Innehållsförteckning för August 2019 från Computer Music

We’ve got a new system for downloading files. Whenever you see this icon, you can grab the files on your PC or Mac by going to filesilo.co.uk/computermusic. Tutorials featuring this icon make use of our own Plugins – find out all about them on p107. This icon means there are extra files to help you follow a tutorial feature: project files, audio examples, etc. There’s extra video content wherever you see this icon. computermusic.co.uk computermusic@futurenet.com facebook.com/computer.music.mag twitter.com/computermusicuk youtube.com/computermusicmag instagram.com/computermusicmag…

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 Musicpage (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…

Octachron An 8-track MIDI drum sequencer that works alone or as an AuV3, Octachron gives you up to 32 steps with a flexible clock divider, custom time signatures and eight chainable patterns. You can parameter lock velocity, trigger probability, ratcheting and CC, and create polyrhythms by adjusting track lengths. As well as sequencing other apps/AUs, it works with external hardware, too. $4.99. numericalaudio.com Stellr This new effect combines pitch shifting, delay and reverb to create a classic shimmer effect, adding an otherworldly ambience. It comes with 15 presets, but you can create endless others via the randomise button. Plenty for tweakers, too: the pitchshifter can be fine-tuned or snapped to the nearest semitone, there are two separate delays that can be used together for feedback and you can get busy…

SUPER BY NAME... It’s no exaggeration to say that Superbooth is now one of the most important dates on the music technology calendar; the 2019 event had more significant product launches and announcements than ever before. Now, if only they could sort the WiFi out on the show floor… SOMETHING NU Speaking of Superbooth, one of the highlights for us was Korg’s Nu:Tekt synth, a build-it-yourself instrument reminiscent of the company’s Monotron. However, it also supports the ’logue SDK, meaning you can add custom oscillators and effects. We want. BEATPORT’S MISSING LINK Beatport has hopped aboard the streaming train with the launch of its new Link service, which gives you full access to the company’s catalogue (limited to 128k quality) for $14.99 a month. If you want to DJ with…

OUT OF THIS WORLD This 1976 album of sound effects and atmospheres is a great introduction to  the pioneering work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It features sounds organised into four sections (Outer Space, Magic And Fantasy, Suspense And The Supernatural, The Elements) and makes a great listen on its own. BBC RADIOPHONIC MUSIC This album of theme tunes, incidental music and radio jingles  highlights the melodic and song-based side of the Workshop. As much of the music was made before the arrival of proper synths, you can hear what these talented producers could do with raw oscillators and tape machines. DOCTOR WHO: THE KROTONS This soundtrack to a 1972 episode of Doctor Who highlights the  genius and depth of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. More a collection of background sounds…

Although the two seem like they inhabit two disparate worlds, there’s a long history of crossover between synthesisers and video games, particularly in terms of hardware. The Zilog Z80 microprocessor, first released in 1976, found its way into video games such as Pac-Man, and synths like the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 (1978). It was the Z80 that enabled the Prophet-5 to become the first programmable polyphonic synth. The catchily named Oki Semiconductor MSM5232 chip was common in video games in the 1980s, and it also enabled Korg to bring the price down on the Poly-800 (1983). The MSM5232 had eight oscillators but, as there was no onboard filter, all eight of them were sent through one separate paraphonic filter – a feature that many dislike. Yamaha had a hit with the…

Mo’s wax Turning out his own characterful style of bassline house and garage from a one-bedroom flat near Worthing in Sussex, Mo Abdoullahi – aka Mofaux – is a fast-rising presence on the dance music scene, with releases on Southpoint, Four40 and Saucy Records among others. He didn’t actually start off in electronic music, however, as he explains. “The future is about people trying to push their own sound” “I started off with drumming and percussion,” remembers Mo. “I did that when I was in primary school, and from there I dabbled in different kinds of bands, heavy bands, round the Brighton and Worthing area. And then I went to Chichester college and did A-level Music and two years of music technology, and that’s where the production side came in,…

