Содержание выпуска: September 2024 — Future Music

There are arguments to be made that hardware drum machines are a bit of an anachronism in the modern age. Software drum tools – including the stock ones included in most DAWs – are so powerful that it could seem counterintuitive to limit yourself to a single instrument for beat making. There is, however, something special about the physical process of programming, playing and tweaking rhythms using hardware. The key to making the most of a drum machine in the modern age is to lean into its limitations and characteristics. As we discuss in this month’s cover feature, if you really learn the capabilities of a machine and how far they can be pushed, a hardware drum machine can still be the perfect tool to unlock your creativity. We hope…

AMBIENT Ø IS a “soundscape synthesiser” designed for producing immersive sonic textures for ambient music. A digital synthesiser with 10-voice polyphony, it makes use of a form of wavetable synthesis Sonicware has named Blendwave Modulation Synthesis. With 32 wavetables onboard, the synth is equipped with six preset routing configurations, or Structures, grouped into Drone, Pad and Atmos layers. These make use of its three oscillators and various forms of modulation, including pitch, ring and frequency modulation. Each layer has a dedicated envelope, high and low-pass filters and two LFOs. As you’d expect from a synth geared towards ambient sounds, Ambient Ø has a built-in reverb with nine different reverb types. There’s also six more effects onboard, including a tape delay and reverse delay, along with overdrive, bitcrusher, EQ and chorus on…

SAID TO OFFER a sound “as full and robust” as that of a Minimoog and “as aggressive and snarling” as what you’d expect from a Korg MS-20, GForce Software has released its plugin emulation of the Oberheim OB-1 – and it comes with a warning that “it’s angry and ready to bite”. Launched in 1978, the original OB-1 was the world’s first programmable monophonic synthesiser (it enabled you to create and store your own sounds), but, even in these days of retro revivalism, has remained somewhat under the radar. That could be about to change, though; GForce’s software reboot was developed in collaboration with Oberheim and adds a number of new ingredients to the original recipe. Promising an authentic sound, the GForce OB-1 also offers an enhanced signal path that…

CHORD PROGRESSIONS ARE the magic ingredient of music. They provide the harmonic backbone that supports melodies and other musical elements, giving your track context and direction. Different progressions evoke a wide range of emotions, guiding listeners through your song’s emotional journey. They also help define the genre, making your track instantly recognisable as pop, jazz, blues or whatever style you’re aiming for. Plus, they boost the impact of your melodies and lyrics, making everything sound more cohesive and powerful. But let’s be real: creating killer chord progressions can be intimidating, especially for beginner producers who might not have a deep understanding of music theory. The good news? Ableton Live 12 has got your back with a bunch of tools that make this process a breeze. In this article, we’ll dive into…

Let’s be honest – in 2024, the easiest and most flexible approach to beat-making is in-the-box. DAW tools such as Logic’s Drum Machine Designer, Ableton’s Drum Racks or the similar beat making tools in FL Studio, Reason or Bitwig are immensely powerful, allowing users to quickly sequence sampled and synthesised tones side by side, with endless editing and processing possibilities. So why on earth would we advocate using a hardware drum machine? As is the case with hardware synths, there’s something very unique and creative about working with a self-contained machine. While DAW tools tend to offer open-ended functionality, a drum machine will lend itself to a certain sound and way of working through its selection of sounds, sequencing workflow and hands-on controls. What’s more, there’s an inherent physicality to…

1 DISTORTION AND SATURATION USE IT ON: Everything, but particularly kicks and snares It’s a truism of music production that a touch of subtle saturation improves almost any sound, and this is particularly true of drum machines. While a classic machine such as the 909 is legendary, some of its raw sounds can (whisper it) seem a little weedy straight out of the box. Gentle analogue-style distortion/saturation will help address this, and can also add a pleasant hi-fi sheen to hats and cymbals. While subtlety is the name of the game for the most part, more extreme distortion can work well on kicks, snares and claps. This is particularly true for sub-heavy kicks – such as a typical 808 kick – where distortion will add mid-range harmonics and help it cut…

