EM Editors Choice 2009

Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By the EM Staff

           
 

2009 EDITORS' CHOICE AWARDS

BONUS MATERIAL
Reviews and Such for This Year's Winners

Auxiliary Software

Cycling '74 Max 5 (Mac/Win, $250 [MSRP])

The Auxiliary Software category includes a diverse range of apps, so it's fitting that the latest update of Max was the winner. Max gives you the tools to do just about anything you can think of with digital signals. With the latest version, Cycling '74 didn't add a ton of new features, but it refined the user interface and documentation. As a result, this powerful programming environment is less intimidating to newbies, while work flow is improved and the inner workings are more transparent to experienced users.

For example, the new Patcher palette gives you a one-stop shop for adding UI Objects to a project. Ticks and traditional musical-note values have been added as timing increments. And the new Presentation mode lets you easily design an interface to hide the internal workings of your patch. Overall, the upgrade is a winner because it makes Max not only more convenient for power users, but also so easy to use that mainstream musicians should finally be convinced to look deeper into an application that they have considered (incorrectly) to be only for artists on the fringe. “Well, if it's good enough for Radiohead …”

Control Surface

Euphonix MC Control ($1,499)

Known for high-end digital consoles and control surfaces, Euphonix made the intriguing decision to release two controllers priced for the personal studio. One, the MC Control, easily took this year's Control Surface category, offering four 100 mm touch-sensitive motorized faders; a color touch screen surrounded by eight Velocity-sensitive knobs and a dozen soft-key buttons; eight navigation buttons; and transport controls, including a Jog/Shuttle wheel. Despite this wealth of controls, the MC Control fits neatly on a desktop, even when mated with the Euphonix MC Mix fader-and-knob bank.

The MC Control uses Ethernet and the Euphonix EuCon protocol to communicate with a Mac, resulting in higher resolution and greater throughput than MIDI- or USB-based controllers. It offers HUI emulation and supports the Mackie Control protocol for non-EuCon-aware applications. Whether it's used to control tracks on a DAW, tweak virtual instruments, or edit video, the MC Control's elegant user interface is powerful and flexible, outshining all contenders this year.

Digital Audio Sequencer

Ableton Live 7 (Mac/Win, $499)

It's been three years since Live won an Editors' Choice Award, and the folks at Ableton have not been sitting idly by. While retaining its signature live-performance-and-tracking duality, Live 7 brings major improvements. Tracking takes a big step forward with multiple time signatures, video export, and automation lanes for simultaneously editing several automation envelopes. On the performance side, the new External Instrument and External Effects plug-ins let you integrate hardware and ReWire devices, with all MIDI and audio routing managed from a single track. Drum Racks let you quickly create complex, 128-pad drum machines with their own foldout mixer and effects buses. And Live now directly supports REX files by automatically building you a Drum Rack and matching MIDI trigger sequence from their slices.

Under-the-hood improvements include a 64-bit audio engine, POW-r dithering, and sidechaining for the Gate, Auto Filter, and new Compressor plug-ins. Premium content includes the Session Drums multisampled drum library, a beefed-up Essential Instruments Collection, and physical-modeled electric piano, analog synth, and string instruments by Applied Acoustics Systems. With its extensive library of instruments, effects, and audio clips, Live is a standout solution for stage and studio.