Music producers and engineers use all sorts of words to describe audio: for example, a ‘wobbly’ LFO-driven synth bass, a ‘cold’ FM lead, or a ‘warm’ vocal. Similarly, there are a whole heap of terms used to describe something that sounds less than pleasant, such as ‘strident’ guitars, ‘brittle’ drums or ‘harshness’ in general. So, what exactly is harshness in relation to audio? Well, ‘harsh’ is a term often used to describe anything that sounds unpleasant, or is fatiguing to listen to for extended periods. While some unpleasant-sounding processing can actually add lots of flavour to a production when used correctly (distortion springs to mind), the kind of sound we’re referring to is generally caused by one or more commonly encountered issues. Our individual perception of sound can be subjective,…

Sometimes the sound selection, arrangement and EQ techniques discussed so far won’t be enough to remove unwanted harshness from the mix. In these situations, we can use processing to relieve any specific issues, such as sibilant vocals, overly crisp guitars and unwanted frequency buildups. One effect that should be in your de-harshing toolbox is the de-esser. Usually used to tame excessive sibilance in vocal takes, de-essing is also a great effect for anything from dynamically smoothing the high frequencies in drum overheads through to keeping white noise FX bursts in check. As a de-esser is basically a compressor that’s sensitive to higher frequencies, it’s possible to use the attack, release and ratio controls to carefully control its response to the input material – ideal for removing vocal sibilance from a…

If you’ve been raving over the last few years, you’ll have likely noticed the renaissance of bassline house, with artists such as My Nu Leng, Chris Lorenzo and DJ Zinc combining influences from styles as diverse as grime, UK garage, jungle and house to forge a stomping, bass-heavy style that grooves along at around 128-135bpm. The history of the genre runs deeper than this, of course, with bassline house originally gaining attention in the early 2000s thanks to big club hits by pioneers such as DJ Q, Jamie Duggan and Mr Virgo, as well as chart success for the likes of H “Two” O. The original sound of bassline house was characterised by four-to-the-floor drums similar to those used in speed garage, alongside chopped-up RnB vocals, orchestral stabs and warping…

When you’re arranging a track, it always pays to consider what you’re looking to achieve. For example, if you’re looking to make a potential radio hit then it’s wise to try and bring the total playing time in under three minutes. However, if you’re making a progressive club track then you might find three minutes just isn’t long enough! As far as bassline house goes, there aren’t any hard or fast rules to follow. Some tracks are around three minutes long, with a short intro that’s only really suited to fast mixing; whereas other tracks have lengthier intros. To get under the skin of how this style needs to be arranged, carefully study other producers’ arrangements and observe how they structure their tracks – and where your arrangements might be…

When writing music, you’ll often come up with a chord progression first, and then find a melody to fit it. Other times, however, you may need to take the opposite approach – beginning with a melody and then needing to add chords to underpin it. A good example of this is when creating a vocal remix – you strip out all existing musical elements except for the vocal, then you have to come up with an entirely new piece of music to fit beneath it. In this scenario, then, how do you come up with a progression that works? The process of adding chords to an existing melody is known as harmonisation, and while there are a number of ways to approach this, it helps to begin by finding out…

STRATEGIC SWITCHING The below tutorial gives you an insight into my workflow when creating a typical track. The entire process usually takes me around a day, give or take. Wouldn’t it be easier to use only one DAW for everything, I hear you ask? Well, using different DAWs for different purposes not only opens up unique creative possibilities, but it also makes the entire process so much more fun, and gives you more to look at than just the same old arrangement windows! For example, turning to my Maschine controller puts me in a ‘jamming’ mindset, allowing me to chop and program samples in a way I’d never normally do using Logic alone. When writing electronic music, we have so many tools available to us, so the trick is to…

In previous versions of Live, sidechain rouing with third-party plugins was a real hassle. If you wanted to pipe your track’s kick into a third-party compressor inserted on your bass, for example, you had to duplicate the kick channel and route the copy into the bass channel’s sidechain input. Thankfully, v10.1 now simplifies this process. If a third-party plugin is capable of sidechaining, the device will feature a small ‘External Source’ dropdown menu – choose your trigger channel here to key an external source into its input. Easy!…