While our focus in these pages has been on the benefit of using hardware drum machines over the tools in your DAW, there is a third category to consider – standalone drum machine plugins. Given how powerful DAW stock tools are, you’d be forgiven for thinking that dedicated plugins are a bit of a waste of money. However, recent years have seen the arrival of a powerful new generation of plugins that aim to allow us to create beats in utterly unique and powerful ways. 1 GENERATIVE BEATS WITH AUDIOMODERN PLAYBEAT 3 Audiomodern Playbeat 3 is a virtual groovebox that can handle intricate drum sequencing and generate rhythmic patterns tailored to your style. It allows for simple sample-based sequencing – either from your own sample library or the expandable internal one…

INCLUDES AUDIO Reason was one of the wave of innovative DAWs that blew in sometime around the year 2000, others being Ableton Live and Cakewalk Sonar. These DAWs were catching the winds of change as computers were becoming viable platforms for producing digital music. While Live’s innovation was Session View and its quantised clip launching, Reason offered a more analogue taste – a rack full of virtual devices, the cables to connect them as you liked, and a way to sequence it all to make music. It was one of the most innovative, powerful and fun ways to make music as the 21st century dawned. On its path to 2024, Reason went through many changes – as did the landscape of other DAWs. Reason grew to add recording capabilities, third-party…

THE SEQUENTIAL PROPHET-5 is arguably – actually, we’re not even going to say ‘arguably’, it just ‘is’ – one of the three greatest synths of all time (FYI: the other two have the words ‘ARP’ and Moog’ stamped on them). It was used by some of the biggest names of the day when released over three revisions during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, has a decent right to claim itself as the first-ever polysynth, and made a successful comeback in 2020, with a version 4 model that’s still one of the best polysynths you can buy in 2024. With a five-voice architecture – or ten on the later Prophet-10 – it was revolutionary, and with features like Poly Mod, the synth had (and has) character by the bucketload to cover…

Just a few weeks after its last release, Spectravox, Moog’s latest instrument is another semi-modular addition to the US brand’s range that also includes the Mother-32, DFAM and Subharmonicon. Moog describes Labyrinth as a ‘parallel generative analogue synth’, a set of words that excites my inner Autechre fan, even if it’s not instantly obvious what they might mean combined. In practice, the first two of those words refer to two distinctive elements of Labyrinth’s design – its unique dual-path synth engine, and its sequencer, which uses randomisation tools in order to create some unpredictable, polymetric patterns. Let’s set those generative tools aside for a moment. While they’re undoubtedly an important part of its character, even divorced from these sequencing tools, Labyrinth is a fascinating and capable monosynth in its own…

Ableton Live from £259 Full review: FM407 Live 12’s generative tools offer a mass of creative fun, and the recently released 12.1 update adds an excellent drum sampler and vocal processor into the mix. Bitwig Studio from £49 Review FM411 Arguably the most forward-thinking DAW around. V5.2 adds three new EQs and an overhauled compressor. Tracktion Waveform Pro from $119 Review FM345 Waveform is stuffed full of creative tools and useful workflow ideas. Logic Pro £199 Review FM411 V11 adds AI-aided keys and bass, along with in-DAW stem separation and a new ‘instant warmth’ plugin. Universal Audio Luna free Now available for free for all Mac and PC users – albeit with lots of paid add-ons – Luna is a handy, well-designed recording app. NEW ENTRY Reason Studios Reason £499 Full review:…

ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO correct pitchy vocals as transparently as possible, automatic tuning plugins are now just as frequently used as extreme creative effects. With Humanoid, Baby Audio has dispensed with the idea of creating a ‘natural’-sounding processor and built something that specialises in hard tuning and freaky robotic voice manipulation. That said, some things do look familiar. The Pitch section, for example, enables you to set a scale to which your vocals will be tuned. There’s also a Note mode that gives you the option of setting the desired pitch manually by clicking on a graphical musical keyboard, or you can ‘play’ Humanoid from your MIDI keyboard. It’s over in the Synthesize section, though, that things get a little more unhinged. Push the Transform dial to the max and your…

