Innehållsförteckning för November 2020 från Electronic Musician

A new Universal Audio Apollo audio interface is always a bit of an event, but the announcement of the Solo version isn’t quite what it might at first seem. Yes, it’s the most affordable Apollo in the range, but it also appears to be pretty much identical to the pre-existing Arrow interface. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – we raved about the Arrow when we reviewed it a couple of years ago – but it does explain why UA is calling the Apollo Solo a “reimagined” portable desktop audio interface rather than a totally new one. What is worth noting is that, whereas the Arrow is a bus-powered Thunderbolt 3 interface, the Apollo Solo is also available in a USB 3 configuration (via a USB-C connector) with external power…

Looks like it's a free plugin special this issue, as this other recent plugin worth looking at comes from reverb legends ValhallaDSP. After launching ValhallaDelay last year, and, you could argue, taking a small step away from reverb, the developer has created a plugin that uses the talents of both to give your audio a giant leap. ValhallaSupermassive is a plugin specializing in especially long delays – the kind of building sounds that smear and start to turn into reverb-style effects along the way. This quite unique mix of delay and reverb gives a plugin that's neither one nor the other – although naturally, it's creative to use and sounds great. You may not be an ambient composer or a soundscape artist, but it's possible to do a little more…

A great way to break out of your usual licks and playing ideas is to check out other instruments for new soloing ideas. We spent a few columns looking at guitar players back in the February through May 2019 issues. Now let’s delve into some great saxophone players for a fresh approach. Horn Heroes Since the earliest days of R&B, blues, and rock-and-roll, the tenor sax was a commonly featured instrument. The influential playing styles of the early heroes like Big Jay McNeeley, Lee Allen, and King Curtis, to name a few, has become part of the essential vocabulary of modern horn players. Some of their techniques include strongly accented repeated notes (often called honking), a mostly blues-based vocabulary with some elements of jazz sophistication, slurred attacks (bending up into…

When discussing traditional Western music theory, we use the term ‘harmony’ to describe how a melody works with the chords that accompany it. For the most part in this Easy Guide series up to this point, we’ve been exploring what’s known as ‘tonal’ harmony – the kind of thing relied on heavily by composers from 1700-1900 or thereabouts, and from which the vast majority of modern pop music is derived. We’ve been talking about chord progressions that move in a particular direction, are based mainly on three-note chords or triads, and have a general tendency to gravitate towards the tonal center or ‘tonic’ chord. There’s another type of harmony, however, that can also be used to great effect, and that’s ‘modal’ harmony. The type of modal harmony I’m talking about…

The Hydrasynth has plenty of features to treat your sounds. First off, there’s plenty of high quality effects in four blocks. The pre and post effects include chorus, flanger, rotary, phaser, lo-fi, tremolo, EQ and compressor, while there are five delay types and reverbs. The quality is impressive and allows sounds to really breathe. As mentioned, effects can also be modulated, which lets them truly become part of the sound design process. ASM also provide a comprehensive arpeggiator onboard with several octave modes, tap tempo (for jamming along live), swing, gate, ratcheting with probability (called ‘chance'), 64 preset phrases, chord mode, plus latch and sustain. The arp’s deepness certainly does make up for the lack of onboard sequencer. The Hydrasynth has a decent array of connections including wall-wart power connector,…

Strengths + Fully developed Score editor + Bands will have a ball with Show Page + Clip Gain Envelopes deliver surgical regionbased volume automation + Mixer Scenes, Aux channel and Independent Listen Bus are fantastic Limitations - Mixer Scene filter selection could be slicker - Busy interface can be overwhelming As with previous iterations, Studio One 5 comes in two versions: the top-tier Professional edition and the far cheaper, lower-spec Artist edition; but for this review, we’re only looking at Studio One 5 Professional – see the PreSonus website for more on Artist. We should also point out here and now that you can buy Studio One 5 outright or as part of the new PreSonus Sphere subscription service. This gets you all the company’s software (Studio One Professional and…

Strengths + A solid showing of improvements and new features + Useful new MIDI effects + Quick Actions Bar and Window are great + Plugin sandboxing Limitations - Manual out of date. Again - Artisan Collection still leaves a sour taste Metronomic in its regularity, this year’s Waveform Pro update introduces another round of new features to Tracktion Software’s innovative DAW, as well as general under-the-hood optimization and stability improvements. We’ve been here many times before, so we’ll not waste valuable space going over the fundamentals of the software again – check out our previous Waveform reviews for a synopsis, and/or head to the Tracktion website and download Waveform Free to get a feel for its gleefully idiosyncratic perspective and workflow. Instead, let’s get straight into the new stuff… Making…

