One of the most powerful personal monitor/PA systems has become even more portable. The L1 Compact can bump tunes on the street corner and in the boardroom. FOR: Soloists, duos, mobile DJs and public speakers. Transport and setup are much speedier with the L1 Compact than its predecessors, the L1 Model I and Model II. The functionality is simple: two channels equipped with Bose ToneMatch presets tailored to acoustic guitar and handheld mic. NOT FOR: High... 

Pulse-disrupting, sternum-shaking bass! You know you crave it. M-Audio can help. FOR: Enjoying or mixing 2.1 and surround audio. Cleverly designed with a variable crossover and a bypass footswitch, the SBX10 can handle all the bass duties below 200Hz or simply reinforce the rumble beneath 50Hz. For the price (just under $400 at online retailers), it will be hard to find another sub that reaches all the way down to 20Hz. NOT FOR: Plug and play.... 

The cedar top and mahogany back and sides project great tone on Sierra Guitars’ SDS43 Sequoia Acoustic Dreadnought. FOR: Acoustic guitarists one and all. The Sequoia has a familiar body shape, a modest price tag and a classic, no-frills design. Attractive natural wood bindings and inlay are the flashiest visual points. We found the tone especially warm and thoroughly loud when called upon. NOT FOR: Plugging in. A reasonable alternative might... 

Even a Les Paul feels light as air when suspended by this resilient rubber and polyester weave. FOR: Lead players with heavy axes. The arm of the fretting hand has more freedom to swivel, because the shoulder and elbow are never fighting to keep the neck up. A subtle bungee-bounce as the strap gives and snaps back is more noticeable as you move up in guitar weight, but even solid body guitars and basses feel buoyant with the No. 1 Stretch. NOT FOR: Costume... 

Sound Forge Pro 10 is an audio mastering suite with integrated CD creation, top-shelf processors and exciting new editing capabilities. FOR: Audio editing, mastering and sound design. Editors get up to 32 channels of mono, stereo and multichannel audio in a land of safe, non-destructive editing. The key commands are familiar, and a new “Event” tool makes a multitrack producer feel more at home in the mastering environment. Sound Forge now has... 

iZotope Alloy brings the most common mixing processors together in one plug-in. FOR: Anyone doing digital mixing of audio tracks on Mac or PC. No need to pull up EQ, dynamics, transient shaper, exciter, de-esser and limiter plug-ins—Alloy covers six powerful mixing tools in one integrated interface. A menu along the bottom of the Alloy interface illustrates which effects are active and which one is presently selected for editing. The main window... 

Eventide has simplified getting the right modulation effect for the song while saving players from an endless string of noisy, tone-degrading stompboxes and patch cables. FOR: Guitarists and keyboard players who need world-class phasers, tremolos, filters, wahs, flangers, vibratos and more onstage as well as in the studio. In a compact housing that’s built like a tank, ModFactor gathers 10 different categories of time-based effects and offers 40...