REVERB/DELAY 1,192 FREE VST/AU PLUGIN SAMPLES

SOLARDO 1-hour video with the tech-house hotshots

£6.99 / June 2018 / CM256 FREE PLUGINS USED IN EVERY CREATIVITY TUTORIAL!

42 studio strategies for instant inspiration

BRAIN-TRAINING MORE FROM ESCAPE SEQUENCING PRO TIPS HACKS YOUR DAW THE LOOP TRICKS AND MORE!

18GB EXPERT DOWNLOAD WORKSHOPS >ESSENTIAL VOCAL-EDITING TIPS > PROGRAM FILLS IN YOUR DAW FREE VST/AU PLUGIN > THEORY: REPEATING MOTIFS MICROFUSE Dial in unique ambience with Surreal Machines’ two-in-one delay/reverb hybrid

FREE SOUNDWARE SAMPLE ALEXIS TAYLOR 3PACKS The Hot Chip frontman talks studio and stage >FUTURE RAVE >PHATTY PACK > LOOPMASTERS CM256 PLUS! 80 INSTRUMENTS & EFFECTS

intro / computer music < DOWNLOAD See page 5 to find out HOW TO USE how to download this issue’s exclusive content We’ve got a new system for downloading files. Whenever you see this icon, you can grab the files on your PC or Mac by going DOWNLOAD to filesilo.co.uk/computermusic.

Tutorials featuring this icon make welcome use of our own Plugins – find out all about them on p107. Hereat HQ,we’reespeciallyproudthatourmagazine Make Music Now This icon means there are extra files brings you everything you need to , TUTORIAL to help you follow a tutorial feature: FILES everysinglemonth,nomatteryourskilllevelorsetup. project files, audio examples, etc. Butwhatabouttheunderlyingpsychologybehind ouruniquemusicalcraft?Howdoourmindsworkinthe There’s extra video content wherever you see this icon. studio? In this month’s “Tap into that cover feature (p18), we’ll get those synapses intangible state firing and tap into that WWW intangible state we call www.computermusic.co.uk we call creativity” creativity. From brain- [email protected] training tricks and inspirational strategies through to hands-on techniques www.facebook.com/computer.music.mag designed to trigger new ways of working, you’ll have more than enough to inspire your sessions and help you www.twitter.com/computermusicuk start – and finish – incredible music today. www.youtube.com/computermusicmag Finding out how other producers work can be just as inspiring, of course, which is why we have a trio of top artists offering insight into their studio workings. One half of tech-house act Solardo shows us how a Beatport- topping hit came together in this month’s Producer Masterclass video (p44); Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor proves that musicality trumps technical prowess (p78); and head to our Audio Adventures feature on p62, where DnB maven Misanthrop reveals his workflow secrets when working with audio. Finally, make sure you install our Subscribe to creative cherry on the cake: Computer Music! Microfuse, a gorgeous-sounding reverb- See p42 meets-delay plugin from Surreal Machines, capable of rich ambience, tape-style brilliance, FX and beyond. Wheretoget ENJOY THE ISSUE PRINT ZINIO in stores and online for PC, Mac, Android, iPad & more www.myfavouritemagazines.com www.zinio.com iOS APP STORE GOOGLE PLAY Joe Rossitter Editor for iPad, iPhone & iPod touch for Android & Chrome for PC/Mac www.computermusic.co.uk/cmdigital play.google.com ISSUE 256 JUNE 2018 contents Cover feature

CREATIVITY 44 86 Producer Tap into your studio inspiration with our Masterclass epic tutorial workshop, p18 SOLARDO Mark Foster, one half of house duo Solardo, talks us through Tribesmen

Interview 88 Features 78 ALEXIS TAYLOR Hot Chip’s lo-fi-loving frontman reveals 52 MICROFUSE all about his solo album How to use your new reverb-meets-delay plugin 57 VOCAL EDITING Free samples Gettightervocalpartswithouressentialtips 104 FUTURE RAVE 62 AUDIO ADVENTURES A pack of 500 exclusive samples to help you bring classic dance sounds Creative bouncing tricks, featuring DnB pro Misanthrop into the modern age 78 Essentials Reviews 10 NEWS /experts 86 UAD ARROW 14 FREEWARE NEWS 88 NATIVE 16 WHAT’S ON YOUR Your guides for the INSTRUMENTS HARD DRIVE? ever-expanding world MOD PACK of production are here 42 SUBSCRIBE 90 MIXED IN KEY 72 EASY GUIDE 72 CAPTAIN PLUGINS 84 BACK ISSUES Dave Clews puts us in the 55 NEXT MONTH loop with ostinatos 92 SOFTUBE WEISS DS1 -MK3 & MM-1 114 BLAST FROM 74 STUDIO 94 AUDIO DAMAGE THE PAST: STRATEGIES ROLAND MKS-80 Ed:it marries analogue bass DISCORD4 with software processing 968SONNOX 76 DR BEAT VOXDOUBLER Our drum expert helps you 988AUDIFIED snare some top-notch fills DW DRUM 74 ENHANCER 114

4 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 Your FileSilo The home of great downloads, exclusive to your favourite magazines

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01 Register your FileSilo Tutorial Videos Tutorial Files account and log in. Even if you have a subscriber ID, you’ll See and hear exactly how it’s done Follow along in your DAW with WAVs, still have to unlock each mag with our expert video guides project files, MIDI clips and more separately or migrate your old Vault account (see step 3)

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CREATIVITY POWER-UPS Expert video guides to help kickstart new ideas and freshen up your sessions

Read the full article on p18

1 Using a sequencer plugin 2 Using just one note to 3 One-note chords with instead of your piano roll sequence a bass riff your DAW’s MIDI effects

4 Generative beats with 5 Using an arpeggiator to 6 Repeatedly resampling Ableton Live’s MIDI Effects creatively sequence drums for inspirational results

6 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 video

Producer Masterclass SOLARDO In this exclusive video, one half of the tech-house power pair reveals how their Hot Creations hitTribesmen came together Note: this video is only available using the link on page 45

Read the full article on p44

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 7 video This issue’s videos are available from FileSilo – see p5 MICROFUSE VOCAL EDITING See and hear your new Surreal Machines plugin A tightly-edited vocal performance is crucial – in action, and discover how it works find out how to do it with our pro guides

Read the full article on p52 Read the full article on p57

1 Vocal comping 2 Timing tweaks when for beginners editing vocals AUDIO ADVENTURES Get those creative juices flowing with our strategies for rendering, resampling and more

Read the full article on p62 3 Vocal pitch-correction – 4 Removing vocal the basics sibilancewithade-esser

1 Recording a synth jam 6 Processing audio via a 5 Precise de-essing with 6 Levelling vocals synth’s external input manual sibilance removal manually

/experts Our resident music production gurus walk you through their How to get loopy Six tips for out-there specialist field every month with ostinatos drum fills

Read the full Read the full article on p72 article on p76

8 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

> news

NEW RELEASES • COMMENT • INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS Track tion Waveform 9 One of our favourite DAWs enters its, er, second generation…

No, it’s not a misprint: the second version of Tracktion’s Waveform DAW is rightly numbered ‘9’, as it was previously known as Tracktion, all the way up to version 7. In our review of Waveform 8 in 244 (9/10), we heaped it with praise, highlighting the increased flexibility of its multi-window interface, powerful new-found mixing functionality, quality of the bundled Collective instrument and more. Waveform 9 adds to all that with an impressive array of intriguing new goodies and enhancements to tempt potential upgraders. At the top of the list, Multi Sampler looks to be a fully-featured sampler, complete with recording (from any source, including other applications running alongside Waveform 9) and multisampling. It also offers loop slicing and audio-to-MIDI conversion, as well as all the keymapping, layering, filtering and We loved Waveform 8 in our review a year ago – find out what we make of version 9 next issue… modulation options you’d expect to find in a modern sampler plugin. On the compositional side of things, the follower, a multi-breakpoint envelope, a step control; and Tracktion’s new Track Loop new Chord Track enables a harmonic sequencer, a MIDI tracker and a randomiser. format combines up to 24 tracks in a single progression to be defined through a project, Simply point Modifiers at your instrument expandable file, as shown off by the which is then automatically followed by all and effect plugins to apply modulation to bundled library of multitrack drum MIDI clips and the superb Pattern Generator any parameters you like. construction klts. added in Waveform 8. Finally, the new Faceplates feature lets Waveform 9 is available now in Basic, Waveform 8’s Track LFO has been you design and customise your own Plus and Ultimate versions (differing only in expanded into a collection of six Modifiers, simplified plugin interfaces for use in the bundled plugins and content), priced $109, each one serving up its own style of Controls panel and the Rack view’s new $159 and $259, with upgrades from modulation. Alongside a greatly expanded Stack editor; user-definable Macros merge Tracktion T6 at $59, $109 and $189. LFO design, there’s now an envelope multiple plugin parameters in a single URL www.tracktion.com

Hans Zimmer Strings The legendary Hollywood composer has teamed up with Brit sampling masters Spitfire Audio to produce what must be the most epic orchestral string library ever conceived. A staggering 344 violin, viola, cello and double bass players were recorded together and in sections at the great Air Studios, and the results were compiled into over 20,000 samples (a whopping 183GB of disk space). With such an enormous orchestra behind it, Hans Zimmer Strings is described as sounding “oceanic” and “totally No Kontakt required: HZS unique”. It’s available now in VST/AU/AAX formats, priced £699. runs in its very own plugin URL www.spitfireaudio.com

10 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 news <

App watch

We report on the latest developments in phone and tablet music making

Echo Farm’s 12 lauded delay effects are now available to users of all DAWs

Minimoog Model D Line 6 EchoFarm 3.0 Echo Farm 3.0 emulates various classic The Minimoog Model D is one of the most Line 6’s Echo Farm has been a staple TDM hardware delay effects units, including the emulated synths around, but it’s taken until plugin in the arsenals of many a Pro Tools- Roland Space Echo and Electro-Harmonix now for Moog to create their own app using producer since 2001, and last year it Memory Man, alongside several original version. As you’d expect, this has the was updated to version 3.0, adding support Line 6 designs – 12 setups in total. As any original look and features, but also goes for AAX – also a Pro Tools-exclusive format. delay plugin should, it can sync to host beyond in several key respects. Now, users of other DAWs can finally get tempo; and the “unique” Time Ramp feature Rather than being monophonic, the in on the action, as Echo Farm 3.0 has just generates “realistic pitch-smear effects Model D app gives you four notes of been blessed with VST and Audio Units when adjusting delay times on tape- and polyphony to play with, and an arpeggiator, compatibility (without a version number analogue-type delays”. It costs $200. too. There’s a realtime looping recorder increase, however, weirdly). URL www.line6.com with unlimited overdubs, a tempo-syncable ping-pong delay module, and the Bender, a stereo time-modulation effect. Model D works on all 64-bit iOS devices. Overloud EQ550 Get it for £11.99. Overloud’s new EQ (VST/AU/AAX and www.moogmusic.com standalone) claims to be a “hyper-realistic simulation” of the legendary API 550A (not that they actually name it, of course), but RouteMIDI with a number of new features. Your iOS device makes a The latest in the Gem series of great self-contained processors, EQ550 adds an extra midrange music-making band to the API design (for two shelving/ proportional Q is in place, sharpening the platform, but it can be peaking filters, two peaking-only filters and filters as the gain increases for a broad used as the hub of a one band-pass, all told), as well as spectrum of shaping possibilities – from wider setup, too. Further continuous frequency selection (the real smooth musicality to surgical precision. evidence of this comes in thing is stepped), and a band solo function. You can get EQ550 right now for $139. the form of RouteMIDI, an AU plugin that Crucially, though, the API’s all-important URL www.overloud.com can be used on any suitable track in your host DAW. This lets you browse any connected external devices and route MIDI to them. It even lets you choose the MIDI Acustica Audio Pink2 Pink2 1650 is a four-band EQ; Pink2 780 is a channel, meaning multitimbral devices are A major update to their Pink channel strip ten-band graphic EQ; and Pink2 2412 and also supported. (9/10, 234), Acustica Audio’s new plugin 7236 are single-band and multiband Developer Brian Howarth created bundle comprises convolution-based compressors. They’re also the first plugins RouteMIDI because he needed this emulations of five classic hardware to use Acustica’s new Core 12, which functionality himself, but we’re sure others processors, each one provided individually allegedly improves performance and will appreciate it, too. Buy it from £2.99. and – as before – together in a complete efficiency over Core 11. www.appouttime.com channel strip. The Pink2 bundle is up for pre-order now, The five devices in question are “a priced €199. Happily, it’s a free update for collection of well-known late 60s American registered owners of any one of the Kosmonaut gear that is still built to this day”. Pink2 215 is previous Pink plugins. Bram Bos is building up a fine portfolio of a preamp with eight distortion models; URL www.acustica-audio.com AU plugins, the latest being the Kosmonaut multitap delay. Billed as a space explorer, this includes a tape looper, a four-tap delay, low-pass/high-pass filters with LFO, an auto- panner and an ambience generator. A Haas Effect processor is included, too. Kosmonaut looks like a processor full of creative possibilities, but if you want to play it safer, you can stick with factory presets, which ably show off the plugin’s features. You can save your own, too. From £3.99. www.ruismaker.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 11 > news

Boom Library Enforcer Get with the Boom Library’s Enforcer ‘advanced sub- sweetener’ is a bottom-end reinforcement plugin aimed at sound designers and programmers musicians alike. The central Detector section can be tweaked to specify exactly how and when Enforcer’s Matt Jackson, founder and product designer at Surreal onboard synthesiser should be triggered (including upper/lower Machines, discusses plugin ideas, inspiration and more thresholds and frequency filtering), while the synth itself features the waveshaping Color control, envelope- What’s the Surreal Machines ethos? controlled Hi and Lo pitch stages, an amp MJ “We stand for making fun, musical ideas. envelope, and input signal ducking. Our focus is on sound quality that resonates Enforcer costs €99 and is available now in with us. That might not always model VST/AU/AAX formats for PC and Mac. something exactly, but it’s informed and URL www.boomlibrary.com inspired by the past. We care most about the experience of using a product; the technology behind it is only a vessel. We think IK Multimedia Total of ourselves as artists, but instead of writing Studio 2 Max an album or a movie score, we’re inspiring The second version of IK’s vast bundle of others through engagement and discovery. virtual instruments and effects gives you So far, we’ve focused on ‘turning around’ everything you need to make music. classic ideas.” Amounting to 180GB, Total Studio 2 Surreal Machines Max includes the full SampleTank 3, What previous experience do you Syntronik, Miroslav Philharmonik 2, Modo Matt guys have in the industry? Bass, AmpliTube, T-RackS 5 and much MJ “I’m an American who’s been designing more. That’s 43 instruments (over 16,800 Jackson music software for nine years in Berlin. I’m sounds), 39 high-end mixing and working full-time as a designer of mastering effects, and more than 350 instruments and effects at Ableton, for products like the new Wavetable; guitar processing tools. It’s priced €1200, before that, I designed for Native Instruments products such as Razor and with various upgrade options available. Absynth. Pete [Dowling], our other founder, lives in Glasgow; aside from There’s also the smaller Total Studio 2 coding, he tours a lot around Europe doing live sound for choreographers Deluxe version for €600. and dancers. Alex [Harker] is a composer and a lecturer at the University URL www.ikmultimedia.com of Huddersfield in the UK; alongside his coding work and research, he’s involved in performing, composing and teaching experimental and contemporary music.” Fuse Audio Labs TCS-68 Bringing back plenty of memories for at Microfuse and the two Dub Machines delay effects combine least a couple of staffers, TCS-68 analogue and digital influences. How do you get these two worlds to emulates the preamp, three-band EQ and work together? tape system of “one of the most iconic MJ “Well, it’s all digital in the end, isn’t it? That gives us so much freedom. cassette tape based eight-track recorders We looked at a lot of delays, reverbs introduced in 1990”. and modulation hardware effects and The controls are as simple as the remit “It’s all digital in the thought, “Wow, this characteristic demands, consisting of a level fader and pan sounds amazing… but wouldn’t it be pot; knobs for Trim and EQ gain and mid- end, isn’t it? That gives cool if it could go further, or morphed band frequency; and buttons for switching in to this, or didn’t have this drawback?” the Tape and Hiss emulations. With the us so much freedom” This allowed us to make some cool original machine cramming eight tracks DSP that has a lot of the flavour from onto a single cassette, the sound should be the devices that we studied, but that works in ways we dreamt they could. splendidly lo-fi. So, you get tape-style pitch shifting with overdriven preamps from the TCS-68 is available now, for $29. analogue world… but as it’s digital, we can add reverse delays, sampled URL www.fuseaudiolabs.de reverb spaces, clickless mode changes and adjustable character.”

This month’s Plugin, Microfuse, is the ‘mini’ version of Diffuse. SampleScience Suntron What extra features does the big brother have? A spiritual partner to the rather wonderful MJ “Microfuse has most of the sweet spots of Diffuse, but you can Hexagon Sky, SampleScience’s new sample- experiment more with the latter, making it more performable and fun to based virtual instrument is inspired by the use. In Diffuse, the filters, tap patterns and modulation are all exposed, so likes of Boards of Canada, Com Truise you can tweak those exactly how you want, and perform with them in and Tycho, generating “glide effects, interesting ways. An adjustable input gain allows you to ‘dub it out’ as if on ambient pads and atmospheres” a send/return, but right in the middle of an insert chain. It also has a quirky suitable for ambient, chillwave and ‘hold’ feature that keeps a copy of your sound looping while you feed the downtempo productions. echo on top.” With 60 preset sounds onboard, and an extremely straightforward interface What’s coming next for Surreal Machines? offering control over Attack, Release, Vibrato MJ “We have a backlog full of magic ideas, but getting them up to our Rate and Depth, Pan, Volume and Glide time, standard takes time. There will be more plugins and other formats, for Suntron certainly puts ease of use ahead of sure… all with a similar approach to sound and feel.” depth and flexibility – for better or worse. It’s out now, priced $24. URL www.surrealmachines.com URL www.samplescience.ca

12 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 years back

Mystery Apple patents and fancy iPod docks were our hot topics in 2008 Control your DAW’s transport and mixer buttons with Pacer, and keep your hands free for more important things It was time for a guide to techno in June 2008 ( 126), as we sought to show you that there was more to the genre than the 909 – well, a bit more, anyway. Speaking of drums, we also decided to Nektar Pacer tell you the unvarnished “truth” about Featuring ten programmable and LED-equipped footswitches, Nektar’s them. Spoiler: they’re pretty important. Pacer pedal controller looks to be an interesting option for not only In News, we reported on Apple’s patent application for “a head-mounted display guitarists, but also producers and electronic music performers looking system, with image-processing and to get their feet involved in DAW control and MIDI triggering. generation going on in a box of tricks that Each pedal can be programmed to send up to six MIDI messages in you clip onto your belt, which ferries the sequence, and the LED ‘scribble strips’ enable graphical and text-based “Our Burning Question identification of assigned functions. Transport- and mixer-focused presets are included for a number of DAWs (Live, Logic, Cubase et al), asked why loud music is and all manner of MIDI guitar gear is supported, too. There are also better – it just is, OK?” four relays for switching channels or effects on non-MIDI amps. graphics up to the specs using laser Pacer is available to buy now, and costs £200. technology.” We’re still waiting for that URL www.nektartech.com one, but you never know… Our Burning Question asked why loud music is seen as better – it just is, OK? - and our peripherals section featured an iPod dock that looked like an 80s ghetto Ins & outs blaster. These days, of course, the ghetto blaster would probably have more retro GOOGLE’S SUPER SYNTH LINES STILL BLURRED appeal than an iPod dock (what – no Who needs sound design skills Bad news for Pharrell Williams wireless?). Times have changed. when you’ve got the NSynth Super? and Robin Thicke, as a court Finally, we carried a feature on the art Made by Google, with a little help broadly upheld the verdict that of improvisation and making music by from machine learning and neural Blurred Lines infringed copyright of accident. This took quite a lot of careful networks, the device can Marvin Gaye’s GotToGiveItUp. planning, as we recall. Which is slightly produce more than 100,000 Artists may now have to think ironic if you think about it. new sounds from just 16 source twice before creating music in a sounds. We’ll get our coats. similar style to previous songs.

GAME ON STAR WARS: THE LAST Gaming often gets in the way of SOUNDTRACK productivity, but not if you start He’s soundtracked all eight of the jamming with the new Squarewave main Star Wars movies, but now Maker. This is a side-scrolling game John Williams says the ninth will that makes you ‘play’ music in time represent his final visit to a galaxy to progress, and comes with the far, far away. Who’ll be scoring the tools to design your own levels. The next trilogy? They’ll certainly best of both worlds, then. have big space boots to fill.

NOTE-WORTHY ENDME If you know the name of the Its glory days may have been long chord you want to use but gone, but we were still rather sad don’t know how to play it on a to hear the news about the final keyboard, pay a visit to the Note demise of the print edition of the Kitchen. This can visualise any NME. Guitar bands may have chord that you throw at it, and also been its stock in trade, but then shows you all the notes in any scale. again, it did cover a fair few Get schooled at www.note.kitchen electronic artists, too. In 2008 we really loved techno. In 2018, we still like techno, but are seeing other genres on the side

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 13 > news freeware news AclassicstandalonecomestoyourDAWalongsideafistfulofpopping percussion,funkyfiltersandaclevernewwaytolistentoyour’phones.

Paul Nasca/ Xenakios PaulXStretch

The original instigated a mini- movement of super-stretched Ever wished your experimental ambience, and we’ve favourite song would last forever? PaulXStretch waited ages to see it inside our DAW may be just the thing

It’s one of the stranger fascinations of subgenre was born. Today, PaulStretch Due to how the algorithm works, the our age. Experimental musicians and has been applied to subjects ranging from plugin adds significant latency, and sound designers have, in recent years, classic 80s hits to The Simpsons. though it’ll indeed respond to host taken to applying the standalone time- Fun is fun, but the standalone nature of automation, the developer suggests the stretching process developed by Paul PaulStretch made the results of its results may be laggy. Still, we can’t help Nasca to all manner of sound sources, the ministrations a bit of a pain to integrate but be thrilled at the prospect of most famous being Justin Bieber track U into a larger project. This has now stretching the bejeezus out of every song Smile. Then 20-year-old Nick Pittsinger changed thanks to developer Xenakios, in our collection. used Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch (aka who has reworked the classic open www.paulnasca.com PaulStretch) to slow the Beebster’s bit of source timestretching tool into a cross- www.xenakios.wordpress.com/ fluff down by a whopping 800%. A platform plugin in VST and AU formats. paulxstretch-plugin

Boyss-Sound-e-Scapes HY-Plugins Acoustic Field Go2Kit HY-Filter3 HPL2 Processor Way back in 1980, HY-Plugins have a new Most studio productions are Roland released a commercial filter out, mixed on monitors – cheap ’n’ cheerful and it’s a humdinger. generally multiple sets. The drum machine as part Of course, if it’s a HY idea is to produce a mix that of their Boss pedal plugin, chances are there’s a cutdown free sounds good from speaker catalog. This little fella version, too! Indeed, the insane new cross- to speaker. However, as offered a mere four sounds, but it was just platform HY-FIlter3 has been pared back to headphones and earbuds become more enough to get a basic beat going. Go2Kit is in include a pair of filter modes (a resonant triple prevalent, there may be a need to re-address the some ways like that old Boss. It too offers a mere bandpass job and a state-variable filter), but traditional approach. Acoustic Field’s free HPL2 four sounds and it too is just enough to get a beat stripped of the premium incarnation’s Processor is a binaural processor that aims to going. However, Go2Kit slathers on lots of lovely modulation units and built-in effects. re-process music mixed for loudspeakers so that tape and vinyl effects, as well as filtering and a bit Nevertheless, the freebie certainly packs a it sounds as it should on headphones. It’s a single- of reverb. powerful punch. purpose plugin, but well worth checking out. www.boyss-sound-e-scapes.com www.hy-plugins.com www.hpl-musicsource.com/software

CLASSIC FREE SOFTWARE PROSONIQ NORTHPOLE

Twenty years ago, a company called It offers squelchy resonance, envelope Prosoniq released the stellar Orange follower, distortion, and a built-in delay. Its Vocoder. This garish gargler became an sound quality holds up nearly a decade after instant go-to for Mac users and earned the its release. company some serious cred. Prosoniq gave Zynaptic will still sell you a copy of way to Zynaptiq, but not before giving us Orange Vocoder, but you’ll have to go to the nifty NorthPole, a 24dB filter with both KVR to download the free NorthPole. low-pass and band-pass modes. www.kvraudio.com

14 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

ISSUE 256 JUNE 2018 What’s on your Future Publishing Ltd. Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732275 Email:[email protected] Web:www.computermusic.co.uk EDITORIAL hard drive? Editor: Joe Rossitter, [email protected] ArtEditor:Mark White, [email protected] ManagingEditor:Kate Puttick, [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Tim Cant, Scot Solida, Dave Clews, Danny Scott, Ronan Macdonald, Ed Warrener, Ben Rogerson, Lee du-Caine, Joseph Branston, Adam Cliford, Robbie Stamp, Oli Bell, James Russell, Jon Musgrave Photography:Getty Images, Shutterstock ADVERTISING Commercial Sales Director: Clare Dove, [email protected] AdvertisingSalesDirector:Lara Jaggon, [email protected] AccountSalesManager:Steve Hymas, [email protected] MARKETING DirectMarketingCampaignManager:Will Hardy PRODUCTION&DISTRIBUTION Production Controller: Fran Twentyman ProductionManager:Mark Constance PrintedintheUKby:WilliamGibbons&SonsonbehalfofFuture Distributedby:Marketforce(UK),5ChurchillPlace,CanaryWharf,London, E14 5HU CIRCULATION TradeMarketingManager: Michelle Brock, 0207 429 3683 SUBSCRIPTIONS UK reader order line & enquiries: 0844 848 2852 Overseas reader order line & enquiries: +44 (0) 1604 251 045 Onlineenquiries:www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email:[email protected] LICENSING InternationalLicensing Director: Matt Ellis, [email protected] Tel: +44(0)1225442244 MANAGEMENT MD Games, Music and Entertainment: Julian March

Group Editor-in-Chief: Daniel Grifiths © Besian Durmishi Photography Head of Art and Design: Rodney Dive GroupArtDirector:Graham Dalzell NEXT ISSUE ON SALE: 16 May Sabb The Kosovan-born, Switzerland-based producer likes his bass so low that your bones vibrate!

ABLETON LIVE 10 the usual jobs that you need a synth to do. “I was born in Kosovo and spent my teenage Strings, pads, lead lines; it’s versatile. It’s also years there. For me and my friends, music got a cool bunch of effects, a great was a place to escape from the war and sequencer and – to my ears – it sounds everything that had happened. I guess I pretty analogue. started going out to clubs and making beats “Plus, you don’t need to be a professor to to heal some of the pain in my heart. At first get the best out of it. You look at the it was Fruity Loops, then Cubase. That was a interface and it all makes sense.” big change and I got my first release in 2008. But I’m now using Ableton for the same reason as everyone else… the “Music was a workflow! It’s so easy to put together sounds and build a song.” place to escape

ROB PAPEN SUBBOOMBASS from the war…” “This gets used on virtually every track. The single sounds are pretty good, but UNIVERSAL AUDIO MANLEY once you start layering two or three on top COMPLETE BUNDLE of each other, you can feel the immense “Again, this is something I use on every power of the bottom end. My friends track. The EQ is probably my favourite. OK, sometimes joke about it, but I like my the EQ in Ableton Live isn’t so bad if you basses to go right down to the depths… don’t need to be accurate, but the Manley is 20-30 Hz! Without that, I feel that the song so… complete! is incomplete. When you hear my bass, it “When I cut a frequency with Live’s EQ, it has to make your bones vibrate!” leaves a ‘shadow’. There is still something there. When you cut frequencies with the U-HE DIVA Manley, you can say goodbye – all of your “This is what I call my main ‘synth’. It does all troubles are finally over!”

Sabb’s new album, Radiant, is released on April 6, via his own Radiant label www.facebook.com/sabbDJ / burning question # !

What’s the best ‘creative mistake’ you’ve made in the studio?

