Innehållsförteckning för December 2021 från Future Music

WELCOME Old meets new This issue of FM sees us looking both backwards and forwards. On the retro front, in this month’s cover feature we’re exploring the longevity of analogue synthesis. Analogue gear has been around for over 50 years now, and while it would be a complete misnomer to say there’s no innovation happening in the analogue synth sphere, it’s also true that the core tenets of analogue synth design are remarkably similar to those used in the early 1970s. In the supposedly forward-looking world of electronic music making, why is vintage analogue gear still so sought after in 2021? With this issue’s feature, we’re investigating just that, and helping to demystify the terms and techniques around analogue synthesis at the same time. We’re also looking forward with our…

Filter | The Future Of Music Native Instruments celebrate 25th year with new free instrument and one-off hardware Native Instruments are turning 25 this year. To mark the occasion, they’re sharing a newly developed free instrument and releasing a limited-edition run of six NI products called the 25th Anniversary Collection. Twenty Five is a new instrument from NI for Kontakt 6 and the Kontakt 6 Player that’s intended to be a time capsule of their contribution to digital music making. Drawing sounds from 37 different instruments across the company’s history, it enables users to blend the sound of classic presets from their flagship synths, Kontakt piano instruments, Reaktor, and Generator, their first ever soft synth. Coming equipped with powerful FX, macro controls and a built-in sequencer, Twenty Five is part…

Behringer takes on the DFAM with Edge percussion synth After a quiet spell, Behringer have just come bursting back onto the scene with the announcement of the Edge semi-modular percussion synth. Likened by many to the Moog DFAM – which also happens to be a semi-modular percussion synth – this has a striking pink chassis, and promises a sound “as bold as its looks”. This is generated by dual VCOs with pulse and triangle waves, oscillator sync, and FM. There’s also a dual 8-step sequencer, 15x10 patch matrix, and “comprehensive” MIDI implementation. Edge is designed as a sidekick for Behringer’s Crave synth, from which it takes plenty of design cues. It has a list price of $219, but we don’t yet know when it’ll be released.…

Feature | What’s So Special About Analogue? WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT ANALOGUE SYNTHS? Much like vinyl, ‘analogue’ technology is held in high esteem, but debate rages around the realities of its lauded properties. More than 50 years after the first mass market analogue synthesiser hit the market, their basic format is more widespread than ever. Do analogue synths really sound better? What makes this theoretically outdated tech remain so popular in the supposedly forward-thinking realm of electronic music making? This issue we’ll be exploring the realities of ‘analogue’ gear: why it inspires such love in its fans, how it’s evolved and – crucially – how to use, set up and sequence using analogue principles. As we’ve discussed in these pages previously (see FM373) there are certain things that only software…

What’s So Special About Analogue? | Feature Hard versus soft There’s no better or worse in this: just what’s most suited to your needs and workflow preferences. The lines are increasingly becoming blurred, as some synths are available in desktop modules, without a keyboard but they retain the feature set of the standalone versions and software can be operated with MIDI controllers and keyboards. The real benefits of hardware are that there’s a certain mojo you get from a tactile interface. If the controls feel good and fall under your reach in the right way, then you’ll be more inspired to use them. There’s also the added benefit of being able to switch on and jam when the thought arises. No waiting for computers to boot up and your DAW…

Produce like… | Danny Byrd WHY I LOVE MY… API compressor VIDEO ON FILESILO “My favourite bit of kit in the studio is my API 2500 bus compressor. I read up on these and this was actually one of the first bits of hardware that I bought. Some people seem to use them for their drum bus and an SSL for their mix bus, some do it the other way. I thought I’d have it for both, so I bought two. They’re not that cheap and I ended up selling one because it seemed a bit extreme to have it on both busses. This is amazing for having over your master bus for more jungle-style tracks. It doesn’t really work for clean drum & bass tracks but for something a…

Danny Byrd | Produce like… ONE ESSENTIAL MIXING TIP… EQ your master bus VIDEO ON FILESILO “One thing I always do from the start of the track is put an EQ on the master bus with a little boost at the bottom end and a little boost at the top – a kind of smiley curve. You have to be careful what EQ you use for that; it needs to be really high quality otherwise it’s just going to degrade the sound. “I use the UAD Massenburg MDW-EQ. I feel like that’s mastering grade. I’ll boost a low shelf at around 60Hz, which adds more weight, then the top between 16kHz and 20kHz, just to add a bit more excitement. If you compare your track to stuff on Spotify or Apple…

