So-called MOD players have existed for many years, having first appeared back in the early days of the Amiga and Atari ST (in fact, Darren Schebek, working for the author of this article in the mid-eighties, wrote the first known sample player for the Atari ST). The MOD files these players used played snippets of digital audio in sequences, designed to sound like continuous waveforms -- but without, of course, the enormous disk and memory requirements of gigantic waveform files. Indeed, such software players were computer counterparts to hardware devices on the market that performed similar sample-playback tasks: the Fairlight CMI and Synclavier at the high end, and instruments like the EMU Emulator and the Ensoniq Mirage at the low end. By the late 80s, sample players were common in the musical instrument market, as companies such as Korg, Yamaha, Roland, and many others quickly advanced the state of the art. One of the trend-setters was Korg, with its M1. The M1 added digital effects units that greatly improved the tone of the samples played. And now, all these innovations and more have now found their way into computer software sample players.
ReCycle, co-developed by Propellerhead Software and Steinberg, was the first widely used audio looping tool. It was a genuine innovation: audio tracks were analyzed by the software, beats were automatically detected and the waveform was then snipped into individual "notes," which were then attached to MIDI events, allowing compatibility with MIDI sequencers (such as Steinberg's own Cubase VST) and, perhaps more importantly, the ability to speed up or slow down the sequence without changing the pitch. This was the key innovation. But ReCycle's dependence on external MIDI sequencers prevented it from becoming audio sequencing's killer app.
Mixman Studio Pro is a product that uses the DJ/record player metaphor for mixing audio tracks. Mixman Studio Pro, like Sonic Foundry's ACID (listed below) can automatically match beats, pitches and tempos of samples and loops, making it remarkably easy to develop a mix from a collection of samples. In my tests, Studio Pro exhibited some annoyances, particularly an apparent bug in which a "glitch" sound not in the original source recordings would occasionally appear. The steps by which up to 16 instruments are loaded seemed clumsy to me. As well, I found it fairly inconvenient to alter the pitch of sections -- a process that involved switching between the sequencer and track editor portions of the program.
You can non-destructively add effects (reverb, wah-wah, etc., etc.) to your sounds; unlike some programs, Studio Pro can apply up to 80 multi-effects presets -- a feat which would be impossible on even the most powerful computers when running a real-time effects "virtual studio" environment such as Cubase VST or Cakewalk Audio.
Studio Pro comes with a limited edition of Steinberg's WaveLab for editing sounds, and a great collection of samples to get you started (more free samples are provided as an incentive to register). You can record your own loops, as well.
The program's easy interface makes it a lot of fun, and I really liked its export options, which include ASF (MP3), SoundFont (allowing you to create a collection of sound files that will act as MIDI instruments for Creative Labs Sound Blaster cards), WAV and the company's own proprietary TRK formats. With a suggested retail price of US$89 (upgrades to version 4.0 are US$19.95), it's worth picking up.
Getting Looped
Is there a better music program in the whole wide world? If there is, I'd like to see it, because, for my money, <Austin> Acid is it, baby, yeah! </Austin>
In addition to benefiting from one of the most clever and outrageous marketing campaigns in recent history, Sonic Foundry's ACID, now at version 4.0, is a great program. At version 1.0's introduction at Comdex Fall '98 in Las Vegas, groups of conservatively dressed "zealots" stood with megaphones outside the Sands Convention Center and cried "Don't let your kids try Acid! Acid is dangerous!," and so on. Elsewhere, bands of tie-tied "hippies" passed out pamphlets for the product, uttering slogans like "Acid is cool man. Everybody should try Acid." Throughout the city, bumper stickers and bus-banners proclaimed "Beethoven never tried ACID," and to top it off, a number of what may best be described as slutty rock chicks were readily visible with their big hair, leather pants and electric guitar cases, emblazoned with still more ACID promo stickers.
I've tested several versions of the program over the years, ranging from the freely downloadable "Acid Express" version to the full-blown "Pro" release. Some hardware products (see below) come with a stripped-down version of the program, too, usually based on the US$49 "Acid Style" DJ or Rock editions. In all cases, I've been very impressed with the program's ease and musicality. Of course, the more expensive Pro version adds a few desirable features. The Pro version doesn't have Acid Style's limitation of 8 tracks and it adds the ability to add digital signal processing effects. In all cases, the interface is simply great -- completely convenient and natural to use. (I did, however, find Mixman Studio Pro's real-time recording of volume fades, panning and pitch alteration superior to the capabilities of ACID prior to the 4.0 release, which finally added these features.)
WAV sounds can be previewed while an ACID tune is playing and adding tracks or loops is as simple as drag and drop. Sections of music can be drawn in anywhere, and it is easy to change volumes, pitch or tempo with the program. Several hundred megabytes of samples are provided, in both the US$399 full version (also available in downloadable format or as a US$149 upgrade), and the trimmed down $99 Acid Music release, or $49 "DJ" or "Rock" genre-specific versions. Acid doesn't have as extensive an export capability as Studio Pro, but its interface makes it a better music making tool. Highly recommended.
Kudos, too, to Sonic Foundry for making Acid Express, a feature-reduced 8-track version of the program, freely available. Once you see how easy it is, you'll want to jump to the full "Pro" version, with its unlimited tracks (you can manage about 40 at a time even on a lowly Celeron 450), additional volume controls and FX settings.
ACID is audio looping's killer app. Along with Sound Forge (which you practically require if you want to produce your own ACID-optimized loops), it's a must-have tool for any serious PC audio enthusiast.... and a sure source of PC envy for Mac users (Incidentally, it *does* run under Virtual PC on a Mac, but just barely). Mac users have a handful of loop processing tools, including Bitheadz' Phazer, Ableton Live and Steinberg Recycle, but only Ableton Live offers a comparable feature set, and many users of both (this writer included) prefer Acid.
ACID is also bundled with a growing number of hardware products, including some models in HP's line of CD-writers, the Guillemot Maxi Sound ISIS, the Matrox RT2000 and many more.
Sonic Foundry on Apr. 16, 2001 introduced ACID 3.0. Acid Pro 4.0 followed in early 2003.
New in v3.0
Mixing
MIDI
Workspace
Video
ACID is available at: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/. It's our Editor's Choice in audio sequencing software, although we'd recommend also checking out Ableton Live.
Not to be outdone, Steinberg has posted samples of its own looping extensions to Cubase, in the ReCycle format. In addition, Steinberg and Rocket Networks announced at NAMM in Jan. 1999 a new set of extensions to the program that allow users to link and share projects using the Internet as a live connection.
Steinberg also announced a new version of ReCycle, the loop and groove sample editor developed in conjunction with Propellerheads Software, makers of the popular TR606/TB303 emulator, ReBirth. The Steinberg and Propellerhead products also have the distinction of being the only ones mentioned here available on both the PC and Mac platforms.
A "lite" version of ReCycle is shipped with some sound cards, such as the Creative Labs Audigy Platinum eX, reviewed elsewhere in this section.
For Mac users, a program very similar to ACID is Phrazer. With it, users can import standard digital audio files, ACID files from Sonic Foundry's ACID software, or Unity DS-1 samples from the BitHeadz Unity DS-1 Digital Sampler. Phrazer automatically pitch shifts and time stretches audio material, so complex arrangements can be created in minutes without having to worry about matching tempos or key.
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