Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold Edition Virtual Instrument Review

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(More customer reviews)The other reviewers have not reviewed the product but the licensing policies with are similar for most music software manufacturers. East West is not the only company that uses iLoks, Elicencers, or other dongle based protection, so I don't really see the point in vilifying them for this. But I do agree that if was true that the dongle license was non-transferrable (at the original price) that was a bit unreasonable. One reviewer mentions the Silver Edition which is a teaser and only comes with 1-2 DVD's whereas Gold comes with at least 5 I believe. Regardless, these are VERY high quality products by some of the best producers in the business and now VERY reasonably priced for what you get.


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The GOLD EDITION of the ?critically acclaimed? EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA includes 16-bit stereo samples from the PLATINUM EDITION (which is multi-channel), at a much lower cost, and was recorded where orchestral instruments sound their most natural - in a ?state of the art? Concert Hall.Listen to the pure beauty of the Symphonic Orchestra and 125 million dollar Concert Hall that were recorded with the HIGHEST-QUALITY custom built recording equipment, by audio legend - Prof. Keith O. Johnson - recipient of two GRAMMYS, plus eight additional GRAMMY nominations for his 90 plus Classical Recordings.The GOLD EDITION is a MAC/PC Plug-In (compatible with most music software), and has been designed to be extremely EASY TO USE - providing professional composers with the HIGHEST-QUALITY instruments available, to create their compositions. To achieve this level of quality, all of the instruments and sections were chromatically sampled, with multiple dynamics, with extremely dynamic and expressive articulations. All players were recorded in position. If you upgrade to the PLATINUM EDITION later, your compositions will be FULLY COMPATIBLE, providing a known upgrade path to ?the best sounding orchestral sample library ever? - no other product offers this! OVERVIEWThe GOLD EDITION includes all sections of a Symphonic Orchestra - Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, and Orchestral Percussion.The GOLD EDITION includes the vast majority of instruments and articulati...

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Sibelius 5 Professional Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)It is easy enough to use if you just jump right in, yet at the same time the wealth of keyboard shortcuts for just about everything allows power users to perform tasks quickly and efficiently.
The handbook is well written and organized and provides most of the basics for a new user. I highly recommend reading the Quick Tour, as it provides some very useful keyboard and mouse commands for navigating and editing that I never discovered while using the demo version.
The best way to evaluate Sibelius is to try out the free demo from the official website. The demo is fully functional with just two main restrictions: it cannot save files and it can only print the first page of a score. No review can substitute for trying it out yourself.

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Professional-Grade Music Notation, Arrangement, and Composition SoftwareSibelius 5 is the complete software solution for writing, playing, printing, and publishing music notation. It's designed to make your life easier, save you time, produce beautiful results, and enable you to do things you might never have dreamed of, like publishing and selling your music around the world.

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Digidesign Transfuser Virtual Instrument Software Review

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(More customer reviews)It is not so easy to use it as Xpand, and think that there better products in the market than Transfuser. Perhaps, it is not the product for me according to my way of making music. Think first to buy it and try to watch the video in you tube first.

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Band in a Box 2007 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great piece of software if you play any kind of a musical instrument or are a vocalist and want to practice playing songs with a virtual band. You just type in the chords, select a style and tempo and the software comes up with an arrangement in that style. Depending on which style you pick there will be different instruments in the arrangement. There are around 200 built in styles in various genres such as jazz, latin, country, pop etc. The arrangements are surprisingly good, especially if you can send the midi to an external keyboard. The software was very easy to install on Windows XP.
I'm using it to work on practicing jazz standards on the piano but playing them the way I would in a band situation which is very different from the way I would play them solo. I have been able to quickly enter the chords of the song by typing in their names (eg Em7b5), pick a style and have band in a box come up with an arrangement. I then mute out the piano part and play along with the program to try out different ideas for comping. If I want to practice soloing I just mute out more instruments. I would expect that it would be equally useful for many other instruments. I also use it to print out fake book type lead sheets and have found the transpose feature to be very useful as it transposes the chord symbols along with the music.
Band in a Box allows you to record an audio or MIDI track on top of an arrangement so you can play back and see how you sound but it isn't a multitrack recorder, for that you would want to buy some different software. What it does best is to allow you to practice playing in a band without requiring the rest of the band to be there.

