Innehållsförteckning för June 2016 från Future Music

WELCOME The Perfect Playlist It’s no secret that we love a good synthesizer here at FM. Sure, we’re also partial to a decent drum machine or a quality sampler too, and we can easily get hot under the collar about a well-spec’d DAW, but it’s mostly all about the synths. From gritty analogue monosynths to complex digital ambience machines – we’re a bunch of self-certified synth nerds. And what do nerds do with things they love? They make lists about them of course! There is, however, much more to our bumper-sized cover feature than just arbitrary list making. In fact, the crux of this issue is all about the tutorials. We’re using our favourite hardware and software synths as a jumping-off point to explore all sorts of synthesis and sound…

Dave’s new delay While the most surprising bit of recent news from the Dave Smith camp remains his collaboration with Pioneer DJ (see over the page), DSi also had a little announcement of their own on display at Superbooth. The forthcoming DMS 03 Feedback Module is the latest DSi component to get the Eurorack treatment, this time taking the excellent ‘tunable’ delay found on the Pro-2 and Prophet-12. It also features a resonant four-pole filter and a noise circuit with its own two-stage envelope. The delay is just in the prototype stage at the moment, with no word on price or release yet, but we’d expect an official announcement in the next couple of months.…

The beat goes on Nord have unleashed two new versions of their little red beat box, the Nord Drum 3 and Nord Drum 3P. The main new feature for this third generation is the introduction of global Stereo Reverb and Delay effects. There’s a new Sound Select feature too, which lets you browse a wide selection of drum sounds, assigned to each pad individually and which are easily replaced with a whole host of new presets. If you’re looking for an integrated pad and drum machine option, then the Swedish firm have answered your prayers with the addition of the Nord Drum 3P, an ultra-compact machine that features six responsive pads and an external kick input, while retaining all the features of the Nord Drum 3. Both versions will also…

Pantha Du Prince The Triad Rough Trade German Techno visionary Hendrik Weber returns with the first Pantha Du Prince album in six years with The Triad. The record, which sees Weber collaborate with guitarist Scott Mou and drummer Bendik Hovik Kjeldsberg, is a soulful exploration of contemporary electronic music. Constructed largely with analogue equipment and forged during long jamming sessions, the album has an organic and easy-going flow. Densely layered, The Triad draws the listener into its rich textures and lush atmospheres. Moving between melodic, chiming compositions and hypnotically pulsating House and Techno, Weber creates a constantly evolving and utterly unpredictable soundscape. Its lighter, dreamy aesthetic, conjured through gauzy synths, warm pads, cushioned percussion and lilting electronics, creates an intelligent, almost cinematic feel to the record, while its intoxicating grooves…

20 GREATEST SYNTHS IN THE WORLD [AND HOW TO USE THEM] In hardware and software, synthesis has never been so powerful, affordable and accessible. Let’s get hands-on with the best of the best… Between the welcome rise of affordable analogue, the ever advancing power of personal computers and the current health of the hardware market, there’s arguably never been a better time to roll up your sleeves and dive into the realms of advanced synthesis and electronic sound design. To help you along, we’ve rounded up the best of the best from the contemporary synth market. Over the pages that follow you’ll find the FM team’s 20 favourite currently available synthesizers. We’ve included both hardware and software, from budget-friendly instruments to high-end power synths. Our only qualifying rule is that…

Synthesized Sound Effects With The Minilogue Although the Minilogue is capable of a wide range of sounds, the modulation options make it very easy to create great FX Creating simple risers or fall effects can be done manually – adjusting pitch or filter cutoff in real time – but something more interesting can only be achieved with the use of envelopes and LFOs. The Minilogue is surprisingly flexible in this department. The starting point is to use the VCO2 Modulation section. The Pitch EG Int (Pitch Envelope Generator Intensity) knob determines the degree to which VCO 2’s pitch will be controlled by the secondary Envelope Generator (most often used to modulate the Filter Cutoff). So this is an unusual case where the second VCO takes the lead. The other important…

Monark & Razor As Reaktor offers limitless possibilities for instrument creation, it’s no wonder that an enormous number of pre-made synths and effects have accumulated over the past decade. In fact, you never need to touch a virtual patch cable to reap the countless benefits of the Reaktor environment, as it’s now the container for some of the best software synths available in the world today. Whether you’re after ultra-realistic analogue modelling or futuristic synthesis, Reaktor has it all. An example of the former is Monark, a jaw-droppingly realistic Minimoog emulation which NI call “the holy grail of analogue modelling”; whereas, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Razor packages advanced additive synthesis technology within an inspiringly user-friendly interface. As we’re huge fans of both these synths, it seems like…