Graffiti City Music randomness within the rules of “I accidentally pressed ‘reverse’ each MIDI channel.” on a vocal reverb, so I printed the reversed reverb and chopped up Saif Sameer AlSarraj the audio. It made for some “Misplacing audio tracks so they haunting backing vocals.” aren’t aligned together, to create new rhythmic alternatives. And, Lee Whitfield while manually adjusting the 
  
 % ! “By accidentally transposing a score in the piano roll, tracing out whole arrangement down by a errors can become creatively channel, I found that distorted unpredictable.” congas make a great substitute   (
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  ,.((  -  for a chugging guitar riff!” Neil Dube *(*$%( ) (  (%  #*$. ($   %! “I accidentally pasted a MIDI drum Article pattern onto my piano track, and “When I move a MIDI region onto it took the whole thing in a new another instrument’s MIDI track direction that I’d never have gone      on the sequencer and it sounds down otherwise.” 
 better. I do it now and again when my ideas are running low.” Anthony O’Sullivan  *  (  % %$,% * “I dropped in a REX file, then 00
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' floor, I accidentally kicked out the David Daytona power cable before saving – the  % *%   *( ( “I put my drum machine through good old days before auto-save! –     //  ($    a bass amp. Sounds old school then plugged it back in and wrote and boomy.” a way better song in ten minutes.” -( % (  % ** *$   //($  )! Tom Jarvis Asbjørn Andersen “Once, when I was trying to “For one song, Ableton Live failed sidechain compress, I accidentally to read my samples, and routed one track’s MIDI to another accidentally muted the drums. %'! track containing a monophonic It worked so well, I put it in the synth. Having two different final arrangement. I also melodies fighting over the single accidentally left my condenser

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CREATIVITY

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18 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 creativity power-ups / make music now <

Explore new worlds of artistic expression and tap into your creativity with our inspiration- generating bootcamp

We’re constantly exposed to a world of things – and that’s exactly what we’re going to competition. As companies vie for our concentrate on in this feature. attention, they cast out messages that tell Creativity is your ability to come up with us we can be better. You can lose weight if something new, not to copy the crows. But you buy our stuff; you can look good if you where do you draw the line between ‘inspired buy our stuff; and, inevitably, you can make by’ and ‘completely alien from’? How do you better music if you buy our stuff. We hear step up your game and create even more messages like this so often that it’s hard to stuff? How can we create better stuff? Where tune into the truth… you can make better are things going wrong? And what should we music with what you have right now! do to put them right? We’ve all experienced it: those times when Slow down, you’re getting hysterical! Once you can’t get on with your work are inevitable again, you’ve got your hands on the right parts of the creative experience. You magazine, and we’ve certainly got your back. procrastinate, you put things off, and when We’ll shed light on all these questions, tell you you finally do get some work done, you fall how creativity comes to be, and help you into the same old habits, towing the company bring something new into the world. line and making the same sort of music Although, of course, we can’t do the actual you’ve been making for years. Yep, it’s a work for you – we can only point you in the tough old life when your task is to make new right direction; the rest is up to you.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 19 Get more brain power decision-making reserves by brunchtime. of theworld, you can’t be wasting your leading thebiggestdrone army inthehistory forcapacity makingdecisions,andifyou’re a rational reason for we it: onlyhave alimited this may seemoddtousmere there’s mortals, sweater, jeansandsneakers every day. While Apple CEO Steve Jobsfamously wore thesame had peopletodoitfor him. Similarly, former even choosewhathewas goingtowear; he choose whathewas Hedidn’t goingtoeat. previous oneandignore thecurrent) didn’t readily available where Here’s itcounts. how. overall brain power, we canleave more tobe tasks. Whilewe can’t exactly increase our or later, whenwe working start ondifferent any onetime,buttherest willbeusedsooner It’s nottrue.We may useasmallproportion at Ever heard thatwe onlyuse5% ofourbrains? not we’re what with deals subconscious our thinking brain, present, our is mind conscious our If creator subconscious The understand, can I in that straight words me to it Give strawberries! of fear crippling my and parents my with relationship my question to mag music a buy didn’t I Jung, Karl there, “Whoa mind. subconscious our from comes ideas new generating for inspiration true the that believe many forms, new into puzzle a of rearranging lot into a thought put rational can we While from? come it does elements. new not ideas, new with you presenting We’re not order. just this before, in page this on words the You’ve all us. seen to novel are that ways in witnessed curdi tes tsfi osyta creativity about that is say to fair It’s others? in occurred already that’s something used having without alone stand possibly could genre what it; and before tracks countless as beat basic same the contains probably track latest used your been before; all they’ve so scale, Western the notes in 12 only are There new? completely that’s even. whole genre, a new notes… of combination new a new or a sound, piece, new a creating about talking we’re music, In before. there wasn’t make that to something – things new up the conjure is to creativity ability simply, Put it. know see you you but when it, it on finger your put to hard It’s 20 > h atro h brain the of matter The our subconsciousmind” generating ideascomesfrom “True inspiration for

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creativity power-ups West Wing ofstaffers todothatfor you too. That’swill benefit. ifyou can’t hire awhole reserves more wiselyandyour musicmaking computer, you’re fighting a losingbattle. options by thetimeyou fire upyour studio energy you have available for weighing up Ifyou’vearrangement. already spentthe when itcomes totasks suchasmixingand involved inyour studiosessions–especially anyanything more. yousome point, just can’t easilydecideon next destinationfrom your At guidebook. humorously translated your menus,andselect choosemealsfrom network, transport travelling oronholiday, asyou navigate a likely timesyou’ll encounter itiswhile until you lookingfor Oneofthemost start it. of course –it’sof course how you recombine themthatcounts! All 12notesintheWestern scalehave beenusedbefore, teto oddct oorlvs n ev got we’ve and lives, our to dedicate to attention eragn fies ehp,a h conscious the as Perhaps, ideas. of rearranging and rehashing the is – less sometimes obviously, more sometimes – in dreams encounter we things the of One process. thought’. ‘a we as and it us, interpret to ‘occur’ it does mind conscious to the up back bubbles idea finished resolved, the eobnn hmt r u e combinations. new out try to them recombining yes, and, them internalising underneath, out things working gradually background, the in operates hand, other the on subconscious, Our conversations. people’s other on earwigging and roads crossing emails, snares, writing compressing stuff: urgent the for it use to Try spendingyour decision-making Think abouthow many decisionsare ‘Decision fatigue’ canbehard torecognise raspa i oei hsrecombination this in role big a play Dreams lmnsa ly nywhen Only play. at elements the rearrange and a problem solve to tries it as days, even or hours minutes, for mind subconscious the by over chewed being information of result the are ideas reality, in that seem would it – occur they when ‘had’ simply aren’t tsbe adta ideas that said been It’s sartorial approach: hewassartorial saving mental resources There’s agood reason for Steve Jobs’unimaginative that creative geniusunderyour control. your subconsciousmind,andhelpyou tobring feature, we’ll gearour tutorialsandadviceupto friends. Andtherein liestheproblem! Sointhis enjoying acasualtrampolining sessionwith you’re inthequeueatyour localfalafel standor bassline couldjustaseasilyoccurtoyou when the shops…they’re notthestudio. Thatkiller dothey? Theshower,the rightmoment, thebed, time for inspiration. when you’re justd dreams, andthere’s you’ll buymore s engineered to letyour mindwander sothat the subconscious, asthewholesetupis subconscious thechance to beheard. conscious mindonstandby, andgiven your You’vea mundanesetofactions. setyour and putyour mindonautopilot asyou out carry conscious mindwiththenoiseofrushingwater – it’s aplacewhere you canblankoutyour us have. Theshower isn’t aplacetoconcentrate we thing. simplyneedtoletitdoits let aloneaccess. Ifwe want to getmore creative, ofourbrainpart thatwe canhardly understand, So creativity comesfrom thesubconscious;a Working withthereal you your cripplingfear ofstrawberries. relationship withyour parents andgives you personality. It’s your thatdictates thepart experience anddefinesyour and actions ofyourpart brain thatstores your life buried even deeper. It’s themore mammalian different ofyou thing.Thisisapart that’s previous day, justjumbledup. and recognise from theideasandthoughts the wake up, we may remember whatitwas saying subconscious canbecome audible.Whenwe day ofattendingto theurgent problems, the hard-earnedmind isgettingits rest after afull But alotofthetime,ideasdon’t bubbleupat The supermarket isanotherplayground for Ever hadagreat ideaintheshower? Mostof By theway, the tuff. We’ve already mentioned unconscious rifting off, whichcanbepeak that similarphaseofsleep mindisa

©Getty creativity power-ups / make music now <

Cultivating creativity Perfect prep The more time you can dedicate How can we tune in better to our brain and help going. You’ve unclogged a few blockages and your focus to the task in hand, the it be our ally instead of the procrastinating things are feeling fresh again. better. Nothing kills creative flow enemy inside our skull? like a slow boot-up or software If we’re looking to help bring our Practice made perfect update, so make sure your system is subconscious out and listen to the ideas it’s So how do you get good ideas? Put bluntly, you ready to go. Sort your samples, set trying to communicate, we need to switch the don’t. When you try to ‘come up with a good up new project templates to cut to conscious part of our brain off a bit. But that’s by idea’, you tread a dangerous road and will rarely the chase, and so on. no means easy in the technology-saturated 21st come up with anything decent. Similarly, switching between too century. Where do we get the chance to hear the Instead, remember that coming up with many tasks – sound design, creative part of our mind? These days, it’s almost great ideas – and, by extension, great tunes – is arrangement, mixing and mastering impossible to get bored, but that’s exactly what always a numbers game. Never go into a duties – in one session is also we’re missing – boredom is a necessary part of session aiming to have ‘a great idea’, or come up counterproductive. This sort of the human condition. Only by tuning out can we with ‘a great hook’. The problem with this frenetic multitasking will have your give our creative subconscious mind the chance attitude is the word ‘a’ – you should be walking subconscious playing catch-up, with to reveal what it’s come up with under the into a session ready to have ‘ten ideas’, or come an excess of ‘background tasks’ to surface. And if that’s not happening naturally, up with ‘ten potential hooks’. chew over. Instead, separate your we have to make decisions that’ll lead to it. Once you do, then is the time to decide if any creative effort into relatively long Every so often, sit down and simply become of them are good. Come back to your ten periods of doing the same thing. bored. It might not be a feeling you’ve had for a projects later with fresh ears, and let them hit Music production is usually while, but let it happen. Disconnect your internet you like they would a new listener. If you think broken down into discrete stages and try to just do nothing. While you’re you’ve come up with something decent, you’re anyway. Although there’s room for waiting things out, you don’t have to think about rolling. If all your ideas are stale and unexciting, interpretation, the expectation your musical problems, your writer’s block, or don’t despair: you’ve just got ten ideas’ worth of these days is that you focus what to do next in your track – just give yourself practice under your belt! separately on sound design, some processing time before you step back into Of course, practice is a necessary part of arrangement, mixing and the studio. becoming good at something, and the skill of mastering, and that each session is In the same way, taking breaks should be a coming up with ideas is no exception. But as a reserved for one of these tasks. vital part of your working day. Nobody can work producer, you can’t exactly stand there EQing So how do you choose which one flat-out 100 percent of the time, and nor should vocals until you hit the bullseye with every to work on in any given session? By they. A break time doesn’t just bring our energy throw, can you? knowing how you work. If you’re levels back; it gives our subconscious, creative The sort of practice we need to think about is running low on attention to detail, mind the time to regroup and resolve a few a little more nuanced. It’s still about repetition, maybe mixing isn’t the best task for underlying problems. but while doing a different thing every time. today; try a more creatively-inclined During these times, distract your conscious A pro producer draws their earnings from years sound design sesh instead. If you’re with something that’s not related to music and of track-making experience; if you don’t stick at just not in the mood for anything not intellectually demanding: a dog walk, trivial it, you won’t even make back the bus fare home. musical, take the time to sift tasks, a bit of cleaning, pottering in the garden, By practising the art of having ideas in this through samples and sort your etc. When you return to the studio, notice how way, you’ll start to drill the habit into yourself. computer and hard drive out. When your sense of direction is stronger, and you After a few sessions, you’ll have seen first-hand the inspiration comes flooding back seem a bit more confident in where you’re how much more productive you can be. later, you’ll be ready to go.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 21 > make music now / creativity power-ups Production habits to boost your creativity Cycling in loop land As it turns out, leaving your symphony unfinished can be one of the most efective of creative tactics

The problem chords past the eight-bar line before even It’s every producer’s nightmare, but it’s an listening back to them – stretch the progression inevitable part of life. You create a loop that out to bar 16, using the second half to establish a works, and sounds great, but then you stop variation on the first, giving yourself there! The reason? You’ve made a short clip of somewhere to go with the other elements. music that’s so good, you can’t help but keep Next, you might return to the drums, crafting cycling through it, playing it back over and over that fill from 7.3.1 and running it into a slight again. You only get deeper into loop land as variation of the beat for the second section. time goes by – the more you hear your perfect Extending the bass out from bar eight, this time eight-bar loop, the more ingrained in your skull you have an idea of where you want it to go it becomes, and the harder it is to change it. based on the other elements. Whatever you do, though, make sure you don’t stretch it out to Howtofixit exactly bar 16 to complete the loop again – either One solution to the ‘loop land’ problem is this: overshoot or undershoot the timing to give don’t get there in the first place! The problem yourself an empty space to program into. begins the moment you close the loop – as soon This ‘scaffolding’ method helps you to latch as every element of your nascent track starts bits of your track together without giving and ends at the same point. yourself the satisfaction of having a ‘finished’ Instead, work from the start with the fear of product. Use as many elements as you want in loop land in mind. You might create a bassline the building process, but just make sure you for eight bars, set up a drum loop for only seven never ‘close the circle’. This’ll prevent that sense and a half (setting aside half a bar for a fill later of completeness and keep your mind on the ball on), and get to work programming some as it tries to imagine what will fill the gaps. A backing chords. Make sure you run those track should constantly move forward, after all.

climactic drop or dramatic chord progression. Take it to the brink You know why? Because we humans don’t like incomplete things! listener Don’t just leave the wanting more – know Maintain momentum when to leave a track unfinished for your own sake Music is about tension and resolution. When things are really about to hit, an audience expects them to do just that – keeping the The problem peak, your creativity is on the boil, and the listener on tenterhooks is the composer’s way Sometimes, a session goes really well and you music’s running through your veins. You’ve of ensuring their undivided attention and feel inspired. Other times, not so much. Whether finally gathered momentum, and everything’s getting them to invest their emotions in the you come out of the studio feeling like Guetta or flowing right. You know what you should really music. It’s what turns good moments into truly Garfield makes a big difference to your do now? Stop! great moments. confidence as a producer. Is it luck? Is it energy Just like our ‘loop land’ advice above, the Take a cue from the listener’s experience, levels? Is it timing (see our advice on the problem in these situations is our human then, and let the same thing happen to you: opposite page)? Maybe, but what if we told you tendency to complete things. Humans like build up the tension in your own head, then that it could all be down to how your project file nothing better than a finished product, and yank yourself away from the action at the looks at the start and at the end of a session? coming back into the studio the next day and crucial moment, and you’ll be ready to jump loading up a perfect, neatly-tied-up experience straight back into things upon your return. Howtofixit leaves you with nowhere next time. This’ll give you all the inspiration that you You know that moment when you’re working on But what if you leave things incomplete? need to roll the momentum over into the next something great? Things are reaching their You’ll return to the studio itching to finish that music-making session.

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>Stepbystep 1. Using a sequencer plugin instead of the piano roll

If you’re stuck in a creative rut, one of Load any instrument plugin in your Program a sequence into B-Step CM’s the best ways to get out of it is to take DAW – we’ve called up Curve 2 CM – upper rows and columns, and start 1 a different approach. If your piano roll or 2 and load B-Step CM to serve as its MIDI 3 playback in your DAW to hear Curve 2 MIDI controller aren’t leading you in new input. If you don’t know how your DAW triggered by B-Step CM. Mess with the directions, how about trying a dedicated handles MIDI routing, check out its sequence for a while. This different sequencer plugin to generate ideas you manual. Here in Reaper, it’s as simple as approach leads you to work in a slightly wouldn’t otherwise have come up with? choosing a MIDI In FX plugin as the input unconventional way, making you more Monoplugs’ B-Step CM is just such a on the Curve 2 channel. likely to come up with something new. plugin, free with every issue of .

These same four notes are getting old, In the bottom half of the interface, we Now choose other Bar Chord values so click the pencil icon next to the have the bars – basically a way of for the next three selectors to get a 4 Chord Set selector. You can select a scale 5 sequencing your sequences. Turn the 6 progression going. It can be tricky to get in the bottom left – we go with Melodic leftmost Bar Chord selector to select from this right – but that’s half the fun! To get Minor. Click Fill All Chords Randomly one of the seven chords you just some variation here, we can change the From Scale or check certain chords as the programmed. To start cycling through the octave for each note in the sequence, or Preset Target in turn and select a chord bars, right-click and drag from the leftmost choose the Bar Octave for each bar. You for each. By default, the currently-playing Select/Copy button through to the fourth. can choose the octave for individual steps sequence is the fourth chord, confusingly. This copies the sequence to the other three in the left-hand Steps tab. slots, and starts cycling between the four.

POWER TIP >Random access

B-Step CM really ‘steps it up’ [sigh] when it comes to its more advanced functions. Use its random features to mix up which patterns will play, the lengths of certain steps, and velocities of notes and chords. Going fully random is probably going to do more harm than good, but a light sprinkling of unpredictability can inject variability and a bit of humanity into proceedings. What’s missing? Different note If this quick B-Step CM session has lengths! Back in the Main tab, kicked off an idea, you can record it to 7 choose a different Step Duration for 8 MIDI and start using or refining it. Or, if certain steps, and tweak some Step you like this way of working, click B-Step Velocities too. Your changes will only CM’s bottom-left star icons to uncover apply to one bar out of the cycling four. deeper features. Here, you’ve got more Use the Select/Copy buttons to either creative options, such as Step select each bar for editing or to copy one Probability, Start Position, Repeat to another by right-click-dragging. options and more.

24 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 creativity power-ups / make music now <

Generating > Step by step 2. Sequencing a bass riff from one note sequences from one note

When you sit down at a blank project in your DAW, how do you get started? You might pull up an instrument or two, grab a ready- made synth patch (or one that you’ve designed previously yourself), and start jabbing away at your MIDI controller or programming notes into the piano roll. If that works for you every time, then great! But for most people, working like this can lead We have Enkl CM loaded up, ready to Cream CM is currently only affecting to stale results; tracks can end up make a bassline. With a single quarter- one octave, so tweak its octave range with the same old chords, the 1 note C3 playing every bar, we turn to 2 to lie between C0 and C9. Activate the same note values, and the same Kirnu’s Cream CM – a hugely powerful Hold section to keep the C3 note looping twists of your imagination as it arpeggiator, free in Plugins. Load it for the entire bar. Now head for the works on the now-habitual task onto a new instrument track, and route its Transpose tab and set the first 16 steps to MIDI output to the Enkl CM channel’s -22, giving us a repeated low D note. Bring of ‘making MIDI happen’ in the input. Check your DAW’s manual if you’re Cream CM’s loop end bracket back to the same way it always has done. not sure how to do this. 16th step rather than the default 32nd. What you need is a new approach. Your DAW probably came with a few MIDI plugins, that process incoming MIDI notes and spit them out in a different form. More fully-featured MIDI note processors are available with this very magazine in Plugins (see p107), and there’s plenty of paid options to be found out there, too. Over the next couple of pages, we’ll show just how creative this type of software can make us, and we’ll do it all by processing a single MIDI note to generate In the Chord Memory panel, select a Select the Chrdmem tab in the main chords, riffs and even drum parts, key for the first slot and click OK. sequencer, reduce the loop bracket to coming up with results we never 3 We’ve gone for a basic Minor. We delete 4 16 again, and select between the four would’ve arrived at using our the lowest note, then use the left Inv lowest rows to choose a chord for each usual methods. button to move the chord lower on the step. Heading to the Length and Accent onscreen keyboard. Next, we repeat the tabs, we can hold certain steps (notes) for process, choosing different chords for longer, and play around until we’re left slots 2, 3 and 4. with an inspiring bassline that we can record to MIDI and tweak further.

> Step by step 3. Generating varied chords from one note using MIDI effects

Leading off from the walkthrough Most DAWs have at least a handful of Let’s get another MIDI effect involved above, it’s time to generate some MIDI effects. In Studio One 3, the – this time we reach for Studio One 3’s 1 chords. Deactivate the Cream CM track 2 Chorder effect creates instant chords from 3 Repeater, which acts as a MIDI note echo and copy the MIDI over to a new instrument single notes. We reprogram the C3 note to device. We set Steps to 2, ensuring one track. Pop Dune CM onto it and load up an map it to a Dmin7 chord on output. repeat, Rate to 1/2 and Pitch to -7. This is a Electric Piano patch. Just like before, the Chorder doesn’t transpose notes and good place to start, as the +7 (a fifth up) C3 note is no place to be right now! Let’s chords programmatically, so instead, we and -5 (a fifth down) chords from the twist it into something new… automate its Transpose setting to play 7 previous step are already related by fifths. and 5 semitones up after the original Dm7.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 25 > make music now / creativity power-ups

> Step by step 4. Building generative beats with Ableton Live’s MIDI Effects

TUTORIAL FILES

Here’s another way to create Our Live project includes a Activate the Kick channel. One long C3 something new using only MIDI backing pad and a Drum Rack that’s note means it’s only playing once per 1 effects, this time whipping up some beats 2 being fed by five separate MIDI tracks 3 bar. To get ourselves a 4/4 beat, head to by thinking differently about Live’s in-built using the MIDI To dropdowns. The MIDI MIDI Effects in the browser and drag an processors. Not only that, it’ll also provide feeding each one is the same, playing a Arpeggiator onto the kick channel. Set its a variable, generative beat that’ll keep you C3 note that lasts a whole bar. You can Rate to 1/4 and you’ve got a 4/4 kick on your toes while working on the rest of download the Live 10 project from this pattern – simple as that. Now activate the your track. issue’s Tutorial Files. snare channel. Getting this one right is a little more complex…

Set up another Arpeggiator at 1/4,or Drag a Scale device next in the chain. This time, set the Steps to 2, so that copy the same one over from the kick This helps us repitch or reject certain three notes are output from the 4 channel. This time, also set Steps to 1 and 5 notes from the MIDI signal. Deselect the 6 Arpeggiator in sequence. Make sure the C Distance to +1st. This means that every lowest left note (C) and hey presto – only note is still inactive, and retune the D to a other note output by the Arpeggiator is the C♯s remain, timing our snare on beats C♯ (as above) so that only two notes out of transposed, giving us the pattern C, C♯, 2 and 4. Now for a hi-hat pattern. Copy every three get through, and play the C, C♯ for our bar. But we don’t want a snare both the Arpeggiator and Scale devices same note. The beat’s getting a bit for every kick… over to the Hats channel and activate it. mechanical, so add a Velocity device after Hi-hats are quicker, of course, so set their the Scale, and turn its Random parameter Arpeggiator’s Rate to 1/16. to 13. Do the same for the kick and snare.

For the Percussion channel, we’ll set With the Chance dial at 0.0%, there’s Finally, place an Arpeggiator (set to up a pseudo-random pattern – that is no chance of the note being changed. 1/4) on the Clap track, set Chance to 7 to say, a random timing of notes, but with 8 If you set it to 100%, the note will certainly 9 49% and Choices to 9. Deactivate some some rules specified. Add an Arpeggiator be changed. Set it to 50% to give a 50/50 of the first nine notes in the Scale device, to the track, with a Rate of 1/8. Now add a chance. If we add a Scale device and and retune others. The clap has a 49% Random device after this. Set the Choices deactivate the changed note, the Chance chance of playing, and after that, a certain to 1, and ensure the Scale is still at 1. dial turns into a control for whether the chance (depending on the Scale settings) Random changes the notes it received note will be played at all. of reinforcing the snare at its original note based on rules you set. or another note, or doing nothing at all.

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Creative arpeggiating Ah, the arpeggiator. From caped prog rockers in of their tracks. A few decades after the first the 70s to the chiptune fanboys and mau5- arpeggiator boom, early gaming systems saw a masked floor fillers of today, every producer has similar limit to polyphony, hence the heavy use a place in their heart for this melody-making of quick arpeggios in Commodore 64 and device. And with good reason – besides being GameBoy game music, and the chiptune simple to use, arpeggiators are a fun way to tributes inspired by nostalgia for these times. come up with new riffs and musical stuff. While the arpeggiator is forever linked with If you didn’t already know, arpeggiators rose melody, harmony and the bridge between them, to popularity in the early days of the synthesiser. here we’re taking a different perspective on it. Back in the late 60s, the only commercially What happens if you use an arpeggiator to viable electronic instruments could play just ignite ideas for drum parts? Instead of holding Get the amazing Kirnu Cream CM in Plugins one note at a time, but musicians weren’t able to down a major seventh chord, what if you try live without chords. The arp bridged melody and holding down the notes for kick, snare and Add to that the fact that almost every DAW now harmony – with the player holding down hi-hats, and messing with the parameters until comes with an arpeggiator, and there’s no multiple notes, the synthesiser would play all of you kick out something you’d never have come excuse to not give them a try and come up with them in turn, at a speed and pattern determined up with otherwise? We’ll do just that below. something new and exciting. on the front panel. It wasn’t full-on ‘chordal play’, With such sophisticated software We also have our own MIDI plugins, too, such but it was the closest there was for synthesists. arpeggiators available today, there’s very little as the comprehensive Cream CM and the As is often the case with creativity, this new stopping us. The digital revolution has left us intuitive-yet-versatile Nora CM. These and more tool set imaginations running, and synthesists with no shortage of high-level arpeggiator are free with this issue, in the Plugins folder soon started using the arpeggiator as a vital part options, with all the requisite bells and whistles. on your DVD or via FileSilo download.

> Step by step 5. Using an arpeggiator to creatively sequence drums

Here’s Reason 10’s Dual arpeggio In Dual Arpeggio’s default Init patch, So far, we don’t have an immediate device. It’s currently powering ID8’s if we hold down one note, the drum ‘beat’, but it’s not far off from sparking 1 synth instrument, which is a pretty normal 2 in question just repeats until we let go. 3 a couple of ideas. Audition a few presets. way to arp. If we play chords, they’ll come If we hold down notes for a kick (C), Since these were designed mostly for out as sequences of notes, and with this snare (E), and a hi-hat (F♯), we get all playing synths and other virtual particular arpeggiator, the presets three playing in sequence. Different instruments, some candidates aren’t instantly give us a wide variety of riffs. drums can hit at the same time, thanks nearly as appropriate as others. But what if we change the ID8 patch and to the way Dual Arpeggio’s interface swap out the synth for a drum kit? and controls are set up.

With a preset chosen, try adding a This is exactly the way to ‘play’ a Once you feel comfortable performing fourth note into the mix. Notice how drumming arpeggiator. Hold a few like this, it’s time to hit record and 4 introducing this note or taking it away 5 initial, staple notes down, but every bar (or 6 capture a few ideas. This method is sure to again radically changes the sound of the few), add a new one and take another generate some interesting ideas, but they beat. We’re not dealing with a MIDI away. Every so often, try suddenly probably won’t be perfect first time – it’s sequencer here – we’re dealing with a very swapping every note you’ve got held likely you’ll have to pay a visit to your different way of generating patterns. It’s down for two completely different ones, recorded MIDI sequence to edit and not intuitive, but it can kickstart just for a bar, to create a sort of fill. ‘rationalise’ it a little. something completely fresh!

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> make music now / creativity power-ups Creative constraints

See what new ideas you come up with using a completely In the past, producers were restricted by the more alien method. The Axis-49 is now out of production, but primitive music-making technology of the day, but in you may be able to find it (or something similar) on eBay do, testing your production and sound design our world of unbridled possibilities, those limits have chops in the process, and get you to focus deeper in on the instrument, learning its disappeared. If you want to be more productive, intricacies inside and out. sometimes you have to create the barriers yourself. FOUR-TRACK MIND Here are ten ways to bring back those inspiring Those of you who worked in the 02 DAWs of the early noughties will restrictions and craft something unique today. remember that high track counts weren’t really possible with the technology available back then, so rendering and bouncing were common practices. So set yourself an USE ONE SYNTH FOR ALL the same thing – so get back to basics and artificial limit of four or eight tracks in your next YOUR SOUNDS choose a single synth to make every single part project. As well as forcing you to commit to 01 The same paltry selection of in a track! Whip up basses, leads and pads in certain parts as they are, this restriction also waveforms was once the starting the usual way, program drums using noise makes you think a bit harder about whether you point for almost every type of sound – from bass sources and quick envelope modulation, and really need every part you’d usually call for. Keep to leads to drums and more. What with all the create FX sounds like risers and drops, all using it simple and make better music! types of synth around these days, we can the same virtual instrument. This’ll force you sometimes forget that they all do (pretty much) to push the boundaries of what your synth can INPUT WARS Choose an unfamiliar method of 04 programming notes and chords, and stick to it for a few weeks. Back in the day, you were limited to whichever method of inputting notes the manufacturer of FIVE-PLUGIN LIMIT your hardware had chosen. Standard piano keys are the norm, but that doesn’t mean they’re the We can use as many plugins as our CPU most creative. MPC-style pads make you work in a way that we associate with 90s sampled can handle… but should we? For your music; playing notes into those unfamiliar rows 03 of triggers may spark off a new idea as a new next challenge, try limiting yourself to just way of working. There are also step sequencers, of course, which offer yet another take on five plugins. Use bus and return processing for effects, getting notes down. and be as versatile as you can with your synths. Bonus SOURCES points if you do it all using an old computer! FOR COURSES 05 Instead of digging through an endless collection of samples, how about limiting yourself to a certain few, and seeing what you can make with a small selection of, say, 20? Search your OS’s file browser for ‘.wav’ and select a handful of fodder at random – close your eyes if you need to. By doing this, you’ll have to use all the tools and techniques at your disposal to work your way to victory. Shorten long sounds to make hits, stretch and granulate quick sounds to extend them, and get liberal with effects. Bonus points if you use sounds from a sample pack! HACK THE DEMO Many paid-for plugins come 06 with a time-limited (and often feature-limited) demo version. No, we’re not advocating the actual hacking of We chose five random Plugins without looking. How are we going to make music with them? That’s the point! plugins to unlock all the features that the full

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versions offer – we’re suggesting that you go with the flow and work within those limits to come up with something new. Bypass the inbuilt restrictions, use any automatically generated bursts of noise creatively, and record your moves to recycle later. A 30-day demo also gives you another limitation: time! And when you’ve wrung out everything you can, you might be looking at a tool you’ve become very proficient with. Maybe it’s time to buy the full version after all! TIE YOURSELF UP IN VIRTUAL CABLES 07 The philosophy of modular gear might not be about limitations – it’s about the infinite possibilities you get from patching anything to anything – but the way modular works is restrictive in other ways. You’ve got a particular selection of modules, each limited to its own task, so it’s the way in which modular systems work that introduces creative restrictions to your work. Lots of plugins, such as AudioThing’s miniBit synth, have randomisation controls for you to scramble up settings We’re not suggesting you go out and blow all your cash on the hippest hardware modular system, though – options for getting your own virtual rig include Softube Modular and the free VCV Rack – check out next issue for a huge RANDOM FANDOM guide on wringing the most out of the latter. What better limitation is there than 09 not having any clue whatsoever about what material you’re going to have to work with? Many plugins feature Random buttons, which completely mix up the parameter controls in one or multiple sections. One strategy for random patchmaking is to hit the Random button VCV Rack is a fantastic free and open source modular synth system, and next month we’ll be showing you how once, then deal with the result – whatever it is. Another to use it – go download it today at vcvrack.com is to hit the Random button once, then allow yourself TAKING TABLETS three parameter tweaks to bring the sound back under Many have never dared step into 08 the otherly world of phone and control. Or, you can always just hammer that Random tablet music making… but isn’t it time you tried? Whether you’ve made your start button until you come across a result that works! in the world of touchscreen track-building already or not, have a go at restricting yourself to this method only, in order to create something you wouldn’t have reached with just a keyboard and mouse. For mobile DAWs, check out Steinberg’s can think of. Whether you’re using your audio Cubasis, GarageBand on iOS and FL Studio interface or a program like SoundFlower (Mac) Mobile. With the tech behind mobile devices or JACK, the entire internet becomes your audio now so powerful, a lot of DAW apps can goldmine. Cruise around your favourite video- practically rival your desktop workstation. hosting site, record sounds from ads and Naturally, there are also plenty of effects, synths anywhere else you can locate audio material. It’s and more available on the respective App Stores basically crate-digging for the internet age! to wet your whistle. And to bring them all Now, of course, producers, we needn’t remind together, apps like AudioBus can really help to you that there could well be copyright make the touchscreen music-making implications of using material that you’ve experience complete. found on the web in commercial tracks. Proceed with caution! WORLDWIDE WEAPONS If you’ve got a way to record your Steinberg’s Cubasis is a studio on your iPad. Could its 10 computer’s output, you can sample different way of working inspire something new? absolutely any audio source you

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Other ways >Stepbystep 6. Repeated resampling for inspirational results to resample

Ableton Live’s Resampling input selector makes it quick and easy to resample your output – and since it takes its lead from whatever’s coming out of the master bus, what you hear is what you get. Not all of us are Live users, of course, but there are plenty of other ways to play the resampling card, whatever your host software. Users of other DAWs don’t have it too bad – by setting up a new audio track for resampling, selecting that track’s input as an Let’s take a leaf out of the old-school Load some audio into a sampler in empty bus, then sending the hip-hop producer’s book and come up your DAW – it can be taken from 1 with something totally unexpected using 2 practically anything. We’re using Ableton required tracks out to that bus, resampling techniques. Back in the day, Live because of its Resampling facilities, you’ll be cooking. memory came at a premium, so which mean we only need to add a Alternatively, create your own processing a sound and keeping the separate audio track to make this creative dedicated ‘resampling’ channel. original wasn’t really an option – workflow complete. Route the main stereo output into producers had limits, and that led to an empty audio track’s input, set its creativity. We’re going to tap into some of output to ‘no output’ (to prevent that in this walkthrough. ear-shredding feedback), solo any parts in the mix you want to resample, then record the audio onto that track. Ready-route this channel and stick it at the top of your template project so it’s always there in your DAW. Another option is the humble Bounce in Place function, which will replace a region and its processing with a ready-made audio file. Cubase, Bitwig Studio, Logic Pro and Studio One all do a good job of bouncing audio in-line. Any DAW rocking a decent drag-and-drop system can get processed audio back into its Set the sampler’s start and end points On the empty audio track, change the Browser for use in future projects. around a section of audio that loops Audio From selection to Resampling. 3 well, at a consistent level. In Live’s Simpler, 4 Arm both this and the MIDI channel for Reason is a good candidate for this you can click and drag to zoom in and recording. Now, when we hit record and method, although it’s got Bounce In place a precise looping point, ensuring a play around with the sound, everything Place too, with which, via drag and decent crossfade. Experiment with the that comes out of the master bus will be drop, you’ll have access to the timestretching type and the notes you recorded onto that audio track. You can audio in Reason’s Tool Window for play, until you find a cool variation on find the track in the Arrangement View use later on. the original sound. once recording has finished. And when all else fails? Naturally, every DAW has some way or other to export audio. Head to the Export menu, tweak your settings as you would if you were exporting your entire song, and hit Export. Drag the exported audio back into the project and away you go. If you want to make things particularly hard for yourself – but interesting nonetheless – you could try creating a setup that routes audio out of your computer and back in again through the interface. By plumbing things through some outboard gear – especially old and less-than-perfect audio kit – you’ll get an even more personalised and Replace the Simpler with a completely Load up effects like distortion, reverb characterful sound. Try using a new one, select the ‘resampled’ audio and modulation, and tweak the 5 clip you just recorded, and drag it into the 6 effects, all the while sampling from tape recorder (VHS, even), to get new Simpler. Delete the recorded items different points and trying out different the sound out of your DAW via from the Arrangement View, and you can stretching and repitching types. By using your audio interface, then record start the whole process over and over this workflow, you never know what it back in through an input, retro again, resampling the sound and you’re going to get out the other end. warts ’n’ all. committing to a new version each time. Check out more resampling tricks in our Audio Adventures feature on p62.

