Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från Future Music

SCAN TO GET OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER It’s that time of year again – Future Music’s annual Gear of the Year issue. Time for us to revisit and reappraise the best of the hardware, software and studio tools that have graced our studios and test benches over the past 12 months. Head to page 26 to find out what’s come out on top for 2022. Before that though, we’ve got some other winners to reveal. In our 30th anniversary issue, FM389, we revealed our 30 essential gear releases of FM’s lifetime. We also asked you to vote for your top hardware instrument and electronic artist since 1992. It was a close-fought thing on both fronts, but we can now reveal that the greatest instrument release of FM’s lifetime according to FM…

>Released in 2004, reFX’s Vanguard used to be a pretty big deal in the soft synth world, but it eventually started to be outgunned by its rivals, and was discontinued in 2016. However, the plugin's fans will be pleased to see that reFX have now – finally – released version 2. Vanguard remains a threeoscillator synth, but it now boasts a cleaner vector-based UI, 10 new wavetables, two new filter types, a new delay type, new reverb and distortion effects, synced LFOs and more. There are also 136 completely new factory presets, but happily, the synth is also compatible with projects that use Vanguard 1. Load your old songs and the sounds you used before immediately load up, too (that’s the theory, anyway). Vanguard 2 also appears to be more…

Intro “That was [DJ Touché] Theo’s find, as far as the loop. And it’s his cuts on there, too. And, for the beginning bit and the end I think he had some old children’s Star Trek records that he used. Vocally, there was just a perfect little thing we used that referenced us both. So, we used that, going into the Moondog [sample]. I mean, that was pretty cool. And it was just something we, like, always wanted to use. “So, that track came about pretty quickly. I would say it probably took about five minutes. But, it was a good five minutes.” Casino Sans Pareil “Once we had the main loop and the chorus, and then threw under the James Taylor beat, it was like, ‘Okay, this is pretty…

1 DEVIOUS MACHINES INFILTRATOR 2 MAC/PC 1An update to an already fantastic multi-effect (and a free one for v1 owners), Infiltrator 2 takes the modular effect ethos up a few bars, offering 56 effects modules to slot into up to ten available spaces. Outstanding features include extensive modulation and fantastic real-time controls, not to mention a 32-step sequencer for even more evolving sounds. Throw in some incredible filters, time manipulation modules, granular effects and heavy distortion, and this could well be the all-in-one creative toolbox you didn’t know you needed. deviousmachines.com 2 ORCHESTRAL TOOLS HABITAT MAC/PC 2Created by OT and music producer, biologist, conservationist, artist and author Dominik Eulberg, Habitat could be seen as a library of found sound recordings, but it’s way more than that. Eulberg throws a Prophet-5,…

>Elektron’s instrument lineup in recent years has touched on both analogue and digital technologies. In the former camp, the likes of Analog RYTM, Keys and Heat have each taken classic synthesis and effect approaches and housed them in a modern format complete with complex sequencing capabilities. On the digital front, meanwhile, Digitone and Model:Cycles have both put a modern spin on FM synthesis, particularly when it comes to embracing the format’s oft-overlooked appeal for designing drums. Syntakt, then, is almost like a greatest hits of these approaches. It marries sound generators based on RYTM’s analogue percussion synths with expanded versions of those found in Cycles. The result is a wonderfully varied and fun groovebox with its own sonic palette, that hits hard for drum creation, but does a fine line…

>SSL’s original SiX mixer landed in 2019, taking the top-quality analogue channels renowned from the company’s legendary studio consoles and distilling them into a two-channel device aimed squarely at home users. We loved the SiX at the time, raving about its sound and build quality, but it wasn’t without some weak spots. The most significant of these was a lack of any kind of audio interface, which meant that small studio users would still need an additional device to sit between the SiX and a DAW. Three years on, SSL delivered the BiG SiX, a mixer that, as its name makes somewhat obvious, expands on the functionality of the SiX in a number of important ways. Firstly, it adds in that interface, offering 16 channels of audio streaming directly to/from…