Know your synthesis types Can’t tell your additive from FM? Take our super-quick crash course... Subtractive is the most common form of synthesis and is the basis for most ‘classic’ analogue synthesizers. This works by taking a sound from an oscillator and chipping away at it using a variety of shaping tools such as filters and envelope controlled amplifiers; by doing so, the final tone is shaped like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble. Additive synthesis, meanwhile, takes the opposite approach – layering multiple simple sine wave oscillators (partials) – or overtones – on top of each other at various levels and frequencies in order to build up a sound, like a builder constructing a house from multiple bricks. Frequency modulation (FM) synthesis is a digital process…

Making Thick And Punchy Bass The Minitaur/Taurus line are well-renowned bass monsters. Here’s how to make bass sounds that growl and punch hard! Few synths can touch the Minitaur’s low-end prowess but what’s the best way to get a foolproof bass sound? Well, firstly it depends on what kind of sound you’re after. If you want a more acidic/303-ish bass, then choose a single saw and experiment with glide and resonance; also listen for how the oscillator level going into the mixer affects the filter too – the hotter the level the more mixer and filter drive which can add more harmonic interest and growl. The Minitaur’s filter is great as you hardly lose any low-end when boosting the resonance so, effectively, you can use the resonance like an EQ…

The Korg MS-20 As an older design of synth, Korg’s iconic MS-20 (in its original form and the various reissues) doesn’t feature the same concessions to the modern Eurorack format. It’s still great for connecting up to CV sequencers and modulators, but you’ll probably need to pick up a V/Oct to V/Hz converter if you want it to communicate melodically with more modern CV gear (such as the Mother-32). Semi-modular designs aren’t all about CV, however, and one of the MS-20’s best tricks is its talent for processing and incorporating external audio via its External Signal Processor. This allows an audio signal to be shaped and manipulated using the synth’s filters, driven through its notoriously gritty innards and blended with the MS-20’s oscillators. Signal Processing With The MS-20 The MS-20’s…

Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough… Bass! Minimoog bass is behind many of Michael Jackson’s hits – here’s how to create that famous sound on the Voyager… P.Y.T., Man In The Mirror , Working Day And Night and Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough are just a few of Michael Jackson’s hits that feature the Minimoog on bass. As the Voyager is the Mini’s most direct ancestor, we thought this would be a great place to show you how to get in the ballpark of the kind of sound used on these famous recordings. We say ballpark because on many of the tunes it was in fact two modified Minimoogs triggered together but we can still get a basic patch going…

The Field Axel Willner has built a career on looping without ever repeating himself. Si Truss catches up with him in Berlin to talk sampling, modular and new LP, The Follower © Will Ireland At the heart of Swedish producer Axel Willner’s music as The Field lies a formula of repetition and subtle variation. His sprawling, loop-driven tracks are like sonic versions of a sleight of hand magic trick: seemingly stuck in a cycle of static repetition, they delicately build and unfold until the mood has shifted completely without the listener noticing the point of change. A parallel can be drawn with the path of The Field’s career as a whole. On the surface, it appears little has changed over his run of LPs for influential German label Kompakt, with…

Carl Cox Hamish Mackintosh talks tech, Techno and turntables with one of UK electronic music’s bona fide legends, Carl Cox Longevity is something of a rare bird in the frenetic, often transient world of Dance music. Rarer still is to maintain a career (not to mention a well-honed, cutting-edge one) over some 30 years in the clubs and dancefloors of the worldwide electronic music fraternity. Carl Cox is one of the select few who not only have managed to last the distance but continue to innovate musically while constantly seeking new electronic avenues to explore. DJ, producer, remixer par excellence, Carl Cox has been at the vanguard of the UK’s House and Techno movement pretty much since he burst unto it in the early 1980s. With a record label…

Soulsby Atmegatron Odytron Special Edition | £225 Soulsby introduce a new colour to the Atmegatron stable. Bruce Aisher gets his head around this analogue-style 8-bit digital synth INCLUDES AUDIOl vault.futuremusic.co.uk WHAT IS IT? A special edition variant of the original Atmegatron reprogrammable 8-bit monophonic MIDI synthesizer CONTACT Who: Soulsby Synthesizers Tel: +44 7815 896371 Web: soulsbysynths.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Easier to use than the original Atmegatron 2 It has its own sound. 3 Reprogrammable synth architecture SPECS Synthesizer: 2 oscillators – duophonic, 2 low-pass filter algorithms + bypass + high-pass filter, LFO + ADSR and AR envelope Frequency and filter modulation: PWM + Wave sync, Ring mod and Noise Portamento, 16 memory patches I/Os: 1/4” mono jack, MIDI input and output, 3.5mm stereo headphones Package includes 32 page Atmegatron…

EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH… Joe Rossitter musician, producer One of the contributors to our massive cover feature, D ‘n’ B producer and computer music expert Joe knows his stuff when it comes to powerful plug-ins and cutting-edge synth techniques. See him delve into Diva, Reaktor, Serum and more. Bruce Aisher musician, producer Another of our top synth contributors for this issue, Bruce has been flexing the sonic muscles of both modern analogue beasts – in the shape of the Minilogue, MicroBrute and more – and the immense digital power of Omnisphere. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman musician, producer If there’s anything that our resident man on ’boards doesn’t know about synthesizers, it’s probably not worth knowing. Watch him delve into the sound engines of Moogs, Prophets and more with this issue’s bumper…

Chromeo Fancy Footwork Vice, 2007 When Fancy Footwork dropped, it represented the new wave of the Chromeo crusade. They’d had success with their debut, She’s In Control, yes, but now Patrick Gemayel and David Macklovitch had really begun to hit their stride in the studio. The magic on the wax comes from the effortless blend of the old and new. Over the course of its 11 tracks they resurrect the slept on grooves of ’80s Minneapolis Space Funk, and seamlessly fuse them with the harder electronic beats people like Justice and the DFA roster were carving out at that time. The results were unlike anything else on the record shelves. “We felt like we were the only people drawing influence from that era and bringing it up to date,” says…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… The Time The Time Morris Day and the posse are the mad note, and their Prince-produced debut album is a high point in the Minneapolis Funk sound Chromeo were tapping into. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Get It Up, Girl, After Hi School LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem James Murphy is the man. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed in the Chromeo camp who had this DFA classic on heavy rotation while making Fancy Footwork . ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, Disco Infiltrator, Thrills Mazarati Mazarati You can hear that Chromeo swagger in this Funk Rock classic. Again, Prince had his paisley paws all over this self-titled debut. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: 100 MPH, Players’ Ball,…

Kate Simko & London Electronic Orchestra The Vinyl Factory Chicago born DJ and producer Kate Simko and her London Electronic Orchestra bring an innovative concoction of orchestral soundscapes and electronic textures on their debut LP. Spearheaded by acclaimed DJ and producer Simko, who is also a classically trained pianist, the seven-piece outfit explore a highly atmospheric and constantly evolving soundscape. Driven by Simko’s longstanding love of piano and Jazz music but then projected through her club gaze, the album has a free-flowing, almost improvisational spirit. Violin, harp, cello, and bass work in perfect harmony with fluid, analogue basslines, classic synths and drum machines to create this highly flexible and dexterous palette. The orchestral instruments allow the album to inject colours, tones and hues that would be impossible if just simply…

Arturia MicroBrute Arturia’s origins were firmly in the software realm, but 2012’s arrival of the MiniBrute changed things completely. They seem to be on a roll, as attested by the recent announcement of the monstrous MatrixBrute. At the other end of the spectrum is the diminutive MicroBrute. This pint-sized synth loses some of the hard-wired modulation capabilities of the Mini, but gains a patchable Mod Matrix panel. This opens six mod sources to more complex internal (and external) control. Sadly, Arturia saw fit to drop the Noise source on the Micro, thereby limiting it as an FX or all-round analogue drum creator, but you do get four parallel waveshape generators. Strictly speaking, despite the assorted mixable waveforms – and though one is a subharmonic/ overtone source – this is broadly…

Diva’s Feedback And HPF Section Each of Diva’s modules can be mixed and matched at will, and the centre module plays a big part in the resulting sound’s aggression and character Diva allows you to easily flip between different VCO, VCF and envelope modules, each of which emulates various classic hardware synth designs. Want to feed Moog-style oscillators into a Juno filter? No problem! How you combine these modules is up to you: the sonic differences vary from subtle to obvious, so we suggest you sit down with the manual and experiment for yourself. Here we’ll take a quick look at the centre Feedback/HPF module, which sits between the VCO and VCF. A particularly interesting parameter is the Feedback module, which emulates the classic Minimoog trick of feeding the post-filter…

Making Wide Pads The Prophet-6 excels at wide and lush pad sounds and they’re surprisingly easy to create. Here’s how… Using Pan Spread is key to getting wide sounds on the P6 and, as it’s built into the hardware, there’s no need for widening post-recording. With most analogue synth hardware, it usually takes post-recording processing with a stereo widener to get a similarly wide image and, notably, most vintage synths didn’t have voice panning like the Prophet-6 (excluding Tom Oberheim’s legendary Four-Voice). Surprisingly, several flagship vintage polysynths only had mono outputs (our Memorymoog+) and, although the Jupiter-8 has several audio outputs (upper, lower, mix), you still have to pan those outputs externally to get a wider stereo image. Using today’s soft synths it’s easy to find a plethora of wide,…

