Jim Dalrymple

Most of the music we hear today is processed through digital audio workstation software such as Apple's Logic or Digidesign's Pro Tools. In order to mix and master the audio, engineers use plug-in versions of EQs and compressors to dial in the sound. While there are a lot of plug-in choices, I have found none better than Universal Audio (UA).

I've used a lot of different plug-ins over the years and one of the things that I learned is that I love the sound of older, analog gear. There is a warmth to the Fairchild Compressor, Pultec EQ, and Neve consoles that just grabs me. Naturally, it was that warmth that I searched for when looking for a great set of plug-ins.

I have been writing Apple news on these Web pages for the better part of 15 years and enjoyed every minute of it. Sadly, I am writing my last story as an employee of Macworld. It is time to say goodbye.

It's been a long journey. I came to Macworld from MacCentral in 1999 when the company was sold to Mac Publishing. In fact, my 10 year anniversary working for Macworld is in three weeks, on June 1.

Upgrading a pro-level application can be difficult for both the company that makes it and for those who use it. Don't add enough new features and people will say the upgrade isn't worth it, but if you change too much, you run the risk of alienating your core users.

This is the dilemma that Digidesign faced when updating its market-leading digital audio workstation, Pro Tools. Digidesign was very careful when it released Pro Tools 8, giving users a good balance of features and familiarity.

If you're planning an exhibition to conquer Mount Everest, you need to make sure you have all have of the necessary supplies. If you're list of supplies is anything like the most recent group to take on the Everest challenge, you should pack your MacBook Pro and a few iPods, too.

On the First Ascent Web site, Gerry Moffat, head of production for the team, films daily dispatches and uses his MacBook Pro to transfer and edit the data. All of the footage is shot on a solid state cards on the mountain.

Many professional musicians, producers, and engineers use Apple's Logic digital audio workstation software to record and mix music, but one group of musicians is taking that practice a step further. Australian band 26 takes Logic on the road with them, allowing them to perfectly duplicate the sound of their recorded music onstage.

"For me you can't beat Logic," Nick O'Donnell, the band's lead vocalist and guitar player, told Macworld. "I have been a user since Logic 4 and it was the only Mac-based program that really incorporated the recording side with the MIDI sampling side of things. It is the best thing for integrating the two elements."

Sonoma Wire Works released an updated version of its FourTrack music application for the iPhone and iPod touch. There are three major additions to the app with the release of 2.0: the addition of Bounce, Duplicate and a Metronome.

Bouncing a track in music means that you take all of your tracks and mix them down to one stereo track. With the new version, FourTrack allows you to mix your song to track 1 and 2 of a new song, giving you room for two more tracks. You also have access to all of the tracks so you can sync them back to your computer.

As technology becomes more entrenched in the music business, so do our options for guitar-modeling and effects software. One application, JamVox (US$340 list), captured my interest lately, and I must say I am really impressed. (Vox also includes a USB hardware unit that gives you a way to bring your guitar into the Mac, but also provides a nice-sounding speaker so you have the ability to plug in and listen to your guitar right away.)

Made by Vox, the same company that brought us so many classic guitar tones over the years, JamVox aims to recreate the tone of the AC30, AC15, and many Marshall models, among others. When it comes right down to it, authenticity is what we really want when using software to recreate guitar tone.

FileMaker on Tuesday released Bento for iPhone, an application based on its personal database application for the Mac.

Unlike some iPhone applications with a desktop counterpart, Bento for iPhone does not require a desktop component. It is fully functional as a standalone app on the iPhone, allowing users to do all of the tasks you would expect from a personal database application. In fact, John Sigler, vice president of Product Management at FileMaker, explained to Macworld that all of the information created by Bento for iPhone is stored locally on the device.

IK Multimedia on Monday updated two of guitar focused applications, AmpliTube Fender and X-Gear.

AmpliTube Fender was created in partnership with Fender and comes with a collection of 45 pieces of gear. The update version features memory and CPU usage optimizations; full Pro Tools 8 support; multicore Mac support; improved audio stability while quickly moving controls on the '57 Deluxe; reverb value is now correctly displayed on the Super-Sonic model; MOD switch setting on the '64 Vibroverb is stored in presets; and the predelay knob on the Pitch Shifter works correctly under all conditions now.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2009 is sold out. The company posted a note on its Web site Tuesday afternoon with the news.

WWDC is Apple's conference where developers gather in San Francisco to hear the latest news on development tools. Typically developers get the latest updates from Apple in both software and best practices when writing software.

Apple added several new artist lessons to its GarageBand Lesson Store on Wednesday, bringing the total number of lessons available for purchase to 13.

With the latest update, Apple added two new Sting songs -- Message in a Bottle and Fragile -- and Sarah McLachlan's Angel. A couple of other lessons have been added since the feature was introduced with GarageBand '09. John Fogerty's Fortunate Son and Fall Out Boy's Sugar, We're Goin Down.

Realmac Software on Tuesday released an update for its digital scrapbook utility, LittleSnapper. The update adds several small features and fixes a number of bugs.

Among the changes with LittleSnapper 1.0.3 are improvements when copying out snaps via the Edit menu; sites with absolute-positioned CSS elements are now snapped correctly; and better thumbnail generation to support drag-out.