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!…

Music production’s a funny business. Although today’s technology allows us to design futuristic noises that were impossible to create only a few years ago, there’s something about the classic sounds and sonics of yesteryear that we still just can’t get enough of. “The imperfections of said primitive equipment trigger a feeling of nostalgia” On paper, our modern computers, DAWs and plugins are infinitely more powerful and reliable than tape, voltages, valves and circuits, but the imperfections of said primitive equipment trigger a feeling of nostalgia that’s impossible to leave in the past. Indeed, a big part of contemporary music production is recreating the sounds of ‘vintage’ with software – whether that means crafting entire retro-themed masterpieces, or just referencing some old-school flavour in our present-day tunes. To backwards engineer the…

RETRO SOUND DESIGN Craft classic sounds in your DAW with our expert video tutorials Read the full article on p22 1 Creating the Doctor Who sting with ring modulation 3 Pulsing drone with Phonec CM 5 Bouncing synthpop bass with TAL-Bassline-101 8 Hyper arps with Plogue Chipsounds 12 Hoover time with NI Massive and Kontakt 13 Designing an old-school Reese bass BASSLINE TRACK-BUILDER Follow along and create an entire bassline house track in Ableton Live Read the full article on p64 1 Building a beat 2 Programming bass 3 Vocal chops 5 Intro and breakdown 6 Build-up FX 7 Track playthrough cm Producer Masterclass MOFAUX Exclusive in-studio video session Note: this video is only available using the link on page 43 Read the full article on p42 AMPLIFIKATION 2 CM…

cm How did Process.Audio come to be? GC “When Fab Dupont and I met ten years ago in New York, Fab was already becoming a well-known producer and I was learning more about mixing and recording. We both knew it was hard to get proper training in that realm, so we created pureMix to share what we knew with the world. Two years ago, we started making plugins for all pureMixers. It took us two years to build a team of DSP wizards, acquire the appropriate equipment and make the right technological choices. Not to mention the website, R&D, etc…” cm What sets Sugar apart from other ‘mastering assistant’ plugins? GC “First, Sugar won’t assist you in any way: you’re still in control of the flavours you dial in. We…

PRINCIPLEASURE I Coldwave meets x0x-box techno in this excellent album of analogue workouts that manages to adhere to a workflow of the past while still sounding modern. Tough, driving and emotional, I is packed full of surprises and succeeds for both the dancefloor and home listening. TIMECOP1983 NIGHT DRIVE A star of the synthwave scene, Timecop1983 makes smooth, retro-inspired songs with a strong dose of 80s nostalgia. As the name suggests, with its emotive and steady style, Night Drive is the perfect accompaniment for slick night-time motoring excursions (DeLorean optional). CARPENTER BRUT LEATHER TEETH Sitting somewhere between 80s EBM and horror soundtracks, Carpenter Brut makes heavy synthpop for Dario Argento fans. Less training montage, more S&M club scene, Leather Teeth occasionally betrays Carpenter Brut’s…

Klevgrand DAW Cassette $39.99 The compression and softening effect of cassette tape is a great way to add retro flavour to any sound. Klevgrand’s DAW Cassette lets you choose between three types of tape, features three knobs to adjust the tape, motor, and heads, plus Dolby noise reduction. klevgrand.se Mathieu Demange RX950 cm262 » 10/10 » €19 This simple plugin emulates the AD/DA converters from the Akai S950, bringing sought-after 12-bit warmth. It also features adjustable sampling frequency, plus an emulation of the Butterworth low-pass filter. Great for getting an old-school sampler sound. mathieudemange.fr AudioThing Outer Space cm245 » 10/10 » $69 The Roland RE-201 Space Echo is prized for its characterful tape echo sound. AudioThing’s Outer Space doesn’t just emulate it – it adds useful retro extras such as…