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Ableton Live 7 - Windows / Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll apologize in advance for the very lengthy review, but I want to cover all the points that made this program worth the rather hefty cost for me, an amateur music producer.
Music production is only a hobby for me, but as a professional programmer with 22 years experience I feel confident in saying this is one of the most useful, stable pieces of software ever written. Even the Windows version has an Apple Mac-like ease of use, with all the menus and controls logically laid out in a "show me just what I need but make it easy to dig deeper if I wanna" manner.
The different time stretching modes have handled loops from my library that have choked demos of competing products. Ditto for the handling of my favorite soft synths (Cakewalk Rapture and Z3ta) and some legacy MIDI hardware that brought Acid Pro to its knees. My favorite feature is the ability to place what Ableton calls "devices" -- tools like reverb, parametric EQ, panning -- into "chains" that can be saved and recalled and applied to future projects. I've built several "Trance effect" chains for my fave style of music and it saves me hours of trying to recreate a sound I liked earlier.
In the age of shoddy Microsoft operating systems, it's a sad fact that a major feature in any product is that it doesn't constantly lock up the software or the entire computer, but so be it. I've owned Ableton Live for 6 months now and I use it extensively -- it has crashed only 2 times in that time period.
Weak points: Ableton advertises the single-window interface as a feature, but that is a hugely flawed interpretation. Anyone using dual monitors will be staring at one empty screen when running Live. An example of why this is so bad can be seen with the new Spectrum Analyzer device. To make the SA display large enough to be useful, the user is forced to click a mulitude of "resizing arrows" which shrinks other parts of the interface to a size that makes them unreadable. Anyone used to placing their spectrum analyzer on a 2nd monitor while monitoring is "S. O. L."
Fortunately, you CAN toggle an option to allow 3rd party plugins to be placed on a second monitor. I had to drop another $90 for a quality analyzer plugin, but at least I can place it on another monitor where it's large enough to be useful. Truthfully, my Nu-Gen Audio "Visualyzer" plugin leaves every other analyzer I've used in the dust so the Live limitation doesn't hurt me too badly.
The only other annoyance is "screen clutter" when your project has more than a dozen or so tracks. The only solution is to deal with it and scroll constantly back and forth looking for a particular track. Sony Acid Pro blows Live out of the water on this one, allowing users to create folders where they can tuck away groups of tracks such as Percussion, Backing Synths, Leads, etc.
Again my apologies for such a long review. These are things I wanted to know before I decided to drop nearly $500 on a professional DAW package. Hopefully it can help another shopper in the same boat as I was.

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Apple Garageband Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra Review

