Innehållsförteckning för September 2015 från Future Music

WELCOME Less Is More… As regular readers have no doubt already noticed, this is the first issue of Future Music in many, many years to not come with a disc, and I’m sure some of you might be wondering why that is. Have we gone all cheap on you? Are you now getting less content with FM each month? Well, the answer to both of those questions is an emphatic no! In fact, it’s quite the opposite – we want to give you more than ever. By not being bound by what we can fit onto a DVD, we’re not restricted in what content we can give you. So what extras are we bringing you? Well, first and foremost, alongside the usual fresh sample packs we offer up each month,…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… Bomb the Bass Clear After hearing Planet 9 , Tim Simenon reached out to work with Justin, resulting in Brain Dead and (the single of the year winning) Bug Powder Dust . ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Brain Dead, Empire, Bug Powder Dust Jane’s Addiction Ritual de lo Habitual On heavy rotation as the Field Trip was being finalised. Warfield admits to channelling frontman, Perry Farrell, on Stormclouds Left Of Heaven . ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Been Caught Stealing, Three Days, Stop! Beastie Boys Check Your Head The mix of Hendrix Psych, Hip-Hop beats, and Pop culture references on this stone cold classic couldn’t have more parallels with…

PIEZO POINTERS For permanent fixing, soldering or glue is perfect; but for a temporary attachment use gaffer tape, double-sided tape or decorating masking tape (this has the advantage of being able to write on it). Make sure the piezo is firmly attached with as much surface area contact as possible. Also be careful not to mark anything valuable you stick it on. The simple piezo to jack socket set-up we are using here will favour high frequencies rather than low (much like a high-pass filter). Running the piezo through a decent preamp (most pro piezo set-ups use an impedance balanced preamp) will help, as will some careful EQ. Start low and work up, just to be on the safe side. One of the real joys of using contact mics is…

Sound Mangling Getting some interesting new noises and textures from a contact mic is really only just the beginning. Now let’s mangle it… Our raw sample is the sound of a couple of marbles being rolled around the bottom half of a pair of hi hats. Note: the contact mic is taped to the inside of the hat to show it in the photo, but normally it would be on the underside out of the way. We’re going to start quite simply and lower the pitch of the sound to create some deeper metallic tones. This is done with Sonic Charge’s excellent Echobode frequency shifter. We then added a touch of stereo delay for movement via the RB delay plug-in. Same raw sample; this time we reversed it, ran it…

Digitalism Roller Magnetism, 2015 © Joseph Branston Having first emerged in the mid-’00s as peers of eclectic party starters like Erol Alkan, Soulwax and Boyz Noise, German duo Digitalism have spent the past decade carving themselves out a reputation as a reliable source of rowdy, synth-powered Electro. With their third album due later this year, and their latest single Roller out now, FM headed to Hamburg to catch up with Jens Moelle and Ismail ‘Isi’ Tüfekçi in their Bunker studio – named for the former WWII bunker the pair use as a base. Jens: “We did all our mixes ourselves until around 2012. We did one track with Tommy Trash, Falling, that he mixed, and that’s when we started mixing with other people. Then we went back to mixing ourselves…

Spectral Madness Let’s look at some patches that define Clouds, and try some hidden modes! Given the extent of CV modulation available, Clouds can be thought of as a one-stop shop for all manner of freaky time and pitch modulation; what it’s capable of far exceeds what we have space to print. As Gillet suggests, it’s excellent at ‘padding out’ an existing input signal with harmonically related texture, and we can use its wet/dry blend to do this all within one module to save on a mixer. Plus we can CV-control the blend parameter. But all manner of craziness can be created by jamming with the controls and especially trying many different CV sources on different inputs – just record everything as there are a lot of unexpected sweet spots…

Morphing In The Voice Programmer The Voice Programmer can do more than ‘step’ from one sound to the next. Its morphing capabilities open up stunning sound design possibilities In the middle of each of the alphabetised blocks in Rounds’ Voice Programmer section, you can click to activate Morph mode. This means that, rather than simply stepping between voice engines as Rounds moves from one segment to the next, the sound will morph smoothly. It does this by transforming the parameters which make up one sound engine to those of the next, producing constantly evolving sounds. Morph parameters can be configured ‘globally’ (across all Blocks) or on a per-Block basis and among the controllable parameters are the Speed and Direction of morphing as well as a Quantize option which controls the…

