapter where to find them, and the program will convert them in a single pass. There's no added latency when using converted plug-ins, and VST-AU Adapter has been tested with a large number of plug-ins from a variety of manufacturers, so you can expect near-universal compatibility. If you do find a plug-in that is problematic, you can bet that Angus Hewitt, principal developer for FXpansion and one of the hardest-working men in show business, will help set things straight.

Our second winner is something altogether different. Barry Vercoe's Csound is by far the most powerful sound-synthesis programming language on the planet, but few people have the time and patience to type line after line of note statements to compose their next masterpiece. Matt Ingalls's MacCsound puts a graphical front-end on Csound and lets you use sliders, knobs, and a variety of other widgets to control your Csound Instruments in real time.

Using MacCsound, you can build custom interfaces for one or even an entire set of Instruments. Need a bunch of buttons for choosing a table for your oscillators? That's no problem. How about a row of knobs to control the various parameters of an FM synth? Easily done. The included text editor lets you get at the code beneath your GUIs, and you can run any of the Csound analysis utilities directly within the MacCsound interface, not to mention compile and play back all of your designs. You can also put Instrument parameters under real-time MIDI control and process audio with the various built-in effects.

If you're still using Csound the old-fashioned way, you're in for a very pleasant surprise. Check out MacCsound to see what a modern interface can do for the mother of all sound-design tools.

Audio-Editing Software

MAGIX
Samplitude 7.11 (Win, $1,250)

A good audio-editing application lies at the heart of most computer-based studios, and this year we looked at several popular stereo and multitrack audio-editing programs. In the end we agreed that Samplitude Professional 7.11 clearly stood out for its long list of noteworthy improvements and its powerful new audio- and video-editing tools.

Version 7 of Samplitude has a more refined user interface and a new audio engine that supports 24-bit, 192 kHz recording and editing. It also offers 5.1-surround mixing and supports direct hosting of VST instruments and effects, including full parameter automation. To preserve the highest quality when reducing resolutions for CD burning, Samplitude now includes POW-r Consortium's POW-r dithering algorithm. And speaking of CD burning, Samplitude lets you burn CDs directly from the program, applying real-time effects, plug-ins, and crossfades on the fly — a feature that's pretty amazing.

Several of Samplitude's new tools really caught our attention. For example, the program now includes a fully implemented vocoder with its own FFT filter for editing the signal. The new Room Simulator lets you apply real-time, impulse-response-based reverb effects to your tracks and includes a 450 MB library of impulse responses for a variety of acoustic spaces. You can even edit the reverb parameters in real time as the sound plays.

We also loved Samplitude's new Amp Simulator effect for processing guitar sounds. It models an assortment of vintage British and American guitar amps, including five different amp models and ten separate loudspeaker models that you can freely mix and match.

Samplitude's many other new offerings include greatly expanded MIDI capabilities; excellent built-in effects; and Video deLuxe 2.0, a full-featured video-recording, -editing, and -authoring suite; and more. As you can see, this popular do-it-all program does even more than it did before — and that's saying a lot.

DAW Control Surface/Audio Interface

DIGIDESIGN
Digi 002 (Mac/Win, $2,495)

As audio products combine more features and technologies into one device, it's nice to find a jack-of-all-trades product that is a master of many. Such is the Digidesign Digi 002, which puts a control surface, a FireWire audio and MIDI interface, and a standalone digital mixer in one unit. Add to that the inclusion of Pro Tools LE (Mac/Win) and a bundle of plug-ins and you have a powerful DAW and controller capable of 24-bit, 96 kHz recording right out of the box. To sweeten the deal further, Pro Tools LE version 6.1.1 has CoreAudio, ASIO, and WAV drivers, allowing you to use the Digi 002 as an interface for your favorite third-party software.

The Digi 002 offers 14 analog inputs: 4 phantom-powered XLR jacks, 4 balanced ¼-inch jacks operating at +4 dBu, 4 balanced ¼-inch jacks that operate at +4 dBu or — 10 dBV, and 2 unbalanced RCA jacks for — 10 dBV signals. Digital I/O includes RCA S/PDIF jacks as well as optical jacks that are configurable as 8-channel ADAT Lightpipe or 2-channel S/PDIF ports. With all that and two FireWire ports, one MIDI Input, and two MIDI Outs, the Digi 002 offers quite a complement of connectivity.

The Digi 002 offers an ergonomic and intuitive control surface for Pro Tools LE, with eight touch-sensitive faders and conveniently located transport and navigational controls. The interface also includes buttons dedicated to everyday tasks, such as Loop Record, Nudge, and Zoom.

Away from the computer, the Digi 002 can be used as a standalone 8×4×2 digital mixer. It includes built-in effects such as EQ, delay, reverb, and dynamics processing, and you can save and recall snapshots of your favorite settings.

It's always nice to find a product that serves several functions well. For the musician whose musical life rotates between desktop, laptop, and live performances, Digidesign has given us a clear winner with the Digi 002.

Digital Audio Sequencer/MIDI Sequencer

MARK OF THE UNICORN
Digital Performer 4.1 (Mac, $795)

As in previous years, the voting in the digital-audio/MIDI-sequencer category was an emotional roller coaster: we laughed, we cried, we sat around the campfire singing “Kumbaya,” and finally we just slugged it out to see which product would win. Remember, with upgrades, we are judging the quality and extent of the upgrade, not just the overall program. This was not an easy decision to reach.