FabFilter Saturn cm179 » 10/10 » £114 “It’s just great. The interface is really simple: you can choose your frequencies and your bands, and adjust the saturation of each frequency. I use it in every tune.” fabfilter.com iZotope Nectar cm165 » 9/10 » £229 I try to use it sparingly, because it can overpower a vocal sometimes with wacky effects that I’m not looking for, but as a general starting point for getting a vocal to go where I want it to go, I find it really reliable.” izotope.com Apple Space Designer cm67 » 10/10 » £200 (Logic Pro X) Logic s own reverb, specifically the Small Room preset. It’s a really short stereo delay that sounds like it’s doubling it up slightly. Sometimes for snares or claps, but also…

‘Harshness’ is anything in a mix that sounds unpleasantly jarring. In any part of the frequency spectrum it will generally come from either the source sound itself – ie, an overly sibilant vocal take or resonant synth lead – or from the buildup of different frequencies in the overall mix. The former can be cured by treating the offending source sound with processing. For the latter, however, a more forensic approach is often required… A great way to find problems is to listen carefully to the mix as a whole, then pop an EQ or filter plugin on your master output. By seeking out the harsh frequency area and listening to it in isolation, you’ll better understand where the problem is located. This technique is often used to decipher the…

When mastering a song for vinyl, high-frequency limiting (also called de-essing) is used to remove excessive harshness caused by problems such as vocal sibilance or strident cymbals. When untreated, this can distort the mix as a disc-cutting head cuts to lacquer. Even if you’re not mastering for vinyl, you can use this technique to smooth out excessive high frequencies in individual tracks, busses or even a spiky-sounding premaster. Taking care of these problem frequencies can alleviate the brittleness of overcooked digital processing in a cleaner, more dynamic way than static EQ or tape saturation.…

Oeksound Soothe cm239 » 8/10 » €149 Soothe is a winner for all kinds of de-harshing jobs, whether it be smoothing out a raspy vocal take or removing a little excess harshness from drum overheads. Thanks to the built-in oversampling, it’s even great for culling problematic frequencies from an entire mix without killing transient response. oeksound.com ToneBoosters Sibalance CM cm226 » free We might well be biased, but Sibalance CM is incredibly easy to use, and sounds pretty amazing for all kinds of harshness removal jobs. Give it a try on everything from vocals to full mixes. Grab your copy from this month’s cover DVD or FileSilo. filesilo.co.uk/computermusic DMG Audio Essence cm215 » 10/10 » £100 If you’ve been looking for a fastidiously configurable de-esser, Essence is well worth a…

A common mistake a lot of producers make across all styles is to not pay sufficient attention to the relationship between kick and bass, leading to a messy low end with a lack of clarity, punch and power. While styles such as DnB rely on the kick being pitched up substantially to make room for the sub bass, the majority of bassline house tracks generally have a big kick and sub bass both fighting for room in the mix. So how can we make the kick and bass fit together? The best solution is to pick an appropriate kick drum sample that’s pitched correctly. If, for example, your track’s key is in G then it’s crucial that your kick is pitched so that the low frequency energy doesn’t sit around…

SINGLE FILE Certain genres make do with just a well thought-out arrangement of single-note parts that intertwine to form what are perceived as chords. If single notes don’t cut it, though, why not try power fifths? These are made by removing the third from a triad, leaving a two-note chord made up of just the root and the fifth above it. Since the missing third is what determines whether a chord is major or minor, power fifths can work over both major and minor tonalities. GET TO THE ROOT A good starting point if all you have is melody and beats is to start with the bass. This lets you focus on single notes rather than actual chords. When you find a set of bass notes that work with the…

Filters and drums have always gone hand in hand in electronic music production, whether it’s in the processing of discrete elements of the kit at the sound design stage, or big hands-in-the-air sweeps applied to the drums bus at key points in a track. The reasons for their affinity are clear: the drum kit (electronic or acoustic) is as rich in frequencies as musical signals get, while the rhythmic output of the instrument makes it a particularly viable target for LFO- and envelope-generated modulation. Here, I’ll show you three different ways in which filters can be mobilised over individual kit pieces – kick, hi-hats and snare – to shape their frequency content over time, making them sound more dynamic and interesting. First, we’ll look at automation within the host DAW,…