Purity Ring Two of Electronic Pop’s fastest rising stars, Megan James and Corin Roddick were snapped up by 4AD before their debut album had even hit the streets. Danny Turner gets inspired by Purity Ring’s rapid rise © Simon Lees Originally a member of Canadian Pop experimentalists Born Gold, Corin Roddick was first introduced to production in 2000. Teaming up with vocalist Megan James, the pair’s first track Ungirthed was released online in 2011, and just over one year later Purity Ring were signed to UK label 4AD. When the band’s server crashed upon the release of a free download to celebrate the opening of their website, clearly something was stirring. Their debut album, Shrines, was released within months and high profile collaborations followed, with James providing vocals on Jon…

Roland JD-XA Synth | £1,549 The JD-XA is Roland’s first analogue polysynth since 1986’s Super JX-10. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman powers up the battleship! WHAT IS IT? The second ‘crossover’ synth from Roland, featuring polyphonic analogue and digital engines with effects, sequencer and plenty of hands-on control CONTACT Who: Roland Tel: 01792 702701 Web: www.roland.co.uk HIGHLIGHTS 1 Blending the analogue and digital engines results in distinctive new sounds 2 The front panel is a tweaker’s delight 3 Plenty of modulation, a decent sequencer, arpeggiator, flexible effects, plus a great Vocoder SPECS Keyboard 49 keys with velocity and channel aftertouch Maximum polyphony Analogue part: 4 voices Digital part: 64 voices Analogue/digital crossover synthesizer Analogue part: 4 parts (2 OSCs + AUX, 1 Filter, 1 AMP, 2 Pitch ENV, 1 Filter ENV,…

The Sequencer The sequencer has 16 tracks (plus a click track with dedicated output) and each track can control the internal engine, external MIDI instruments, or both. MIDI from two sequencer tracks can also be routed to the CV outs. To record, select the mono or polyphonic part you want to record and the number of measures (up to four). Next record in real time with automatic quantise on or off (shuffle/swing modes are included) or use Step mode. Fader and dial movements can also be recorded on a per-track and per-step basis too (parameter-locking style) which is great. To view your recorded step data on a per-track basis (each analogue/ digital part gets its own corresponding track), select the part/track you want to view and simply press its ‘on’…

Rupert Neve Designs Shelford 5051 and 5052 | £1,919 each When you’re looking for a premium quality front-end, one name should always be on the list. Jon Musgrave sizes up Rupert Neve’s latest gems WHAT IS IT? High-end module-based mic pre and EQs based on a hybrid of Rupert’s circuit designs CONTACT Who: Sonic Distribution Tel: 0845 5002500 Web: www. sonic-distribution.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Solid smooth mic pre with lots of gain 2 Characterful, musical EQ 3 Beautiful construction and rack case PRICING 5051 £1919 5052 £1919 2-Way Rack £263 9-Way Rack £480 5-Way Power Supply £779 25-Way Power Supply £2579 SPECS 5051 Frequency response: -3dB at 2.5Hz, -3dB at 125kHz Maximum input: +25dBu, 20Hz to 20kHz Maximum output: +25dBu, 20Hz to 20kHz Line input noise, measured at main output:…

JZ Microphones GTR1 | £89 A rival for the SM57? Latvia’s latest is designed for mic’ing guitar speakers. Trevor Curwen ponders how it captures the kerrang WHAT IS IT? Dynamic microphone CONTACT Who: Hand in Hand Tel: 01752 696633 Web: www.jzmic.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Vibrant sound with extended top-end 2 Mic’s profile offers range of placement options 3 Solid build quality should withstand knocks SPECS Type: Dynamic mic Polar pattern: Cardioid Frequency range: 50Hz - 18kHz Sensitivity: -74dB +/-3dB Connector: XLR Included accessories: Carrying pouch, microphone clamp Dimensions: 55 x 45 x 150mm Weight: 0.280kg Each producer and engineer will have their own favourite ways to record the sound of an electric guitar amp that might involve a single dynamic, ribbon or condenser microphone or a multiple mic combination of…

EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH… Oli Bell musician, producer One of FM’s regular sample contributors, Oli is an expert in sonic experimentation. This issue he’s bringing some of that creativity to our Make Contact feature, on page 30, in which he shows us how to create incredible sounds with contact mics. Jono Buchanan musician, producer This issue sees Jono getting to grips with one of the dark horses of Native Instruments’ latest Komplete bundle – the deceptively powerful sequencing synth Rounds. He breaks down its capabilities in this issue’s Producer’s Guide on page 67 . Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman producer, musician Our go-to man for tackling a powerhouse synthesizer, this issue sees Dan testing out Roland’s first analogue polysynth in several decades – the…