Emagic Logic 5.5 garnered support for its versatile and customizable architecture, solid cross-platform performance, and powerful music-production capabilities. But when the dust cleared, MOTU's Digital Performer 4.1 edged out the competition by virtue of its elegant and finely crafted new user interface, its intuitive design, and its nearly bottomless feature set.

With version 4.1, Digital Performer has fully embraced Mac OS X, providing extensive support for CoreAudio and CoreMIDI and at last relegating OMS and FreeMIDI to the dustbin of history. Digital Performer offers easy remapping from FreeMIDI to CoreMIDI, and it now supports OS X's MIDI-device patch-lists feature. In fact, all of Free MIDI's hundreds of patch lists have already been ported to OS X.

Digital Performer's timing accuracy remains impressive, thanks to its support of OS X's MIDI Time Stamping feature. Version 4.1 also boasts a number of helpful enhancements, including menu improvements, support for multiple document templates, a new input/output section on each mixer channel, a greatly improved QuickScribe notation window, and the program's new, resource-saving Freeze Tracks command.

Arguably the biggest news, however, is MOTU's ever-expanding support for other formats and platforms. For example, Digital Performer fully supports ReWire 2.0 (now with direct MIDI I/O) and also supports Audio Units as well as its own MAS plug-ins. What's more, in addition to its earlier OMF support, Digital Performer supports Digidesign hardware running under DAE. In other words, you can now use Digital Performer as a front end for Pro Tools|HD and other TDM-based systems. The list of improvements, both large and small, goes on much longer, but the bottom line is that Digital Performer is better than ever, and that's no small feat for this perennial award winner.

Digital Audio Workstation/Audio Interface

MARK OF THE UNICORN
828mkII (Mac/Win, $795)

FireWire audio interfaces have become integral parts of many personal studios, offering high-quality audio, flexible I/O, and ease of setup. Although plenty of these products were introduced in 2003, we singled out the MOTU 828mkII for this award because of its impressive combination of performance, features, and value.

The 828mkII (which is compatible with both Mac and Windows) is an upgraded version of the MOTU 828, which won the Editor's Choice award in 2002. The new unit offers significant additions and improvements, including 24-bit, 96 kHz audio; front-panel mic-instrument inputs (featuring Trim controls and switchable phantom power) on Neutrik XLR/TRS combo jacks; and MOTU's CueMix DSP system, which allows for near-zero-latency monitoring. There's also an upgraded front-panel display, consisting of a backlit LCD and an array of LEDs, that makes it easy to keep track of the unit's many functions.

The 828mkII's 8-bus mixing section allows control of parameters like volume, pan, mute, and solo, just like on a conventional console. Although the mixing features can all be accessed from the front panel (meaning you can use the 828mkII as a standalone unit), some might prefer to use the included CueMix Console software (Mac/Win), which gives you onscreen control of the mixing functions.

I/O on the 828mkII is impressive. You get up to 20 simultaneous inputs and 22 outputs. Connections include the aforementioned Neutrik combo jacks, eight TRS inputs and outputs, two TRS Main outputs, eight channels of ADAT optical I/O, and two channels of S/PDIF I/O. Other features include word-clock in and out, ADAT sync in, and even a 1-In, 1-Out MIDI interface. Mac users also get MOTU's AudioDesk software, which is essentially the audio-recording section of the company's award-winning Digital Performer software. Add it all up, and you have another winner for MOTU.

DSP Host

ROLAND
VariOS ($1,495)

Software that imitates musical instruments is nothing new. Nor is the idea of a chameleon-like hardware device that assumes a new personality depending on the software you load into it; in essence, that's what a personal computer does. Just in the last year or so, a few manufacturers have introduced shape-shifting DSP engines that can be programmed to perform various types of synthesis and effects processing. Roland's implementation of those ideas is a DSP host system housed in a single-rackspace module and dubbed the VariOS.

The VariOS models whatever instrument its software tells it to. Connecting it to your computer with a USB cable gives you access to virtual control panels and to a dedicated graphical audio editor and 6-track sequencer called V-Producer (Mac/Win). By performing the heavy-duty number-crunching, the VariOS frees your computer's processor for other music-production tasks. For stage use, you can also cut the connection and use the VariOS as a standalone synth and sampler.

The VariOS generates sound using VariPhrase sampling and two types of analog-synthesis modeling. Its processor analyzes pitch, time, and formant data and encodes it in a proprietary format that allows it to manipulate samples as only VariPhrase can. That makes it possible, for example, to stretch a single sample up or down in pitch much farther than normal without noticeable artifacts. VariPhrase handles pitch shifting, beat slicing, and time stretching in real time.

A polyphonic synth model called VariOS-8 re-creates the Roland Juno and Jupiter series. On your computer screen, the software looks and operates much like a Jupiter-8, complete with oscillators, filter, EGs, and effects processing. VariOS 303 is a monophonic model that duplicates the TB-303 Bass Line, a combination synth and 16-step sequencer that was largely ignored in its time but is now in huge demand. VariOS-8 and VariOS 303 both sound terrific.

In the VariOS, Roland has made a rackmount DSP engine that not only works as an advanced VariPhase-based sampler but also resurrects analog synthesizers of the past — and according to Roland, we ain't seen nothing yet. That makes it one of the most promising devices of its kind for electronic-music production. We eagerly anticipate seeing and hearing the VariOS's continuing development as a versatile platform for sound design.

Groove Box

ROLAND
MC-909 ($1,795)

Roland's MicroComposer (MC) series began over a quarter-century ago and continues to thrive in the form of groove-oriented music workstations. Every year, groove boxes grow more sophisticated, more economical, and more versatile. The current state-of-the-art is embodied in the MC-909, Roland's flagship Sampling Groovebox. Aimed squarely at R&B, techno, and hip-hop styles, the MC-909 offers an impressive assortment of musician-friendly features.