Reverb inserts Although we used a single bussed reverb in our walkthrough, there’s no reason not to use inserted reverbs on your separate channels. A short, dark ’verb on the kick, a longer, brighter one on the snare, etc. If you choose to do this, though, be careful not to make it sound like each of your drums is in a different space to the others – unless you’re actually going for deliberate weirdness, that is. Parallel compression Parallel or ‘New York-style’ compression is simply the act of mixing compressed and uncompressed versions of the same signal in order to reduce the dynamic range but retain all those punchy attack transients. Either bus your drum group through an auxiliary track with a compressor plugin inserted and mix it with the…

Xfer Records Serum $189 The legendary softsynth packs dual wavetable oscillators, creation features, a sample-based noise osc, custom breakpoint LFOs, filter, FX rack and more. Parawave Rapid $213 With eight independent engines, each featuring a complete synth architecture, this underdog synth is killer for multilayered patches. Native Instruments Massive $169 Almost solely responsible for the rhythmic wobs of early 2010s dubstep, this modern classic is capable of so much more. For a more modern take, try its follow-up, Massive X. KV331 Audio SynthMaster One $79 This ‘beginner’ synth has two wavetable oscillators, twin zero-delay feedback filters, two envelopes, four LFOs and lots more. Ableton Wavetable New with Live 10, Wavetable boasts twin wavetable oscillators with waveshaping FX, three envelopes, two LFOs, unison, plus a ‘one-touch’ modulation matrix. Steinberg HALion 6…

Drawing influences from post-punk, electro pop and techno, Berlin’s Jennifer Touch is a vocalist and producer capable of bridging the gap between club music and classic songwriting. On her debut album Behind The Wall, released this summer via Fatcat Records, she pulls together all these influences and more, to create an album held together by her ear for a great synth sound and skill at building tight electro grooves. We caught up with her to find out more. When did you start making music? I started as a singer in bands, then one day a friend gave me Reason, and I started to create beats and some noises. That was my first experience in making electronic music. I changed to Logic soon after, but today I use Ableton only. For…

Roland’s TR-8S gets a free FM synthesis engine, making it “the most complete drum machine ever” Roland’s TR-8S – itself an evolution of the TR-8 – has been updated to version 2.0, with the new firmware adding various new features to the company’s flagship drum machine. The big news is the addition of an FM synthesis engine, which Roland says makes the TR-8S “the most complete drum machine ever”. This promises the likes of metallic hits and harmonically rich percussion sounds, and you can sweep through sonic variations using the Morph control. You can tweak the FM depth, ratio and feedback, while the FM sounds can be blended with the classic TR tones for all-new rhythmic goodness. There are also new effects – Saturator, Freq Shift, Ring Mod and Spread…

Akai’s MPC Beats is a free ‘beatmaking DAW’ that puts the classic MPC workflow on your PC or Mac Akai’s MPC products have been inspiring electronic music and hip-hop producers since 1988, which saw the release of the iconic MPC60. Now Akai is marking another milestone with the release of MPC Beats – a free ‘beatmaking DAW’ for PC and Mac. The release of MPC Beats means that everyone can now experience the legendary MPC workflow. The software features a classic 4x4 drum sample grid (that’s 16 pads), a piano roll, a sample library browser and a sample edit window. You can switch between these different views whenever you like. If you’re new to the production game, beat templates will help you to get started and understand the process, and…

The list of classic vintage synthesizers reads like a Who’s Who of American and Japanese instrument design, with only a smattering of entries from the UK; but there’s no mistaking exactly which instruments were produced in that green and pleasant land: just look for the strange, quirky and characterful. There are, of course, EMS’s Synthi and VCS 3, looking for all the world like some alien flight deck; there’s the diminutive EDP Wasp, its cheap plastic case and garish yellow keys belying a massive sound… And then there’s the OSCar. What is one to make of this monstrosity of design, with its blocky rubber endcheeks and maze of a front panel? Beautiful music, as it happens. Yes, Ultravox, Stevie Wonder, and The Legendary Pink Dots are just a few who…

WALDORF Blofeld Keys $830 Old gold! The well-respected Blofeld includes user-sample-upload, virtual analog synthesis, three fast LFOs per voice and four fast envelopes per-voice, 16 parts, arpeggiator, three oscs pervoice (with wavetables) and FM. waldorfmusic.com MODAL Argon 8X $893 Modal’s latest board includes all the great features of the Argon 8 but with a 61-note keyboard. Features include 120 wavetables, 32 static wavetable modifiers, 32 high-resolution wavetable oscillators, eight types of oscillator modifier and four filter types. modalelectronics.com NORD Wave 2 $2,709 Nord’s most powerful synth to date. It has a five-octave waterfall keyboard, four parts and includes sample-based waves, virtual analog waves, wavetable and FM synthesis, plus 48-voice polyphony. nordkeyboards.com…