IT’S NOT THE only member of the Roland Space Echo family, but few would argue that the RE-201 is the definitive model. Released in 1974, it’s the tape echo and spring reverb par excellence, so it should come as no great surprise that Roland has now added an emulation of it to its roster of plugins. Available via Roland Cloud, this offers multiple tape head combinations and has a resizable, hi-res interface that replicates the look and feel of the original hardware. There’s an extended set of parameters for those who want to go beyond the original controls, along with six tape-speed LFO shapes with tempo sync and adjustable rate and depth. As with many of Roland’s other recent ‘vintage’ plugins, you can adjust the condition of the unit to vary…

ASIDE FROM A few interesting outliers, most hardware drum machines come equipped with a step sequencer that will be loosely rooted in the design used by Roland’s classic 808 and 909. However, while most machines share a lot of basic functionality, there’s variation in the tools that allow us to bring feel and interest to drum patterns. Let’s take a look at some of the core tools… SWING AND GROOVE Swing is a parameter common to even the most basic drum machines. A standard drum machine’s step sequencer divides each looped pattern into a set number of steps – typically 8, 16 or 32. By default, these steps are evenly spaced out, resulting in rigid timing that lacks the natural ‘feel’ of a human drummer, and can sound somewhat robotic…

CREATIVE TRANSPOSITION All drum hits have a static, predictable pitch. This means that, when you’re on a sound design mission and want to create unusual sounds from drums, a good thing to reach for is your drum machine’s transpose knob. Tune a hi-hat down by an octave or more to turn it into a weird snare layer; pitch kicks up into rimshot territories; or move a crash cymbal down by two octaves and swamp it in reverb to create a spooky, drone-like sound effect. Tuning doesn’t have to be static, either: assign an LFO or envelope to modulate pitch, then experiment with LFO shapes and speeds. Or, if your drum machine doesn’t feature modulation, do it manually and twist the tune knob in real time as you print the results.…

THE WORD ‘SIDECHAIN’ has grown to have a second meaning – it’s the ducking effect caused by intentionally compressing a track using a kick or other repetitive element as the sidechain input, causing a rhythmic pumping effect. The original trick used a full-on compressor, but a dedicated tool was an obvious advantage, and many solutions have sprung up over the years, including Kickstart, Cableguys’ VolumeShaper, Xfer’s LFOtool and Devious Machines Duck. Now in version 13, Reason has its own dedicated ‘pumper’ – Sidechain Tool. This tool packs a lot into its short Rack format, giving a choice of preset curves and basic curve editing (Attack, Hold, Release and a control over the curve of either end). There’s also an Amount control to determine the extent of the ducking effect, and…

01 First select the Init or Default preset on whatever Prophet-5 version you ‘re using. This should bring up something like a simple sawtooth sound. In Poly Mod mode, we’re only using Osc 1 (or A) with Osc 2 (or B) modulating, so make sure Osc 2 and Noise are turned down in the mixer section, with just Osc 1 turned up. 02 As we’re using Osc 2 as an LFO, we want it at an audible rate. So turn Lo Freq and Kbd on. This latter option means that Osc 2 will follow the keyboard, that is its LFO frequency will vary with the key pressed, so it will generate up to five varying LFOs depending on the keys pressed. 03 Now select the triangle wave for Osc 2.…

“I remember kind of shutting down on that song because it just seemed like a ‘wank,” Prince’s engineer Peggy ‘Mac’ McCreary told Sunset Sound Recorders. “Just like, ‘Oh my god, here we go’ – the raging guitar and the raging synths and everything. It seemed so overproduced to me.” McCreary is discussing When Doves Cry, now celebrated as one of Prince’s greatest singles, but it might not have ended up that way. She was in the studio when it was being recorded, but admits that, as the number of parts grew and the arrangement became fuller, she “kind of shut down”. Cut to the last night of mixing, though, and Prince had a change of heart. “As the night went on, things started coming out… he kind of ‘unproduced it’,…

Ableton Push from $999 Full review: FM397 Push finally lives up to Ableton’s vision of controller-asinstrument, and standalone mode is a great new way to use Live. Akai APC64 £399 Review FM402 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, but still the best mixer-focused device for Live. Novation Launchpad X £180 Review FM356 Neat, compact and more flexible than ever, Launchpad remains a must-try tool. Novation Launchkey Mini £100 Review FM349 A small but perfectly formed MIDI controller that works great with or without Live.…

