Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Future Music

In many cases, a well-deployed vocal sample can be the element that makes an electronic track. It can provide the hook that means your track sticks in the mind of listeners, or provide the emotive heart to an otherwise sterile electronic composition. Vocal sampling can be tricky, however, and it’s easy to do badly. Whether it’s lazy use of an obvious acapella, clunky and unnatural changes to pitch and timing, or simply a vocal that doesn’t suit the underlying track, a bad vocal sample can spoil a production just as easily as save it. When it’s done well though, the vocal ‘flip’ is an artform all by itself. This issue, we’re taking a deep dive into the practicalities of vocal sampling, from how to source and extract the right vocal,…

>It looks like the wait for MIDI 2.0 might finally be over, as Korg announces the release of Keystage, a MIDI 2.0 keyboard controller with polyphonic aftertouch. Is it the start of a huge MIDI 2.0-equipped influx? Korg tells us that the Keystage features unparalleled DAW integration, plus powerful arpeggiator and chord functionality. Coming in both 49 and 61-key variants, the controller is equipped with a semi-weighted keybed that can muster polyphonic and channel aftertouch as well as MPE, which has been developed with the help of Ashun Sound Machines (of Hydrasynth fame). As for DAW integration, currently only Ableton Live has ‘official’ integration, alongside Korg's own Gadget 2.0. Both will have limited editions bundled with the keyboard. However, ‘unofficial’ integration with Cakewalk, Cubase, Digital Performer, FL Studio, GarageBand, Logic…

Eventide is on a mission to create immersive versions of its plugins, and is kicking off in style with 3D audio versions of Blackhole and MicroPitch. They'll be the first two plugins in Eventide's new Immersive Series, where the capabilities of the plugins will be expanded so that their effects reach the threedimensional space around the individual listener. The whole 3D or Immersive Audio world is expanding – not least with the number of names it has. But think of Immersive Audio as the one where the effect happens in three dimensions, including both left/right and up/down, so it's also named '3D' and includes the popular Dolby Atmos standard. Eventide's plugins also support Surround Sound which is a more horizontal 2D format where the effect happens around you, but only…

ALBUM When Sofia Kourtesis dropped La Perla in 2021, it was clear that she was going places. Fast forward two years and it looks like the Peruvian producer has done just that, having been signed to Ninja Tune and released a magnificent debut album that captures a panoply of emotions in vivid, celebratory dance music. Though there are bangers inside – How Music Makes You Feel Better shows exactly what its title describes – it’s the record’s deeper moments that stopped me in my tracks. The tear-jerkingly wistful Vajkoczy, named after the surgeon that saved her mother’s life, floats plaintive vocals and glistening synths over a sub-heavy house beat. A mesmerising example of dance music’s ability to not only move our feet, but move us, too. Matt Mullen VERDICT 8…

GAUDIO STUDIO IS a browser-based service that can be used by anyone to separate stems absolutely free. Though it’s in its beta version, it’s still one of the best stem separation tools we’ve heard, and excels particularly at lifting drums and vocals from mixes. Unlike programs like Serato Sample, Gaudio Studio offers very few bells and whistles; it’s simply a tool for extracting stems, not for doing anything creative with them afterwards. Using Gaudio Studio is as simple as logging in and dropping your audio file in for upload. There’s a maximum duration of 10 minutes per clip. You’ll be given the choice of which stems you’d like to receive from a list that includes vocals, bass, guitar, drums, piano and other instruments. At this point, you’ll have to wait…

SERATO SAMPLE 2.0 is an updated version of Serato’s sampling plugin that was released just a few weeks ago. As far as we know, it’s the first tool of its kind to bring sampling and stem separation together into a single plugin. The combination makes perfect sense – most of us separating stems will be doing so in order to sample those stems after the fact. Sample does way more than just stem separation, though; you can chop up, time-stretch and pitch-shift audio to create custom sample instruments from your stems that can be played via MIDI. Open up Sample and you’ll be prompted to drop in an audio file. Once loaded in, it’ll open up a GUI complete with a waveform visualiser and a number of controls. Be mindful…

Phase cancellation is usually considered to be an unwanted effect to be avoided in music production, but it can be useful in the context of extracting vocal acapellas. Phase cancellation occurs when two identical, or near identical sounds play at the same time, but with opposite phase position – ie one waveform is moving ‘up’ at the exact same rate as the other is moving down. Because the phase of the two waveforms is the exact opposite, their sum creates a value of 0, meaning we don’t perceive either sound. We can use this to remove non-vocal elements from a full mix recording, but doing so requires access to both the full mix and an instrumental that is identical to the required section other than having no vocal. To make…

