February 2024 Magazine Contents

This year’s SOS Awards once again place the emphasis on innovation and contemporary design, with the nominations being limited...

Live 12 introduces a raft of new features, devices and general improvements.

ADAM’s A Series speakers continue to impress!

Arturia’s latest effects plug‑in is designed to help you keep things moving...

Audeze’s latest headphones make Manny Marroquin’s signature sound more affordable than ever.

A Gameboy cartridge‑based Eurorack effects module? Robin Vincent puts the Befaco FX Boy to the test.

The Score offers a one stop, all‑you‑can‑eat, scoring buffet for composers in a hurry.

These new releases, which are available separately, are essentially stripped-back versions of the original Blackstar St James Plugin.

Cloud’s stylish RCA‑inspired ribbon microphone has enjoyed a dark reboot.

EastWest have taken the part of the map marked ‘here be dragons’ and made it very much their own.

This unique combination of mixer and effects machine can be used standalone or as part of a modular setup.

Guitar giants Fender join the modelling pedal party with this powerful and comprehensive floorboard. We put it through its paces...

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 4/5 Stars. Deep Conjuring is made up of 92 ‘instruments’, some multisampled, others loops, that can be loaded into Mirage’s three layers and then adjusted before being further processed via the 10 built‑in master effects.

Contrary to popular reports, preamps don’t all sound the same — and this clever modular system makes it easy to hear the ‘magic’.

GIK’s ingenious new design provides both absorption and diffusion, at a highly affordable price.

This all‑analogue feed‑forward limiter has the sort of look‑ahead function normally found only in digital devices.

IK’s sampled piano instrument aims to be more than just world-beating...

Liquid is a live granular effect, and we’re informed that some of the equations used are based on fluid dynamics, resulting in the creation of liquid‑like movement.

Could Intech Studio’s ingenious modular system help you build your perfect MIDI controller?

With battery operation and wireless connectivity built in, could the Kombo be the ultimate ‘go anywhere’ PA?

Why clog up your stage with effects you only use briefly? Line 6’s new stompbox can be any pedal you want it to be, and will fit neatly into any pedalboard setup.

We get hands‑on with a unique percussive instrument from Lumen.

By the time you have enough separate outputs in your system to warrant one, you need no telling how valuable mixers are to your modular workflow...

This latest iteration leaves the character of Basimilus unaltered, but throws in an envelope output and a range of extra modules for free.

Just when you thought it had all been done with distortion and overdrive pedals, Old Blood Noise Endeavours have put a new spin on the concept...

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. The double bass is at the heart of Signature Strings, which features over 270 designed and source sound effects.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Sampled from a Kawai GX grand piano using quality condenser mics, Saturn Hybrid Piano is the debut plug‑in from Sample Factory.

UJAM target media composers with the latest addition to their Virtual Pianist instrument series.

The dynamic speaker and mic modelling of UA’s popular OX amp‑top box is now available in a compact pedal format.

These audio examples accompany the Universal Audio OX Stomp full review in SOS February 2024.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars. Synchron Smart Orchestra takes the donkey work out of MIDI programming by providing pre‑orchestrated tutti ensembles, percussion, choir, harp and a suite of lead instruments.

This clever plug‑in could breathe new life into your old loops and projects.

These audio files accompany the Multi-miking article published in SOS February 2024.

Using more than one mic on a source can expand your sonic horizons — but it can also lead to problems. We explain when multi‑miking is and isn’t a good idea.

The revamped Chord Pad offers even better support for songwriters than before.

From his Sheffield recording studio Yellow Arch, producer, musician, arranger and programmer Colin Elliot has worked with an illustrious list of musical artists.

The amazing success of the Barbie movie was powered by its music. Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt were the producers, songwriters and composers who helped to turn the world pink.

We hand over the studio keys to Logic’s new AI‑powered Mastering Assistant.

We explore the many options for controlling Pro Tools using hardware.

Mayhem’s De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album is the cornerstone of Norwegian black metal. We talk to producer Eirik ‘Pytten’ Hundvin about his unique philosophy and the making of this genre‑defining album.

With Studio One 6.5 you already have all the tools you need to mix in Atmos, so why not give it a go?

On paper, Linux has many advantages over macOS and Windows. How easy is it to get started, and how far will it take you?

In the first of this two-part series, David Mellor gives us an introduction to mic polar patterns.

I’m restoring an old Soundcraft 600 mixer and discovered it doesn't use dedicated line amps and pads the mic amp signal.

At what point in the mixdown process do you think it’s best to engage the master‑bus compressor?

Noise performance is important, but to fairly compare different products, you need to understand how noise specs are calculated.

Catherine Marks talks to Kevin Paul about her traditional route into the industry as an assistant to Flood and Alan Moulder, plus her tips for how to approach a mix and get the best out of a track.

Richard James Burgess talks about the recent release of ‘Landscape A Go-Go’, a comprehensive 5 CD anthology of their work covering their entire recorded output between 1977 and 1983.

Galya Bisengalieva is a composer, producer and instrumentalist, whose violin playing features on works by Thom Yorke, Suzanne Ciani and Actress, as well as numerous film soundtracks including The Matrix Resurrections.

From this month we’ve decided to widen the scope of Inside Track, and where better to start than with perhaps the hottest producer of the moment.

Back in the pre‑computer days, manufacturers saw the need for straightforward and affordable mixers to handle the stack of electronics and bring it all down to a simple stereo pair, or even just a mono output.

From mono optical recordings to multi-terabtye software instruments, legendary composer AR Rahman has always embraced new technology, and his latest venture is a futuristic recording space in Dubai’s Expo City.