Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Future Music

This Issue ARCHIVE FM’s Sample Archive gives you over 10GB of carefuly-curated, royalty free sounds to use in your music. Here’s what’s inside... AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.1 ’90s Ambient (562 samples) Ambient Dawn (490 samples) AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.2 Majestic Bells & Mallets (444 samples) Spring Reverb & Tape Delay (533 samples) ATMOSPHERES & BACKGROUNDS Atmospheric Beds (369 samples) Noise, Crackle & Hiss (512 samples) Sounds of the City (371 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.1 Analogue Polys (625 samples) SH Collection (500 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.2 Analogue Poly Chord Hits (342 samples Classic Synths: ’80s, ’90s, ’00s (678 samples) Hardware Arps (511 samples) CREATIVE DRUMS Cyborg Beats (514 samples) Lo-Fi Sampling (555 samples) Obscure Drum Machines (517 samples) Overloaded Beats (889 samples) ESSENTIAL DRUMS 808 and 909 (39 samples) Ultimate Cymbals (503 samples)…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH Khotin Beautiful You Ghostly International Vancouver electronic producer and label manager Dylan Khotin-Foote has drifted between genres and styles ever since his 2014 debut,Hello World. By 2017’sNew Tab, Khotin had meandered into a more downtempo, quieter sound, which he explores further still on his new album,Beautiful You. What ties together his entire back catalogue so far, though, is his masterful use of melody and colour, skills that are once again at the fore on Beautiful You. The entire record is awash with beautiful, glowing melodies and new age ambient synth tones. The atmosphere is calm, laidback and dreamlike. The record’s stretched out, often beatless soundscapes are made of woozy synths, hazy tones and deep bass full of tropical humidity, offset by breezy, slow grooves.…

Get the Perfect Vintage Mix UAD and Console Many software makers now produce plugins to rival the sound and approach of vintage analogue hardware but no company has taken this further than Universal Audio via its UAD powered plugins platform. Building on the hardware designs of Bill Putnam’s legendary hardware of the ’50s and ’60s, Universal Audio’s digital division initially launched with the attractive feature of hosting the processing of its plugins directly on its hardware, drawing load away from your host computer’s CPU. This remains a key selling point but as computer power has increased, it’s by no means the biggest reason why so many favour Universal Audio hardware. Through its collaborations with companies including SSL, Manley, Lexicon and many others, its plugins are considered class-leading by many, as…

VINTAGE MIX TIPS Check out the trial/demo periods for software companies who model vintage mix tools. Many offer 14-day free trials, so if you want to see what all the fuss is about, have a go. Don’t be surprised if you try a piece of vintage hardware and find that it behaves unlike plugins. Sometimes, internal components sound different once they’ve warmed up and often, the behaviour of hardware compressors, for example, change as you drive levels into them harder. Some vintage plugins are quite noisy, with tapelike hiss and saturation/ distortion noise often sustaining as soon as a plugin is active. While a sound triggering plugins like this masks the noise, in the gaps, be ready with auxiliary automation levels or gate effects to remove unwanted noises. Don’t forget…

Making a ‘classic’ reverb with modern tools Do you need to invest in the best plugin emulations to gain the sound of vintage mixes? Not necessarily. Building ‘classic sounds’ with modern tools provides unique results One of the most prized ’80s drum sounds came from the AMS RMX16 reverb and one of its algorithms: NonLin. Producing a gated, hyped reverb tail with a hefty sustain, it adds real weight to any sound you pass through it and is really effective on claps and snares. But what if you have neither access to the original hardware nor an emulation? Like all classic mix techniques, what’s to stop you just using them as inspiration? Here, we’ll create a kind of homage to the NonLin sound using a chain of modern plugin tools.…

ESSENTIAL GEAR Fender Rhodes 73 “This is where I start a lot of ideas. It’s great for riffs and sounds so smooth. I often go back to it towards the end of a track for top line ideas or little extra flourishes.” Club of the Knobs Moog System 55 Clone Modular “I had this custom-built by Kazike in Lisbon. It took time but was worth the wait. I’ve used a real one and this is pretty much spot on by comparison. I’ve added some unique modules to make it my own after that pure sound we all know.” Neve 5088 Console “This is a key ingredient in what I do now. It has 24 inputs across the board (eight mono, eight stereo) and a further eight on aux inputs if…

