'Aciiiiidd' was the hip cry (or not) of the music scene many years ago and it's now become the name of a rather prominent series of music packages on the PC. Developed by Sonic Foundry, this is the basic Acid DJ package - or rather the second version of it. The Pro version is far more expensive, weighing in at well over 200 quid.

Even so, much of what you can do with the Pro package can be performed with DJ 2, and the interface is much the same. Of course it's the usual track window layout (with an unlimited number of tracks), onto which you can drag samples - there's a second CD chock full of them, containing a very diverse range, including the standard dance/techno sounds through to stuff like bagpipes and world music! The samples are of an excellent quality too.

The song building process is a little more involved than it is, for example, with the eJay titles, as many of the samples are very short affairs. The idea is that you build up your own loops using these and then put a full song together with them. But there are some longer, 'pre-assembled' loops to play around with, and the actual song building process really is a snap. Drop the loops in and the program automatically shifts the tempo and pitch to match the overall song beat and key in real time, which is rather smart.

Acid DJ 2 is very easy to use, with a clean Windows-style interface, complete with window size adjustment bars so you can customise it to your liking. It's a very well-designed program - the only element Acid DJ 2 really lacks is special effects filters to play around and modify samples with (which the more expensive Pro version has in spades).