French company XILS, in what must truly be a labor of love, has resurrected the VCS 3 modular synth, as the XILS 3, Joe Albano takes a deep look at their recent v2 update, now the XILS 3.2.
Looking to bring a distinctive robotic/metallic flavour to your Dubstep or Drum and Bass tracks? 123Creative are here with a helpful preset bank for Native Instruments Massive, Cyber Factory.
What is modulation? How can you make use of it in your musical compositions? The late and great Richard Lainhart wrote this piece for AskAudio Mag which explores modulation in Logic Pro.
One of the most legendary concert grand pianos ever, the Yamaha CFX Concert Grand, has been sampled by one of the most reputable software instrument makers, Garritan. Hollin Jones checks it out.
Originally viewed as a problem, distortion is now one of the most used creative effects in music productions. Joe Albano adds some warmth and crunch to the proceedings in this enlightening tutorial.
featuring over 700 new patches, a new patch browser, sample editor, 5 new filter styles and 16 new effects, Tone2's physical modelling synth, Electra2, might be on your shopping list come July.
A good piano instrument doesn't depend only on the sound quality of its samples'¦ Lynda Arnold argues that usability is important which is why NI's Giant wins for her every time.
Looking to spice up your digital sessions with unusual organic content? Paper Stone is here to help with a 1 GB Kontakt library including 20 instruments. Noah Pred puts it through its paces.
For less than $150 (at time of writing it's on sale for just $99!) you can get the lush, expressive vocal library of a pro in Kontakt! Jay Asher gives Realitone's RealiVox Blue an in depth test.
Sonic Rebellion patches are the first preset bank for Renegade VSTi virtual analog synthesizer (from partner company G-Sonique digital instruments). Find out more about these presets.
What's changed in Applied Acoustics' new version of String Studio? Plenty! From a new interface, new ways to share and organise your sounds, realtime control via MIDI, host tempo sync and much more.
Bluecat Audio's PatchWork 1.3 now enables us to host Audio Units (as well as VSTs). Good news for those looking to run AU plugs and those looking for other enhanced functionality and features too.
What makes Waves' MetaFilter stand out from the already saturated filter plug-in marketplace? Mo Volans got hands-on and found its analog style sound, amongst other qualities, especially alluring.
If, like most of us, you're interested in high-quality mixing plug-ins - especially of the free variety - Eventide's UltraChannel is FREE until July 8, 2014. Grab it now before it jumps to $249!
We saw it being demoed during Musikmesse 2014 in Frankfurt earlier this year. And now it's here and available for all! Even if you don't think you need organs... check this out.
Tone2 Audio Software's popular Rayblaster modelling synth just got more ethereal thanks to the new Deep Space soundset. With over 200 intricate moody sounds, you've every reason to feel spaced out.
Logic Pro's ES2 synth has been around for some years now, yet it's still highly regarded and used in hit songs to underground anthems today. If you want to supercharge it, here's 128 new presets.
Sporting a number of enhancements such as 200 new presets, new mapping generator and AAX support, version 1.3 looks set to add new tweakability to u-he's popular ACE synth.