Innehållsförteckning för April 2017 från Computer Music

“Vastly expand your sonic palette…” At the time of writing, I’ve just landed back on UK soil after attending the 2017 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California – and boy, what a show it was! Unusually rainy weather aside, it was incredibly inspiring to see the music software world representing so strongly, with plenty of new instruments, effects, controllers, audio interfaces and more announced for the coming year. Cop our news roundup from the show floor from p10. Of course, although we all love drooling over new music-making toys, it’s far more beneficial to get to grips with the powerful tools already sitting on your hard drive. Similarly, mastering every feature of at least one versatile synthesiser will vastly expand your sonic palette and help develop your unique musical identity. So…

Our fantastic software, samples, videos and tutorial files are now available to download! To get access to this content, go to vault.computermusic.co.uk on your PC or Mac’s web browser. You’ll be asked to register and answer a few simple questions to prove that you’ve got the mag. You’ll then be given access to our content! You can sign in any time cumquam rem to register new issues and download t more content. For more info, see our Vault FAQ: bit.ly/cmvaultfaq * Please note that the Producer Masterclass video is not available as a download via our Vault, but is made available via internet streaming. See page 51 for details.…

“We’re now improving Soothe’s algorithm to make it more versatile” cm What’s your background in music and in programming? How did oeksound get started, and how would you describe the company’s philosophy? OK “Compared to your typical developer, I’m quite a young guy, with a background and university-level education in both music technology and programming. Work ranging from creative coding and DSP algorithm consultancy to FOH engineering, together with excessive amount of time spent with Matlab, give me an interesting edge in DSP. oeksound is about using that edge: solving well-defined and laborious problems, while hiding the ugly stuff under the hood.” cm Soothe, your first plugin, is a “dynamic resonance suppressor”. Is this the same as a dynamic EQ or de-esser? OK “In terms of use, Soothe is a…

A technique popularised by the PPG Wave, and more recently by Native Instruments Massive and now Serum, wavetable synthesis is an expressive method of sound generation for creating complex, morphing timbres with minimal effort – think morphing ‘growl’ basses, shimmering pads and animated FX. A Serum wavetable oscillator is comprised of up to 256 single-cycle waveforms, called frames (or ‘subtables’), strung together in a sequence. Playing back a single frame will output a static oscillator tone, much like a regular subtractive oscillator; but moving or modulating the playback position within the wavetable will scan through the various frames. In Serum’s case, scanning through this collection of waves is as simple as moving or modulating the WT Position parameter by hooking it up to a macro, envelope or LFO. Although both…

10. Epic textured pads using chained FX When synthesising complex sounds, effects are often necessary to add an extra dimension of sonic finesse. Luckily, then, Serum’s FX rack contains ten powerful effects modules, accessed by clicking FX at the top of the plugin window. You can use up to all ten of the modules at once, in any order you like. Using Serum’s internal modules also saves on the CPU overhead of opening extra individual effect plugins, and your FX settings are stored within your saved presets. For this video, we’ve come up with an ethereal-sounding pad patch, which uses seven of Serum’s ten effects modules, so you can get an idea how a complex chain of effects can radically enhance a basic sound. In its raw form, the patch…

“Swapping out modules to check how they affect the sound is fun, but what makes the difference between a mediocre preset and a killer one is the sum of many details. Here are a few examples of such tweaks…” POLY2 MODE “Try using Poly2 more often. It’s not just a CPU-saver – it also gives the voices a different character’… “Load HS Ganymede from the 4 Dream Synth folder, hold a chord with your left hand and play a fairly slow melody over the top. After the initial slow attack, as long as you leave some space between notes, that melody will sound like a separate little monosynth. Now switch Mode (the selector immediately above Accuracy) to Poly and compare. The melody blends into the background now – it loses…

As a new-for-2017 supersynth toting a full complement of oscillators, voices and effects, VPS Avenger has the potential to hurt your CPU. Manuel divulged a few conservation measures to free up some cycles. VOICES DOWN “If you’re creating a unisono effect, the V-Saw and the Chorder both multiply the number of oscillators. Using them together has very little effect, and a very high cost to CPU. “Another possibility to save voices is to use an AA Vintage Chorus FX instead of the V-Saw. It takes less CPU but still sounds wide and fat, and in some cases gives you more options. “You can also limit your voices – in Avenger you can select from 64 down to 1. An intelligent algorithm is used, so the oldest voice is always killed…

