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Provides: Music recording, mixing and playback

Format: DVD

Developer: Steinberg

Minimum System Requirements: 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 or 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo, Mac OS X v10.4, 1GB RAM, 6GB free hard disk space, display resolution 1280x1024, CoreAudio compatible audio software, DVDROM (for installation), internet access (for registration)

Review Computer: 1.8GHz G5 iMac 17", 512MB RAM, Nvidia GeForce FX 5200, Mac OS X v10.4.2

Processor Compatibility Universal

Price: $99.99

Availability: Now

Official Website: www.sequel-music.de

A Mac user familiar with iLife will no doubt wonder why we might review any music recording software, given that GarageBand does these things in the way Mac users prefer: simply, and straight out of the box. The similarities are important, but they don't define Sequel, or limit it. While it makes sense for part of this review to work as a compare/contrast with GarageBand, with which I'll assume Applelinks' readers are familiar, there are additional features and strengths discussed that will, for some users, show that Sequel might be the tool for you.

Sequel arrives with a 5,000 instrument and audio samples in a variety of categories. Using live sampling, from a selection menu stylistically similar to GarageBand, you can choose a style category and an instrument and style, then select a specific sample to audition it for your production. It automatically starts in rhythm with your composition. Once you have a favorite, drag and drop it into your composition. Much like with GarageBand, creating a simple song is entirely drag-and-drop, mouse-over easy. A more advanced user feature is the ability to use your own captured sounds. Adding them to the library is a simple drag, drop, and name procedure, and Sequel recognizes common formats such as AIFF, MP3, WMA, and WAV.

Additionally, and similar to GarageBand and other music production and recording programs, Sequel offers 150 preset effects. Run your chosen sample or a real instrument through chorus, delay, flange, or any of a dozen preset effects, or tweak the settings to create an almost infinite range of additional sound shadings to create your unique sound. Also, sound can be re-routed outside of Sequel to computerized effects or your own effects pedals or boards.

There were some hurdles in the process of learning Sequel. First is the format, which is rather busy and PC-like. As a dedicated Mac user, I found this distracting, but not a deal-breaker. (Besides, would we respect a company that could only think to copy the Mac interface? No.) After a few short exercises, you will adjust comfortably to the icons, especially because it is the performance that ultimately makes or breaks a program, and the interface, though not "Mac," is certainly straightforward and functional. Additionally, the registration process was as complicated a process as I have been asked to use. Users are connected to the website easily enough, but the procedure had to be repeated several times before the registration "took." Like GarageBand, I was rewarded for registering by being given a set of samples, which I then had to download and manually add to the sample library. This was a decidedly PC moment, as I was forced to work "under the hood" of a program which I had not yet begun to use.

Working with loops and samples was simple, as mentioned earlier, but I encountered some issues when trying to use a real instrument. I use an audio interface (in this case, M-Audio's FastTrack) that attaches through the USB, rather than the less sensitive (and more fragile) mini-plug microphone jack the Mac offers. This was not plug and play simple. After more than an hour of difficulty, a call to customer service revealed that I had to "program" Sequel to accept the FastTrack's audio. The process seems simple, upon reflection, and involved a trip to a controller page I had not yet visited, but I lost a great deal of time fixing something that should have happened automatically. The artists in all three online tutorials also use outside interfaces, so some advance mention of the steps required to set them up would have been helpful.

The online tutorials at www.sequel-music.de are good introductions to the basic interface and functionality of Sequel. Arranged in three "flavors"—hip-hip, rock, and electro—watching all three is helpful for everyone as each explores different aspects of the interface and Sequel's abilities. Watching carefully, you can pick up keyboard shortcuts, in addition to learning the finer aspects of the mixing board and adding instruments and vocals. I found these were helpful even after I had worked with the program and was comfortable with the basic controls, so I recommend viewing the tutorials early and later in the process.

Key Function: The Arranger Track
Function-filled and memory-hungry, Sequel is a comprehensive music-production program, but one of its most significant differences from GarageBand in functionality might be the on-the-fly arranger. The arranger function is built for live club playback of your own compositions. With the arranger, you can label sections of the song (say, the "verse," bridge, chorus, and key transitions or grooves) and then select the order in which to play them. This is not a static, one-time process, however. The arranger window allows you to choose them on the fly, and to determine how many times the sequence will repeat before moving to the next section you have identified. This puts even more art into live music playback, even when using exclusively pre-recorded music.

Useful Feature: One Step Exporting
Certainly Sequel's designers had GarageBand in mind, or at least were aware of the significance of iTunes and the iPod to the music world when designing Sequel. Not just the loops and samples simplicity, but Sequel's inclusion of one-step export to iTunes proves it. After you have worked your composition to satisfaction, simply select file/export to iTunes. It could not be simpler. One step exporting as an audio file is also available, unlike GarageBand.

Handy Live Features:
Two features I found useful as a musician who prefers to work with live instruments instead of pre-packaged samples and loops include the tuner and the practice mode. The tuner, as expected, provides visual feedback on your guitar (or other instrument), providing the note you're closest to, and which direction you're off. A second feature I discovered accidentally was the rehearsal tempo. Click the word "Tempo" at the top of your Sequel screen and Rehearsal Mode is activated. This mode slows your music's tempo 25% for playback rehearsal, or even for recording. This allows you to "cheat" for a difficult part (you're planning to master it later, right? Besides, if Paul McCartney had to do it, we can get away with it) or just create a sound you could not accomplish any other way.

With features not available in GarageBand, and an attractive price, some musicians will find Sequel to be the perfect, almost-professional audio recording tool they have been looking for. There are quirks with setting up some hardware, and a complicated registration procedure, but these are nuisances to using a powerful music application, especially for live playback.