Filter tracking in action With the 2.5 firmware update, the BS2 filter can now track the keyboard. What does this mean and how does it work? Filter keyboard tracking is a feature common to a lot of synthesisers and was, according to Novation, one of the must regularly requested feature updates by Bass Station 2 users. As its name implies, it dictates how closely the filter cutoff point tracks changes to notes from the keyboard/sequencer. This allows for a more natural sounding filter response where – when fully engaged – the amount of filtering applied to a sound remains the same even as you play higher and lower on the keyboard, ie high notes don’t sound more heavily filtered by an LPF than notes played in a lower range. When…

RIGHT-HAND MAN Philipp Thimm “I come from a church music background. I studied cello and worked a lot with other people in studios, mostly performing strings. Sascha somehow found me so I started producing with him – we did a musical adaption based on a score for a theatrical productionof War and Peace. “We wanted to be more minimal and create something with a very dry sound, but we also relied on session playing. With our theatre, music and film compositions we always had deadlines to meet; this time, we didn’t want to overthink but also wanted to just listen back and let the results unfold. “I brought a Celtic harp, orchestral harp, mandolin, ukulele, and of course the electric guitar and bass. We also used acoustic guitars, these weird…

Interview Layton Giordani The New York-born Drumcode artist talks avoiding mediocrity, artists on his radar and furry studio companions © Joseph Branston The day that FMcatches up with New York-born techno head Layton Giordani, he’s still reeling from a career-high set at Amsterdam’s Gashouder for Awakenings the night before, as part of the ADE programme – clearly a venue of sentimental value for the 26 year old, who had only recently relocated from the city. A core member of the Drumcode imprint’s roster since 2017, Giordani’s 12-track Where It Begins was received with critical acclaim – and subsequent releases only followed that trend. His somewhat nomadic lifestyle in recent years has taken him around Europe, appearing at Melt! Festival, Warehouse Project, Motion Bristol, Resistance Ibiza and various Drumcode events –…

THE ALTERNATIVES Ableton Push 2 £519 When paired with a computer and Ableton’s Live DAW, this is a formidable production and performance instrument that’s obviously Force’s main competitor ableton.com NI Maschine Mk3 £469 NI’s software and groovebox pairing is probably the cheapest way to get into MPC-style music creation, but also requires a computer native-instruments.com Akai Professional MPC Live £799 Force’s smaller, battery-powered predecessor could be a better option for those seeking portability – and it’s cheaper, too akaipro.com…

Reviews Sennheiser IE 40 Pro £83 Good in-ear monitors can make all the difference. Jon Musgrave checks out a pair from Sennheiser’s new Pro series The IE 40 Pro deliver decent sonics without costing silly money The IE 40 Pro is the most affordable model in Sennheiser’s new pro in-ear monitoring range. With three models topping out at £500 for the IE 500 Pro, all three designs use single-wide band dynamic drivers, with a 10mm design in the IE 40 Pro and 7mm designs in the IE 400 Pro and IE 500 Pro. Many in-ear monitors use single or multiple balanced armature drivers, and both these and wide band dynamic drivers have their strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, one big advantage of a single broadband transducer is that it offers a…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES UVI – PX V8 €79 The Octave Plateau Voyetra 8 Polyphonic Synthesizer Module appeared in 1982, and at a time when there were few established rules on how to build a programmable polysynth. Like the Oberheim OB-8 it featured Curtis VCO chips (and with filtering provided by the ubiquitous SSM 2044). It was also one of the earliest synths to make use of page-based parameter editing and multipurpose parameter knobs. New Order were big fans, though reliability was often an issue. Buying a working example will leave you with a hefty hole in your pocket, and a future likely laden with repair bills. Luckily for us, UVI have recorded over 25,000 samples (15GB if uncompressed) from an original unit and wrapped them in a custom interface mimicking…