At its heart, the MC-909 is a 64-note XV-series synthesizer with the added advantages of traditional and VariPhrase sampling. You can expand its 16 MB of sample RAM to 272 MB and can store your samples on SmartMedia cards. An interactive 16-track phrase-based sequencer provides hundreds of first-rate factory patterns. Full-featured effects include reverb, compression, EQ, and two multi-effects processors. A versatile arpeggiator, an onboard mixer, and a USB interface complete the package.

It's obvious that years of experience went into the user-interface design. A large display and lots of knobs, buttons, and sliders present a logical layout with plenty of visual feedback and easy access to hundreds of parameters. For musical expression onstage and in the studio, the MC-909 is endowed with abundant real-time controllers, including 16 Velocity-sensitive pads, twin D Beam infrared proximity controllers, and a slider that emulates a turntable by allowing you to push and pull pitch and tempo. With the MC-909, you can meticulously assemble your songs, tweak sounds in the studio, and then alter your mix and rearrange patterns in live performance without pausing playback.

The world of groove boxes offers plenty of choices to fit anyone's pocketbook. But when we considered the MC-909's sound, flexibility, portability, and cost-to-performance ratio, we discovered that it is nothing short of astounding and an obvious Editors' Choice.

Loop Sequencers/Editors

DEVINE MACHINE SOFTWARE
Devine Machine 1.0 (Win, $249)

This is one you have to see to believe: looping software that is so far out of the box, you'll have to rethink everything you know about working with loops to use it. But that's not a bad thing. In fact, you'll find more options for manipulating loops with Devine Machine than with almost any other software on the market. And once you get your head around the x-y graphs that are used to control every aspect of your loops, you'll be composing music that would be nearly impossible to create using more-familiar tools.

Devine Machine can play back up to eight mono or stereo, 16- or 32-bit loops simultaneously and lets you manipulate the order of loop slices in real time. You can adjust a variety of parameters — pitch, pan, delay level, and more — for each loop as the loop plays back, and you can save presets containing all the current settings at any point.

But that's only half the fun, because while up to eight loops are playing, you can trigger another 24 loops using a MIDI keyboard and can determine whether the new loops will replace or sound along with the original 8. Sure, you'll need a powerful computer to take advantage of all these options, but Devine Machine is up to the task if you are.

Colorful graphics, a good manual, and excellent sound quality round out this unusual application. Though the unusual interface may temporarily have you wondering “Where do I find all the good stuff?” a few hours with Devine Machine will bring your loops into entirely new realms.

Microphone (over $600)

AUDIO ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES
R84 ($1,000)

In some of the Editor's Choice categories this year, there were close votes and long debates between editors before a winner was declared. Not in this category, however, because for microphones costing more than $600, the AEA R84 was a “slam dunk.”

Why all the excitement about this product? The figure-8 R84 is an excellent-sounding ribbon mic that lists for $1,000, a very reasonable price in the ribbon world. Although the R84 uses the same long, low-tension ribbon as its sibling the R44C (which is a reproduction of the classic RCA 44), the R84 is an original design, not a replica. The R84 is also surprisingly light, tipping the scales at only 1.75 pounds.

Our reviewer was extremely impressed with this mic, describing its tone as “gorgeous.” He tried it on a variety of sources, including guitar amps, drums, sopranino saxophone, bass clarinet, and trumpet, and he used it as both a close mic and a room mic. In almost every instance, the R84 produced excellent results. And thanks to the mic's surprisingly good (for a ribbon) high-end response, it also performed admirably on vocals.

Our reviewer also tested the R84 against several other well-known (and in some cases much more expensive) ribbon mics, and the AEA mic held its own quite nicely, exhibiting a big sound, lots of low-end punch, and plenty of high-end clarity. Wes Dooley and the other folks at AEA get a well-deserved round of applause (and, of course, the award) for the R84.

Microphone (under $600)

RØDE
NT1-A ($349)

A number of notable mics costing less than $600 shipped in 2003, including Blue's Ball phantom-powered dynamic and Audix's D6 kick-drum mic. But we chose the large-diaphragm, fixed-cardioid Røde NT1-A because it represents an amazing value.

The NT1-A didn't take us entirely by surprise: Røde has built its reputation by making high-quality, affordable microphones. But even with the company's history of success in that area, the NT1-A is perhaps Røde's most outstanding achievement from a price-performance standpoint.

Although it's an offshoot of the NT1, the NT1-A is completely redesigned on the inside and benefits from new manufacturing processes. One of the mic's most astonishing attributes is its incredibly quiet operation: it has a self-noise spec of 5 dBa, one of the lowest for any mic anywhere. Considering the NT1-A's $349 list price, that spec is even more remarkable.

But specs only tell part of the story. Ultimately the way to judge a mic is by its sound, and our reviewer was knocked out by the NT1-A's sonic performance. From acoustic guitars to guitar amplifiers to vocals to percussion, the NT1-A excelled in every application for which it was tested, and it handled high-SPL sources without a problem. Anyone seeking an affordable large-diaphragm condenser for their studio should not fail to listen to the versatile NT1-A.

Monitor Speaker

BLUE SKY
ProDesk 2.1 ($1,195)

Several monitor systems were in the running in the close-field category, including Alesis's budget-priced ProActive 5.1-surround system. But when pressed to choose an overall winner — and factoring in both price and quality — we gave the nod to Blue Sky's ProDesk 2.1 system.