Wherever they’re sourced from, working with vocal samples is rarely as simple as dropping a loop into your track and being done with it. Let’s look at the basics of how we can adjust and edit sampled vocal phrases to create a fresh hook to work in a dance track. We’re working in Ableton Live as it makes it particularly easy to adjust timing of individual formants in a loop, but these techniques can be used in other DAWs and audio editors. 01 >In this tutorial, we’ll take two short vocal phrases and turn them into a basic call and response hook for a dance track. We’re starting with a basic 4-bar drum loop that’s providing a rhythm for us to fit the samples around. Though our phrases are from…

As we’ve explored elsewhere in this feature, it’s fairly common to apply effects such as pitch shifting, looping, reversing or time-stretching to vocal samples. This is often done at the ‘audio’ stage, using edits applied to clips on a DAW timeline, in an audio editor, or using the tools offered by a sampler. Many similar approaches can also be applied via insert effects though. Sequencer or modulation-powered multi-effects are especially useful for this, as they allow the user to target effects to a specific section of a loop or phrase – for example, looping or reversing just the final beat in a bar. Many of these tools also let the user save and switch different treatments, meaning that they can be used to apply changing effects to a loop over…

>When modulating the position control in a patch, there are lots of considerations to make. What’s your starting position? How far will you move through the table? Depending on the exact nature of your currently selected wavetable, the sonic results of your position selection could be huge, and so it’s well worth fine-tuning some of these aspects before you go on. Also, you can go back to key parameters like these and make changes once your synth patch has gone through some more stages of building with things like effects, to see how the sound will change now. Most wavetable synths are equipped with a pair of wavetable oscillators, helping you balance and blend different sources. But do you really need two oscillators? That depends on the exact effect you…

CONTACT WHO: AJH Synth WEB: ajhsynth.com KEY FEATURES I/O: Eurorack mini-jack CV/Gate connectivity throughout, with minijack and 1/4” audio output. MIDI over USB or traditional 5-pin connectors. DIMENSIONS: 710 x 370 x 140mm WEIGHT: 11kg If you’re reviewing something this indebted to history, it’s worth starting at the beginning. In the Minimoog, Dr Bob Moog distilled the voltage controlled modular musings of the ’60s down to a convenient monophonic synth, which changed music forever. The appetite for the sound of the Minimoog has never really diminished, except for a slight lull in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when analogue fell out of favour. This makes the Mini’s return in modular form all the more timely. So what are we looking at with this new release? It’s really two…

DIGITAL POLYSYNTHS Korg Modwave £699 Full Review: FM373 (MkI) | The latest of Korg’s digital synths to get a MkII overhaul, Modwave is the most innovative hardware Wavetable synth on the market right now, enhanced with an expanded voice count and parameter feature flexibility. ASM Hydrasynth Deluxe £1,489 Review: FM383 The Deluxe is a great-sounding, flexible polysynth, ideal as a performance-led keyboard that can successfully reach a wide range of tones and textures. Expressive E Osmose €1,799 Review: FM398 With expression at the forefront, Osmose could be the all-in-one, future-proofed synth and controller you’ve been waiting for. Roland Jupiter-X £2,432 Review: FM396 A fabulous-sounding instrument that, despite being 100% digital, manages to capture the spirit and grandeur of its famous analogue namesake. Arturia MiniFreak £539 Review:…

Editor-In-Chief Si Truss, simon.truss@futurenet.com Reviews Editor, Music Technology Simon Arblaster, simon.arblaster@futurenet.com Features Editor, Music Technology Matt Mullen, matt.mullen@futurenet.com Managing Editor Kate Puttick, kate.puttick@futurenet.com Production Editor Stanley Bull, stanley.bull@futurenet.com Design Philip Cheesbrough, Meg Culliford, Mark White CONTRIBUTORS Bruce Aisher, Phil Barker, Oli Bell, Dave Clews, Olly Curtis, Tom Hodgkinson, Andy Jones, Adam Lee, Jon Musgrave, Roy Spencer,Robbie Stamp,Danny Turner ADVERTISING For Ad enquiries: Kyle Phillips, kyle.phillips@futurenet.com MARKETING Direct Marketing Executive: Will Hardy PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Production Controller: Fran Twentyman Production Manager: Mark Constance​ Printed in the UK by: Buxton Press on behalf of Future Distributed in the UK by:​ Marketforce (UK), 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Tel: +44 (0) 203 787 9001 CIRCULATION Head of Newstrade: Tim Mathers SUBSCRIPTIONS Order line and…