Gear Guide | Essential Tools For Music Making AUDIO INTERFACES Universal Audio Apollo x6 £1,800 Full Review: FM340 The new series is, sonically, now a match for any rival interfaces. If you’re tempted by the UAD ecosystem, this is highly recommended. Steinberg AXR4 £2,200 Full Review: FM342 Stunning audio quality with ultra high-resolution recording rates and gorgeous preamps designed with Neve’s involvement. Apogee Element 46 | £859 Review FM318 If you’re happy with your studio interface being controlled via software, Apogee’s Element range offers great quality and features. RME Fireface UFX+ | £2,418 Review FM329 Multiple analogue and digital sources in one incredibly flexible device. Plus it’s a bargain. Audient iD4 | £120 Review FM312 This compact interface delivers audio quality and stripped-back functionality for a thoroughly reasonable price. A great…

PSP drop HertzRider frequency shifter A frequency shifter's job is to do exactly as the name implies: shift the material that they’re applied to by a given frequency.  It’s this kind of functionality that you'll be getting from HertzRider, the latest plugin release from industry veterans PSP Audioware. HertzRider can be used for both practical tuning of inharmonic sounds (a snare, say) and creative tweaking of harmonic audio. You can adjust the settings as you wish, obviously, while an LFO gives you modulation options. As you can see, the interface has been kept relatively simple, and CPU load promises to be low. Grab a demo on the PSP Audioware website. HertzRider costs $49, and it’s available for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX/RTAS formats.…

Feature GET THE PERFECT VINTAGE MIX For all of the convenience and power of DAW-based recording environments, nothing beats the thrill of tried-and-tested, classic hardware With due deference to Macs and Windows-based PCs, it’s fairly certain that your current computer won’t go down in history as a ‘classic’ tool for music production. Computers have become the central cog in the workflow of nearly every music producer on the planet for a reason; they excel at allowing us to get our work done. But the pattern is familiar: buy the most powerful computer you can afford and, with luck, you’ll get a few years out of it before its replacement confines it into obscurity. The same cannot be said of the pieces of music technology which have stood the test of…

Classic lo-fi tape delay Delays aren’t all created equal and, for more lo-fi, characterful effects, nothing beats tape delay’s saturation and regeneration potential Delay is a hugely popular spatial treatment, for good reason. Echoes have the potential to do all kinds of things to a mix, from adding excitement and purpose to synth parts, to actively reinforcing the weight of a vocal part in a pop production. However, not all delays are created equal. Whilst modern digital delays produce high-fidelity repeats of an input signal, it’s frequently the case that a slightly more lo-fi, saturated delay works better, producing a slightly ‘dark shadow’ of the original input signal. Using tape machines with the record head enabled, it was possible to produce echo effects which had the potential to re-generate, getting…

THE TRACK Sophia Saze Self Kingdoms, 2019 © Alex Black Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, but now based in Brooklyn, Sophia Saze has a diverse musical background. She’s a keyboard player with classical training, turned electronic producer and DJ with releases under her belt under an assortment of aliases. Her nuanced techno creations under her own name have seen her land on labels such as Get Physical and Ghostly International, as well as Dusk & Haze, the label she founded herself in late 2017. This month she launches her debut album, Self, as a cassette release on Kingdoms, the new label launched last year by New York underground mainstay Francis Harris. Presented as two 30 minute sides of continuous music, the album blends beat-driven pieces with ambient sections and atmospheric interludes,…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE Novation Bass Station 2.5 Perhaps more than any other contemporary hardware brand, Novation have done an excellent job in recent years of supporting, upgrading and developing their products long after their initial launch. Through their browser-based Components system, the UK brand have rolled out regular enhancements and firmware upgrades across their range of synths and controllers, bringing everything from workflow tweaks and bug fixes to major new features. The Bass Station 2 is a case in point; while, at almost six years old, this analogue monosynth could easily be looking a little long in the tooth, thanks to Novation’s recent v2.5 update it’s still very much relevant and worth exploring. Released to mark 25 years since the debut of the original Bass Station, this free firmware update introduced…