Annual updates are a given for some DAWs, and as such it can be difficult to get too revved up about yet another list of minor additions and bug fixes. However, Steinberg’s recent evolution of Cubase brings some surprising new features and functionality that are actually worth getting excited about. If you read our review, you already know about the most noteworthy, like the brand new built-in Sampler Track, Lower Zone editing, MixConsole History, and revamped transport, not to mention the nifty multiple marker tracks. Yet some new features are elusive – Steinberg themselves didn’t bother mentioning the Score Editor’s new capabilities, for example – and some bear a bit more explanation as to how they might be used in a practical manner. That is, of course, why we’re here:…

“There are so many reasons for developing good gain staging practice” Ilpo Kärkkäinen Ilpo – aka Resound – is a veteran drum ’n’ bass producer who’s worked with many of the scene’s biggest labels. As well as being an in-demand game soundtrack artist and mixing and mastering engineer, he runs a popular production blog focused on productivity. After 20 years in the game, Ilpo still has a passion for pushing the boundaries of production. www.resoundsound.com In my early days, mixing was a constant battle. Not paying attention to gain staging in my workflow caused me a lot of unnecessary hassle. I would often end up in a vicious cycle, pushing my channel faders louder one by one, struggling to maintain a balance. Eventually, I would end up losing direction and…

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 and executed product 9 Excellent. First-rate and among the best you can buy 10 Exceptional. It just doesn’t get any better than this! See and hear the latest software in action in our ‘2 Minutes With…’ videos! Wherever you see the icon, head straight to your DVD, the Vault download area, or our YouTube…

All MeldaProduction plugins include a plethora of settings, preferences and controls with which to customise their look and – more importantly – behaviour. In MBassador’s case, the popout Multiparameters and Modulators section offers countless ways in which to manipulate the Range, Tone and Saturation controls, opening up a surprisingly fruitful avenue of real-time creativity, while some of the buttons in the right-hand column contribute significantly to workflow. The usefulness of the eight memory slots is obvious: each instantly snaps all controls to a stored configuration, making it easy to compare different setups with a click. The Limiter and Auto Gain Compensation options also prove indispensable, as MBassador can get quite unpredictable in terms of dynamics, with all those harmonics flying around. And finally, when dealing with stereo signals, the mid/side…

A couple of years back, Audified released an emulation of Telefunken’s U73b valve compressor, and they’re now back with version 2 (AU, VST, VST3, AAX). The U73b was a vari-mu style valve compressor/limiter, and despite being a little simpler than its US contemporaries – the Fairchild 660 and 670 – it had a character all its own. The plugin recreates said simplicity, giving you just four main controls: Input (threshold), Output, Release and a choice of operational modes: Compress, Limit or Bypass. Further options include metering for Input, Output or Gain Reduction; operating level Calibration (0 to -24dB); and sidechain. New in version 2.0, there’s also Oversampling (On/Off), better-quality redesigned graphics, and interface settings for language (English/ German) and menu bar colour. The sidechain includes both internal and external options,…

Step 1 On your PC or Mac, go to vault.computermusic.co.uk, then either register for a new Vault account, or log in if you already have one. Step 2 Click ‘add a magazine’ in the top bar, select the issue you want to add to your Vault (eg, this issue is 241), and answer a few simple security questions. Step 3 Go to ‘my vault’ to see all your mags – click a cover and use the links to download! You can download as much or as little as you like. PLUGIN THE ORB CM Get awesome formant filtering with this month’s software giveaway – find out exactly how to use it on p56 SAMPLE PACKS DYSTOPIAN DRONES 500 royalty-free drones, atmospheres, soundscapes and more in WAV format – grab them…

TEENAGE ENGINEER When we were cm18, we were still working on our synth programming skills. Hats off to Jacob Brashears, who rocked up at the NAMM Show recently with the Relic-6, a prototype of a new hardware emulation of the Oberheim OB-X JUST THE TONIC Now that Teenage Engineering’s PO-32 synth allows you to share sounds with Sonic Charge Microtonic, we wonder what other hardware/plugin interactions might be next. Monitors that can talk to your master bus, Omnisphere controlling your toaster… SEE YOU AT THE BAR We’re still not totally sold on it, but the support for it in Logic Pro cm10.3 does suggest that Apple’s Touch Bar could add something to your DAW workflow. It’ll be interesting to see what other software developers choose to do with it. THE…

