Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Future Music

Experimental music has a long and rich history. From the post-war modernist composers through free jazz innovators to ’90s IDM circuit benders, there is a wealth of music out there built around bending or breaking the rules of traditional composition. Being ‘experimental’ in your music making doesn’t necessarily mean being totally abstract though. Sometimes ‘experimenting’ can simply mean stepping out of your own personal comfort zone, or seeing how you can expand your way of working. That could mean trying to incorporate a new sound or approach into your established style, or stripping your music back to just its most minimal elements. With this issue’s cover feature, we’re exploring some simple experimental approaches, along with historical examples of when trying something technically ‘wrong’ has ended-up very much right. Whether you…

>To say Focal’s studio monitors are respected would be an understatement; loads of producers aspire to own them, and those that do frequently fall in love with them. The company’s latest release is the redesigned Trio6 monitors, the latest addition to the acclaimed ST6 range. The Trio6 rocks an eight-inch subwoofer that features Focal’s patented ‘W’ cone, plus a five-inch midrange woofer and a new beryllium tweeter. This three-way design promises to offer sound neutrality across the entire audio spectrum, with precision in the midrange, power in the bass and excellent dynamics. At $3,499 each, you might have hoped that the Trio6s would provide even more monitors than one, but the reality is that these are top-end speakers for the discerning pro.…

>Native Instruments has introduced new MK3 Kontrol S MIDI keyboards, updating the company’s flagship range of 49-, 61- and 88-note controllers. NI has resisted the temptation to follow the lead set by Maschine+ and make the Kontrol S ’boards work standalone, but they are designed to integrate tightly with your DAW, instruments and effects. Perhaps the biggest news is that all three Kontrol S MK3 keyboards offer polyphonic aftertouch, enabling you to adjust parameters using pressure on a per-note basis. The keybeds were created in collaboration with leading Italian manufacturer Fatar – the S49 and S61 have semi-weighted keys, while the S88’s offer a fully weighted hammer action. On the software side, the Kontrol S MK3 keyboards ship with Komplete 14 Select, a slimmed-down version of NI’s all-encompassing instrument and…

Warp Daniel Lopatin’s come a long way in the 15 years since his debut: this is a man who’s gone from releasing unnerving vaporwave synthscapes on obscure indie labels to executive producing The Weeknd’s platinum-selling, multi-billionstreaming Dawn FM. It’s quite a feat to crack the mainstream while staying true to an experimental vision, but this is a balance the producer better known as Oneohtrix Point Never has struck masterfully as his somewhat unlikely star has soared, not only through his solo work but scores for critically lauded films and collaborations with Charli XCX, Arca, Rosalía, Nine Inch Nails and more. Again, Lopatin’s latest and tenth studio album, is said to represent a dialogue with the 41-year-old artist’s younger self, channelling musical influences from young adulthood (post-rock, shoegaze, modern classical) into…

Matthew Barnes hit the ground running with his debut Forest Swords EP Dagger Paths back in 2010, with critics raving about its psychedelic guitars and samplestrewn anatomical design. This was followed by albums Engravings (2013) and Compassion (2017) where Barnes developed entirely new and uniquely imaginative soundscapes, employing multiple layers of electronic textures, percussion and vocal samples. So inspiring was Barnes’ foray into contemporary sound design, he was approached to score for video games, soundtrack and even theatre. Following a six-year break, Barnes’ third Forest Swords album, Bolted, is a playful yet no less enigmatic return, rewriting the electronic playbook with its combination of inexplicable atmospheres, deconstructed beats, eerie vocals and some beautifully absorbing melodies. Your sound is very distinguishable from other electronic artists. Was that an immediate ambition when…

THE PROS & CONS + Hands-on interface keeps most parameters up-front Motional Pad is capable of some fun modulation tricks Comes equipped with a virtual SH-101 on board - Some virtual analogue elements sound weak... even compared to its own Model Expansion Some of the presets feel more like feature demos rather than useable sounds A proper mod matrix would open up more modulation options Roland’s original Gaia arrived in 2010, at the tail end of a virtual analogue boom. It was highly praised by us (and others) at the time for its convincing VA sound and hands-on interface. Within three years of its release though, the likes of the Volcas and MiniBrute would usher in a new wave of affordable analogue that made ‘faux’ analogue synths look decidedly old…