We’ve saved what for some will be Studio One 5’s best new feature, and for others a complete irrelevance, for its own box. The Show Page – and its reductive full-screen Performance mode – comprises a completely new and refocused environment within Studio One in which your studio projects can be reconfigured into, and performed as, complete, sequentially organized live sets, incorporating backing tracks, virtual instruments, live audio input and effects processing, mixing and comprehensive MIDI control. We’ll confess to not having put the Show Page on an actual stage yet, but its flexibility and power are readily apparent, and it could prove game-changing for bands looking to take their tracks to the stage without the hassle of running multiple laptops, mixers and all the rest of it – assuming…

Strengths + Lovely OB-Xa emulation…… with some fine 21st century additions + Some fantastic and varied sounds + Great and easy modulation options + Very useful effects Limitations - Van Halen’s Jump - Some sounds are a bit processor-hungry There’s been a decades-lasting joke among members of our team – and indeed between us and many other music gear magazines – that whenever we attend a music equipment show, we are guaranteed to hear someone, usually of middling age, either demoing or auditioning a new synth by playing the intro to Van Halen’s 'Jump'. At least five times. A day. And considering we’ve been going to gear shows for decades now, that’s an awful lot of times that we have heard that intro. It’s fair to say, then, that when…

Apart from the somewhat oversold new Artisan effects (see below), Waveform Pro 11 doesn’t add any audio plugins to its internal roster. Instead, this time round, Tracktion Software have thrown in five new MIDI processors – and very nice they are too. First up, Arpeggiator delivers all your standard arpeggiation options, plus chord modes, swing and randomization, input shaping and a full-on polyphonic step sequencer. The puzzlingly named Note Repeater is in fact a trancegate-style processor, generating rhythmic patterns out of held notes. There’s velocity adjustment, variable randomization of position, length and velocity, and a long menu of preset patterns to get started with. MIDI Filter is a very basic utility for filtering and routing notes to separate instruments in a Rack, while MIDI Monitor lists all incoming MIDI events,…

The movement through a wavetable oscillator’s frames over time is what gives this type of synthesis its timbral complexity, hence why modern wavetable synths feature modulator signals that can sweep and jiggle that wavetable index. Regular LFOs and envelopes are the obvious choice, of course, but most wavetable synths offer more complex modulation sources. Looping envelopes let you animate a parameter through each note, then loop a specific section of the curve – like a sampler’s looping modes. Multi-stage envelope generators (MSEGs), meanwhile, bridge the gap between LFO, envelope and sequencer, letting you draw patterns and specify modulation shape and intensity on a rhythmic per-step basis. By using one or more custom modulator shapes to wiggle wavetable position with other synth parameters, you can design expressive timbres that shimmer, growl…

Voxengo SPAN Free It’s likely already in your plugins folder, and it’s well and truly the one to beat, so how does the world’s favourite freeware plugin compare to the other analysers in this round-up? SPAN is legendary for many reasons, including spectrum smoothing, custom resizing, True Peak reading and LUFS metering, mid/side, multichannel analysis with channel grouping, A/B-ing and loads more besides. For most situations, though, you’ll just need to drop it onto a channel and start ogling it – after that, you’re hooked on the simple, to-the-point visuals. For those who want to dive further into SPAN – or at least customize the default green color scheme – there’s plenty for you to get through in its Settings window. Yes, SPAN’s looking slightly dated but not by a…

Korg has launched a new version of the Volca Sample and it looks like the Japanese firm has rectified a few issues that slightly dogged the original model. Korg’s Volca range took a turn in a new direction back in 2014 with the launch of the Volca Sample, proving that the people’s synth range could be more than just analog revivalist instruments. When we first tried the diminutive sampler, however, there were a few niggles that we felt hampered the instrument, with the most notable caveat being that lack of digital connectivity. Thankfully, Korg has taken it upon itself to right this particular wrong by updating the sampler with a micro USB port, greater memory, plus improvements to the sequencer and MIDI capabilities. The inclusion of the USB port is…

