Stories about: Digidesign

Almost since its inception, Pro Tools's outstanding mixing board mimicry has made it the pro's choice for intuitive, upscale audio recording and manipulation -- the DAW's DAW, as it were. You'll find Avid Technology's Pro Tools (usually the Mac version) in most professional recording studios. However, for creative sequencing and MIDI editing Pro Tools has always been a weak sister. Many composers have used Logic, Cubase, Finale, Sibelius, Reason or some such to create music, then exported the project into Pro Tools only for audio recording and editing. With the new Pro Tools 8 (US$200 and up, depending on related hardware), users can realistically use Pro Tools as a one-stop composing/recording shop.

Danny Allen explains why interacting with musicians from all over the world is beecoming easier than ever.

Take new-year trade shows, mix in new technologies, then add a dash of gee-whiz and you've got some of 2005's most interesting music tools.

Want to be a rock star? It's never been more affordable to pursue the only valid excuse to trash a hotel room. Cheap software makes it easy to record CD-quality audio to the PC in your bedroom -- or to a notebook in the back seat of a taxi, for that matter. And the Web offers instant access to millions of music fans.

These days, PC audio enthusiasts can benefit from a development community offering free alternatives that often rival the more established com-mercial offerings. However, sifting through them in an effort to stay current can be time-consuming, so this month we’re looking at the best free tools for common tasks, including file conversion, audio editing, and multi-track recording/sequencing.

In this column we cover the basics of virtual instruments: what they are, how they work and how to load them. We’ve even put some of the best free offerings on the PC World March 2004 cover CD to help you get started.

Avid Technology has announced Avid Free DV , a free DV-only version of its video editing software.

David Ellefson has been a professional musician, performer, recording artist and songwriter for the last 25 years. Most notably the last 18 years have taken him to the recording studios and stages around the world as the bassist for the rock group Megadeth. As a long time Macintosh enthusiast his Macs, include desktop machines, iMacs, iBooks and PowerBooks.

Apple Computer Inc. has acquired Emagic Inc., professional software solutions provider for computer-based music production.