01 > The MuRF pairs a bank of ten filters with volume sliders, a choice of 12 patterns, and an envelope knob. The rate can either be free-running, or synced to your host DAW’s tempo. Unfortunately there’s no way to see what the tempo divisions are when the plugin is synced, so you’ll have to rely on the red blinking light to figure this out. 02 > Increasing the Drive knob will overdrive the input of the plugin and get some pleasing grit to your sound. This can be used regardless of whether or not you’re making use of the filter bank. The real fun begins when you start tweaking the filters in real time – these can be assigned to a MIDI controller to emulate the real pedal workflow.…

CONTACT WHO: Arturia WEB: arturia.com KEY FEATURES 6-voice hybrid polysynth (12-voices in paraphonic mode). 22 digital synthesis and processing engines. Analogue filters and VCAs for each voice. 3-slot effects engine. Sequencer and arpeggiator. 37-note ‘slim’ keyboard with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity Launched in 2019, Arturia’s MicroFreak was a bit of an outlier – aproudly digital instrument arriving at the end of a decade dominated by affordable analogue. The same can’t be said about the MiniFreak. Between the likes of Korg’s Wavestate, Opsix and Modwave, Modal’s Cobalt and Argon synths, and Elektron’s Digitone, we’re arguably in the midst of a new golden age of digital hardware synths. Whereas MicroFreak undercut much of the competition with its sub £300 price, the Mini’s price sees it going head-to-head with all the instruments mentioned…

CONTACT WHO: Roland KEY FEATURES Three Roland synth engines, sampling, clip-based sequencing with instant pattern recording and triggering, touchscreen, multiple realtime controllers, 16 pads, mic input and onboard vocoder, 4x32 USB audio interface and native integration with Logic Pro, MainStage, and Ableton Live, support for Model Expansions, Sound Packs, Sample Packs and more from Roland Cloud Released in 2019, Roland’s latest generation Fantom keyboards are excellent workstations, but they’re big, heavy (particularly the 88-key model) and pricey. As such, there’s definitely a gap in the market for a ‘budget’ Fantom range that offers similar tech but at a lower price point and in a more compact form factor. Fantom-0 is that range; comprising 61-, 76- and 88-note models, the keyboards it contains are designed to be used in your studio…

>Peeper-popping sounds for proggy house hunters looking for the perfect beat. It’s 518 grooved up loops and 185 heavy hits, crafted from sampled synths and serious drum machines. And each magnetic melody and arresting rhythm in this 1.42GB package will have you slackjawed as you gawp and gander at the quality that’s on offer. High-gloss textures and tones come at you head on, as the tech-flecked drums burrow into your frontal lobes, while all the mesmeric bass loops, pads and chords lay down a thick and foggy funk you’ll be gagging to wade through. Great for adding some weight to your deep dancefloor fodder. And, after a sly upgrade to the Deluxe version, you can unlock the MIDI, too. It’s an aye from us. Roy Spencer audiotent.com VERDICT 9.0…

Kelly Lee Owens LP.8 Smalltown Supersound For her third album, the Welsh producer imagines how her sound might have evolved by album number eight (hence the title). The result is a rugged, sparse and often beautiful album of forward-thinking dance music. Daphni Cherry Jiaolong Dan Snaith – aka Caribou – returns to his clubfocused alias for an album of stripped back synth jams and percussion workouts. Cherry is a great example of why, when it comes to dance music, sometimes it’s best not to overthink things. Beyoncé Renaissance Parkwood The biggest pop musician on the planet channels vintage house and techno with the help of producers like Honey Dijon and a bucketload of classic samples – we’re here for it! Soichi Terada, Asakusa Light Rush Hour The noted Japanese video…

> Considered by many to be the greatest synth of all time, the original Minimoog Model D was released in 1970. It remained on sale for just over a decade, before production ceased in 1981. Capitalising on the analogue revival, Moog reissued the Model D in 2016, but took it off the market in 2017 due to a shortage of parts. Now, five years later, it’s back, looking as lovely as ever. We’re assured that this new version has the same sound engine and signal path as the original, while also retaining the modifications that were made for the 2016 reissue. IT’S VERY MUCH THE MINIMOOG MODEL D THAT SO MANY OF US KNOW AND LOVE These include a dedicated analogue LFO with triangle and square waveshapes, a Fatar keybed…