Pulse 2 Paraphonic Sounds Here, we show you how to make an eight-voice paraphonic sound… > First off, scroll to one of the pre-initialised patches (scroll to around patch 400). You’ll hear a basic patch with just LFO pitch modulation on the mod wheel from your controller. This gives a clean slate to work from. > Now adjust the pulse width to around 60-80% until you get a medium thickness wave along the lines of a String Ensemble without the ensemble effect on. It’s a fairly reedy tone that you’re after. Next, let’s add modulation to bring the sound to life. > Now tweak the LFO wave and speed so it gives a nice shimmery ensemble/vibrato effect – a triangle wave at a speed of around 60 sounds good. Adjust…

Crash course Which type and what to use it for… Subtractive Synthesis > Classic ‘analogue’ style synth sounds. Think resonant leads, warm pads sounds and dense basses. If you want to emulate a vintage synth sound, it’s likely you’ll want a subtractive synth. Additive Synthesis > Additive is great for tonally complex sounds with a good mixture of harmonic and inharmonic content. By modulating and controlling individual partials it’s possible to get some very complex sonic movement going too. Frequency Modulation > The process behind FM is great at creating sounds with complex ‘attack’ elements, so it’s great for percussive tones, mallets and plucks. Its often metallic, glassy quality is perfect for dark basses, electric pianos and uniquely ‘digital’ sounding ambience. Wavetable and Granular Synthesis > Sample-based synthesis techniques are…

Kick Design In FM8 Put off buying that cripplingly expensive TR-808 for a bit longer by making your own crusty 808 kick in FM8 As we mentioned earlier, lots of producers make their own drums in FM8, and it’s easy to see why with the amount of flexibility the synth offers. While you probably won’t be making a lifelike snare any time soon, FM8 is excellent for synthesizing electronic drum sounds like kicks, snares and hi-hats due to its noise generator, razor-sharp envelopes and the ability to set the pitch of each operator in hertz by setting Ratio to 0 before dialling in the offset to taste. For example, this gives us the ability to recreate the fundamental and upper harmonics of a snare in a controlled manner using ADSR…

Making Dirty Bass The Oddy is a killer dirty bass machine. Here’s some insight into that famous bottom-end… During the 1970s it was all about two monosynths: Moog’s Minimoog vs the ARP Odyssey. Some preferred the Mini, some preferred the ARP but they are both now regarded as vintage classics and both were used in equal measure by major touring/recording artists for bass and lead sounds. Perhaps the Oddy’s most famous bass sound is on Herbie Hancock’s 1973 Jazz/Funk crossover track Chameleon and you can find a full bass recreation here: http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/ how-to-recreate-the-chameleon-bass-sound-on-the-korg-arpodyssey-620055 . For this walkthrough we’re going to show you a general approach to making bass sounds on the Oddy, so you can then go off and create your…

Creating Wavetables Turn the tables on the usual analogue-inspired oscillators by creating your own custom wavetables from scratch. Let’s see how… As well as boasting an epic amount of different wavetables out of the box, Serum offers scope to create wavetables from scratch in a number of different ways – so let’s explore the wavetable editor in more detail. We can create a wavetable by entering a mathematical formula or, if you fancy unleashing your artistic side, it’s possible to draw a waveform from scratch. Serum also offers tools to smoothly blend between a wavetable’s individual frames in the editor’s Morph menu by using crossfading or spectral morphing, giving control over the smoothness of transition between frames. The other option for creating a wavetable is to import a WAV audio…

Genetic Synthesis With Synplant Grow your own unusual sounds with Synplant’s esoteric synthesis methods Synthesis in Synplant begins within the centre Bulb, which is divided into the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Inside sits a Seed. Click and drag inside the Bulb to cause a Branch to grow outwards from the Seed on a particular note. The further you drag a Branch, the more the sound’s timbre changes; and you can grow different Branches for each of the 12 notes, meaning that each note will have a different character. Once you’re happy with the sound of one Branch, click the Seed to apply those settings to all 12 notes. The sliders around the edge of the Bulb give quick access to synth-altering features. Atonality defines whether your sound will…

Combining The Engines Combining the engines is where the fun begins… Want a digital EP with an analogue bass, plus strings? Here’s how… We’ve always lusted after a synth that has a great sounding analogue poly section and a digital section for bread and butter sounds/layers that can also split/layer/combine those sounds, thus allowing us to take one board on a gig and cover synth bass in our left hand over two-three octaves, plus an electric piano with FX, layered with a pad or strings in the right hand. The JD-XA is the first board that has allowed us to do this and it’s great having so much power in one box. Setting up complex patches is surprisingly straightforward on the XA and in the following walkthrough, we’ll show you…

