ABLETON LIVE 8 AND SUITE 8
AUDIO IS CLAY IN YOUR HANDS
THE PITCH The warping and groove-kneading chops that made Live famous get even better.
BIG NEW FEATURES Groove extraction from audio or MIDI files. Realtime groove quantizing. You can now warp by dragging parts of the waveform around, right on your timeline. Slicing of audio files into MIDI events can now be transient-based as well as time-based. New Looper overdubbing instrument.
LIVE VS. SUITE Suite is bigger — it bundles Live 8 with a vastly expanded sound library and new virtual instruments, including Collision, which models chromatic percussion. Live 8: $449 download; Suite 8: $699 download; boxed version prices TBD, ableton.com
EASTWEST PLAY PRO
CUSTOMIZE YOUR EW/QL INSTRUMENTS
THE PITCH This add-on editor lets you get deep under the hood of any EastWest/Quantum Leap virtual instruments that use the Play engine.
THE BIG DEAL Scripting, keymapping, wave editing, looping, virtual mic placement, and more — the very same tools that the EastWest guys used to make such instruments as Silk, Fab Four, Quantum Leap Pianos, and Stormdrum.
WE THINK Total customization is no longer the missing link — this kicks Play up from virtual instrument “platform” to all-out software sampler. $299, soundsonline.com
DIGIDESIGN 003 FACTORY COMPLETE
BIG BUNDLES!
THE PITCH The Digi 003 Rack (left) or full control surface/interface (right) bundled with Pro Tools 8 plus the Complete Production Toolkit.
THE BIG DEAL The Toolkit gives you 128 tracks (yes, in Pro Tools LE), up to 7.1 surround, the Hybrid soft synth, Structure LE soft sampler, a huge roster of effects, and tools such as Beat Detective and DigiTranslator — all usually sold separately.
WE THINK Since this Toolkit normally lists for $1,995 without PT or any hardware, this is a colossal value if you’ve been on the fence about jumping into a Pro Tools system. With 003 control surface: $3,995 list; with 003 Rack: $2,995 list, digidesign.com
UNIVERSAL AUDIO UAD-2 SOLO/LAPTOP
HUGE DSP POWER, TINY LITTLE CARD
THE PITCH A UAD-2 Solo “Powered Plug-In” DSP card that’s the size of a cell phone Internet adapter.
THE BIG DEAL Fits any Mac or PC with an ExpressCard slot. UAD plug-ins are legendary for spot-on reproduction of vintage analog recording gear. Plug-ins run on the card so they don’t tax your CPU.
COMES WITH Seven “Mix Essentials” plug ins, $50 voucher for buying more from UA’s website. $649 list/approx. $500 street, uaudio.com
STEINBERG CUBASE 5
MAJOR AND MUSICAL
THE PITCH The most significant update to Cubase ever.
BIG NEW FEATURES LoopMash, Groove Agent One, and Beat It, all groove-oriented soft instruments. VariAudio, a pitch/time manipulator. Way better automation. REVerence, the first VST3 convolution reverb. VST Expression, a one-stop manager for all the playing articulations in your sample libraries.
WE THINK This update has some serious meat to it, with the musical and workflow-speeding features Cubase users have been waiting for. $599.99 list/approx. $500 street; Cubase Studio 5: $399.99 list/approx. $300 street, steinberg.net
IMAGE-LINE SAWER
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
THE PITCH Soft synth based on a rare Soviet analog synth called the Polivoks.
THE BIG DEAL Up to 24-voice polyphony. Multimode filter. Image-Line says a programming error actually made Sawer sound better than the original Polivoks — so they went with it. Mac or Windows; AU, VST, or standalone formats.
WE THINK At this price, what’s not to love? Besides, there’s a free demo download. $99, image-line.com
ROLAND VP-770
HEAVENLY HARMONIES
THE PITCH Sing into it, and it generates gorgeous vocal harmonies based on the keys you play. It can also change your voice, and do “robot” vocoder effects.
THE BIG DEAL Harmonies and vocal modeling sound audibly improved over its predecessor, the VP-550. Ensemble section (strings, pads, etc.) adds “SuperNatural” brass sounds.
WE THINK Like any specialist, it does one thing really, really well. $2,199 list/approx. $2,000 street, rolandus.com