T-RackS 3 Deluxe Edition
T-RackS 3 Deluxe Edition: Your all-in mastering suite with boutique hardware tone. Packed with five new high-end processing modules, including analog emulations of the Fairchild 670 and Pultec EQP-1A—T-RackS 3 Deluxe offers serious mastering power without the hardware room. You’ll get advanced metering, a flexible 12-slot dual-chain signal path, and both standalone and plug-in operation. We test sound quality, workflow, CPU load, and whether the upgrade from the Standard version is worth your budget.
Review of Spectrasonics Omnisphere Power Synth
Omnisphere sets a new bar, synth-power, versatility, and wild sound design. Built on Spectrasonics’ new STEAM engine, it includes 43 GB of samples, hybrid synthesis, modulation chaos, layered “Parts,” and Harmonia for pitch complexity. We test its interface, CPU load, presets, and how deep you can go, whether you’re crafting ambient textures or aggressive leads.
Review of Rob Papen Predator
Rob Papen’s Predator: bold sounds with deep control. Packed with 15 banks of morphable presets, 3 oscillators (128 waveforms each), robust filtering and routing, and a clever arpeggiator/step sequencer, Predator delivers dance, ambient, and lead textures with warmth and edge. It morphs naturally between patches, offers advanced effect chains, and keeps things intuitive despite depth. This review tests tone, usability, CPU load, and whether it lives up to its ambition.
Review of Power Suite 5
Power Suite 5: a high-end mixing & mastering toolkit for serious producers. This bundle includes five powerful plugins, Track Plug, Masterverb, Final Plug, MultiDynamics, and Panorama, designed to cover everything from channel processing to spatial effects. Whether you use presets or dive into modular tweaking, you’ll find the tools built to handle complex mixes and polished masters. We test each component’s sound, flexibility, CPU impact, and how the suite works together as a full workflow solution.
Review of Orion, by Synapse Audio
Orion by Synapse Audio, fast, focused, and made for electronic producers. Orion isn’t trying to be a full-featured studio DAW. Instead, it excels as a powerful, pattern-based environment built for creativity and speed. Designed with electronic musicians in mind, it combines a flexible step sequencer, solid MIDI routing, and built-in synths, samplers, and drum machines that make sketching tracks fast and intuitive. The interface encourages experimentation, and its built-in instruments sound clean and usable straight out of the box. While audio editing and recording tools are limited, Orion connects easily to other software through ReWire, making it a great production hub for electronic and dance genres. If you value workflow, low CPU load, and hands-on composition over deep editing, Orion delivers a refreshing balance of simplicity and power that keeps you focused on making music, not managing menus.
Review of Metal Amp Room, by Softube
Metal Amp Room by Softube: brutal tone, minus the complexity. This plugin offers one amp head, two cabinets, and a realistic room environment, no effect chains, just raw heaviness. You move virtual mic stands, blend mics in mono or stereo, and control tone with gain, EQ, depth, presence, and options like “lead,” “scoop,” or “deep.” It’s simple to use yet powerful, if you’re chasing aggressive metal tone without the usual mic and cab headache.
Review of Camel Audio Cameleon 5000
Camel Audio Cameleon 5000, morph-driven additive synth with surprising depth. Built around a 2×2 morph square, Cameleon lets you blend four independent voice sources via X/Y control and custom timelines. Import any audio, edit harmonics, micro-tune to exotic scales, and automate nearly every parameter. It’s lightweight on CPU (2–3 %) but heavy on creative potential, best for pads, textures, and sound design, less so for realistic acoustic emulations.
Review of FXpansion BFD2 Drum Workstation
FXpansion BFD2 Review, realistic drums that feel alive in your mix. BFD2 builds on the original’s reputation for natural drum realism with a massive sound library, advanced humanization, and deep control over every mic, room, and hit. Featuring flexible routing, built-in effects, groove editing, and detailed mixer options, it gives producers near-studio-level control inside their DAW. We dive into performance, usability, sound quality, and how it compares with rivals like Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums. While it’s RAM-heavy and complex for newcomers, the results are among the most convincing acoustic drum sounds available in software. Perfect for serious producers, engineers, and composers chasing dynamic, organic drums that respond like the real thing.
Ocean Way Drums from Sonic Reality
Ocean Way Drums DL: studio-quality drum samples you can drag into your mix. Recorded at legendary Ocean Way Studio B, this kit delivers stunning realism with multi-layered samples, preset mixes (Dry / Medium / Ambient), and flexible editing inside Kontakt. We test sound fidelity, usability, expansion potential, and how close it gets to making programmed drums feel alive.
AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix Review
Can a plugin capture the spirit of Hendrix? AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix comes close. With its DSM amp modeling, authentic presets, dual signal chains, and a built-in Speed Trainer, this software gives you the rig, tone, and flexibility to dive deep into Hendrix’s sound. We test how close it gets to the original, how usable it is in day-to-day playing, and whether you’d use it in serious recordings.