It’s been 16 years since Absynth 5 launched. Was it worth the wait? By Geary Yelton Absynth is the brainchild...
Spectrasonics’ flagship synth gets a major upgrade Recently, Spectrasonics shook up the softsynth world with an October surprise: Omnisphere 3, (released October 21, 2025) which represents...
The series is growing, but is it in the right direction? When I reviewed Prime Bass, it was the first entry in Native Instruments’ Session Bassist series....
How many banjo players does it take to create four different sample libraries? The historical scarcity of decent, playable convincing banjo libraries for electronic musicians is...
It’s a self-contained version of the free VCV Rack modular softsynth, and we discuss additional options. There are two ways to look at the modular synthesizer...
Is it a “smart music assistant?” Devices that take away some of the hard work of composing music are not exactly a new idea. Sampled loops,...
In which the reviewer gets totally blown away (figuratively, and quasi-literally using a wind controller) Having to pull myself away from playing the Audio Modeling SWAM...
The Polyvoks rises again – Cherry Audio Atomika Cherry Audio has a habit of coming out with excellent sofsynths at a silly price – that is,...
Dynamic, frequency-dependent “tube” saturation that you’ll probably use somewhere on every project Do you have an affinity for “just make it sound better” processors? If so,...
An accurate reimagining of the original with many bonus features Several companies – notably Arturia, Cherry Audio, and WayOutWare – have released software emulations of the...
It’s a “Hybrid Scoring Percussion” library for Native Instruments Kontakt sampler As someone who primarily composes production music for TV and media, I’m always scouting for...
Attention, desktop congueros – your library and sequencer has arrived Back in the mid-’80s we had the Yamaha RX21L “digital rhythm programmer” (my first percussion kit)....
After installing Bitwig Studio and spending a few days with it, Jim Aikin was impressed Learning a new DAW is always an adventure. Where are the...
When is a DAW like a box of chocolates? If you’re like most Synth & Software readers, you probably create your music in a DAW. There...
Glassware takes on a new meaning In the late ‘60s, when I had finished my private study on banjo, my teacher introduced me to recordings from...