Advanced Keytracking In Massive The synth’s Keytracking Oscillator and Keytracking Filter pages are undoubtedly powerful, but often overlooked… Instead of looking at Massive’s well-documented sound-creating options, this is the ideal opportunity to discuss one of its lesser-known features. The majority of synths allow you to modulate various parameters in relation to incoming MIDI notes in a linear fashion – for example, a filter can be told to gradually open as higher notes are pressed – but Massive takes this concept much further, allowing you to define exactly how each oscillator’s pitch and filter’s frequency reacts to a particular MIDI note by drawing in breakpoint envelopes across a keyboard display. To demonstrate, we’ve created a two-oscillator square bass/lead part that’s being triggered by a MIDI riff spanning various notes and octaves.…

INCLUDES VIDEO Matador The Enemy feat. Felix Da Housecat Rukus, 2016 © Joe Branston Irish Techno maven Matador, aka Gavin Lynch, has made a name for himself with releases on Richie Hawtin’s Minus and Harthouse Digital. For the debut of his new label Rukus he teamed up with Dance music legend Felix Da Housecat to create a slice of sinister, chugging minimal Techno, The Enemy. We caught up with Gavin in his Dublin studio… “The initial stages of The Enemy came together quite quickly,” he begins. “The first thing I work on is the kick drum, for timing and pitch – it’s something that I think is left by the wayside in a lot of Dance music, paying attention to the tuning of drums… people are hammering the bassline with…

INCLUDES VIDEO Total Tone Control With great tonal range comes great sonic power! So let’s make the most of it The best way to get started with a module like the Loquelic Iteritas is to create a simple pitch sequence, patch it in to control the oscillator and just get to turning knobs and flipping switches. You’ll start to find certain knob turns (or combinations of) that you like and that’s where we’d start adding in CV to manually modulate the parameters. The perfect combination for us is slow and smooth modulation sources such as a sine wave LFO and then mixing in stepped modulation from a separate modulation sequence or sample and hold unit. The next step for us is then adding envelopes to the wavefolder triggered by accents…

Sequence And Sync The Volca FM has a 16 slot sequence memory, allowing you to save single bar sequences complete with Motion Sequence and patch info. Sequence chaining allows these to be linked together into a longer arrangement of up to 16 sequences. Like its siblings, the FM features Active Step mode that can be used to change the number of steps in a sequence on the fly. The new Warp Active Step feature will stretch out a shortened sequence to the length of a 16 step one, allowing the creation of interesting rhythms. As with the whole range, the FM has a MIDI input and 3.5mm jack sync in and out for connection to other Volcas or pulse based devices like Teenage Engineering’s POs. The FM has another, less…

The Atmegatron Family The Odytron, despite its different paintwork, is the same as the original Atmegatron inside. This ‘standard’ version, though only having a single oscillator, uses a more elaborate Wavetable PWM Synthesis audio engine. Add 15 filter types, a phaser, bitcrusher and distortion to the MIDI-syncable LFO and arpeggiator and you have a recipe for chiptunestyle madness. Another benefit is the additional software which provides MIDI-based patch editing and custom wavetable creation. Duotron, in broad terms at least, is a duel oscillator Atmegatron. Soulsby suggest though that it should be considered as an “alternative rather than upgrade to the Atmegatron”. Atcyclotron uses simple wavetable cycling as the sound source. There are four oscillators, each having a single-cycle waveshape. These are then moved between at a rate determined by the…

ADVICE Should I buy an iPad Air 2 or a 9.7-inch iPad Pro? > While it came as no surprise to most Apple watchers that the company launched a new flagship ‘normal sized’ iPad at its March event, what did come as a slight shock is that it carries the iPad Pro moniker. It turns out that, in Apple’s eyes, a tablet doesn’t need to have a massive screen to be considered ‘Pro’ – it just needs some kick-ass specs. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro has those alright: it carries Apple’s latest A9X chip and comes with 2GB of RAM. That means that it’ll easily outperform the A8X-toting iPad Air 2, and will be as future-proof as you can get. There are other benefits, too, but this is the key consideration…

Bastl unveil three new modules Bastl brought three new modules to Superbooth, named Dynamo, Tromsø and Hendrikson. Dynamo is billed as a dynamics analyser and fake thru-zero modulator that combines an envelope follower and a comparator. Tromsø, meanwhile, brings together three modules: VCO, Comparator and Sample & Hold. Finally, Hendrikson is a guitar/instrument amplifier and an interface for external effects processors such as stomp boxes. As is the Czech brand’s way, all three were being demoed on possibly the most unique and adventurous booth of the show, which saw a completely automated Eurorack system pluck, tune and thump notes out of a beaten up electric guitar. All the new modules will be shipping in June priced at 109 euros each. Find out more on the Bastl Instruments website.…