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(More customer reviews)The day before I ordered this Jam Pack, I had received an M-Audio 88es USB velocity sensitive keyboard from amazon (reviewed separately) Keystation 88es 88 Key USB MIDI Controller and sustain pedal M-Audio SP-2 US65010 Sustain Pedal Piano Style Sustain Pedal for Keyboards
The standard Garage Band 'Grand Piano' sounded just "OK", and there was no harpsichord. Those were my prime reasons for ordering this Jam Pack... and to have fun with the other sounds, of course.
The Steinway Piano in this pack is substantially better than the standard Garage Band piano. Neither is perfect - but this Steinway is great for the price. The difference is more than the soft hammer sound of a Steinway vs a hardened hammer sound of the standard piano. The velocity response and the behavior of sustained notes is much more realistic. The default settings have a fair amount of reverb - to simulate a concert hall. Adjusting that and other sliders can give a sound more appropriate to other settings.
It still does not sound like a real grand piano of course - there are no induced harmonics when the sustain pedal is depressed, for example. But, not bad at all.
The harpsichord is pretty disappointing in comparison. The lower register is amplified way louder than the upper - roughly everything below middle C as I recall. I haven't tried adjusting bass reduction effects etc to make it sound more 'correct'. Also, considerable reverb in the default 'Orchestra Harpsichord' to reflect a large hall. Lower that to get a chamber sound.
The variety of attack modes that are adjustable by keyboard control are pretty nice for instruments such as the strings and brass.
The huge quantity of loops (over 3 GB) will be of less use to me, but can be handy for making some quick transitions or tracks for videos - since Garage Band is basically THE sound editor for iMovie and Final Cut Express now. I had expected that the loops would be performances on real instruments, but many (most?) sound like sampled digital instruments to my ear.
If you want a better piano, a harpsichord and/or symphonic instruments, this pack is a great deal.
PS Not in the product description, so I just noticed: The Jam Pack comes with a selection of 'demo songs' reached from the File > Open Demos menu. (If shared, these reside on disk at Users > Shared > Symphony Orchestra Demo Songs.) Five symphonic themes as an orchestra of MIDI instruments and 8 loop (wave) compositions. Fun to mess with and good for learning purposes.

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Apple Garageband Jam Pack: Remix Tools Review

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(More customer reviews)This Jam Pack just made my GarageBand fun again I was so tired of the limited loops and sound and now I have all these great loops and synths, worth it!

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Sound Forge 9 Review

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(More customer reviews)appearantly the last reviewer doesn't understand the simplicity of what a fully featured "audio editing" program is.
as of soundforge 1.0, you could mix vocals into music, ...all you do is copy it onto the clipboard, ...and highlight the area in the audio you want to mix the vocals into, ...and move it also to the cliboard, ...then choose the "mix" setting on the clipboard, ...make any required adjustments inside the dialogue box, ....and click paste.
the cursor should still be left precisley at the point you extracted the audio segment to be mixed.
this is "not" a multi-track recorder.
this is an "audio editing program", ...mainly oriented towards sound designers, ...audio engineer "mastering" specialists. ...and people who use hardware and software samplers who want to get closer, spiritually with the essence of their samplers.
you 'can' sync to video, ...but vegas might be a better option.
soundforge 9 also excepts any VST plugins, ...an insane value if you are already into music production/recording/engineering.
not to mention "noise reduction", ...how else would you get all that vynil onto your hard drive, and capture its origional sound quality?
this editing program is by far more powerful than "ANY" editing program featured in any software multitrack recording program or DAW, ...as well as "ANY" hardware sampler.
although it is meant to "edit" with the entent of dispersing its results onto other working software/hardware applications.
don't get pissed cause you bought a high quality turntable needle, but can't be a full fledged dj without two turntables and a mixer.
the only competition is Steinberg Wavelab.
i haven't used it, ...but it costs twice as much, ...and steinberg has caught up to its features with surround sound mixing, ...video audio syncing, ...vst implementation, ...noise reduction 2.0, ....as well as CD Architect, ...what a great program to create RED BOOK STANDARD commercially professional cds?
soundforge + waves plugins? ....full fledged mastering studio for the price of a few hundred dollars? ...incredible!

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Sony Sound Forge v.9.0 SF9000 Audio Engineering Software

