As we leave the merry month of May behind us, it’s time to run through the most exciting music production gear it brought our way…

EVO’s Sweet 16

Designed and built by acclaimed British manufacturer Audient, the EVO range of USB audio interfaces presents a winning combination of excellent sound quality, slick workflow and amazing value, but, until now, has only been available in 2-in/2-out (EVO 4) and 4-in/4-out (EVO 8) configurations. The May announcement of the imminent 24-in/24-out EVO 16, then, is big news, opening the EVO platform up to far more ambitious multi-channel recording scenarios – drum kits, full bands, orchestras and the like.

The fundamentals of the EVO 16 make for a solid enough interface on their own – eight EVO mic preamps with 58dB of mic gain, two JFET instrument inputs, eight line outputs, a whopping 121dB of dynamic range, two optical ins and outs for ADAT expansion, 24-bit/96kHz operation, and a high-res LCD screen with comprehensive metering – but there are two unique headline features that really set this sleek 19” desktop/rackmountable metal box apart.

The first is a supercharged version of the quietly brilliant Smart Gain function that’s made the EVO 4 and 8 such big sellers. This automatically sets input gain levels at the touch of a button, and, with the EVO 16, can be simultaneously activated for all eight inputs at once – a genuine time saver for balancing drum kits in particular. The second is the Motion UI system, with which a single knob and the LCD display facilitate speedy control and real-time visual representation of almost all the interface’s parameters directly from the front panel.

Of course, there’s also the EVO Mixer Mac/PC controller app for remote, big-screen operation; and three assignable buttons can be used to put various otherwise software-only operations on the hardware – monitor switching, dim, phase invert, mono output summing, etc.

It’s safe to say that the EVO 16 is probably the most technologically advanced audio interface in its class and price bracket, and we envision it becoming ubiquitous in project studios and live recording rigs alike. It should be out by the end of June, at a frankly crazy RRP of £399.99.

Toontrack Take The EZ Option

The biggest software release of May is the third version of Toontrack’s super friendly virtual drummer/drum kit plugin, adding a range of transformative new features that take it surprisingly close to the capabilities of its big sibling, Superior Drummer 3, in certain areas.

First up, improving on the five drum kits of version 2, EZdrummer 3 supplies seven completely new and customisable kits, put together by Grammy-winning producer/engineer Michael Ilbert at Berlin’s legendary Hansa Studios. The kits were recorded in three rooms (Main, Bright and Tight), and in total you get 24 snare drums, 14 kicks, 30 toms and a ton of cymbals and hi-hats, plus assorted hand percussion – around 15GB of multisamples in total. The integrated MIDI clip library has been massively beefed up, too, and now amounts to over 2500 grooves and fills in a broad array of styles and time signatures.

Really, though, the main events with EZdrummer 3 are its new composition tools: the Grid Editor and Bandmate. The first is, quite simply, a full-on MIDI sequencer in which the onboard grooves and imported MIDI files can be freely edited, and new parts crafted from scratch – about time too. Bandmate, meanwhile, analyses any dragged-in melodic audio or MIDI file (a bassline, guitar riff or keyboard line, say), and offers a selection of suitable grooves from the library to underpin it, automatically adapted to match the timing and feel of the analysed part. The density of the kick, snare and hi-hat/ride patterns, and the velocity scaling and swing amount, can be adjusted for immediate customisation, and the whole system invariably delivers appropriate and impressive results, embodying a degree of ‘intelligence’ that we don’t think we’ve come across in any other virtual accompanist before.

With its markedly improved feature set, stunning kits, and clear angling towards songwriters and producers looking to get realistic, perfectly locked drum parts together without negotiating the staggering depths of Superior Drummer 3, EZdrummer 3 a wonderful thing. Check out our first look video for more.

Arturia Are On Cloud 9

Arturia’s V Collection has long stood as one of the biggest bargains in music software, delivering a massive library of classic and vintage synth and keyboard emulations at a highly competitive price. The latest iteration, V Collection 9, takes that number up to a jaw-dropping 33 with the addition of Korg MS-20 V and (Ensoniq) SQ80 V, and a pair of original hybrid sample-and-synthesis-based instruments – Augmented Strings and Augmented Voices – that mark a new direction for the package.

As well as that, Prophet-5 V, Prophet-VS V, CS-80 V and Piano V have all been rebuilt from the ground up to sound better than ever, and 832 presets for the added and improved instruments have been wrangled into 14 new soundbanks. Discounted full and upgrade pricing is on offer til June 5, so don’t hang about!

Pulsar Audio Go Large

Meanwhile, just up the road from Arturia in Grenoble, Pulsar Audio have cooked up what they reckon to be the ultimate virtual take on Manley’s revered Massive Passive, itself considered by many producers the last word in passive EQ. Called, understandably but slightly awkwardly, Massive, this gorgeous-looking plugin aims to nail the warm, musical sound of the hardware, while at the same time enhancing its usability and workflow with such modern software essentials as an interactive graph editor, a spectrum analyser, peak and RMS metering, two transformer models with adjustable drive, and mid-side processing. Crucially, it also amalgamates the original discrete Cut and Boost modes into a single bidirectional knob – yay!

Massive can be yours at a 40% launch discount ($89) until June 26, and you can fInd out more and see/hear it in action in our recent feature Is this the Massive EQ On Steroids?

Roland Embrace The Little Things

Roland’s Aira range of instruments and effects provide electronic producers and performers with a colourful panoply of synths, drum machines, samplers, grooveboxes and voice processors, including souped-up remakes of the classic TR-808 drum machine and TB-303 bassline synth. Extending the Aira brand in a completely new direction (and, no doubt, having cottoned on to the enviable success of Korg’s Volcas), May saw the Japanese giant launch an entirely new line of affordable, intuitive and performance-orientated instruments under the moniker Aira Compact.

Like the, er, big Airas, the first three units in the Aira Compact series draw heavily on the iconic sounds of Roland’s legacy catalogue, and can be connected together for synced playback or used individually. The T-8 Beat Machine enables programming of five tracks’ worth of TR-606, 808 and 909 drum machine sounds, plus a TB-303-style bass track, in a 32-step sequencer. The J-6 Chord Synthesizer puts 64 four-voice Juno-60 presets under the control of a 64-step chord sequencer, with 100 banks of 12 chords triggered via the keyboard, nine sets of 12 arpeggios and rhythmic phrases, adjustable filter and envelope parameters, and delay and reverb effects. And the E-4 Voice Tweaker is a vocal effects box boasting automatic pitch correction, harmonising, vocoding, pitch and formant adjustment, rhythmic slicing, layered loop recording (up to 24 seconds), filtering, gating, reverb, delay, chorus and more.

Eminently light and portable, promising up to 4.5 (T-8, J-6) or 3.5 (E-4) hours of (rechargeable over USB-C) battery life, and each sporting just a handful of salient controls, the three Aira Compacts clearly put hands-on accessibility and on-the-go creativity at the top of the agenda. They’re out now, priced $199 each (around £175).

What new music tech stuff got your wallet trembling in May? Let us know in the comments.