Yamaha have a long tradition in the manufacture of musical instruments and sound equipment - both for domestic and professional use. The company's recent acquisition of the music software company Steinberg now means that their mainly hardware range now includes software systems, and opens up new possibilities for products which combine hardware and software. This entry level system is the first of a planned range of systems combining these technologies promising exciting times ahead for anyone interested in creating high quality recoded product.

CUBASE LE DAW Software 'Digital Audio Workstations' are very popular in professional recording studios, home setups and education, allowing the user to combine MIDI and audio techniques whilst using sophisticated editing and processing tools within a standard computer. 'Cubase' has been around for many years now, and this 'LE' edition is the current entry-level version using the same technology as Steinberg's flagship 'Cubase SX' and 'Nuendo' packages, but with stripped-down facilities which shouldn't limit its effectiveness in the home or in NQF level 2 education.

In practice the 'LE' user is limited to 24 audio tracks and 16 MIDI tracks, and effects available up to a maximum of four which should be perfectly adequate and pose no problems at this level. Computer system requirements are fairly modest in today's terms, though a fairly large hard-drive is needed to facilitate the large audio files likely to be created. The following is recommended as a minimum:

• Windows XP 500 MHz Pentium III or AMD K7 256MB of memory and 1GB hard disc.
• Macintosh OS X with G4 processor 450MHz, 256MB of memory and 1GB hard disc.

For the purposes of this review I installed the software on my office computer which is a fairly basic Toshiba laptop a little over the minimum specification for a Windows system. Installation was trouble-free and took very little time to complete. Yamaha recommend that your computer is connected to the internet so that the registration process can be completed on-line to complete the installation.

YAMAHA MW10 USB Mixing Studio.
Creating music in a DAW does require additional hardware components, and in my opinion a good mixer is essential when working in this way. Yamaha have vast experience in this area, having designed and built mixers for use in both live sound reinforcement and the recording studio for many years. This mixer is designed specifically for use with a computer and DAW software - the only connection needed is the supplied USB cable which transfers audio both in and out of the computer. Audio monitoring can be a problem with this type of system, and Yamaha have addressed these problems effectively, providing a system which avoids problems of latency and provides a good range of inputs and outputs to connect headphones and speakers. Physically the mixer is very compact - just 25cm wide, sturdily built and has all the facilities required to create high quality recordings with a minimum of fuss. A nice touch is the latching power supply connection which is impossible to accidentally pull out - the power supply itself is reassuringly sturdy, and not of the 'wall wart' variety!

In use, the mixer has a total of 10 input channels, four of which are for microphones and the remainder for line level instruments such as synthesisers. They are arranged in stereo pairs but can be used as mono channels if required. The microphone channels have an input gain control for matching to a range of signal levels, and a high pass filter for controlling lower frequencies when required. The first two microphone channels have insert points for connecting outboard gear such as compressors / gates etc. There is also a global phantom power switch for use with condensor microphones. All channels have a three band equaliser, auxiliary sends, a pan pot and a channel level control. The right hand side of the front panel contains the master section - auxiliary return, headphone / control room level and main stereo master level, as well as sockets for connecting external devices and monitors.

RECORDING WITH THE SYSTEM
In practice, I found the system easy to use, and reliable which is clearly important with equipment likely to be used day in and day out for important projects. Cubase LE performed well for the project I created during the test - acoustic guitars, bass, vocal plus a MIDI percussion track. I inserted a compressor when recording the vocal to ensure a uniform level on the vocal track and this worked well as expected. Reverb, delay and chorus to completed the recording - all good quality effects which I edited slightly from the default settings easily and saved for future use which is a useful facility. It is possible, however, to use other favourite hardware effects units by connecting to send and return sockets, either recording them to tracks in Cubase or simply adding them at the mixing stage. I also saved a template for future recordings using a layout which I preferred to the default used initially and which is more suited to the type of music I like to record. The mixer itself is quiet in use adding little background noise/ hiss to recordings as I built up the piece using the equalisation subtly when laying down each instrument. I found that monitoring each track recorded, alongside each new track was easy - an important feature ensuring good work-rate with the minimum of disruption to the creative flow.

IN CONCLUSION
The hardware and software components complement each other well here giving a useful 'straight from the box' solution to anyone looking to set up a MIDI/ audio recording system with the minimum of fuss. The system appears to be completely reliable and build quality is excellent. Price is always a consideration and the recommended price of £189.00 represents excellent value for money. This entry level system is easily up-graded by substituting Cubase SX where there is concern about the limitations of the LE version of the software, or when students have developed their skills sufficiently to move up a step.

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