Track by track with David Macklovitch “For me, Fancy Footwork is pretty much an album full of bangers, but with an added touch of class. It was way sexier than anything that was out in Electro at the time, which was very distorted. It was also an album that came alive in the mix. Our engineer [Cassius’ Philippe Zdar] made the drums sound like French House drums. On our demo they sounded like Billie Jean.” Intro “This might have been the last thing we did on the album. I remember we were finishing up the drums in my apartment in Paris on Pro Tools on my dining room table. It came from a demo that Pee [Patrick Gemayel] had done, then we switched it right round. I’d always wanted to…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH Julianna Barwick Will Dead Oceans Will is the bewitchingly haunting, melancholic and beautiful third full-length album from Brooklyn based experimental artist, Julianna Barwick. The burgeoning composer and vocalist, revered for her ability to create immersive soundscapes built through her hypnotic, looped vocals, once again delivers an album rich in tonal textures. Following on from 2013’s much-lauded Nepenthe, Will is both highly emotive and densely atmospheric. Built around heavy layers of synths and Barwick’s forlorn vocals, intense feelings pour out of the album’s every crevice. At times dreamy and meditative and at others dark, moody and intense, Will is like a journey into the deepest wells of human psyche. The softer side of the record exposes a sense of fragility and isolation but then bold piano chords,…

RECOMMENDED Jessy Lanza Oh No Hyperdub Experimental Electro Pop artist Jessy Lanza delivers a bold and confident record with Oh No. Out on London vanguards Hyperdub, the album sees the sultry Canadian singer and producer move away from the reverb-soaked atmosphere of her 2013 debut Pull My Hair Back. Made in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario with Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan involved in production duties, the record bristles with a unique and infectious energy. Carefully constructed grooves are built and evolved through clever combinations of weighty basslines and crisp drum machines. Shimmering synths, warm pads, spattered rhythms and laidback melodies create a lush atmosphere throughout as Lanza’s breathy, pitched vocals add magnetic and seductive style. Combining elements of Japanese ’80s Electro, Boogie, Shangaan Electro, Dub, Pop, Disco and House, Oh…

Sequenced Basslines The MicroBrute makes the creation of robotic synth basslines very easy, and a lot of fun > Start with a ‘vanilla’ patch using only the sawtooth wave and no filtering/modulation. Put the Sequencer into Record and play a short sequence of eight notes on the keyboard. This is a step sequencer so timing doesn’t matter. Switch to Play and adjust the playback Rate. > The default sequencer Gate time is set via the USB configuration software, but we can make something more useful by using the Envelope to control the VCA. Sustain at zero, and Decay/Release to taste. Notice how the Sequencer transposes the pattern as the keyboard is played. > Using the filter in low-pass, lower Cutoff, increase Envelope Amount and nudge up Resonance. The Keyboard Tracking…

How to… Release your inner Diva! > Diva is designed to meticulously model classic analogue synths, but doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to draining your CPU. Use the bottom-centre Accuracy drop-down to define the synth’s processor consumption: try Draft mode to lower the CPU hit, then switch to Divine mode when it’s time to bounce down. > Get to know the Trimmer section if you’re after thick, detuned sounds, where you can precisely define the tuning of each unison voice. > If you’re creating drum or bass sounds that rely on a precise attack, experiment with the various Transient modes, found in the Trimmer section. > Want to use classic analogue-emulating tones as your sound design starting points? Check out the Patches > Templates presets for Juno, Jupiter,…

Getting Started With Blocks Reaktor’s new Blocks system is the perfect entry point to modular patching There are probably many FM readers who love the idea of piecing together their own Frankenstein soft synth but are put off by the sheer geekery involved. There’s nothing particularly sexy about connecting indescript digital lines and squares together, especially when you consider the recent resurgence of shiny hardware modulars and hardware Eurorack modules. To remedy this, NI have taken a leaf out of the Eurorack book and created Blocks, Reaktor 6’s brand new modular “rack-style framework” consisting of over 30 pre-built components that, unlike previous Reaktor presets, ooze both sonic and visual personality. Colourful oscillators, signal generators, filters, sequencers and other modules – that both…