CLASSIC ALBUM Justin Warfield My Field Trip To Planet 9 Qwest, 1993 Justin Warfield’s opus, My Field Trip To Planet 9, is wisely regarded as the best example of what the term Trip-Hop could possibly define. Its Funkadelic cast of characters, mind-boggling cultural references and experimental studio swagger form part of a melting pot that forged one of the truly cult Rap albums of the ’90s. Warfield made up the entire cast on the mic, often passing it to alter egos as he spat non-sequiturs, and generally got ill, while QDIII [the son of Quincy Jones!], and Prince Paul [De La Soul, Stetsasonic] initially handled production duties. During the year and a half the album took to make, they ran into sample clearance hell, (thanks Clapton, thanks Macca), leaving a…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH Tame Impala Currents Interscope Australian Psychedelic Rock masters, Tame Impala, make a distinctive shift on their third studio album, Currents. Having developed his project from a one-man outfit into a full on, globally renowned band since the 2010 debut, Kevin Parker is expanding on the heady, sprawling Psych Rock that dominated 2010’s Innerspeaker and 2012’s much lauded Lonerism. The sonic shift on latest offering Currents comes via a new deeper embrace of Dance-orientated music. Surprisingly polished and groove-laden, the record harnesses a more collective and inclusive sound than we have heard from Tame Impala before. There is still plenty of layered, kaleidoscopic psychedelia and introspective reflection (the album lyrics map Parker’s evolution as a person through relationships, perspectives and mindsets) but it is the…

How To Make A Contact Mic Make your own inexpensive contact mic with some very simple soldering of a piezo to an output. Here’s how… At its most basic a piezo conducer can be wired directly to an output socket to make a contact mic or acoustic trigger. All you need is a piezo element (found very cheaply in any electronics store or online) a mono output socket (¼-inch jack/mini jack/RCA, it really doesn’t matter which you prefer), a soldering iron and some solder. Instead of the socket you can use a cable ending in a jack plug. We prefer to use a socket as the length of cable we can use isn’t restricted, although it can be harder to tape the bulkier socket onto the target surface. This type…

Danny Daze Miami-based Danny Daze has become a highly sought after DJ, famed for his unpredictable mixing and eclectic sets. Meanwhile, in the studio, Danny Turner finds a producer with surprisingly dark influences and a taste for all things analogue Danny Daze has never forgotten where he came from. As a DJ, he eschews the modern tendency to conform to cultural expectations and continually references the flawless technique of the DJ legends he grew up idolising. Daze yearns for the return of battle-mode turntablism, noting its morph into what’s now known as ‘controllerism’. As a producer, the Miami Bass sound remains a prevalent influence on his love for bass-heavy Dance music, modified to encompass his love for Detroit Techno and Italo Disco. Refreshingly open and honest, Daze lifts the lid…

Mutable Instruments Clouds Texture Synthesizer | €299 Mutable’s sampling Texture Synth packs time and space-warping features into a pretty looking panel. But can Clouds cut the granular mustard? Mutable Instruments have in recent years amassed a broad range of simple, powerful and original analogue and DSP modules, backed by a remarkable commitment to open source licences. Quite literally, users can freely download panel, PCB and firmware data required to DIY Mutable Instruments’ modules from scratch; but be aware that these are extremely challenging projects. However, this open source ethic has led to user-made alternative firmware being freely available for several of their modules, including Clouds. For details and download of the free Parasites firmware, which adds to the stock firmware a polyphonic resonator mode, complex adjustable reverb algorithm, and more,…

NI Rounds Cracking Reaktor’s Circular Synth Rounds was introduced as a new ‘Player’ instrument within Reaktor with the release of NI’s Komplete 10 and it combines synthesizer and step-sequencing capabilities. The synthesizer portion of Rounds is comprehensive, with up to 16 sounds playable from a single instance, with eight analogue-style and eight (FM-based) digital synth engines coloured pink and blue respectively. Each sound source is configured independently in the lower section of Rounds’ main page. To configure a synth’s parameters, you click on the appropriate numbered button just above the synth section at the bottom. Thereafter, you’re greeted with a parameter set which allows for plenty of sonic flexibility. Towards the left, the Oscillator section lets you configure twin-oscillator sounds with multiple waveform types available for each sound source, which…