The ProDesk 2.1 combines a pair of biamplified SAT 5 satellite speakers — each featuring a 5¼-inch woofer, a ¾-inch tweeter, and dual 60W (into 4ž) power amps — with the SUB 8, a 100W (into 4ž) powered subwoofer. The crossover is configured so that frequency material above 80 Hz goes to the satellites, while everything in the 20 to 80 Hz range is routed to the sub.

Each SAT 5 speaker is equipped with an input-level control on the rear panel that's calibrated in 3 dB steps. An optional volume-control unit called the Functional Controller ($100) provides global attenuation for the system, which, as Blue Sky points out, is helpful when using the speakers with DAW systems that lack a master volume control.

Our reviewer found that the ProDesk 2.1 offered tight bass response, very good transient response, and a wide sound field. He noted that the subwoofer is “able to reproduce the bone-rattling frequencies below 30 Hz at a very respectable level without breaking up or sounding strained.” Another important observation was that the system's sound remained consistent at different volume levels, an attribute that facilitates accurate mixing.

We were pleased that Blue Sky — a manufacturer known for its pro-audio products — was able to produce a system priced for the personal-studio market that maintained the company's accustomed level of quality.

Most Innovative Product (hardware)

LINE 6
Variax ($1,399)

To get our nod for most innovative product, a manufacturer needs to put forth a product that's not only original, but that captures our imaginations, as well. With the introduction of the Variax, Line 6 did just that. The Variax is the first digital-modeling guitar, offering 25 convincing emulations of classic electrics and acoustics, as well as several other specialized instruments, including dobro, banjo, and even an electric sitar. What's even more impressive is that the Variax is a guitar, so there are no timing delays or glitchy notes like on a guitar synth. The feel is 100 percent authentic.

Although the Variax appears to have no pickups, it's actually equipped with piezo pickups embedded in the bridge. These translate the vibrations for each individual string into electrical signals, which are then routed separately into the guitar's onboard digital processor, where the modeling algorithms are brought to bear. The user chooses sounds using a combination of the Model Select knob and the Strat-style, five-position pickup-selector switch. For some of the modeled guitars (such as the '59 Strat models), that switch functions identically to the one on the original guitar.

Among the other vintage guitars modeled by the Variax are a '60 Fender Telecaster Custom, a '58 Gibson Les Paul Standard, a '61 Gibson ES-335, a '56 Gretsch Silver Jet, a '68 Rickenbacker 360-12 12-string, and a '59 Martin D28. Although the Variax would likely come in second in a head-to-head comparison with any of these instruments, it nails the essence of their tones (in almost every case) very convincingly.

The Variax is a bonanza for recording guitarists, delivering an instant arsenal of classic tones for the price of a single instrument. For that feat alone, Line 6 deserves an award.

Most Innovative Product (software)

VIRSYN
Cube 1.01 (Mac/Win, $249)

As you might imagine, we see a lot of cool software at EM. But every once in a while, something really stands out that gets our total attention. Such is the case with this year's most innovative software, VirSyn's Cube additive synthesizer.

If you're not up on Fourier's theories of sound, we'll summarize by saying that all complex sounds can be broken down into sine-wave components. So if you were given, say, hundreds of sine-wave oscillators to work with, you could, in theory, create any sound from scratch. That's the basic idea with Cube, and it makes the process as easy as we've ever seen.

Cube's interface provides an editing window for each of the four “sound sources” that make up a patch. Rather than have you control the amplitude and frequency of every individual partial, which can be tedious and futile work, Cube combines the upper harmonics into groups for easy manipulation (higher partials are grouped in ever-larger sets). You can draw envelopes for a variety of parameters while a sound plays, and the sound will update in real time; you can also map MIDI controllers to nearly any of the numerous parameters of a patch.

Though the partials of a Cube sound are harmonic by default, a unique Stretch feature lets you change the ratios of the partials to the fundamental. This opens up a vast realm of nonpitched timbres. And working with the Filter parameter, which can be varied over time, adds yet another significant domain for sonic explorations.

Cube runs both standalone and as a VST plug-in and is 8-part multitimbral. Though the manual is not as comprehensive as it might be, that's a minor quibble — because it's incredibly easy to get amazing sounds from this unique software synth.

Preamp (mic/instrument)

FMR AUDIO
RNP8380 Really Nice Preamp ($499)

Although tube warmth is still in vogue in some circles, many recordists simply want as clean and transparent a preamp as can be had for as little money as possible. This year, two preamps knocked us out with their excellent sound quality. Coming in a close second was the Grace Design Lunatec V3, an outstanding 2-channel preamp and A/D converter designed for field use and costing $1,695. However, in terms of sound and price, the clear winner was the FMR Audio RNP8380 Really Nice Preamp.

With a strictly utilitarian look and feature set, the diminutive RNP8030 offers two channels of high-quality, Class-A amplification in a portable, ⅓U box. The I/O consists of two rear-panel mic inputs, a pair of front-panel instrument inputs, and two balanced ¼-inch outputs. Remarkably, the RNP8030 includes a rear-panel insert for each channel, so you can add an outboard processor (such as FMR Audio's great-sounding 2-channel RNC1773 Really Nice Compressor) into the signal path. An independent phase-reverse switch, a +48V phantom-power switch, and a gain display are included for each channel.

The RNP8030 provides a respectable 66 dB of gain, for a maximum output of +28 dBu. The stepped gain controls offer 6 dB per step, making it easy to match levels between channels.

