By Clive Young. On Friday, Apple released Snow Leopard, its latest Macintosh OS X operating system (10.6 for those keeping score at home). Many pro audio manufacturers spent the weekend releasing updates or confirming whether their current product lines are compatible with Snow Leopard. As of today (August 31), here’s a brief rundown of where to check the compatibility of a number of pro audio products, arranged by manufacturer.

by Christopher Walsh. Les Paul, a name familiar to all in the worlds of audio recording, the electric guitar and rock n' roll, passed away August 13 at the age of 94. Until June, he had been performing at his regular Monday night engagement at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York.

By Clive Young. Word has been circulating for a little while, and we at Pro Sound News have covered it too: Mackie’s upcoming Onyx-i Series analog consoles will reportedly be able to connect directly to computers running M-Powered Pro Tools without any Avid-developed hardware. Mackie stealthily spread the news through secret Fed Ex packages, complete with ransom notes and such, playing up a ‘bad-boy’ image (and after all, in the movies, bad guys wear black--or “Onyx” if you prefer).

By Clive Young. Far be it from me to dispute psychological advice from David Cassidy, but yes, despite the economy, global situations and the rest of the music business, the live sound business has a number of reasons to be happy these days. And now, confirming Cassidy's classic worldview, is none other than Pepsi.

By Clive Young. Guitar legend, studio innovator, 1950s hitmaker, musical impresario. Les Paul, who was all these things and more, died Thursday, August 13, from complications due to pneumonia. While best known as the creator of the famed Gibson solid-body electric guitar that bears his name, Paul is equally revered as the inventor behind multitrack recording, phasing, delay effects, overdubs and more.

by Clive Young. It was all over the news last week that 61-year-old Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler fell off the stage during a concert at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Apparently he was dancing up a storm in an effort to keep the audience entertained after "the sound system failed," according to the Associated Press. Corrective word has started to spread that it was a power failure as opposed to a problem with the audio gear, but the damage has been done (Most noticeably to unfortunate Mr. Tyler, who wound up with stitches and a broken shoulder, putting the rest of the band's summer tour with ZZ Top in jeopardy).

by Christopher Walsh. The console’s evolution toward a smaller footprint and DAW integration fits with the trend toward personal studio environments. But commercial studios are also taking to small-format consoles, often for the same reasons private studio owners have done so.