Sampleson – SkyWaves $59 >Over the last year or so we’ve looked at a number of Sampleson products. Although often sitting in similar sonic territory to sample-based libraries targeted at cinematic use they have also embraced spectral modelling and other interesting techniques in an attempt to deliver something different. Sometimes though the use of sound layering is often the best approach to creating complex sounds, and this technique was taken to an extreme level with their Sandstrom soundscape builder. This time, the number of layers has been reduced to four, but balanced by the increased complexity of each. The layers consist of three (dual waveshape, single oscillator) analogue-style synths and a fourth that employs a wavetable to deliver its primary waveform content. They all make use of the usual array…

>Avid’s Pro Tools has long held a pretty distinct position within the DAW market. In certain circles it’s something of an industry standard – still the go-to application for a lot of larger recording studios and producers regularly recording bands or large-scale projects. It has, however, far less of a foothold among dance music producers and home studio musicians, who tend to gravitate towards the likes of Live, Logic, Cubase or FL Studio. Recent years have seen Avid make moves aimed at addressing this latter fact though. The primary way it’s done this is through the launch of Pro Tools Artist, its most affordable tier, which offers a slightly scaled-back version of the DAW with more emphasis on virtual instruments and a generous library of loops. Now, with the launch…

>Waves has become the latest company to launch an online mastering service. And guess what? It’s powered by AI. Known simply as Waves Online Mastering, the platform promises to let you “create professional masters easily”. Upload a track and the AI mastering engine will present you with a “custom-tailored” ‘Precise’ master, which you can preview for free. This isn’t a ‘take it or leave it’ service, though – you can customise the style and tone of your master before you decide whether or not to proceed. You also have the option of uploading a reference track that the system will then attempt to replicate the sound of. As well as “advanced machine learning technology”, the AI mastering engine is also based on input from actual human experts in the field.…

All the way from Steve Reich through to Ricardo Villalobos, minimalists have recognised the fundamental truth at the heart of the old cliché, ‘less is more’. While the uninitiated might accuse minimal music of soullessness or vacuity, those acquainted with its charms know that the opposite is true; sparse arrangements serve to heighten the listener’s focus, revealing new levels of detail while amplifying the emotion and drama inherent in their constituent parts. This is something Viken Arman accomplishes masterfully on his debut album, Alone Together. Arman’s been around the block a few times, releasing five EPs over the last decade while carving out a reputation as an acclaimed international DJ and live performer, and that confidence can be heard in the nine tracks that make up his first full-length project,…

ON OUR PLAYLIST EP Peverelist, Pulse Modulation Livity Sound Bristol’s Peverelist follows up his excellent Pulse EP from earlier this year with another four tracks of sprightly, synth-focused techno. Each track here homes in on a single idea and runs with it. In the case of Pulse V, that’s a slippery, octave-jumping synth riff, augmented by a punchy rhythm of kicks and claps. The more sparse Pulse VI, is built around the shifting rhythmic interplay of simple resonant bleeps and pulsing sub bass. Pulse VIII sees Peverelist swap his usual UK techno rhythms for rolling modern jungle. The highlight here, however, is Pulse VII, which combines a heavy sub bass and punchy 2-step rhythm with drifting, mournful synth notes. It feels like a callback to the best of the…

1 MISUSE OF THE 303 The Roland TB-303 could be the most famous mis-used instrument. Originally designed as a bass guitar accompaniment, the 1981 synth was disappointingly not particularly good for its intended purpose, so most of the 10,000 units ended up selling cheaply. One was picked up by Phuture, a trio of producers in Chicago comprising Earl ‘Spanky’ Smith Jr., DJ Pierre, and Herbert ‘Herb’ Jackson. “We were all about basslines,” said DJ Pierre. “Spanky was looking around second-hand stores and said ‘I’ve got the 303 but I don’t know how to work it, it’s making these crazy sounds!’ We just started twisting knobs and playing, got caught up in these new sounds and forgot about trying to produce a bassline. It sounded good and that’s really how it…

In today’s production landscape, where computers rule the roost, the pursuit of crafting tunes that sound genuinely human can often feel out of reach. Our DAWs and precision-oriented sequencing tools were designed for creative liberation, but they can sometimes produce lifeless, mechanical music. Virtual instruments and software synths are forever becoming more advanced, housing massive libraries of painstakingly sampled real-world instruments. But despite the technological solutions, the best way to craft music that breathes with life lies not in the software, but in the user – we need to understand the instruments we want to emulate. The devil is in the details. It’s not just about hitting the right notes at the right time; it’s about capturing the subtle imperfections, nuanced variations, and unexpected turns. Timing, for example, is the…