Building Sounds From Scratch In Omnisphere Here we’re going to use a single layer of Omnisphere’s dual-layer architecture to create a synthesized pad sound In the following walkthrough we show you how to create a synthesized pad sound and, rather than begin with a sample, of which there are many, it’s the single-cycle waveforms that will be pressed into action. Even without resorting to more complex wavetables, the raw waveforms can be made to subtly change by using the Shape slider. Symmetry skews the span of the waveform for further change. Still more small phase and tuning variances can be added by increasing the Analog parameter. If all these are modulated separately from different LFOs (each with a different rate), the effect is of a sound that never quite settles…

The Korg Volca FM We’re getting hands-on with Korg’s new Volca FM, creating automated FM loops with Motion Sequencing This latest Volca is the newest instrument in our top synth guide, seeing as it will probably have only just hit the shelves of your local music shop by the time you read this magazine. We’ve had our hands on one for a few weeks though, and we’ve been instantly impressed by it (see our review on page 88 ). The Volca FM offers proper six operator FM synthesis with an interface that is highly tweakable and – most interestingly – automatable. Combine that with a built-in Arpeggiator, Chorus and the fact that it can load classic DX7 patches, and it starts to look like one of the most powerful…

Creating Authentic 101 Sounds Get the classic SH-101 sound with all the conveniences of a software synth recreation > Load TAL-BasssLine-101’s default preset. Just as with the original Roland SH-101, we can play MIDI notes and record these into the onboard sequencer. Toggle the bottom Record Sequence button, then play a simple few notes on your MIDI keyboard to record these in. > Turn off the Record Sequence button, then activate the sequencer by toggling the Seq button. Hold a MIDI note and the synth will play back the notes we previously entered in a regimented 16th-note pattern. Punch the bottom Reset button if you want to start again. > The sequencer is divided into 16 steps. When the bottom Edit Mode button is lit green, the red bar in…

How to… Find your way round the FM8 > Want to add that classic Luther Vandross style electric piano to your own productions? Or maybe you’ve got a DX7 sat in the loft that has lots of cool sounds you want to rescue? No problem: FM8 is fully compatible with original DX7 patches which can be loaded in via MIDI SysEx. > FM8’s functions are fully MIDI assignable via the Master tab. This is a great way to add filter sweeps and automation using a MIDI controller, and is easier than wrestling with the original DX7’s notoriously complicated interface. > FM8’s Morph feature is great for creating evolving textures. Drag a different preset onto each corner of the four square box (top centre of the synth) before moving the Morph…

How to… Get the best from your Oddy! > As the Odyssey doesn’t have a switch to engage legato mode, in order to achieve smooth legato leads (where the envelopes don’t retrigger on every key press) connect a patch cable from the Gate Out to the Trigger In. > For making drones, push up the VCA Gain slider and your hands are free to tweak parameters. Oddy virgins often mistake the VCA gain slider for the overall volume slider – raise the oscillator mixer levels to control volume. > Modulating sounds is one of the Oddy’s strong points. There’s an LFO (plus VCO1 can go into LFO mode), sample and hold, ring-mod, PWM and FM. > Don’t forget the PPC (Proportional Pitch Control) is a big part of the Oddy’s…

How to… Get creative with Serum > Drawing in your own wavetable is fun and simple. Open the wavetable editor, draw in a number of wave shapes in the slots along the bottom, then go to Morph>Crossfade to create a wavetable that morphs between your waveforms. > Want to precisely draw in waveform harmonics? In the FFT Area (at the top of the wavetable editor) draw in harmonics across the top row, and phase offset via the bottom row. > When in the wavetable editor, use the Undo and Redo buttons to jump back or forwards to a previous edit. > Use the Chaos 1 and 2 modulators to apply subtle movement and randomisation – for instance, adding gentle analogue-style pitch drift to oscillator tuning. These two modulators are accessed…

How to… Cultivate sounds with Synplant > Synplant’s oddball interface and methods often have you taking sounds down an unwanted path. Reach for the handy Undo/ Redo buttons to jump back a step. > The shorter the Branch, the less effect the atonality slider has. Keep Branch lengths short if you want to create more musical, playable sounds. > Click the centre Seed to cut it off and ‘re-plant’ – meaning you apply that Branch’s settings to all 12 notes. > The outer ring of the Bulb is the Rotation Control. Click and drag to change which incoming MIDI note triggers the Branches you’ve grown. > Use the top-left drop-down Main Menu or right-click in the interface for useful parameters. > Confused? Check out Synplant’s built-in tutorial.…

How to… Maximise the power of the ‘crossover’ > The JD-XA has a great vocoder based on Roland’s VP-7 technology. It has great intelligibility but if you are using an SM57 (for example) which doesn’t have the brightest character, simply layer in some white noise on a digital or analogue part for better clarity/diction. > If you like to keep things purely analogue while still running the digital engine out of the main outs with effects, use the dedicated analogue output which can then be processed externally/ independently. > For more dirt/grit, filter drive works wonders or blend in some noise, use ring-mod or cross-mod, or alternatively add distortion or amp simulation FX. > To quickly assign filter frequency to Wheel 2: hit shift, move the mod wheel forward, hit…