Roger Sanchez loves visiting the UK. Even a very late night and a grey London morning can’t dampen his enthusiasm. “Back in 1990, I released a record called Luv Dancin’ on Strictly Rhythm. Up until that point, I’d been known as Roger S in the States. I was hiding behind that letter ‘S’. But when the track was licenced to the UK, I was billed as Roger Sanchez. That was the track that really started it for me… but it was also the track that gave me my identity.” The UK has indeed been kind to the 52-year-old New Yorker, now resident in Miami (and a series of VIP airport lounges). He’s been a regular remixer for pop mega-names like Robbie Williams, Kylie, Depeche Mode and Jamiroquai, not to mention…

Having democratised the acoustic drum kit ROMpler with Addictive Drums 2 (9/10, 207), Swedish developers XLN Audio are looking to make their mark in the electronic percussion arena with their latest release, XO. Its innovative, ambitious sample browser and inviting step sequencer certainly grab attention, but is there substance behind all that style? The final frontier To kick off with a very big number, XO (VST/AU/AAX/Standalone) houses over 8000 richly varied and largely excellent one-shot drum and percussion samples. Adding your own (they don’t have to be drums, natch), however, is as simple as selecting as many folders on your hard drive as you like in the import dialogue, upon which their contents are scanned and fully integrated into XO’s library. This huge aggregated sample pool is navigated within the…

The Reverse section is RP-Reverse’s main event, of course, but the plugin also makes a pretty decent showing in terms of sound-shaping features. A pair of resonant 12dB/octave filters – Low Pass and High Pass – are preceded by a fierce distortion stage for overdrive. The Low Pass can be switched to Comb Filter mode, bringing a touch of spectacle to proceedings. Modulation comes in a single LFO that can run free or be triggered by the reverse section, synced to host or set manually up to 3.5Hz, and angled to four phase positions (0, 90, 180 and 270º). Sine, saw (up/down), square and triangle waveforms are joined by sample-and-hold, and four target parameters are simultaneously addressed via bipolar depth knobs: Reverse signal Volume and Pan, and both filters. It’s…

There was a red hot notation software battle brewing in August 2009 ( 141) as we reported on the impending showdown between Avid Sibelius 6 and MakeMusic Finale 2010. Who won? We honestly can’t remember. Speaking of which, we also struggle to recall the Sonar V-Studio 700, a Roland-built audio and control solution for Cakewalk’s DAW that appeared in our Reviews section. We’re guessing that anyone who did shell out will struggle to forget it, though: it cost a whopping £3,999, and that was a decade ago. “In cm141 there was a red hot notation software battle brewing” In our Burning Question, meanwhile, we speculated that high-tech music-making hardware could be on the way out. Given that the hardware synth market is now booming, you could probably say that we…

In the 80s, when PCs and MIDI still had that ‘new gear smell’, a few applications popped up that eased the task of editing parameters on the complex and menu-heavy synths of the day. Programs like Unisyn and SoundDiver were ‘universal’ MIDI System Exclusive editors, with dedicated interfaces for popular instruments, embraced by squint-eyed musos weary of small LCD displays. The rise of virtual instruments has made the editor/librarian semi-redundant, but thankfully the open-source Ctrlr offers a growing list of profiles covering many instruments, old and new. Got one of the supported instruments? Take a look. ctrlr.org…

