The 21st Century

As we waved goodbye to the '90s, the bedroom producer concept paved the way for song writers and solo artists alike. And the synth was just about to explode everywhere...

While we could regard the 1990s as the decade when the computer earned its stripes for the first time, at least in terms of music technology, what was to follow would see the computer adopt a central role for just about every element of music production: from instruments and effects to mastering and mixing.

I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC!

Since the dawn of Apple and the appearance of Microsoft Windows, the battle for computer supremacy at the start of the century was long-standing and at times, quite bitter. The Macintosh computer had largely taken over the mantle from the Atari ST, as the predominant force for music production in the professional arena. The PC, with its varying internal architecture, meant that some users experienced problems, with reports of MIDI and audio not functioning correctly, or in some instances, not functioning at all. This played to the strength of the Apple Mac, leading to a groundbreaking music software takeover in 2002.

In the early 2000s, the market for DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software was equally divided, with two very clear market leaders; Cubase from Steinberg and Notator Logic from Emagic, formerly C-Lab. Allegiance to either package was often dictated by the style of music you were producing. Cubase had a proven track record in dance and commercial music, whereas Logic was popular with producers and people producing written scores. In reality, they both performed the same function, but with one nudging ahead of the other, with each incremental update.

In-the-box