>Former Spitfire Audio CEO, Will Evans has launched a new company, Song Athletics. Specialising in sample packs and creator tools, Song Athletics is said to be a "celebration of independence, craft, community and culture" that will put "purpose over profit". Its first product is a pack named Some Drums. Featuring Marc Pell, a drummer known for his work with Mount Kimbie and Mica Levi, Some Drums is said to be made up of a collection of royalty-free "posh drum samples" recorded at the Isle of Wight's Empire Sound studio on a '60s Ludwig kit. Some Drums is made up of over 40 drum loops (with individual stems included) and more than 80 one-shots that promise to add a sense of space and depth to your music. The pack costs £25,…

The words 'Roland has just updated the JX-3P' probably haven't been muttered since about 1983 when the original hardware synth was launched. But, of course, we're talking about the software version of this synth, and with v2, Roland says the JX-3P not only looks better, but can sound as good as the original, in any condition that may be. The original JX-3P arrived at what you might call an 'odd' time for synthesisers. Analogue machines had ruled the charts and keyboard rigs but this newfangled digital technology was coming in to make everything more stable and deliver features like presets and effects. The JX-3P was one of the models of the time – like Korg's Poly 6 – where the heart of the synth was analogue but with digital control,…

Ryan Aitchison, better known as Mella Dee, is a bit of a rave chameleon. The Doncaster-born, London-based producer and DJ has explored almost every corner of the dancefloor over the decade-plus he’s been in the game; kicking off his career warping dubstep and grime into daring new forms while dishing up UKG as one half of Mista Men. He’s now settled into an acid-tinged style that deftly folds disparate elements – anything from sped-up disco samples to bitcrushed breakbeats – into a muscular techno framework. Much of Aitchison’s music comes out on his own label, Warehouse Music, set up in 2017 as a nod to formative years spent raving in his Yorkshire stomping grounds. For his latest project, though, he’s absconded to Saoirse’s trUst Recordings and adopted a new alias:…

The pros and cons of AI tech continues to be one of music making’s hottest topics, but in all the debates around the legitimacy and dangers of AI, it can be easy to lose sight of the creative applications and how it actually fits into the landscape of music itself. Over the past couple of years, however, a handful of particularly creative artists such as patten and Holly Herndon have helped demonstrate how these new technologies can be powerful tools for experimental musicians. British Hyperdub regular Lee Gamble is the latest artist to join this list. Ever a fan of subverting the basic structures of electronic music, Gamble’s latest album, Models, is largely built around synthetic voices created by feeding short sung melodies into a series of neural networks. The…

ACON DIGITAL SAYS that its Remix plugin is the first tool of its kind that’s capable of separating stems in real-time: considering it can take DeepRemix up to 20 minutes to process stems, that’s pretty impressive. Unlike Serato Sample, which is a virtual instrument plugin that separates stems to be triggered as samples via MIDI input, Remix is an audio effect that processes incoming audio as it receives it. Both are plugins, but each takes a unique approach to stem separation within the DAW; which you choose will depend on your preferred way of working with samples. Stick Remix on an audio track in your DAW that contains the track you want to separate, open it up and you’ll be presented with five faders that correspond to each stem: Vocals,…

THE RISE OF the MPC in the late-’80s and ’90s created a new style of ‘finger drumming’ sample performance, where dexterous producers would slice sampled loops, assign individual elements to each pad and play new patterns in real time. Although this was typically used for beats, the technique was also applied creatively to vocal sampling, resulting in the distinctive ‘vocal chops’ sound pioneered by producers like MK and Todd Edwards. The appeal of this style of vocal sampling, particularly for dance music, lies in the fact that it can treat vocal hooks, rhythmic and melodic elements alike. Modern tech makes the technique easy to achieve. Most software samplers, and many hardware ones, allow the user to slice a loop into segments, either at the transients – usually the best approach…

>From its start in the PPG Wave synths, through its successful plugin incarnations (Massive, Serum), wavetable synthesis seems like the correct answer to a question raised over and over again. So where will it go next? It seems that today’s top power synths, which make their way by offering multiple oscillator types, are more than capable of providing wavetable oscillators as part of even larger setups. Wavetable is a no-brainer with so many top-flight synths using it for their sole source of power, that we’d be surprised to find the technique omitted in any serious multi-type synth. We could look to single-use applications, where wavetable techniques could be perfect choices for all sorts of common audio ailments. In the tutorial on this page, the plugin Thump One demonstrates the power…