NEW ENTRY Moog Labyrinth £599 Full review: FM412 Despite a few misgivings about the hardware design, Moog’s latest semi-modular is one of the most unique and inspiring synths of recent times. Intellijel Cascadia £2,025 Review FM401 A bit of a master stroke. Cascadia merges different synthesis types and houses them in a format that works extremely well. Bastl Softpop SPII £445 Review FM393 Softpop offers vast tonal options and great sequencing, connectivity and portability. Korg Volca Modular £190 Review FM342 A West Coast synth in a compact package. It may be fiddly, but give in to its experimental ethos and it’s endless fun. Moog Matriarch £1,979 Review FM355 Matriarch is very inspiring, has the classic Moog sound and is complex yet intuitive. Moog Spectravox £599 Full review: FM411 One of the…

NEW ENTRY Dreadbox Murmux Adept £2,759 Full review: FM412 While it doesn’t offer anything revolutionary, Murmux’s gorgeous, characterful sound and quality design live up to its top-end price point. Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave £3,279 Review FM406 Simply one of the most powerful synths you could imagine, in an easy to use package. UDO Super Gemini £3,595 Review FM408 One of the best performance synths on the market. Does plenty to warrant the outlay. Arturia PolyBrute 12 €3,999 Review FM410 The PolyBrute was already fantastic, but this update puts it up there with the best. Sequential Take 5 £1,229 Review FM382 More than just an affordable Prophet, Take 5 sits very much on its own, as a distinctive synth with a fantastic sound.…

FL STUDIO’S LATEST update is here, and it’s a big one. The latest version of the DAW to be released since FL Studio 21 last year has been rebranded as FL Studio 2024, and with it comes a host of new music-making goodies that includes synth plugins, effects, AI-powered MIDI tools and more. AI is taking the music production world by storm, with Ableton Live and Logic Pro both introducing AI-powered generative MIDI tools in their latest updates. FL follows suit, with the inclusion of an AI-based chord progression generator that produces chord sequences based on a chosen genre or vibe, and can suggest backing accompaniments for any melody or bassline. FL Studio 2024 also introduces a new synth plugin. Building on FL’s Kepler synth, Kepler Exo is a virtual…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a free way to turn a static sample into something special, Steinberg has a little something for you in the form of X-Stream, a free spectral synthesiser that we’re guessing may share some DNA with the company’s SpectraLayers audio editor. Said to “turn any samples into smooth evolving soundscapes and textures”, this works by stretching, looping and otherwise manipulating your audio using its spectral algorithms and effects. In fact, although playback is monophonic, you can actually feed X-Stream complete tracks if you wish, then get busy twisting them out of shape. What’s more, pitch-shifted copies of your sample can be stacked up to create chords that can be played from just one note. You can modulate two parameters simultaneously on two different axes with the X-LFO, and…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH Seefeel, Everything Squared Warp SEEFEEL ARE PRETTY much the definition of a ‘cult’ band. They were the first guitar-playing act signed to Warp in the ’90s and were broadly considered pioneers of shoegaze alongside the likes of Ride and My Bloody Valentine, although never achieved the widespread popularity of either act. Aphex Twin was a notable fan, and the fact an album of theirs was released on his Rephlex label is a good indicator of electronic and experimental tendencies that always meant that Seefeel never quite fit the shoegaze tag. Since their ‘90s run, new material has been rare. The core duo behind Seefeel – Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock – reunited for a self-titled album in 2011, but this new six-track mini album is their…

Contemporary drum machines are considerably more advanced than their ‘80s predecessors in many ways, but nowhere more so than when it comes to sync and connectivity. While old-school drum machines often relied on simple analogue or DIN sync (a precursor to MIDI), modern machines are often capable of a broad range of options to help them integrate into wider studios. These can range from analogue pulse ins and outs to full MIDI implementation, USB MIDI and – as in the case of Elektron’s Overbridge – audio-over-USB and plugin-like control. Taking advantage of these capabilities can make a drum machine an excellent hub for a wider studio setup. Take Behringer’s Roland-inspired RD-8 and RD-9, for example. Each offers USB connectivity that allows them to be synced to a DAW, but they…

