Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Future Music

Filter Moog finally unleash the Subharmonicon Sub-harmonic tones and polyrhythmic sequencing are the name of the game for this former Moogfest DIY project Moog’s Subharmonicon synth has existed in limited numbers for a couple of years. This compact, semi-modular originated as a DIY build project for VIP Engineers at Moog’s 2018 Moogfest event but now, much like the DFAM before it, it’s been repurposed for the mass market and is available to buy in fully pre-built form. The Subharmonicon is the most leftfield and esoteric of Moog’s recent semi-modulars, with an emphasis on polyrhythmic sequencing and sub-harmonic tone generation. Sound creation is handled by two analogue VCOs linked with four subharmonic oscillators. The relationship between these subharmonic generators and the main oscillators can be set in a variety of different…

In the studio with Blame “It was all recorded and mixed in my home studio. Everything revolved around my E-Mu e6400 sampler, which I loved. Apart from my love/hate relationship with Zip disks. “I never had any drum machines, but my Korg Trinity had really cool 808 and 909 kits. Then I had a Novation SuperNova, which could have eight different things playing at once, on one unit, which was really cool. “I had a Roland SVC-350 Vocoder. I used that on a lot of the album, running drums through it, and vocals. And an Ensoniq DP/4 FX unit – you got really good reverbs, phasing, and flanging out of that. “And then a Yamaha 02R desk, which let me work on many tracks at once, and a Juno 106,…

RAC creates a delicate lo-fi piano house track Portland based, Grammy-winning producer André Allen Anjos, aka RAC, has just released his latest LP Boy on Counter Records. His Sample Challenge see’s him channeling lo-fi piano house. GET MORE FROM RAC: rac.fm 01 “I don’t usually use samples at all, so this is new to me,” André explains. He decides not to add a software instrument or audio recording because he enjoyed the limitations of using just samples. “I’ve been really into lo-fi house recently. It’s nothing too dance-y but it has a really good beat. That one piano sample really inspired me.” 02 The core of André’s track comes from the Acoustic Piano chord sample. He sequences it on Ableton Live’s timeline, pitching it up and down to create…

Rob Clouth reconstructs a beatboxed rhythm Barcelona-based producer and sound designer Rob Clouth has released on labels including Leisure System and Mesh. His track sees him reconstructing recordings of his own voice with the help of a self-made Max for Live device. GET MORE FROM ROB CLOUTH: robclouth.com 01 Rob uses a Max tool he created himself called Reconstructor, which is designed to replicate the texture and rhythm of his voice using samples. He beatboxes a drum pattern, which he then processes with Ableton Live’s Drum Buss in order to give it a little more low-end weight. 02 He feeds this beatbox recording into Reconstructor, which replicates the rhythm and sound using the drum one-shots from the Sample Challenge pack to create a glitchy, granular-sounding beat. He then repeats…

Zonderling play with wavetable synthesis Since making their debut in 2012, Dutch duo Zonderling have released on labels including Spinnin’ Records, Heldeep and Armada. For their Sample Challenge, Martijn Van Sonderen (also of Noisia) gets creative with wavetables. SEE MORE FROM ZONDERLING: zndrlng.com 01 Martijn favours wavetable synthesis for his effort. Serum’s wavetable engine becomes the base of the melodic elements. To start, though, Martijn slices off the tail of the 808 kick sample and loops it to become a longer, tonal bass sound. He then uses a Disperser and FabFilter’s Pro-Q 3 to add weight and punch. 02 Next Martijn creates chords, taking Serum’s wavetable engine and using the Open Up Your Eyes vocal loop as a sound source. He uses an LFO to modulate the wavetable position…