> Sonicware have added another product to the Liven range of grooveboxes: the Lofi-12 is designed to emulate the sound of old-school samplers. Promising to “turn everything lo-fi”, this has a 16-bit/12kHz/24kHz sampling engine and a 12-bit sampler mode that’s inspired by ’80s and ’90s hardware such as the Akai SP-1200. So, if you’re after that crunchy vintage sampler sound, you should be covered. Each of the 128 sample slots offers up to four seconds of mono sampling at 12kHz or two seconds at 24kHz. You can trim start and end points, adjust the pitch, reverse the playback, filter, use LFO modulation and more. Samples are automatically mapped to the Liven Lofi-12’s keyboard so that they can be played at different pitches. You also get 80 suitably gritty lo-fi sounds…

>Cast your mind back a couple of years and you may recall the Aodyo Anyma Phi, a three-oscillator monophonic desktop synth that put particular focus on its physical modelling capabilities. Now the same technology has been used to power the Anyma Omega, a 16-voice polyphonic, four-part multitimbral synth that’s available in both desktop and keyboard flavours. As you may be aware, physical modelling synths use complex mathematical algorithms to emulate not only the sounds of acoustic instruments, but the way they’re actually played. Each of the Anyma Omega’s three oscillators can use either a physical model, a virtual analogue model, a digital model, a noise source or an external input. You can then treat each voice with up to five effects, choosing from the likes of resonators, filters, EQ, dynamics,…

Rickers and Ted Krisko are Ataxia, an electronic duo serving up a raw and unfiltered take on dance music that’s inspired by formative years spent in hardcore and punk bands. The electrifying amalgam of house, techno, breakbeat and rave found on their latest release, Out Of Step, is produced using a formidable arsenal of analogue machines, pedals and outboard gear, along with a few strategically deployed stock plugins from their DAW of choice, Ableton Live. We caught up with the pair to delve into their creative process. When did you start making music? Ted: “Guitar in the early ’90s was my initial swan dive into all the ruckus. Punk was the first route that had the most immediate gratification. Three chords, sometimes less, sometimes none. Early staples were Fugazi, Nirvana,…

>We’re in the midst of a cost of living crisis, meaning that most of us are looking to make whatever we have to spend on our music making stretch as far as possible. While it’s undeniably exciting shelling out on something new for your studio, it’s hard to beat that feeling when something you already own receives some major new features for free. While ‘point release’ and ‘firmware update’ aren’t typically phrases that spark excitement, at their best these can breathe new life into existing products with fresh sounds and transformative new features. So what product’s users have done best out of 2022’s freebies? Novation have long been a brand that know how to keep a product alive with regular updates. The original Circuit groovebox, for example, evolved considerably over…

>There has been less of an established theme in Eurorack 2022, unlike 2021’s race for granular superiority, but there have been key moments. Massive shimmering reverbs have continued to be a source of much enjoyment and a few new modules have surfaced, but really 2022 has been a year of making more utilitarian modules a bit special by adding extra features. Nowhere is this more obvious than the rise of Knobula, who have released two astonishing modules that really are far more than the sum of their parts. We’ve also seen more in the way of new methods of interacting with our modular systems, be it by light probes, or outboard gear. Mod and pitch wheels on controller keyboards are great but they have the clear limit of how many…

>Akai’s MPC range has taken a multitude of forms over the years. The early, sample-based production stations gradually become more complex, giving way to controller/software combos that mimicked NI’s Maschine range, which were eventually replaced once again by standalone units in the form of the excellent MPC Live, X and One. Something we’d never seen until 2022, however, was an MPC with a keyboard attached. The MPC Key is more than just a playable sampler though. Like its siblings in the current lineup, this latest instrument can run a near fully-featured version of the MPC 2.0 software on its internal CPU, giving access to both sample recording and sequencing, an expandable array of virtual instruments, a multitude of effects and DAW level sequencing and editing. If you’re a player looking…