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> Step by step 7. Recreating a patch from one synth in another

To hone our production skills and To help us along our way, we’ve We’ll start by identifying that we’re in teach ourselves what makes synth started by panning Enzyme CM fully the right octave. It’s pretty obvious 1 patches tick, we’re going to take a 2 left and Dune CM fully right – we’ll deal 3 that we’re not. If you didn’t hear it using preset from our Enzyme CM synth, and with the stereo considerations later. Using your ears, a glance at the difference recreate it using Dune CM. We’ve chosen your ears should be enough to get this between the VPS Scopes gives it away. We Enzyme’s Bass Feitoer GZ patch for this, done, but we’ve also called up instances of need to tune Dune CM’s main oscillator but you can choose any preset you like. Spiral CM and VPS Scope to visually down to -12 Semitones to make things We’ve also loaded Dune CM up with its compare the two signals. match up. Initialised preset.

The Enzyme patch has quite a lot of Looking at Scope’s readout, there’s a Judging by the sound of the Enzyme noise in it. We can kick in Dune CM’s frequency bump at the top of Enzyme patch, we need to bring in Oscillator 4 noise oscillator by increasing the Level 5 CM’s noise signal. Adjust the filter Cutoff 6 2, and detune both oscillators using and changing the Colour to match. But and Resonance to try and match this in Dune’s FAT knobs. We briefly try oscillator the noise signal’s not static. Click Mod Dune CM. Now that we’ve adjusted the two as a square wave… but no, it’s Matrix 1 > 12 to create your first routing. filter itself, the movement feels a bit too definitely a saw, just like oscillator 1! Route LFO1 to the Filter Cutoff by +100. deep – reduce the Amount of the That’s more like it… but we’ll have to modulation routing to +78. reduce the LFO speed to match Enzyme’s.

Checking out the low-mids on both A bit more tuning: this time, we push Now we’ve got the two sounding oscillators (displayed in gold/yellow in the Fine controls in opposing similar, it’s time to compare and 7 Spiral CM), Enzyme CM’s a lot louder 8 directions for each oscillator, to really 9 contrast their stereo widths. Bring each here… but we’ve already used the filter for push Dune’s sound past the brink. We channel back to a centrally panned modulation duties. How can we expand have to back off the Output to bring it position, and solo each in turn to get an the power of those frequencies? Reach for back to a similar level. impression of how wide they are. Push Dune’s Unison section, turn the Voices up Dune CM’s Spread up until you match the to 6, and set the Detune up to 31%. Things two patches, and check VPS Scope’s now match a lot better. Stereo tab to confirm.

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Creative groove strategies

The bits in between How do you build a beat from scratch? From the ground up – kick, snare, then everything else, right? It might have never occurred to you Build grooves that there could be any other way, but why not turn the usual procedure on its head? with delay Instead of laying down the key elements first, begin with the others. In other words, start with hi-hats, percussion and ghost notes, then add Beats are collections of repetitive hits, and a delay the kick and snare later. Do this with the processor is a tool that repeats audio – a marriage metronome off, but kick it back in every so often to check that you’re on the right lines (literally). made in heaven for creative beatmaking, surely? The kick and the snare are, as a rule, the most repetitive parts of the beat; the top line is Instead of programming every note in a rhythm, try something you can be a little more creative with, and something that can change either slowly sending elements through a delay, having that throughout the track or by sections, or as you move through different bars of the music. dictate their repetition. Take control over the delay’s What’s more, if you nail the percussive top timing and even its output level using automation or line before the rest of it, you might also have an easier time when it come to choosing sounds a sample-and-hold/random LFO signal. for the main elements.

Go off the grid Unless you humanise your programmed beats using your workstation’s editing facilities, they’re going to reek of rigidity. The obvious solution, of course, is to disable snapping in the piano roll and move notes slightly off the grid using your mouse. How about going even further than that, though? Before you start entering notes, turn off the grid lines entirely, and place the crucial beats with no positional guidance whatsoever. If you like, you can press play every once in a while to see how you’re doing. Give it a go, and if you manage to get everything in place with a suitable level of accuracy, you’ll end up with an off-kilter groove that’s all your own. That is, if you can make it sound decent… Any effects that are synced to host tempo can help or hurt this approach. Try both ways – keeping them locked and going off the grid once more.

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Beats 2 MIDI

Audio-to-MIDI conversion technology is an underappreciated part of the modern production environment. Almost every DAW has some way to turn audio into a MIDI representation, which you can play using a virtual instrument on a new track, and this usually includes specific ‘beat’ detection types. Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase and others all have their own ways of converting audio clips into MIDI data. All you need to do is start recording – your computer’s in-built microphone is fine for this – and tap out a rhythm with your fingers. Bonus points if you record the sound of the metronome back into the DAW. Grab the audio and convert it to MIDI, and see what the Build beats at a detection makes of your beat. Sometimes things can go a little wrong, but that doesn’t different tempo have to be a bad thing! Speed up or slow down a beat, and all those little grace notes and shuffles in between the main hits take on a different character. Try doubling or halving your tempo until it’s out of the ‘normal’, listenable range, and program your beat at this new speed. Next, return things to normal and see how your standard-time rhythm has changed. Now add things or take things away to come up with something you wouldn’t have arrived at before.

Instant hi-hats and percussion Get your hats rolling by sticking them through a MIDI echo, an audio delay or a note arpeggiator. By modulating and/or automating the timing of the repeats, you can keep things grooving along. Here’s how…

Usually we’d program a ticky hi-hat How about we do it with a more However you do it, the point of this pattern in our DAW’s sequencer, but traditional arpeggiator? Using whole idea is to either automate the 1 with Reason’s in-built rack tools, we can 2 Reason’s RPG-8 to route a Gate CV signal 3 control of that rate or length parameter make hi-hat patterns in more creative into ReDrum’s hi-hat channel, we can hold (as shown above), or to hook it up to a ways. Here, we’re using the Note Echo one note in the sequencer (or on the CC for instant access to it on your MIDI player device placed before ReDrum. With keyboard) and simply tweak the Rate in controller or via a macro. Get creative and a quick Step Length and a small number RPG-8 to vary the speed of the hat ‘roll’. hook other parameters up in the same of Repeats, we tweak the controls to We can do a similar thing using a quick way, and more will happen once you get change the pattern. Delay unit set to 50% Dry/Wet. your fingers on that control.

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creative challenges 10 to try today When writer’s block has taken hold and inspiration just won’t strike, it’s time to try something different. Here are ten ‘production games’ that will get the juices flowing and help you hone your skills

QUICK AS YOU CAN ONE GENRE TO THE We can spend far too long TUNE OF ANOTHER Try sticking agonising over decisions. The Are you an ardent sample sounds from a 01 02 different genre longer we think about a pack aficionado? If you’ve manoeuvre, the likelier we are to get spent hours trawling through soundware onto your tunes ‘paralysis by analysis’. libraries like we have, you’ll realise just how to get a fresh sonic stamp This is just human behaviour, but it’s blurred the lines can be between the sonic certainly not rational. It’s the 21st century, building blocks of two genres. Maybe you’re and a digital project can always be changed. making tech-house tunes, but does that Maybe you can’t find the perfect snare now, mean you absolutely need to use tech-house but that’s no reason to derail your entire sample packs? Instead, try a pack from a track for 20 minutes! completely different genre and see how it The challenge is: when loading a project, changes the music you make. Use your get every element you’ll likely use – drums, production skills to bring the sonics more bass patch, lead patch, vocal and anything into line with your chosen genre and you’ll else – down in the first ten minutes. Make likely find that the result is a more your decisions quickly and focus on getting flavoursome piece of music. everything ‘on the page’. This way, you can There’s no time to lose: grab some move forward immediately and replace any random sample packs – even the ones free duds later on. with this mag! – and get going right now.

A TANGENT OF SINES RENDERED USEFUL You’re the ultimate Sine waves are the atoms of sound. 04 computer musician – a piano-roll hero wielding a For a practical challenge, make mouse and a MIDI keyboard… but that can 03 get old fast. Take a track you’ve been everything from one source sine working on, save a new version and render every single element out to audio. Take out signal. Pitch it, distort it to add harmonics, stick it your razor (the tool in your DAW, we mean), and start hacking up the audio, through ring and frequency modulation to mix it timestretching it, pitchshifting it, and loading it into samplers. Not only will this give you a with other versions of itself, and you really can completely different perspective on your existing track, it’ll also give you a different synthesise every element of a track from scratch. way of working and force you to commit to what you’ve made so far.

CHANNEL SYNTH Most synths follow a 05 somewhat standard signal path, so it’s not hard to build your own using effects plugins. After setting up oscillators and envelopes from a synth itself, grab filter plugins to replace onboard filters, auto-filters to replace filter mod routings, and stack up effects. More advanced envelope formulas are also possible using sidechaining techniques. What goes in doesn’t have to be what comes out: craft complex lines with nothing but sines, as we’re doing here

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BACK-TO-FRONT TRACK BUILDER 06 Turn your next track on its head. Instead of starting with the intro, start with the outro, and build back from there. Bar 1 should still be Bar 1, and Bar 119 should still be Bar 119 – just create the last parts first and the first parts last. Craft a breakdown next – in a track this ‘harks back’ to what came before, but in your reversal, it’ll give you inspiration for what to program later on – or is that ‘earlier on’? Fashion high-intensity drops, then create build-ups by taking things away. Once you’re getting to the start, you can easily place aural ‘hints’ at what’s to come… because you’ve already created it! This back-to-front way of working makes you really think about what the different sections of tracks are made for, and what should occur when. A wideband bed of sound can help ideas spring up. Our recipe includes reverb, comb filtering and formant filtering CUT FROM THE NOISE GOING WITH The brain is always looking for THE GRAIN 07 Load a drum loop into a patterns. Have you ever listened deep granular synth or sampler, 09 then duplicate the track in your project into a loud, wideband sound – a several times. The loop should be interesting enough to contain a wide range of varied vacuum cleaner or ocean waves, for example – and textures. Scan through and find them all – sustained tonal parts, transient hits, weird found your brain picking out a tune? Set a similar reverberant tails… the list goes on. With your different sounds loaded on sound up in your DAW (eg, modulated filtered noise), different channels, it’s time to use them to then shut your eyes and try to pick out a tune. Even construct a whole new piece of music. Repitch, add effects, use your instrument’s better, you could set up a sidechain EQ on the noise controls and muster all your production might to squeeze everything you can from signal to make sure the ‘notes’ you heard in the noise this one sound source. are dipped whenever you play them on an instrument.

THE EFFECTS ARE used as an oscillator. Push up the resonance THE PLACEHOLDER STARTING TO SHOW and use the drive or saturation parameters in LOOP STRATEGY 08 Who needs instruments to your particular plugin, if it has them. Sweep 10 Here’s one for when you simply make sounds happen? Even the filter frequency with whatever’s available can’t come up with something effects plugins can generate their own sounds – whether the filter has LFO or envelope new. Grab a full song – yep, something from nowhere. A self-resonating filter can be control, or can follow notes using keytracking, released by an artist or band – and loop the there’ll be a way to get a tune out of it. whole thing or just one section up in your Similarly, analogue-aping effects like project. Warp it to a new tempo if you see fit. AudioThing Vinyl Strip and iZotope Vinyl Next, starting adding elements and building generate their own sounds, too. Push their around the existing song. Double up on signals up with some gain to hear them more certain key sounds – such as the kick and readily, and turn the noise into tones – stretch, snare – by layering your own alternatives pitch, add reverb, and use unison processing over the original track’s parts. and granular resampling to tweak these When you’re ready, mute the original sounds into something new. Next, get track. What’s left should be a completely sculpting and take bits away. Using filters different loop. Now you can think about (eg, comb filtering), you can chip away at a what’s missing, and take your fully unique, sound and refine it into something copyright-free loop off in its own direction. completely unique, ready to slot into a track. Just make sure you delete that original Some effects plugins, like iZotope’s free Vinyl, generate Try out some modulation effects along the ‘scaffolding’ from the project before you get their own sounds. Shape their noise with more effects! way to get things moving. to the end!

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budget-friendly 12 inspiration generators Here are our top recommendations for tools that get ideas flowing freely

Malfunctioning

equipment Electronic devices act strangely when you push them to their limits – that’s the idea behind distortion, and that’s now a production staple. Drive your input, tweak the mechanical bits and abuse buttons to get unusual starting points. Anything that you can route a signal through has the potential to become a creative signal processor.

Out in the field Got a field recorder? If not, got a phone? Well, instead of sitting in a drab studio designing sounds, get out there and find your own to record. You never know where your next dose of sonic inspiration will come from – coffee shops, car parks, farmyards and more. Plus, as long as you don’t accidentally wander into a courtroom, you’ll have few legality issues with the material you find.

Madrona Labs Nusofting Inear Display VCV Rack Aalto CM Noisetar Litote CM If you’ve never explored the world of Stuck in a rut with ‘normal’ East Coast- Here’s a free plugin that uses noise as Part of Plugins, this reconstructing modular before, why not? Is it perhaps style synthesis? Aalto CM is inspired by its inspiration. Set up wideband sounds granular effect lets you slice and dice because it’s too expensive? VCV Rack Don Buchla’s West Coast alternative, so and filtered whistles in Noisetar, and your signals on a microscopic level, brings modular synthesis to your will help you cook up more esoteric shape them using the onboard before turning them into sustained desktop for free, letting you patch synth sounds. This one’s free inside this envelopes, filters and reverb. The sounds using the Grain Speed, Timbre signals and make sounds with a issue’s Plugins folder. Make sure oscillators can also influence each and Diffusion controls. A great way to completely different mindset to that you try out the sequencer as an LFO! other’s signals with AM and FM. Nice! start off a new project. required for your usual projects. www.madronalabs.com nusofting.nusofting.com www.ineardisplay.com www.vcvrack.com

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Squaredheads Nora CM There’s so many inspiring goodies in Audioblast our Plugins collection that we didn’t even get to mention most of them! InstaLooper Nora CM is a MIDI arpeggiator plugin: it A four-part looper effect plugin, takes in four notes and will output InstaLooper lets you record and trigger chords and melodies from its loops in four slots, using left and right sequencer. You can store patterns and mouse clicks to operate it like an take control of velocities in Nora CM’s instrument. Each can be tweaked for interface, too, making it an easy and Size, Speed and Reversal, and there are fun way to come up with completely also onboard effects. Just the thing to A new DAW new material. inspire a new session. And it’s free! www.squaredheads.com www.audioblast.me A lot of producers finish their creative process in one DAW, bounce their stems and move over to another DAW to start mixing. This Audio to MIDI helps put an end-point to the design and We’ve talked about audio-to-MIDI already arrangement stage, and gives them a change when building beats, but it’s also a great way of environment and headspace. Working in to get melodies and chords that you wouldn’t another DAW is like working with a different have found on your own. No audio-to-MIDI instrument – it helps us approach things algorithm is perfect, and they make mistakes, differently. You don’t even have to pay for one, but these can be used to your advantage – either: the free Tracktion 6 is a once-paid-for get your microphone set up and start workstation that’s now free for all. Grab it from recording the world and everything in it. Stick tracktion.com your recordings through an automatic audio- to-MIDI process and see what comes out.

The sheer Audacity This free and open-source software isn’t designed for creating music – it’s an audio editor, after all. But go full Burial and try piecing a few samples together in it, off the Melda Production grid! These days, you can even use your VST MFreeFX MeldaProduction have been making great free effects plugins for years. From and AU plugins in it, so it’s not too unfamiliar. MAutoPitch to MComb, through MOscillator and MSpectralPan, to MWaveFolder and even MNotepad, this range of 32 plugins gives you more And make sure you check out our Audacity than enough to inspire creativity for nothing. hands-on guide next month. www.meldaproduction.com www.audacityteam.org

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 39

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Producer Masterclass SOLARDO From experimenting withRave eJay to creating cutting-edge dubstep and house, Mark Foster – one half of the tech-house duo – shares his studio secrets

44 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 producer masterclass / make music now <

Sola power

Solardo are Mark Foster and James friend called Oris Jay – a garage guy who Barlow, and their brand of bass-heavy moved into dubstep. It was my only Kit List house has seen them catapulted to opportunity to actually listen to my tunes on stardom practically overnight. However, monitor speakers. He suggested I make the HARDWARE like many quick success stories, the same sort of music that he was making; I Apple MacBook Pro reality isn’t nearly as straightforward as it wasn’t into garage at the time at all, but he Universal Audio Apollo Twin MkII might appear. We hooked up with Mark to said, ‘Try making this dark garage instead; Focusrite Saffire 2i2 Genelec 8040s find out how he produces the pair’s just do what you do, but at 140bpm.’ So I did, Moog Little Phatty pumping tech-house sounds, and learn and he started to play a few of my tunes. Moog Voyager more about his convoluted career – from We’d go down to [seminal dubstep night] Novation BassStation II early days as dubstep pioneer Mark One FFWD and it all escalated from there. He Roland TR-09 (aka MRK1) to current superstar DJ status. dropped my first release as Mark One, Move SOFTWARE Like They Do, at FFWD, and Ms. Dynamite Steinberg Cubase 6.5 : How did you get into making music? was MCing at the time. Sometimes you’ll get Nicky Romero Kickstart MF: “I went to uni at 18, and got into DnB. I a lucky drop with a big MC on it – that track FabFilter plugins met a friend there who had a program called suddenly became big. Soundtoys plugins Rave eJay! We started making tunes on it, “After doing that for a while, it all Waves plugins which were terrible, but somehow we snowballed, and I started getting more signed a record to [jungle legend] Kenny releases on some of the key dubstep labels. Ken. But when it came to mastering, the Then Aphex Twin came along, wanting to it was originally, and moved into the engineers said, ‘This is un-masterable’! They put out an album with some of the artists Skrillex-y sound. I did that for a little bit, but asked me to fix the mix, but there was no making moves in the dubstep scene – that it wasn’t really my sort of vibe. way to do that, thanks to Rave eJay… so that ended up being me, Plastician and Slaughter “The market dropped out in 2012, and I didn’t come out in the end, but it was played Mob. It was basically the first dubstep was just bumming around, trying different album. Then Mike Paradinas from Planet Mu things. I went under a couple of different came along and offered me a second album, aliases to make house – the more “I did release some other which was a solo album. The album had commercial side of it. It was doing alright, features from my grime group at the time, but it wasn’t enough to live on, and I had a stuff, all Rave eJay tracks. called Virus Syndicate, and he wanted an manager at the time who was pushing that album from them, too. sound on me. I started thinking, ‘I don’t even “Chase & Status used to live near my like this sort of music’. Then I met up with an But they were terrible!” house before they were big. They essentially old mate of mine, James Barlow – the other taught me the basics of how to use Cubase.” member of Solardo – who was just bumming by a lot of DnB guys; and I did release some around at the same time as well. James stuff on other labels under the name MI6; all : How did you progress to house? suggested I try making some of the music Rave eJay tracks. But they were terrible!” MF: “In 2008, I met Hank Shocklee from he was into, and introduced me to artists like Public Enemy at the Miami Music [Hot Creations co-owner] Jamie Jones. It :Howdidyoumoveon? Conference, and hit it off with him. He said, opened my eyes to another side of house MF: “Reason came out, which actually gave ‘Next time you’re in New York, give us a call’, music that wasn’t this commercial s**t!” you the ability to make proper music. That’s and I started making some trap; a few bits where I started taking music a lot more and bobs with him. In this tutorial, Mark walks us through the seriously. I was still making DnB, and my “Dubstep became massive in America, production process behind Solardo’s skills were improving. I’d play my music to a but the sound shifted quite a bit from where massive track, Tribesmen.

WATCH THE VIDEO In this exclusive Computer Music tutorial video, Mark shows us how he created the huge Hot Creations track Tribesmen in Steinberg Cubase.

Watch the video on your PC or Mac at this URL… bit.ly/CMsolPM

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 45 > make music now / producer masterclass

Vocals with Decapitator Tribesmen is based on an infectious cut-up vocal sample, which was the track’s genesis. “The track started with the vocal, which is really prominent throughout. I originally found it on a YouTube video of some tribespeople singing and dancing around,” begins Mark. “I stuck a 4/4 kick behind it; just something to give me a direction of where it needed to go, so I could make it loop and get it in time. I then processed it with the Waves SSL compressor, to keep it at the same level all the way through. Then I used a Waves L1 limiter to bring the level up. Next, I used Soundtoys Decapitator – I’m not the most technical producer, so I almost always use the DrumFattener 1 or 2 preset, to fatten out the signal. I use those on everything, especially vocals. If the VU meter is going into the red, I’ll usually turn down the Mix level to reduce the wet signal. Once processed, I bounced down one vocal loop for the intro, then bounced out a diferent version of the loop for the drop. This variation makes the tune a little bit more catchy and interesting overall.”

Mark tends to reach for one of two Decapitator presets

Bus magic with PuigChild 670 and PuigTec EQP-1A

“I’ve got four buses: Beats Mid, Beats Top, Synth and Vocal. In Beats Mid, I’ve got the bassline, kick, snare and a break (all in mono apart from the snare) with a PuigChild 670 [compressor] inserted. I don’t have a clue what to do with this, but I just flicked through the presets on there and this one sounded good! Then I’ve got a PuigTec EQP-1A. I used another preset – Lavyne Track Warmer – which makes things sound warmer and more ‘together’. There’s also a Waves L1 limiter, which I use a lot. The two plugins before it give the bus the sound I want and bring it together a little bit, and the L1 brings the level up. “I have that on each of these buses, and the Beats Top bus has exactly the same setup. However, what I do on each of them is change small aspects of the processing. So, for instance, I might change the EQ bandwidth on each one, or the Threshold on the compressor. That makes them slightly different from each other, and gives each of the buses its own individual sound.”

46 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 producer masterclass / make music now <

KickswithPro-Q Having a solid, punchy kick drum is of paramount importance when creating house music, and in Tribesmen, Mark uses two kicks to get the desired result: a main, ‘lead’ kick, as he describes it, providing body and bottom- end weight; and a ‘mid’ kick (see Mid kick with SSL G-Master Buss Compressor on p51). He’ll often bounce processed versions of his sounds. “This lead kick has been processed already – originally, it would have been quite round, quite subby, and just not so prominent. I’ve used the Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor. Prior to that, the sound would have been bigger, uncontrollable and flopping around all over the shop in the mix! Turning down the Threshold on the compressor tightened it. After that, I added an L1 limiter again, and just brought the Threshold down. I then used the DrumFattener 1 preset from Soundtoys Decapitator, and once done, I bounced it out as one file, because Decapitator uses a lot of CPU, and if you have that running on each individual track, you’re going to have a very, very unstable computer! I then EQed it with FabFilter Pro-Q, to cut the bottom end of, as the low frequencies down there just mufle things up. 50Hz is where the actual sub is coming through, so you don’t really need much below that. I’ve also taken a bit of the top of here, just to get rid of that hiss that will make your ears ring.”

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 47 > make music now / producer masterclass

Arranging Tribesmen in Cubase Bringing it all together into a cohesive, structured track

Breaks and layered snare Tribesmen employs the oft-used Bobby Byrd Hot Pants (Bonus Beats) breakbeat to good efect, but Mark isn’t fussy about where he sources his breaks from. “It’s just a s**t sample. I probably ripped it from an MP3, which isn’t ideal… but sometimes, that’s what you’ve gotta do! I’m sure there’s a good version out there, but I don’t have it! For this track, the break Filling out the break works best sitting in the midrange, and having everything fill in with percussion layers gaps around it, to make it all a bit more dynamic.” To enhance the breakbeat’s high frequencies, Mark adds tambourine and ride samples, panning them out to give the beat a wider, thicker character. “I’ll pan one element to one side, the other element to the opposite side, and the loop down the middle in mono. When you hear it back, you might think that those elements are part of the actual sample! “I already processed the tambourine – I’ve taken out the bottom and top with EQ, and panned it to the right. The same with the ride – I’ve EQed and limited it again to bring it up in volume, and, again, that would have been processed prior to going into the mix. Then I’ve got this additional hi-hat loop that’s been processed. What I’ve done here is cut it up into individual hits, so I can apply a quantise template. It’s got a bit of swing on it – probably about 20-25% – so that the hat notes mirror the break as closely as possible.”

A chopped-up breakbeat – plus separate tambourine, ride and hi-hat samples – bring the groove to Tribesmen

48 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 producer masterc make music now <

Solardo’s top five studio essentials

Moog Little Phatty “The [now discontinued] Little Phatty is the synth we started with. It’s the first thing we bought, along with our audio interface. It’s the centrepiece of the whole studio, really. We use it in most tracks – it’s incredible!” www.moogmusic.com

Loops as episodic markers As well as bassline switch-ups, Mark uses loops as episodic markers to denote the end of each section, which helps DJs Universal Audio Arrow 256 » 9/10 » £449 to mix the track in efectively. “At the end of each 16 bars, I’ve “I’ve just ordered the Arrow. I’ve used a got a loop that acts as a drum roll. For me, as a DJ, that gives Focusrite Saffire in the past, but it’s time for an upgrade. With this, everything will always be me a point to start the next track; it points out where the set up and ready to go – I’m trying to make our workflow a lot quicker.” end of that section is. For a lot of our tracks, I’ll have a break www.uaudio.com at the end of every 16 or 32 bars, to give the DJ an idea where to start that mix from. People like tracks that are easy to mix – if you have an intro with loads of weird s**t going on, it becomes dificult to mix. DJs aren’t going to like it; they want straightforward, simple tunes that they can use to show of their mixing skills.” Genelec 8040s “I love these! I’ve had so many different monitors – Adams, Mackies, etc – but mixes transfer really well from the studio to the club with these. I’m looking into getting the new Genelec 8330s, along with a sub.” www.genelec.com

Apple MacBook Pro “I got this in 2011 or something, so I’m waiting for it to die at any point! So I’ve just got myself an Bassline with Little Phatty Bassline switch-up iMac with Retina 5K display, 7th Generation i5 processor and a 3TB Fusion Drive – it’s a pretty When it comes to bass, Mark prefers an To keep the straightforward arrangement serious rig.” authentic analogue sound. “I used a Moog interesting, Mark switches up the bass at www.apple.com Little Phatty Stage 2 for the bassline,” he the end of certain sections. “At the end of reveals. “A lot of the processing I do on the every 16 bars, I’ll keep the bass playing but beats and other elements of the track gives EQ it with Pro-Q, so that it’s got the bottom them a warm, analogue feel, but using end cut out,” he discloses. “A lot of people analogue gear (like the Moog) to create the will do this, as when the bass comes back in, bass gives you the sound I’m looking for in the tune’s got loads more impact. I’ve also the first place. I use kicks that are taken the lead kick out, so the bottom end of Roland TR-09 predominantly quite big, but ‘compact’ and the bass is cut out – you’ve only got the top “It’s a ‘remake’ of the Roland TR-909. I started using it just to make kicks, snares and hi-hats, punchy, so I use a sidechain compressor to end, ‘mid’ kick playing. When it comes back but I’ve done a couple of tunes recently where move the bass out of the way. I use Nicky in, it’s got that impact. It’s a trick used in a lot I’ve used it as a full-on drum machine. I always Romero Kickstart, because it’s so simple.” of house music.” like to put retro drum samples in tunes, just to get a bit of life underneath everything.” www.roland.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 49 > make music now / producer masterclass

The story of Solardo’s success is a decidedly modern tale of relentless promotion on Facebook and social media

Maximum boost

With the Solardo project, Mark found records. That’s the hardest thing to do as an and put a ‘boost’ on it. Then we started himself essentially starting again from artist in any genre of music. making our own videos, going on YouTube, scratch. However, with the help of “What I worked out was that a lot of getting older acid-house videos, editing our collaborator James Barlow and the people have moved on from dubstep and music on top and putting that out. We’d also power of the internet, he built Solardo’s bass-heavy DnB. When they get older, they do some stuff that was funny so that people sound and brand up into the dance music don’t want to be going out to those kind of would tag their mates in it – we’d have emus powerhouse it is today. We ask Mark raves any more, they want to go to house dancing around, cats dancing around… about how he managed to make his raves. I listened to the music, and to me loads of weird s**t that takes ages to find on house dreams happen… there weren’t that many tunes that had this the internet, but when you find it, it’s cool. big, impacting bass yet still had the same Then, when people see it, they might not : How did the Solardo sound come old-school elements of house music. So like the music – but they’ll tag their mates in about after you’d begun to work in that’s what I built my style on: a big drop but it, and you can get your views and likes up, partnership with James? with the rolling elements of house. Not a and get the ball rolling. MF: “I didn’t know too much about this kind noisy drop, just a good big, rolling bassline.” “Then it got to the point where people of music, so we just sat down in the studio actually gave a f**k about us, and were together. He pointed me in the right : How did you boost Solardo’s profile? interested in what we were doing. We direction and suggested a type of sound to MF: “Every bit of money we ever made, we eventually got to the stage where we could go for, and some ideas. We just basically sat reinvested in promoting ourselves. A lot of film ourselves DJing. Then, when it became there for 18 months – my missus was living money went on Facebook… a lot of money even bigger, we’d have a camera crew in Dubai at the time, and I wasn’t DJing or still goes on Facebook, promoting videos. filming us and doing little mini music videos. working, so I had a lot free time! I was in the When we first started, no one really cared or We’d put our own new tracks in the studio 18 hours a day, thinking, ‘I have a knew about us. We’d film people like Jamie background, and spend money boosting dream and I have to make sure this works.’ Jones or any other big DJs who played our the video to promote ourselves, the rave I’d spend all day every day researching this tracks, then put it on our Facebook page and the music.” sound as best as I could, looking at different production techniques and seeing what : That sounds like a job in itself! people were doing. I watched ridiculous “A lot of money MF: “Yeah, it all started from the bottom, amounts of YouTube videos. I thought that I reinvesting everything we had. The worst needed to try and make us sound unique; thing is when you open up that Facebook or different to everyone else, because it’s went on Facebook… SoundCloud page for the first time as an probably the most competitive music in the artist and go, ‘right, I’ve got no followers and world to get into. You need to do something a lot of money still only my mum is following me’. You’re slightly different to stand out. It’s not hard putting up a video or a picture and thinking, get a couple of tracks out, but it’s very goes on Facebook, ‘I’ve got three followers… like, who cares?’. different being a producer who does that, But you have to start somewhere. We just then tours the world, plays the biggest kept going and going, and that’s how we got raves, tops Beatport and sells loads of promoting videos” to where we are now.”