TMPLT builds a leftfield club groove Berlin-based producer TMPLT’s debut LP is a heady blend of dance music influences, touching on techno, DnB and ’90s-influneced IDM. For his Sample Challenge, he builds a textured percussive groove with creative effect processing GET MORE FROM TMPLT: tmplt-rec.de 01 TMPLT’s track starts with the clap sample. He uses reverb and delay to add noise and groove to the sound. He layers a kick under, created by layering the 909 Kick and 808 Rim. This is processed with AudioDamage’s FuzzPlus for mid-frequency presence, along with multiband compression from FabFilter’s Pro-MB. The 909 Closed Hat, Shaker and Cabassa samples flesh out the drum pattern. 02 Next he adds FX noises to the track. He turns to the Ball Bearing and Radio Scan samples, both…

In The Studio With Jaga Jazzist Jaga Jazzist’s genre-defying hybrid of styles has reshaped contemporary jazz fusion. Danny Turner questions Lars Horntveth and Marcus Forsgren on the inner-workings of their ninth album, Pyramid © Anthony P Huus Formed in 1994 when Lars and Martin Horntveth were mere teenagers, Jaga Jazzist first introduced the world to their progressive experimental jazz project with the debut album Jaevla Jazzist Grete Stitz. Lauded for their originality and exhilarating live shows, the collective signed to Oslo independent Smalltown Supersound and recorded A Livingroom Hush (2002). An imaginative combination of lounge jazz, dub, post-rock and textured electronics, it was voted ‘Jazz Album of the Year’ by the BBC. As Lars Horntveth took control of writing duties, the Norwegian ensemble maintained their unorthodox approach to multi-instrumentalism, revitalising…

Pythius Making Auxiliary’s massive beats in Cubase Beefy beats are a must for neuro DnB. Here’s how Hylke creates his powerful tops and one-shots 01 To make his kick sound, Hylke uses Sonic Academy Kick 2. “The tune is in E, and as you can see I’ve put most of the points of the kick’s pitch envelope in E as well, so it glides into the mix quite easily,” he notes. 02 The beat tops are created with a virtual drummer, bounced down to audio. “I’ve used Addictive Drums for the main layer of hi-hats,” Hylke reveals. “It sounds natural, it sounds live. It adds a layer of spice and makes your tracks sound less ‘mechanical’... it can add a more rock ‘n’ roll edge to…

RETROSPECTIVE IDM If you want to start an argument, just mention intelligent dance music – a much-maligned name that still comes closest to defining a movement © Andy Willsher/Redferns/Getty Images Genre tags are often controversial, but rarely are they rejected wholesale by the artists they’re meant to describe. IDM might be the most extreme example of that: a genre that most of its proponents don’t claim to be a part of, and a name almost designed to cause conflict. There’s a simple reason that almost every record shop in the world categorises music by genre. It’s an effective way of guiding listeners through the diverse styles on offer. The problem – and why so many artists feel that genres are restrictive – is when people’s preconceptions about genres limit creativity.…

REVIEWS Akai MPC One & MPC Live II £639/£1040 The reinvigorated MPC range gains two new hardware devices and a software update. Si Truss dives back in… Back in 2017, Akai made something of a U-turn with their iconic MPC range. Following several laptop-reliant iterations – MIDI controllers designed for bespoke software, effectively equivalents to NI Maschine – the company released a pair of MPCs that once again took things out-of-the-box with built-in CPUs that allowed them to operate as completely standalone, DAWrivalling production tools. The behemoth-like MPC X was the flagship, but the MPC Live was the standout. Equipped with a rechargeable battery for completely wireless operation, the Live really nailed the balance between self-sufficiency and versatility – stripped back enough to allow users to free themselves from the…