01 > For this walkthrough, we’re going to be adding delay to a simple ii – V– Ichord progression in the key of C at 100bpm (Dm7 – G7 -–Cmaj7). This can obviously work on a variety of melodic material, including samples, synth pads, keyboard chord progressions, but here we are using the Glass High Strings Pad in Ableton’s Analog instrument. 02 > Without the delay, the part sounds fairly lifeless. Put the MF-104S on the track, and let’s start adding a bit of movement to the sound by having the LFO change the time of the delay. To do this, open up the CV panel by either clicking the jacks near the top of the plugin UI, or the CV button at the top-right of the window. 03 >…

WHAT IS IT? Also known as gain structure, the process of matching the output level of one piece of equipment or software to the input of the next. Important to avoid distortion, maximise signal-tonoise ratio and achieve the best sound, this is usually a question of compromise and finding a balance between all stages of the signal chain. NEED TO KNOW: Four considerations for a modern recording chain MIC PLACEMENT 1 If you’re recording using a mic, the first step is microphone placement. Largely determined by the instrument you are recording and the type of mic you have, it has an impact on the signal level. If we’re dealing with a particularly loud source or close mic placement, the mic signal can easily be too hot for the preamp. PREAMPS…

Korg DrumLogue (again…) 12 months on, Korg’s long awaited hybrid beatmaker is still yet to hit shelves. It’s nearly here though – we actually have one in our hands, and you can expect a full review next issue. Sequential Trigon-6 The final instrument to be designed by the sadly departed Dave Smith looks like a typically rich and well-equipped analogue poly. We can’t wait to give it a try. Sonicware Liven LoFi-12 Another vintage inspired instrument is about to arrive as part of Sonicware’s retro-minded Liven range. LoFi-12 aims to replicate the gorgeous crunch of ’80s and ’90s samplers. Serato Stems DJ with the individual elements of fully mixed tracks in Serato – we’ve tried the Beta and we’re impressed with how well it all works. It’ll land in Serato…

> When he died earlier this year, Sequential’s Dave Smith was mourned both in the synth community and beyond. However, it turns out he had one final design to share with us: the Trigon-6. “Dave Smith was very excited about the Trigon-6 and we believe it continues his legacy as a synth creator,” says Sequential CEO David Gibbons. They have also confirmed that this was the last synth that Smith had contributed to. The six-voice synth offers three newly-designed discrete voltagecontrolled oscillators per voice, and simultaneously selectable waveshapes (triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth and variable-width pulse), plus ​a two-/ four-pole ladder filter design with feedback and drive, and analogue voltage-controlled amplifiers. Sequential make no secret of the fact that the Trigon-6 takes inspiration from the Prophet-6 and OB-6, two of its…

> Korg have added microKorg, Electribe and Kaoss Pad plugins to their synth-packed software collection. This ensures that version 4 of the eye-catching bundle – which already included emulations of (among others) Korg’s M1, Wavestation, Mono/Poly, Polysix, ARP Odyssey, Triton, Prophecy and miniKorg 700s synths – could well be the most comprehensive yet, containing a total of 11 synths, two effect processors and one drum machine. Version 4 has its sights set on the ’90s and ’00s, with 2002’s microKorg being the most notable addition. The plugin emulates the “sound, behaviour and look” of the original, including its analogue modelling oscillator, filter and amp sections. The effects section, arpeggiator and – of course – the vocoder are here, too, though the iconic gooseneck microphone doesn’t come included. The Electribe-R is…

>When Waldorf launched their Streichfett hardware string synth in 2014, they said that its general vibe would be along the lines of "how adult movies sounded thirty years ago". This being the case, it stands to reason that the new plugin version resides in a similarly raunchy sonic wheelhouse. The interface on this software port mirrors the hardware pretty closely. Designed to emulate the classic string machines of the ’70s and ’80s, Streichfett offers a dual sound engine comprising a polyphonic string section and an eight-voice solo section. You can add movement to the string section with the ensemble effect, while other processors include adjustable phaser and reverb. There’s also an animate effect that can be used to modulate the strings’ registration, opening up additional sound morphing possibilities. Although the…