CONTACT WHO: Teenage Engineering WEB: www.teenageengineering.com KEY FEATURES 24-bit/96 kHz USB audio interface, internal mic and speaker, 7-hr rechargeable battery, 128GB of internal storage I/O: 3x TRRS stereo input/output mini jacks, 1x main/headphones output, USB-C DIMENSIONS: 96 mm x 68 mm x 16 mm WEIGHT: 170g Teenage Engineering’s recent run of product releases has centred on what the Swedish manufacturer calls the Field Kit. What started with the updated OP-1 field and tiny TX-6 mixer, soon grew to include a whole desk system and more recently the TP-7 and CM-15 units. From this recent batch, it’s the TP-7 that really stood out as something different from the norm. It’s a 128GB multitrack field recorder, capable of 96kHz/48-bit audio capture with an onboard mic and a design that harks back…

Spitfire Audio – Trevor Horn £99 >There’s no denying the status of Trevor Horn as a legendary pop producer, and one who’s long career includes a slew of tracks (often as both producer and songwriter) that are firmly ensconced on radio and streaming playlists. In many respects he is thought of as an archetypal ’80s producer, who managed to combine well-crafted songs with technologically advanced production (aided by the swift changes in the studio technology during that decade). This means, that although his discography is extremely wide and varied, there remains deep fondness and fascination for the synths and allied processing that defined his sound in that era. It is with this in mind that many potential users might come to Jupiter By Trevor Horn, a samplebased Spitfire Audio…

>Having discontinued the original Montage earlier this year, Yamaha has now unveiled its latest flagship synth workstation: the Montage M. Like its predecessor, the Montage M packs a variety of different sound engines into a single instrument, targeting pro-level gigging musicians and those looking for an all-round studio workhorse. The big new addition for the M is the AN-X engine, which is a virtual analogue generator aimed at replicating the sound and feel of vintage synths. The name is inspired by the company’s much-loved AN1x, a late-’90s VA synth beloved by the likes of Jean-Michel Jarre and Boards of Canada, although the new technology is only loosely inspired by the AN1x’s design. The AN-X engine makes use of a classic analogue-style setup boasting three oscillators with a choice of five…

>Arturia has fitted out its new AudioFuse 16Rig with enough analogue connectivity that it can easily be the hub of your hardware synth studio. In fact it's the most connected of the AudioFuse range thus far. AudioFuse 16Rig is a rack-mount/desktop interface. Arturia describes it as 'high density', which means it adds more analogue inputs than any other Arturia interface, so it's focussed on anyone who has lots of hardware in their collections. That's you, Eurorack and synth users. Yes, while other AudioFuse specs are bolstered with digital I/O, Arturia is aiming 16Rig's extra analogue connectivity at those of us with an increasingly hardwarebased studio. So you get 16 analogue inputs (two with digitally controllable preamps at the front), a whopping 10 analogue outputs, plus up to four headphone outs.…

Lambda Synthetics' PolyPulse could well be the performance tool electronic music producers have been waiting for. Three years in the making, this performance workstation features five tracks of beats and melodies which can be sequenced, morphed and played on the fly in order to create some of the most mesmeric sounds that you'll hear this side of your local modular meet-up. Each track features four effects and an algorithmic sequencer with four synth engines – FM, physical modelling, subtractive and additive – plus an analogue drum kit and sampler to generate everything you need for your tunes and beats. The sequencer here differs from most, according to Lambda, in that it doesn't have limitations like the number of steps and time signatures. Instead each track can have different lengths and…

ALBUM James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas made a welcome return to their Emptyset project this month, an experimental collaboration that finds the Bristol-based duo pushing the sonic possibilities of noise, distortion and feedback to their absolute limits. Over six brief but mighty tracks, the pair’s latest release assaults the senses with a near-violent intensity. Consequently, ash is best experienced coming from a soundsystem that’s taller than you are. It might be an odd statement to make about thunderous, industrial noise music, but Emptyset’s ear-splitting textures are quite relaxing; there’s a transcendence to be found in their sheer, all-consuming brutality. When sounds like these are hitting your eardrums, there’s simply no possibility of thinking about anything else. Matt Mullen VERDICT 9…