> Technique 3. Sampled rave chord Unlike noise generators found in other synths, Serum’s noise oscillator is actually a mini sampler! Samples can played in One-Shot mode – so, for example, the impulse-style Attack samples found in the Noise menu can reinforce your patch’s attack – or the noise can be Looped. The sample’s Pitch can either be Keytracked or set to a constant value. The Phase (sample start point) can also be adjusted, with a chosen degree of Randomisation applied. This can be useful in the context of chords, to avoid the exact same noise output for each key press. You can also load your own audio into the sampler – in Serum’s main menu, hit Show Serum Presets Folder and place your samples in the Noises folder –but…

“Because there are a wealth of good tips and resources out there, I’m going to list some of Serum’s lesser-known features here. These may require the latest version of Serum, so be sure to update your copy in the Your Account section on xferrecords.com if you haven’t done so in a while.” QUICKLY SET MODULATION DEPTH “Alt-drag is a fast way to set the mod depth on a control or knob. By doing it this way, you don’t need to position the mouse exactly on top of the mod-depth ‘mini arc’ that appears in the top-left of a knob when a mod source is assigned.” COPY MOD SETTINGS BETWEEN MODULES “Alt-drag between the mod source tiles (for example, the LFO 1 tile) to copy one lot of envelope settings to…

“It went quite quickly from ‘let’s meet up and have a mess around’ to being a regular project” The ghosts with the most A firm favourite of scene bigwigs like Steve Lawler, Sven Vath, Laurent Garnier and Pig&Dan, Paul Maddox and Richard Wakley (aka Filthy Rich) have topped the Beatport chart and played all over the world with their Spektre project. took a trip up north to the UK’s spiritual home of techno, Sheffield, to learn more about their rise to stardom and find out a few of their studio secrets. Computer Music : You’ve been ascending the heights for a while now, but how did you guys become involved in making music in the first place? Paul Maddox: “When I was a teenager, I started messing around with…

CHOOSE YOUR VIEW By default, double-clicking on any clip – MIDI or audio – in Cubase 9 results in that clip being displayed in the associated Editor in the Lower Zone. In previous versions, double-clicking a clip resulted in the associated Editor opening in a floating Window. If you prefer this older method, you can go to Preferences, select Editors and then choose Double-click opens Editor in a Window. While in the Editors Preferences, you can also tell Cubase what your preferred default MIDI Editor should be by selecting the desired Editor from a dropdown menu. Open Key Editor is the factory default selection, but you can also choose Open Score Editor, Open List Editor, Open Drum Editor or Open In-Place Editor. SAMPLER TRACK SYNTHESIS 1 As we’ve seen, Cubase’s…

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. A groove shadow is the 100%-wet output of a reverb sourced from a drum or percussion loop, mixed in underneath a completely different drum or percussion loop, in order to create a more interesting rhythmic ambience than regular reverb processing can deliver. When done properly, it’s a straightforward and effective production technique that can make all the difference to the spaces in between the hits of any rhythm track, particularly when disparate styles of loop are combined – a dry four-to-the-floor electronic groove coupled with the reverb from…

The knob below the display switches between 14 preset signal flows – a weird workflow, but one that works. The sidechain – which can be fed an external signal as well as the internal one – is also factored into each configuration, and the 14 setups cover a comprehensive array of serial and parallel routings. Also in the Control section, the six buttons around the routing knob switch the mic preamp emulation between Mix (sampled directly from the console channel strips) and Bus types, with two Mix modes and three Bus modes: A mode (4000) is the most transparent, while B mode (5000) has a warmer, more excitable sound, and C mode (Bus only) is the preamp of the 5000 Quad Bus Compressor with its characteristic saturation. Finally, the Comp…

TuCo (AU, VST, VST3, AAX) is a new compressor plugin from Sonimus, based on a vari-mu-style valve circuit with feedback topology. The main controls are Amount (threshold), Release and Output, with a fourth control (Mode) selecting either compressor or limiter behaviour. There are slow and fast attack options for each behaviour (so four Modes in total), and in typical vari-mu fashion, the associated ratios are variable with compression between 1.5:1 and 3:1, and limiting between 4:1 and 10:1. Clicking the VU-style level meter reveals three metering options (input, output and gain reduction). Meanwhile, at the bottom of the interface, you’ll find output Mix blend, sidechain high-pass filter (10Hz to 350Hz) and output Drive, which is a separate post-compression valve saturation processor. TuCo has a few less obvious features. You can…