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Toontrack EZdrummer Multi Layer Drum Sampler Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a bit baffled by some of the reviews here. I got EZDrummer recently and I'm very happy with it so far. Let me clear up a few things:
1) It's a virtual instrument (says so right on the name). Apparently some people don't understand what that means. What that means is that you plug it into your favorite "main" sequencer program (FL Studio, Cubase, Mixcraft, whatever) and use it from there. Actually, EZ Drummer *does* come with a stand-alone program as well, but it's mainly a virtual instrument. Complaining that you need to buy a sequencer to use it is like complaining that you need to have a computer or an operating system, or a disk drive, or a power outlet. Duh! That's it's nature, and it's well understood.
2) The licensing is not *that* bad. Here's what it is: you install the program from the disk, you login to their website and fill in some info including the "license key" that comes with your disk, Toontrack generates an automated email containing an authcode that is specific to your computer and your serial number, you type that in on your computer, and you are done. The bottom line is that you can set two machines up to run with a single copy of EZDrummer. Then if you want to install it on a 3rd machine you have to de-activate one of the licenses that you had previously activated.
I'm not real thrilled about the licensing. It is certainly a bit confusing, and I wish it were either a little more flexible or let you license it via a dongle but I've seen much much worse, and I had things running 15-20min after inserting the disk into my machine. It's actually pretty similar to how Adobe does licensing for example.
Ok, so how is it at helping you create drum beats? Seems pretty darn good to me. The "default" drum beats are great. Just select what you want and drag it right onto your favorite sequencer. That is one way to use it. And even using it on that simple level it gives you a lot of power. You can make modifications like how hard the drum strikes are, and you can control the mixer right on EZdrummer itself to tailor the individual drums and symbols. The other way to use it is to create completely custom beats. I have not played with that much yet, but that is the feature that distinguishes it from places that just offer you drum loops that you pretty much have to take "as is" for example. And to me the fact that it offers so many different "upgrades" is a nice plus. It means that you can start small and expand, and also that the company is alive and well and motivated to keep making their product better.
I haven't used it enough yet to give a real in-depth review, but I felt like a few of the things that were said about it were pretty far off-base, and I wanted to chime in on that. I think the real telling thing about EZDrummer is what the real experienced hard-core musicians think of it. Go and do some searches and I think you'll see that this program has a real nice, well-earned reputation in the musician community.
By the way, I've been using it with FL Studio and Mixcraft and it seems to work very well with both those programs.

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Mixman Studio Pro 4.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I must admit, the little demo tunes that come with it are very trendy and have good sound quality. I have been writing music with computers since 1988 using a variety of different programs and methods and I must say that for a program which is designed to make it easy for the average chump, I'm confused by it's simplicity. The interface is artsy rather than designed for serious work and comes off like "Acid Junior Lite" if you could imagine that. Yeah, wow - it also burns your noise to mp3s, like most new programs do. You're unable to fold, spindle and mutilate (or "tweak") the sounds the way you would with most music programs, although some basic tweaking is possible. If you're really uninspired to learn music production properly, this would be a quick way to pump out Kmart dance music and call yourself "cool". If this is the way you want to go, I'd recommend you pay a visit to fruityloops.net, as it is a much more powerful program that accomplishes the end result more thoroughly (and does much more than this blunt little tool), but if you really want to do good high-quality music - sell your PC, get a Mac and then get Logic Audio. These little beat-box programs are only toys.

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Mixman StudioPro enables you to create professional-quality music on your PC. Take your musical ideas from concept to completion with this integrated suite of professional remixing tools: Remixing Studio, FX Studio, Editing Studio, and Recording Studio. The patented Mixman remix engine allows you to combine individual sound elements and perform in real time. Audio experimentation is fast and fun, regardless of musical style. It's time to take your music to the next level, and this is the software to do it.
The heart of Mixman StudioPro is its Remixing Studio, a unique, live-performance environment designed to give you maximum control of the musical moment. Instant response from the computer keys lets you remix with total inspiration. FX Studio provides a set of state-of-the-art effects to manipulate and create new sounds.
Graphically adjust audio elements to compose or rearrange your music with precision. A cell-based editing system includes cut, copy, paste, merge, ripple, and draw. Change parameters like pitch, tempo, panning, and volume dynamically over time.
This innovative software allows you to tune in and listen to mixes submitted by fans worldwide or to broadcast your own latest creation. All radio listeners can participate by writing reviews and rating the music. Also, get your own space on www.mixman.com, where you can post your own sound templates for others to remix, or highlight your tracks on Mixman Radio.