How to… Get the best from the Voyager! > Be careful with oscillator volumes, especially when using three oscillators. If you select three similar waveforms with similar volume levels, you can end up with phasing and bass drop-outs, which takes power from your bass sounds. > Instead of reaching for the filter knob, use the touchpad which is more fun and quicker in a performance – plus it can be assigned to other destinations via the menu system. > Some great stereo-panoramic effects can be obtained when using the synth in stereo and using the ‘spacing’ control to spread the two filters independently to the left and right outputs. > Don’t forget to flip through the various filter pole modes in the menus too. These alter the slope of the onboard…

Creating Analogue House Stabs The Analog Keys can make use of sub-oscillators to create one finger synth chord stabs… > Elektron Overbridge requires that you install the relevant software on your computer and that Overbridge Mode is enabled on the synth itself (in the Global/System/USB Config section). This may also require an OS update on the hardware. > Next, tweak the relative tuning and sub-oscillator detune to add extra analogue thickness. Vibrato, with medium fade time and a small amount of ‘Bend’ – a slight downward pitch-bend into the note – help take this feel a little further. > The Amp envelope shape is very much a matter of taste. Generally Decay should not be too quick. Try setting a very fast Release and maximum Sustain for a more ‘in…

Sasha Sasha needs little introduction. The Welsh DJ and record producer is one of the most revered and award-winning DJs on the planet. Having taken a break from his hectic touring schedule to write new music, Danny Turner finds another artist obsessed with modular © Ye Rin Mok Having learned how to key mix in the late ’80s during his Acid House sets at illegal warehouse parties, Sasha came to be known as the first DJ ‘pin-up’. He later formed a shatterproof partnership with fellow Renaissance club night DJ John Digweed, together honing their DJ skills to define the ’90s Trance era and become the ultimate superstar DJs. Cementing his popularity and reaching a more mainstream audience, Sasha remixed for Madonna, The Chemical Brothers and Hot Chip, before sidestepping into…

DX Dump The Volca FM can load presets from the original DX7 via System Exclusive (SysEx) file format. SysEx is a MIDI message, which can be ‘dumped’ directly onto the Volca via its MIDI input. The easiest way to do this is to use an application like Snoize’s free SysEx Librarian. As mentioned, the Volca’s engine doesn’t quite match up to the DX7’s, offering just three-voice polyphony, and reducing the DX7’s six envelopes down to four. In practice, however, it does a solid job of translating all but the most tonally complex sounds. The classic bass and mallet sounds, in particular, sound bang on. In fact, the Volca’s output is noticeably crisper and cleaner than that of the DX7, which often developed hiss, so in some cases Korg’s instrument improves…

Programming The Odytron/Atmegatron The Odytron comes with a FTDI programmer cable that plugs into the rear of the unit. The other end is terminated in a standard USB plug. Download and install the relevant drivers and Easy Uploader software. Both are available for Windows and OS X. Then plug in the FTDI cable, taking care not to insert it the wrong way around. To upload anything to the synth, flick the programmer switch on the rear. I wish it was a little more accessible. As it is, you will need to use a small screwdriver or paperclip to move it to the relevant position. Uploading software is then simply a matter of choosing the relevant HEX file and takes no more than 30 seconds. Once you switch the unit back…

Coupling Resonators It’s relatively simple to understand how the timbre of resonators is affected by the materials from which both they and the item that strikes them are made, by their shape and by where they are struck; but it’s the interactions of two resonators that make some of the more unusual and unique sounds in Chromaphone. Acoustic coupling gives a bi-directional transfer of energy between two objects. If the vibrating object is supple and the other rigid, most of the energy is reflected back and you get a pure long decay. When the second material is less rigid, energy is transferred and the vibration of the first object is subjected to far more alteration. The resultant effect is that the characters of both of the two resonators affect each…

Tips to get my timing better? I’d like to tighten up my playing so I don’t need to quantise so much. What’s the best approach? One of the biggest problems you encounter when teaching folks piano/keyboard is that, although they know where the notes are and may have studied the basics of harmony, they have neglected to work on their timing/rhythmic playing. If you can’t play in time everything will just sound messy! It’s also important that timing is good in today’s super-tight productions and, even if you like to play off grid (behind the beat in R ‘n’ B/Soul for example) you still need to have solid timing in order to break the rules… > To start improving your timing, first set up a click (or a simple beat/loop)…