Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i Future Music

WELCOME Synth Power Up It’s no secret that we love a good retro synth over here at FM. Nothing gets us hot under the collar like an old-fashioned, VCO-packing behemoth, preferably clad in plenty of wood panelling and boasting an impenetrably complex voltage controlled modulation system… Still, we’ll freely admit that for all their warmth and character, the analogue classics can’t hold a candle to today’s most leading plug-ins when it comes to flexibility, complexity and sheer sonic power. It’s these qualities we’re celebrating in this month’s cover feature. We’ll explore some of the cutting-edge techniques made possible by modern synthesis technology, and show you how you can use these to add power, depth and complexity to your own music. To make the most of the tutorials, be sure to…

Splice support comes to the Toraiz SP-16 Pioneer DJ have come together with Splice, the cloud-based sample provider, to enable Splice Sounds integration with the Toraiz SP-16 hardware sampler. You can now build custom samples kits and sequences online, download them as SCENE files and export them straight to your SP-16. Everything is bundled up to make the process as seamless as possible, and you can then start working with the sounds on Pioneer’s hardware. To mark the launch of this collaboration, Splice is offering a month’s free trial of its service. Head to the site and sign up, then use the promo code TORAIZ16 on the subscriptions page to take advantage of this offer.…

CLASSIC ALBUM Sander van Doorn Supernaturalistic Doorn Records, 2008 Words by Roy Spencer Photos © Linda van den Broek For Trance superstar Sander van Doorn’s debut album he knew he wanted to push himself, and the genre. The scene was in danger of becoming stale and predictable. Too many releases followed the same patterns and too many producers coasted along with the same stock sounds. Over the course of Supernaturalistic, released on his own Doorn Records imprint, the flying Dutchman grabbed Trance by the scruff and shook the damn thing up. Techno beats met House chords, moodier textures brought in Soul, and rigid tempo templates were ignored in favour of letting the tracks find their own steam, rather than one dictated by the current dancefloor bangers. “A lot of Trance…

CUTTING - EDGE SYNTH POWER ! MASSIVE AVENGER SERUM OMNISPHERE FORM Master up-to-the-minute synthesis techniques and get the most from today’s mightiest virtual instruments Here in 2017, we’re living in a golden age of music-making. Computing power and DSP technologies are more advanced than ever, so hot new synthesisers are hitting the market on a weekly basis, giving today’s producer convenient access to tools that can generate almost any sound. From speaker-incising leads, animalistic bass splurges and beautifully shimmering pads through to dream-like chord washes and ear-defying FX creations, anyone can now design sounds that leave dancefloors screaming for more. Yet with the mind-bending complexity of modern synthesis reaching further and further heights, it’s become all too easy to scavenge through ready-made presets and banks in search for an easy…

Evolving Ambient Pads With Oscillator Stacking By layering multiple oscillators and modulating each at a slow rate, you can quickly generate blissful ambience. Let’s dive in further Many modern synthesizers allow you to pile up multiple oscillators, combine various synthesis types and dial in uber-thick unison features. To demonstrate, we’ll create a complex ambient pad with Vengeance-Sound’s insanely powerful VPS Avenger. We start by triggering the synth with a basic C minor triad. A third sine oscillator is then used to provide basic solidity and consistency in the low-mids. After that, we program a fourth wavetable oscillator via the synth’s tempo-sync’d step sequencer, to provide a rhythmic ‘blip’ pattern that rides above the floatier elements. Let’s set up our first oscillator as the core evolving element of the pad. After…

Tearing Neurofunk D ’n’ B Reese With Serum Modern synths such as Xfer Serum make it easy to synthesize complex growls and morphing timbres in the style of Noisia. Here’s how… Call up Xfer Records Serum, load up the Bs Reese Evolve preset we’ve supplied, then trigger the synth by playing notes across your MIDI keyboard. This thick, evolving Reese bass sounds complex but is actually pretty easy to synthesize using Serum. Let’s delve deeper into the patch… Old-school D ’n’ B ‘wobble’ basses often have a distinctive change in speed when played up and down the keyboard. To replicate this, Osc B (a sine) is modulating Osc A’s amplitude via Osc A’s Warp mode, set to AM (from B). A slow-attack envelope is increasing this Warp amount over the…