50 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 producer masterclass / make music now <

Flowing shaker loops The track’s block rockin’ beat is given 46:36 a human feel courtesy of a shaker loop. “The reason I’ve used a loop here is that a shaker is really hard to replicate using individual samples. This just gives the track a bit more life. Some genres of house don’t use so many loops, and can be quite stiff, and that’s the sound they go for. With the sound that I go for – especially the tech-house sort of sound – you don’t want it to sound stiff; you want it to be quite free-flowing, laid-back and cool. To achieve that, you do sometimes have to use loops, because it’s very hard to get that feel by programming individual samples.” Mid kick with SSL G-Master Buss Compressor To top off his composite kick drum, some tracks, you might even choose to put a high 23:51 Mark adds a middy, toppy kick. “It’s kick on there, too, to get some real top end on basically just to give it a bit more top end, so that there – or even a lower kick. I’ve EQed it again to you can hear it cut through the mix a bit more,” he cut out all the bottom end, and the Waves SSL explains. “With this one, there’s really not much compressor brings the element into the track, like bottom end; it’s more a ‘mid’ element kick. On a volume control.” Atmospheric jungle “What’s important when using white noise sounds To add the final touch to the track, 51:12 Mark adds an atmospheric rainforest is that it’s good quality. I got my white noise recording. “You can’t really hear it in the mix, but now I’ve pointed it out to you, you’ll be able from an old-school Roland Jupiter-8” to!” he laughs. “It’s weird because without that, it sounds less alive. A lot of big tracks will have a sample playing behind them, whether you can hear it or not. I was taught to think of it as ‘ear Vintage vibes with candy’ – you don’t really think it’s there, but it makes your ears prick up. white noise “I didn’t process this that much. I just put a sidechain on it to give it more life and make it fit Tribesmen is typical of Solardo’s within the mix. The sidechain makes it sound rough-and-ready house sound, and 42:09 like it might be part of the loop. I EQed the top Mark has a secret weapon that enables him to quickly end off and a bit of the bottom end off, then set generate his trademark vintage vibes. “I use white it really low in the mix.” noise on all my tracks, I have it quite low down, so you can barely hear it. It’s like ‘snow’ between the kick and the snare. “What’s important when using white noise is that it’s good quality. I got my white noise from an actual old-school Roland Jupiter-8. I’ve got it on my desktop, so it’s easy to access. I’m always using it! Sometimes I Finely-tuned kick don’t EQ it, and sometimes I don’t add anything to it – HEAR MORE positioning I just turn the volume up and down.” When layering percussive 26:04 sounds such as kick drums, it’s important to pay attention to their alignment, so as to avoid phase cancellation and ultimately get a solid sound. “After I bounced these kicks out to one audio file, you can see that I’ve cut Solardo, Tribesmen them up individually,” says Mark. “Sometimes, bit.ly/soltribes when you print processed kicks to audio, they’ll Solardo, On The Corner be shifted off the grid within the file. I’m talking bit.ly/solcorner fractionally – you’d never ever hear it unless you’re layering multiple sounds together. But if

WWW the layers are slightly out of time, it’ll all sound www.solardo.net flabby and loose in the mix – so you need to make sure you line up layers properly! Pay soundcloud.com/solardo_music careful attention to where the transients sit on top of each other, and shift them around to twitter.com/solardomusic make the kicks work together as one.” facebook.com/solardomusic

NEXT MONTH Pop production with Youngr June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 51 > free software / surreal machines microfuse

> Free software Microfuse

Delay meets reverb with Surreal Machines’ DOWNLOAD Get the plugin and the video tutorial on your PC/Mac at lush-sounding hybrid efect – yours this issue! filesilo.co.uk/computermusic

Microfuse is a special edition of Surreal reverb is a classic digital design, and, crucially, endless uses for. Machines’ Diffuse plugin for Mac and PC, there’s no operational distinction between the In this tutorial, we’ll explore every facet of incorporating all of its features but boiling two. A diffused delay with a unique tap pattern Microfuse, starting with its conventional delay the more advanced adjustable controls and a straight delay are split by the Size knob, functionality before moving on to its reverb down to a selection of nine preset Styles that which sets the percentage balance between the generating abilities. If you like what you hear define its overall sound and behaviour. two, making it easy to morph between echoes, from Microfuse, you can buy Diffuse for €49 – or Like Diffuse, Microfuse is a combination ambience and everything in between. Throw in the Dub Machines bundle, comprising Diffuse delay and reverb hybrid effect inspired by the up to 1000ms of syncable delay time, feedback and Modnetic, for €99 – over at the Surreal hardware units of the 70s and 80s. The delay control and a well-stocked preset library and Machines website:. side of things is analogue-modelled, while the you have a plugin that every producer will find www.surrealmachines.com.

PRESETS A/B COMPARISON Microfuse comes Loadapresetintoeachslot MIX LOCK MIX withahealthy andswitchbetweenthem Lock the Mix control so Set your dry/wet balance – 100% selection of factory for comparison that preset changes don’t wet if used on an auxiliary return presets change it

STYLE Nine styles REPEAT REGEN SIZE DIFFUSE determine the Setthedelaytime Adjust the delay Sets the percentage Controls the delay general flavour of from 56-1000ms, feedback, from a of the delay time feedback for the Microfuse’s delay synced to tempo or not single tap to total handed over to the diffuse component andreverbeffects dub madness diffuse component

52 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 surreal machines microfuse / free software <

> Step by step 1. Getting started with Microfuse

Microfuse includes a variety of factory Select Initialise from the drop-down To adjust the delay time, turn the presets, and it’s worth taking a quick menu to set the plugin to the default Repeat knob. With the ms button 1 tour of them to give yourself an idea of the 2 preset. Microfuse is a delay effect that can 3 active, the time is set in milliseconds, from kinds of things the plugin can do. The Mix be morphed into a reverb using the 56ms to 1000ms – hold Shift to make fine knob sets the dry-to-wet balance, and can Diffuse and Size controls, which we’ll adjustments. Notice the groovy analogue- be locked to stay put through preset come back to. For now, turn both of those style pitch changes that occur as the delay changes, while the A/B buttons enable parameters all the way down to deploy time is shortened and lengthened. This pairs of presets to be compared at a click. Microfuse purely as a delay. can be a useful effect in its own right.

To sync the delay to the tempo of the The feedback circuit is controlled by When the Regen parameter exceeds host DAW, click the musical notes the Regen knob. Turn this all the way 100% and enters the yellow range, the 4 button. Now the Repeat knob adjusts the 5 down and you’ll just get a single delay tap. 6 feedback becomes more and more time in 32nd-notes. The delay time still As it’s raised, the output is fed increasingly extreme. Push it all the way to 150% and maxes out at 1000ms, though, so the hard back into the input, causing the tap you’ve got yourself an endless loop, with range will be limited by your project to repeat and thus extending the echoes. the feedback signal piling up on itself and tempo. Here, for example, we’re at distorting heavily – perfect for dubby 80bpm, so we can’t set the delay time any washes and soundscapes. longer than 10 32nd-notes.

The full Diffuse’s deeper controls are Now let’s turn Microfuse into a reverb. The Size and Diffuse parameters work inaccessible in Microfuse, but they’re Set the Size to 100% to route the hand in hand. For the smoothest 7 automatically configured under the hood 8 entire delay signal to the diffusion 9 possible reverb, set Size to 100% and by the nine delay Styles. Each Style has its network, then gradually raise the Diffuse Diffuse to 80%. Reducing the Size own character and sound – change them knob – you’ll hear the echoes get more progressively shifts the balance between by turning the knob, selecting from the blurred, dense and reverberant as it primary delay and diffuse delays, while drop-down menu, clicking the previous/ increases. The selected Style determines pushing Diffuse into the yellow adds next buttons, or using the arrow keys on the timing of the diffuse delay taps. prominence to the diffuse delay taps. your QWERTY keyboard with the mouse pointer over the knob.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 53 > make music now / surreal machines microfuse

> Step by step 2. Exploring Microfuse’s nine styles

Let’s check out Microfuse’s nine preset In contrast, Surreal Machines say The Church style provides natural styles by applying various flavours of Hall 2 is more ‘open’ than Hall 1, with a dampening with a unique circular tap 1 ambience throughout the sounds in this 2 unique “clustered tap pattern”. This 3 pattern. We use this algorithm (at 100% track. Surreal Machines tell us that Hall 1 algorithm also features less low-frequency Mix) to transform a tiny chunk of an organ has a “wide and open sound”. On this content than the previous style, making it sample into a cavernous, pad-like tone. track’s clap/snare stack, 6% Regen, 0% ideal for spatialising the weighty one-note This signal is high-passed and sidechain- Size and 85% Diffuse values tighten the bass synth in our track. compressed against the snare to dark delay, while a 2/32 Repeats value shoehorn it into the mix. causes the effect to decay out in time with the track’s groove.

With max Size and Diffuse settings Moving on to the fifth style, Surreal Microfuse’s sixth Flat style “is simply a dialled in, the fourth Plate style Machines reveal that “Ping Pong is a straight, mono response” delay-reverb 4 emulates a hardware plate reverb. 5 stereo tap pattern, best heard with little to 6 algorithm. To use this creatively over the Layered over the last snare of every two- no Diffuse”. With a tempo-clocked track’s bass drum, we set up a 2/32 bar section is a splashy FX-style clap Repeats setting of 4/32, this turns our Repeat speed, then automate the Mix sample, and the Plate algorithm’s track’s subtle vocal breath sounds into an amount up at the end of four and eight analogue timbre adds the perfect amount alien-like bed of echoing ear candy. bars to fade in bubbling 16th-note kick fills. of metallic splash to this sound.

This track’s lead synth element is a The eighth style, Crunch, “is digitally The ninth and final style, Pump, bass loop from a sample pack, excited, and reminiscent of early “contains special dynamics that duck 7 chopped up to form a repeating triplet 8 digital hardware.” Placing this on the crash 9 and sustain the echoes.” To show off pattern. It’s dry and stark in the mix, so cymbal and raising the Repeat value to Microfuse’s creative capabilities, we load it Microfuse’s Damp style – which “dampens 460ms creates a delayed reverb wash onto the master bus, then automate Mix and decays much faster to midrange akin to a futuristic FX sweep. and Repeats to bring in a repitching tape- frequencies”, say Surreal Machines – stop edit at the end of eight bars. smothers the sound in rich, flavoursome ambience.

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the cm guide to vocal editing / make music now <

The guide to Vocal Editing As the focal point of any song, a tight, refined vocal is absolutely crucial. Brush up on your comping, splicing and processing skills with our guide

If your track includes vocals, getting a the overall flow can sometimes take priority killer performance should be your number over choosing the best individual phrases. one goal. But once you have that in the bag Further comp-related edits can involve nudging (or even if you don’t), there’s still plenty you sections to correct timings, removing any can do to show off your vocalist in their best extraneous noises or background noises, and light, and get the greatest possible vocal even copying phrases, words or sections from sound into your tracks. elsewhere to patch over errors in a particular Provided your vocal recording is decent, section. DOWNLOAD comping the perfect vocal take from a handful Over the next few tutorials, we’ll take you

Get the videos and tutorial of takes is your next move. That ‘comp’ should through these processes and more, all of which files on your PC/Mac at primarily join together the best bits of vocal, but will help make the mix process simpler. And be filesilo.co.uk/computermusic also must sound like a natural performance. So, sure to check out this feature’s videos (see p5).

> Step by step 1. Vocal comping 101

Compiling your best vocal by editing Work your way through the takes, Once you’re happy with the ‘comp’, do together the best bits from multiple choosing the best words and phrases. a general tidy up of the joins, checking 1 takes is a task achievable in any DAW – 2 Isolate these sections and mute what’s not 3 you haven’t clipped any breaths, and use check your host’s manual for its own time needed. Move the best sections onto one fades to avoid any clicks. Once done, you saving features. Here in Logic Pro X, Quick track – your DAW may include its own may want to bounce or consolidate this Swipe Comping allows you to edit all the quick way to help achieve this, by muting comp down to a single audio file. takes on one fold-down track. the unwanted sections automatically.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 57 > make music now / the cm guide to vocal editing

> Step by step 2. Timing tweaks when editing vocals

Your compiled vocal may be To fix these, simply cut and nudge the Even after a rigorous comping session, considered the ‘best bits’ from the offending word, phrase or syllable you may find that a word or syllable 1 vocalist’s various takes, but that doesn’t 2 earlier or later in time. Most DAWs include 3 still isn’t right. Hunt for the same sound or mean it can’t be improved. The first thing timestretch-based editing, allowing you to word elsewhere in the track, then copy- to consider is timing. Listen carefully and lengthen or shorten words or phrases paste the good section over the poor one. judge the vocal’s timing against the without altering pitch. Use these for small Here, we’ve simply used the tail end of this rhythm and groove of the backing track, adjustments, but avoid big changes, as word from elsewhere, and kept the and note any glaring or sloppy timing these can introduce unpleasant artefacts. original attack section. issues in the performance.

Noise removal >Stepbystep 3. Vocal pitch-correction basics If you’ve recorded your vocal with studio monitors blaring, or your vocalist can’t help making mouth noises in between phrases, then it’s a good idea to tidy up the gaps in between the actual singing. There are various ways to do this, and you could even incorporate it into your initial vocal comp. At the most basic level, going through the vocal and editing (or ‘top-and- tailing’) the phrases is a method available in all DAWs. However, be careful to keep breaths, as a completely ‘breathless’ vocal can Pitch-correction plugins operate in Most pitch-editing plugins need to sound unnatural. Once again, both real-time and offline ways, and analyse the audio: simply load up the work your way through and use 1 let you manipulate a vocal’s formants, 2 plugin, then play through the section of fades to prevent clicks. levels and timing. The plugin usually the vocal you want to fix. Once done, For a more automated includes its own timeline window for Melodyne shows us the analysed pitch of solution, either use your DAW’s editing. We’re using Celemony Melodyne the audio over a piano roll-style interface. strip-silence function, or shut out within Studio One here. noise using a gate plugin. The first is a non-destructive process that allows you to set a level threshold and attack and release times; this then splits your audio into separate sections and removes the audio under the threshold you set. Gating, on the other hand, is a threshold-based dynamics plugin that only opens when the audio threshold you set is breached. In practice, strip silence is the better option, as it helps provide a clear visual indication of the audio on your To apply pitch correction, drag your Some words need specific tweaks, and chosen notes towards the nearest it’s usually possible to highlight and DAW’s timeline, and you can go 3 semitone, or to the pitches of your chosen 4 accurately edit these elements with their through and refine the process or analysed scale. There are usually own pitch, drift and vibrato settings. Be by extending or shortening the settings to do this automatically, and by a aware that the smaller the section of vocal separated audio regions by hand. certain amount (Melodyne’s Pitch Centre you edit, the more unnatural things can amount here), and also adjustments for sound – and clicks, pops and other pitch drift and vibrato through the word. artefacts can also creep in.

58 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 the cm guide to vocal editing / make music now <

>Stepbystep 3. Removing vocal sibilance with a de-esser

A de-esser plugin is designed to Once you’re listening to those harsh Some de-essers allow you to reduce excessive vocal sibilance (ie, ‘ess’ frequencies, deactivate the compress the entire signal, while 1 piercing ‘ess’ sections). These frequency- 2 plugin’s sidechain monitoring, then pull 3 others allow you to pull down specific conscious dynamics processors feature down the threshold until that sibilance frequencies only. Usually, the latter an adjustable sidechain frequency. trips gain reduction. A de-esser is produces more subtle results – but always Monitor the sidechain input signal, and essentially a multiband compressor tuned try both options to see which one works sweep through the frequencies to to reduce these harsh 2-6kHz frequencies. best in context. pinpoint where the sibilance is worst. Now adjust settings to refine things.

> Step by step 4. Manual sibilance removal for more precise vocal de-essing

Our second de-essing technique is a If you zoom in on the audio, sibilance This technique, though fiddly, gives bit more fiddly, as it requires you to appears as short bursts of noise-like you ultimate control over sibilance 1 manually adjust the level of individual 2 high frequencies in a tightly-packed 3 levels. However, if you later need to EQ instances of sibilance by reducing the ‘ess’ waveform. Use your eyes and ears to find higher frequencies (to boost air and component of the audio waveform. This the right section, and then reduce its level sheen, for example), it’s sometimes can be done with either volume with clip gain or volume automation. necessary to revisit and reduce the automation, or with region levelling. Beware – overly extreme settings can sibilance further, either using the same make ‘esses’ disappear completely! technique or with a de-esser plugin.

Double tracks, harmonies and backing vocals

Your lead vocal should receive the most Approach the double track with a looser Backing vocals can be anything from simple attention, not only because it will be centre attitude to pitch, but concentrate on getting harmonies to chorus-bolstering multilayered stage, but also because it acts as a pitch and the timing tight – line up obvious attack and stacks. For the latter, spending hours editing time ‘reference’ for any additional vocal parts tail sections of words. Check your progress in them is often wasted time, as subtleties are lost in your mix. Even so, compiling and editing context, with the double track’s level lower once the vocals are balanced together. double tracks, harmonies and multipart than the lead. Nevertheless, listen through the takes at least backing vocals can easily become more time For vocal harmonies (ie, supporting vocal once in isolation, and remove or replace any consuming than the lead. lines sung at complementary pitches to the pitch or performance howlers. Next, apply So what’s the best approach? For double- lead vocal), accurate pitch is usually the gentle pitch correction to all tracks, and tracks – ie, duplicate, identical takes designed primary concern. Once again, a harmony’s balance the vocals to taste – this is usually to be combined with the lead for a more volume is typically set lower than the lead, and enough to create a cohesive stack of backing powerful lead – some pitch variation from the you can generally apply fairly heavy tuning to vocals. Finally, tidy up the attack and tail main vocal is required to create a natural a harmony without it sounding obvious, as sections of words to tighten timings. In- and chorusing effect. Therefore, applying heavy your ear will latch on to the lead vocal’s pitch. out-fades can work, but you can also nudge tuning to both lead and double tracks can be Yet again, always check the tuned harmonies consonants or use your DAW’s timestretching self defeating, and will sound horribly artificial. in context as well as in isolation. for further adjustments as required.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 59 > make music now / the cm guide to vocal editing

> Step by step 5. Levelling a vocal manually

Although you can use a compressor First up, assess the overall consistency Sometimes, individual words (or even to level peaks automatically, of the vocal’s level between different consonants) are lost, or have been 1 considerable level differences can be 2 sections of the track. Here, the tracking 3 sung in a way which makes them harder sorted during the vocal edit. Manual process has made the verses sound way to hear. Highlight the offending section of levelling just sounds more natural, and too quiet, particularly in contrast with the audio, separate it into its own region, and means less compression will be required chorus, where we have multiple stacked then raise its level. Here, we’ve adjusted a later. Most DAWs include both destructive vocals. We’ll increase the level of the whole word to bring it up in the mix. Easy! and non-destructive level adjustment – verses to match the chorus vocal’s level the latter is the best tool here. more closely.

How much to leave >Stepbystep 6. Removing resonances in a vocal with EQ to the mix stage?

Spending time editing and prepping your vocal not only makes the mix process simpler, but also indicates to yourself (or a third party mixing engineer) that this is the absolute best the vocal can be. Nevertheless, you may leave some of these tasks until a later mixing stage, or further adjust them while mixing. A good example is de-essing, where boosting high frequencies as you mix can reveal much worse sibilance than you’d Using an EQ to notch out unwanted The most flexible tool for this task is a anticipated, requiring more file frequencies is one of the most parametric EQ that includes narrow editing and, most likely, the 1 powerful surgical options available; and 2 bandwidth capabilities. This will allow not adjustment of a de-esser plugin. although you may be tempted to leave only extensive control over the Similarly, aggressive mix EQ EQing to the mix stage, it makes sense to bandwidth, but also the amount of settings can highlight further sort out offensive resonances as soon as negative gain applied. Here we’re using unpleasant resonances, so you you can. DDMF’s IIEQ Pro CM, found in Plugins. may find yourself doing remedial EQing during the mix, whatever prep you’ve done previously. For vocal levels, getting the basic sections evened out and levelled at the editing stage is the way to go. But during this process, you may find you can adjust individual phrases, words or even syllables. Either way, it’s inevitable you’ll also return to vocal levels during the mix. Finally, pitch correction is a vital part of editing and prepping vocals. As the mix stage progresses, you may find your Set up an EQ band with a narrow Next, invert the boost into a cut to bandwidth and high gain boost, then notch away the harsh peak you found. carefully-prepped vocal will 3 sweep the boost around until you 4 You can simply type in a negative gain benefit from some additional exaggerate the problematic resonance. amount, which keeps the EQ node locked (gentle) automatic tuning using a For vocals, problems typically occur in the same frequency area. Finally, real-time tuning plugin. between the low and upper mids, so look carefully pull down the notch’s level – anywhere between 300Hz and 5kHz. excessive notching can lead to an unnatural, strained vocal.

60 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

> make music now / audio adventures AUDIO ADVENTURES

Curate your creativity with our bouncing tactics, printing tricks and resampling hacks

Unlike a guitarist and their favourite guitar, down to audio! By recording long takes of sonic or a drummer’s trusty go-to drum kit, the material in one session, then sifting through and computer musician is faced with a crippling picking out amazing snippets after, you can create number of options when it comes to even your own sample packs of sounds you’d simply starting a track, let alone finishing one. never dream of making in isolation – and once you And once you’ve finally laid a few parts down in get stuck at the writing stage, you can easily dive your DAW, it’s easy to hit a creative roadblock. By into your sample pack and find more sounds! And the time you’ve fished through umpteen virtual as we saw earlier in our Creativity Power-Ups cover instruments and processing effects, that musical feature, resampling combinations of sounds is spark has vanished, and your window of creative guaranteed to kickstart your creativity. opportunity has slammed shut in your face. So, in this tutorial feature, designed to inspire the The Baron Of Techno, Dave Clarke, summed it up way you write and create, we’ll look at ‘bouncing in last month’s : “Modern production can down’ in all its creative forms. As well as covering accentuate FOMO [Fear Of Missing Out]. You the technical aspects of routing, recording and become so worried that you haven’t got this sound rendering signals, we’re also going to focus on the or that loop, that it becomes impossible to finish the esoteric benefits, happy accidents and creative song. There is literally too much choice.” outcomes that printing sounds down to audio can However, there’s one universal technique that generate. And we’ll also build a phat sample pack in can help you break out of decision paralysis…yep, the process – more details on p104. But before that, we’re talking about printing your musical ideas let’s find out how a pro producer gets it done…

62 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 audio adventures / make music now <

TIPS FROM THE PROS MISANTHROP

lazy and doing the same thing. From time to How does a drum ’n’ bass producer work with time I buy new gear, to try to bring ‘fresh air’ audio to create synth-fuelled aggression with soul? into the studio.” : How did you work with your new synth? Neurofunk maven Michael Braeuninger reveals all MB: “I’d record hour-long sessions to audio; play around with sounds, sometimes starting with We sat down with the DnB scientist to Usually I only work on monitors, and can’t work presets, and then just mess around and make unearth the creativity and craftsmanship on headphones… but I had to! It was weird for weird stuff. Once that ‘creating’ stage was over, I’d behind the creation of his Blurred EP, me, but turned out alright. I’m satisfied with the move on to a new sound and design something released last year on his and Phace’s sound. I always want to have quality mixdowns, new from scratch. I save that entire hour-long Neosignal imprint. but of course, quality music is the most audio sample, and I use a program – Imploded important thing.” Audio’s Helium Audio Splitter – to cut it all up into Computer Music: How did the Blurred EP one-second pieces, so I end up with thousands of start its life? : Do you think a change of scenery is smaller files. Then I use a script to randomly Michael Braeuninger: “The EP came together important for creativity? rename them, then put them all into a folder. This after I moved from Hamburg, out to the MB: “Absolutely! Right after making my album, I way, I don’t just click on file 1, then 2, and so on – countryside near Stuttgart. This meant I was had to do something fresh and get rid of my by renaming them, they’re random, and I have without a studio for five months, so I only normal habits, by putting my usual presets thousands of different samples to use. But I can worked on a laptop and headphones. I’d just aside on a different hard drive. And the same also go back to the original recording and search bought a synthesiser after my last album – a with samples I’ve prepared over the years: I put for a bigger phrase if needed. Dave Smith OB-6 – and so spent a lot of time them aside to force myself to do something “Ultimately, I try and find a certain sound that making and recording sounds for Blurred. fresh and work on new sounds; to avoid being makes me want to create – I’m looking for

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 63 > make music now / audio adventures

Misanthrop has an enviable studio, but he doesn’t need one to make awesome tunes

something inspiring that I can make a tune out : Tell us about the creative processes tracks to make that one sound! I’m really proud of.It’saone-ortwo-dayprocesstomakean behind one of the tracks. of that, as you usually just go into your samples initial idea; after that, it’s all about fleshing out MB: “I really like Blurred, as it’s the perfect folder for a clap, but I synthesised this one from the track, to make it interesting, so the listener length for me, and just when you think you scratch, along with a few sample layers. I try to doesn’t switch off. These are all sounds I like, know where it’s going, it turns into a different do that as much as possible. As an artist, I feel and it’s all quite random, but I made everything kind of track. It’s not too obvious, and people totally complete when I’ve done that. That’s myself, so it gives me my own sonic identity. wouldn’t expect it from me. People think my what being an artist is all about – doing your “I also take this same approach when it tunes are just dancefloor bangers, and although own thing, making your own sounds and not comes to modular synths, in order to maintain this is a banger to a certain extent, it’s more just copying other stuff and inserting samples that ‘live’ aspect in my music. I don’t just want to minimal, which I like. It represents my sound at you’ve just downloaded. That can work, of chop up and quantise the audio too perfectly, as the minute. course, but doing it by yourself is pure artistry!” you can then lose the vibe when everything’s “There’s a clappy-kinda snare: for that, I too quantised.” started a different project, and layered up 16 : Talking specifics, your bass sounds are huge, and also extremely wide… MB: “Funnily, it’s always a crazy decision to make wide bass, as when you play a track on a big mono rig, stereo sounds can sound thin unless you make sure you have great mono compatibility. I try to always do that – my samples are always mono, and I make sure the whole tune sounds good in mono, then make it as wide as possible from there. I made a decision that this release wouldn’t be pressed to vinyl, so there was no reason to cut the stereo image in the lower frequencies. I mean, you have to do that to a certain extent, but not as much as when Many DnB producers – including Misanthrop – use FM synths like Operator to create complex sounds from scratch it’s for vinyl. For the bassline in Blurred, I tried to make it really wide, so I used a couple of ring modulators, and a weird Kilohearts ring mod – you can go crazy with it!”

: So you make everything in mono first then add (and worry about) stereo later? MB: “Exactly. At the beginning, I don’t know how the elements will speak to each other. I don’t want them to be wide all at the same time, but instead make them jump between a narrower image, to wider, and so on, so they’re ‘speaking’ in wideness to each other. That’s especially entertaining when you listen on headphones or on speakers.”

: So say you make a snare or a bunch of sounds together, or twiddle on a synth for ages. How do you balance your workflow between purely designing sounds all day and Key weapons in Misanthrop’s studio include Dave Smith’s OB-6 synth, Arturia Mini-V and Waves API 2500 actually finishing music?

64 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 audio adventures / make music now <

MB: “It’s a problem – when you have an idea for a sound, and you end up working on creating that sound for two hours, the vibe is gone, and you can’t work on the tune any more. So I try to avoid that as much as possible. I might just lay out a sound, and say ‘I’ll work on that more later’, then roll out the arrangement as quickly as possible. By having sounds prepared ahead of time, I can drop them into the project and see if they fit; if not, I delete them and move on. That’s why I work with samples a lot – otherwise I wouldn’t finish tunes!”

: So you recommend staying in audio as much as possible – to get it all laid down? MB: “Yeah, I try to bounce as soon as possible; make decisions, then move on. Don’t try to keep everything ‘open’ all the time! I always end up with 40 to 50 project files, and I can always go back to an earlier stage, so I move along and don’t worry about it.”

