ALK2
Price: €39 [£33] (solo, €99 [£85] (full version)
zenAud.io has announced that its piece of software ALK2, a well-established Mac exclusive, is now available for PC to allow many more users to access its unique interface. Primarily designed for live looping, the software allows users to record sound upon sound to create music on the fly.
The software doubles as a sequencer and allows users to take a top-down view of their recordings or compositions for quick editing and rearranging. It's also very affordable so could be great for schools!
Sono
Price: £419 – retail
In a surprising move, a large console and high-end interface manufacturer has launched an interface aimed purely at guitarists. It has teamed up with Two Notes Audio Engineering, a company that is best known for its speaker emulations. The Sono contains a valve to give the incoming guitar signal nice preamp warmth; the musician can then use loads of emulations of famous amplifiers to capture their recording.
Although pricey, this can also take ADAT in so can record up to ten channels simultaneously when needed. It also contains other nice features like a re-amp output to retrospectively record a guitar amp. It's a great option for school studios.
Bitwig Studio 3
Price: To be confirmed
A lesser-known, but excellent, piece of music software is Bitwig. It started out with a similar concept to Ableton Live but was free from the shackles of pre-existing code because it was built from the ground up to be anything that anybody wanted.
In this third version, the designers have made the software completely modular. You want a massive polyphonic synth? Great: build one. You want a simple looper? Great: build one. This could a be fantastic piece of software for a school music department and, while the price is currently unannounced, Bitwig is usually very competitively priced for education.