Most important, the RNP8030 sounds great. Every EM editor who has used it has been impressed by its balanced low end, its high-end clarity, and its resolution, even when comparing it to preamps costing twice as much. Whether for a mobile-recording rig or for studio use, we think the RNP8030 is an excellent choice for a preamp in terms of price and performance.

Sample Libraries

VIENNA SYMPHONIC LIBRARY
Vienna Symphonic Library Pro Edition (Giga, $5,490)

Sample users were treated this year to several outstanding libraries, including Big Fish Audio's John Cage Prepared Piano, Dan Dean's Brass Ensembles, and Sonic Implants' Symphonic String Collection. But the Vienna Symphonic Library generated the most enthusiasm for its attention to detail and its ambitious scope.

Several of the editors were especially pleased by this library's sound quality, and everyone agreed that it was an impressive undertaking. The Pro Edition of the library consists of 380,000 samples, producing 240 GB of data. The original 24-bit, 96 kHz recordings were made on a specially constructed, ultraquiet recording stage near Vienna that was specifically optimized for sampling sessions.

The mammoth collection of multisamples includes a full range of ensemble and solo strings, brass, woodwinds, and a large (31 GB) percussion section. Several unusual instruments, such as contrabass trombone, Wagner tuba, and glass harmonica, are included in the collection along with a diverse assortment of exotic percussion instruments from brake disc and car horn to finger bells and Peking Opera gong.

When we examined the Vienna Symphonic's string section in May, we found that it compared well to the best of the high-end string libraries. Its many articulations and bowing techniques — from détaché and spiccato to tremolos and glissandi — offer desktop orchestrators the means to create lifelike string-ensemble parts. Moreover, Vienna Symphonic Library includes a powerful suite of performance utilities that adds real-time expressiveness and more authenticity to many of the patches. True legato passages (with note-transition samples), convincing repetitions (in every instrument category), and user-definable alternation patterns are available to enhance the library's sense of realism.

Vienna Symphonic Library's sheer size, great sound quality, thoughtful organization, future expandability, and high-end features make it a sample collection that's hard to beat.

Sample Player (software)

STEINBERG
Groove Agent (Mac/Win, $249.99)

This year we had several intriguing sample-player programs to consider for an award, but we were finally won over by Groove Agent's unbeatable combination of versatility and user-friendliness. Groove Agent is Steinberg's cross-platform drum-machine-on-steroids VSTi plug-in, and when we looked beyond its cleverly designed “front panel,” we discovered an amazing array of rhythm-producing capabilities.

Unlike prefab drum-loop libraries, Groove Agent generates its patterns by triggering individual 24-bit drum sa mples from its own internal MIDI tracks. The well-recorded playing is nicely performed, and best of all, you can easily change the tempo, substitute individual drum sounds, retune instruments, or change the volume of sounds in real time. Love a particular drum pattern but hate the snare? Just swap it out! You can even replace individual sounds by triggering samples from external devices or record a whole Groove Agent rhythm track into your MIDI sequencer for further editing. It's not only entertaining, it's surprisingly powerful.

Groove Agent's Timeline slider lets you choose from more than 50 wide-ranging musical styles listed chronologically from the 1950s to the present. The plug-in offers four different drum kits along with several percussion instruments and electronic drum sounds. Once you've selected a style and tempo, the fun really begins. You can choose from 25 variations arranged in order of increasing complexity or insert any of 25 fills for that style. You can also apply a compressor or reverb to your track and use the Shuffle and Humanize controls to change the feel. With Groove Agent's four outputs, you can even add effects to individual drum sounds.

For nonpercussionists, this virtual drummer offers an easy way to lay down a solid rhythm track in almost any style. And songwriters will love how Groove Agent can crumble a bad case of writer's block. Song's not working as a bossa nova? Try salsa or reggae or cha-cha or disco or swing. Musical styles, good all-around quality, versatility, features, affordability, and ease of use — you can't beat that with a stick!

Sampler (software)

MARK OF THE UNICORN
MachFive (Mac, $395)

During the past five years we've seen an exciting parade of software samplers enter the marketplace, but more often than not these virtual instruments have offered limited support for different formats and platforms. Not so with MOTU's powerful new MachFive.

This “universal” sampler plug-in includes a utility that lets you import, audition, and load sound banks in a long list of sampler formats, including Akai, Roland, E-mu, Kurzweil, SampleCell, EXS24, and Giga. With MachFive you can insert discs and import samples directly from CDs, even if your computer ordinarily wouldn't recognize the disc formats. Finally, a new sampler that doesn't make your old libraries obsolete! And that's not all: MachFive can also import samples in WAV, Acid, AIFF, SDII, and REX formats. It comes with a 4 GB library of high-quality samples and supports simple drag-and-drop file importing and keymapping.

We naturally expected MachFive to support MOTU's native MAS plug-in format, but we were floored to learn that it also supports VST, RTAS, HTDM, Audio Units, and (by the time you read this) DXi, allowing you to move easily from one platform to another. What's more, MachFive supports high-definition 24-bit, 192 kHz audio and accepts samples in channel formats from mono to 5.1 surround, offering incredible sound quality in any studio configuration.

MachFive is also a full-featured all-in-one sound design environment. The user interface offers direct access to most editing features, including a multichannel waveform editor, a spectrum analyzer, a built-in tuner with graphical display, and LFO settings and routings. MachFive can even have up to 136 separate effects going at once, and of course, you can sync the LFOs and effects parameters to the sequence tempo.

