Computer Music's goal is to help its readers create great music with a PC or Mac. Each month find easy-to-follow tutorials for all sorts of music software, unbiased reviews of the latest products and answers to technical questions.
“We’ll break apart over a dozen genres…” To the outside world, the computer musician is often perceived as lazy and musically ignorant. And to be fair, music-making technology does make it easy for a novice to create relatively complex songs with absolutely no musical know-how. Want a chord sound? Call up a synth preset! How about a smooth progression? Grab a premade MIDI file! Need a disco stab or funky horn swell? Use a construction kit or sample a record, bro! But there is another way: get up to speed with that musical know-how once and for all! To walk you down the road to music theory mastery, we’ll break apart over a dozen genres, so you understand why certain chords, scales, modes and intervals work in different contexts. So…
Unlock an issue Log into FileSilo on your PC or Mac, then just click an issue and answer a question – you’ll have to reference the magazine to get the answer. Import older mags FileSilo will replace our old Vault system, and you’ll soon be able to migrate your mags from one to the other. To find out more, head to bit.ly/CMsiloFAQ PLUGIN IGNITE VST AREENA The spacious algorithmic reverb, as sold for $49, is yours for free with this issue, p54 SAMPLE PACKS LOOPMASTERS URBAN COLLECTION Download one gigabyte of premium samples, and check them out in context in our track-builder video, p104 PLUGIN COLLECTION CM Plugins Our exclusive collection of free plugins for Mac and PC. Check ‘em out on pcm107 TUTORIAL VIDEO Tutorial videos High-quality videos to…
GENRE-BUSTING MUSIC THEORY Get a grip on the musical ideas behind 13 genres in our theory-made-easy feature Read the full article on p20 1 Theory basics: Notes 2 Theory basics: Intervals 3 Theory basics: Scales 4 Theory basics: Chords 5 Making a pop/R&B progression with triads 6 The m7b5 chord formula 7 Jazz chords 8 Introducing major and minor 7ths 9 Disco string runs: the repeated high note 10 Classic house: spread piano chords 12 Arpeggios in EDM 11 Detroit techno fixed-interval chords 13 EDM one-note drops 14 Deep house m9 chords 15 Progressive house eighth-note chords 16 Uplifting liquid DnB chords 17 Composing a dark neurofunk DnB intro 18 Orchestral theory and articulations 19 R&B subsidiary chords 20 Jazz: tritone substitutions cm Producer Masterclass ALEX ROSS Check out…
If you’re as hopelessly addicted to Slate Digital plugins as we are, the V section of your plugin collection will already be bursting with Virtual Tape Machines, Virtual Buss Compressors, and a Virtual Mix Rack, along with Virtual Preamp and Console Collections. So what’s missing? A Virtual Tube Collection, of course! This trio of mixing/mastering effects – London, New York and Hollywood – doesn’t emulate specific vintage gear but instead takes inspiration from it. Each can be used as a preamp, saturator, or “even a virtual tube summing console”. Every module has the same control set. A VU meter and clipping lamp help get signals in the saturation sweet spot. The Mode selector offers two algorithms: Preamp, a preamp circuit model designed for single channels; and Console, a “tube summing…
Ampify Groovebox From the Novation spin-off developers formerly known as Blocs, Groovebox features a couple of synths and a drum machine, and gives you a few patterns and presets for each device. You can add more of these, and expand the control set, with in-app purchases. Audiobus, Inter-App Audio, Ableton Link and Ableton Export are all supported, leaving you with an app that anyone can pick up and use. Best of all, Groovebox is free. ampifymusic.com Bram Bos Ripplemaker This app puts a West Coast flavoured modular synth on your iPhone or iPad. All modules are prewired to get you started, but the potential for exploration is still there, with the virtual cables just waiting for you to start plugging in and out. A built-in sequencer means you…
“A lot of the magic comes from the post-production” Output Jacob Penn CM Movement was your first foray into the world of plugins – what were the differences/challenges in working on this format, as opposed to the Kontakt format? JP “The biggest difference is that there’s less of a sandbox to work within. We have to make our own constraints as to how we’re going to implement or limit the plugin. What sort of functionality is going into it? How much time are we going to spend on a framework versus actually working on the product? “The development cycle has a lot less pre-built components to use and work from. There’s a lot less nicely packaged Native Instruments code for us to use, so there’s a lot more time spent…