>The modern synth market has quite an obsession with the past. Between a seemingly endless carousel of reissues, clones and emulations, with the fetishisation of analogue technology over digital advances, it often feels like the bulk of new releases are aimed at revisiting some bygone heyday of synth design. For something as forward-thinking as making electronic music, the gear we use is often anything but. In 2022, however, it feels like that might be beginning to change a little. It’s still true that several of our favourite synth releases from this year have ties to some vintage instrument or other, but it’s becoming increasingly common that even the more retro-minded instruments are aiming to put a modern spin on their classic sounds. Perhaps we’ve reached the point where access to…

>Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos were the key buzzwords for software at the start of 2022, and sure enough, Logic’s 10.7 update came packed with plenty of immersive options, and all implemented with the ease that only Apple can muster. But as to the future of Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos, there are probably as many producers currently flying the flag for it as there are those lowering it. In terms of orchestral music production, the big guns of Spitfire Audio, EastWest, Heavyocity and Orchestral Tools have already released just about every kind of title you can imagine, so what was left for 2022? Spitfire took more maudlin and ambient paths with titles like Heirloom and Resonate, while OT travelled organic and atmospheric roads with Habitat and Drones. Heavyocity simply destroyed the…

>Despite being a relatively young company, Polish outfit Polyend have now firmly established themselves as a brand who create gear that sits a little outside the mainstream. In the Eurorack realm, that has involved tackling concepts like preset saving and portability – neither things we tend to think of associated with modular rigs. In terms of standalone hardware, Polyend’s most significant release before this year was 2020’s Tracker, a hardware sampler that took its basic ideas from Amiga-style tracker applications like Renoise. It’s a concept that few would have imagined being a success, but Polyend pulled it off with aplomb, creating something that appealed to die-hard tracker heads and modern music makers alike. Their latest hardware instrument, Play, isn’t quite so esoteric, but still does things a little differently to…

>Whilst UVI’s extensive instrument library is filled with many classic synths, they have always balanced this with a strong set of acoustic and electric sources. A few months back we looked at ‘Soul Drums’ and it impressed in the way it could move between authentic vintage drums and those with a more contemporary retro-tinged vibe. ‘Soul Bass’ is the latest of their releases to embrace this approach, and once again it combines a large collection of samples from a ‘real’ source alongside some more synthetic sounds. The core instrument here is a 1960 Fender Jazz Bass recorded with finger bridge, finger neck, finger muted, pick, and pick muted configurations alongside additional playing techniques like hammer, pull off, ghost, slide and harmonic. As you’ll find with other UVI soundware the instrument…

> Clipping is a time-honoured staple of music production. For most of its life it was unwanted – the distortion caused by a signal whose level was too high for a given piece of gear. These days, clippers and soft clippers serve a lot like brickwall limiters, stopping a signal from going over a certain threshold. The effect is useful in mastering to achieve loudness, but also tends to introduce saturation, especially when pushed hard. Signum Audio’s Skye Clipper takes on clipping with seven modes of operation and boasts proprietary tech to reduce aliasing artefacts, aiming for a smoother clipping effect to help push your signal harder and hotter. Get a free trial version at signumaudio.com. TRANSFER FUNCTIONS Dynamics devices often contain a transfer function view. This is a representation…

FM BELLS Do you want that classic FM bell sound? Get started by setting up two operators, both sine waves, using the second to modulate the first. Offset the second operator [Pigments Osc 3 in our example] such that its ratio is around 0.3 (or about -20/-21 semitones). Increase the modulation amount until you hear a bell-like ‘gong’, then program a suitable amplitude envelope. Add chorus and reverb for further effect, and then play the patch in the upper octaves for a glassy DX7-esque bell tone. RING MOD Synths often feature a ring modulation control, which works by multiplying the signal with another. This can create weird digital sounds or even strange, bell-like tones. This can be great in pads if it’s a peroscillator control, as linking a second or…