Reviews of electronic music gear, hardware and software synthesizers, virtual synths, plugins and related goodies on MuseWire – the Synth Magazine
/MUSEWIRE/ — The folks at MP MIDI have announced that their latest iteration of the innovative MP MIDI Controller, version 2A, previewed at Superbooth23 Berlin, is now shipping. The 2A version adds glass flat top minimal design, increased viewing angle, encoders through glass, optional rack mount kit and additional power port.
REVIEW of Matrix 12V: When Arturia recently announced and then released their latest V-Collection 4 of virtual instruments, and announced one of the new products would be a recreation of the venerable Oberheim Matrix-12, I was both overjoyed and impressed they had actually tackled this beast.
REVIEW: It’s not uncommon for software publishers to, at some point, bundle together various previously released products into a newly birthed bundle-of-joy, and SONiVOX has done just this with their recently birthed Dubstep Destruction Tools box set. The bundle, or toolkit as they call it, combines four products: Wobble, the Dubstep Grime Generator; TWIST, the […]
REVIEW: You’ve been kidnapped by evil Audio Trolls and locked in an underground bunker. You are allowed to live only if you produce the world’s best vocal recording. You’re allowed only one microphone to capture the perfect vocal tone on a soprano, a tenor, an alto and a bass vocalist — in the pop, rock, […]
VIDEO: Recently I found myself bemoaning the lack of walk-through “here are some demo patches” videos for a number of synths, keyboards and other music gear I own, so the obvious thing to do was start doing them myself and stop whining about it. So, with a new Nikon DSLR with HD video capability in hand, I thought I would start off this video review series with a fairly rare beast known as the John Bowen SOLARIS. (Chris’ Synth Show 2012)
MuseWire REVIEW: Yes, OK, it took him a long time to get them done, and some people still haven’t gotten theirs from the initial production run. I am pleased to advise, though, that it is well worth the wait. Ours arrived from Europe in good order with sturdy packaging, nothing to be worried about as […]
MuseWire REVIEW: With so many XLR to USB adapters now available on the market, it’s tough to decide upon which interface will be the best bang for the buck. The Shure x2u XLR to USB Adapter has shot out in front of the pack, acting not only as a pocket-sized adapter that can turn any […]
REVIEW: While the concept of a music keyboard with a computer inside isn’t entirely new, the folks at Austin, Texas start-up Music Computing think they might have invented the new sweet spot in bridging the gap between the notebook and controller crowd and the people who won’t use anything other than a Yamaha Motif or […]
REVIEW: If you’re a long-time user of Propellerhead’s REASON application, or just coming back to it with the new version 4, as I am, then you are probably impressed by Reason’s new capabilities, and its general ease of use. Reason is very cool because it’s set-up as a virtual studio, where you need nothing else […]
REVIEW: I’m a big fan of Open Labs’ music workstation instruments, so I was pretty excited when they announced the rebirth of their XXL model this spring, which was not available last October 2008 when I bought the NeKo TSE (previously reviewed for this magazine). The XXL is not technically their flagship, if you ask […]
REVIEW: Creating a song can be joy or toil, art or craft, pleasure or pain. What it cannot be is free from effort. Certain aspects of human existence must be utilized in the making of music: your brain, your heart, your soul. Otherwise, noise is the only result. We have all endured noise masquerading as […]
REVIEW: The concept of the so-called workstation keyboard is certainly not new; with a wide range of current such products on the market from big guns like Korg, Roland and Yamaha, stretching back in time to the Korg M-1. These products seek to fill the needs of the “one keyboard does all” set-up, for composing, […]
REVIEW: I’ve been a fan of the late (and sadly missed) Bob Moog’s various sound creation inventions since the mid 1970s. I first saw one of his theremins at a Southern California museum and while the rest of my family perused the other modern art; I spent most of the day at the theremin making […]
REVIEW: Celebrating an endorsement between G-Man Music and the fiery axe-makers known as Minarik Guitars, Scott G (The G-Man) reviews the Minarik Inferno X-treme, a design that is fueling the excitement of a new generation of musicians.
REVIEW: You can never be too rich or have enough disk space, or be too paranoid about data back-up. In recently deciding it was time to do some back-ups of audio and imaging projects, and other valuable docs, and put them in a fire-proof safe, after somebody’s house burnt down nearby, I chose to look at external hard drives.