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ACID Music Studio 7 Review

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(More customer reviews)I will try to make this brief. This is a easy program to use if you are experienced or just learning(like myself). The program pretty much spells everything out for you. But for a program that is based around music it limits you if you do not have the full version of Acid Pro(which is about 300 dollars). For example, if you are recording multiple tracks, you need to create mixing busses. But the program does not save your busses unless you have Acid Pro, so if you record something that has lets say 25 tracks all asigned to busses and then you save it, once you open the project back up all those busses are gone and the program tells you an error occured and it then tells you to buy Acid Pro so this will not happen anymore. This is very frustrating, if you make any projects that involve complex mixing, you basically need to leave your computer on until you finish your work and never want to touch it again, unless you love remixing stuff. There is also a strange thing where you can't automate panning and volumes from the busses, you have to pull up an "envelope" on the track and create bullet points to adjust these things. I find it to be tedious and strange, when other porgrams such as Pro Tools allow you to automate much easier. Overall this is a decent program, but it has its frustrations and does not work fully unless you want to buy the full 300 dollar program.

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Clean Plus 2.0 Pro Review

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(More customer reviews)I have many LP`s at home and I`ve tried many times to convert them into mp3`s/cd`s. I`ve used DART, AudioGrabber and may others, but nothing was as easy to use and with clean results like Clean! Also the PreAmp is a life saver! What a cool gadget!

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eJay MP3 Pro Review

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(More customer reviews)OK ... so the product is probably 3 stars in terms of functionality ... but one of the main reasons I purchased Ejay pro was so that I could blend songs using their fade in/out features.
My initial problem is that I can't burn anything using Ejay. It took 6 weeks for their tech support to get back to me regarding my issue. I even gave them the model number & link to Plextor's site. It turns out that they don't support Ejay on XP. Period. Nice. They didn't even offer a work-around.
Thanks for wasting 6 weeks of my life. I'll be returning the product and picking up Roxio's.... at least they're up on the technology.

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eJay MP3 Pro takes digital music compilation and archiving to the next level. In addition to professional-quality burning and ripping, MP3 Pro easily allows you to personalize your music. This all-inclusive tool features comprehensive MP3 search and track management functions, integrated MP3 audio processing, direct edit of MP3 audio, cross-fades and mixing, file conversion, CD-cover printing, and an intuitive user interface especially designed for the novice.

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Propellerhead Record Reason Duo Review

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(More customer reviews)Set up is a breeze. Although, I'm a little more advanced than your beginner. I have an M-Audio FastTrack Pro, and I have a several MIDI controllers in the studio. A little complicated, but well worth it.
I've been messing with the demo for a while now, and LOVED the interface. Now with the Reason 5 and Record 1.5, I feel it is now a complete DAW and recording suite. Now I just have to save up for ReCycle, and I'm complete for a home studio for hip-hop. And with Record, I can record acoustic guitars and/or vocals. Comes with a mastering suite, so this can be your all in one (although I prefer ProTools mastering suite).
I'd say try it out from the direct download if you're not sure. You get 30 days to mess around with it. . .
I don't have to say much, but you can probably find videos on youtube or from the Propellerheads website.UPDATED
Nevermind. . .I won't need ReCycle any more. . . .It's now all internal!!!! Wish I could add 3 more stars for that!!!!

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Logic Express 9 Upgrade Review

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(More customer reviews)Why should you upgrade to 9? Because Snow Leopard introduces the ability for intel powered Mac's to move up from 32 bit to 64 bit for some choice software. Logic being just about the choiciest.
Do you really want to move to 64 bit? It isn't necessary. If you like to work with Logic's EXS sampler, you can reconfigure in 32 bit if you'd like to take advantage of assigned virtual space on your hard drive. But if you got 9 (and you download the free apple upgrade), and if you got more than 4 gigs of ram, you can get that extra ram assigned directly to your sampler. Or if by chance you have any sampler laden 64 bit 3rd party software (Omnisphere, a lot of NI's stuff), same thing.
On the other hand most 3rd party plugs have not made the leap to 64 yet. They still will run on the upgraded system, but without any advantage. We're still early here in what now seems a significant (and in a few years' time will appear quaint) upgrade. If your relatively new to this and not heavily invested in 3rd party plug-ins, this probably is a great time to set yourself up for the future. Otherwise, there's no rush.

