No matter what kind of music you listen to and play, you probably appreciate the sound of a fine acoustic piano. As an electronic musician, you may also...
With the release of B4 II ($229; upgrade, $99), Native Instruments has substantially improved its already stellar Hammond B-3 and Leslie emulation, B4....
Dimension Pro 1.2 and Rapture 1.0 are the second and third virtual-instrument plug-ins released by Cakewalk since acquiring rgc:audio and the prodigious...
The press release accompanying my review copy of Garritan Jazz and Big Band states that it is not intended to replace live jazz musicians. Garritan cites...
Applied Acoustics Systems has a hands-down winner with Lounge Lizard EP-3 ($249; upgrade, $49). Physical-modeled Lounge Lizard is arguably the best virtual...
With so many great virtual analog synths on the market, finding the one that's right for you is getting harder. The ideal synth would include not only...
FXpansion BFD Deluxe Collection ($249) is the company's third expansion pack for its popular virtual-drum instrument, BFD. Boasting eight drum kits recorded...
The aim of physical-modeling synthesis is to produce realistic performance nuance in whole phrases, not just in single notes. Rather than simply playing...
For more than two centuries, the dream that one person could command complete control of every instrument in a symphony orchestra was just that: a dream....
Like the Rodney Dangerfield of the electronic-music world, General MIDI (GM) gets no respect. Nonetheless, many of its protocols have infiltrated electronic...
Virtual analog synthesis can take either of two main paths: one emulates classic instruments, and the other blends physically modeled analog-synthesis...
Jamstix, a virtual-drummer VST instrument plug-in, is one of the new breed of interactive computer-based instruments that help composers to make music....
Reality is a funny thing, especially when you try to emulate it with MIDI instruments. What is it that makes one performance sound more real than another?...
Virtual-synth designer Rob Papen has collaborated with programmer Jon Ayres to create Blue ($199.95), a 16-note polyphonic synth plug-in for VST 2.0 and...
Native Instruments has released version 5 of Reaktor, a major upgrade to an already powerful sound-synthesis toolkit. The new version sports enhancements...
In 2003, Hartmann Music introduced the Neuron, a $4,995 keyboard synthesizer that took a unique approach to creating sounds. It was filled with fantastic...
With the release of Kontakt 2, Native Instruments has raised the bar for software samplers. Features such as automatic translation for a large and growing...
CronoX3 is the latest brainchild of instrument designer Peter Linsener, and it's a significant advance over previous versions of CronoX. CronoX3 is available...
The ARP 2600 V from Arturia is a cross-platform software emulation of the vintage ARP 2600 monosynth (see Fig. 1). ARP 2600 V works as a standalone program...
DiscoDSP's line of Windows VST plug-ins consists of three synthesizers ($99 each), a sampler ($99), and a mastering effects collection called FX ($99)....
SYNTHOGY Ivory 1.5 (Mac/Win)
CAKEWALK Dimension Pro 1.2 and Rapture 1.0 (Mac/Win)
FXPANSION BFD Deluxe Collection
ARTURIA Brass 1.0 (Mac/Win)
IK MULTIMEDIA Miroslav Philharmonik 1.0 (Mac/Win)
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Bandstand 1.0.1 (Mac/Win)
RAYZOON TECHNOLOGIES Jamstix
SYNFUL Synful Orchestra 2.2.0 (Mac/Win)