In The Studio With Nathan Fake Nathan Fake Norfolk’s finest sonic voyager, Nathan Fake, emerges from a hiatus with the divine Providence, his fourth album proper and first for Ninja Tune. Hamish Mackintosh finds out more about one man’s electronic prophecy… © Joby Sessions Having eschewed the mixed delights of London for a return to his native Norfolk three years ago, Nathan Fake reenters the musical fray having beaten a two-year patch of the dreaded writer’s block. It’s a return of some style and swagger with Providence, a new album crammed full of irresistible synths, arpeggios and warped rhythms. Nathan Fake’s reputation has been built on his unique take on electronic music and first came to light in 2003 when an encounter with equally mercurial electronic musician James Holden led…

THE TRACK Alan Walker Alone 2016, Sony Music © Joe Branston INCLUDES VIDEO VAULT.FUTUREMUSIC.CO.UK The ascendant pop star may still be in his teens, but he’s already scored social media numbers that most of us can only dream of. At the time of writing, his breakthrough hit Faded has nearly one billion YouTube views, and his latest single Alone is heading rapidly for two hundred million. Stunned at the sight of such astronomical play-counts, Future Music headed to Oslo’s Fat Cat Studio to find out how the sinisterly masked Alan and his writing partner/co-producer the impressively blonde Anders Frøen (aka Mood Melodies) get their crowd-pleasing, slo-mo sounds. What was the inspiration behind Alone ? “I’m trying to establish the Alan Walker style – Alone has…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE DIY Multibands INCLUDES VIDEO AND AUDIO VAULT.FUTUREMUSIC.CO.UK Originally they were the preserve of mastering engineers, known for their precision and clinical accuracy; but in today’s digital world, multiband devices have become crucial players in both the sound design and mixing processes. To truly get stuck into a signal, what better way than to divide it into bands and process each individually? In the digital age, it’s become possible to create multiband devices easily, and with more flexibility of design than their hardware counterparts. Naturally, it didn’t take long before software companies started pushing the boundaries of what a multiband device does, and producers were quick to follow, using the easy-to-access software for mixing and even sound design duties. The developers then pushed the boundaries even further,…

QUICK TIPS > Distortion sounds great in low bands but less so in high bands. For a different take on the effect, split higher bands after distortion is applied, so you can use them to process the distorted signal higher up the frequency spectrum. > We’re putting multiband set-ups together in racks here, but doing the same on individual mix channels can be really powerful too, giving you all the advantages of a channel – such as insert effects, faders, mid/side controls – for each band. Group the channels to their own buss for mix-channel control over the output signal. > Ableton Live users can get more power out of their racks with siblings, ie the same controls on different devices inside a rack. You can copy or map items…

We understand you’re big fans of the Elektron Octatrack for sampling? Logan: “I’m still uncovering new things after owning it for four years. The learning curve has been pretty steep but rewarding. I’ve recently got into spending more time planning out the storage of samples within a project so that there’s a greater fluidity between track ideas – I like to allow as many of the sounds I use as possible to be interchangeable with one another because it allows more flexibility and spontaneity when jamming. I’ll also use the cue slider as a way to safely explore different parameter settings without changing the pattern itself.”…

The Magnetic Fields In The Studio With The Magnetic Fields The Synthpop foursome’s founder and songwriter Stephin Merritt is known for his prolific output and distinctive baritone vocal. Few, however, have been privy to his enormous collection of vintage gear. Now Danny Turner lifts the lid on his beautifully kept studio. © Daniel Byrne Stephin Merritt has had an extraordinarily varied career. Although he’s collaborated with several other bands (The Gothic Archie/The 6ths and Future Bible Heroes), he’s best known as the principle singer/ songwriter of The Magnetic Fields. Beyond that, Merritt has released audiobooks, movie soundtracks, collaborated in musical theatre and recorded a TV commercial for Volvo. Most of his output has been released on the critically acclaimed Nonesuch Records. Merritt’s eleventh studio album is different. The mammoth 50…