Producer’s Guide To | Roland SP-404 MKII 10 ways to get more out of your SP-404 MKII Think you know all there is to know about the famed SP line? Think again, as Roland has upped the ante with the brand new MKII Never forget another idea 1 One of the most exciting new features of the SP-404 MKII and something that you’re going to want to understand fully to take full advantage of the machine is the new Skip Back mode. Essentially, Skip Back mode means that the SP-404 MKII is always recording audio in 25-second chunks. When you press the Mark button, the last 25 seconds of anything that you played are displayed as a waveform on the screen and can be saved, edited, or assigned to a…

RETROSPECTIVE Bleep (and bass) Growing out of the north of England in the ’80s, this unique take on techno helped forge Britain’s dance music scene © David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Music has always been a regional art form, with the likes of Detroit techno or Chicago house becoming shorthand for specific styles. Yorkshire, in the north of England, isn’t the obvious choice as a hotbed of electronic music, but in the late ’80s it played host to the birth of a micro-scene which was hugely important in the development of UK dance music. A thriving subculture of hip-hop and electro existed in the UK by the mid ’80s, based around imported US records. Across the north of England in the late ’80s, breakdance crews began to discover the new…

REVIEWS Roland SP-404 MKII £440 Roland’s SP-404 is a modern cult classic that’s inspired a generation of beatmakers and performers. Leo Maymind takes this update for a spin… CONTACT WHO: Roland WEB: roland.com KEY FEATURES 32-voice portable sampler with 16GB internal memory and 37 onboard effect types. I/O: Stereo pair jack line inputs, stereo pair jack line outputs, headphone out, guitar/mic in, MIDI in and out (via adapter), USB Roland surprised a lot of beatmakers this past month with the announcement of the new SP-404 Mark 2, which sees the iconic sampler getting greatly expanded in a number of ways. Previous versions of the 404 have been instrumental in the LA beat scene, where the combination of affordability and ease-of-use made the machine a favourite of many, both on stage and…

Native Instruments – Ashlight £179 Ashlight is the final instalment in the trilogy of granular instruments that Native Instruments began with Straylight. Whilst the first two in the series dealt with cinematic soundscapes and human-led textures, Ashlight goes dark both in terms of GUI design and sonics. As before, the instrument employs two layers (granular synthesis and sample playback) in parallel and a decent complement of modulation and effects to deliver complex, engaging sounds that largely need little further processing. Given Ashlight’s reliance on more metallic or harsh underlying sound samples, many presets do deliver colder and bleaker soundscapes than the earlier instruments in this series. It’s for this reason that it’s perhaps not as flexible as the others when it comes to immediate application across a wide range of…

Gear Guide | Essential Tools For Music Making DAWS Bitwig Studio 4 $399 Full Review: FM373 On the whole this is the least essential update of Bitwig Studio so far, but the DAW remains one of our favourite pieces of music making software. Steinberg Cubase Pro 11 £499 Review: FM366 The latest annual update to Steinberg’s much-loved DAW improves sampling, refines a number of Pro features and adds a selection of fun creative tools. Universal Audio LUNA free UA might not want to call LUNA a DAW, but let’s be honest… Even in its version one form, this is a slick and stylish recording environment and a great freebie for Apollo users. Tracktion Waveform Pro from $119 Review: FM345 Waveform is now friendlier, contains more creative tools and brings workflow…

Arturia’s V4.0 MicroFreak firmware update adds WaveUser synth engine and 64 new presets Arturia have announced the release of a free firmware update for the MicroFreak, their four-voice digital-analogue hybrid synth. The V4.0 update brings a new engine to the MicroFreak, expanding its capabilities as a wavetable synth. The WaveUser engine gives musicians the chance to upload their own custom wavetables (or any WAV or AIFF file) into MicroFreak through the synth’s companion software, the MIDI Control Center. The engine comes with 64 new presets, featuring among other things, “decimated waveforms, scanned sonic surfaces and evolving 3D soundscapes.” User-uploaded wavetables can be tweaked with Table, Position and Bit Depth controls. Released in 2019, the MicroFreak is an “algorithmic synth” boasting a 12-mode digital oscillator, analogue multimode filter and 25-key capacitive…