The original hardware U73b had a hardwired high-pass filter, which was included primarily to curtail unnecessary lows in program output. It was also pretty well suited to its common use as a final pre-lathe mastering compressor when cutting vinyl. In practice, we think it’s pretty audible (Audified quote 6dB/octave at 100Hz), and while we were checking it out in detail on the spectrum analyser, we also spotted some low-pass filtering at the upper end of the spectrum, starting above 10kHz. Thankfully Audified have included a manual bypass for the high-pass filter, which works in Compressor mode (in Limiter mode the filter is automatically bypassed), but the gentle curtailment of high frequencies is present when either Limiter or Compressor modes are selected, and is clearly part and parcel of the plugin’s…

The Plugins collection is a suite of complete, limitation-free instrument and effects plugins. It’s an incredible resource, boasting more than 65 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, AudioRealism, Ohm Force, KV331 Audio, u-he, Cableguys, AudioThing, XILS-lab, Vengeance-Sound, Rob Papen, zplane and more. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What is Plugins? Is it just freeware from the internet? No, and neither are the plugins limited or ‘crippled’. It’s a set of virtual instruments and effects created by some of the best developers in the business just for us – you won’t find this set of plugins anywhere else! Where do I get Plugins?…

UVI EMULATION ONE They don’t come right out and say it, but it’s pretty evident that UVI’s Emulation One ROMpler was inspired by the Emulator, with its stark blue faux front panel and gritty lo-bit sound. As a bonus, the company throws in a drum machine that bears a striking resemblance to E-Mu’s Drumulator line of beatboxes. www.uvi.net 112DB MORGANA The woefully overlooked Morgana looks more like the budget-minded Ensoniq Mirage than it does the Emulator, but as this superlative softsampler recreates the lovely lo-fi sound of vintage 8-bit sampling, it can be called into action as a suitable substitute for the E-mu as well. Utterly authentic 80s sound without the maintenance of owning an Emulator. www.cm1cm12db.com TOGU AUDIO LINE TAL-SAMPLER Though not a clone of the Emulator, Togu Audio…

POWER SYNTH SESSIONS Go deeper with three epic instruments Read the full article on p22 Xfer SERUM > u-he DIVA > VPS AVENGER > PRODUCER MASTERCLASS* SPEKTRE The techno duo take us through the making of their tune Middle of Everywhere in Ableton Live Read the full article on p50 THE ORB CM Set up and use this issue’s free formant-filtering plugin, and see what it can do in this video Read the full article on p56 CUBASE PRO 9 Get onboard with its newest features in these vids Read the full article on p67 UNORTHODOX MIX TIPS We rip up the mixing rulebook across these ten video tutorials Read the full article on p61 To download all these videos onto your PC/Mac, just head along…

Two well-established iOS music-making apps have been grabbing the headlines again recently, the first of which is Apple’s own GarageBand. Updated to version 2.2, this now includes the Alchemy synth that was so cruelly snatched away from iOS users when Apple purchased Camel Audio. It now behaves just like any other GarageBand Touch Instrument, comes with more than 150 Apple-designed presets, and sounds as good as ever. The GarageBand update also heralds the arrival of a redesigned browser (this makes auditioning and choosing sounds much easier), multi-take recording, and new vocal and mixing effects. The interface has been tweaked, too, making the whole experience feel that much slicker and more serious (in a good way). It can even import bounced versions of Logic 10.3 projects, enabling you to work on…

“We asked why you should bother using free software (er, because it’s free?)” Long-time readers may remember our Q&A section, in which we attempted to answer the technical questions sent in by you, our dear readers. In 111, back in April 2007, we were posed an intriguing problem: how best to integrate an eight-track MiniDisc recorder into a PC-based setup. Our solution was simple: just get rid of the MiniDisc recorder. Next! Elsewhere, we asked why you should bother using free software (er, because it’s free?) and we met up with Meat Katie. Sonic adrenaline junkies that we were back then, we also showed you how to create ‘extreme pads’. What a rush that was. In the news section, our ‘Evolution Of ’ feature traced the development of Mackie’s Tracktion,…

Michael Reed “Gun to my head, I’d have to say Audio Damage Basic. It may lack the polish and complex modulation of other, more expensive softsynths, but I know it front to back. In the end, the tool that serves as an accurate conduit between brain and DAW is the best one for me!” Adam Burucs “The synth would be Ableton Operator, as it does FM, VA and additive synthesis. I’m a minimalist, using generally Analog, Operator, Simpler and Sampler. I try to stay within Ableton only.” Gary Vandenberg “u-he Diva for its classic analogue sounds, 1200 presets, and the ability to mix and match oscillators, filters, and envelopes from different machines. The Trimmer section lets you introduce some subtle tuning variations, adding another twist and a vital sense of…