REVIEWS Roland System-8 £1,299 The latest AIRA ‘Plug-Out’ synth is Roland’s biggest and most powerful to date. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman explores the green giant From the TR-8 and TB-3 to the System-1 and now the System-8, Roland’s acclaimed ACB (Analog Circuit Behaviour) technology definitely delivers the goods, capturing the essence of Roland’s classic analogues. Whilst the System-1 (which I reviewed back in 2014) sounded great using its own engine, it also gave us the first glimpse of Roland’s tasty Plug-Outs (which could reside both in the synth and on your computer). Designed by the AIRA team (a separate division within Roland), the System-8 can be viewed as the System-1’s big brother and then some! It’s an eight-voice, ACB polysynth with its own powerful native engine, accompanied by three Plug-Out slots…

MICROTONIC Despite being fairly old in plug-in terms – the current iteration, version 3, arrived in 2011 – MicroTonic remains a powerful and well-designed drum synth. It features eight drum channels (compared to the PO’s 16 sound slots), each of which offers noise and oscillator sections for building sounds, along with various mixer, distortion and EQing tools. A morphing function allows users to set and transition between two different iterations of each sound, a feature which is carried across to the PO-32. There’s a sequencer too, which can send patterns to its hardware counterpart.…

CONNECT, CLIP AND CHARGE Each of the Blocks hardware elements is wireless, connecting to a computer or iOS device via Bluetooth. Every element is equipped with magnetic metal connectors, allowing the Blocks to ‘snap’ together. This connection isn’t strong enough to keep multiple Blocks together firmly when being held by hand, but it will keep them in place together on a desktop. These connectors also allow several to be charged from a single USB connection to a central Lightpad. Dashboard can also interface with the Blocks over USB, which allows it to be used with non-Bluetooth equipped systems.…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES UVI IRCAM Prepared Piano €399 While the use of effects mangling, extreme sampling treatments or even circuit-bending are not uncommon in today’s electronica scene, it is less often that you come across large acoustic instruments that have undergone sonic surgery. This is unashamedly the case with UVI’s Prepared Piano library, which has been produced in collaboration with IRCAM – the world famous research institute that has been at the centre of the experimental music world for the past 40 years. Prepared pianos, where objects are introduced to physically interact with the strings, have a relatively long history. However, it was John Cage who arguably contributed most in terms of formalising the approach, and who wrote pieces that specifically required the use of screws (between strings) combined with…

Getting bass guitar to sit… I’m struggling to get my bass guitar to sit nicely in my mixes. Do you have any pointers please? Electric bass is hard to get right as there are many sonic variables. The playing may result in inconsistent tone or loudness. Then the strings that are played less may be brighter and the more regularly used ones duller. Plus there’s potential interference which can cause headaches. Human inconsistencies are important to capture for authenticity/soul but managing them for a great result is challenging. Ideally, get a great consistent take, use fresh strings with a well set-up bass and stay away from computer screens when recording. If some strings/notes are brighter than others, instead of using a compressor across the whole mix, use a multiband compressor…

Togu’s TAL-Dub delay is reborn as TAL-Dub-X Togu Audio Line made their name releasing free plugins, one of which was TAL-Dub, a delay effect. Now it’s been rebooted as TAL-Dub-X, which comes with new features and 64-bit support. Rather than being an emulation of a specific hardware delay unit, this promises its own “special sound”. It’s not a clean effect, and comes with a saturation stage and low-pass filter for added flexibility. A spec list is below, and you can find out more and download a demo on the Togu Audio Line website. TAL-Dub-X costs $25 and is available for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… King Bee Royal Jelly Dutch Hip-Hop banger from 1990 that took over clubs worldwide. Sander van Doorn honoured this classic by sampling it for his own album. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Back By Dope Demand, Feel The Flow, Must Bee The Music Pixies Surfer Rosa Alternative Rock classic. Stand out track Where Is My Mind? inspired Doorn’s own Look Inside Your Head from the title down. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Where Is My Mind?, Bone Machine, Vamos Faithless Outrospective Besides nicking their album title for his last track, Sander also took the way tracks like We Come 1 used reversed sounds for another Supernaturalistic track, Apple…

