What to get the professional or serious amateur musician for Christmas? Consider some of these gems:

Since November of 2000, Propellerhead's Reason has been one of the best-selling software synthesizers and its graphical user interface is a big reason why. There are two big selling points: the combination of a stylized equipment rack into which any of the Reason's software synths, drum machines and loop players can be inserted; and the capability, with the flick of the TAB key, to rotate it around to switch the virtual patch chords connecting the devices. Those make this equipment irresistible. It's a software synth that allows an absolute beginner to instantly get started making great sounds, and an experienced pro to dig deep for all sorts of wild combinations of sounds.

Reason 4, the latest version of Propellerhead's modular software synthesizer adds a new "Polysonic" synthesizer called Thor, and a terrific arpeggiator. Dubbed RPG-8, and similar in principle to the arpeggiators built into the keyboards of the late 1970s and early 1980s such as Roland's Jupiter-8, it allows any of the built-in software synths to generate arpeggiated runs of one to four octaves, simply by holding down a chord.

Use Sonar To Explore New Musical Terrain

Cakewalk's Sonar has been a leading PC recording program since 2001. As long as your hardware is up to the task, Sonar is capable of just about any project, from a three minute song, to an hour-long podcast, to video post-production work. The "producer" edition of Sonar 7, its latest version, adds a variety of built-in software synthesizers to the mix, including "Light" versions of Cakewalk's popular Dimension and Rapture synths.

Rapture and Dimension were created with significant input from Argentinean synthesizer wizard René Ceballos, who created Z3ta+ at his own RGC: Audio firm before joining Cakewalk in 2005. And Z3ta+ is also included in Sonar 7.

Its sounds are mostly reminiscent of the warm analog synthesizers of the 1970s and 1980s: ARP and Minimoog patches abound (you can hear clips of Z3ta+ in action here). Somewhat similar to Reason's RPG-8, Z3ta+ contains about 100 arpeggio patterns, which are a songwriter's and home recordist's dream. Play one extended note, or hold one chord, get two or three dozen notes, artfully arranged in all sorts of cool sounding sequencer patterns. Which is a rather handy feature for those who lack, say, once wrote, "Polo collars UP, everyone, and THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Mastering The Ozone Layer

Izotope's Ozone 3 mastering plug-in is one of the best-sounding, most versatile applets I've used for music, podcast, and lately radio production on computer. While it's sold as a mastering compressor and does that job extremely well, its presets are terrific for adding compression, EQ and glass on individual tracks, as well. I've used it on everything from bass guitar and lead vocals on songs, to recorded telephone interviews on podcasts. It allows for maximum level without distortion, and its presets making mastering of finished recordings a breeze, as well as endless tweaking and customization. Currently selling for about $184 on Amazon, this is a workhorse product.