Special Report: Musikmesse 2007
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Steinberg Sequel

Take a big helping of GarageBand and a decent chunk of Ableton Live, cover with a stylish UI, let simmer with 5,000 fresh audio loops and 600 soft-synth presets, add a sprinkling of useful tools like a guitar tuner, and what do you get? Steinberg Sequel. Designed to be an easy-to-use music recording program with loop-based performance features, Sequel does not quite live up to Steinberg's claim of being a "revolutionary interface concept with first-class content for music-making in minutes." But it costs just 99 Euros and runs on Mac and Windows, unlike GarageBand.

Like a mashup of Ableton Live and Apple GarageBand, Steinberg Sequel is an inexpensive recording and arranging program that adds live-performance features. Note the phrase-trigger buttons. (Click to enlarge.)

When playing around with the app in Steinberg's cozy Sequel Lounge, I didn't find the UI quite as accessible as GarageBand's, even though many of Sequel's features were very obviously "inspired" by Apple's software. Nevertheless, Sequel is a valid option for aspiring musicians looking for an affordable recording software package. And, considering the vast set of sounds and audio loops that ship with it, it's a very good value.

Probably the comfiest demo area at Messe: Steinberg's Sequel Lounge.

BIAS Peak Pro 6

The most popular stereo audio editor on the Mac got a slick new look when BIAS unveiled Peak Pro 6.

BIAS gave visitors a sneak glance at the upcoming update to their flagship Peak audio editor.

Numerous enhancements include vastly improved playlist editing and mastering, volume and pitch(!) envelopes, integration with iTunes, support for audio file metadata, and a new looping algorithm called Perpetual Loop DSP. Also, like many other companies, BIAS added podcasting features to their audio software, allowing you to create and even upload podcasts directly from Peak. Peak Pro 6.0 is scheduled for release in the third quarter of this year.