Combining Multiple Synthesis Types Cutting-edge synths often let you combine several advanced synthesis methods at once – here are three of our faves The majority of today’s all-powerful synthesizers are jam-packed full of various synthesis types, ranging from frequency modulation (FM) and additive through to wavetable, phase distortion synthesis, subtractive and more. Having several types of sound-generating options all under one roof means you can combine these modes in futuristic new ways. Want to frequency-modulate two wavetable-morphing oscillators against each other? No problem! How about sculpting an additive oscillator with subtractive-style filters and envelopes? Of course you can! However, one caveat is that it can be easy to crank everything up to 11 and turn a smooth sound into an inharmonic mess – so go easy. With all this in…

QUICK TIPS For cutting-edge synthesis > Many synths let you create your own wavetable oscillators from scratch, but the process can often feel like trial and error. Be sure to dissect your favourite preset ’tables to get a feel for what separates the wavetable wheat from the chaff. > Frequency modulation synthesis has a daunting reputation for complexity. Build your FM knowledge up slowly by designing simple basses and leads, then gradually adding more modulators until you grasp how it works. > Samplers are essentially synthesizers, so don’t be afraid to multisample your most complex oscillator creations and carry on the synth design process using your favourite sampler’s sound-mangling features. > Designing a complex synth patch during the heat of a track-writing session is the quickest way to kill your…

Future filters Traditional subtractive synthesis is like sculpture: you start with full-frequency oscillator tones, then carve away those frequencies using the synth’s filter. For temporal interest, you control the filter’s movement over time via envelopes and LFOs. We’re all familiar with this kind of low-, high- and band-pass filtering, but today’s ultra-modern wave of power synths feature plenty of additional filter types, all suited to cutting-edge sound design. Xfer Serum has a hefty selection of 90 filter types, including a Flanges category of Comb-type filters for zipping phasing effects – try modulating one of these filter Types’ cutoff parameter with a tempo-sync’d custom LFO shape, then use the filter’s Mix knob to blend this pseudo-flanging in parallel alongside your main wavetable oscillators. Another way to take filtering further is by…

As a solo producer/music maker, do you jam a lot of the tracks with MIDI to get the basic structure together? “That’s how most of the tracks are born, really, yeah. A lot of the melodies are played in on the keyboard, quantised or whatever. With my older stuff it was more clicking with the mouse writing melodies, which is cool too but you get a more human feel when you go back to actually playing the keyboard or instruments. It feels a bit more creative too. I guess I do have a good understanding of notes so I can look at the note-matrix on Ableton or Cubase and click in melodies but you can sometimes end up making quite clinical-sounding stuff.”…

Producer’s Guide To DIY Multiband Bands on the Run  The multiband compressor is the prototypical multiband device. You get several dynamics controllers in one unit, and each takes command of its own frequency band. It allows you to, say, scalp the ends from low frequencies, add punch to mid signals, and bring up the average levels of the highs – all in customisable frequency ranges that don’t interfere with each other. “The sky’s the limit… Saturation in the low band and flanging in the tops? Go for it” Software has given rise to even more multiband solutions. FabFilter’s Pro-MB software compressor lets you compress or expand multiple bands, all to different extents. With a software option you can choose to compress more or fewer bands than the standard hardware…

In The Studio With Teengirl Fantasy Teengirl Fantasy Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss found acclaim for their hypnotic, hardware-driven take on House and Techno. Danny Turner quizzes them on their evocative sound and their hands-on creative approach © Daniel Byrne Nick Weiss and Logan Takahashi crossed paths while studying at Oberlin College in Ohio. Their shared interest in electronic music saw them immediately combine technologies, resulting in 2010’s leftfield electronic album 7AM, which spawned the underground club anthem Cheaters. They followed it up in 2012 by releasing their second album, Tracer, on re-launched independent imprint R&S Records. After a hectic period of creativity, the duo parted ways to focus on side projects, including Takahashi’s solo album Nogeo, but 2017 sees Teengirl Fantasy return in sparkling form with 8AM. Almost…

