As Content Manager, Maya writes about gear for zZounds — especially recording and live sound gear. She started plunking on a piano in 1992, and began audio engineering work in 2000. Over the years, she’s fronted bands, trained commercial voiceover actors, assisted on hundreds of recording sessions, and once co-wrote an alt-rock musical. Currently, Maya’s music gig is singing lullabies to her two young children.
New Gear Report: PreSonus Studio 192 & Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2
PreSonus Studio 192 USB Audio Interface I see the Studio 192 as PreSonus’ answer to the other hot rackmount audio interfaces coming out this year (see Universal Audio Apollo series; Focusrite Clarett series). Unlike those Thunderbolt interfaces, the Studio 192 is USB 3.0. And man, this thing shoves a LOT of I/O through a USB […]
How to Upgrade SampleTank 2.x to SampleTank 3
SampleTank 3, the long-awaited update to IK Multimedia’s well-established sample-based software instrument, was released in fall 2014 with much fanfare. IK’s version 3.5 update — free for ST3 owners — arrived in spring 2015, enticing even more new users with 11 new sound libraries plus reliability improvements. It’s easy to see why SampleTank 3 is […]
New Gear Report: Akai Advance Controllers, Shure PG ALTA Mics & Cakewalk SONAR
Akai Advance MIDI Keyboard Controllers Last year, we got Native Instruments’ Komplete Kontrol S MIDI controller keyboards. Building on the theme of rainbow-candy-colored USB MIDI controller boards, the Akai Advance MIDI controller series has arrived. What makes the Advance controllers really special is the software they come with — AKAI calls it VIP, which stands […]
“Secret” Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcuts
With the recent release of Avid Pro Tools 12 and Pro Tools First, a crop of new users are picking up this industry-standard DAW software. As any longtime PT user can tell you, Pro Tools has a seemingly endless list of keyboard shortcuts to help you find your way around the software quickly. Some are […]
Mic Shootout: Neat King Bee & Worker Bee, Blue Spark & Baby Bottle
Neat Microphones are brand new this year, and everyone’s curious to see how they stack up against other mics. To help you weigh your options, we’ve made recordings comparing Neat’s new King Bee and Worker Bee with two zZounds customer favorite microphones in the same price range — the Blue Baby Bottle and Blue Spark. […]
