WHAT'S NEW

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

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The Sound Guy SFX Machine Pro

The latest audio plug-in from the Sound Guy (www.sfxmachine.com) is SFX Machine Pro (Mac/Win, $199), a versatile real-time multi-effects processor. Featuring all the effects of SFX Machine RT, the Pro version also has new algorithms such as granular synthesis and pitch sweep. More than 300 presets include such unique effects as 16mm Projector, Subliminablizer, and Full-Wave Rectifier, as well as studio standards like distortion, filter vibrato, and slapback echo.

You can also create your own effects with the modular Preset Editor, which lets you specify the DSP type and modulation routings for as many as eight stereo sound sources. All parameters can be automated, and you can assign remote hardware controllers using the MIDI Learn function. SFX Machine Pro can sync its LFOs and delay times to your sequencer's tempo, too. The plug-in supports the VST format in Windows and Mac OS X and AU on the Mac. The Sound Guy promises that future versions will add new features and even more presets.

Nomad Factory Analog Signature Pack

Nomad Factory (www.nomadfactory.com) has introduced a suite of three plug-ins that simulate tube-based studio processors. Analog Signature Pack (Mac/Win, $287) consists of a limiter, an equalizer, and a combination EQ and compressor. Limiting Amplifier LM-662 is a software emulation of the Fairchild 670, a dual-mono limiter with individual A/B controls. Two identical halves each provide knobs for Threshold, Attack/Release Time, DC Adjust, and Gain, as well as a 12AX7 tube-emulation slider.

Program Equalizer EQP-4 is a stereo processor that features low and high bands with a choice of shelving or peaking, boost or cut, and 13 cutoff frequencies. Parametric EQ is available for overlapping low-mid and high-mid bands with variable bandwidth, boost or cut, and 13 center frequencies.

Studio Channel SC226 gives you a 4-band equalizer, modeled optical compression, and brickwall limiting for tracking, mixing, or mastering. Each of the three plug-ins supplies analog-style VU meters and 21 presets for specific instruments or situations. Analog Signature Pack is compatible with AU, RTAS, and VST hosts.

Get Smart

At the most basic level, good musicianship comes down to using your ears, your hands, and your mind. Ear training aims to improve your aural and visual recognition of intervals, scales, chords, progressions, and rhythms. EarMaster 5 (Win, $69.95), a software application from eMedia (www.emediamusic.com), will help you develop your ear and advance your recognition skills. The program furnishes more than 650 lessons in 12 focus areas and in 13 languages. You respond to the program's questions by playing a MIDI instrument, by playing or singing into a microphone, or by using standard notation, onscreen buttons, an onscreen keyboard, or an onscreen fretboard. You can customize EarMaster 5 to present exercises that concentrate on your individual needs. For users who are more advanced, the Jazz Tutor offers an alternative to EarMaster 5's Standard Tutor.

Although digital recording permeates personal and commercial studios alike, the allure of analog tape hasn't diminished. The analog medium's legendary warmth has kept it alive, but its proponents are faced with the relative inconvenience of using and maintaining tape machines and reels of magnetic tape. Analog Recording ($29.95), written by David Simons and published by Backbeat Books (www.backbeatbooks.com), explains why the practice will never go completely out of style. In interviews with engineers and producers of numerous hit records, the author dissects the sound of artists ranging from the Beatles to Fiona Apple. He tells readers how to buy and maintain vintage analog gear such as recorders, mixers, monitors, and mics and offers suggestions for studio construction. To illustrate various techniques and effects, an audio CD is bundled with the book.

Anyone who dreams of owning a studio by the sea or in some other fabulous location will be inspired by the book Making Tracks: Unique Recording Studio Environments ($44.95), by Jeff Touzeau. Through color photos and interviews with studio owners and managers, the 207-page hardbound book from Schiffer Publishing (www.schifferbooks.com) takes you on virtual tours of 18 unusual locations to record your next project. You'll discover studios in a 300-year-old mansion, a Caribbean resort, a 12th-century winery, and Brooklyn's oldest firehouse. From famous multimillion-dollar facilities such as Real World and Bearsville Studios to lesser-known, one-of-a-kind spaces such as Al Jardine's Red Barn Studios and Will Ackerman's Imaginary Road, Making Tracks tells the behind-the-scenes story of each studio's construction, equipment, and operation.

In the interactive CD-ROM Audio Plug-ins CSi Master, vol. 2 (Mac/Win, $44.99), from Thomson Course Technology (www.courseptr.com), hosts and authors George Leger III and Chris Hellstrom guide you on your quest to master the ins and outs of dynamics and effects plug-ins for Windows and Mac OS X. Approximately four hours of video clips explain the operation and functionality of more than 30 individual plug-ins from Antares, Camel Audio, Native Instruments, PSPaudioware, Sony, Universal Audio, and others. You'll also learn to work with applications such as Celemony Melodyne Studio 3 and NI Reaktor 5. Featured topics include equalizers, compressors, delays, filters, pitch- and time-stretch, reverbs, and restoration.