MODULAR MONTHLY Get Flowing with the Voltage Block Animate and automate eight channels of CV with Malekko’s signal sequencer Malekko Heavy Industry’s Voltage Block is a CV sequencer offering eight channels of up to 16 stages of CV. There’s loads of power to manipulate and animate any system, it’s super-fast, and the whole thing is wrapped up in a nicely packaged and easy-to-use 6x5x3-inch module. Once we’ve built a basic patch, we can use it to fire out eight CV signals for animation, interest and movement. It’s super-fast, which is very inspiring and motivating. You also get live slider automation recording, letting you jam on the sliders before playing the whole thing back – killer! There’s quantisation and scale selection, a choice of smooth or stepped modulation, it’s controllable by…

Waldorf kb37 Keyboard Waldorf kb37 £775 It’s a 37-key keyboard with room for 107 HP’s worth of Eurorack modules built in! Bruce Aisher drops in a few of his most cherished modules and gets plugging Some synth modules will only require the audio to be connected before getting up and running There appears to be no slowing in the race to modular nirvana, and Waldorf are certainly not going to be left out. In recent months, they’ve introduced a range of Eurorack modules catering for host of generation and processing duties, but it’s the kb37 that is perhaps the most intriguing. The concept is simple: build a modular rack into a keyboard. This, of course, begs a question – why haven’t we seen more of these? The modular concept has…

Audio-Technica AE2300 Audio-Technica AE2300 £249 Can this little dynamic microphone do justice to high-SPL sources with such a small footprint, asks Jon Musgrave It has more going on in the low frequencies than an SM57, and only shows noticeable tail-off from 80Hz The Audio-Technica AE2300 is a cardioid dynamic instrument mic and the latest addition to Audio Technica’s long-established Artist Elite series. In terms of design, it’s not as fancy as their own dual capsule instrument mics (the AE2500 and ATM250DE), but is better equipped than their regular ATM250 or ATM230 instrument dynamics, as reflected in the mid price point. The AE2300 is a broad-application high-SPL cardioid design, so should be ideal for percussion, drums, guitar amps and brass. It’s also pretty compact (less then 10cm long), so is perfect…

This Issue BONUS SAMPLES See this month’s selection of free demos at vault.futuremusic.co.uk www.loopmasters.com 01 Looptone Ministry Of House 02 Loopmasters Presents UK Garage & 2 Step 03 Ghost Syndicate Pres. Assault Drum & Bass 04 Samplestate Kreature Modern Tech House 05 Loopmasters Pres Liquidism Drum & Bass 06 Loopmasters Juke Footwork 101 07 Singomakers G>Bass 08 Loopmasters Presents Vibrations Instrumental Electronica https://splice.com 01 Splice Sounds Varien Steampunk Speakeasy 02 Splice Sounds Future Bass Leads + Melodies…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH Les Amazones d’Afrique République Amazone Real World Records République Amazone is the inspiring debut album from Les Amazones d’Afrique, an all-female collective of West African musicians who are campaigning for gender equality around the world. Bringing together an eclectic mix of musicians from across the continent, including world-renowned and emerging talent, the record is an electrifying melting pot of styles, cultures and time periods. The vocals drift between English, French and Mandinka as the lyrics take on domestic violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, gang rape and oppression while also promoting love and female empowerment. République Amazone’s fascinatingly diverse soundscape sees traditional and ancient styles blended with Afro-rhythms and then pumped through an undercurrent of Dub and Electronica. This engaging sound is then constantly…