Reviews Universal Audio LUNA free Universal Audio enters the ‘digital recording environment’ fray with LUNA. They don’t want us to call it a DAW but Jono Buchanan might just have to anyway… Universal Audio’s reputation as a class-leading software developer, who specialise in high-quality emulations of recording history’s most coveted hardware is pretty much well established already. Equally, its Apollo audio interfaces are highly-regarded because they sound great and also because their on-board processors lighten the load on your computer’s CPU. At January’s NAMM show, Universal Audio announced LUNA, a recording application which allows you to follow a UA workflow to a logical end; not only plugging instruments into its interfaces and using its bridging application Console to send processed signals onto your DAW, but to provide a recording environment…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES Toontrack Superior Drummer – The Rooms of Hansa Decades SDX €159 We looked at the Decades expansion pack for Toontrack’s Superior Drummer a few months back, and here we have another way of extending its sound palette beyond the already hefty 230GB+ factory library. Once again Toontrack have combined a Grammy winner with a legendary location – this time it’s Michael Ilbert and Hansa Studios in Berlin. Although best known for his pop work with Swedish super-producer Max Martin, Michael Ilbert started out working with punk and rock acts. He continues to build a varied and eclectic repertoire, and has overseen the recording and mix of this SDX from the comfort of his own Hansa-based room. Hansa Tonstudio needs little introduction, and although somewhat pared-down in technical…

GEAR GUIDE HARDWARE SAMPLERS Akai MPC Live II £1040 Full Review: FM358 | A truly go-anywhere production experience – and now better equipped than ever. The Live II remains the high point of the current MPC range. Polyend Tracker £449 Full Review: FM357 Less esoteric than it first appears, this is a well-designed sampler that’s both fun and inspiring. Worth a look whether you’re experienced with trackers or not. Roland MC-707 $999 Review: FM349 It lags behind some rivals on the sampling front, but on the whole the 707 is a powerful and well-designed groovebox. A welcome return for the company’s MC line. Elektron Digitakt £659 Full Review: FM320 With deep sequencing and a powerful sound engine, Digitakt is the ‘affordable’ Elektron groovebox we’ve been dreaming of. Elektron Octatrack II…

Filter Logic Pro X 10.5 adds a new sampler, step sequencer and Ableton-style clip launching ‘The biggest update since Logic Pro X’ also adds new Drum Synth and Logic Remote functionality In what’s being described as “the biggest update to Logic since the launch of Logic Pro X”, Apple has unveiled version 10.5 of its flagship DAW. This adds Ableton Live-style clip launching in the form of Live Loops, Remix FX, two new samplers and several tools that are designed for beat creation. Live Loops/Remix FX The Live Loops functionality was accidentally revealed by Apple back in March, but now it’s official. Promising to let you create music in new freeform and nonlinear ways, it lets you organise loops, samples and recordings on a musical grid, from where you can…

Filter Joué Play is an expressive MIDI controller that enables anyone to make music We’ve been charting the progress of the Joué modular MIDI controller for years now. It’s an expressive modular MIDI controller that you can customise with different playing surfaces – and now the more affordable Joué Play joins the fray. Designed to be enjoyed by anyone who wants to make music, regardless of their previous experience or abilities, this comprises the Joué Play board – which is made of beech wood from sustainably managed forests and is designed, manufactured and assembled in France – and four silicone Pads, each of which lets you use the controller in a different way. These are known as Piano, Drum, Guitar and Keys. The hardware works alongside a companion iPad app…

Carlo Whale builds a warm technostyle groove Classically-trained Italian producer Carlos Whale is known for his emotive, melodic take on leftfield techno. In his Sample Challenge, he flips simple drum hits and found sounds into a drifting, atmospheric club rhythm. MORE FROM CARLO WHALE: soundcloud.com/carlowhale 01 Flipping through the sample pack, Carlo is drawn to the percussive sounds more than the melodic loops and chords: “I don’t think I’ll ever used a major chord in my whole life,” he says. The found sounds hits, such as the Drill and Grill Pan also appeal to him. 02 He starts with the 808 Kick sample loaded into Simpler in Ableton, which he compresses with the Glue Compressor and EQs to remove the top end. He layers the bell sample on top…