TAL-Software TAL-Sampler $60 Aside from the usual sampling functions, this vintage-inspired soft-sampler is crammed with unique features designed to take your sounds back in time, including sampler DAC modelling and authentic Akai-style timestretching. tal-software.com Plogue Chipsounds cm147 » 8/10 » $95 Plogue’s quirky synth authentically and deeply models 15 8-bit era sound chips, and throws in all kinds of extras, too. An absolute must-buy if you’re into the nostalgic sounds of chiptune and video games. plogue.com Plugin Boutique VirtualCZ cm214 » 8/10 » $60 The Oli Larkin-designed emulation faithfully reproduces the phase distortion talents of the Casio CZ series, which brought a touch of warmth to digital synthesis. Features two programming modes, and sounds gorgeous. pluginboutique.com Klevgrand Enkl CM Free in Plugins A monosynth with a unique interface, Enkl CM…

Automating volume As we already know, good relative volume levels are the foundation upon which any top-drawer mix is built. Part of this involves making the different sections of a track fit together cohesively by using volume automation to ride the levels of individual elements when required. This technique can also be applied in the pursuit of reducing overall harshness by adjusting the levels of instruments with competing frequencies, creating a smoother effect. For example, heavy metal songs often use multitracked, distorted rhythm guitars panned apart to create a wall of sound. This sounds huge until a distorted guitar solo comes in, as it has to fight for space with the rhythm parts. By reducing the levels of the rhythm guitars just for the duration of the solo, you can…

A dynamic EQ is ideal for invisibly reducing harshness in any sound. Unlike static EQ, which takes out offending frequencies permanently whether they’re present all the time or not, dynamic EQ can be set – using similar threshold, ratio and attack/release controls to a compressor – so that boosts or cuts occur only when the chosen frequency band’s input exceeds a determined level. iZotope’s Ozone 8 Dynamic EQ and FabFilter’s Pro-Q 3 work well for this, or the excellent – and free! – TDR Nova.…

GET YOUR FILL Need an easy, slick edit? End an eight- or 16-bar phrase with a breakbeat fill! You can either remove the drums entirely and chuck a drum fill in there, or use a two-step break over the existing drum track to clearly mark out the end of a section. This is great for making your arrangement more DJ-friendly. CUT AND RUN A common edit heard in bassline house tracks is to mute the drums for the first bar or two of the drop. Not only does this give added emphasis to the bassline, but the whole track hits harder once the drums are back in the mix, building up the levels of hype in the rave to even greater heights. INTRO BEATS You can make an effective intro…

MIX AS YOU GO A good way of keeping the faith when making a dance tune in any style is to do some basic mixing as you put the track together. By sorting essentials such as volume levels and gain structure while you work, you’ll find that the track sounds more polished earlier in the process and, typically, will require less processing to sound like a finished product. MID MAYHEM A number of the higher-pitched synth basses used in bassline house carry most of their energy in the often-congested midrange area between 500Hz and 1.5kHz. If you want your mid bass to cut through more clearly, try using some broad EQ cuts to carve some of these frequencies out of the percussion, vocal and FX. Reducing the EQ amount when…

As a music production lecturer, I often get asked which DAW is best suited to a certain situation, and hear arguments between students and fellow producers about which DAW is the best. The simple answer? There is no ‘best’ one, of course! Specific nuances aside, all digital audio workstations offer pretty much the same features in terms of audio editing, MIDI sequencing, virtual instrument triggering, arrangement tools and mixing. The main goal is to find a DAW that you feel comfortable with – one that helps you to finish tracks in the most streamlined and intuitive way possible. That said, as your production skills advance, it’s easy to rely on old habits, so if you think a change of software will speed up your workflow, don’t be afraid to try…

These days, so many DAW updates are simply snuck into the software. Case in point: Ableton’s latest update to Live, version 10.1, has added a host of useful little changes to how the software works – and as we know, it’s the little things that make a big difference. Starting out on the surface, Live 10.1 streamlines the way the interface is navigated: the Arrangement Overview is now resizeable, there are new keyboard shortcuts, and trackpad ‘pinch zooming’ will please laptop users. There’s also better sidechaining functionality – you can now freeze a signal with any sidechain action intact. Oh, and VST 3 support has now come to Live. Better late than never, we say! Elsewhere, Live’s flagship softsynth, Wavetable, now allows you to drag and drop samples or wavetables…