Dissonant FM Drone With Form’s Vocal Resynthesis Want to morph the most basic of sound sources into a dystopian soundscape? Look no further than Native Instruments’ synth Form Futuristic resynthesis techniques are great for transforming simple recordings into mind-blowing synth sounds. Here, we start by dragging in a chunk of a vocal sample onto NI Form’s main window – the synth then analyses and resynthesizes the vocal sample into an oscillator for playback. Now over to the Sound page, where we blend in Form’s Additive Oscillator for a solid square wave layer, adding thickness. After this, we modulate the Osc FX>FM dial with a slow-moving sine LFO, which slowly introduces dissonant harmonic overtones over time. Now Form’s built-in FX will spice up the overall timbre further. We dial in the…

Oscillator Voice Stacking And Detuning One of the easiest ways to create ultra-modern synth leads is by stacking and detuning oscillator voices. Let’s take a closer look… For years synthesists have been detuning two identical oscillators slightly in opposing directions to create subtle ‘beating’ and thickness. Yet it was the Roland JP-8000 synthesizer in the early 2000s – responsible for the classic Trance ‘supersaw’ sound – that popularised the modern synthesis technique of oscillator stacking and detuning. Following in the JP-8000’s footsteps, most modern ‘power synths’ let you pile up multiple voices within the same oscillator, then detune and spread these stacked voices. This is now a staple synthesis technique for generating incredibly thick leads, pads, hoovers, Reeses and more. Let’s walk through this simple but effective technique for jawdroppingly…

Sequenced Melodic Rhythms With Massive Employ a synth’s tempo-sync’d LFOs, sequencers and arpeggiators to get multiple parameters moving and create rhythmically complex sounds Let’s deconstruct a preset we’ve created for NI Massive, called Seq Twangy Lead.nsmv. The patch’s main ‘clock’ is provided by the 5 Performer mod source, which is sequencing all three oscillators’ Amp amounts. Spin the 7 Pattern macro knob to fade between 5 Perf’s two different rhythmic patterns. For extra timbral interest, Filter 1 is set to a tuned Comb type. Filter 2 outputs the dry signal, so we can use the filter Mix slider to fade this comb effect in parallel – to blend its effect into the mix, raise the 1 CombMix macro. All three of Massive’s main wavetable oscillators have been stacked together for…

No soft synths on the album at all this time around then? “That’s a first for me, yeah. The main soft synth I’ve used over the years has been the Waldorf A1, which came free with Cubase SX. It actually sounds a lot like the Jupiter even though it’s digital. If you tweak it a bit and put it through some nice effects then it really does sound quite analogue. It’s ancient but I know it like the back of my hand. I’ve played it out now, really as there’s not much else I can do with it as it feels a little like treading old ground when I use it now. Over the years it’s been very useful though.”…

YOUTUBE MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO FEATURES FROM FUTURE MUSIC Meet our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! Top producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Roosevelt, Wait Up The Greco-Roman artist invites us into his Cologne studio to break down the production tricks behind the vintage pop-inspired opener to his self-titled debut album. DON’T MISS: René LaVice, Richter Scale The Canadian D’n’B producer invites us into his studio to watch as he deconstructs his (literally) earthshaking club banger Richter Scale. Disciples, Daylight The UK trio talk us through the writing, recording and production process behind their catchy, club-ready House track Daylight. Keeno, Enigma Bristol-based D ’n’ B producer Keeno invites us into his…

Using The Right Filters Not just any filter will work when designing the perfect crossover network – here’s what you have to consider Argh! Yes, you read that right! unfortunately, multiband crossover networks are a little more nuanced than they may appear at first, and slapping any old filter over a signal can throw your material off-balance. A generic filter might not have a consistent behaviour or response, and this is especially so with your DAW’s ‘stock’ filter. For this reason, it’s best to reach for a plug-in… but don’t just call up any filter. To check your crossover network thoroughly, duplicate your original track and phase-invert it against your multiband network (with its processing bypassed). If any sound is coming out (even at a low…