QUICK TIPS 1 You can rotate a Block within the Voice Programmer, simply by right-clicking (or holding Ctrl while clicking) and dragging that Block around. 2 To swap multiple engine assignments within the Voice Programmer, switch the Paint button for Replace. This will highlight all engines allocated to the same engine. Then, click the replacement engine number and all of those assignments will change together. 3 Right-click to copy an entire Block by dragging one onto another. Re-order Blocks by dropping your ‘to be copied’ Block into a gap between two others. 4 A couple of limitations exist when Morphing. Even deactivated Block segments will be included and you can only morph between segments featuring the same type of sound engine.…

Tell us about your live set-up for the new album “It’s similar in concept – having percussion-based visual cues that are triggering parts of the music and also displaying them in a visual way. I want a way to perform the songs that is interesting to me and fun; I don’t want to be just pressing the space bar feeling bored up there [laughs]. It gives me an interesting way to express the songs live, but at the same time I think it’s a great way to connect with the audience because it gives a visual representation of the music directly, which I think is crucial to being able to enjoy a show. I have a whole bunch of things mapped inside of Ableton to various controllers or instruments we’ve…

Modulation, LFOs, Envelopes And Triggering The JD-XA is no slouch when it comes to modulation! The analogue side has two super-fast, audio-rate capable LFOs plus a Mod LFO per-part with dedicated fade, pitch, filter and amp depth sliders. There’s also PWM per-oscillator, ring mod, oscillator sync and cross modulation (with two sources). The analogue filter and amp envelopes are nicely snappy for creating punchy bass/ leads and percussion sounds, while there’s a pitch envelope that can be flexibly assigned for time-based pitch changes across the two oscillators. Of course there’s legato, mono and polyphonic portamento too, plus Key Hold for making drones. You can modulate sounds with the mic input, plus there’s a Mod Matrix with four main Control busses. Each buss also allows the mapping of any MIDI CC…

On The Bench To get a better understanding of what these EQs do, I monitored their output using a test tone and spectrum analyser. As expected, the EQ sections of both units proved to be identical, so for simplicity, and because it also has the Silk option, let’s look solely at the 5052. Conventional wisdom tells us transformers generate most of their harmonic distortions below about 500Hz, so it should come as no surprise that on the frequency analyser all the action is in the Mid and Low Frequency bands. In fact, only the 200Hz and 350Hz settings of the MF band seem to introduce distortions, and they are third and fifth and to a lesser degree second harmonic distortions. What’s more, these are more significant at the 200Hz setting.…

iConnectivity iConnectAudio4+ | £299 Looking for an audio and MIDI interface to join up your iOS and studio recording needs? Jono Buchanan appraises iConnectAudio4+ WHAT IS IT? An audio and MIDI interface for simultaneous recording to two devices CONTACT Who: Sonic Distribution Tel: 0845 5002500 Web: http://www. iconnectivity.com/ iConnectAUDIO4plus HIGHLIGHTS 1 Connect and record to two devices at once 2 Impressive audio and MIDI capabilities 3 A true bridge between iOS and desktop recording systems SPECS System requirements Mac: OS X 10.4 or later Windows: XP SP3 or later iOS: 4.2 or later, CoreMIDI-compatible app, iOS devices using Lightning connection I/Os: 4 x XLR – ¼” TRS combo analogue inputs, 4 microphone preamplifiers with 48v phantom power, 4 x ¼” TRS balanced analogue outputs, ¼” Headphone output with independent…

Reverby Recordings I’m mixing some tracks but all the instruments are drenched in bad room reverb. Solvable? The best bet would be to get the band to re-record in a not so nasty-sounding space but that’s unlikely to happen. In this situation there are a limited number of options to try, as you’re essentially trying to make a bad recording sound good, but a noise gate plug-in and an enveloper/transient designer plug-in will help. A noise gate is obviously more of an on-off affair but a transient-shaping plug-in can often do the job more elegantly/musically, (or perhaps a combination of an enveloper and noise gate). Here are some examples… Try the scissors technique, which can work well on sounds such as snares, hats and short notes/chords. Try cutting the reverb…