QUICK TIPS Spend some time getting to know the Bass Station 2’s three grit-imparting tools: the filter overdrive, distortion and oscillator filter modulation. Each imparts its own quality, and is placed in its own spot in the signal path, resulting in differing sonic results. Overdrive is pre-filter so any harmonics it imparts can be tailored by low-, high- or band-pass filtering. It can also be used to give an extra ‘push’ into the resonance – great for grittier acid sounds. Distortion is placed after the filter but before the amp. This means it can add extra harmonic content back into a filtered signal. Being pre-amp means the distortion tone isn’t affected by amp modulation, and remains consistent no matter the amp’s output level. Osc Filter Mod is audio rate modulation…

MODULAR MONTHLY Dove Audio? WTF! Dove Audio’s Window Transform Function oscillator gives us a whole new way to work with waves A name like WTF (Window Transform Function) is bound to grab attention, but the name is just the start. When asked for an explanation, Dove Audio told us to think of a window with sliding shutters, one waveform in front of the window and one behind. As you open those shutters the back waveform comes through replacing the front wave, giving you a new slice of a waveform imparted into the middle of the final wave. Finally, imagine modulating the front and back waveforms, and modulate the opening and closing of the shutters. That’s the WTF’s unique approach to slicing and dicing wavetables for new tones. Not content with…

EXPLAINER Machine learning AI is taking over our lives – and, it seems, our music-making. Let’s plug into The Matrix and go deeper… As the name implies, machine learning is a form of AI whereby a computer algorithm analyses and stores data over time, then uses this data to make decisions and predict future outcomes. Deep learning is the next evolution of this: instead of requiring human ‘supervision’, algorithms can autonomously use ‘neural networks’ analogous to the human brain. Put simply, lines of computer code can now, to some extent, be programmed to learn for themselves, then use those learnings to perform complex operations on a scale that far surpasses human abilities. Considered the single biggest advancement in software development over the past few years, this technology is possible thanks…

Principleasure After a decade in the industry, Sharooz Raoofi has found new inspiration in his enviable gear collection and the LA streets. Si Truss caught up with him to talk new LP, I, his plugin synth, Zone, and the darker side of life in California © Ye Rin Mok The name Principleasure might be new, but the artist behind it isn’t short on industry experience. Sharooz Raoofi has been creating, releasing and working around electronic music for the better part of 15 years. In that time he’s put out numerous singles and remixes under his electro-focussed alias Sharooz, co-founded soundware brand Sample Magic, helmed his La Bombe record label and worked in the studio with countless artists across a host of genres. This new alias is more than just a…

Reviews Erica Synths Black Hole DSP 2 £270 The Black Hole presents stereo multi-effects processing for Eurorack. Gino Robair gives it a try Part of Erica Synths’ Black Series, Black Hole DSP 2 (BHD2) is a stereo Eurorack module that provides 24 time- and pitch-based effects. Like the original, the BHD2 gives you manual and CV control over three parameters for each effect, plus Patch selection. The new Crush feature lets you alter the sampling rate of the DSP from 48kHz to 1kHz. Beyond adding distortion-like artefacts, Crush often changes the behaviour of an effect in surprising ways, and having voltage control over it is very useful. Made for live performance, the BHD2’s user interface is simple. Turn the Patch encoder until the number of the effect you want shows,…

Novation add yet more new features to Circuit Novation have updated their affordable Circuit groovebox, with four new features coming to version 1.8. Living up to their claimed commitment to the ongoing development of the Circuit, the UK brand have added more features that they say “are sure to benefit every producer’s creative workflow”. The new features include non-quantised recording, which lets users live input synth and drum tracks directly to the sequencer’s microsteps (ie letting hits fall between the main ‘steps’ of the sequencer). Microsteps can also now be edited using the sequencer grid. Each step gets six available microsteps, allowing for syncopated lines and rapid-fire trills. Elsewhere, the update adds per-note velocity tracking for the two synth engines, meaning that notes that share a sequencer step can now…