What’s your opinion on people who listen to music on laptops or mobile phones? Is it regressive? Roland Space Echo/Chorus Echo “Do not even try to mix vocals without a Space Echo. I usually use two passes of it, sometimes three.” Avalon VT-737SP “This is a channel strip, with tube preamp, opto compressor, four-band EQ and, most importantly for home recording, a nice big VU meter with a lightbulb.” Pultec Filter HLF 3C “Irreplaceable for tuba taming, this ten-pound tank is great for extreme settings, telephone voices, evil dwarves… I wish I had two of them.” Roland SVC-350 Vocoder “I also have the VP-330, which is the keyboard version. But this has 11 bands of formant controls for actual intelligibility. Awesome on drums.” Orban Dual Spring Reverb “Of the four…

Teenage Engineering PO-32 Tonic Teenage Engineering PO-32 Tonic £85 Teenage team up with fellow Swedes Sonic Charge for a drum synth with a unique trick up its sleeve. Si Truss investigates… The effects are fun to play with and capable of quickly conjuring up glitchy sounds akin to classic ’90s IDM The PO-32 Tonic is the seventh addition to Teenage Engineering’s range of compact, battery-powered Pocket Operator grooveboxes. As with previous iterations, this PO packs 16 sounds, 16 performance effects and a 16-step sequencer into an exposed-looking hardware unit slightly larger than a credit card. However, where previous POs have been limited to a pre-defined range of sounds, this one is capable of a broader sound palette via some clever cross-platform compatibility. This flexibility is thanks to the fact that…

Roli Blocks Roli Blocks from £170 The Seaboard creators aim their expressive controller technology at the mass market. Si Truss goes for a spin around the block London-based company Roli have risen to prominence over the past few years with their Seaboard range; a unique take on the traditional piano format that offers string-like expression via Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE) technology. Their latest product, Blocks, is an attempt to incorporate the same technology into a more affordable package So what is Blocks? Roli call it a ‘modular music studio’. The ‘modular’ part of this tagline refers to the three hardware elements that can be purchased and used in a mix-and-match manner. The central element is the Lightpad Block, a rectangular, rubber-topped control surface incorporating MPE technology so it can be…

UA Apollo Twin MkII Universal Audio Apollo Twin MkII from £590 The Apollo Twin MkII is not just a pretty new face, as Jono Buchanan discovers… The Twin MkII brings its capabilities in line with the rest of the Apollo range It’s easy to forget that as the digital division of Universal Audio – UAD – continues to add to its roster of award-winning plug-in emulations, the company’s origins were founded on the hardware designs of Bill Putnam. Alongside the recording channels and dynamics processors that Universal Audio continue to sell today, equally well known among its hardware ranks are the Apollo audio interfaces. These Thunderbolt-enabled boxes for Mac and PC balance high-quality audio conversion with two killer unique selling points. Firstly, UAD plug-ins are powered from the Apollo’s onboard…

iZotope Neutron iZotope Neutron from £155 The latest from the Ozone creators packs an automatic Track Assistant. Si Truss asks if it’s too good to be true… Each of Neutron’s tools holds up as a solid effect in its own right The past few years have seen a noticeable trend towards ‘intelligent’ mixing and mastering tools. Into this fray enters iZotope’s Neutron, a suite of mixing processors enhanced by a Track Assistant tool, which analyses an audio signal and presents the user with a tailor-made channel strip. While this might sound like heresy, iZotope are quick to point out that Neutron isn’t intended to replace your carefully honed mixing skills. Rather, the idea behind Track Assistant is to present the user with an intelligently designed preset from which to build.…

Your Production Problems Solved ADVICE Why aren’t there more iOS Audio Units? > When Audio Units arrived on iOS in 2015, we suspected that they’d come to supercede the likes of Audiobus and Inter-App Audio. Whereas these standards enable you to connect apps and use them together, AUs offer the promise of proper plug-in-style hosting of instruments and apps within your iPhone or iPad DAW, which certainly seems like a better solution. All of this remains true, but the bottom line is that we haven’t seen as many iOS AUs as we were expecting. It’s hard to say why this is, but the bottom line could be… well, the bottom line. Let’s not forget that most iOS apps sell for a fraction of the price of their desktop counterparts, so…