All microphones work in a similar way. They have a diaphragm (or a ribbon) that moves in response to changes in air pressure due to sound waves impinging on the diaphragm – similarly to how the diaphragm or ‘eardrum’ in the human ear responds to sound. The movement of this diaphragm, or ribbon, then produces a changing voltage, with a positive value (or amplitude) when the diaphragm moves one way and a negative value (or amplitude) when the diaphragm moves the opposite way. There are three main types of microphone to choose from – dynamic, ribbon, and condenser. DYNAMIC MICS With a so-called ‘dynamic’ microphone (the word ‘dynamic’ means changing or moving), a small coil of wire, positioned within the magnetic field of a permanent magnet, is attached to the…

>There might be industry-wide plugin formats – VST, AU, etc – but seamless sharing of projects between different DAWs has always been a no-no. That could be about to change, though, thanks to the launch of Bitwig and PreSonus’s new open DAWproject file format. It’s an idea so good that it really should have been implemented before: create a single format that’s compatible with all DAWs. DAWproject files contain all information related to time, tracks and channels, along with note and automation data. Both audio and MIDI data is supported, and even the state of plugins used can be carried across (providing everyone has the requisite instrument and effects installed, of course). Bitwig has posted a handy DAWproject FAQ on its website that details the key features of the format…

>Genelec has introduced the 9320A Reference Controller, a new ‘bridge’ device that enables you to switch between up to three separate studio monitoring systems plus headphones. This is the latest addition to its UNIO platform, which is designed to ensure that pros can access a reliable monitoring setup wherever they happen to be working. With the 9320A, each monitoring setup can be configured to operate at a calibrated listening level, and any active loudspeaker system is supported. You also get one-click access to many of the monitor control features that are built into Genelec’s Smart Active Monitoring family. The idea is that you can switch between your monitoring options seamlessly, making it quicker and easier to create mixes that translate to multiple platforms. What’s more, the 9320A is designed to…

When it comes to arranging tracks, we rely on expected structural elements. In pop and rock music, that’s verses and choruses, in dance music a drop, build-up and breakdown. These give the listener recognisable elements to latch onto and us songwriters things we can build towards. As with any expected musical forms, there’s a wealth of potential in subverting or completely abandoning these. At their most experimental, genres like noise, drone and ambient tend to eschew song structure altogether. Listen to the work of ambient greats like William Basinski or Stars of the Lid and you’ll hear that tracks tend to put far more emphasis on subtle shifts in tonality and texture than definable structure. While much of ambient music is beatless, there are examples of artists taking similar approaches…

When many people think of classical music, they think of ancient institutions, backwards attitudes and old traditions. Though there may well be a grain of truth to this preconception, it misrepresents a musical sphere that’s perpetually expanded over the past few decades, as the boundary between classical and popular culture has crumbled and influence has begun to flow freely between both. No other single composer has done more to facilitate this flow than Philip Glass. One of the most celebrated and influential figures in both 20th and 21st-century music, Glass has achieved the rare feat of connecting classical traditions with the contemporary, the avant-garde, the electronic and the popular. His work has been performed by the world’s most prestigious orchestras, yet he’s collaborated with Aphex Twin, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen…

CONTACT WHO: GS Music. WEB: www.gsmusic.com KEY FEATURES 7-part polyphonic analogue synth, 4-part multitimbral; 2 oscillators (3 waveshapes plus pulse width), 24dB/Oct Low-pass filter, 3 LFOs, 2 envelopes; delay and chorus effects; 640 preset spaces (512 single + 128 multitimbral) CONNECTIONS: MIDI in/out/thru, 2 audio out plus headphone (6.3mm), audio in (6.3mm), CV inputs (pitch, cutoff, amp gain), USB, PSU DIMENSIONS: W xDxH(mm): 520 x 190 x 108, WEIGHT: (kg): 4.5 THE PROS & CONS + Great-sounding and characterful analogue polysynth Very easy to use with (nearly) one-controlper-function system Keyboard tracking options are excellent - Effects are of fairly average standard Multi-mode can be a little hard to use GS Music say e7 is the first polyphonic analogue synth ever created in Argentina and if that is the case,…

ABLETON LIVE CONTROLLERS Ableton Push From $999 Review: FM397 | Push finally lives up to Ableton’s vision of controller-as-instrument, and standalone mode is a great new way to use Live. Akai APC64 £339 Review: FM402 The APC64 is a fabulous evolution of the classic APC form, and the standalone functions will bring it into all kinds of new situations. Novation Launch Control XL £150 Review: FM285 Slightly long in the tooth and less slick than the current gen ‘launch’ range, nonetheless this is still the best mixer-focused device dedicated to Live. Novation Launchpad X £180 Review: FM356 Neat, compact and more flexible than ever before, the Launchpad remains a must-try tool for Ableton Live users. Novation Launchkey Mini £100 Review: FM349 The Novation Launchkey Mini…