Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i Computer Music

Every issue, we look Ten Years Back and reminisce about the issue of Computer Music from a decade ago. In a coincidental turn (see p13), it so happens that the mag we published exactly ten years ago was dedicated to version 7 of Ableton Live. What are the chances, eh? A brand new version of the Berlin developers’ ever-popular software is now on the way, bringing a cool new wavetable synth, fresh devices, workflow improvements and navigational power-ups. After months exploring all these goodies, we reckon it’s the perfect next step for the DAW that’s revolutionised the world of electronic music. So flip to p22 and fast-track your way around those new features! Don’t be put off if you’re not a Live user, though, as this issue is stacked full…

“It’s like an EQ inside a polyphonic chain with surgical accuracy” What’s your history in music and in programming? DS “I started learning music at age of ten when I got my first guitar. I almost immediately became obsessed with it. Later, driven by the interest for guitar pedals, I entered the world of digital sound processing. I studied electronics, made my first synthesiser, Diversion, and started working at Nomad Factory and Plugivery. My passion for instruments and effects grows with each plugin developed, and I love the work I’m doing.” Your new synth, Thorn, uses spectral synthesis to generate its sounds. How does this work, and what are the challenges in making a synth that uses this method? DS “I say it’s a traditional additive synthesis with some extra…

For Live cm10, Ableton have refreshed a couple of old favourites to improve the experience. While these soup-ups alone probably aren’t enough reason to upgrade, longtime Live users will surely welcome the subtle changes. Let’s look at Utility’s refresh… One annoyance about the previous Utility is its restricted Gain amount, which only went down to -35dB. This meant that you could still faintly hear signals even when turned down to minimum. Thankfully, Live cm10’s upgraded Utility can now be reduced to -inf dB. Woohoo! A new circular Width dial replaces the old slider, and can be used to narrow or widen your signal up to 400%. The one problem with this particular upgrade? The old Utility device’s Width control allowed you to mix between mono at 0%, original M/S balance…

CHASING MIDI NOTES Many have complained how annoying it is to trigger DAW playback midway through a MIDI note and not have the virtual instrument play the sound – especially frustrating when you’re working on sustained pads, riser FX, and long notes in general. In vcm10, you can head to the Options menu and check Chase MIDI Notes, and you can now start playback in the middle of MIDI notes. Live will now resume playback midway through. STEREO SPLIT PAN Traditional panning simply turns down either the left or right channel of a signal, but other DAWs offer more advanced panning options. Live cm10 now provides an advance option: right-click on a track’s Pan control, select Select Stereo Split Pan Mode, and Live flips it to a dual setup with…

Master and apprentice Black Sun Empire are Micha Heyboer, Milan Heyboer and Rene Verdult, and when it comes to chunky neurofunk, their Blackout Music NL is one of the biggest labels around. Blackout features releases from the trio themselves, alongside the likes of June Miller, Neonlight, Gridlok, Phace, and BSE’s padawan Pythius, also known as Hylke Klazema. Computer Music took a trip to Blackout’s Utrecht HQ for a breakdown of Black Sun Empire feat. Pythius’ Star Wars-inspired Scarif, a tearing trance ’n’ bass monster that’s packed with scorching synth lines and beefy beats. We sat down with the track’s composers, BSE’s Milan and Hylke, to find out more about their cutting-edge production techniques and discover how Hylke became involved with the group. : Hylke, you started out as a Blackout…

MASTERING THE MIX REFERENCE (£49) Reference is a great tool for easily comparing your own mix with up to four references, and is stuffed to the gills with useful features. These include Wave Transport, for easily switching between different loops in a reference; and the awesome Trinity Display, for comparing dynamics, frequency balance and width. iZOTOPE OZONE 8 ADVANCED (£315) You’ll likely be familiar with Ozone as an all-in-one mastering suite, but there’s also an EQ matching feature for cloning the frequency spread of one track before applying it to another, making it great for getting a sonic and visual idea of where your masterpiece sits compared to a pro mix. DOTEC-AUDIO DEEMONITOR(FREE WITH cm) DeeMonitor is a nifty referencing tool, found for free in Plugins. As well as useful…