: What software do you use to facilitate that fast workflow? MB: “I’ve used Ableton [Live] for ten years now. I started with Cubase, but eventually felt ‘stuck in a loop’. Cubase is the perfect software – very technical and precise – but I want there to be more of a random thing going on, where I feel like my hand is inside the arrangement. Ableton feels more human to me, but that’s just my opinion. I’ve developed my own Ableton Live tricks that keep me entertained, and can generate unique material. For example, I have Session View projects within which I can insert sounds, and random sounds will come out the “I try to bounce as other end. Or dedicated drum projects with [FXpansion] BFD 3 setup, so that I can quickly generate real drums and layer them with soon as possible; make FM-synthesised kicks and snares.”

: While we’re on the topic, what are your decisions, then move on” go-to softsynths? MB: “I use FM8 sometimes, but mainly [Ableton] Operator. Back in the day, I was using five or six softsynths, which I knew pretty well, but couldn’t make, say, a kick or snare, or anything in my mind. So I chose to learn just one synth inside out; I made a whole tune using Operator, and different, of course! But I get inspired by movies, MB: “As I said, definitely the [DSI] OB-6 synth. I now I can make pretty much any sound from samples I record from TV, recording sounds did a lot of research, and listened to presets scratch. I’d say that’s one of the most basic outside… whether it’s a short click, a breath online, and just ordered it. It’s so ‘minimal reasons why I can finish tunes – if I have a sound sound or a bass from a synth, just a one-second techno’! I thought i was crazy spending that in my head, I can synthesise it with my one sample can inspire me. much money, but I ordered it, and gave myself favourite synth.” “I love to make a musical ‘question’, then two weeks to see if I liked it. After one day, I answer it with a second part, and make an knew I wouldn’t send it back, haha! There’s a : That must really shape your process as arrangement around that. My main motivation cross modulation section which is totally crazy you go forward, as you’re learning from those is to make the song ‘solve’ itself. There’s no – you can make something totally weird from moments. magic trick, though – as soon as I wake up, I just normal synth sounds. It’s so versatile. SW: “Yes! The production process is definitely a want to go to the studio. It drives me! I had a “In the realm of plugins, I use a lot of Arturia case of remembering all the mistakes you’ve normal day job as a video editor, which was cool, softsynths, like the Mini-V. And u-he Diva – that’s ever made. You might have a natural inclination but it’s like day and night compared to now, as I one of the best-sounding softsynths; so full and to do something, and your earlier self would’ve can decide what aspect of music I want to work rich. And the usual EQs and compressors, like just done it, and it would’ve come out terribly. on today. Pushing new boundaries and trying Waves API 2500 and FabFilter’s Pro-C 2. But now a red flag goes up.” new things motivates me to do something new. I “I also use a lot of clippers, such as FabFilter just want to hear new stuff I’ve never heard Saturn and IK Multimedia’s Classic Clipper for : What are your motivational tips to help before, and that’s what I’m still trying to do. drums. I like clipping, as I don’t want too many us get a track or EP finished? When I listened to tapes when I was 15 or 16, I effects on my master, except for a transparent MB: “I had to learn that mindset for myself. In the always wanted to recreate that feeling of limiter like Pro-L. I don’t want EQs and things on beginning, I struggled with finishing all the time, hearing something you’ve never heard before. the master, as that probably means I’ve got a as I felt I had to make all the sounds as I was And I think my EP reflects that – stuff that you problem with my mix. But that’s in an ideal making the music. Dividing those two processes expect from me, but also stuff you don’t.” world, of course!” helped me a lot. Nowadays, I always have an idea in my mind of what I want the finished EP to : Tell us about the key tools you used to Misanthrop’s Blurred EP is out now on Neosignal. ‘look’ or feel like. It ends up being totally make the album. www.neosignal.de

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 65 > make music now / audio adventures

Creative synth sessions

As we’ve seen on the previous pages, neuro drum ’n’ bass legend Misanthrop–aproducer renowned for his creative sound-design skills and impactful arrangements – began his last EP by sitting down with a specific instrument, freely designing sounds and twiddling knobs with no other purpose than to create. All the while, he recorded the synth’s output to an audio channel, to ensure his noodlings were all captured and ready to be edited. So to explore Join us as we jam how inspiring this process can be, we’re going on a Moog Little to do exactly the same thing: play around with a Phatty and record the results to audio synthesiser, record the resulting audio into a DAW, then scan through the recording afterwards and save out sections of audio for later use. Instrument inspiration Hands-on fun We’ll be using a physical synthesiser for several “Physically connect Don’t be put off if a hardware synth or effects reasons. Firstly, this type of workflow is typically unit doesn’t float your boat. The hands-on associated with hardware gear – modular synth with your instrument control over sound manipulation is the main obsessives, for example, have no way to save focus here, so this method works just as well if presets when patching together insanely and get away from you assign a software synth’s parameters to a complex connections and routings, and can capable MIDI controller’s knobs and sliders. This only really record all their noodlings from which way, you can still use both your hands to tweak to later extract audio samples and loops. the computer screen” parameters, which will help you physically Secondly, by investing in a studio instrument connect with your instrument and get away that you can feel and touch, you’ll connect with from the computer screen. And, of course, this it on a deeper, more physical level – ooh-er! – a Moog Little Phatty for a single day. Perfect same method works if you just want to record in and you’re likely to mentally invest in the timing indeed! automation in real time, which always sounds sounds you create, which can be invaluable for If possible, why not practise this technique more natural and less robotic than drawing in creating your own signature sound and by acquiring a new piece of gear somehow? You perfect lines and curves with a mouse. ultimately finishing the tracks you start. And don’t need to be rich – buying new or vintage If all else fails and you don’t own a MIDI finally, for this particular session, it just so outboard outright can obviously become an controller, you’ll miss out on that hands-on happened that we managed to get our hands on expensive hobby, but if you borrow some kit experience; but you can still route a DAW track’s from a fellow musician, or even hire out a classic output to a new track’s input, hit record, then synth from a dedicated hire service, you’ll be use your mouse or trackpad to twiddle synth or able to make full use of that limited time and effect parameters on screen. Ultimately, the aim record yourself some unique sonic ammo that’ll is to capture the freedom and naivety of fuel countless future sessions. Alternatively, the creating sounds away from the regimented more budget-conscious gear lover can pick up results of mouse-drawn automation. One real bargains for less than your average example is the use of a tape-style delay plugin: software plugin. We’re big fans of Teenage by ‘riding’ controls while recording the audio, Engineering’s dinky Pocket Operator range, and you can crank up feedback, twist time values A retro-inspired delay plugin such as AudioThing’s a second-hand Arturia MicroBrute can be had and tailor the rickety pitch-scattering to suit the Outer Space can spit out creative build-ups and edits for less than £200 on eBay and the like. context of an arrangement.

Synth jam strategies

Before you start furiously whacking synth keys two areas. Setting ourselves a rough ‘brief’ and twisting knobs like a crazed studio from the start gave us the flexibility to take the scientist, it helps to prepare your jam session synth jam in different directions, which could for the task at hand. Are you setting out to potentially guide the flow of a track at a later create raw material for a sample pack? Or are stage; but on the other hand, only having the you coming up with musical ideas for one Little Phatty for one day meant that we particular track? If it’s the former, you’ll absolutely wanted to create some kind of probably want to switch presets mid-session, sample collection for use later! and try to coax out a wide variation of sounds – As Moog synths are famous for creating perhaps in a multitude of keys and tempos – to deep bass, we decided to work to a 170bpm help build up a diverse collection of one-shots half-time DnB framework in the style of artists and loops. However, if you only want to such as EPROM, Alix Perez and Ivy Lab. By generate one or two musical ideas within your embracing this brooding, spacious aesthetic, chosen genre, it can help to stick to one key we’ll leave maximum room in the mix for synth and one BPM, and explore as many ideas bass, leads and melodies. And by broadly within that framework as possible. sticking to the key of F, low bass notes are Saying that, we decided to focus this Little guaranteed to hit those all-important US bass producer EPROM’s half-time bass Phatty jam session somewhere between these sub-bass frequencies. pressure has inspired our synth jam session

66 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 audio adventures / make music now <

> Step by step 1. Recording a synth jam

Before recording our hardware An XLR cable is patched from the Hurrah! When we play a note on the synthesiser, we set our DAW’s BPM to synth’s mono audio out, then the other Little Phatty, the signal is heard 1 170. Instead of listening to a boring 2 end is plugged into our audio interface’s 3 through the audio channel we just metronome as we play, we’ve laid down second line input. Back over the computer, created. After increasing the input gain to this basic kick and snare rhythm to keep we create a new audio track in our DAW, a suitable level via the Little Phatty’s time. Next, time to pipe the hardware with its input set to receive Ext. In 2 and output pot, it’s time to audition through a synth’s signal into our DAW… Monitor flipped to In. few of the synth’s factory presets.

POWER TIP > Know your shortcuts

Your DAW’s keyboard shortcuts are essential when tackling a repetitive editing task like this. In Live, we use the Ctrl/Cmd-E shortcut to cut the audio at the cursor position. Fade handles at the edges of regions are easy enough to drag. Once we’ve chopped up the take, shortcuts help you bounce down. In Live, it’s Ctrl/ Cmd-L to loop a region, Ctrl/Cmd-R It’s easy to get carried away and play Once we shape the sound of one to open the Render menu, then something great before you actually preset enough, we switch to a new Enter to choose the folder to export 4 record anything, so we punch our DAW’s 5 preset and try something new, tweaking to. Type in a name, then hit Enter to Record button and begin playing notes in our way to deep bass sounds, roaring lead export. No mouse required! time with our beats, as the synth signal is sweeps, percussive riffs, gnarly drum hits recorded to a new audio clip. As we and noisy FX blasts. Once we’ve recorded record, the synth’s keyboard is played with one huge audio file containing our entire the left hand, and front-panel parameters ‘jam session’, we stop recording. After a are twisted with the right hand. break to reset the ears, it’s editing time!

> Step by step 2. Creating a bespoke sample pack from our synth jam

Working with a long audio file can be Some of the best sections are found Once all the best sections of the take cumbersome, so it helps to cut out, within longer passages of notes, so we are chopped out, and the duds are 1 edit and save separate one-shots and 2 surgically cut out those best segments. 3 deleted, it’s time to go back through from loops to a new folder – especially if you Fade the edges of audio regions ever so the start. Loop each section in turn and want to create your own sample pack. To slightly, preventing clicks at non-zero- render it to a folder. We’ve stuck to a basic begin, listen through the take from the crossing points. The worst sections are naming convention for ease, but you can start, and cut the audio around notes or deleted – it pays to be ruthless and only go further and put extra info such as key loops that work well in isolation. leave yourself with great material. and BPM in the filename.

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 67 > make music now / audio adventures

Processing and printing > Technique Four more tricks for generating audio inspiration 6. Drums through synths Try running DAW signals through a synth’s external > Technique 3. Quickfire sampler-fodder input. Here’s how it’s done…

Print a few instrument or effects tweaks to a new audio track, then create a new MIDI track and call up a software sampler. Throw the audio file you just recorded into the sampler, then trigger it via MIDI while scanning the sampler’s start point throughout the audio until you stumble across an inspiring section. The benefit to this approach is that you’ll create ‘happy accidents’ you’d never normally think up – for example, by triggering adjacent notes, or truncating playback midway through a phrase or pitchbend.

By adjusting physical knobs or slider movements in real time as 1 you process a signal, you can coax out natural-sounding sweeps and inspiring > Technique 4. Bouncing back movement. We’ve piped an XLR cable from one of our audio interface’s outputs into the Moog Little Phatty’s Each DAW lets you rapidly render any sound Ext. In port. Its output is cabled into the to a new audio file, which then appears on a interface’s second input. new track. This is a functional way to print stacked sounds (eg, multiple clap/snare layers) or signals processed by lots of effects down to a manageable audio file, but allows creative techniques, too. Double the speed of a MIDI synth bass loop, render it to audio, then warp it to half-speed for timestretching artefacts. Or, bounce a bar of your track to a new channel, then mangle it in a gap to create a glitched-out edit section.

> Technique In Ableton Live, we’ve built a ‘128’ 5. Build your own ‘processing factory’ Drum Rack filled with raw TR-808 2 drums from 250’s Essential 808 Complex sound design often requires many different sounds through that chain, one pack. This way, we can twist a single stages of careful processing, and setting up after another, and quickly render each Sample Select knob to switch the effects chains like this from scratch is the treated signal to a new audio file using the currently-playing sample on the fly as we process it through the Little ultimate buzzkill when you’re in the throws above tip’s ‘bounce in place’ method. You Phatty’s filter and overdrive. of writing a track. A great way to counteract may need to slightly adjust parameters to this is by setting up your own ‘production suit each source signal, but it’s still an line’ of processing: create a chain of effects efficient way to design a custom pack of plugins, like we have below, then run beefed-up beats or tearing basslines.

A new audio track’s input is set to Ext. In 2, with Monitor set to In so 3 we can hear signal. Our drum channel is now routed through the Little Phatty and back into our DAW. We hit Record on the new track and print the Phatty- processed drums to audio, while scanning through different drum hits with the Sample Select knob.

68 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

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Become a better producer every month withpro advice, expert videos and audio examples from our computer music gurus

72 Ostinatos

Our music theory expert shows Easy Guide Music theory you how to use repeated phrases with Dave Clews in your compositions

Analogue bass 74 in the box

Ed:it sculpts an analogue synth Studio Strategies tone with digital processing to Advanced production with Ed:it get the best of both worlds

Out-there 76 drum fills

From dub delay snares to wildly Dr Beat transformed toms, these far-out Beat and drum design with Ronan Macdonald fills are sure to enhance your beats

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 71 Dave Clews’

#65 Ostinatos Dave gets down to some repeat business this month, DOWNLOAD Download the accompanying video and the MIDI/audio files at as he shows us how to get loopy with ostinatos filesilo.co.uk/computermusic

Like most musical terms, the word mean that an ostinato can’t be played on a projects; the main thing is that ostinatos can be ‘ostinato’ is Italian, its literal translation synth or applied to contemporary music thought of as another tool in your musical being ‘obstinate’. An ostinato is an insistent, production, and neither does it mean that the toolbox that you can pull out and apply when repeated musical phrase that digs its heels in pitch of the notes can’t be changed. you’re in need of a bit of inspiration. They’re and keeps on going, so you can see how the Ostinato is actually a pretty broad term that especially interesting when you apply an term came about. It’s most commonly applied can encompass many different types of part – a uneven loop length over a track with a regular to orchestral or classical music, in which case bassline, a lead riff or a rhythmic chord structure made up of four- or eight-bar sections. you could think of an ostinato as kind of a sequence – but the key factor is that it must Here, we’ll look at what makes an ostinato, drum loop played by string instruments – a repeat in some way. And it’s not as if there’s a and how it can be used in modern settings – as repeated, rhythmic phrase. But this doesn’t hard and fast rule for applying them to your ever, demonstrated with a few examples.

>Step by step Putting ostinatos to work

TUTORIAL FILES

Check out this group of three quarter- At its most basic, then, an ostinato is In this example, I’ve extended the notes, all playing middle C.Onits just a musical phrase that repeats, so phrase to a two-bar version, so it lasts 1 own, its just a simple group of three notes. 2 let’s look at something a bit more 3 twice as long. It’s still an ostinato, though, Repeat it over a number of bars, though – interesting. It could be as simple as the because it still repeats – it just takes twice four, in this case – and suddenly we’ve got piano melody shown here. We’ve got eight as long to wrap around as before. So, ourselves a basic ostinato. Even though eighth-notes per bar this time, and the really, an ostinato can be as long as you it’s not very rhythmically or melodically phrase repeats every bar. like. As long as it repeats, it qualifies! interesting, the fact that it repeats makes it worthy of the name.

One of the reasons ostinatos can be so The diatonic chords to C major (in Now let’s look at how you might use effective is the way they interact with other words, the chords we can make an ostinato in a track. Ostinatos can be 4 changing chord progressions. If the notes 5 using notes that belong to the C major 6 lead sounds, rhythmic chords, basslines or in your repeated phrase are from a scale) are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim. percussion – pretty much anything, really. particular key, progressions containing So if we were to make up a progression As an example, here’s a bass synth sound chords that are diatonic to that key should using some of those chords, the chances playing a two-bar ostinato in the key of C work perfectly beneath it. Our ostinato are it would fit perfectly under our minor. There’s eight bars’ worth here, but example is in the key of C major – it uses ostinato. So let’s try this progression: C, F, the phrase repeats every two bars. notes taken from the C major scale. Dm, G, Em, Am, F, G and C. Sounds great!

72 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 easy guide / make music now <

RECOMMENDED LISTENING PRO TIPS Dave Clews

STARLEY - CALL ON ME ANYTHING GOES In a studio career (RYAN RIBACK REMIX) When it comes to choosing a sound to play your spanning almost 25 That insistent sampled riff has ostinato, don’t feel obliged to settle for traditional years, Dave has the word ‘ostinato’ written all instruments like strings or piano. Sonically, the world is engineered, over it. your oyster, so don’t be afraid to experiment freely with your instrumental choices. Try starting off with short, programmed and plucky sounds, and if they don’t inspire, switch to played keyboards on anything from sustained synth leads to mad, records for a string of bit.ly/callryanrib modulated vocal samples. artists including MIKE OLDFIELD – OSTIN-ARP-O George Michael, Kylie TUBULAR BELLS If you don’t have access to Spitfire’s Ostinatum, another Minogue, Tina Turner Probably one of the most famous good way of generating ostinatos is to use a regular and Estelle. These arpeggiator. Use ‘as played’ mode, with a note repeat examples of an ostinato used days, in between writing articles prominently in pop music. rate of eighth notes or less, experiment with time signatures or loop lengths other than the one your for and other magazines, he project is in, vary note length and velocity, and use the collaborates on occasional songs ‘randomise’ button (if it has one) for some and videos with singer/songwriter unpredictable – and often very cool – results. bit.ly/motubbell Lucy Hirst, aka Polkadothaze. www.daveclews.com

Let’s see what happens when we take Now let’s add another ostinato over We’re going to program a repeated this repeating synth motif and team it the top of everything else, this time pattern of stabby string chords, so we 7 up with a progression of shifting piano 8 with some strings, courtesy of Spitfire 9 need to load the Strings.nki preset and chords. We’ve got Csus4, C5, AbMaj7/C Audio’s Albion ONE string library for enable the Ostinatum’s Chord mode. As and Csus2. Although slight, the changes in Kontakt. This has a built-in ostinato it’s going to be a staccato pattern, we need the progression contribute sonic interest, generator, called the Ostinatum, that can to make sure we have a suitable patch or while the repeating ostinato gives a be used to quickly and easily craft ostinato ‘articulation’ selected, that uses short, feeling of drive and tension against the phrases. It works a bit like an arpeggiator, stabby samples as the basis for the sound. changing backdrop of the chords. but especially for string parts. Spiccato does the trick.

Now let’s draw in the note lengths for The Ostinatum generates ostinato When superimposing an irregularly- the pattern. This is done by clicking patterns based on held-down chords. looping ostinato over a backing track 10 the required length in the palette to insert 11 Based on the pattern we’ve entered, here 12 with a regular time signature like this, the a note of that length into the grid. The are the notes the Ostinatum is actually accents fall on different beats within the pattern will loop around the total duration generating. In order to illustrate this, I’ve bar on each repeat, creating a really of the notes entered. You can also change doubled the Albion ONE part with Logic’s interesting rhythm. This shows up better the velocities of individual notes in the own Studio Strings instrument, which is when we highlight the downbeat of each pattern by adjusting the small Vel sliders also handy because it gives the sound bar, as shown here in red, revealing the – this varies the part’s dynamics. some extra bite and attack. shifting ostinato pattern.

NEXT MONTH Dave explores the theory behind negative harmony June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 73 Studio strategies with Ed:it #21 DOWNLOAD

See the tutorial files on your PC/Mac at: Analogue in the box filesilo.co.uk/computermusic Far from a hardware purist, DnB producer Ed:it shows you how to pair the raw simplicity of raw analogue bass with creative plugins

In electronic music, bass is probably the Although softsynths have a fast workflow, bass with intricate plugin treatments. My go-to most important element to nail, which is come loaded with features, and are usually is the original Arturia MiniBrute, a monophonic why I’ve spent years perfecting my bottom- cheaper than outboard instruments, analogue analogue synth with unique features such as end tones. Designing your own bass patch synths are known to output thick tones which the aggressive ‘Brute Factor’ and Steiner-Parker from scratch lets you control and customise take time and effort to emulate using virtual multimode filter. After shaping my raw bass the end result to a greater degree. instruments. For instant warmth, then, there’s tone, I’ll apply cutting-edge filtering, distortion, Usually, I create bass from the ground up with something about an intense, expressive tone EQ, reverb and stereo width in the box. And a software synth, or twist up a gritty reece or from an analogue synth, which can then be don’t worry if you don’t own a hardware synth, sub-bass sample. From there, it’s my effects modernised and stereoised with plugins. as all the techniques I’ll cover will apply to processing that adds movement and flavour. So for this tutorial, I’ll marry raw analogue equivalent software synthesisers. Let’s go!

>Step by step Creating analogue bass, then processing with software

TUTORIAL FILES

After turning the MiniBrute on to Over to the MiniBrute. I’ve turned the Now to balance a harmonic waveform warm up, I have a new Cubase project Master Volume ¾ of the way up. First, blend on top of my sine sub. First, a 1 set to 172bpm, a hi-hat click track for 2 some raw sub bass: I flick the Sub Osc 3 Sawtooth with ultrasaw settings; then a syncing, and a mono audio track. In the Wave switch to Sine, set its pitch to -1 Square with a bit of pulse width; a VST Connections window, I’ve added a Octave below the main oscillators, then Triangle wave with enhanced metalizer; new input Mono Bus named Minibrute. crank the Sub Osc level slider below up to and subtle Noise for wispy top-end. I’ve set the mono track’s input to this bus, the maximum. and the Monitor button is on.

The synth’s ADSR envelopes shape the Next, the filter section. The mode is set The synth’s LFO will now give my tone tone over time. Here, I’ve dialled in to Low-Pass. By fully opening the subtle movement. With a Triangle 4 Amplification Envelope and Filter 5 Cutoff frequency, and raising Resonance 6 shape selected, I’m negatively modulating Envelope settings, with Env Speed at slightly, I’ve added a bit of a peak boost to Amplitude, Pitch and Filter for a touch of Fast, as shown above. My bass starts and the top end. This is an effective way to wavering modulation. I sync the LFO’s ends abruptly when I press and release a give a synth sound some tasteful bite and Rate manually by tweaking the knob until key, and there’s a solid sustain section. presence up there. the modulation is in time with my DAW’s click track.

74 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 studio strategies / make music now <

PRO TIPS Ed:it

’BRUTE FORCE ANALOGUE WITH DIGITAL With releases on labels Like many hardware synths, the MiniBrute gives you An analogue synth’s oscillators are generally pretty such as Hospital, Med the ability to run a signal into its external input, then rich, punchy and full of weight. That’s why, for my sub School, Critical, CIA process the signal with the synth’s filter and drive bass, I tend to sample raw tones from hardware synths and Dispatch, and now stages – see p68 for more. Sterile digital sound whenever I can. Generally, I’ll hunt down simple tones sources through an analogue signal path will be from vintage hardware synthesisers such as Junos, signed exclusively to imbued with rich harmonics and warmth. Brittle Jupiters, Prophets and Moogs. From my experience, Shogun Audio, Ed pads or percussive synth tones sound great when these sound great on club sound systems, especially Warrener’s brand of processed in this way. with the kind of heavy, funky drum ’n’ bass I play. I’ll juggle the synth’s filters, envelopes and But it’s not all about hardware for me – far from it, in deep, dark drum ’n’ modulation controls to shape and twist the fact. Once I have my raw sub-bass part rolling bass is making waves incoming signal. Using the LFO and filter sections, I’ll underneath a beat, I’ll then use virtual instruments to in the scene. Between create sweeps and movement while using the pile on additional layers of overdriven, mangled DJing around the analogue circuitry to beef up proceedings. midrange textures. Unlike simple subtractive methods, Plus, if you run a softsynth through your MIDI- I find wavetable synths give me way more scope for globe and topping up his studio equipped hardware synth’s input, then play both via expressive timbral change over time, as they tend to tan, Ed brings you insight into his the hardware synth’s keyboard, you effectively get feature more parameters for shaping and moving the cutting-edge production tricks an extra oscillator to play with! oscillators at source. and tactics every month in . www.soundcloud.com/edit-music www.facebook.com/edit0dnb

The last parameter I crank up is the Now it’s time to move over to Cubase For width and saturation, I call up Brute Factor, which gives the sound and apply software effects, in order to iZotope Trash 2. After a bit of 7 squealing, feedback-style flavour. Now I’m 8 bring out the sound’s full potential. For 9 tweaking, the Classic Textures > happy with the raw tone, I sweep the Mod extra modulation and character, I’m using Radiation preset suits my ’Brute bass – I’m Wheel and filter Cutoff to find the perfect Sugar Bytes WOW filter – I’m wobbling the compressing and spatialising for extra sweet spot. Cutoff, Res and Drive (set to Parabolic) ‘squish’ and width. with a synced Rate of 1/2 Beat.

To emphasise certain frequencies, I’m Audio Damage’s Eos reverb gives my To provide the final ‘mastering’ touch reaching for FabFilter Pro-Q 2. A broad signal a dose of stereo polish and to my bass, the MiniBrute’s channel is 10 bell boost at around 4khz and a slight 11 smoothness. A Decay of around 5s and a 12 routed to a stereo group channel in high-cut at 20khz shape the upper-mids Size of 31.6m give me a large hall sound. Cubase, with iZotope Ozone 8 inserted. and treble. I’m also dipping 400hz to Lastly, for a tighter effect, I’m using Eos’ The Imager module (pictured) places the eradicate low-mid muddiness; and a slight onboard Low Cut and Hi Cut filters to sub frequencies in mono, while allowing boost at around 50hz lifts the sub area. pocket the reverb signal in the midrange. mids and tops to spread across the stereo field. Finally, the Maximizer module pins down any spikes in level.

NEXT MONTH Ed:it shows you how to get a pro sound with free plugins June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 75 Dr Beat with Ronan Macdonald #43

Out-there drum fills DOWNLOAD See it in video and get the tutorial files on your PC/Mac at Take your fills to the next level with our rhythm physician filesilo.co.uk/computermusic

Ronan Macdonald Drum fills are often a secondary and getting freaky with sampler and instrument consideration when it comes to building automation to add dynamism and character to Having beats, with many producers rarely opting for rolls and runs. And, of course, you can always previously more than a couple of snare hits or a cursory call up the internet and take inspiration from served as Editor tour of the toms every eight or 16 bars. Put as some of the more extreme fills blasted out by of drummer’s much thought into these all-too-brief history’s most adept drummers. Look up the bible Rhythm as percussive excursions as you do you main likes of Dennis Chambers, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave well as drum parts, though, and your tracks will Lombardo, Keith Moon, Terry Bozzio, John Computer thank you for it. Bonham and Buddy Rich, to name but a few. Music, Ronan is There are countless ways in which drum fills In this month’s tutorial and its accompanying clearly the right can be made more interesting. A few of the most video, I’ll walk you through the creation of four man for this effective include programming them by hand, very different, increasingly ‘unreal’ fills – from a particular gig. He’s been playing drums rather than just reaching for a sample library; couple of dub reggae staples, through a jungle for over 35 years and making music with laying on creative effects treatments to take classic, to… well, I’m not entirely sure what the computers since the 90s. conventional drum kit sounds to places new; last one is!

>Step by step Creating six flavours of fills

TUTORIAL FILES

Larger-than-life drum fills don’t have Not enough? Swap the reverb for a Next up, the junglist snare roll – very to be flamboyant and ostentatious, as filter delay, but leave the send much a sound of its time. Here’s a 1 proven by the classic dub spin reverbed 2 automation in place, so that it still catches 3 jungle-style beat, made from a sliced-up snare. Simply route the snare drum in your that single snare. Set a short delay time loop. Having drawn in a velocity-ramped drum source to its own channel in the and very high feedback, so that the snare 32nd-note snare roll at the end of the four- mixer, set up a big reverb on a return repeats indefinitely; and when it hits, filter bar phrase, I select the Transpose control channel, and automate the send from the the taps as they build up, then drop the for the snare pad, and draw in an snare briefly every few bars. feedback to end the fill. up-down-up envelope. Massive!

Of course, you could simply program It’s not exactly mind-bending, though, Finally, I render the fill, chop it up into a very fast drum fill of the kind that a is it? Let’s apply some effects. Flanging eighth-note slices, reverse a few of 4 drummer might actually play. Here’s one, 5 is always a good option for percussive 6 them, then make a couple of variations by programmed on a triplet grid, and spot effects, so I insert NI Flair and set up a moving and copying slices around. The doubling in speed in the second half of the synced one-bar sweep over the fill. It’s still groove and fill are now completely at odds bar. This is an entirely linear pattern that, not mad enough, however, so I precede with each other sonically, so I switch Flair despite how it might sound, wouldn’t Flair with Live’s Auto Filter, applying a one- and Auto Filter on for the groove track to actually be that hard to play in real life. bar upward low-pass sweep. make the whole thing gel.