WRITE WHAT YOU WANT “My first tip is probably a bit cliché but write the music you want to write, don’t write music because it’s poppin’ or because you get teased for writing the music you actually like. I feel like it’s so easy to tell if someone’s music is authentic or not these days, so strive for what you love.” Less is more “Choose sounds for a purpose. When I started making music I would always add random parts to my songs because I thought the more that was there the bigger it would sound. I’ve learnt now that a good producer will make something sound massive with minimal, purposeful sounds, rather than 100’s of things going on at once to give the illusion of something sounding massive. Choose…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… Perennial Divide Purge Where it all began. Jack’s first band (named after his ‘taint’), with an experimental slice of post-punk darkwave. Fresh for ’86. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Blow, Trip, The Fall Mark Stewart  ‎ As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade A special record for Jack, who was heavily influenced by its industrial tone and distorted vocals. He first heard it on John Peel and later found out it was mastered to VHS. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Bastards, Untitled, Hypnotized Public Enemy  ‎ Yo! Bum Rush The Show With its ‘wall of noise’ and collage-style of sampling, PE’s debut would always be a good fit with the Meat Beat Manifesto. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Miuzi Weighs A Ton, Rightstarter (Message To…

The Distressor: a modern classic ‘Classic’ doesn’t necessarily mean old. In this walkthrough, we’re going to put Empirical Labs’ Distressor hardware to task in order to bring more muscle to a bassline Whilst it’s tempting to assume that ‘classic’ mix tools must refer to technology of a bygone age now reaching astronomical prices on the second-hand market, there’s no disputing that there is some wonderful technology being made today which deserves the ‘classic’ tag. It seems to be universally accepted that, among those, is Empirical Labs’ Distressor, which offers a kind of ‘best of’ feature set of compressor design. Some of its compression ratios offer a different signal path to others, with the 10:1 ‘Opto’ setting emulating the LA-2A and the ‘Nuke’ option modeling the behaviour of the 1176 with…

In The Studio With Matador With his explosive live shows and twisted techno soundscapes, Gavin Lynch (aka Matador) has a truly distinct style. Danny Turner marvels at the DJ/producer’s enviable toolkit in his impressive Irish studio space © Richard Ecclestone Despite a decade’s worth of DJ gigs under his belt and a handful of releases to complement them, Gavin Lynch was still trying to make a name for himself when Richie Hawtin turned up to watch him play at Dublin’s Redbox. After a brief conversation, the techno legend’s instruction was clear – “write me some demos!”. With no greater incentive, Lynch got busy, signed to Hawtin’s M-nus imprint and never looked back. More recently, Lynch has created the Rukus label to oversee his own tracks from conception to release and…

Sophia Saze Working with found sounds Sophia explains how she captures and manipulates recordings to create the unique textures that bring the album to life “I used a lot of almost ASMR-style up-close mic recordings techniques to achieve intimate sounds. Simple things like taking physical objects and directly rubbing them on or near the microphone. Then of course I ran those sounds and processed them through multiple pedals, to apply effects. I tend to like up-close mic recording techniques because there’s a certain intimacy that you can’t really get digitally. “I tend to play with the EQ to make sure the frequencies are as lush as possible. I also try to use samples that are reminiscent of whatever memories are in my mind. For example, in the first section of…

Producer’s Guide To Rediscovering the Bass Station synth engine Before we delve into what’s new in version 2.5, let’s take a quick recap on how the synth engine is set up. Essentially, what the Bass Station 2 offers is a classic subtractive analogue signal path, comprised of oscillator, filter and amp sections coupled with a pair of ADSR envelopes and two LFOs. The oscillators themselves are digitally controlled analogue (DCOs). Each offers a choice of four, fairly standard, wave shapes – sine, triangle, saw, and variable-width pulse – along with an octave selector switch and coarse and fine tune rotaries. Each oscillator has a trio of modulation controls. Two of these affect pitch modulation, applied from the mod envelope and LFO 1. A third rotary is used to apply pulse…