The various drum layers in a track can establish how an arrangement rhythmically flows and glues together. These usually consist of percussive loops, breaks and especially cymbal sounds. In this tutorial, I’m going to show various ways to create different cymbal loops. Using these layers, I’ll tend to shift the patterns in and out of different sections to provide variation and progression over the course of a track. For this tutorial, I’ll employ a diverse array of tricks and techniques to make my parts feel alive and interesting. Starting with hi-hats, and moving through to shaker sounds, rides and tambourines, I’ll use different third-party plugins – plus Cubase as a makeshift sampler itself – to design my custom percussive elements. XLN Audio’s Addictive Drums will be the star of the…

GATE Neutron 2’s new module is a wicked muiltband gate EQUALIZER 12 bands of EQ, with the nifty Masking Meter TRACK ASSISTANT Automatically generate starting point presets COMPRESSORS Two three-band compressors with wet/dry mix control TRANSIENT SHAPER Three bands of detailed design WIDTH AND PAN Adjust stereo imaging directly or via the Visual Mixer NEW I/O CONTROLS Mono sum, phase flip and channel swap NAME FIELD Name each plugin, for reference in the new Visual Mixer MULTIBAND All of Neutron 2’s modules are multiband-capable EXCITER Featuring Alloy 2’s XY distortion style morphing pad A year after Neutron’s debut (9/10, 238), version 2 adds some intriguing new technologies to iZotope’s futuristic “mixing assistant” plugin, enhances some of those that were already there, and gets a visual overhaul to bring it in…

First announced at the start of 2015, we’ve never been entirely sure that Arturia’s mythical audio interface would actually see the light of day. Happily, though, the AudioFuse has finally landed, and very impressive it is, too. First impressions are excellent – the AudioFuse looks and feels like the boutique ‘objet d’audio art’ the Grenoble-based developers promised. The compact square body is weighty and reassuringly solid, and the angled fascia is bristling with knobs and backlit buttons, giving immediate hands-on access to a wide range of essential recording and monitoring functions. The even-more-comprehensive AudioFuse Control Center application is discussed in the box on the facing page. The knobs offer a satisfying level of resistance with no lateral play, the buttons click affirmatively, and the leather-inlaid lid – which doubles as…

DYNAMICS Check out this huge collection of processors – from classic compressors to modern digital creations, we’ve got everything you need to shape your signals eaReckon CM-COMP 87 • Slick, punchy compressor • Mix knob for parallel compression • Limiter to keep the output in check • Clear VU- and LED-style metering • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.eareckon.com LVC-Audio Transector CM • Transient tweaking and saturation • Define and process envelope stages • Useful metering/display functions • Mix control for parallel processing • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.lvcaudio.com Audiority TS-1 CM • Flavoursome transient shaper • Set attack and sustain gain • Blend control for parallel processing • Based on the full TS-1 plugin • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.audiority.com Unfiltered Audio G8 CM • Get tight dynamics or creative FX • Includes advanced gating controls…

ROLAND D-50 (VIA ROLAND CLOUD) As stated in the main text, the MT-32 used the same LA synthesis that fuelled the D-50, so the D-50 itself makes a natural (and in some ways superior) substitute. As it happens, Roland has brought the D-50 back to life in both hardware (Boutique D-05) and this software incarnation. You’ll need to pony up a subscription fee to use it, though. www.rolandcloud.com ROLAND SOUND CANVAS IOS Based on the successor to the MT-32, Sound Canvas iOS is far more sophisticated than either the MT-32 or cm199cm1’s SC-55 Sound Canvas. This one offers cm1600 sounds, 63 drum kits, and effects like reverb, chorus, delay, EQ, plus the ability to play MIDI music files made for Roland’s SC-88 Sound Canvas. www.roland.com MUNT This one takes a…

SPOTIFY GETS CREATIVE Spotify’s a music listening platform, but the company’s acquisition of online DAW SoundTrap suggests that they might fancy a slice of the music-making pie as well. Could a joined-up creative/streaming service be in the offing? DELIA DERBYSHIRE, PHD Already acclaimed in music technology circles, BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend Delia Derbyshire has now been awarded a posthumous honorary PhD by Coventry University. Her name will also be used to promote a series of school workshops. WHAT R THEY ON? Pocket Operator developers Teenage Engineering have done some pretty crazy stuff, but their ‘R’ dancing robot speaker might just be their barmiest venture yet. It features sensors and microphones, and uses AI to express feelings and emotions, apparently. CAKEWALK CLOSES It’s always sad to see a music software company…