IF YOU’RE SOMEBODY that wants to not only separate stems, but manipulate them creatively afterwards, RipX’s DeepRemix is worth a look. The clue is in the name: DeepRemix is also a powerful standalone audio editor and remixing application. Once your stems are separated, they’re displayed in a piano roll-style editor which allows you to treat the audio of each stem in the same way you would treat MIDI notes, muting or soloing each stem, chopping them up, rearranging and even pitch-shifting them within the context of the original track. You can even export stems as MIDI files. “DEEPREMIX’S STEMS SOUND IMPRESSIVE, EVEN COMPARED TO OUR STRONGER CONTENDERS” Upgrade to DeepRemix’s big brothers DeepCreate or DeepAudio and you’ll be blessed with an even more advanced set of tools and the ability to…

JUST LAST MONTH, Image- Line announced that version 21.2 of FL Studio would give users the ability to separate stems from within the DAW. Making it the first DAW to offer this kind of capability, FL’s upgrade was widely lauded as something of a game-changer, not least because Image-Line also added AI-powered automated mastering in the same update. 21.2 is now available to all FL users, and we’ve put the software’s stem separation abilities to the test. “THE FIRST DAW TO OFFER THIS KIND OF CAPABILITY, FL’S UPGRADE WAS WIDELY LAUDED” Accessing stem separation in FL is as easy as hitting the menu icon in the top-left hand corner of an audio clip and selecting Extract stems from sample. You’ll be asked to specify which stems you’re after and given…

The winner of our grand stem separation showdown is actually the only free option we’ve tested: Gaudio Studio. This verdict comes with a caveat, though. While Gaudio Studio narrowly edged past the competition when it came to the quality of the stems it produced (and its lack of a price tag) it was by far the least versatile choice in terms of additional features and functionality. If you wants to chop up stems and play them with a sample instrument, you’d be better off using Serato Sample, and if you want to manipulate stems to create new sounds, then DeepRemix may well be the choice for you. If you’re an FL Studio user, taking advantage of 21.2’s stem separation is a no-brainer, or if you’re simply strapped for time and…

While vocal sampling is commonly used to provide hooks, melodies or toplines for tracks, there are plenty of more atmospheric or experimental ways to work with vocals too. Adding something recognisable as a voice can be a great way to add a natural or humanised feel to a track, but this doesn’t necessarily mean using a full sung vocal line. Sometimes just peppering a beat with ghost note-style fragments of human voice, even low in the mix, can turn a synthetic-sounding track into something more emotive. With a little processing too, it’s possible to turn raw vocal samples into textures more akin to ambient pads or atmospheric backdrops. Let’s take a look at three approaches… 1 Rather than looping a full phrase or even a single word, try creating quick…

Synthesisers all have their differences and their similarities. One crucial way to tell the difference and categorise different instruments is by the type of synthesis they employ. The history of these synthesis methods runs parallel to the development of the synth as a serious instrument, and to the development of sound and music itself. Early synthesisers were chaotic and modular, but the first ‘small’ instruments, such as the Minimoog, offered a ‘subtractive’ synthesis type where a complex waveform was sculpted and filtered to create the main body of the sound. At the same time, West Coast synthesis got its start, with Don Buchla using low-pass gates and wavefolders to ends that were similar… but again, different. Making waves When the digital era hit, subtractive synthesis was obliged to move aside…

For five decades, New Order have skipped with some aplomb between gloomy post-punk tunes, atmospheric electronica, jangly Brit guitar music, full-on electro, comedy pop and four-four dance, never really outstaying their welcome or sticking around long enough to be categorised or pigeonholed, and often throwing elements of some of the above styles – or even all of them – into one recording. Being so hard to pin down, then, it’s not surprising that they have helped to create and influence a wide range of genres of music, from goth to dance, post-rock to synth-pop. But you can’t really talk about the band’s impact without mentioning their first incarnation, as so much about New Order’s sound, career and experimental approach was defined by former band Joy Division, not least three-quarters of…

Distortion, originally considered an undesirable side effect of overloading audio equipment, has become a key element of countless genres of modern music. The history of distortion truly begins in the ’50s when rock ‘n’ roll pioneers started deliberately applying distortion as an effect. By the late ’60s, distortion was established as part of the musical lexicon, leading to the rise of dedicated overdrive pedals, fuzzboxes and distortion units, so you could get sizzling distorted tones without relying solely on amp distortion. VALVE DISTORTION Distortion can be introduced by a number of elements of your signal chain, including speakers, transformers and various smaller electronic components. However, the sound we now usually know as overdrive or mild distortion mainly originates from overloading valve (aka tube) amps. As valve amps are pushed closer…