PreSonus’ second-generation R-Series monitors promise more control and improved performance PreSonus have updated their studio monitor range with two new models: the R65 V2 and R80 V2. These second-generation speakers replace the original R-Series, promising more control and improved sound. >PreSonus have updated their studio monitor range with two new models: the R65 V2 and R80 V2. These second-generation speakers replace the original R-Series, promising more control and improved sound. Both the R65 V2 and R80 V2 feature the Acoustic Tuning controls from PreSonus’s Eris monitor line. So you get Low Cutoff, Mid Frequency, and High Frequency controls, along with a three-position Acoustic Space switch that can be used if you have your speakers against a wall or in a corner. The upgraded 140W power amp, meanwhile, is designed to…

Danny Byrd | Produce like… GET THAT SOUND… How Danny made the bassline for Selecta ft. D Double E 01 Unusually for a drum & bass track, Selecta is in the key of C, which many producers tend to avoid. “It’s a terrible key because the lower octave is really shake-your-foundations low and the higher octave is too high to feel it.” Danny gets around this by doubling up the bass parts and using some careful effect processing. 02 The first bass part is a Reece bass part created by Danny in Massive. “The patch itself is really simple, with just two Speech oscillators detuned off of each other. I made a Macro to control osc 2 pitch, which lets me change the speed of the oscillation.” 03 Danny uses parallel…

YOUTUBE MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC Discover our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! THE TRACK Leading producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Cypherpunx & Luke Brancaccio, Sore Lullaby The three producers on how they created their vocal house track and its Massive Attack-inspired makeover DON’T MISS: Tutara Peak, Shapes over the Moorlands Ambient textures, dreamy sounds Rhode & Brown, Wave 200 The Munich duo take a trip back to Italo disco days James Hurr, Love Together The producer known for his club cred gives an insight into his studio tricks BEC, Trusting the Mystery Rebecca Godfrey unveils her winning techno formula steinberg Studio Sessions Top producers show you the world of Steinberg in our monthly video series DON’T MISS:…

Producer’s Guide To | Roland SP-404 MKII Using the new Roland app to manage samples Roland’s brought the 404 into the 21st century with even more ways to work 01 Roland have added another new way to interface with the SP-404 MKII that wasn’t possible in previous iterations of the unit and that’s the new Graphical Editor and Librarian Software, which is a free download from Roland Cloud. The app connects to the 404 via the USB connection. 02 There’s a graphical representation of the waveform of whatever the last played sample was, with the ability to change the Play mode, the level and pan settings, and the Loop settings for each sample. It’s also possible to truncate or normalise your sample with the buttons directly under the waveform display.…

Bleep (and bass) | Retrospective Three bleep production essentials Roland TR-909 drums 1 The mighty 909 casts a huge shadow over bleep, helping to define the sound. Originally released in 1983, the drum machine was a mainstay of early house and techno but the way it was used in bleep was a bit different: rather than sticking to rigid drum patterns or using it as a solid background for other percussion instruments, bleep producers liked to push the machine to create an almost breakbeaty syncopation. Original 909s are expensive now, but there are other options. The digital Roland TR-09 reboot is a cheaper alternative, or you can simply use samples. Cassette energy 2 It would be misleading to characterise bleep as a lo-fi genre, but there’s a certain spontaneity which…

Reviews | Erica Synths Matrix Mixer Erica Synths Matrix Mixer £499 Erica Synths aim is to make modular patching more flexible. Rob Redman grabs some cables to find out if they’ve succeeded CONTACT WHO: Erica Synths WEB: ericasynths.lv KEY FEATURES I/O: 16 in and 16 out patch points. Matrix system from the Syntrx. Built in attenuators Erica Synths’ Matrix Mixer is a step toward making modular synthesis a much more palatable proposition for many users, especially those who are put off constant re-patching. Modular can feel paradoxically both limited and endlessly free, with the way modules are connected, patched and re-patched, attributes controlled by various other modules and the navigation that results in. It can be wonderfully experimental to design sound this way but it comes at the price of limitations…

TESTBENCH Excite Audio Lifeline Expanse Lifeline Expanse is a channel strip-comemulti-effect designed to give any sound a new lease on life. With five modules – Format, Dirt, Re-Amp, Width and Space – you get to choose exactly what processes are used on your audio, re-order and blend each differently, and get quite advanced in the process of doing so. Each module offers its normal Main view plus an Advanced view, and every Advanced view contains at least one multiband network to tailor the effect across the frequency spectrum, making it stronger or weaker in bass, mid and high frequencies, with crossover points you define yourself. Whatever your tweaking style, you’ll find something to get your teeth into. It started with a synth Let’s start by loading a boring synth sound…