76 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 NEXT MONTH Ronan gets his marimba on

> interview / alexis taylor

78 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 alexis taylor / interview < ALEXIS TAYLOR

The Hot Chip frontman’s new album was made on computers… but with an old-school tech approach at its heart

Ahead of his interview with Computer Music, “People will read that and say, ‘But you can do all Alexis Taylor warns me that he’s not what some that inside the computer. It takes two minutes’. I’m sure people would call a studio ‘expert’. “I love making you can. The problem is that I don’t know how to do it, music with technology,” he explains, “but I use it in so I’ve developed my own weird, long-winded a limited way.” methods for manipulating sound.” As an example, the Hot Chip frontman recounts the Taylor has ‘produced’ previous solo releases himself story of his search for a suitably twisted drum loop but, for Beautiful Thing, he decided to bring in during the recording of his recently released solo someone to handle the tech: Mo Wax co-founder, album, Beautiful Thing. Unkle/David Holmes producer and occasional Massive “After I put together this particular beat, I sent it Attack collaborator Tim Goldsworthy – see p82. through various hardware phase and flange effects, The result is a rather gorgeous yet bizarre collection recorded that onto CD, then played it back on a CDJ so of new and old tech sounds, angsty experimental I could radically mess around with the speed. When I detours and nifty pop hooks. Yes, there are touches of worked out what I needed, I recorded that back into Hot Chip here and there – no surprise, considering that the computer. Taylor is the main songwriter and vocalist – but this

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 79 > interview / alexis taylor

sounds gentler. And rather sorrowful at times. Hot Chip are currently working on a new album “If you put me in a room with some stuff and there was a period of crossover between the two, but Taylor reckons that the writing for both band and solo projects feels very different. that makes a noise, I’ll have a go at

Computer Music: Is it a lot easier to write for a solo album? recording a song” Alexis Taylor: “I don’t know if I’d call it ‘easier’. With the solo stuff, I tend to start recording the song a lot earlier; almost as soon as I have an beat going on the Acetone Rhythm Ace and just room with some stuff that makes a noise, I’ll idea. Then I just start layering things up. Drum play along to it on the Juno-60. Some basic have a go at recording a song.” machine, rhythm track, Fender Rhodes, guitars, chords, plus a few things from the arpeggiator. Prophet ’08. It’s mainly processed in Logic, but One bassline, throw some vocals on top.” : What was the setup for this album? Was it I’ve also got a few pedals like the Moogerfooger recorded in the Hot Chip studio? MuRF. It’s a fairly basic setup. No fancy preamps : You’re making it sound very simple. AT: “With Hot Chip, we tend to record in quite a or anything like that. Just straight into my AT: “It’s easy to make recording a long and few different studios, depending on where we budget Focusrite interface, which seems to give complicated process these days. If you’re not are. Joe [Goddard, featured in last year] does me a decent sound. careful, it becomes an endless process. I didn’t most of the actual Hot Chip production and he’s “Once those layers are beginning to build into want that and neither did Tim [Goldsworthy, got a place in north London. I’ve got a small a song, I start taking away the beginning blocks producer]. It’s one of the reasons the setup at home in London, but I also share a of music. So, if it was written on the Rhodes, I relationship worked so well. studio space. take away the Rhodes. If it was written on guitar, “I like the idea of working with what you’ve “The album ended up being recorded all over I get rid of the guitar. What you’re left with are got to hand, rather than thinking you have to the place… my two studios, Tim’s place in Bristol, the textural overdubs and the extra synths parts. buy a new piece of equipment or a new plugin another studio in London. It became quite a Maybe a few weird percussion noises. I’m to solve your problem. And I have to say that it’s journey to make it sound like it does.” deliberately trying to unbalance the track. never really been an issue for me. Some people You’ve got all this music which is seemingly might say my solo stuff sounds a bit lo-fi, but : All done in Logic? essential but, when you remove it, the track that sound is the best that I can get with the AT: “I think so. When Joe and I first started becomes even more interesting. equipment and the skill set that I have. putting Hot Chip together, he was using Cubase, “There are other times when tracks can “I’m not a great programmer… I don’t know all so that became my sequencer of choice, too. almost feel like they were improvised. I’ll get a the ins and outs of Logic. But if you put me in a But, with Hot Chip, I don’t really do much inside the computer because I’m working with Joe. Back in the early days, he was the producer and I was the player. He handled the tech side and my job was to play funky little synth parts and hit things. I hit things a lot! I’ve always liked drum machines that you have to play manually. “When it came to recording my first solo releases, I decided to work in GarageBand. I wasn’t doing a lot of work inside the box, so I just needed something I could record and edit with. GarageBand was fine for that and the simplicity of the setup allowed me to learn the basics of production. I looked at the computer as a really powerful four-track. Harping on: Alexis took the insides of an abandoned piano and captured the reverb his neighbour deemed irritating “And you’ve got to remember that this was the era when people were talking about Dizzee Rascal’s first album being recorded on a PlayStation. Whether that was true or not, I don’t know, but there was definitely this feeling that you could get by with quite a basic setup. “I like that idea. Only use what you need.”

: Zen and the Art of Studio Recording… AT: “All I need is a tool for recording my ideas… Logic and a laptop is perfect. I can do basic recording, but I can also get a bit more experimental. I can work with crude instruments and musical tools. “Noises, spoken word. I can edit sound in interesting ways. I can record in a shower cubicle in a hotel in São Paulo at one in the morning, purely because it’s got a nice reverb.”

: Somebody will add that as a reverb preset – Alexis Taylor’s São Paulo Shower. AT: “Ha ha! What I’m trying to say is that, in terms of studio gear, I’m not searching for anything new.”

: Any third-party plugins on the laptop? Taylor is modest about his computer skils and setup, but that naivety helps him write simple, effective music AT: “There’s a Synclavier from Arturia and the

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Taylor’s studio is a mix of the old, the new and the improvised

G-Force [M-Tron Pro] Mellotron. I always think Programming, digging into the heart of a it’s ironic that one of the very few plugins that I DAW, twisting the hell out of a few Kit list use is actually a sort of antique sampler. It’s like softsynths, for example? HARDWARE we’ve come full circle. AT: “It’s not my forte, and I would always be Apple MacBook Pro “I have had a look at a lot of softsynths and limited by that. Obviously I learn things as I’m Focusrite interface production plugins, but then my attention will working with people like Joe or Tim, but I don’t Korg Volca Sample be dragged away by some strange little Yamaha see the problem with finding something that Homemade Axoloti and keyboard that I found at a car boot sale. It cost you’re good at and sticking to it. Arduino reverbs, filters me two quid! Joe loved it so much that he made “On this album, there were things I wanted to etc me go back to the car boot sale and find him do in Logic – things I didn’t know how to do – but RCA 44-BX mic another one. I did… that cost me three quid.” I had Tim with me and I let him get on with it. The harp of an old piano Like I said earlier, neither of us wanted to go Prophet ’08 : He got the expensive one? down the route of ‘Logic can do this and this. Fender Rhodes AT: “Of course! I didn’t buy them for kitsch or Let’s try this plugin and this compressor and Moogerfooger MuRF novelty value. I had a listen to them at the car this reverb’, because you’re in danger of getting Polyend Perc Pro boot and thought, ‘Some of these are really lost. Where does it end? When do you stop interesting sounds’. Joe loved it, too, and we trying to fix things or make it sound ‘better’? SOFTWARE ended up using it on the Ready For The “This is an album that’s been made on Apple Logic Pro 9 Dancefloor single. That just brings a smile to my computers, but we tried to make it in an old- G-Force M-Tron Pro face. That something that was probably fashioned way.” Arturia Synclavier V destined for the tip and only cost me a couple of quid gets used on a song that then becomes : Could it have been made on tape? relatively successful.” Properly old-fashioned? AT: “No. Even if you’re not going crazy in the : Have you ever wanted to know more studio, there’s still far too much going on… stuff about ‘that side’ of the studio? that would be so difficult to do on tape. There’s no doubt that computers made it easier for me to make this album. The speed with which you “I see no problem can process sound. The way you can play around with production ideas. Experimentation. Stuff that Tim would be doing that I don’t even sticking with know about. “Not to mention some of the other things we used in the studio, like the Polyend Perc Pro. It’s something you’re sort of a robot drummer that you can program via MIDI and it will play any percussive good at” instrument. At one point, we had it playing a drum kit and a close-miked chair that was G-Force Mellotron is one of Alexis’ select few plugins

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 81 > interview / alexis taylor

Mo’Waxco-founderandMassive time being short, I didn’t want to get into that thing of flicking through tons of different reverbs and synths. I actually made a Attack collaborator Tim couple of DIY reverb units using the Axoloti and Arduino boards. We were purposely trying to keep things sparse, and concentrate Goldsworthy helped Alexis gain the on the performances instead. “There are lots of mistakes on the album, but that just added album’s no-nonsense approach to the feel we were after. I remember Alexis was doing a guitar take and I totally forgot that we weren’t DIed. You can hear me in “I’ve known Alexis a long time. Back in the early noughties, when the background going, ‘Oh, that’s lovely. Yes! Nice… very nice’. We I was at Mo’ Wax, we tried to sign Hot Chip… long before he was a could have re-recorded it, but we kind of liked it. pop star! I’ve always felt we had a solid musical language, which “We spent quite a lot of time every Thursday looking for weird was one of the reasons I agreed to work on the album. Even sounds. The Sherman Filterbank was good for that, but it’s a bit though, technically, I’d retired from music. of kit that makes me nervous. I’ve seen it shred speakers in the “I got tired of hearing the same stuff on the radio and every past! I also dug through a lot of my old samples, too. We’ve got a demo I got sent. The same presets; bright, shiny tracks with the recording of my daughters going through an effects loop that’s rough edges smoothed over. I knew Alexis wouldn’t want to feeding back on itself. make that kind of album. He wanted to make something human. “Samples ended up playing a big part in the process, mainly “The actual recording process was quite bizarre. Normally, as because of the Korg Volca Sample. I haven’t been this excited The Korg a producer, you go into the studio with the artist for several about a sampler since I got my first Akai! And the great thing is Volca that it has the same, tough sound of those early samplers. You Sample weeks; recording lots and lots of stuff. But, because I’d retired gave the and was actually back at school [Goldsworthy is at Bristol Uni can make it sound quite raw. album a studying Physics], I could only go to London one day a week. “I obviously worked on the tracks raw edge “Each Thursday, I’d get on a train, buy some biscuits and during the other six days of the week, but I was sandwiches, and go to Alexis’ studio. We’d spend a couple of always trying to reign in what I was tempted hours talking and listening to music, then get stuck in. Despite to do. Or ignoring what I was supposed to the constraints – or maybe because of them! – we’d get most of be doing. I didn’t want to make a pristine, the bits of one song into my old laptop via Logic Pro 9. digital album with Alexis singing over “I have got loads of third-party stuff on there, but we actually the top. I wanted to make an album that tried our best not to use it. That might sound strange, but with sounded like Alexis and me.”

heavily processed. That was all in 3/4 time, and : Can we ask a final question about the we then brought in a live drummer to play 4/4 album format? Obviously, Hot Chip are an over the top of it. albums band, too… is it still your favourite “The computer also allowed me to make use way to listen to music? of an old upright piano that’s been left in my AT: “There are some people who’ll argue that, in HEAR MORE studio in London. Well, it’s just the innards, 2018, the album feels slightly anachronistic. OK, really… the harp. The guy who I share the studio maybe it’s less important than 20 or 30 years with wanted to get rid of it because it kept ago, but I still think that albums matter to a lot of reverberating whenever he was working on music fans. As evidenced by the amount of something. I decided to use it in the opposite people that are buying vinyl albums. way. I wanted to capture that reverb and add it “I love the idea of sitting down and listening to the song. to a Prince album or a Sly Stone album and Title track, Beautiful Thing “For the first track, Dreaming Another Life,I knowing that I’m going to be immersed in that bit.ly/BeautifulThingAlexis played each chord on the ‘harp’ and recorded for at least 30 or 40 minutes. And that’s how I Rhodes Dream them into Logic. Then I chopped off the bit prefer to put together my own music. bit.ly/RhodesDream where the notes were hit, leaving it with this “People listen to albums because they take wonderful wash of ghostly reverb. A really them out of the world they’re in. For those 10 or WWW unique reverb sound. 12 tracks, you get the chance to escape. And www.alexistaylorsolo.com “That’s a good example of how I like to work. people will always want to escape.” The combination of playful experimentation and soundcloud.com/alexis-taylor-official traditional songwriting. Computers and Beautiful Thing, is released on April 20 via Domino facebook.com/alexistaylorsoloofficial discarded instruments.” Records. The single, Oh Baby,isoutnow.

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The latest computer music gear tested and rated!

Our promise We bring you honest, unbiased appraisals of the latest computer music products. Our experts apply the same stringent testing methods to all gear, no matter how much hype or expectation surrounds it.

What the ratings mean 1-4 A seriously flawed product that should be avoided 5 This product’s problems outweigh its merits 6 A decent product that’s only held back by a few flaws 7 Solid. Well worth considering 8 Very good. A well-conceived 86 UNIVERSAL AUDIO ARROW and executed product 9 Excellent. First-rate and UA’s compact, bus-powered audio interface is here. among the best you can buy Will it hit the target or miss the mark? 10 Exceptional. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

88 90 92 Native Instruments Mixed In Key Softube Weiss DS1-MK3 Mod Pack Captain Plugins & MM-1

94 96 98 101 Audio Damage Sonnox Audified Mini Reviews Discord4 VoxDoubler DW Drum Enhancer

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June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 85 > reviews / universal audio arrow

Universal Audio Arrow £449 If,likeus,youdreamofrecordingand mixing with UAD-2 plugins on the plane or by the pool, your prayers have just been answered…

With their stellar performance and access to thing, so potential Arrow owners should make the increasingly huge range of superb UAD-2 Take aim sure that what appears to be the right port on analogue hardware emulation plugins, Universal As we’ve come to expect from Universal Audio their computer isn’t in fact USB-C. For Mac users, Audio’s Apollo audio interfaces are among the (and, indeed, have every right to in any audio this is very straightforward: the current music technology industry’s biggest success interface at this price point), Arrow is very well generation of MacBook Pro, iMac and iMac Pro stories. However, being externally powered, built – satisfyingly chunky, with a solid matt include compatible Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, recording and mixing ‘on the go’ with them has metal casing. It’s also nicely compact, with an but the 12" MacBook’s identical-looking hole is never been an option – until now! 18x12cm footprint, and surprisingly light at just only USB-C and thus won’t work with Arrow. For With Arrow, UA are at last offering what 0.63kg. Eminently portable, then. PC users, the situation is less clear cut, of course, essentially amounts to a compact, bus-powered Arrow is a Thunderbolt 3 device – the first of but there are now quite a few Thunderbolt Apollo – no mains plug required. Not only that, its kind, in fact. Thunderbolt 3 uses the same 3-packing machines on the market, so just be but they’ve also made it their most affordable connector type as USB-C but isn’t the same very clear on your specs before you buy. interface yet, at £140 less than the cheapest The stated reason for the use of Thunderbolt Apollo. Consequently, you get a bit less I/O than 3 rather than 1 or 2 is that it enables the bus you do with Apollo, and no Core Duo or Quad “With Arrow, UA are at powering that’s key to Arrow’s portability. The DSP options, but, crucially, no compromises data transfer side of things is fully backwards have been made when it comes to features and compatible all the way back to Thunderbolt 1, functionality. There’s a Solo Core chip for last offering what however, so you could use an externally powering the 14 included UAD-2 plugins (see powered Thunderbolt 3 dock to connect Arrow Playing the Classics) and any others you might essentially amounts to to a Thunderbolt 1/2 computer. Naturally, choose to buy, two Unison-enabled mic though, UA point out that this particular setup preamps, and the high quality converters for abus-powered Apollo isn’t fully tested or officially supported. Plus, of which Universal Audio are known. In other course, mobility is one of Arrow’s big selling words, it’s pretty much the full Apollo/UAD-2 points, so if you’re going to lumber yourself with experience in a unit you can use anywhere. –nomains required” a power supply and dock, it might be worth

86 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 universal audio arrow / reviews <

“For guitarists and singers, Unison on its own could well make Arrow nothing short of a must-have” stepping up to the Core Solo Apollo Twin MkII (10/10, 242) anyway. The other consideration is the cable used to The Marshall Plexi Classic plugin includes a Unison version plug Arrow into the computer. Disappointingly, there isn’t one in the box, so you have to buy one separately, and again, it has to be specifically Playing the Classics made for Thunderbolt 3 – USB-C won’t work. First-class audio interfacing aside, as Amplifier, 610-B Tube Preamp and EQ, Target practice with Apollo, the real draw with Arrow is Raw Distortion and more. The 610-B, For I/O, Arrow has two XLR/1/4" combi mic/line its ability to power Universal Audio’s Marshall Plexi Classic and Raw are inputs, a Hi-Z guitar input (superseding mic/line UAD-2 plugins (VST/AU/AAX/RTAS) for Unison-friendly, too. Needless to say, input 1 when connected), two 1/4" balanced line low-latency (in Console) monitoring Arrow is also compatible with the outs and a 1/4" headphone out. What you lose in and tracking. The UAD-2 line-up entire vast and ever-expanding UAD-2 comparison to Apollo, then, is a pair of comprises a comprehensive roster of plugins catalogue additional line outs and the eight-channel ADAT astonishingly realistic classic hardware With the Core Solo chip only able to optical input. emulations, the same 14 of which are run a handful of more recent UAD-2 Workflow-wise, Arrow is identical to Apollo. included with Arrow as with Apollo. plugins at once (the Marshall Plexi Dedicated top-panel buttons switch the knob Called the Realtime Analog Classics Classic hits 30% on the DSP meter, for between controlling preamp input and Bundle, this tidy collection features the example), you won’t be processing an monitoring output levels, and operate input Legacy (but still great) versions of UA’s entire mix in real-time with Arrow. selection, a high-pass filter, 48V phantom power, Teletronix LA-2A Classic Levelling However, there’s more than enough a 20dB pad, polarity inversion and stereo Amplifier, 1176SE/LN Classic Limiting juice in the tank to put together a linking. The display area provides simple Amplifiers and Pultec Pro Equalizers, as complete monitoring and/or recording metering and function indicators, and pressing well as the Marshall Plexi Classic chain for your vocal mic and guitar. the knob launches Gain Stage Mode, for hands- on control of Unison plugins. UA’s excellent Console software hooks into Arrow for near-zero-latency mixing and monitoring with UAD-2 plugins, and loading pristine; with it, all manner of gorgeous compatible plugins into the two Unison analogue colouration is on the cards. preamps. Unison is UA’s breakthrough technology, reconfiguring the actual impedance, The mighty Arrow Alternatively gain staging and other physical properties of Well, they’ve finally done it: Arrow is the mobile the preamps for authentic emulation of both the Apollo we’ve all been waiting for. Sure, Universal Audio Apollo Twin MkII sound and ‘feel’ of classic preamps, channel Thunderbolt 3 might rule it out, depending on 242 » 10/10 » £590-1100 strips and guitar amplifiers. For guitarists and your setup; that Solo Core DSP quickly runs out Arrow’s bigger sibling has more I/O, singers, this on its own could well make Arrow of steam; and, like any heavy-draw bus-powered and Core Duo and Quad options, (or Apollo) nothing short of a must-have. peripheral, it puts the serious smackdown on but has to be externally powered. Away from Console, audio interface your laptop battery. But none of that detracts performance is as expected, with round trip (ie, significantly from the – for many – game Arturia AudioFuse input plus output) latency in Ableton Live of changing ability to take your UAD-2 plugins, 252 » 9/10 » £519 10.2ms at 64 samples and 30.5ms at 512 complete with glorious Unison preamps, on the If you don’t need the UAD-2 plugins, samples. And most importantly, UA’s AD road. A truly amazing thing. Arturia’s super flexible audio converters deliver the goods as always – without interface is a fantastic option. Unison processing, Arrow sounds absolutely Web www.uaudio.com Verdict For A compact, bus-powered UAD-2/ Unison interface at last! Superb sound and workflow Solid UAD-2 plugins bundle Great price vs Solo Apollo Twin MkII

Against Thunderbolt 3 isn’t ubiquitous Thunderbolt 3 cable not included

More than just a cut-down Apollo, Arrow’s bus-powering and form factor make it a genuinely mobile UAD-2/Unison interface

10/10 Arrow’s back panel houses the combi inputs, line outputs and Thunderbolt 3 connector

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 87 > reviews / native instruments mod pack

SYNCABLE LFOS ULTRA MODE CHORAL MODES WET/DRY MIX Flair and Phasis’ Kick Phasis’ LFO and Center Four distinct chorusing styles All three plugins are geared LFOscanbesynced into the audible spectrum fora rangeofeffects up for parallel processing to host tempo

SCATTER MODE Reroute MOD MIX Choral’s Set the mod feedback balance circuit for between reverb-style Center and sounds Spread VOICES Fa d e in u p NOTCHES to three Activate chorus voices, between two as shown in FLAIR MODES and12all- INVERT the display Choose from pass filters Invert the peaks and notches Standard,Thru for phasing to transform the sound Zero and Scan PITCH Set the note pitch of CHORD MENU Flair’s ‘fundamental’ voice Pitch Flair’s four voices to your selected chord Native Instruments Mod Pack £59 Missed out on NI’s awesome free Phasis plugin last year? Now youcangetitaspartofthisstunningmodulationeffectsbundle

At the end of last year, Native Instruments features that greatly expand on their classic sound. Synth mode is inspired by the Roland gave us an early Christmas present in the processing capabilities. Let’s start with… Juno series of synthesisers and yields a thick, shape of the free Phasis plugin. A fully-featured rich vibe. Ensemble apes vintage string synths, phaser, Phasis is no longer available gratis, but Choral for wilder, wobblier, warmer-sounding results. instead now stands as one third of NI’s new Modelled on the guitar pedals and built-in synth Dimension mode clearly takes the Roland modulation effects bundle, Mod Pack, alongside effects of the 70s and 80s, Choral is a three- Dimension D as its template, giving more of a the Flair flanger and Choral chorus. Those who voice stereo chorus with four modes, each shiny, polished, consistent effect. And Universal managed to get Phasis when it was free can delivering a particular style of modulation and mode is a non-specific, ‘modern’ sounding upgrade to the full Mod Pack for £44. configuration under which the modulation All three Mod Pack plugins (VST/AU/AAX) becomes more animated as new voices are share a common design style, with central mode “NIhaveblessed them added. In all four modes, modulation is applied buttons and graphical modulation displays (see independently to each voice, with the Voices Visual aids) flanked by a handful of controls. The knob fading Voices 2 and 3 in progressively, and GUIs are pretty small on an HiDPI or Retina with special features the modulation Rate ranging from 0.25Hz to display, but are expandable up to 200% of their 7.65Hz. The stereo Width, Delay time multiplier default size. Each plugin also includes a that greatly expand and Feedback amount are all adjustable, and shedload of presets. Choral’s ‘twist’ comes in its Scatter mode, which In order to set the three devices apart from on their classic changes the feedback circuit routing to smear the countless other high-quality phasers, the effect into something akin to a weird and choruses and flangers already on the market, NI wonderful reverb, the ‘size’ of which is have blessed them with a number of special processing capabilities” established by the Delay time parameter. This is

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“Ironically, we’d consider Phasis to be the best of the bunch, but all three plugins are truly excellent” particularly effective in the brighter Dimension and Universal modes, giving Choral a novel sound design angle beyond its colourful instrumental chorusing.

Flair The Mod Pack plugins let you see your modulation as well as hear it Flair is perhaps the most innovative plugin in the Mod Pack bundle, putting a highly musical spin on the classic flanger effect. Up to four comb Visual aids filters are faded in, and doubled up for stereo imaging via the Width knob, with pitch Despite their rudimentary frequency modulation. In Thru Zero modulation applied using an internal LFO (free- appearances, the animated displays mode, the unmodulated voice running or tempo-synced), resonance shaping built into Phasis, Flair and Choral do a duplicates are also shown, as grey dots, handled by the Feedback and high-frequency superb job of visualising the making it clear when cancellation is Damping controls, and the Invert function modulation taking place in each plugin occurring; while Scan mode fades dots swapping the peaks and notches. It’s in Flair’s without being in any way distracting. in and out as their voices are sounded. harmonic manipulation that things get really In Choral, each channel of each of Phasis’ display reflects the spacing interesting, though. The Pitch knob sets the the three voices is represented by a and movement of the all-pass filters. chromatic musical note of the first flanger voice, short vertical line that fades in as the Adjusting the Center knob moves them and the Chord menu snaps the other three voice is introduced, and bobs up and left and right; tweaking Spread spaces voices to the notes of any one of 24 chord types, down in accordance with its them out; and moving the Stereo with up to 60 cents of alternating per-voice modulation. The lines also spread apart control separates the two channels. offset introduced by the Detune slider. Further as the Width is increased. The effect of changes made to the Mod to that, the three centrally activated modes Flair uses white dots for its four Mix slider are relayed, too, with the enable conventional flanging (Standard), tape- voices, spaced apart to reflect the filters moving collectively left/right style flanging with signal cancellation (Thru currently selected Chord, and moving and concertina-ing at the same time Zero), and – most impressively – arpeggiation of left and right to visualise their when it’s at the mid point. the four pitched voices (Scan) by the LFO, with triangle or up/down ramp waveforms determining the ‘arpeggio’ direction. Very clever. Flair’s overarching chordal concept puts it in a sound design world of its own, producing all knob. The balance of modulation between Alternatively sorts of beautiful animated harmonic structures, Center and Spread is set using the Mod Mix from any source, be it percussive or melodic. slider, with equal modulation of both at the Imaginando DLYM middle position. And the craziness doesn’t end NA » NA » FREE Phasis there, as switching to Ultra mode extends the This free plugin for Mac and PC Ending at the beginning, as it were, Phasis takes limits of the Center and LFO Rate parameters serves up phasing, flanging and the modulation of its 12 all-pass filters far way up into the audible range – to 477kHz (yes, chorusing via a minimalist GUI beyond the norm for a phaser effect. The seriously) and 5khz respectively – for FM-style syncable LFO modulates them collectively effects. There’s also the expected Feedback Audio Damage QuatroMod (offsetting the frequency defined by the Center knob for emphasis, adjustable stereo 249 » 9/10 » $49 control), as you’d expect, but can also be modulation phase offset, and peak/notch Combining Flanger, Chorus, brought to bear on the spacing between them, inversion, and the whole thing comes together Diffusor and FreqShift sections, this the base amount of which is set by the Spread quite brilliantly as one of the most versatile, one’s a modulation beast mobile and powerful phasers we’ve ever seen. Here come the Mods Verdict At its low asking price, NI’s sublime bundle is an For Three superb modulation effects obvious must-have. Conventional phasing, with genuinely innovative features flanging and chorusing are only the tip of its Fantastic general sound quality creative iceberg, and the original features that We just can’t get enough of Phasis have been added are, without exception, both Cheap as chips inspired and inspiring. Ironically, we’d consider the briefly-free Phasis to be the best of the Against At this price, nothing bunch, but all three plugins are truly excellent. Whether you’re producing with guitars, This seemingly unassuming trio of acoustic drums and vocals, or operating entirely modulation plugins turns out to be one of in the electronic universe, Mod Pack needs to be the highlights of NI’s effects catalogue – in your creative toolbox. utterly essential! Flair’s Scan mode arpeggiates the ‘notes’ of the chord 10/10 with the LFO, via triangle and up or down ramp waves Web www.native-instruments.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 89 > reviews / mixed in key captain plugins

KEY AND SCALE PLAY MODE Settheseatthestartand Jam out progressions CHORD SELECTORS CHORD PROPERTIES change them at any time inrealtimeonyour Select a chord and Tweak each chord shape QWERTY keyboard its voicing and voicing

PROGRESSIONS Choosefrom68 preset four-chord progressions DIVIDER Chords can be RHYTHM AND split and NOTE LENGTH resized by Define the rhythm dragging these of your chords

VST OUTPUT Clickthistabto route MIDI to DAW tracks

PATTERN EXPORT SOUND PRESET Drag the thumbnail into your 150+ dance/pop-orientated DAW to export a MIDI clip sounds, plus effects MixedInKey Captain Plugins $79 Struggling with the compositional side of music production? This symbiotic plugin bundle could be all the assistance you need…

From the makers of the Mixed In Key and minors (blues, pentatonic, etc), as well as strings, plucks, keys, guitars, etc – complete with harmonic DJ mixing software (8/10, 104), modes (Locrian, Dorian, etc). reverb, delay and filter effects. The sounds are Captain Plugins is a bundle of three instrument/ Selection made, the main interface opens good, but you will, naturally, want to route MIDI FX plugins (VST/AU) for designing MIDI with your one-bar-long, three-note chord shown Chords to your own synths and samplers chord progressions (Captain Chords), basslines in the Verse tab’s piano roll display. The adjacent regardless. This is done using your DAW’s MIDI (Captain Deep) and leads (Captain Melody), plus Pre-Chorus, Chorus and Drop tabs each hold routing system with the VST version, while Logic a fourth (Captain Play) that self-contains the their own progressions (the names are purely users simply load the AU plugin in front of their other three’s ‘live’ Play mode. Aimed at dance for reference), for a song’s-worth of sequences. instrument of choice as a MIDI FX. and pop producers, it claims to be able to guide Starting playback loops the chord, triggering Clicking the + button to the right of the chord anyone – regardless of theory skills – all the way one of 150+ onboard sampled instruments – duplicates it into the next one-bar block, where to finished compositions via a friendly, easy-to- it’s edited using the two rows of buttons above. use interface. As the ‘source’ plugin on which The top row contains every chord in the chosen the others are based, Captain Chords is the main key, while the bottom row switches to show the attraction, so that’ll be the focus of our review. “You will, naturally, want various voicings for the selected chord. You can also enter a rest, or type in a custom chord. Captain speaking to route Captain Dragging a chord’s boundary marker resizes it, When you launch Captain Chords, you’re first and chords can be split in two at a click, making asked to choose a Key and Scale in which to Chords to your own it a snap to work in short ‘passing’ chords. The start your composition, or hit the Randomize base Key and Scale are editable at any time, too, button to have the gods make the choice for of course, automatically reconfiguring all the you. The Scale list includes all the usual majors synths and samplers” chords in the progression to match.