Kove layers up a gritty DnB bass riff UK drum & bass producer James Rockhill, aka Kove, has released tracks on labels including MTA and Drum&BassArena. In his Sample Challenge he turns our simple elements into a rolling DnB break and multi-layered bassline. GET MORE FROM KOVE: soundcloud.com/kove 01 James starts by creating a drum break, turning to the Drum Loop sample as a source. In Logic he pitches the loop up to a more DnB-friendly 174bpm before slicing it down into individual hits for sequencing. He then lays the hits out on Logic’s timeline to create a classic rolling DnB drum pattern. 02 To back this break up, James uses the 909 Kick. He speeds up the sample for punch and applies a low-pass EQ. The transient click…

Z.I.P.P.O & Hiver’s remote techno collaboration Having recently dropped their latest electro-tinged collaboration, Italian producers Z.I.P.P.O, aka Giuseppe Maffei and Hiver, Giuseppe Albrizio and Sergio Caio, link up remotely to tackle our sample challenge. GET MORE FROM Z.I.P.P.O: fidesrecords.bandcamp.com 01 Z.I.P.P.O loads an assortment of the one-shot samples into Drum Racks in Ableton Live, in order to build a groove. He combines the FX Weapon sound, 909 Clap and 808 Rim to create a snare. ValhallaDelay is used to bring the layers together and add space. The 808 Kick is used with Live’s Drum Buss applied to add punch. 02 More layering is used to create a shaker/hat combo. The 808 Clav and Rim are used to add more percussive touches, with delay and distortion to add rhythm and…

Icarus build an atmospheric, deep club tune Bristol-based electronic outfit Icarus comprise brothers Tom and Ian Griffiths. For their Sample Challenge they turn to granular tools and randomisation to create a textured club track. GET MORE FROM ICARUS: soundcloud.com/thisisicarus 01 The track starts with the drums, built on a kick pattern created using multiple layers of samples to different frequency ranges. Secondary instances of the kick, EQed differently, sit between beats to create a rhythm. For the hats, Tom and Ian use a Max for Live device called Snake. With the hat in Live’s Simpler, it’s easy to sequence a pattern with varied velocity and gate levels. 02 The You Give Me Everything I Need vocal sample is run through Granulator to create a glitchy melodic effect. ValhallaShimmer reverb…

Two approaches to ‘intelligent’ instruments Cycling 74 Max/MSP 1 Although it grew out of an era when electronic instruments were far more basic than now, IDM has always embraced new technologies. In the early ’90s, the focus was heavily on hardware thanks to the limited capabilities of software in the era, but as computer processing power increased, software approaches became more common. Cycling 74’s Max/MSP has its roots in the ’80s, but really emerged as a more fully-formed package in the late ’90s. Described as a visual programming language for music and multimedia, it allows users to create custom synths, samplers, effects, MIDI processors, sequencers and more. It’s now a mainstay of the Autechre setup, with the duo developing a generative, algorithmic approach that borders on software programming as much…

WORKING WITH AUDIO Audio tracks do what you’d expect, though there are some really nice touches here, taking all of Console’s functionality and pushing it on considerably. You can configure an audio track with a Unison plugin, a chain of Inserts and so on, but there’s also a dedicated ‘Tape’ option here, which adds a tape emulation stage to every channel on which you instantiate it. Oxide Tape is included for free but if you own (or want to buy) the Studer A800 plugin, you can swap it in here instead. Indeed, there’s a ‘Store’ which lets you buy content (for instruments, extensions and plugins) directly inside the app. In order to configure a Unison plugin, you’ll need to enable record-ready or input monitoring mode on your selected audio track;…

TESTBENCH Tonsturm FRQ Shift Here’s a recent software release that sees the process of audio frequency shifting taken to its extremes. While the better-known pitch shifting effect is obviously all about multiplying or dividing signals, frequency shifting is all about addition and subtraction. And while pitch shifting can give musical, harmonically sensible results, frequency shifting is a much more, shall we say, irrational affair. Tonsturm’s FRQ Shift plugin does the frequency shifting basics, but it also takes things one step further, with feedback controls, effects added in the feedback loop, and modulation from a choice of sources to practically any destination. Let’s take a quick look… Pitch shifting Most pitch shifting is just that – we use a pitch shifter plugin (see left) to increase or decrease the pitch of…