1 Elektron Digitakt II The original version of Elektron’s rugged sampler was already a popular choice for beatmakers, thanks in part to its ability to simultaneously sequence its internal sample engine and control external gear via MIDI. Digitakt II doubles the original’s eight audio track to 16 and adds stereo sample playback, which enhances its percussive sound design capabilities. For our money, though, the best enhancements for version II come in the form of the upgraded filters and LFOs. Additional comb and EQ filter modes add new sound shaping possibilities, and an extra LFO-per track makes it easier to keep your beats moving. Further additions include a Euclidean sequencing mode, which adds an additional polyrhythmic flavour to the sequencing workflow, and new digital distortion modes.  DOWNSIDE: The notoriously fiddly Elektron workflow…

INCLUDES VIDEO Over the past decade or so, British producer Max Cooper has emerged as one of our most innovative electronic musicians. Much like his peers Jon Hopkins or Floating Points, Cooper’s take on electronic music sits at the nexus point between the club, ambient and classical. One element that makes Max Cooper’s particular strand of electronic music unique is his emphasis on the connection between visual and sonic artforms. Almost all of Cooper’s projects are linked to, or inspired by, corresponding visual works, which form the basis for his stunning multi-screen AV shows. “Usually the way I work with visuals is that I’ll start with some kind of concept that has a visual counterpart, and then I commission someone to build the visuals,” he explains. “But sometimes people will…

1 Let’s put the new Ripley Space Delay device onto a synth track and see what it can do. We come up with a patch that starts with separate delay times for the left and right channels, which is a nice feature, but it’s possible to disable it by deselecting Dual Delay. 2 Ripley gives you Time and Feedback controls, along with a Multiplier for delay time. Even if not in Dual Delay mode, use the Offset parameter to give a time difference between left and right channels. And then there’s a filter for the feedback loop to act on the delayed signal. 3 Activate the Wobbler and you’ve got some analogue-style drift in the style of a tape delay – a very broken tape delay indeed if you turn…

Elektron Analog Heat +FX £829 This revamp of Elektron’s analogue distortion adds a full chain of effects that can be fully reordered and modulated for wild, transformative results. Eventide H90 £935 Review FM394 Countless synthesists swear by the H9, and the H90 builds on the format by placing two H9 processors in one box. Korg Monotron Delay £49 Over a decade on from its original release, Korg’s analogue synth/delay processor remains a must have, and the best way to spend £50. OTO Bam €480 Review FM314 This characterful digital reverb unit is the highlight of boutique effect brand OTO’s all-round impressive range. Dreadbox Hypnosis €220 Review FM353 Dreadbox’s brilliantly old-school analogue delay and modulation processor, now reborn as an affordable DIY kit.…

Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O.II £299 Full review: FM405 The K.O.II isn’t the most advanced sampler on the market by any stretch, but there’s a lot of fun to be had within its limitations. Polyend Play+ $799 ‘Plus’ builds on the capabilities of the original Play by adding synth engines alongside sample tracks, enhancing the usability considerably. Roland SH-4d £549 Review FM394 Roland has released a lot of retro-inspired gear in recent years, but this stands out from the crowd as a real sonic playground. Elektron Syntakt £949 Review FM392 Syntakt is a top quality analogue-meets-digital groovebox with a lot of power under the hood. Novation Circuit Tracks £360 Review FM369 MIDI, samples and synths in one bargain box! A great update to the orginal.…

Baby Audio Atoms $99 Full review: FM407 Atoms is a characterful and natural-sounding electronic instrument. Come for the otherworldly pads, stay for the surprisingly hard-hitting bass. u-he Diva €179 Diva is a little long in the tooth these days, but it’s still one of the most powerful and popular virtual analogue synths going. Cherry Audio Sines $49 Sines is an unique and original synth based around the complex interaction of sinewave oscillators. It’s a bargain at under £/$50. Kilohearts Phase Plant $199 Review FM350 Phase Plant’s modular design comes with a high learning curve, but it also brings masses of power and flexibility. FabFilter Twin 3 £109 An update to a modern classic. Fabfilter Twin 3 is the perfect balance between vintage influence and contemporary design. Arturia Pigments $199 Full review:…