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Record, edit, and mix your music on a Mac using the new Logic Express 9. Open your GarageBand files and get right to work, or start from scratch with a new composition. Logic Express 9 is a guitar player's dream, with Amp Designer and Pedalboard, two new plug-ins that re-create the sound of legendary amps and stompbox effect pedals. You can build your own amp model and try any combination of stompboxes. An improved set of music creation tools makes it even easier to capture and develop your musical inspirations. Use the new Flex Time tools to easily manipulate audio timing and tempo. And make music right out of the box with over 100 instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Studio.

Upgrade Version
Upgrade from retail versions of Logic Express 6, 7, or 8; or Logic Audio 5 or 6.

Logic Express 9. Record, edit, and mix music on your Mac.

Top Features
Perfect for capturing and developing your musical inspirations
Seamless compatibility with GarageBand files
Flex Time features that make editing audio timing and tempo easier than ever
More than 70 studio-quality effect plug-ins, including vintage and modern compressors, delays, reverbs, and more
New Amp Designer plug-in to help you re-create the sound of 25 legendary amps and 25 speaker cabinets
New Pedalboard plug-in with an assortment of 30 virtual stompbox pedals inspired by the classics
36 software instrument plug-ins, including the Ultrabeat drum synth and beatbox, ES2 synth, and EXS24 sampler

Related Products
Complete your music studio with a Mac Pro workstation and two 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Displays. Take a MacBook Pro with you and make your music anywhere.

AppleCare
Offering solutions for businesses of any size, AppleCare provides ongoing product coverage, including the AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac systems and Apple flat-panel displays. To augment your experience with Apple professional software, AppleCare Professional Video Support and AppleCare Professional Audio Support offer direct access to Apple's professional support staff. For more information, visit www.apple.com/support/products.

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Apple Logic Studio Review

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(More customer reviews)So you want a whole music studio for under $500? What are you, some kind of crazy Mac user?
Apple's generous price drop for this version of what many consider to be the ultimate music tool (and I'm one of those) has removed any excuse one may have for putting off this purchase any longer. Meaning they cut the price in half and added twice the features of the original: Not only do you get a leaner, meaner and much easier to use version of Logic Pro, but they've thrown in updated versions of Soundtrack Pro and Compressor (previously only available with Final Cut), a live performance module called MainStage, all five Garageband Jam Pack titles, WaveBurner 1.5 for CD mastering, new effects such as Delay Designer .... all you need supply is lots of time and about 45 gigs of hard drive space.
As a happy user of Logic since version 6, I found the upgrade (available for just under $200) easy to grow into, especially being used to Apple's other pro apps, and really appreciated the addition of Soundtrack Pro 2, whose predecessor I'd used more for track mastering. The newer interface for Logic is more self contained now, with sliding panels replacing all those open windows you used to have to deal with ... although that is still an option if you're a person who thrives on complexity. Now you can look at both the Arrange Window and Matrix Edit (now called "Piano Roll", how quaint) in the same window, just roll it in and out as needed. Same with Audio Mixer, Score View, Hyper Edit, etc. In keeping with this more streamlined method, some of the tools are more hidden away which, along with other changes, I'm quickly getting used to. Another rollaway panel gives you access to instrument settings (and other audio resources) by way of a Soundtrack-like browser -- don't like that piano sound and don't feel like scrolling through all of them? Just pick one off the list, and it's there!
Another nice feature you'll see right away is some handy standard templates: Now, instead of trying to figure out how many blank tracks, and what kind, you may need for a certain project, just click one of the template buttons and you're on your way. You can easily customize them if you're a seasoned user. The one that has this user the most excited is the orchestral template ..... a whole symphony orchestra, ordered the same as it would be in a classical score, with instruments already loaded and regions just waiting for note entry. Now that's power. You can transcribe classical works using Logic's score editor, which by the way will also print out scores should you ever hire live musicians for your compositions.
One thing that will make Logic veterans happy is, now you don't need the USB XS-Key to be plugged in to run the software. Upgraders only need it to install, then just unplug it and drop it in the box. New users won't even have to deal with it. They don't know what they've missed, and they're better off.
In summary, Logic is the solution for the Mac-based musician, as far as composing, arranging, recording, looping, producing, scoring, sound designing, whatever-ing in an audio capacity. No messy cables and reels of tape all over the place like in the old days, just launch and bring musical dreams to life. I can't emphasize enough what a good deal this is (without sounding like a salesman), and once you get over a slight learning curve you realize the possibilities are virtually boundless for what you'll come up with. Just be aware: this ain't no Garageband. Logic is for the serious musician or music producer for whom music matters above most other things. This is what obsessed people do with their time. If this sounds like you, well, you owe it to yourself to make the most logical investment.