GForce Software impOSCar 2 $179 Truly a labor of love, impOSCar is a spot-on recreation of the original OSCar, boasting some nifty extras like polyphony, nine different filter types, multiple mono and poly unison modes, and the ability to route incoming audio into the signal path. Oh, and there is a staggering patch library, if you aren’t inclined to roll your own. www.gforcesoftware.com Steven Bateman OSCore FREE Users of Native Instruments’ mighty Reaktor can pluck this little beauty from among the many gems found in the Reaktor User Library. Though its creator claims it isn’t a completely faithful recreation, it can certainly provide much of what was loved about the original. We especially like the random waveform generator. Cool stuff. bit.ly/ReaktorOSCore Big Tick Rhino $99 Though not a direct emulation…

Strengths + Superb build quality and classy looks + Clear and intuitive module-driven interface that invites tweaking + A unique sonic personality, especially with poly aftertouch onboard Limitations - Though largely intuitive, this is a complex synth; expect a learning curve - No audio input to route things through the lovely onboard processing - Would have been nice if poly/unison voice modes were available by the wheels Ashun Sound Machines may be a new name to most of us but it’s part of Medeli – a well established Hong Kong instrument maker. VP of their product development team is the hugely respected Glen Darcey, who has conceptualized and brought to market products like Arturia’s ‘Brute’ range, and Akai’s MPC Renaissance and Studio to name just a few! I was in…

Strengths + Great Scale & Chord modes + Lovely Ableton Live partnership (But does work with other DAWs despite the claims!) + Great hardware build and soft bundle Limitations - Website page links missing - Price hike for the bigger models The original Novation Launchkey arrived back in 2013, a solid, value-for-money controller for both desktop and iPad and one which we concluded was, ‘possibly the best controller keyboard in its price bracket’. The Mk 2 version came out in 2016 and – with 16 launch pads corresponding in colour to those of the clips in Ableton’s Session view – became a bit of a steal for Live users. Now at Mk 3 stage, with ‘create and perform with Ableton Live’ on the box, Launchkey appears now to be Live-only.…

If there’s one criticism that has been leveled at Arturia’s emulations over the years it’s that they can sound rather drenched in effects. Happily OB-Xa V doesn’t exhibit this too much (the 'Jump' preset doesn’t even feature the original effects as standard) but you can easily control the applied effects by clicking the Advanced Panel. Here you get two options: Effects and Modulation. Within the former, there are some mostly great sounding effects, with nine options selectable from drop-down menus for each of the three blocks on offer. Parameters are shown for each effect ranging from a couple for the Bitcrusher up to seven for the reverb. The modulation options are fantastic, with up to four envelopes (selectable from the middle screen) that you can assign to most parameters by…

To mix drums, you need to understand miking techniques. There are two fundamental types: close and ambient. Close mics are positioned to capture the direct, ‘isolated’ sound from one drum or cymbal in the kit. The other drums will inevitably be picked up in the background – this is called bleed or spill. While it usually needs to be reduced with EQ and gating, you don’t necessarily want to eradicate it entirely, because a bit of bleed makes the kit sound more natural and cohesive. Toms and cymbals are almost always singlemiked. One microphone inside the kick drum is generally sufficient, but some engineers also tend to use an added outside kick mic and maybe a special ‘sub’ mic to capture the low end. These can be blended to taste…

01 Xfer Serum lets you turn audio samples, internal LFO shapes and even PNG files into wavetable oscillators. We’ll start with an audio sample of a gnarly, modulated bass note. You’ll want to get WT Pos moving with an LFO to automatically sweep through wavetable position. 02 Click and drag a sample onto Serum’s Osc A display. As you hover over it, several options appear – we’ll drop this sample onto the Import: Constant Framesize (Pitch Avg) option, as our note has one consistent pitch. Serum now re-synthesizes the audio into the individual frames of a wavetable. 03 Click Osc A’s pencil icon to pop open the Wavetable Editor. Along the bottom, we can see Serum has divided the sample into 17 frames. The frame scanning is currently a bit…

In the recent series on guitar synth pedals, I discussed the fraught relationship players have had with guitar synthesizers due to tracking issues and clumsy extra pickups. Each pedal in the series dealt with creating synthesizer sounds in its own way. None required a special pickup and all tracked well. One might have oscillators tracking the pitch of the guitar. Another would create a fuzz sound that is essentially a square wave, and then have filter, octave, and ADSR effects to create the feeling, if not the actuality, of a keyboard synth. This month we move on to a guitar synth app, Yonac’s Roxsyn, which also tracks well and requires no special pickup. The manual claims a “‘groundbreaking technology’ called ‘Metamorphic Guitar Synthesis,’ that doesn’t use pitch tracking or ‘guesstimation’…