Ableton Live broke the mould. Back at the turn of the century, other DAWs stubbornly stuck to the timelines and tracks that producers had been familiar with for years, ignoring the fact that times had changed and new approaches were possible. But with its minimalist aesthetic, drag-and-drop functionality, and of course the Session View that sparked non-linear creativity and performance, Live – more often known simply as ‘Ableton’ – blazed its own trail through the world of production, becoming one of the most recognisable, inventive, and successful pieces of music software to date. Now in 2018, Live continues to innovate, as those other DAWs still cling onto their hardware paradigms and horizontal timelines. Live’s first few years saw the program settling into the landscape and finding its feet, truly becoming…

Live’s flagship parametric EQ has had a very minor (but nonetheless useful) upgrade in version 10, specifically to the low end of the frequency spectrum. The pre-10 version could only reach down to 30Hz, making it highly inaccurate for sub-bass frequency adjustments down below this point. Any serious producer wanting to sculpt bottom end would generally turn to a more accurate third-party equaliser plugin. The revamped EQ Eight’s curve now reaches right down to 10Hz. To facilitate this, the scaling of the EQ display has been zoomed in quite a bit more – the left third of the EQ display now covers a larger range, allowing you to make very surgical incisions and boosts right down in those lower registers. Users familiar with the old EQ Eight will have to…

Version 10 of Live brings a stack of small new improvements to power up the user experience – but what about the glaringly obvious stuff Ableton left out? PITCH CORRECTION Cubase has a PitchCorrect plugin and VariAudio. Logic’s got Flex Pitch and the Pitch Correction tool. FL Studio users have NewTone. Reason has audio pitch editing. Hell, a version of Melodyne is integrated into Studio One and several other DAWs! These all expose a gaping hole in Ableton’s DAW that still hasn’t been filled. Yes, Live is mainly aimed at electronic music heads, but beatmakers and sampling fiends do work with recorded vocals. Forcing users to open a third-party plugin or hop over into another DAW seems especially backwards. COMPING TOOLS Anyone who’s worked with multiple vocal takes will know…

Xfer Records Serum cm213 » 10/10 » $189 “I just love how you can put LFOs or envelopes on all the parameters! it’s also a lot of fun to mess around with making your own waveforms. A downside is that it can sound quite digital, so it needs some extra love with external effects.” www.xferrecords.com Native Instruments Massive cm107 » 9/10 » £129 “I’ve been using this since I first started making music and never let it go – maybe because of familiarity, maybe because it’s just very good at what it needs to do. You can completely change a patch with small tweaks.” www.native-instruments.com Native Instruments FM8 cm109 » 9/10 » £129 “It has a bit of a steep learning curve, but it’s definitely worth it! The possibilities are…

ECHO CHAMBER One of the easiest ways to transform any sound into something resembling a mental metallic maelstrom is to sling it through a delay plugin, crank up the feedback and crank down the delay time. 0.02 seconds works well, although you’ll want to make sure your time isn’t synced to the host’s tempo. This trick provides a retro-style effect that’ll be recognisable to any fan of vintage sci-fi TV. Be careful, though: uncontrollable feedback can damage your speakers, or worse, your ears. Keep volume levels down when attempting this. COMB OVER The process described above is a down ’n’ dirty way to create an effect known as ‘comb filtering’. A comb filter effects occurs when a signal is regenerated numerous times and played back against the original with some…

SUCCESSFUL A/BING WHEN EQING We’re all aware that, as compression reduces the level of a signal, we need to bring the level back up with makeup gain so that we can make a fair comparison between processed and unprocessed versions of the signal. Less known, however, is that a similar thing can happen when EQing. So, if you make a big EQ cut, be aware that the signal may have been reduced in level – you might need to add a dB or two to the makeup gain to match the volume between wet and dry signals. A/B TECHNIQUES WHEN PROCESSING Using A/B techniques when processing makes the comparison process much more informative. For best results when using plugins, use your device’s output gain knob to match levels between wet…

Ronan Macdonald Having previously served as Editor of drummer’s bible Rhythm as well as Computer Music, Ronan is clearly the right man for this particular gig. He’s been playing drums for over 30 years and making music with computers since the 90s. For many, hip-hop’s heyday was the so-called golden era of the late 80s to early 90s. The likes of Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, NWA, Eric B and Rakim, Jungle Brothers, BDP, De La Soul, Redman and their many peers broke new ground with every release, bringing quality rap music to the mainstream without compromising its message, ‘realness’ or – most importantly – unique musical styling. It was a far cry from the massive, hyper-commercialised industry that it ultimately gave rise to. Crucial to the rapid development…