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“Stringing chord progressions together couldn’t be more intuitive or fun”

By default, chords are solid, legato blocks, but they can be turned into more temporally interesting passages using the Rhythm and Note Length menus. The first houses a huge list of preset rhythmic patterns, most of a decidedly dance music bent; the second offers quarter- notes, and regular and dotted eighth-notes Captain Melody automatically follows your Captain Chords progression alongside the default legato option. As powerful as these two systems are, they’d be much more so if they could be applied per-chord rather than Captains Deep and Melody only globally, as is currently the case. With a chord selected, various individually Built on the foundations of Captain Chords. Captain Melody takes its editable parameters do become accessible, Chords, Captain Deep and Captain onboard sounds from Chords’ library, however. Complexity adds bass notes to the Melody use the same underlying while Deep features 60 exclusive bass chord when raised from its default value of 4 (up processes to generate bass and lead/ sounds alongside Chords’ ‘Plucks’. to a maximum of 7), and thins it out at the top melodic lines. But what’s really clever is The parameters diverge with Deep’s when lowered. Inversion options comprise the that Deep and Melody are slaves to Shape options, and Melody’s Tension ‘Default’ triad, and ‘First’ and ‘Second’, as well as Chords, automatically updating their and Pattern menus. Shape determines the default ‘Minimize Leap’, which intelligently monophonic lines to follow the latter’s the way in which Deep’s bassline sets the optimal voice leading for the chord and progressions as you tweak them in real relates to Chords’ progression (‘Follow all those following it. Octave shifts the whole time. It’s like magic! the chords’, ‘Opposite movement’, etc). chord up and down the keyboard, and Flavor Being monophonic, as you’d expect, Tension controls how closely Melody lets you add extra notes – the 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th Deep and Melody lose the chord adheres to the notes of the key or and/or 13th. The interface is freely resizable, and selection, voicing and inversion chords, and thus how much dissonance various piano roll folding options are available, controls, but keep the Octave and, in is introduced; and Pattern, which works so keeping everything in view as your chords Melody’s case, Note Length menus. in tandem with the Rhythm menu, start to vary in height is never a problem. They also both draw on the same reorders the notes with 106 library of Rhythm patterns as Captain arpeggiations and sequences. Easy life The process of creating effective chord progressions in Captain Chords by adding, defining and resizing blocks really couldn’t be more intuitive or fun. Nonetheless, you can instead take a shortcut by loading one of 68 pre- disappointingly, for transfer to the piano roll for Alternatively designed minor or 69 major progressions from further tweaking). This mode is also available the Chords menu, for use as is or as a starting discretely as the Captain Play plugin. Plugin Boutique Scaler point for customisation. Said customisations 253 » 9/10 » £40 can’t be added to the menu, alas, but can be Aye, aye, Captain Suggests sets of chords to fit an stored as proprietary files. Captain Plugins achieves its goal of enabling incoming MIDI stream, and lets you Finally, with your progression complete, anyone to put together fully-realised sequence them into a progression. exporting it to the host DAW is as easy as compositional structures in absolute style. The dragging the thumbnail graphic from the interface is slick and fluid, the onboard sounds RF Music Scale Player bottom right corner to a MIDI track. are more than good enough for auditioning 252 » 8/10 » $59 As an alternative to all of that, though, if you’d purposes, and seeing and hearing Deep and Generate custom arpeggios and rather get ‘live and direct’ with your Melody follow changes made in Chords never sequences by playing around with composition, in the Play tab you can jam out gets old. Some knowledge of music theory just a handful of notes. chord progressions on your QWERTY keyboard, helps, but it’s in no way essential – just recording them for export as MIDI clips (but not, jamming around in Play mode or trying out Verdict random chord sequences in the piano roll are perfectly viable approaches. For Smooth, intuitive workflow The obvious issue with the three main Highly customisable progressions plugins right now is that you’re limited to their Great preset Rhythms (very extensive) prescribed harmonic and Decent onboard sounds rhythmic shapes, with no way to manually move Plugin linking is awesome individual notes. Trying to do so, however, pops up a dialog stating that “MIDI editing is coming Against Global Rhythm/Note Length soon”, so we very much look forward to that. No note editing at the time of writing Roadmap aside, even in its current form, Captain Plugins is a highly productive harmonic With its nifty interface, preset patterns and and melodic toolkit for experienced musicians progressions, and linked modules, Captain and total newcomers to composition alike. Plugins is an invaluable compositional aid In Play mode (or with Captain Play), chord progressions 9/10 are recorded in real time for eventual export Web www.mixedinkey.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 91 > reviews / softube weiss ds1-mk3

MID/SIDE WAVEFORM VIEW Activate to switch Fill the display with fro m left/right OPTIONS a real-time levels- LCD DISPLAY routing to M/S Get under the hood over-time analyser COMPRESSOR Keep an eye on your with three pages of SETTINGS levels and enjoy the editable preferences BANDWIDTH All the usuals, plus new Waveform view Adjust the width of the dual-stage release band-pass compression filter

SAFE LIMITER PRESETS A/B COMPARISON FREQUENCY Now with two new Filte r th e Pops open Softube’s Flip between algorithms on top of huge new preset two complete compression for PARALLEL COMP the original DS1 one de-essing and more browser DS1-MK3 setups Blend the uncompressed and compressed signals Softube Weiss DS1-MK3 $549 Costing a tenth as much as the hardware that inspired it, this boutique mastering plugin from the Swedish modellers could still break the bank…

The end result of a three-year development reassigned to switch the Gain knob between anything else). We appreciate the ability to tag collaboration between Softube and controlling Input, Output and Limiter levels, and our own presets and – to a lesser extent – attach hardware manufacturer Weiss, DS1-MK3 is an activating the nifty Waveform View. Softube’s photos to them, but all that could have been exacting emulation of the extraordinarily posh new preset browser, however, is a UX nightmare. implemented without such an ostentatious, digital mastering compressor/limiter of the It’s huge and it floats stubbornly on top of all intrusive interface. We really don’t look forward same name, initially released in 1990. The other windows, so on our 13" MacBook Pro, we to meeting it again in future Softube releases, original DS1 code has been ported to the have to drag it out of the way or dismiss it we have to say. software line by line, so it should, in theory, be entirely to be able to see the plugin again (or Moving on, DS1-MK3 is a compressor/ identical to the real thing in terms of expander, followed by a brickwall limiter. It can performance. However, Softube have increased be switched between L/R stereo and mid-side the processing resolution from 24-bit/96kHz to “The original DS1 code routings, with the Ch1 and Ch2 buttons selecting 32-bit/192kHz (it’s still 40-bit internally), made each channel for parameter editing, and the the ‘LCD’ display more interactive and Ganged button linking Left and Right or Mid and functional, and added two new Safety Limiter has been ported line Side. Sidechain linking is activated/deactivated algorithms to the original one: Type 1, for high- separately. The Safety Limiter has no controls RMS material, and Type 2 for True Peak limiting. by line, so it should, in other than On/Off and input Gain. DS1-MK3 uses a delay-based lookahead Weiss squad theory, be identical to system to do away with overshoots and other DS1-MK3’s GUI recreates the hardware fascia artefacts – a big deal for the hardware, but not beautifully – it’s clean, clear and sensibly laid so much in the software domain, where out. The redundant softkey buttons have been the real thing” lookahead is a ubiquitous feature among high-

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“Make no mistake, this is an ‘expert’ processing tool, as reflected in the eye- watering price” end effects. That doesn’t detract from its effectiveness, though, and the ability to adjust the lookahead time (up to 63ms) with the Preview slider in the LCD display is very useful MM-1 is included for tailoring transient response. with DS1-MK3, or The main compressor parameters are housed you can buy it on in the right-hand half of the plugin. The Attack its own control ranges from a crazy-fast 0.02ms (roughly a single sample) to 800ms, while the Maximum impact Release stage is rather more complicated, involving the balancing of Fast and Slow Release Bundled with it (and available on its uncompressed signals. After the parameters with the Average knob to determine own for $199, which, again seems quite compressor, brickwall limiting is its RMS response and shape. The release onset pricey), Weiss MM-1 Mastering applied, with the Limiter Gain pot can also be delayed by 0.02-8000ms, for Maximizer is a cut-down version of DS1- boosting or attenuating the input to the impressive precision when it comes to MK3, using the exact same algorithms, limiter by up to 18dB. smoothing out pumping artefacts. but with all of its big sibling’s The five Styles comprise The compression Ratio control ranges from parameters set automatically in the Transparent, Loud, Punch, Wide and 1:5 (expansion) all the way to 1000:1 (hard background via five preset ‘Styles’. Deess, each one delivering exactly the limiting). Of course, you don’t get the full range Simplicity itself to use, the only results its name suggests. Transparent of values in between those two endpoints – the front-facing controls on MM-1 are is the ‘default’, serving up amazingly increments start to widen significantly beyond Amount, Parallel Mix and Limiter Gain. unintrusive maximising, while Loud 10:1. The curvature of the knee is adjustable, too, Amount increases the depth of aims for maximum RMS, and Punch from a sharp angle with Soft Knee set to 0, to a compression applied, the specifics of prioritises impact and weight. Wide is very long curve (down from 0dBFS to twice the which are governed by the selected the mid-side option, emphasising Threshold) at 100. Style, while Parallel Mix is a stereo breadth and space; and Deess is, Rather than add a wet/dry mix control to DS1- straightforward wet/dry balancing obviously, a de-essing configuration, MK3, Softube have moved the Parallel knob for the compressed and for mixing as well as mastering. Compression button from the menu-driven options to the front panel. This simply sums the dry and processed signals, with the Gain Makeup knob setting the level of the latter. individual instruments. Clicking the Monitor Alternatively What’s the frequency? button solos the filtered signal, helpfully. DS1-MK3 also offers frequency-specific Speaking of monitoring, DS1-MK3 provides a FabFiiter Pro-L 2 dynamics shaping. Select a filter type (low-pass, lot of information via its faux LCD display, 255 » 10/10 » €149 high-pass or band-pass), adjust the cutoff or including input, output (peak and RMS) and gain Now with True Peak metering and centre frequency with the Frequency knob, and reduction levels (the last separately for the limiting, LUFS metering and eight narrow or widen the width of the band-pass compressor and limiter), the dynamics transfer limiting styles filter (if selected) with the Bandwidth knob. Only curve and clipping indicators. There’s also the the filtered frequencies are compressed, excellent Waveform view, which shows gain iZotope Ozone 8 Advanced enabling levelling of just the highs in a mix, the reduction, peak and RMS levels over time. 251 » 10/10 » £389 lows or anywhere in between, as well as Includes various powerful de-essing and targeting of problem areas in MK ultra dynamics shaping options geared DS1-MK3 oozes quality from every pixel. up specifically for mastering. Supremely transparent, surgically tweakable and empoweringly versatile, it’s a formidable Verdict enhancer of full mixes, group buses and even individual track elements. The speed, precision For Transparent when you want it to and cleanliness of the compressor are key, but be, punchy and hyped when you don’t the limiter sounds awesome, too. Make no New RMS and True Peak limiter modes mistake, though, this is an ‘expert’ processing Waveform view is very informative tool in every sense of the word, as reflected in MM-1 Mastering Maximizer included the eye-watering price. If you don’t possess the requisite engineering experience, Against Terrible preset browser understanding and ears, walk away. Your wallet will weep However, those with the skills and funds, and who like the idea of having a phenomenally If you can’t afford five grand for the second accurate virtualisation of one of the greatest hand hardware, Softube’s plugin Weiss DS1- mastering boxes ever built in their DAW or audio MK3 is a more than worthy substitute editor, are in for a real treat. We’re not sure what Softube were thinking when 9/10 they came up with their oversized preset browser…

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 93 > reviews / audio damage discord4

DELAY SHIFT SHIFTER Adjust the P1 and Two syncable delay FILTER Pitchshift left and right lines with feedback PITCHSHIFT channels by up to 3600 cents P2 Buffer, or various Variable band-pass MODE grain parameters and cross-feedback filters sit in the Choose vintage, feedback circuit modern or granular

REVERB MIDI SHIFT Also in the Control the feedback path, pitchshifters for sound design with MIDI input

PANORAMA Pan the left and right channels LFO DISPLAY LFO AMOUNT DUAL LFOS EEindependently Keep an eye on your Modulate the Shape the LFO waveform with pitchshifters, delays waveforms in this ‘oscilloscope’ and filters exquisite detail Audio Damage Discord4 $59 Proving that you can teach a teenage dog new tricks, the latest version of this seminal pitchshifter/delay plugin hits all the right notes

Eight years after the release of Discord 3 – LFOs provide modulation of pitches, delay times we’re concerned. Indeed, few would argue that and 14 years after the birth of v1 – veteran US and filter cutoff frequencies. The reason for the the clean new look isn’t a step up from the developers Audio Damage have updated the pluralisation there is that all of Discord’s sections previous incarnation in every sense. Eventide-inspired pitchshifter to give it a new apart from Reverb boast independent (but So, at the start of the signal path, up to three lease of life and get it in line with their other linkable when required) adjustment of all octaves of pitchshifting up or down is dialled in recent revamps. Like Eos 2 (9/10, 246), parameters for the left and right channels, for each channel in semitones or cents, or Kombinat Tri (10/10, 246) and Phosphor 2 putting the whole thing in a context of immense modulated by MIDI input with the MIDI Shift (9/10, 248), Discord 4 (VST/AU/AAX) has been stereo manipulation potential. button engaged. Apart from the LFO amount rebuilt with up-to-date libraries, given a full That’s the general gist of the plugin, then – controls, the contents of the Shifter panel are graphical makeover, and empowered with a now let’s get into the specifics. Mode-dependent. In the straightforward P1 and handful of new features. It’s been a while, so P2 modes, you get L/R Buffer dials, for tailoring here we’ll re-review Discord as a whole, Made over the size of the pitchshifting delay buffers to the highlighting the new stuff in v4 as we go. First, a Discord4’s new GUI is a radical departure, but source material. A longer buffer gives a quick overview… not one that users of v3 will find disorientating. smoother sound at the possible expense of Discord is – and always has been – a The only ‘loss’ is the funky animated visualiser, transient clarity. combination pitchshifter/delay for ADT, which has been partly replaced by oscilloscope- Granular Mode slices the input signal into tiny chorusing, echoing, spatial effects and sound style LFO displays – an improvement, as far as ‘grains’ to create its pitchshifting effect, and design. Version 1 was pretty much a straight-up populates the Shifter panel with a trio of knobs emulation of the Eventide H910 and H949 for messing with those grains. Size and Period Harmonizers, but that remit was expanded with “Few would argue that determine the length of each grain and the version 3, which introduced two additional spacing between them in milliseconds, while Modes: the more modern sounding P2 (the the clean new look isn’t Chaos increasingly randomises the grains in original algorithm became P1), and the crazy G2 terms of pitch and spacing. With the LFOs in Granular. All three Modes remain present and astepup from the play, Granular mode is the one to go for when correct in v4, and the pitchshifting is still at the you’re after crazy, experimental stereo shifting front of a feedback loop, followed by Delay and effects, particularly with sustained sources. Filter sections, plus a new reverb; while two previous incarnation”

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“Granular Mode is the one to go for when you’re after crazy, experimental stereo shifting effects”

Feed me The pitchshifted signal outputs to the delay The new Reverb section puts spatialising FX in the feedback circuit lines, which offer up to 2000ms of syncable delay Time. The Regen and X-Regen controls feed the signal back to the pitchshifter input after it’s been through the filters and reverb, for Good reverberations repeated shifting, filtering and reverberation. Regen is a direct feed, while X-Regen feeds left If Discord4 has a headline new feature, case being the output of the into right and vice versa. it’s the Reverb section. Rather than pitchshifter/delay/filter chain, not the The filters combine low-pass and high-pass sitting all on its own at the very end of original source sound. Hitting the responses in a variable-width band-pass design, the signal path, this is positioned within Freeze button, meanwhile, ‘holds’ the edited by dragging the central dot around in the the feedback circuit, as fed by the Delay reverb until deactivated, for a display. The final stages are the Reverb (see Regen and X-Regen dials. continuous, infinite tail Good reverberations), the new Panorama knobs Operationally, it’s a very simple As part of the feedback loop, the – enabling independent panning of the Left and affair, as you’d expect, with just four Reverb adds a whole new string to Right output signals for width manipulation – parameters. The Size knob affects the Discord’s sound design bow, and the dry/wet Mix. perceived space generated by the introducing ambient space at low Modulation comes in the form of two LFOs, algorithm and the duration of the tail, Regen levels, and smearing the which have been considerably beefed up from and ranges from ‘tiny cupboard’ to pitchshifted delays at high settings for those of Discord 3. The old Waveform buttons ‘cavernous’. The Color control applies a all sorts of blurs and washes. Size, Color and Waveshape slider have been merged into a high-shelving EQ to the reverb, and Mix make for creatively valid single Wave knob, which morphs smoothly from brightening it as its raised. And the Mix automation targets, too, introducing a double-frequency sine wave at 0%, through a knob sets the audible balance between another layer of modulation to those regular sine wave at 25% and a triangle at 75%, the ‘dry’ and wet signals – dry in this feedback soundscapes. to a square at 100%. On top of that, the Skew and Warp knobs alter the horizontal and vertical symmetry of the waveform, for detailed shaping, as visualised in real time in the new LFO displays. The LFOs run at 0.01-14Hz, and are and Reverb sections, which makes with/without applied independently to each target parameter comparisons more fiddly than they need to be – (pitch, delay time, filter cutoff) via the amount impossible in the case of the filter, in fact. knobs found throughout the interface. These are very minor gripes, though, with a Alternatively plugin that hasn’t had anything to prove for Sowing discord years. From fabulous vintage-style shifting, Unfiltered Audio Fault With Discord still a firm fixture in our ‘favourite doubling and harmonising to a world of unique 236 » 9/10 » £99 plugins’ list, as it has been since version 1, there granulising, smearing, glissando-ing and Impressive pitchshifting, frequency was clearly no way v4 was going to disappoint. mangling effects, Discord4 is a bona fide classic. shifting and delay multieffect with The reverb is a great addition for sound design, If you’re not already a user, there’s never been a freeform modulation system. and the redesigned LFOs are brilliant – it’s a better time to become one; and if you are, the shame they can’t be pointed at the Panorama $10 upgrade is an obvious must-do. Inear Display Incipit controls, though. We’re also still occasionally 232 » 9/10 » €47 irked by the inability to bypass the Delay, Filter Web www.audiodamage.com Pitchshifting, filtering and delay come together in three separate serial or parallel chains.

Verdict For Still got it, after all these years Reverb in feedback circuit Incredibly flexible LFOs Separately L/R output panning Freely resizable GUI

Against Small preset library No Delay, Filter or Reverb bypass

Audio Damage’s mighty shifter/delay is more versatile, powerful and inspiring than ever in its fourth incarnation

9/10 Discord4’s browser is clean and functional, but it only comes with 20 factory patches to get you started

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 95 > reviews / sonnox voxdoubler

Sonnox VoxDoubler £83 With this two-plugin solution for generating vocal double-tracks in your software arsenal, you can let the singer go home early…

Sonnox’ new Toolbox series of plugin effects 0% to level with the dry signal at 100%. This isn’t being admirably simple and intuitive. aims to be more approachable and task- a standard dry/wet mix control, then, with 100% On the downside, one plugin with a Widen/ specific than their regular output. The first in the dry at one end and 100% wet at the other, but Thicken mode switch would be preferable to range, VoxDoubler (VST/AU/AAX), is a vocal the Aux mode switch sets the output to 100% two; and the CPU hit is impressively high, doubling processor for conjuring “realistic wet for use on an auxiliary return channel, and a although that reflects the quality of the effect. double-tracking effects from a single vocal pre-fader auxiliary send can be used if, for Ultimately, for quick and easy vocal (and performance.” It actually comprises a pair of whatever reason, you need to make your other sources, if you’re feeling experimental) separate plugins: VoxDoubler Widen and doubled vocals louder than the dry signal. doubling, VoxDoubler is more than just a VoxDoubler Thicken. VoxDoubler Widen applies Adjusting the two Humanise controls (see second-rate substitute for calling your vocalist its doubling effect by generating two new mono The human touch) applies timing and pitch back in after the event. It’s capable of delivering voices and panning them to either side of the variation to the double, while the Depth and such convincing double-tracking that you might source signal, while Thicken serves up a single Tone knobs change the character of the doubled even find yourself opting for it over the hassle of stereo voice layered over the source. vocal. Depth uses a high-shelf filter and a fixed recording the real thing. delay to simulate an increase in physical Two for one distance between the double and original, Web www.sonnox.com Sonnox say that the Toolbox range puts ease of separating them in the mix. Even at 100%, this use at the top of the agenda, and VoxDoubler separation is, quite rightly, gentle – it isn’t meant certainly supports that claim. Both plugins share to be an actual filter delay, after all. Tone is Alternatively an almost-identical array of just six adjustable rather more overt, using a tilt EQ to brighten or parameters, the only difference between them darken the double for mix positioning and Waves Doubler being the top right knob. For Widen, this is the creative colouration. NA » NA » $99 Width dial, setting the panning depth for the two Waves’ venerable plugin uses delay mono doubled voices, from dead centre at 0% Double or quits and pitch modulation to work its to hard left/right at 100%. With Thicken, the It goes without saying that VoxDoubler is doubling magic. knob handles Stereo Spread, ranging from destined to live or die by the authenticity of its replication of the source signal’s stereo image at double-tracking emulation. Thankfully, it sounds Softube Fix Flanger and Doubler 100%, through mono at 50% to full inversion of fantastic – all but indistinguishable from the real 229 » 9/10 » $149 left and right at 0%. thing when set up and mixed in carefully, in fact Based on Paul Wolff’s 70s AD-2 Beyond that, the two plugins are the same, – and the two very different styles of doubling hardware prototype, Fix Doubler is operationally speaking. The Mix knob controls give it plenty of fundamental sonic scope. a powerful doubler/chorus plugin. the volume of the doubled vocals from silent at Secondary to that, the interface is a joy to use, Verdict For Instant, effortless vocal doubling The human touch Two distinct styles of doubling Humanise and Depth controls are Central to the realism of VoxDoubler’s faux up past 20% , though, and the effect is amazingly effective doubling, the two Humanise parameters incredibly authentic, until at around 70% it Freely resizable GUI enable emulation of the organic fluctuations starts to feel more like a delay, which has and differences between vocal takes that potential for creative use on an auxiliary Against Serious CPU hit necessarily occur when recording a singer. return. Indeed, a video on the Sonnox Would be better as a single plugin They’re self-explanatory, really. Timing website shows it creating predelay in front of and Pitch each dial in natural variation in a reverb plugin. Deployed with due care and attention, their titular aspect of the ‘performance’. At The Pitch knob applies the same organic VoxDoubler does an astonishingly good 0% (and with Depth also at 0%), Timing yields variance to the pitch of the doubled vocal, job of double-tracking vocals a super-tight double that actually sounds too from subtle wavering at low settings to 9/10 close to the source to be convincing; crank it audible detuning at the upper reaches.

96 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

> reviews / audified dw drum enhancer

Audified DW Drum Enhancer $199 Bringing four essential mixing processors together in one simplified interface, is this new plugin really all you need for perfect drums?

Created in collaboration with Drum three options within the Snare, Kick, Toms or the interest of maximising operational Workshop, manufacturers of arguably the Other quadrant of the Drum Type selector. For simplicity; and although DW Drum Enhancer finest drums in the world, Audified’s latest is a the first three, these are Modern, Heavy and strikes a good balance, by and large, the lack of multieffects processor that combines gating, Vintage, while the Others are Room, OH precision can become an issue. compression, EQ and tube-style saturation in a (overheads) and Bus. Your selection here has a DW Drum Enhancer probably won’t replace single plugin (VST/AU/AAX), tuned explicitly for profound impact on the sound of the plugin, your established drum mixing chains, but for the processing of multitrack drums and drum reconfiguring the inner workings of the four getting quality results with a minimum of user buses. The partnership is a bit of a puzzler, processing blocks – see All change below. input, it’s largely successful. And being so quick though, as building drums and mixing The first block in the chain is the noise Gate, and easy to use, it’s an empowering plugin that recordings of drums are two completely featuring a Threshold knob and a choice of Hard mixing novices should certainly check out. separate things. There’s talk of the involvement or Soft knee. Next comes either Compressor or of “DW engineers” in the blurb, but we don’t EQ, depending on the status of the EQ Position Web www.audified.com know whether that refers to audio engineers or switch. Compressor gives access to Threshold, drum design engineers… Mix (for parallel compression) and Make-up gain, while EQ simply offers gain knobs (up to On the DW +/-12dB) for its Hi, Mid and Low bands, and on/off Anyway, with DW Drum Enhancer loaded onto switches for LP and HP filters. every channel of your drum kit mix, or just the At the end of the chain, the Saturation knob Alternatively group bus, you’ll generally want to start with a applies valve-emulating distortion to the output. setup from the drum/task-specific preset Five Saturation algorithms are available, iZotope Neutron 2 Advanced menus. These are categorised ‘Bus’, ‘Kick’, between them presenting a wide range of 252 » 9/10 » £389 ‘Snare’, ‘OH’, ‘Room’, etc, and each category harmonic-enhancing flavours, all with an If you want to streamline your contains a good range of descriptively-named authentically analogue sound. drum-mixing workflow, Neutron 2 presets. The naming of certain entries as ‘DW’ does the hard work for you presets is a bit meaningless, though. Apparently Non-surgically enhanced they were created by processing DW drums, but While the four modules sound great – Slate Digital VMR that obviously has no bearing whatsoever on particularly Saturation – the inability to tweak 214 » 9/10 » $199 the sonic outcome, as that depends entirely on attack/release times and EQ frequencies is a Start with four classic processors the drums you’re treating. hindrance. Indeed, this is an inevitable issue with and add more from an ever- When it comes to dialling in your own any ‘boiled-down’ system that merges and expanding library as you see fit settings, the first thing to do is choose one of the conceals complex parameters under the hood in Verdict For Very easy to use All change Focused, convenient drums processing Comprehensive preset library At the heart of DW Drum Enhancer, the Drum the style of compression applied, with the Very tasty saturation and distortion Type selector tailors the Gate, Compressor Heavy and Vintage settings deploying “two and EQ modules to the specific drum and popular transistor” models, and Modern Against Meaningless DW presets sonic style – or ‘Other’ signal (Room, OH or using a “pure digital” one. Not enough control for deep tweaking Bus) – chosen from among its 12 circularly With EQ only enabling hands-on control of No next/previous preset buttons arranged options. gain and filter on/off via the front panel, it’s For Gate, the parameters governed are left to the Drum Type to determine not only Confusing Drum Workshop tie-in aside, attack and release times. Compressor’s the centre frequency of each parametric DW Drum Enhancer is an intuitive and attack and release are also established band and the cutoff frequencies of both broadly effective mixing tool for drums entirely by the Drum Type, as are the shape of filters, but also the shape and steepness of its knee, the sidechain filter frequency and the roll-off slopes. 7/10

98 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018

mini reviews / reviews < mini reviews

Krotos Audio Weaponiser £311 (Basic), £455 (Fully Loaded)

Web www.krotosaudio.com apply a range of insert effects Format PC/Mac and reverb; and position the engines on the timeline editor Having made their mark on the movie sound to create the perfect shot or design industry with the amazing Dehumaniser, shots for the environment in Scottish developers Krotos Audio turn their which your player or attention to firearm sound effects. Coming in character finds themselves. two versions – Basic (1.88GB, 952 assets) and The red Fire button Fully Loaded (5.5GB, 2288 assets) – Weaponiser auditions the sound, and is a sampling and synthesis plugin (VST/AU/AAX) activating Burst Mode repeats built on a vast library of recordings of four it until Fire is released, at a (Basic) or 13 (Fully Loaded) rifles, assault rifles, speed determined by the Fire hand guns, shotguns and SMGs, captured from Rate dial, cycling through the multiple mic positions (0-200 metres), as well as samples loaded into each bullet impacts, zings and other ‘sweeteners’, and layer. The only weak spot is 39 impulse responses for the onboard that the samples in a Bank convolution reverb. can only be stepped through in order, rather around in its powerful ballistic playground. The interface is far easier to use than it looks. than randomly, but there are also tons of And there is a lot here for musicians to like, Load up to five samples (from the library or properly recorded bursts to be found in the too – despite the high asking price, which will be external) into each of the four Banks in each of sample library when total realism is required. prohibitive to all but the most well-off. The the colour-coded Onset, Body, Thump and Tail With Weaponiser predominantly aimed at creation of risers, impacts and FX is the obvious engines; edit and/or randomise their playback game and movie sound designers, it’s clearly application; but it’s also a unique layering tool speeds or amp envelopes; mix in a dedicated FM destined to become the industry standard for for adventurous beat-builders. or sine wave synth for three of the engines; gun sounds – you can easily lose hours tooling n9/10n

Universal Audio Big Fish Audio Neve Preamp £115 Vintage Vocals £172 Web www.uaudio.com Web www.timespace.com Format PC/Mac, UAD-2/Apollo/Arrow Format PC/Mac, Kontakt/Kontakt Player

An exacting, Unison- The latest ‘Vintage’ sample library enabled emulation of for Kontakt Player from BFA and Neve’s 1290 module – Funk/Soul Productions integrates essentially the 2GB of female vocal recordings, preamp from the produced with a 60s/70s flavour. classic 1073 EQ – Neve Three singers were used, and Preamp delivers that each one performs Vintage famous Neve Class-A Vocals’ full range of articulations sound via the balancing of input preamp and output amp gain, solo, alongside four ensemble and features a line input option, phase inversion and an 80Hz NKIs that have them belting out high-pass filter. the Sustained articulations as Major and Minor Chords, Major Its position relative to UA’s existing Neve 1073 Preamp & EQ 3rds and in Unison. The solo NKIs have also been wrapped into Collection is a bit of an odd one, though. The new plugin a set of all-articulation Major, Minor and Unison Multis. combines the characteristics of the real 1073 and the 1290, but It all looks good so far, but things take a turn for the the sonic differences between it and the Neve 1073 (with flat EQ) mediocre with the aforementioned ‘full range of articulations’, certainly aren’t profound enough for existing owners of the consisting of Sustain, Staccato and Swell versions of ‘Ah’, ‘Oh’ latter to reap much benefit, unless they need a low-DSP and ‘Ooh’… and nothing more. It’s a pretty shallow palette, and alternative (12% DSP vs 36%). Indeed, it really feels like it should the adjustable parameters in the scripted Kontakt interface be included with the 1073 Collection for free. For Neve don’t enable much in the way of transformation, amounting to newcomers who don’t need the EQ, though (we’re guessing bass/treble EQ, envelope, tape saturation and reverb. users of the new Arrow interface are the main target market), at The singers themselves sound great, and Vintage Vocals is half the price of the full enchilada, Neve Preamp is a beautiful useful for non-verbal backing beds of a very particular kind, and authentic infuser of warmth, saturation and punch for but there’s just not enough flexibility here to justify the tracking and mixing. surprisingly high asking price. n8/10n n6/10n

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 101 > reviews / mini reviews

Soundware round-up

Noiiz Dirty Flute Subscription This funky collection of 137 loops and 53 one-shots, performed and produced on the titular instrument by multi-instrumentalist Stargazer, focuses on more aggressive blowing, but finds the time for mellower moments, too. The performances are sublime, serving up everything from intensely rhythmic riffs and groovy melodies to adaptable flutters, stabs and other techniques. There’s just the right level of grit to the recordings, and further light processing has been used to take things in unexpected directions. Fun and fruitful (flute-ful?), this is one to savour. www.noiiz.com n9/10n

Sample Magic UK Trap £15 The main draw of Sample Magic’s latest budget library is an impressive selection of stemmed drum loops and kit element hits, but they’re by no means the end of the story. The basslines are a little more inventive than the usual sub-loaded trap fare, with some interesting layers, resonances and noise baked in; and the 13 ‘music loop’ mini construction kits are similarly unusual, although some are more successful than others. Confidently produced and coming at trap from an original angle, for the price, this is a bit of a steal. www.samplemagic.com Samplestate n8/10n

Apollo 84 Goldbaby Sub-Low Tech £25 MPC60 Collection $39 New Zealand samplist Goldbaby wrings every drop of phat from Akai’s turning-point 12-bit groove sampler The debut soundware release from with this 500MB repository of one-shot samples, patches and projects for Maschine, Live, Kontakt, Apollo 84 is simply one of the best Geist, Battery and EXS24. A compilation of his previous three MPC60 libraries, but with many tech-house libraries we’ve heard. 55 samples “retuned and remastered”, MPC60 Collection is a riotous lucky dip of drums, basses, supremely punchy drum loops partner leads, chords, FX, processed and robotic vocal shots, all with that trademark Goldbaby warmth. Absolutely with 100 mix-ready percussion and top essential for producers of hip-hop and R&B. www.goldbaby.co.nz loops for mixing and matching, while n10/10n the Music Loops folder is bursting with quality basses, pads, synths, vox and Loopmasters Dramatic Cinema £45 more. A ton of one-shots are also 4GB of epic-scale loops and shots for soundtracking, as well as downtempo and ambient production, with supplied as WAVs and Apple Loops, source instrumentation including synths and electronic drums, orchestral percussion, electric and rolled into tasty Instrument and guitar and bass, piano and violin. At tempos from 80 to 120bpm, each loop is given room to breathe and Drum Racks for Ableton Live. A must- develop, while the richly varied one-shots are equally well-realised. There’s a synthwave-y moodiness to the have for house heads. electronic side of the collection that feels very ‘now’, and the acoustic material flits adroitly between www.loopmasters.com drama, romance and fantasy. Superb. www.loopmasters.com n10/1 n9/10n