LONG TERM TEST Behringer RD-8 £230 Does the low price of this ‘analogue 808’ bring long-term value? Si Truss put one to the test CONTACT WHO: Behringer WEB: www.behringer.com KEY FEATURES CATEGORY: 11-voice analogue drum machine modelled on the Roland TR-808. Includes analogue filter, wave designer, individual track outputs, effect return, MIDI in, out and through, analogue triggers and clock sync, USB. Behringer releases tend to elicit a divisive response among the music technology industry. Many of their analogue instruments are inspired by the lineage of classic gear from other brands, usually produced at eye-catchingly low prices and without any involvement from the creators of the original inspiration. As a result, any new Behringer release tends to launch alongside multi-page forum threads debating both the authenticity of the sound, and whether…

Essential Tools For Music Making | Gear Guide HIGH-END ANALOGUE SYNTHS Sequential Prophet-5 £3,000 Full Review: FM374 | The best incarnation and easily adds enough to bring it into 2021. Other options cost less… but they’re not a Prophet-5, are they? UDO Super 6 £2,195 Full Review: FM367 The Super 6 is an impressive machine; even more so for being a first release. Intuitive, super-versatile, unique. Moog Matriarch £1,979 Review: FM355 Very inspiring: it’s well built, has the classic Moog Modular sound and is complex yet intuitive. A future classic! Arturia PolyBrute £2,299 Full Review: FM362 Arturia’s first polysynth is packed with unique features and character. A worthy flagship for the Brute range. Elektron Analog Four MkII £1,279 Review: FM326 An excellent-sounding poly with a very creative sequencer. Reservations regarding…

FILTER Rhodes unveil full Mk8 details The revived brand’s new electric piano blends retro styling with modern design After several weeks of teasers, Rhodes have finally unveiled full images and specifications for their new Mk8 electric piano. The announcement follows the revival of the brand earlier this year, now with Loopmasters boss Matt Pelling as company chair and Rhodes aficionado – and longtime FM contributor – Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman as chief product officer. The Mk8 has also received input from prolific, respected synth designer Alex Hartmann, who has helped shape the Moog One, UDO Super 6 and Arturia Polybrute, among others. The Mk8 has a look and design very much in keeping with the brand’s classic EPs, albeit with some nice modern design touches added to suit the needs of…

Filter | The Future Of Music Ableton release Extended Sounds Pack curated by Modeselektor Ableton’s Extended Sounds is described as an “extensive construction kit”, made up of instruments, drum kits, MIDI clips, presets and effect racks ready to be dropped into your Ableton projects. Curated by German electronic music duo Modeselektor, the pack gives music makers access to a variety of sounds recorded in their studio and created with the musical ethos as their album Extended, released earlier this year. At the core of the pack is more than 2000 “pristinely recorded” samples, which have been run through complex effects chains to produce heavily manipulated results that possess Modeselektor’s distinctively punchy, caustic sound. The Extended Sounds Pack also features demo Live Sets that give music makers an insight into how…

Talking Shop | Regal “Sometimes I start with a melody that is stuck in my head and other times just with a kick” Regal How many 303s does a man need? For Gabriel Cassina, best known under the stage name Regal, the answer is not one, but four. Or one and three clones, that is. Unsurprisingly, there’s an acidic tinge to his hard-headed techno, which has been released on BPitch Control, Figure, and his own imprint, Involve Records. Following the release of his first ever LP, Remember Why You Started, we caught up with the producer and DJ to talk dream gear purchases and smart sidechaining. When did you start making music? “13 or 14 years old, and it was actually thanks to a demo program called Dance eJay that…