SPECTRAL MODULATION Per-LFO partial frequency wobbling EDITOR SWITCH Switch between the Edit, Morph and Wave screens SPECTRAL DISTORTION Spread out the partial frequencies DISCRETE ADDER Apply a variable partial ‘hump’ with this new module EFFECTS Loom II’s four effects are now in separate panels HYPE This new module emulates a dual shelving filter LFOs Every module can access one of Loom II’s three LFOs ENVELOPES Modulate each module with one of four envelopes SUB HARMONICS Dial in sine wave subs one and two octaves down SPECTRAL NOISE Add harmonically ‘connected’ noise with this new tool We’ve not looked at AIR’s well-regarded additive synth in before, but the release of version 2 presents the ideal opportunity to get it on the test bench. Loom II (VST/AU) generates up to 512 sine…

The Plugins collection is a suite of complete, limitation-free instrument and effects plugins. It’s an incredible resource, boasting more than 75 pro-quality plugins that you won’t find anywhere else, all for PC and Mac, in VST and AU formats. All of the included software is created exclusively for us by respected commercial developers such as D16 Group, u-he, AudioRealism, Ohm Force, KV331 Audio, Cableguys, XILS-lab, AudioThing, Vengeance-Sound, Rob Papen, zplane and more. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Enough talking! Where do I get these plugins? You can grab them all on the cover DVD with our print edition, or as a download from FileSilo (see p5 for instructions on how to access). How do I install Plugins? It depends on the plugin. Some have dedicated installers, while others just drop into your…

Secure and safe online access, from anywhere Free access for every reader – print and digital Download only the files you want, when you want All the downloads from all your issues, in one place Get started 01 Register your FileSilo account and log in. Even if you have a subscriber ID, you’ll still have to unlock each mag separately or migrate your old Vault account (see step 3). 02 Head back to the Computer Music page (filesilo.co.uk/computermusic) and choose an issue to unlock. You’ll need to answer one question to prove you’ve purchased the issue. 03 You can migrate your old Vault account over to FileSilo to retain the issues you’ve added – head to filesilo.co.uk/vault and enter your Vault email address. Reset your password via the email you…

Steinberg’s Cubasis 2.3 update adds several new features, but the most eye-catching thing about it is its support for three Waves plugins. You can now use the Q10 Equalizer, L1 Ultramaximizer and AudioTrack channel strip in the mobile DAW. These are classics from the Waves archive that were recently re-released on desktop platforms for the company’s 25th anniversary. All three are in-app purchases, bought individually for £7.99 each or in a bundle for £19.99. www.steinberg.net Another big-hitting iOS app has also been updated recently: Korg’s Gadget has reached v3.5. Users now have the option of adding three new ‘Gadgets’, starting with the Lisbon polyphonic synth, a bold and futuristic-sounding instrument. Vancouver is a relatively simple sampler, while DeeMax is a port of the Dotec-Audio loudness maximixer plugin of…

“We also picked up our philosophical power tools” It’s easy to forget that Apple didn’t invent the tablet with the iPad; we featured Dell’s Latitude XT model in 122, which arrived in February 2008. However, it’s also easy to see why tablets didn’t catch on until the iPad: Dell’s model cost £1506, lacked multitouch capabilities out of the box, and wasn’t exactly svelte. We reviewed Native Instruments’ Kore 2, noting that you “wouldn’t regret” buying it. We wonder if those who did splash out agreed with us when the product was discontinued in 2011. Ableton’s Live, of course, is very much still going, and 122 carried a massive guide to version 7. Sounds strangely familiar, somehow… We also picked up our philosophical power tools and brought you an ‘abstract electronica…

Shane King “My immediate goal is to complete the setup of my new studio, so I can get back to work ›inishing my next album. The goal is to have that done by the end of May. “While I move that project forward, I’m also working on getting more of the material from my last album ready for playing live. My live show is a bit complicated and I’m learning new ways to keep it as live as possible.” Jimmy Wilkerson “Reminding myself that not every song has to have a ton of complexity to be enjoyed. Some of the best songs are simple drums, bass, a few keys and a vocal. It’s going to be a great year!” Kyky Ahonen “To quit drawing comics and make my ›irst CD…