Make Your Own Diddley Bow Fancy getting your Hobo Blues on? Alright then, let’s make a diddley bow The diddley bow is basically a primitive slide guitar featuring a single string attached to a length of wood with a simple bridge and nut. Hailing from the deep south of America (although its true origins may lie in Africa), it’s traditionally associated with Blues (look up Eddie ‘One String’ Jones) and has been seen on the festival circuit brandished by Seasick Steve. The diddley bow is played by hitting the string with a finger, stick or metal rod while using a metal or glass slide to change pitch. As well as being a simple to make acoustic instrument, bringing a simple piezo to the party means it can be amplified and…

Is being a DJ a lonely existence? “This career is not what people think it is. You stay on the road by yourself and you might like a person you meet but the next day I have to leave on a flight and they’re gone or I’ll see them maybe once a year. But I’ve definitely made a name for myself, and I’m making money so I can help my mum out and stuff like that. Nowadays I’m taking time off in order to hang out with my family or friends; I’ll even use my air miles and bring friends out and try to live life rather than just be a DJ or artist, but it’s a little bit weird coming from thinking that you’re never going to be anything…

The Orb Over a 30-year career, Swiss-born composer/ producer Thomas Fehlmann has been one of electronic music’s key non-conformists. Danny Turner locates the production wizard in Berlin to discuss The Orb’s latest Ambient House voyage, Moonbuilding 2703 AD © Rob Monk Born in Zurich, Thomas Felhmann has been an active participant in the electronic scene since the late ’70s, having co-founded the German new wave collective Palais Schaumburg with Basic Channel creator Moritz Von Oswald. Later collaborations included Sun Electric and 3MB, which resumed Fehlmann’s association with Von Oswald alongside Detroit Techno legends Juan Atkins and Eddie Fowlkes. Fehlmann found further inspiration with his own Teutonic Beats label, and released numerous Ambient Dub albums on the Kompakt imprint. That association continues to this day, with the German label playing host…

A 6-Step Tour Of Rounds Rounds features a number of options but it’s not as complex as it first seems. Here’s a quick guide Set up a new Rounds instrument from within Reaktor then use the snapshots to select Created For Arpeggiator > INIT Rounds, which is the closet Rounds comes to a default patch. Click on Analog Cell 2 and Digital Cells 1 and 2 in Block A to switch them off and play some notes. You’ll hear and see that only Analog 1 is being triggered and that you can play up to four notes at once for it. Do the same for the Digital engines, exploring what happens with Modulators and Carriers. Start with the Ratio for FM1 and FM2 both at 1.00 and you’ll hear a…

Image-Line FL Studio 12 Answer our question for a chance to win one of five download copies of FL Studio Producer Edition WIN Ever since it was first released back in the ’90s, Image-Line’s Windows-based DAW has held a special place in the heart of countless musicians. Over the years, the ease of use that made its name has been matched by power and flexibility to rival any of its competitors – and version 12 might be the best yet, picking up both Platinum and Value awards when we reviewed it last issue. Want to give FL Studio a try? Well you’re in luck as we’ve five download copies of the Producer Edition – which includes lifetime free updates from Image-Line – to ! give away. To be in with…

Feature Highlights The JD-XA has some great features onboard – here are a few highlights There’s plenty of great sounding FX onboard including 29 Total FX, a global delay and reverb (with six types) plus an MFX unit with 67 types (per-part). The MIDI-syncable arpeggiator (available per-part) has settings for pattern/step length, grid/shuffle, accent, octave range and 12 preset Motifs. There are also 64 user-template spaces. The Mic input (with Phantom Power) is used to trigger the superb sounding vocoder which can be applied across the digital and analogue engines. It also has its own reverb.…

MINI REVIEWS Vibrant Digital Diode-108 Drum Machine for iOS | £4.49 www.rupertnevedesigns.com Diode-108 is an iPad drum machine that comes packed with some 40 kits, ranging from staple sounds like 808/909 hits and acoustic kits to more esoteric and heavily processed sounds. Each kit features 16 sounds that can be sequenced via a 16-step sequencer or recorded live via a 4x4 grid of drum pads. Additionally, user-uploaded WAVs can be sequenced alongside the app’s range of factory samples. A console-style mixer allows beats to be fine-tuned and the Song tab lets users create and recall longer sequences. It’s in its deeper sequencing features that Diode-108 sets itself apart from the mass of other drum machines on the App Store, however. Along with beats themselves, the app allows almost every parameter…