102 / COMPUTER MUSIC June 2018 mini reviews / reviews <

Gothic Instruments RedRoomAudio Dronar Metal and Glass £60 SAGA Acoustic Trailer Another month, another Dronar Kontakt library from Percussion £119 Alessandro Camnasio. This one’s 4.65GB in weight (2544 samples), and takes you to a “world of utopian A 4GB scripted Kontakt library of drums (taiko, surdo, futurism” using a junkyard of heavily processed snares, toms, etc), gongs, and other metalwork source material including bottles, chains, Tibetan (doors, machinery, etc), designed with “cinematic bowls, broken cymbals, nails and, er, magnets, played music” in mind. One hundred and ten instruments with bow, mallets and each other. The main thrust is are squeezed into ten NKIs, with articulations gently uplifting pads, drones, textures, etc, all of mapped across the keyboard (or individually pitched which are fabulous; while the scripted engine gives over five octaves), making it easy to play. For mixing endless variability in shaping. A return to form after and processing, there are close and far mic channels, the lacklustre Dronar Brass Module (7/10, 255). EQ and various effects. A well-produced library that’s www.timespace.com unique in its anvils, oil drums and other oddities. www.timespace.com n9/10n n8/10n

Sample Tools by Cr2 RV Samplepacks Nu Trance £16 Future Funk and Soul 2 £25 Cr2’s latest affordable floorfiller puts the current The sequel to 2017’s well-received funk/disco/R&B trance sound in the spotlight, and is as anthemic as library delivers almost 1GB of tasteful, uplifting and they come, centring on 20 huge stemmed drum satisfyingly predictable beats, b-lines and melodics, loops (114 files), and similar numbers of basses, synth at tempos from 100-120bpm. The 29 stemmed drum lines and FX, the last two also included as MIDI files. loops (117 files) exude swing and swagger, while the The production quality is well up to the label’s usual basses mix up synth and electric instruments, and high standard, and the Massive and Serum presets the melodics run the gamut of sparkling EPs, cheeky are a nice bonus. The jewel in the crown, though, is pitchbent synths and choppy guitars. It’s a well the quartet of detailed and release-worthy crafted and versatile toolkit, although let down a little Songstarter construction kits, two of which even by the number of variations on each bass and music include vocals. loop, which make it feel bigger than it actually is. sounds.beatport.com www.loopmasters.com n8/10n n8/10n

ModeAudio UNDRGRND Sounds Dark Mass £18 Lo-Fi Deep House £35 With the tagline “Ambient Drone Samples”, little 1.5GB of gritty deep house loops and shots, put explanation is needed as to the general gist of this together using a host of vintage synths, drum one. You get 200 loops for your money, 125 of them machines, outboard and tape decks. The 40 the core Ambiances [sic], comprising more than 50 stemmed drum loops (160 files) and basslines are groups of between two and four layers each, at 5-23 distinctly old-school in style; the synths infused with seconds in length; 25 of them granular-processed dirt and wonkiness; and the vocals perfectly ear- versions of a selection from the former; and the 50 catching. The full-mix music loops and their super- Subs being low-end under-layers for each Ambiance grungy cassette loop counterparts make for fun group. Covering a broad variety of textural colours sampler-fodder, while the ‘sampled tape’ loops and modalities, and ripe for modulation and constitute a grab bag of inspirational elements. Retro mangling, Dark Mass is a lovely thing. yet relevant. www.modeaudio.com www.undrgrndsounds.com n9/10n n8/10n

Sample Magic Soundsmiths Berlin Techno Sessions £15 Stripped Future Pop £19 We very much approve of Sample Magic’s new Essentially ten construction kits divided into pricing strategy, apparently to make their new instrumental loop folders and separately carved up sample libraries 20 quid cheaper than their previous into one-shots, Stripped Future Pop cites Ed Sheeran, ones, but without losing anything in terms of content. Alessia Cara, Diplo, Skrillex and Calvin Harris among Indeed, there’s so much to get your teeth into with its influences – and its tightly produced underlying Berlin Techno Sessions, it’s as if they’ve made a tracks are as eclectic as that mixture implies. Each kit brilliant mistake. From thunderous, rolling drums, includes options for the drums, bass, chords and lead wall-shaking basses and sinuous TB-303 work-outs to elements, so there’s a bit of room for manoeuvre a wealth of atmospheres, percussion and ride loops, within the ten song frameworks. We’re not blown synths and one-shots (drums, basses, synths and FX), away by the synth programming, though, which is it’s a sonic wonderland for the techno purist. perhaps a little too stripped back in places. www.samplemagic.com www.loopmasters.com n9/10n n7/10n

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 103 > free samples / future rave

SAMPLES GIVEAWAY FUTURE RAVE

Whistle crew! Don your reflective tabbards and white gloves as we travel back three decades for a shape-throwing sesh. In this exclusive pack of 513 EXCLUSIVE SAMPLES over 500 sounds, you’ll find including… bouncing bass loops, 132 Chord Stabs and Siren Hits 72 Drum Hits and Loops chopped-up beats, stabby 32 BassLoops DOWNLOAD 67 Music Loops Get these exclusive samples on your PC/Mac over at sequences, hands-in-the-air 6 Multis filesilo.co.uk/computermusic 120 Music Loops by BPM pads, hoover-syle synths and much more. Now you’ll be able to sprinkle your tunes with that 90s magic… without the copyright hassles of sampling!

CM Phatty Pack Avoid digital sterility with this month’s 477 WAV SOUNDS bonus samples. Stuffed full of rock-solid basses, snarling leads, twangy plucks, including… noisy FX and more, this exclusive 57 Basses collection will give your electronic 63 Leads productions the heft and flavour they 38 NoiseandPerc 113 Kicks need. And you also get a load of analogue- 128 Snares and Claps driven TR-808 one-shot drums. Go grab 63 Hi-hats the pack from the DVD that comes with 15 808 Bass PHATTY PACK the print edition, or download it from www.filesilo.co.uk/computermusic now.

104 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 loopmasters / free samples <

Loopmasters CM256 samples Get them on the DVD or download from filesilo.co.uk/computermusic

01 RV Samplepacks Lo Fi Keys 05 DJ Wady Latin Underground 02 Funk Constructor Vol. 3 06 Samplestate Essential Lo Fi House 03 Artisan Audio Indelible Techno 07 Salaryman DNB Propulsion 04 Jazz Hop Dreams 08 Vibes Rock N Roll Anthology

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 105

plugins <

DOWNLOAD As well as on our DVD, you’ll find all these plugins at PLUGINS filesilo.co.uk/computermusic You get more than 75 instruments and efects with every issue of . Keep on top of this exclusive plugin suite with our directory

The Plugins collection is a just drop into your plugin folders. What happened to…? suite of complete, limitation-free FREQUENTLY There’s a bit more info on p113, As of 209, almost all Plugins instrument and effects plugins. It’s ASKED and there are specific installation are 64-bit compatible. The few an incredible resource, boasting QUESTIONS instructions for each in the How To older Plugins that remain more than 75 pro-quality plugins Install file in the CM Plugins folder. 32-bit-only – such as Amplifikation that you won’t find anywhere else, Enough talking! Where do I get CM, Rhino CM and KR-Delay/ all for PC and Mac, in VST and AU these plugins? What do I need to use them? KR-Reverb – are now included in formats. All of the included You can grab them all on the cover APCorMacandamusicprogram the 32-bit only subfolders. These software is created exclusively for DVD with our print edition, or as a (aka DAW) to host them. You need plugins require either a 32-bit host us by respected commercial download from FileSilo (see p5 for a DAW that can host VST or AU or a suitable ‘bit bridge’ (eg, developers such as D16 Group, instructions on how to access). plugins, such as Ableton Live, jBridge) for use in a 64-bit DAW. u-he, AudioRealism, Ohm Force, Reaper, FL Studio (PC), Cubase, KV331 Audio, Cableguys, XILS-lab, How do I install Plugins? Sonar (PC), Logic (Mac) or Still got questions? AudioThing, Vengeance-Sound, Rob It depends on the plugin. Some have GarageBand (Mac). A free See the full FAQ at Papen, zplane and more. dedicated installers, while others PC/Mac option is Tracktion 6. bit.ly/cmpluginsfaq

FEATURED PLUGIN Vengeance-Sound Scope This comprehensive visualisation plugin offers pro-level insight into your signals. Whether you’re viewing waveform information in Scope view, analysing frequencies using Spectrum mode, checking out your girth with the Stereofield analyser, or if you simply want more comprehensive channel metering, Scope does all of that, and even more to boot! www.vengeance-sound.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 107 PLUGINS INSTRUMENTS

HYBRID SYNTHS

Our synths have been created by the best software developers in the world to bring you a suite of sound-making tools for u-he Zebra CM Enzyme CM KV331AudioSynthMasterCM all music production scenarios s Blendable oscillator waveforms s Scanned synthesis sound generator s Dual wavescanning oscillators s Super-programmable step LFOs s Easy-to-use preset-based synth s Multimode filter and built-in effects s Slick delay, reverb and chorus s Assign parameters to controls s FM/AM synthesis modes s Original synth designed just for CM s Based on the full Enzyme synth s Based on SynthMaster 2.5 s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.u-he.com humanoidsoundsystems.com www.kv331audio.com

CableguysCurve2.6CM Synapse Audio Dune CM Klevgränd Enkl CM u-heBazilleCM s Design-your-own-waveforms synth s VA and wavetable oscillators s Classic monosynth design s Patchable modular synthesiser s New waveform capabilities for v2.6 s Powerful per-voice modulation s Modulation, arpeggiator, effects s Sequencer and Mapping Generator s Phat 16-voice Unison mode s 12-slot modulation matrix s FM, AM and LFO/envelope combo s Audio-rate modulation, Fractalizer s Based on Cableguys Curve 2.6 s Based on the full version of Dune s Based on the full Enkl synth s Huge how-to guide in 232 s AU/VST/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST 32-/64-bit s AU/VST 32-/64-bit www.cableguys.com www.synapse-audio.com www.klevgrand.se www.u-he.com

VIRTUAL ANALOGUE SYNTHS

Get the sounds of sought-after circuits with our

classic collection LinPlug Alpha CM XILS-lab PolyKB II CM Madrona Labs Aalto CM XILS-lab XILS 3 CM s Dual oscillators with wave blending s Models the ultra-rare PolyKobol s Unusual oscillators with FM s Modelled on the EMS VCS 3 modular s Mod matrix, slick chorus effect s Packed with mix-ready presets s Intuitively patchable modulation s Authentic circuits of the original s Polyphonic glide between notes s Assign knobs to main parameters s Onboard reverb s Step sequencing s Added chorus and delay effects s Based on the commercial Alpha s Based on XILS-lab’s PolyKB II s Based on the full Aalto synth s Pin matrices to ‘patch’ signal flow s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.linplug.com www.xils-lab.com www.madronalabs.com www.xils-lab.com

DRUM MACHINES

Get heads nodding and design better beats DopeVST Beat Machine CM AudioRealism ADM CM brunsandsporkGroooveCM XILS-lab StiX CM s 50 ready-mixed royalty-free kits s Old-school-style drum machine s Load in two samples per sound s Drum synth with sequencer s 50 MIDI beats included s Emulates Roland’s TR-606 and set their velocity response s Load preset kits and grooves s Kick, Snare, Hi-hat and Misc parts s Also contains custom samples s 50 built-in Micro Kits to play s Apply effects and mix each sound s Level, Pan, Pitch and Reverb s Based on the full ADM s Based on the full Grooove s Polystep modulation and more s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.dopevst.com www.audiorealism.se www.brunsandspork.com www.xils-lab.com

108 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 s s s s s s s s s s www.dopevst.com www.robpapen.com o ae GMtdCM RG-Muted Papen Rob oeS asEgn CM Engine Bass DopeVST highly customisable instruments files withthesecreative and sliceandloopyour audio Import, UVT 32-/64-bit AU/VST, controls note and Envelope included riffs MIDI 50 bass faux-sampled of eras Three patches bass hip-hop authentic 45 UVT 32-/64-bit AU/VST, RG Papen Rob on Based options modulation and Effects sequencer Onboard grooves guitar funk realistic Create

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COMPUTER MUSIC s s s s s www.eisenberg-audio.de www.camelaudio.com 32-/64-bit) (AU/VST, patches ready-to-play awesome 200 with Bundled www.autotonic.net PC/Mac) app (Standalone, MIDI this with key in Stay PLUS… iebr ikagCM Einklang Eisenberg lhm lyrCM Player Alchemy Audio Camel CM AutoTonic UVT 32-/64-bit AU/VST, synth Einklang full the on Based LFO the with tone Modulate controls timbre and Envelope oscillators of trio a between Morph plugins Plugins

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< PLUGINS EFFECTS

DYNAMICS

Check out this huge collection of processors – from classic compressors to modern digital

creations, we’ve got everything eaReckon CM-COMP 87 LVC-Audio Transector CM Audiority TS-1 CM s Slick, punchy compressor s Transient tweaking and saturation s Flavoursome transient shaper you need to shape your signals s Mix knob for parallel compression s Define and process envelope stages s Set attack and sustain gain s Limiter to keep the output in check s Useful metering/display functions s Blend control for parallel processing s Clear VU- and LED-style metering s Mix control for parallel processing s Based on the full TS-1 plugin s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.eareckon.com www.lvcaudio.com www.audiority.com

Unfiltered Audio G8 CM HoRNet Fat-FET HoRNet DrumShaper audioD3CK SunRuys CM Toneboosters s Get tight dynamics or creative FX s FET-style compressor s Instant EQ & compression for drums s Characterful bus compressor Sibalance CM s Includes advanced gating controls s Similar to the classic Urei 1176LN s Dial in effect amount & in/out gain s Dry/wet mix and blend controls s Pro-quality de-esser and de-harsher s Real-time waveform display s Ultra-fast attack as low as 0.02ms s 7 algorithms: kick, snare, loops, etc s Advanced options to go deeper s Four modes for different use cases s Use MIDI as a trigger or output s Based on HoRNet MultiComp s Based on HoRNet TrackShaper s Based on the full SunRuys plugin s Select Reduction & Attack amounts s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/RTAS/AAX, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.unfilteredaudio.com www.hornetplugins.com www.hornetplugins.com audio.d3ck.net www.toneboosters.com

D16 Group Frontier Ignite VST Vice One Toneboosters SKnote Snap s Superb mixing/mastering limiter s Talented compressor sold for $49 Barricade CM s Boost or tame transient brightness s Set Threshold and Output s Choose between analogue or s Intelligent mastering-grade limiter s Brighten or dull a sound’s sustain s Choose detection and release styles digital response characteristics s Dynamic response controls s Uses two intelligently-linked filters s Soft Clip control for drive/distortion s In/out and gain reduction metering s Stereo options, versatile metering s Not based on any existing plugin s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.d16.pl www.ignitevst.com www.toneboosters.com www.sknote.it

ANALYSIS

Rule the waves and make your music come alive before your very eyes with the help of these pro visualisation tools Blue Cat Audio Photosounder Spiral CM Vengeance-Sound Scope FreqAnalyst CM s Musical, note-based analyser s Spectrum for frequency analysis s Pro-quality, feature-packed analyser s Useful for figuring out notes in s Oscilloscope for waveform view s Numerous customisation options audio and grasping music theory s Stereo phase and level metering s Based on Blue Cat FreqAnalyst s Based on the full Spiral plugin s Tons of advanced analysis options s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit, RTAS 32-bit s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit www.bluecataudio.com www.photosounder.com www.vengeance-sound.com

110 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 plugins <

EQ/ FILTERS

From basic clean-up filters to juicy, analogue-style EQ units and creative efects, get your spectrum sorted with these Acustica Audio Pink CM DDMF CM EQ Pack Vengeance-Sound Philta CM virtual signal-sculptors s Analogue-modelled API-alike EQ s Two superb equalisers s Dual high- and low-pass filters s Four EQ bands, two with shelf toggle s IIEQ Pro CM: 19 filter types s Four slope settings: 12/24/48/96dB s Output adjusts to match Input Trim s LP10 CM: Linear phase EQ s Resonance and width controls s Cut from the full Pink channel strip s Based on commercial DDMF plugins s Link function and notch mode s AU/VST/AAX s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.acustica-audio.com www.ddmf.eu www.vengeance-sound.com

More EQ/ Filter plugins eaReackon CM-EQUA 87 Three-band EQ with high/low shelves (AU/VST, 32-/64-bit) www.eareckon.com

AudioThing The Orb CM OverTone DSP AudioThing ValveFilter CM Overtone DSP s Morphing vowel formant filter Program EQ CM s Gorgeous filtering and drive AF2-10 CM s Choose five vowels from a list of ten s Pultec-style vintage EQ emulation s Low-pass filter circuit emulation s Four-band EQ with ten filter types s Move the dot to change the sound s Dual bass boost/attenuate knobs s Vintage valve saturation section s Band gains adjustable +/-24dB s Smooth, Gain and Mix to refine s Tube amplifier circuit-only option s Based on Valve Filter VF-1 s Flatten and clear curve, resize GUI s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.audiothing.net www.overtonedsp.co.uk www.audiothing.net www.overtonedsp.co.uk

DELAY/REVERB

Add space and ambience, or throw your sounds into Acon Digital CM Verb LiquidSonics PSP Audioware cmDelay Ignite VST Areena s Simple-but-versatile operation Reverberate CM s Modulatable delay with LFO s Beautiful algorithmic reverb s Five modes: hall, plate, studio, etc s Convolution reverb with real-world s Dial in delay time, filtering and width s As sold for $49, but yours for free! a completely s Built-in high- and low-pass filters presets and processing controls s Feedback and ping-pong operation s Room and plate algorithms s Based on Acon Digital’s Verberate s Import your own impulse response s Based on the full stompDelay s Width, Damping and Modulation new dimension s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/AAX/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.acondigital.com www.liquidsonics.com www.pspaudioware.com www.ignitevst.com

MULTIEFFECTS

Get your creativity all in one place with these LVC-Audio T-Chain CM Subsonic Labs Inear Display Eurydice CM Tek’it Audio CrossDr CM all-purpose s Take your choice of six effects Wolfram CM s Stutter, buffer and edit signals s Three independent bands of drive s DynoPhuzz CM distortion effect s Pitchshifting, distortion, phase- s Buffer override, repeat, delay, s Drive, Warp, Crush and Clip signals plugin efects s Two dynamics processors to try shifting, panning, delay and filter bitcrusher and filter with modulation in three parallel bands s EQ, ClipShifter and filter effects s Flexible modulation s Custom signal routing s Per-band Balance and Level s Customisable waveform display s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.lvcaudio.com www.subsoniclabs.com www.ineardisplay.com www.tekit-audio.com

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 111 PLUGINS

EFFECTS Continued

DISTORTION/SATURATION

Fuzz up your signals with custom dirt – from waveshaping to saturation and soft clipping, this diverse bunch of plugins are Mercuriall U530 CM Lindell 6X-500 CM Cableguys WaveShaper CM guaranteed to play as rough as s Emulation of ENGL’s E530 preamp s Classic preamp emulation with EQ s Graphically editable distortion s Customisable Clean & Lead circuits s High/low boosts for musical tone s Design curves by dragging nodes you like with any audio material s Presence, Contour, Chorus & Gain s Modelled on Lindell’s 6X-500 s Input vs output oscilloscope s Changeable mic/speaker position hardware preamp/EQ s Not based on an existing plugin s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.mercuriall.com www.lindellplugins.com www.cableguys.com

PLUS… Kuassa PreMix CM Get subtle saturation or screaming overdrive from this preamp model (AU/VST, 32-/64-bit) www.kuassa.com Audiffex STA Enhancer CM Sonimus Satson CM Rop Papen RP-Distort CM HoRNet Graffio CM Audio Assault Valve-style signal exciter/enhancer GrindMachine CM (AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit) s Classic mixer channel emulation s Five crunchy distortion algorithms s Flexible three-flavour distortion www.audiffex.com s Subtle warming saturation s EQ, dynamics, widener, modulation s Saturator module with DC offset s Five amp and ten cab emulations s Gentle, musical high/low filters s Filter and parallel s Exciter with odd/even harmonics s 3-band EQ plus depth and presence Audio Assault s Full Satson Buss also available processing controls s Bit reducer to degrade sounds s Djentbox to toighten low tunings BassAmp CM s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/VST3/AAX/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.audioassault.com Ampeg-inspired bas amp simulator dsp.sonimus.com www.robpapen.com www.hornetplugins.com (AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit) www.audioassault.com OTHER

More esoteric and incredibly useful plugins from recent issues of Auburn Sounds JST & Boz SideWidener New Sonic Arts Freestyle CM Nyrv Agent CM Panagement CM s Add stereo width to mono sounds s Host and chain together s Create custom effects chains s Psycho-stereo toolkit plugin s Signal retains mono compatibility your Plugins VSTs with this valuable utility plugin s Place sounds with Binaural Pan s Goniometer for stereo visuals s Route and split signal paths s Host your VST/AU plugins s Edit perceived distance and width s Three widen modes, Width & Tone s Event Player to simple sequences s Design your own interface s Stereoise mono sounds s AU/VST/AAX/RTAS, 32-/64-bit s Save snapshots of whole setups s Based on the full Agent plugin s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.joeysturgistones.com s Runs as AU/VST/Standalone s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit www.auburnsounds.com www.bozdigitallabs.com www.newsonicarts.com www.nyrvsystems.com

Dotec-Audio DeeMonitor Inear Display Litote CM HoRNet FreMo Audio Vitamins Life CM s Handy monitoring utility plugin s Granular effect to slice and dice s Mini frequency modulator effect s Modulation and widening plugin s Emulate NS10, Genelec and signals on a microscopic level s Oscillator frequency can be set s Vary pitch or amplitude with LFOs Auratone 5C speakers in your DAW s Tweak speed and introduce jitter manually or follow input pitch s Widen, sweeten and improve audio s Invert and Solo left and right feeds s Adjust the Timbre Frequency, s Scale the oscillator from 1x to 10x to a mix-ready state s Mid/Side balancing + Output gain Feedback and Diffusion s Set mod amount and osc waveform s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit s AU/VST/AAX, 32-/64-bit www.audiovitamins.com www.dotec-audio.com www.ineardisplay.com www.hornetplugins.com

112 / COMPUTER MUSIC / June 2018 plugins <

Loading plugins in your DAW

Though there are a wide variety of DAWs, each with its own unique interface, there are similarities when it comes to loading up and using plugins, and most stick to one of two approaches. The first – as seen in Steinberg’s Cubase, Apple’s Logic, and Cakewalk’s Sonar – involves insert slots on a track or mixer channel. These are used in the same way as an insert effect would be used on a hardware mixer. In other words, the effect is placed ‘in line’ on that mixer or track channel. Plugins might be loaded in by use of a dropdown menu tree or right- clicking in the effects slot. Clicking in the insert or effects slot in some DAWs – Cockos’ Reaper, for instance – will reveal a dedicated browser from which the desired plugin may be selected. It’s common to stack multiple effects plugins together to form an effects ‘chain’, much in the way a guitarist might connect various stompboxes together to form a custom sound. In some DAWs, these effects chains may be saved and recalled at a later time. See how to load plugins in eight different DAWs with our videos at the URLs below If your DAW uses a sidebar browser, here you can find your plugins displayed and possibly dropped from a browser onto a specific track. We’ve prepared videos for eight major DAWs arranged into categories. The plugins may be However, many DAWs distinguish between showing you the basics of loading plugins, along dragged into the project and placed directly instrument and audio tracks, so you’ll need to with a few handy tips you won’t want to miss: onto a track or channel. Ableton Live, Bitwig keep this in mind. Those that allow you to drag > Cockos Reaper – bit.ly/LPIreaper Studio, Cakewalk’s Sonar and PreSonus Studio instruments in from a browser might offer the > Cakewalk Sonar – bit.ly/LPIsonar One can all open effects and even instrument choice of using an existing instrument track or > PreSonus Studio One – bit.ly/LPIstudioone plugins in this manner. creating a new one. Some DAWs (Cubase, Sonar) > Apple Logic – bit.ly/LPIlogic On the subject of instrument plugins, we allow you to open instruments in a ‘rack’ and > Image-Line FL Studio – bit.ly/LPIflstudio should discuss the different methods you might then connect to them from MIDI or instrument > Steinberg Cubase – bit.ly/LPIcubase encounter when loading up instruments. As tracks. Others (Logic) make a plugin menu > Bitwig Studio – bit.ly/LPIbitwig mentioned, sometimes they can be dragged and available from the track itself. > Ableton Live – bit.ly/LPIableton

Plugin folder locations So how does your DAW know where to look One is for all users, the other is for requires little more than putting the for your plugins? Actually, it might not. Mac administrator use. If your DAW has trouble Component or VST file in the Trash. users have it easy, as there are OS-specified seeing a plugin, you might need to move it Sometimes an uninstaller will be offered, folders into which plugins are installed. These though. folders can be found by going to your Library On Windows, you can choose the location folder (if you can’t find it, go to the Finder’s Go of your VST plugins folders. Some DAWs will menu, hold Alt, and a Library option should create one when you install them, but both appear). find the Audio directory, and then DAW and plugin installers will often give you the Plug-Ins folder within. There you will find an option of pointing to the plugin directory more folders still. One will be labelled you’d like to use. It usually looks something Components – this is where your AU plugins like C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VST Plugins. reside. Other folders will be found alongside it Some plugins are delivered as only DLL for VST and VST3 plugins. If you’re a Pro Tools files, and need to be copied to your chosen user, you’ll find your plugins in an Avid or directory. Once you’ve installed your plugins, Digidesign folder. If your installers don’t If you’re using Apple’s OS X, all your VST, VST3 and think twice about moving them. Some plugins automatically install the plugins into the Audio Units go into pre-determined locations rely on support files installed into the same proper folder, you should manually copy them directory. To duplicate plugins elsewhere on into the relevant folders listed above. from one Library to the other, though the the drive, use shortcuts on Windows (right- One caveat: there will likely be two sets of system folder is usually the one to use. click to create one) or aliases on Macs (Cmd- folders under two different Library locations. Uninstalling plugins from OS X usually Alt-dragging).

June 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 113 > make music now / blast from the past

FROM BLASTTHE PAST

Thanks to the wonders of modern computer technology, this still-affordable Jupiter is still a serious contender in today’s electronic studio

© Image courtesy of perfectcircuitaudio.com

Roland MKS-80 TECH SPECS Year of manufacture With the current market for synths now response to this new technology, cramming 1984-1988 bursting with monophonic and modular eight voices of pure analogue synthesis into a Original sale value machinery, musicians are again clamouring 2U 19” rack-mountable enclosure. £2200 for affordable analogue polysynths. Often erroneously cited as the module Current price Of course, we’ve been here before. There was version of Roland’s Jupiter-8, the MKS-80’s £1100+(£2100+wMPG-80) a mad race among 1970s manufacturers to architecture looked more like the Jupiter-6, Number made 5000 produce a viable polyphonic synthesiser – one though plenty of improvements – such as the won easily by Dave Smith with his Prophet-5. A ability to respond to both MIDI velocity and classy, costly instrument, it was followed by aftertouch – make the Super-Jupiter one of the may be delayed. There is also a dedicated alternatives from competing synth companies, most expressive of all analogue polysynths. triangle-only LFO for the pitch and mod wheels. including Oberheim and Moog. The MKS-80’s voice architecture is pure Obviously, there’s a lot to cram behind a 2U Roland had some ideas of their own, Roland: dual oscillators per voice (yes, they panel, and though one can program an MKS-80 releasing a string of pricey polyphonic crammed 16 actual VCOs – not DCOs – into that from its fascia, it’s a tedious affair. To that end, synthesisers bearing the name ‘Jupiter’. The first 2U box), each with saw, square, triangle and Roland offered the slider-laden MPG-80 was the four-voice, single oscillator Jupiter-4, pulse (with modulation) waves. Cross- controller. Now sought-after, the inclusion of an followed quickly by the massive eight-voice modulation is here, as is noise. VCO-1 may be MPG-80 often doubles the asking price of the Jupiter-8, an instrument that now commands synced to VCO-2, and vice-versa. Filtering comes combo. However, thanks to excellent software stratospheric prices among collectors. in the form of a resonant lowpass jobbie, along MPG-80 alternatives, a controllerless MKS-80 At the time, synthesisers were primarily seen with an added high-pass. The filter and VCA both represents an excellent bargain in the used as keyboard instruments – there were few (if respond to velocity (Dynamics) and aftertouch. market. Roland revamped the MKS-80 during its any) desktop or rack-mountable options Cutoff can be lashed to either of the two ADSR run, and the earlier ‘Rev 4’ units are the most available. The introduction of MIDI changed that envelopes, and you can flip the polarity of an highly prized among analogue aficionados. by giving manufacturers a common means by envelope so assigned. Envelopes can be reset However, a Rev 5 too offers an all-analogue which instruments could communicate, upon note-on, if you so desire. signal path and a superlative sonic experience. allowing the possibility of controlling multiple The Super-Jupiter sports a pair of LFOs. The Should you prefer a virtual alternative, you’ll units from a single keyboard controller. Roland’s main one offers triangle, saw, square and have to make do with one of the many Jupiter-8 MKS-80 Super-Jupiter was an appropriate random waves, and the onset of any LFO action clones available.

Three great plugin alternatives

$149 $29.95MONTHLY FREE ROLAND CLOUD ARTURIA JUP-8V GTG K1 POLYSYNTH Roland have called back to their legendary Don’t let the absence of Roland’s logo and Roland are quite aggressive when it comes to Jovian giants more than a few times since truncated name fool you – this cross-platform protecting their intellectual property, so few insisting that the MKS-80 was the most super plugin started as a proper clone bearing the developers bother to create obvious Jupiter-8 of Jupiters. The most recent attempt to claim Jupiter name. It still packs a punch that emulations. Still, there are a few plugins that the top (red) spot comes in the form of a VST harkens back to the JP-8, and the ability to have clearly been inspired by the Jupiters, and and AU emulation available through their respond to both velocity and aftertouch give it this little Windows gem is one of them. A subscription service. some of what made the MKS-80 so desirable. sprinkling of effects add to the sound. www.rolandcloud.com www.arturia.com www.vst4free.com

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