Step by step 1. Hands-on with Ableton’s new Wavetable synth 1 To kick off, let’s fire up the Live 10 beta and have a play with Wavetable, the brand new two-oscillator wavetable synth. In synthesis terms, a wavetable oscillator is a collection of individual waveforms, and you can scan through these with the wave position slider. 2 Fans of popular wavetable synths such as Xfer Serum might be disappointed to hear that you can’t import your own wavetables, unfortunately. But there are tons of preset wavetables – choose a preset wavetable oscillator from the dropdown list. 11 categories are available, with everything from aggressive timbres and realistic instruments to more vintage tones, formant growls and weirder tables. 3 Just like EQ Eight, Wavetable’s interface can be expanded by clicking on…

In other DAWs, routing group buses to other buses is a given. Sessions can have lots of audio and MIDI tracks, and important elements may be comprised of many layers, so you often need to pipe multiple signals to subgroups then into other networks of ‘parent’ groups for mixing and general organisation. This is now possible in Live with Nested Groups! Anyone already used to Groups in Live will get the hang of Nested Groups straight away. As in previous versions, select several tracks and right-click to Group Tracks (or hit Ctrl/Cmd-G) to nest them all within a Group Track. In Live 10, a new circular ‘unfold’ icon now appears in the Group Track’s header. More importantly, though, you can now select Group Tracks with other audio, MIDI or Group…

Ever found that your latest banger sounds amazing in the studio, but doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as the best commercial tracks in your collection when played on the decks or in the car? We’ve all been there at some point, and the usual advice given to rookie music producers is to reference their music against commercial tracks. It’s sound advice for sure, but also a bit vague. So, how can referencing help your production and mixes? Well, by comparing your track to the best of the best, you’ll be able to hear what’s missing in yours. If you’re making an unfamiliar style of music, referencing against releases in that genre is a power move towards getting the authentic sound you’re looking for. When referencing…

Even as a young boy, Oliver Huntemann was hypnotised by electronic music. Listening to the radio at his parents’ home in Oldenburg, just west of Bremen in northern Germany, he would lose himself in the infectious rhythms and dark melodies of Afrika Bambaataa, Depeche Mode, Detroit and, of course, Kraftwerk. “The problem was that I didn’t really know what electronic music was,” Huntemann explains with a chuckle. “I thought it was just guitar, bass and drums like all the other music I heard. When I joined my first band and we tried to play The Model by Kraftwerk, it sounded nothing like the record. “It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I saw my first synthesiser, and everything finally began to make sense.” Young Huntemann cut his teeth…

PRESETS Load and ‘favourite’ full Chains and Module presets DYNA-MU The four new modules include this Variable Mu emulation ALBUM ASSEMBLY Call up the Album Assembly master compilation window METERING WINDOW Invoke the pop-out metering section CHAIN SELECTOR Compare up to four complete mastering Chains – A-D SPECTROGRAM View frequency content over time with this new meter MODULE BROWSER Drag effects right into the Chain WAVEFORM VIEW Now much more usable thanks to the resizable panel CLIP LIST Add audio files to your project and select them here THE CHAIN Now always visible, but with quite a lot of dead space The original in-the-box mastering solution, T-RackS has ballooned over the years from its early remit as a fixed processing rack into a comprehensive ‘pick and mix’ smorgasbord of effects…

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 all music production scenarios u-he Zebra CM • Blendable oscillator waveforms • Super-programmable step LFOs • Slick delay, reverb and chorus • Original synth designed just for CM • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.u-he.com Enzyme CM • Scanned synthesis sound generator • Easy-to-use preset-based synth • Assign parameters to controls • Based on the full Enzyme synth • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit humanoidsoundsystems.com KV331AudioSynthMasterCM • Dual wavescanning oscillators • Multimode filter and built-in effects • FM/AM synthesis modes • Based on SynthMaster 2.5 • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.kv331audio.com Cableguys Curve 2.6 CM • Design-your-own-waveforms synth • New waveform capabilities for v2.6 • Phat 16-voice Unison mode • Based on Cableguys Curve…

So how does your DAW know where to look for your plugins? Actually, it might not. Mac users have it easy, as there are OS-specified folders into which plugins are installed. These folders can be found by going to your Library folder (if you can’t find it, go to the Finder’s Go menu, hold Alt, and a Library option should appear). find the Audio directory, and then the Plug-Ins folder within. There you will find more folders still. One will be labelled Components – this is where your AU plugins reside. Other folders will be found alongside it for VST and VST3 plugins. If you’re a Pro Tools user, you’ll find your plugins in an Avid or Digidesign folder. If your installers don’t automatically install the plugins into the proper…