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Computers and software

Main computer

Novatech Pentium IV 2.4, 1gig of ram, 40, 80 and 160 gig hard drives, WinXP.

Novatech are highly recommended - good prices and great service. I've ordered three PC's from them and several more for friends and have been extremely happy with their service.

Apple 1.25GHz 15" Aluminium Powerbook, 768meg ram

I have finally moved into the Mac world and am loving it! Currently, in addition to using it for graphics and development, I also have Logic Pro, Live and a selection of plugins running on this, making it a very capable portable studio. I have a Korg microKontrol for keyboard duties. OS X is just lovely.

Shareware software I'm using and recommend include Ittec, Windowshade, Shapeshifter, Audio Hijack, iPodRip, Codetec Virtual Desktop, Launchbar, Cocoa MySQL and many other cheap but high-quality utilities.

Audio Software

Emagic Logic Pro 6

Logic is just fantastic - tons of audio tracks, a fantastic sequencer and loads of really cool plugins too. I used Emagic products since Creator on the Atari, through to Notator then Logic, until upgrading to Logic Audio Platinum on the PC. I was lucky enough to take a visit to Germany and meet them a few years ago - great guys, and a great company.

Emagic Logic Audio Platinum 5
Emagic SoundDiver
Emagic EXS24 Sampler
Emagic ES1 Synth
Emagic ES2 Synth
Emagic EVP88 Electronic Piano
Emagic EVD6 Modelled Clavinet
Emagic EVB3 Virtual Organ
Emagic Space Designer


Sony Sound Forge 7

Sound Forge is an excellent and full-featured sample editor. I use this to process my final mixes before burning them to CD. I also use Batch Convertor for bulk mp3 conversions etc. I realy really wish this was available on the Mac as well, as the Mac seriously lacks a high quality sample editor (Peak just doesn't do it for me).

 

Ableton Live 3

I've just recently revisited the demo if this after briefly playing with an old version 1 copy in the past. After loading the demo and hitting play, and not stopping for half an hour, I was so impressed I immediately ordered my copy.

Realtime loop timestretching on the fly, a fantastic realtime interface and rock solid operation make this an amazing performance and production tool. The just announced version 4 looks even more amazing.

Spectrasonics Stylus



Spectrasonics products are about as top-class as you can get, and Stylus is no exception. Looking forward to the announced Stylus RMX coming soon...

GMedia impOscar



I have tried out a lot of virtual synths and few of them have screamed "buy me!" as loudly as this one. Everything from smooth, and thick to nasty and screaming, this analog cimulation of the Oscar is one of the best virtual synths around at the moment. I love it!

u-he Zebra



Great modular synth with a really nice interface. This one is also great for routing audio and mangling drum loops etc.

Waves 5 Plugins

Waves Renaissance Compressor, Renaissance Vox, Renaissance EQ, Doubler, Supertap

I've always really liked the Ren compressors and the Ren EQ, my favourite native compression and EQ plugins I have found to date. As I needed a decent software compressor for my Mac in lieu of the UAD-1, I have been after the Ren Comp and Ren Vox for a while. Wave's new Musician's Bundle 2 was *exactly* the plugin bundle I was looking for, comtaining the Ren Comp, Ren Vox and Ren EQ, all for a really good price (the same price as just the Ren Comp on its own!). As an extra sweetener, the bundle comes with Double for simulated double tracking and thickening effects, which I was also interested in, and Supertap, a decent delay.

Various sample CD's including favourites such as Drumkit From Hell, Wizoo Mixtended Drums, Wizoo Latin Percussion, Wizoo Platinum Piano, Emagic libraries Xtreme Analog, Xtreme Digital and Xtreme Hip-hop, and others.

Audio hardware

Universal Audio UAD-1 Studiopak

There's not much that can be said about the UAD-1 that hasn't already been said. It's universally raved about, particularly for it's replica 1176, LA2A and Fairchild compressors.

Mackie Control Universal

Moving fader control surface for Logic, which transforms a computer based environment into a much faster and more fluid system. I can't speak about this controller highly enough - it is fantastic!

Creative Labs SB Live!
Emagic Audiowerk 2
Emagic AMT8 MIDI interface

The SB Live is nowadays used for Windows audio and occasionally used for it's hardware soundfont player, but all the "real" audio stuff goes through the AW2. I can send audio digitally between Logic and my DPS12, and the two operate seamlessly.


Another great purchase was the AMT8 - all my MIDI routings are now transparent, and I can use any number of input devices simultaneously, routed to anywhere I want. Cool!

M-Audio Firewire 410

I bought this as a portable audio interface solution for my Powerbook. Unfortunately I haven't been able to use it yet, as I was supplied with a defective unit which fried my firewire ports on both my Powerbook and my PC :(

Apple iPod 40gig

What can you say about iPods? I have my entire music library on mine, and also use it to transfer files and data (such as Logic songs etc) to other collaborators.

Dunno how I coped witthout one for all these years!

 

 

Peripherals

SCSI card
Yamaha CRW4416 CDRW drive
Iomega ZIP drive
Epson Stylus Photo 750 printer
Sony TRV-460 Firewire DV8 Camcorder
Olympus Camedia Digital Camera

Other computers

Atari ST, Mac LC111 (both in retirement now)

 
 


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