MachFive is clearly a powerful and versatile sampler, but its straightforward user interface and well-designed sound-bank management features keep it relatively easy to use. Add to that its new direct-from-disk sample-streaming capability, and MachFive is unquestionably a winner.

Signal-Processing Software (bundle)

INA-GRM
GRM Tools ST 2.0 (Mac/Win, $549)

Of the numerous signal-processing bundles available, few match GRM Tools ST in terms of innovation and sound quality. GRM Tools ST (which stands for Spectral Transform) includes four FFT-based real-time effects — Contrast, Equalize, Freq Warp, and Shift — that offer familiar processing chores enhanced by a powerful feature set.

To take one plug-in as an example, Contrast is a compressor/expander plug-in that divides the components of an audio signal into three classes according to strength: strong, average, and weak. Once divided, you can adjust the relative levels of the signals. This allows you to, for instance, reverse the spectral characteristics of a sound by emphasizing the weakest signals and suppressing the strongest. Imagine the possibilities this has for processing a loop, let alone mastering a CD!

The other plug-ins in the bundle are equally powerful. Equalize is a 31-band graphic EQ divided into one-third-octave bands, each with a cut/boost range from -96 dB to +12 dB. Freq Warp uses an x-y transfer function to remap the frequency content of a signal. Shift is a frequency shifter that also does scalable transposition. Each plug-in is surprisingly simple to use, thanks to a well-designed, intuitive interface, and the overall sound quality is superb. The plug-ins are available in VST, RTAS, HTDM, and AudioSuite formats.

Like the older GRM Tools plug-ins, the GRM Tools ST plug-ins include the SuperSlider function, which lets you manually interpolate between a handful of user-defined presets. You also can automatically move between any of the 16 presets at a user-specified time interval. To top it off, a pair of randomizing presets is present in each plug-in, allowing you to inject some juice into a dull session. Whether you want to subtly tweak a mix or completely obliterate a vocal part, the GRM Tools ST bundle makes it fun and easy.

Signal-Processing Software (individual)

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS
Vokator (Mac OS X/Win, $299)

Vocoders are all the rage these days, and this year's winner for individual signal-processing software, Vokator, has the features you'll need to walk the walk and — more to the point — talk the talk. Vokator has a number of routing options: for example, you can cross a sound coming from your audio interface in real time with a file on your hard drive or use a prerecorded sound file in conjunction with a number of static waveforms. A variety of sound-design tools enhance your vocoding pleasure, including a compressor, an arpeggiator, a morphing filter, and envelope presets. Presets can be stored and used independent of the files in which they were created, and a number of presets from Native Instruments' Spektral Delay are included.

Vokator includes other signature features from the Native Instruments lineup, such as the granular sampler found in Reaktor. It also offers a range of modulation sources for patch parameters, including a step sequencer, LFOs, and envelope followers. The powerful Group Mode provides two sets of up to 32 frequency bands for re-creating classic vocoder effects, and a very efficient real-time analysis engine keeps data flowing through the program.

Although we wish the interface were more modular — it would be great if you could hide individual work areas you weren't using, for example — the range and quality of the sounds you can get are really quite astounding. We'd be hard-pressed to find anything more worthy of the title “vocoder workstation” than this year's winning signal-processing software.

Signal Processor (hardware)

SPL
Transient Designer 4 ($1,299)

Synthesists have long had the ability to change the attack and sustain of a sound using envelopes. However, doing this with nonsynthesized instruments is more difficult and requires the patient programming of gates, compressors, and limiters. Enter the SPL Transient Designer 4, a 4-channel device that sculpts the attack and release characteristics of a signal in ways heretofore impossible with a single device.

The Transient Designer 4 uses SPL's proprietary Differential Envelope Technology to produce two distinct envelopes for the attack portion of a sound and two for the sustain portion. These envelope pairs are used to create a difference signal that controls a VCA. The result gives you the ability to shape transient characteristics with only two controls for each channel: Attack and Sustain. Link switches are provided for slaving one set of controls to another.

The Attack control allows you to boost or attenuate the attack part of a signal by 15 dB, and the Sustain control gives you 24 dB of cut or boost. With only two controls — note that there is no threshold or ratio control — it's easy to dial in the right sound every time. And the Transient Designer 4 lets you go from subtle to extreme processing in no time. Need to make a staccato guitar line more legato or vice versa? You've come to the right place.

Our reviewer noted that the Transient Designer 4 was one of the most revolutionary products he has ever worked with, and he gave it top marks for audio quality and value. When an endorsement like that comes from a veteran engineer, we can't help but take notice.

Synthesizer (keyboard, analog)

MOOG MUSIC
Minimoog Voyager ($2,995)

The Minimoog Model D was the first portable synthesizer, and its sound has endured like that of no other instrument in the electronic arsenal. Now its inventor has given us an analog monosynth for the 21st century: the Minimoog Voyager. The Voyager has everything its predecessor offered and more, such as three VCOs, a fat 4-pole filter, and a 44-note keyboard, all housed in a real wooden cabinet that's a joy to behold. New features include programmable memory, Velocity sensitivity, plenty of control-voltage inputs, and all the advantages that MIDI can offer.

Like the Model D, the Voyager is hand-built and solid as a tree. It even looks like a Minimoog; the knobs and switches are the same as they were in 1971. The tilt-up control panel affords the same ease of use, and most of the controls are just where they've always been. But the Voyager is no mere copy; technological innovations give it an expressivity and versatility that yesterday's Minimoog couldn't touch. Most noticeable is the Touch Surface Controller, a large 3-axis pad that responds to your fingertips so you can simultaneously control filter cutoff, envelope times, and LFO rate, or any three real-time parameters you choose. With its continuously variable waveforms, stereo multimode filtering, new modulation routings, and lots of other up-to-date features, the Voyager fulfills the needs of the modern synthesist.