Phase Plant’s Resonator effect Let’s see how Phase Plant lets users create resonators with its dedicated effect 01 Start by creating a group consisting of a noise generator and an output block with an amp envelope. Select the coloured noise output and notice how the slope changes the frequency content like a filter. Next, adjust the envelope so that it has an immediate attack, short decay/release, and no sustain. 02 Set the first Lane to Poly, in order to perform the patch polyphonically. Then, add the resonator Snap-In to the Lane. Note that there are two icons: sawtooth and square. These are slightly misleading, as their purpose is to change the phase of the feedback. Sawtooth is in-phase, while flipped phase is the square wave. 03 Add a MIDI Note…

Filter The Make Noise 0-CTRL could be the perfect device for all your CV sequencing needs Make Noise have premiered their latest hardware controller, the 0-CTRL. If that name sounds familiar to you, it’s because this latest gadget is designed as the ideal partner to the company’s excellent 0-Coast semi-modular. The 0-CTRL is a patchable, clockable controller and step sequencer for voltage-controlled synthesiser systems. The tabletop device is fully Eurorack compatible, so it will be right at home patching up to your modular systems and semi-modular synthesisers. The controller allows you to sequence the pitch, strength, and time of your synthesiser voice on a per-step basis, and can sync with other hardware via clock in, or clock other machines with the clock and/or gate outs. Following on a similar design…

Talking Shop Evvol © Sven Serkis “I couldn’t live without my Behringer Model D monosynth” Evvol| With their 2015 debut Eternalism, Berlin-based duo Evvol showcased their gloriously dark and detailed take on synth pop. Last month the pair returned with a new LP, The Power, another equally strong set of electronically-rich, emotive tracks. We caught up with guitarist and producer Jane Arnison. When did you start making music? “I started making music when I was a young kid with two boom-boxes. I used to overdub from one to the next and mess around like that and do little tape experiments and stuff. But my first serious gear was when I got my start in electronic production in the late ’90s. I bought a PC and Emagic Logic v2.5! I also…

Rhyme So make a speaker-rattling ode to boredom Rhyme So is a new collaborative project linking Australian poet and songwriter Rhyme with Japanese producer Shinichi Osawa (aka Mondo Grosso). Their Sample Challenge entry sees them creating a lockdowninspired – and brilliantly oddball – slice of bass-heavy, synth pop GET MORE FROM RHYME SO: rhymeso.tokyo 01 “I keep seeing the comment ‘I’m so bored’ recently. I wanted to turn this into ‘Rhyme So bored’,” Rhyme explains. The song combines two sets of lyrics, one written pre-lockdown and one after, on the theme of self-improvement. “We’re living in the most media-saturated age ever, but we’re still bored. But actually boredom is OK. Boredom is how we make new ideas.” 02 The track uses about three or four samples in total. Shinichi…

Alinka slices sounds in Maschine Born in the Ukraine but raised in Chicago, Alinka’s sound draws from house and techno influences on both sides of the Atlantic. Her Sample Challenge see her get creative with some Maschine loop slicing. GET MORE FROM ALINKA: facebook.com/alinkamusic 01 Alinka starts by loading the 808 and 909 drum hits into a Maschine kit and sequencing a classic house drum machine beat. For the melody, she cuts the Synth Bassline loop into slices across Maschine’s pads and replays it, using Note Repeat to create three arp-like bass riffs. Next she slices the Open Up Your Eyes vocal loop and uses it to create a melodic line. 02 In Logic she records an extra bassline from the Moog Sub 37 hardware synth, another arp pattern…

