The EM Poll

2008 EDITORS' CHOICE AWARDS

Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By the EM Staff

           

MIDI CONTROLLER

Frontier Design Group AlphaTrack
($249 [MSRP])

Everyone working with a DAW or soft instrument needs an efficient way to control their programs, and a good control surface is usually the best way to go. The Frontier Design AlphaTrack, a USB control surface with a motorized fader, 3 continuous rotary knobs, and 22 buttons, is our idea of the right tool for the job when desk space is at a premium. The AlphaTrack gives you nearly full control-surface capability with only a small footprint, and because it is bus powered, you'll find it especially suitable for sessions on the go. It also provides a multifunction ribbon controller for situations that require continuous data values, and an LCD that is more legible than most.

The AlphaTrack works in native mode with many popular programs — Cakewalk Sonar 6, MOTU Digital Performer 5, and Steinberg Cubase 4, for starters — and we learned of updated support information even after deciding on its award (Logic Pro 8 has added a plug-in for direct AlphaTrack support). And if your own software is not on its support list, you can probably use it in HUI- or MCU-emulation mode. That news is sure to please Digidesign Pro Tools and Apple Final Cut users, among others.

Once you try an AlphaTrack, you'll be hooked on its ease of use, ergonomic design, and overall efficiency. One thing's for sure: you'll never again find yourself mixing music with a mouse.

MIXER

Toft Audio Designs ATB 16
($3,999.99 [street])

As personal-studio technology marches inexorably toward in-the-box solutions, mixers, especially of the analog variety, have become more like specialty items than essential pieces. Still, when an analog mixer comes along that offers features and quality well beyond its price range, we think it's important to tip our cap to it. That's why we bestowed an Editors' Choice Award in the Mixer category on the Toft Audio Designs ATB 16, part of the ATB Series of 8-bus consoles. The boards were designed by Malcolm Toft, who was the brains behind Trident's A Range and 80B, so it should come as little surprise that these are quality units.

The three mixers in the line are identical featurewise except for their channel counts. The most affordable is the ATB 16, but the 24-channel ($5,099.99 [street]) and 32-channel ($6,499.99 [street]) models are still well priced considering what they have to offer.

The ATB mixers have plenty of virtues to extol. For instance, although they have comprehensive feature sets, their footprints — especially on the ATB 16 — are surprisingly compact. They also offer a generous selection of direct outputs, insert points, and aux sends, and they can support two sets of monitors.

Obviously, sound quality is crucial to any mixer, and the ATB gets high marks in that area, too. We were also impressed with the mixer's modular construction, ribbon cables, and socketed ICs, all of which help make repairing or replacing parts easier and less expensive than on many other consoles. All in all, the ATB Series offers a winning mix of quality, value, and smart design.

MONITOR SPEAKER

Dynaudio Acoustics BM 6A MKII
($1,745 per pair [MSRP])

With a number of top-notch entries, such as the KRK VXT6 and Digidesign RM1, the Monitor Speaker category was once again an exciting one. However, when it came down to price versus performance, the Dynaudio Acoustics BM 6A MKII easily swept the votes.

The BM 6A MKII is a 2-way, biamplified close-field monitor that combines a 6.5-inch woofer with a 1.1-inch dome tweeter, driven by 100W and 50W amplifiers, respectively. The monitor features an all-wood cabinet with a rear bass port, highpass settings when using a subwoofer, and low-, mid-, and high-frequency cut/boost switches for tailoring its response to your room. At roughly 24 pounds each, these heavyweight speakers pack a punch, serving a maximum SPL of 115 dB (RMS).

Reviewer Rusty Cutchin praised the BM 6A MKII for its uniformity across the frequency range — at high and low volumes — as well as for its reliability for power handling and its remarkable bass response. Just as important, the BM 6A MKII is capable of revealing the subtleties in a mix, whether it's percussive transients or reverb tails — just what you want from a reference monitor. In a year of stiff competition, these features added up to a winning combination.

MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT

Modartt Pianoteq 2
(Mac/Win, $337 [MSRP])

It's been over a decade since Yamaha introduced the VL1, the first commercially viable physical-modeling synth, and the technology has held great promise in becoming the be-all of synthesis methods. This year's Most Innovative Product, Modartt's Pianoteq 2, is a giant step forward toward realizing that dream. Pianoteq 2 is the most advanced physically modeled grand piano available today, and it just might be the Holy Grail for anyone needing high-quality piano sounds in a compact and efficient package.

Altering the impedance, cutoff, and Q factor of your piano's soundboard and modifying the hardness and spectral characteristics of a piano's hammers are definitely not features you'll find in your sampler or sample player. Nor will many sampled pianos let you use the variety of alternate tunings you can employ now that Pianoteq supports the Scala microtuning system. And, unlike a piano sample library, Pianoteq requires a mere 15 MB of drive space to do its magic. A well-designed and intuitive interface makes adjusting the program's parameters a breeze, and the new AU, RTAS, and native Receptor support will make it even easier to use Pianoteq on a track.

Modartt is doing a lot to support its users, including sponsoring a composition contest, maintaining an active users forum, and, best of all, regularly releasing free updates and add-ons to registered owners. So whether you're playing keys in a Top 40 band, earning a living reading charts in a studio, or simply eager to explore a vast range of new keyboard-based sonic landscapes in your music, you'll find Pianoteq 2 a perfect tool for the job.

NOTATION SOFTWARE

Sibelius Software Sibelius 5
(Mac/Win, $599 [MSRP])

Sibelius and MakeMusic Finale have been leapfrogging each other for years to be the most full-featured notation program around. This year Sibelius 5 has jumped ahead and leads the race. Packed with loads of great-sounding samples, new fonts, and creative composer's tools, Sibelius 5 is a composition powerhouse ideal for anyone working with standard notation.

Sibelius's new Ideas Hub is a useful tool for keeping track of musical snippets that you want to develop into full-blown themes; use it to turn an original 3-note motif into a main title theme or use one of the thousands of included tagged snippets to jump-start a melody. The new Reprise family of fonts can give your music a hand-drawn look, and new fonts for chord symbols, note names, and alternative performance practices will add realism and accuracy to the look of any score.

Thanks to newly added VST and AU plug-in support, you'll have access to an unlimited number of instrumental timbres for your parts. If you crave an even wider variety of sounds, you can pick up the World Music and Choral sound libraries. Using the new Panorama view, you'll be able to spot minute details in your score and compose in a more intuitive and efficient manner.

We've heard music professionals call Sibelius 5 “the perfect notation program,” and we'd be hard-pressed to find fault with that statement.