Producer’s Guide To Exploring envelope retriggering The 2.5 firmware lets users loop the Amp and Mod envelopes. Let’s see this in action… 01 Retriggering allows the BS2’s envelopes to cycle, meaning that as soon as the envelope’s Release stage ends, it immediately begins again at the Attack stage. This allows them to act like a shapable LFO. Turn on retriggering for the Mod Env by holding Function and pressing the Velocity–ModEnv key twice, then changing the setting to r 1. 02 Press latch and play a note to create a drone. Now bring down the LPF cutoff and apply some upwards modulation from the Mod Env. Play around with the Mod Env’s four stages – hear how the modulation continuously cycles and how the speed of this is controlled by…

In The Studio With Apparat Sascha Ring’s fifth Apparat album, LP5, pays a surprise tribute to Autechre. Danny Turner chats to the German producer about his recording evolution and recent collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Philipp Thimm © Marie Staggat Berlin-based producer and Shitkatapult boss Sascha Ring is long known for his releases as Apparat and Moderat, the latter a collaboration with electronic music duo Modeselektor. Influenced by Aphex Twin’s ambient prototypes, Ring began making futuristic techno in the early 2000s with a heavy focus on sound design. As the years have passed, Apparat’s sound has become increasingly expansive, to the point where each new release has signified a form of creative rebirth. The cautious introduction of vocals on albums such as The Devil’s Walk (2011) reconceptualised the project. Today, they’re front…

REVIEWS Akai Professional Force £1,299 Is Akai’s next-gen standalone production system a force to be reckoned with? Joe Rossitter finds out… After a series of photo leaks online ahead of this year’s NAMM Show, the rumour mill went into overdrive, with talk of a ‘standalone Push’. This leak was revealed to be Force, Akai Professional’s new companion to their MPC Live and MPC-X units. Billed as a “standalone music production/DJ performance system”, it’s a fully self-contained studio environment running its own OS on an internal multi-core processor (16GB internal hard drive, 2GB RAM) – no laptop required. Following in the footsteps of the MPC X, Akai are catering to producers and live performers who want to break free from the shackles of a laptop and controller setup, more specifically the…

Reviews Røde PodMic £115 Slick podcasting calls for a pretty specific tool set. Jon Musgrave auditions Røde’s latest podcast-specific microphone Podcasting is on the up, big time, and that means demand is growing not only for affordable but also functionally specific hardware. The recent launch of their Rødecaster Pro all-in-one production studio shows Australian microphone manufacturer Røde are taking this market very seriously, so it should come as no surprise that they’re also extending their established broadcast mic range (Broadcaster, Procaster and Podcaster mics) with a new podcast-specific model. The PodMic is a mid-size end fire dynamic cardioid mic. The grille styling is reminiscent of both their Procaster and Podcaster mics, and the classic Electrovoice RE-20, so looks instantly at home in a broadcast environment. The body-mounted swing clip is…

Reviews Unfiltered Audio Byome $249 Unfiltered Audio’s Byome promises unparalleled multi-effects creation. Jono Buchanan gets himself patched in Each module is carefully designed with a flavour all of its own Unfiltered Audio’s Byome is a modular effects suite whose title is an acronym of ‘Build Your Own Multi Effect’. Presenting itself as a kind of Swiss Army knife of effects options, Byome’s most immediate rivals are effects suites like NI’s Molekular and Eventide’s H3000, whereby multiple individual effects can be chained and modulated in almost infinitely variable ways. At the top of the interface, you’ll find a Master section, where ‘global’ parameters can be changed easily. Some of these you’d expect, such as Input and Output level controls and an overall Mix dial. But there is also an Automatic Gain…

Sloppy finger drumming I track my beats live to audio but often they need tightening. How do I do this with Logic Pro X? Playing your beats live direct into audio is great for a more live feel and natural dynamics. If your drum machine has individual outs, you can also track each drum direct to its own channel in your DAW simultaneously, to allow separate processing in terms of timing, EQ, levels and effects. With Logic X, use Flex mode and audio quantising to tighten any timing issues whilst finger drumming! It’s as straightforward as MIDI quantising and gives excellent results with little degradation of the sonics. Here’s an example of how… Connect your drum machine’s instrument outputs to their own inputs on your audio interface. Set the inputs…