Sound On Sound UK June 2022

The idea of paying to ‘own’ software has always been problematic. What exactly is it that you possess? And what responsibilities does its maker then have towards you? The true cost of creating software is not apparent to the consumer, because it lies in development and support, not manufacturing. And since it costs nothing to duplicate a file, it’s easy to arrive at a spurious justification for using cracked software. You could even say that the ownership model makes piracy inevitable. It’s also unpopular with many software houses. The fixed cash hit from selling a software licence commits them to open-ended support costs, and existing customers are in effect a financial burden rather than a source of income. Small wonder, then, that more and more software companies are moving to a subscription…

Cube is the first product from the Lunacy Audio development team. And, as far as their launch philosophy goes, on paper at least, Lunacy seem to be following a ‘when you go, go big’ strategy. Cube looks like an ambitious virtual synth instrument with a sophisticated, multilayered sound engine and with plenty of modulation and effects options. It also launches at a price that suggests it’s aimed at the more serious end of the software synth marketplace rather than the more casual user. Cube runs either standalone or as a 64-bit plug-in (AU, VST or AAX) within suitable Windows or Mac OS DAW hosts. It ships with some 3000 underlying samples (2GB of drive space is required) and an impressive collection of 400 presets. There are already preset expansion packs available…

I’m always interested in trying out new software by Sound Radix. They offer a wide range of useful processing and utility plug-ins, and their products demonstrate an ingenious knack for solving annoying technical problems — in my experience, they usually save time, improve the end result, or both. Auto-Align Post 2 is one such product. Like its predecessor (but unlike most other plug-ins) this one doesn’t operate in real time. Instead, it uses the ARA2 and AudioSuite formats, the former for most DAWs and the latter specifically for Pro Tools, to process your DAW tracks’ audio offline. It runs in Mac OS and Windows-based hosts and, authorised using the iLok system, it can be licensed to your machine, the cloud or an iLok dongle. Aimed primarily at the post-production market, Auto-Align…

Most engineers still prefer to mix on speakers rather than headphones, but it isn’t always practical. There are now many products that aim to bridge the gap, using binaural processing to present your music in a virtual control room. Immerse Virtual Studio from Embody is one such, and it has a couple of interesting features that help it stand out from the crowd. Rather than employing a generic head-related transfer function (HRTF) to implement their binaural processing, Embody have developed an AI-powered system which can generate a custom HRTF from a photo of your ear. And whereas other manufacturers include measurement-based correction for headphone frequency response, the room/headphone combinations in IVS are ‘tuned’ by ear, by the engineers who work in those studios. The original Immerse Virtual Studio, or at least…

The Impact LX Mini from Nektar is one of those ‘mini-controller plus’ designs that can be so useful to so many people. It’s barely larger than most serious laptops, but packs in a lot of functionality. Alongside the two-octave, velocity-sensitive mini-keyboard there’s a four-way joystick, eight knobs, eight pads, a larger knob and various buttons. There’s traditional, programmable MIDI control functionality, surprisingly sophisticated ready-rolled DAW control features, and an onboard arpeggiator. Unusually for this form factor there’s even a footswitch input, via a supplied breakout cable. To cap it all it’s amazingly affordable. Could this new product represent the perfect balance of features for a portable controller, at a come-and-buy-me price? Several Halves One thing is for sure: visually the LX Mini is a hive of activity. As you’d expect the construction…

With a faint overtone of dodgy Hollywood sequels, the Part 2 feature with its dedicated pair of buttons above the joystick is actually very useful. When you hold one of the buttons the LX Mini momentarily transposes (by octaves, or smaller intervals, or a combination) or transmits on another MIDI channel. That provides a quick way to overcome the limited two-octave keyboard compass, or to address another virtual MIDI device, in addition to the normal latching octave buttons and programming system. However, Part 2 can also be made to layer on top of the normal MIDI output, allowing you to easily play octave stacks, chord clusters in fifths, or two instruments on different channels concurrently. I won’t lie: I hadn’t previously clamoured for a feature like this. In use though…