And the sound? It's a Moog, all right: all those classic timbres are yours to command at the touch of a button, from famous basses to screaming solos. If the job calls for a monophonic analog synth, you might have other choices, but we suggest you try this one.

Synthesizer (keyboard, digital)

HARTMANN
Neuron ($4,995)

Once in a great while, a musical instrument comes along that takes a successful new approach, as the Mellotron, the Moog Minimoog, the Sequential Prophet-VS, and the E-mu Emulator each did in its day. Such instruments change the way that sound is produced, and hence, the way musicians work. A fine example is the Hartmann Neuron, brainchild of Waldorf Q developer Axel Hartmann and Prosoniq developer Stephan Sprenger. You can tell the Neuron is different just by looking at it: its real-time controllers include 5 joysticks, 13 backlit LCDs, and 14 thumbwheels with LED ladder displays. Analog and digital connections are all grouped on the side panel, and all the parameters change names when you change programs.

But appearance isn't what makes the Neuron extraordinary. Its architecture and sound are new and different, allowing you to directly manipulate the building blocks of physical modeling. You begin with samples that are resynthesized and then classified from a list of Models. Models might be anything from bowed strings and electric pianos to different types of weather. The selection of parameters depends on the selected Model, and the front-panel controls are reconfigured for each Model. A joystick that previously controlled string tension might now control room size or temperature.

Mastering the Neuron means learning a new approach to audio synthesis. Instead of working with simple oscillators and filters, you enter a world of Resynators, Scapes, Spheres, and Silver. The Neuron makes morphing from one sound to another effortless, and the results can be satisfyingly musical. You can sample and resynthesize your own sounds, and ModelMaker software is included for those who want to create their own models. Tired of the same old sounds? The Hartmann Neuron is a breath of fresh air.

Synthesizer (module)

DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTS
Evolver ($499)

Last year, a master synth builder returned to his roots making hardware-based instruments. Dave Smith — whose accomplishments include the first programmable polysynth, the first popular soft synth, and an idea that grew to become MIDI — introduced the Evolver, a small tabletop MIDI module. The Evolver combines real analog and digital oscillators and filters, an analog-style sequencer, a matrix-style user interface, and the ability to process external audio to create sounds that no other instrument can. What makes the Evolver all the more amazing is that its retail price is less than half a grand.

The Evolver's specialty is generating sounds that evolve over time, from staccato sequences to slowly churning drones. Its sequencer, LFOs, and modulation routings are designed to produce sounds that are always in motion. Every step in a sequence can sound very different from the previous step. Like any great synth, the Evolver also provides enough hands-on control that human interaction can always be part of the sound-generation equation.

The Evolver's synthesis architecture is unique, but its functional components and signal flow are familiar territory. Despite its small size, the Evolver has four audio oscillators, two filters, three EGs, four LFOs, an envelope follower, and remarkably sophisticated modulation routings. It's a monosynth, but its output is stereo, and it makes the most of stereo imaging. Its cleverly designed sequencer lets you program a monophonic synth to play four-part chords. Four 16-step sequences can run concurrently, with each sequence assigned to a different oscillator or modulation source.

The Evolver is also a dandy processor for electric guitars and other external sources. Its effects capabilities include a surprisingly versatile monophonic delay, envelope-controlled filtering, and several varieties of distortion. The Evolver's effects, in combination with its one-of-a-kind synthesis architecture and real-time control capabilities, ensure a timbral palette that no other instrument can produce.

Synthesizer (software)

ARTURIA
Moog Modular V 1.1 (Mac/Win, $329)

When French software developer Arturia announced that it had realistically modeled vintage Moog synth modules in a computer program, we were naturally a bit skeptical. After all, Moog modular systems are the epitome of analog sound: fat and thick and capable of satisfying musical nuance. When we saw Moog Modular V, it looked convincing enough: all the knobs and jacks were in the right places and worked as expected. But imagine our delight when we compared its sound to that of a real Moog synth and heard amazing similarities — not perfection, mind you, but a surprisingly close re-creation for a computer program — for a price that's a scant fraction of the price of the real thing.

Moog Modular V offers so many modules that it would take a considerable pile of cash to build a corresponding system with hardware (if built-to-order Moog modules were even available). Because the modules are in a fixed configuration, Moog Modular V is an instrument you can get to know as well as if you owned a real modular synth. Practically anything you could do with the real thing, you can do with the emulation, and sometimes more. In addition to tons of virtual oscillators, VCFs, VCAs, EGs, and LFOs, the software provides a step sequencer, a 14-band filter bank, and an onscreen keyboard. It also offers features a real modular can't, such as hundreds of presets and 64-note polyphony. You can assign MIDI CCs to control every function, and reassigning virtual patch cords is click-and-drag simple.

Endorsed by Bob Moog himself, Moog Modular V probably comes as close as any software to re-creating complex analog synthesizer hardware, and it does it on a large scale. It runs standalone or as a plug-in for a variety of formats. We applaud Arturia's significant undertaking and technical achievement.

Synthesizer Workstation (software)

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS
Reaktor 4.03 (Mac/Win, $499)

Who hasn't heard of Native Instruments' category-leading Reaktor? But have you seen what the company has added to the 4.0 release? We were knocked out by the number of new features in this already superpowerful program and spent many hours playing the new and rewritten Ensembles that come with this release.