Setaoc Mass creates a rolling techno rhythm Berlin-based Brit Sam Coates, aka Setaoc Mass, is known for his rolling, percussive take on techno. For our Sample Challenge, he loops and slices his way to a grooving, bass-heavy techno riff. GET MORE FROM SETAOC MASS: soundcloud.com/setaoc_mass 01 Sam starts with the drum one-shots. For a classic rumbling techno kick/bass, he resamples the 808 and 909 kicks through the Elektron Analog Heat to add grit. He records the audio back in and layers it with the original 909 Kick, low-passed. He runs the 808 tail through a convolution reverb and records it back in. 02 Alongside the kicks, Sam uses the Bongo sample, pitched down 21 semitones in Ableton Live’s Simpler to make it a bass sound. Heavy low-pass filtering is…

Flore dabbles in time-stretching and texture French producer Flore has recently returned with her second album, Rituals – a dark concoction of gritty and atmospheric dance music. For her Sample Challenge, she gets textural with some extreme time-stretching GET MORE FROM FLORE: floremusic.bandcamp.com 01 Flore starts with the Vinyl Break sample “I’ve actually used something called Akaizer. It lets you load a sample and manipulate it as if it were in an Akai sampler. I really like it because when you heavily timestretch a sample, the texture is very different from the Warping in Ableton. You can find this really old school effect.” 02 She applies a huge 600% time-stretch and some pitch-shifting to the sample, to create a droning texture. She then creates a double of this and…

Mild Minds creates a melancholic vocal house track Melbournite Benjamin David, aka Mild Minds, has recently released his debut LP, Moods via Odesza’s Foreign Family Collective. He builds his track around a “risky” vocal sample, adding melancholic chords and his own vocals on top. GET MORE FROM MILD MINDS: mildminds.com 01 “I opted for something different,” Benjamin explains. “I’m not used to over-processing things. This was a nice challenge to turn something I didn’t necessarily like into something I did. I went for a deep house feeling, adding my own vocal for atmosphere but also using a vocal hook from the pack.” 02 For his drums, he resamples the kick from the Drum Loop, EQs it to cut the high end and uses Ableton Drum Buss for sub boom.…

Interview Avision From his years as a whizzkid on the NY club scene to more recent international stage releases with globally recognised labels, techno Anthony Cardinale’s star is somewhat on the rise. Leo Maymind sits down to talk techno... Take a cursory glance over Avision’s discography and past gig list and you’re likely to develop a slight tinge of jealousy. Releases on established labels like Ellum and Drumcode? Check. Support from techno heavyweights like Adam Beyer, Nicole Moudaber, and The Martinez Brothers? Check. High profile gigs in Miami, Barcelona, and LA? Check, check, and check. What you don’t see are the hours and hours of work that this New York native has put in in order to get there. Avision, real name Anthony Cardinale, started on the decks at the…

ROUND-UP Multiband compressors Seeking to get that extra bit of control over your frequencies? Look no further than this motley band of multiband heros Gramotech Pompeii £30 A satisfyingly small multiband dynamics tool that keeps things simple but manages to remain unique, Pompeii offers four bands of compression and expansion – not quite to the extent of gating, which would be a great addition. There’s also a per-band Saturation control, which is great for warming up bands that need extra oomph elsewhere in the frequency spectrum. Each band is equipped with Bypass, Solo and Mute controls, and while there’s no classic metered gain reduction, the spectrogram does show the difference between the input/output signals in a slow fashion. That’s it – Pompeii is very simple but also very solid, satisfying…

Exploring Serum’s comb filters Serum’s toolset can help you play around with resonators and explore the mechanics of the sound 01 Turn on Serum’s noise generator, then select the ARP White noise waveform. From there, set the Level to zero and click the N button on the filter module to route the noise generators output into the filter. Be sure to turn off all other oscillators and sub-oscillators, so the noise is isolated. 02 Start by setting Env 2 to a very short decay, and use it to modulate the volume of the noise. Since Serum’s amp envelope (Env 1) comes after the filter, give it a full sustain and a long release. The amp envelope’s release time affects the duration of high-resonance comb filter tones. 03 Begin your experiments…