EQ Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 78)

Soft Machines MAGIX SAMPLITUDE PROFESSIONAL 9.1 by Glenn Bucci Magix’s Samplitude Digital Audio Workstation software has a long lineage, having first appeared on the Commodore Amiga platform. This high end audio/MIDI recording, mastering and post-production program for Windows 2K/XP (with support for up to four CPUs/cores) has garnered a strong following over the years, particularly in Europe; it competes against products such as Pro Tools, Nuendo/Cubase, Sonar, and (when running under Boot Camp), Digital Performer and Logic Pro. The program’s One of the First DAWs Offers Up a Major Update well as VST plug-ins; it also offers notation, POW-r dithering, ReWire host capabilities (rewiring TASCAM’s Giga Studio with Samplitude ran without a hitch — in fact the two together ran faster than Giga did with Cubase), compensation for plug-in delays, and compatibility with ASIO/MME/WDM hardware. Copy protection is dongle-based. Samplitude 9.1 includes both expected and unexpected features and plug-ins: Folder tracks, SampleTank 2.1 LE, Spectral Cleaning (a way to process amplitude with selected parts of the frequency spectrum), Auto Jam one program — it’s a one-stop music production shop. Magix also excels at customer service; the people who work on the program go to their forums and answer customer questions, as well as implement updates based on user feedback. Their phone customer service is also excellent, with non-existent or minimal hold times. Also helpful: the tutorial videos on the www.samplitude.com forums. And overall, the program’s workflow is pretty straightforward — you can do most tasks with just a couple of steps. Upon opening Samplitude, a Start Wizard assists in locating recent projects or starting a new one. Multiple skins are available, so you can choose various “looks” (I like the Samplitude 8 skin the best). For large projects, one mixer skin allows showing a lot more tracks on the screen; you can switch between skins with a mouse click. MEET THE FAMILY Samplitude comes in three different versions: Professional (reviewed here), Classic, and Master. Classic and Master are more costeffective versions of Professional that lack some of the bells and whistles; check the website for a comparison chart. (Sequoia is Samplitude’s bigger brother. It costs over twice as much and is designed more for prolevel mastering applications, thus competing with programs like Sonic Solutions and Sadie.) Interestingly, Samplitude Professional ships with a separate program called Magix Movie Edit Pro 11 that offers highly capable video editing — perfect for those seeking exposure on places like YouTube. Fig. 1: Samplitude’s workspace is clean and allows seeing multiple functions at once, without clutter. The mixer is toward the lower right; the arranger screen is in the background, and one of Samplitude’s many plug-ins (Corvex) is in the upper right. vastness precludes going into every detail, but we’ll summarize the program’s most important aspects. Once you get a feel for what Samplitude is about, you can download a trial copy from the Magix website to gain first-hand experience. THE BASICS Samplitude offers up to 999 tracks, and still supports DirectX (unlike some companies) as Session (think JamMan-style looping/overdub capabilities), Sound Cloner (nice filtering effects), MIDI and score editors, excellent comping options, and surround sound capabilities. Its 32-bit float audio engine records up to 192kHz. Magix has done several things to help this program stay competitive yet remain “musician-friendly. For starters, you can ” record, mix, master, and burn CDs within WORKFLOW Perhaps Samplitude’s most confusing element is the use of three different types of “projects” — RAM, Hard Disk, and Virtual (VIP). Briefly, RAM projects record data in RAM or load the data in from hard disk. While fast, the amount of RAM limits recording time so this mode works best with small bits of digital audio. Hard Disk projects work like traditional digital audio editors: The hard drive provides virtual RAM, while the system RAM acts as a buffer. Virtual projects (VIPs) 78 EQ SEPTEMBER 2007 www.eqmag.com http://www.samplitude.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - September 2007

Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly Ben and Vesper Kaiser Chiefs Toolbox Ozma Porcupine Tree Rush The Software Power User Guide Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drumheads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Chameleon Labs TS1 and TS2 Primera Bravo Se Disc Publisher Roland MC-808 Magix Samplitude Professional 9.1 Massey Tape-Head Big Fish Audio Revolucion Reggaeton Sonivox World Beats Sony Pocket Diva Adobe Audition 2.0 Cakewalk Sonar 6 Room with a VU: J Street Recorders, Sacramento, CA

EQ Magazine - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.