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Logic Studio, Apple's comprehensive suite of professional music and audio tools, provides musicians with everything they need to create in the studio, on the stage, and for the screen. Logic Studio includes Logic Pro 8, Apple's legendary professional music production application featuring a new, intuitive interface; MainStage, an innovative new application for music performance; and Soundtrack Pro 2 for audio post-production and sound design. It also includes Studio Instruments and Studio Effects, with 40 acclaimed instruments and 80 professional effect plug-ins; an expanded Studio Sound Library; and new production utilities--all in a single box at an incredible price.

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EarMaster 5 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I love this software. I'm a pretty crappy guitarist who decided to go back to the basics and learn some music theory (which I'm doing via the "absolutely understand guitar" DVD set by Scotty West -- I recommend that product as well -- the presenter has a tendency to ramble and excessively repeat himself but ultimately the material is solid and a lot of things are starting to click so it was worth hanging in there). Anyway, this software is a perfect complement to your music theory studies. I think that unless you're just lucky to be born with a natural talent, you're going to need some dictation of intervals, chords, scales, and rhythm to atune your ear to how they sound. Playing it on your own instrument isn't as effective because you can't help using your eyes and fingers as a crutch. With this software, you have nothing but your ears to find the answer.
Some small nits to pick, which I'm writing here hoping that emedia will read this and include in its next upgrade: (1) the sounds are pretty crappy and hardly like the instruments they're supposed to represent. I'd rather get a choice of three instruments (say, piano, violin and steel string acoustic guitar) that sound realistic than 60+ crappy MIDI ones. (2) I wish an exercise were included that helps you train absolute pitch. For this, I think the Deburgh method is good. It starts by playing two notes (Eb and F#) and you have to listen in to the character of each and once you can distinguish them you progress to other/additional notes. (3) Another thing that I would find extremely useful is if the scale identification (which is what I'm working on now) could be expanded beyond ascending/descending. My hunch is that a program could be written to pick out notes from a scale in a sequence that still sounds relatively musical (following some musical rules). Or alternatively, plenty of examples (a couple of hundred, so you can't rely on memory) could be stored of existing music pieces in those scales. Ultimately, I would like to be able to hear something on the radio and be able to pick up by the character of the music that it's in this or that scale/mode (even if I can't tell the pitch) and the included exercise (just ascending/descending) is a bit too easy.

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If you want to sing, improvise or jam with complete confidence, you need to recognize all the sounds around you. Ear training can make this possible. Making music with others will become easy and fun! EarMaster is your personal teacher. It is easy to use and provides instant feedback. EarMaster includes a Standard Tutor with over 400 lessons as well as a Jazz Tutor with over 200 lessons. Both will guide you and automatically increase in difficulty as your ear improves. Create your own customized exercises to improve the way you play, compose and notate any style of music!

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