Soundpaint hits version 5.0 and finally grows up. 8Dio’s free engine gets a built-in sample editor, an eight-layer engine and a monster arpeggiator, and it is still free to download.
Between the console and the transmitter, a radio station’s sound runs through an audio processor that sets its sonic signature and protects the modulation. AGC, multiband compression, limiter, clipper, stereo generator: here is what each stage does, and why setting it is an art as much as a science.
Attack, decay, sustain, release: these four controls decide whether a sound snaps, settles or fades. The ADSR envelope is the tool that shapes a note’s contour over time. Understand it once, and half of sound design falls into place.
Also called New York compression, parallel compression blends a heavily compressed copy of a signal with the untouched original. You gain density and energy without giving up natural dynamics. Here is how it works, how to set it and where it truly earns its place.
Waves has rebuilt its live-sound capture software from the ground up: up to 128 tracks, a smooth virtual soundcheck and one-click sync with eMotion LV1 consoles. It is out now for macOS and Windows at $49.
Unveiled at IBC 2026, the MXneo update reworks the MX limiting algorithm in Orban’s OPTIMOD 5950 and 5950 HD broadcast processors. Same punch, same loudness — but distortion is tamed, and finally adjustable.
The little +48V button is everywhere — on interfaces, consoles and preamps — and it’s still one of the most stubborn sources of confusion in recording. Here’s what phantom power really is, what it powers, and how to use it safely.
dBTechnologies expands its OPERA line with two active speakers pairing dual bass drivers with a coaxial high section. Dual 10-inch for the NONA 210, dual 12-inch for the 212, up to 132.5 dB maximum SPL.
The cult portable tracker is now a native iPhone and iPad app. The complete engine is here — eight tracks, five synthesis engines, a sampler — and version 1.1 has just added AUv3 support, for $29.99.
XILS-lab takes on the Memorymoog myth with a virtual synth running three oscillators per voice. Sixteen-voice polyphony, a self-oscillating 24 dB ladder filter, MPE and six effects, at a $79 intro price.