Not only does Reaktor 4 have an updated, more intuitive graphic interface, but you can now add Modules and Macros to your designs by simply dragging them from the new Browser and dropping them onto your workspace. And talk about ease of use: the new Randomize feature in the Snapshot menu lets you create presets automatically or morph between two presets over a user-defined time frame.

Enhanced Modules, such as the new anti-aliasing oscillators, can be found throughout Reaktor's toolkit. If you are a visually oriented person, you'll love the new Multi-Picture Module, which lets you stream images to the screen while a sound plays. We've long wanted a way to edit samples graphically in Reaktor, and in version 4, our wish has been granted. And how can you beat the fact that this huge update, which was two years in the making, was given to registered users free of charge?

The number of user-contributed Ensembles at the Native Instruments Web site — currently over 1,200 and growing daily — tells us that Reaktor is a hugely popular program. It seems that we're not alone in ranking it Best of Show for the past year!

Arturia Moog Modular V 1.1	January 2004
Audio Engineering Associates R84	October 2003
Blue Sky ProDesk 2.1	November 2003
Dave Smith Instruments Evolver	June 2003
Devine Machine Software Devine Machine 1.0	December 2003
Digidesign Digi 002	April 2003
and “All Fired Up”	November 2003
FMR RNP8380 Really Nice Preamp	January 2004
FXpansion Audio UK VST to AudioUnit Adapter, “What's New: Download of the Month”	December 2003
Hartmann Neuron, “Seven Deadly Synths”	September 2003
INA-GRM GRM Tools ST 2.0	December 2003
Line 6 Variax	May 2003 Onstage
Little Labs IBP Analog Phase Alignment Tool	July 2003
Magix Samplitude Professional 7.11	January 2004
Moog Music Minimoog Voyager	October 2003
Matt Ingalls MacCsound, “What's New”	September 2003
MOTU 828mkII, “All Fired Up”	November 2003
MOTU Digital Performer 4.1	In progress
MOTU MachFive	In progress
Native Instruments Reaktor 4.03	December 2003
Native Instruments Vokator	November 2003
Røde NT1-A	December 2003
Roland MC-909	September 2003
Roland VariOS	December 2003
SPL Transient Designer 4	October 2003
Steinberg Groove Agent	November 2003
Vienna Symphonic Library, “In Search of the Ultimate String Library”	May 2003
VirSyn Cube 1.01	In progress

THE WINNING MANUFACTURERS

Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) tel. (800) 798-9127 or (626)798-9128; e-mail stereoms@aol.com; Web www.wesdooley.com

Arturia e-mail info@arturia.com; Web www.arturia.com

Blue Sky International tel. (516) 249-1399; e-mail info@abluesky.com; Web www.abluesky.com

Dave Smith Instruments tel. (707) 963-7006 ; e-mail mail@davesmithinstruments.com; Web www.davesmithinstruments.com

Devine Machine e-mail dmteam@devine-machine.com; Web www.devine-machine.com

Digidesign tel. (800) 333-2137 or (650) 731-6300; e-mail prodinfo@digidesign.com; Web www.digidesign.com

FMR Audio tel. (512) 280-6557; e-mail mark@fmraudio.com; Web www.fmraudio.com

FXpansion Audio UK tel. 44-7808-157-967; e-mail info@fxpansion.com; Web www.fxpansion.com

Hartmann/GSF Agency-TSI International Sales (distributor) tel.(310)452-6216; e-mail hartmann@hartmann-music.com; Web www.hartmann-music.com

INA-GRM/Electronic Music Foundation, Ltd. (distributor) tel.(518)434-4110; e-mail grmtools@emf.org; Web www.cdemusic.org

Line 6 tel. (818) 575-3600; e-mail info@line6.com; Web www.line6.com

Little Labs tel. (323) 851-6860; e-mail littlelabs@littlelabs.com; Web www.littlelabs.com

Magix/X-Vision Audio/Synthax North America (distributor) tel.(330)259-0308; e-mail info@xvisionaudio.com; Web www.xvisionaudio.com or www.samplitude.com

Matt Ingalls e-mail matt@sonomatics.com; Web http://csounds.com/matt/MacCsound

Moog Music, Inc. tel. (800) 948-1990 or (828) 251-0090; e-mail info@bigbriar.com; Web www.moogmusic.com

Native Instruments USA tel. (866) 556-6488; e-mail info@native-instruments.com; Web www.native-instruments.com

Røde Microphones tel. (310) 328-7456; Web www.rodemic.com

Roland Corporation U.S. tel. (323) 890-3700; Web www.rolandus.com

SPL USA tel. (866) 477-5872 or (805) 497-8182; e-mail info@spl-usa.com; Web www.spl-usa.com

Steinberg North America tel. (818) 973-2788; e-mail info@steinberg.net; Web www.steinbergusa.net

Vienna Symphonic Library/Ilio (distributor) tel. (800) 747-4546 or (818) 707-7222; e-mail office@vsl.co.at; Web www.vsl.co.at

VirSyn Software Synthesizer tel. 49-72-40-202-956; e-mail info@virsyn.com; Web www.virsyn.com

THE AWARD WINNERS IN REVIEW

Almost all of our award winners have been reviewed in our pages or soon will be. The reviews still in progress should be published in the next two issues, though one or two might be published a bit later.

Quotation marks enclosing an article title indicate that the product was not covered in a review but elsewhere in the magazine. All other entries indicate reviews of the award-winning version.

All published articles are available for download from the EM article archives at www.emusician.com except the Line 6 Variax review, which is available at www.onstagemag.com.