> Technique 7. Draw custom wavetables Let’s create a DIY bass patch from scratch with Serum’s editable oscillator modules 1 Click Osc A’s pencil icon to open up the waveform editor, then hit Add/Remove » Init All in the menu to initialise the wavetable. Draw a funky waveform using the tools on the left side. For extra precision, grid options are found at the bottom right. 2 The thumbnails under the editor show all the subtables inside your wavetable. Click the + to copy your subtable into the next slot. Now draw a fresh waveform in the new subtable – try using the noise tool to fill in in gritty upper harmonics. 3 Select your second subtable, click Morph » Morph - Crossfade. This produces a 256-frame wavetable, interpolated from…

CREATE MOVEMENT “We designed Avenger to be very easy when it comes to modulating things. You should always explore modulating things like the FFT Sweep, X-Side, Formant or effects values… like phaser position, chorus detune, etc – especially when designing complex pads. You don’t usually need more than one oscillator – just one oscillator, modulated by many things, can create a true firework.” ON THE ATTACK “Attacks often form the character of a sound. We have tons of sampled attacks and noise waveforms for you to explore, but you also can create your own unique attacks easily… “For example, choose a very fast and spiky Mod Envelope and route this to the FM Amount to create interesting metallic attack clicks.” EXPLORE THE ROUTING POSSIBILITIES “Check out the Send FX page.…

AUDIOTHING LOGO Click here to visit AudioThing’s website and social media feeds ORB Drag the dot to filter your sound. Distance from centre determines the filter’s Emphasis (ie, resonance) VOWELS Divided into five vowels. Click the vowel name to change it to one of ten types SMOOTH Defines the smoothness of the filtering when transitioning between vowel sections: 0% is fully stepped, 100% is seamless ON/OFF Use this button to toggle the plugin’s effect on or off MORE Click to toggle the output limiter or upgrade to the full version RANDOM Click this button to randomise the plugin’s settings GAIN Controls the output gain of the formant-filtered signal MIX Blend between the unfiltered signal (fully left) and the filtered signal (fully right) With a whole raft of innovative virtual instruments…

From the moment a fresh-faced young wannabe fires up a DAW for the first time, there are certain techniques that are drilled into him or her from every angle. Use low-high-pass filters on all tracks to create extra mix headroom! Avoiding clipping channels at all costs! And always leave master bus processing to the mastering engineer! Of course, while common production advice is tried-and-tested for good reason, sometimes swimming against the tide can get you results that no one else has. After all, why learn all the rules if you can’t break them once in a while? A perfect example of this rebellious attitude is the jungle/DnB genre from the early 90s-00s, which was heavily shaped by pioneers such as Ed Rush & Optical and Dillinja pushing their samplers, synths…

Dave Clews In a studio career spanning almost 25 years, Dave has engineered, programmed and played keyboards on records for a string of artists including George Michael, Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner and Estelle. These days, in between writing articles for and other magazines, he collaborates on occasional songs and videos with singer/songwriter Lucy Hirst, aka Polkadothaze. www.daveclews.com Take a look at any page of printed sheet music, and the first thing you’ll see at the start of each set of five lines (or ‘stave’) is a weird-looking squiggle that could be one of several possible shapes. These are called clefs, and the reason they exist is to let the player know which of the five horizontal lines on the stave corresponds to which notes when playing the music. Each clef…

“I’ve always been drawn to the four-on-the-floor,” says techno legend Kevin Saunderson. “Even as a kid – a really young kid – I can remember hearing this beat and realising that it was something special. I knew that rhythm was going to take me somewhere. I guess I didn’t know just how far it was going to take me.” Kevin Saunderson is one of the few names in electronic music that need no introduction. Alongside Derrick May and Juan Atkins, he was part of the Belleville Three, and is generally regarded as one of the godfathers of techno. Without a hint of exaggeration, we can probably add that he is one of the aural sculptors that helped shape the sound of electronic music. Working as Kreem, Saunderson’s first single, Triangle…

A stereo instance of TuCo includes four linking modes. One of these is actually Mono, summing the stereo input and processing it as a single channel to produce a mono output. Meanwhile, one is simply Dual Mono, processing each channel independently (albeit with shared parameter controls), using independent detector circuits and sidechains to produce a dual mono output. The true stereo options are called Vintage and Modern. Vintage applies a pretty familiar technique, using a summed sidechain to feed a single detector circuit. The resultant gain reduction is then applied equally to both channels. Modern takes a slightly different approach with separate detector circuits for each channel. Gain reduction is then applied equally to both channels based on whichever channel detector produces the greater value. Overall, we found Vintage delivered…