Digital Sound Page

If there is one development taking the digital audio world by storm it's software synthesis. As physical modelling becomes commonplace and Cpu power increases rapidly, the number of new companies and applications grow at a rate that's almost too fast to keep up with.

Modern software synthesizers and samplers no longer play second violin to dedicated hardware synths; in some cases they even surpass them! One area remains relatively problematic though: the interface and the lack of tactile feedback. Luckily, the number of affordable Midi controllers is also on the increase. More systems can now be equipped with two or more monitors, giving musicians the desktop real estate they need. Tools to read sample discs in native format on a PC are also appearing left and right, giving software samplers access to the huge libraries of sounds that were previously only accesible to studios with dedicated hardware. Even hooking everything up, from the MIDI data to the digital audio inputs and outputs, is slowly becoming as simple as hooking up external gear through the introduction of new protocols such as ASIO, VST 2.0, EASI and others. In short, exciting times are ahead!

We have divided the software synthesis area up into the major platforms. Most are subcategorized further into synthesizer, drum machine, sampler and integrated packages to enable you to locate what you're looking for more quickly.

• Hardware/software packages are products that contain dedicated hardware and software for the generation and manipulation of sound.
• ProTools has enjoyed a slow but steady flow of synthesis tools since DirectConnect was introduced. As a result, pro synthesizers are available for this professional system.
• Pulsar/SCOPE covers the full spectrum of sound generation tools for this innovative and powerful platform. For effects please go to the Pulsar/SCOPE plug-ins section.
• Stand-alone products can be used independently of host software. They may have special features to link them to sequencers and editors, such as ReWire.
• VST Instruments are the success story of the moment. Since the VST 2.0 standard -which supports transfer of digital audio as well as Midi to and from a plug-in- numerous products have appeared and existing ones converted