Feature | What’s So Special About Analogue? The quick guide to analogue synthesis Getting into analogue synthesis for the first time? Our quick guide will get you up and running in no time! MONOSYNTH/POLYSYNTH Monosynth/Polysynth refers to how many voices a synth has, ie, how many notes/pitches it can generate simultaneously. A monosynth is only capable of generating a single note at any one time. A polysynth can simultaneously produce multiple pitches in accordance with how many voices it offers. This allows it to create a polyphonic output – ie, chords. MODULAR/SEMI-MODULAR Modular/semi-modular are types of synthesiser that can be rerouted by the user. Typical self-contained synthesisers – a Minimoog, for example – are pre-wired, so the connection between its oscillators, filters, amps, etc cannot be changed by the user.…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE Roland SP-404 MKII Long-time fans of Roland’s storied beatmaker may be in for an unexpected treat with the latest model. Leo Maymind gives some background and tips… The announcement of Roland’s new SP-404 MKII sampler took a lot of beatmakers by surprise last month, as there’d been no hint at all that the celebrated beatmachine was about to see a brand new iteration. And what a new iteration it is, a version of the machine that clearly lives up to its MKII nomenclature (unlike previous versions like the 404A and 404SX which added little in the way of new functionality). With the 404 MKII, Roland have kept their promise to ensure a simple, easy-to-pick-up workflow but they’ve added a few key additions to the 404 that really expand…

In The Studio With | Ross From Friends Ross From Friends Felix Clary Weatheralls’ second Ross from Friends album recontextualises his love of nostalgia via the self-made plugin, Thresho. Danny Turner discusses its creation While attention for his sitcom-influenced stage name has been somewhat polarising, Ross from Friends’ Felix Clary Weatherall has embraced the decision and flourished. Within a couple of years of making music, a string of EPs popularised his lo-fi house sound, leading him to be snapped up by Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label in 2018. From that point, a sonic shift occurred based on the producer’s increasingly obsessive attention to detail. His debut album, Family Portrait, was the first to showcase his mind-melting take on tech house, and three years later Tread evolves his sample-based approach utilising Thresho…

Machine Room 204D Dual VCF | Reviews Machine Room 204D Dual VCF £250 Rob Redman takes the Minimoog-inspired 204D for a spin CONTACT WHO: Machine Room WEB: machineroom.com.ua KEY FEATURES Two discreet ladder filters, Self-oscillating; CV, v/oct, in and out for each, Stereo There is a constant hunger for sounds of days gone by. The unmistakable sound of a Minimoog is pretty high up this list and many companies offer their take on the 24dB per octave ladder filter. So, what makes the Machine Room take on it stand out? Firstly, the physicality of the module. It has a distinctly vintage look and feel, with a plain black fascia and silver capped black knobs. The labelling is similarly simple and legible. No wacky graphics to decrypt. It’s also handbuilt rather than…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES Heavyocity – Mosaic Pluck $119 Any Kontakt user who came to it via Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate bundle will be familiar with Heavyocity’s cinematically inclined products, and their inclusion is a good indication of the quality and regard with which they’re held by NI themselves. However, their range covers a lot of bases, and it’s recently been expanded with the latest piece in their Mosaic range – Mosaic Pluck. All the Mosaic products use the same engine and control system based around the combination of three audio channel sources. As you’d expect with any Heavyocity product, this isn’t just a straightforward layering process. So while this instrument’s focus is plucked sounds – and reflected in the underlying samples (taken from both synthesised and recorded sources) – there…

GEAR GUIDE COMPACT ANALOGUE SYNTHS Korg Minilogue £399 Full Review: FM302 Five years on and despite the existence of the XD follow-up, for our money there is still no better bang-for-your-buck analogue deal than Korg’s modern classic 4-voice poly. Behringer TD-3 £95 Say what you want about Behringer and their run of unofficial ‘tributes’, but this little acid box does a convincing 303 impression for less than £100, which is hard to argue with. Korg Minilogue XD £565 Review: FM341 The Minilogue XD bridges the gap between the analogue sounds of the original and modern digital touches of the Prologue. Moog DFAM £510 The compact semi-modulars of Moog’s Mother series are all winners, but this oddball two-oscillator percussion instrument remains of favourite of the range. Dreadbox Typhon £315 This compact…

HARDWARE SEQUENCERS Korg SQ-64 £269 Full Review: FM367 | An intuitive, nostalgic and very musical bit of gear and one that should stand the test of time. Now, where did we park the Trans-Am? Arturia KeyStep Pro £319 Full Review: FM359 For melodic sequencing duties and flexible hardware control, this is one of the best keyboard devices around. Pioneer DJ Toraiz Squid £467 Review: FM351 Pioneer DJ’s Squid opens the door to a world of bespoke sequencing, with features like Groove Bend and speed modulation putting a new spin on your sequencing moves. Novation SL MkIII from £540 Full Review: FM338 Well-designed and versatile. For those who work with both hardware and software, this may be the best studio centrepiece on the market. Arturia BeatStep Pro £196 Review: FM296 The…