i) ComputerZ LeU) (8 eat) El tearm net eR dled our interactive crash coursenets stars emppent mat Se ieonenstonrahomgereon WELCOME Editor ‘Andrea Robinson e love software synthesizers, They offer us an unlimited sonic palette — from vintage analogue tones to vocal emulation and everything in between ~ and serve as a constant reminder that this is yet another area where today's music producers have never had it so good. There Is one unfortunate side effect, however: the dreaded preset hangover. Every electronic musician has suffered from this at some point. The condition usually occurs after an evening of heavy patch consumption, spent vainly searching for ‘the sound’ that’s needed for a track in progress. Ringing ears, a confused mind and an ever-expandit collection of unsuitable-but-cool patches filed away under ‘must use some time’ are jusst some of the symptoms, But the real danger in repeated indulgence in such activity is that your track never really sounds ‘as good as you know it could ~ or worse, never gets finished at all ‘At em, we'e firm believers in the ‘if it works, use i’ philosophy when it comes to presets, but weld also advocate being able to fx it fit doesn't. Armed with some knowledge of sound design, you can take a patch that almost works and tweak it to perfection. Dig a litle deeper and you'll own the power to create your own truly unique timbres. Our aim fs to help you achieve all of.these things in the shortest time possible, ENJOY THE ISSUE... THE CM MISSION With this em Special, our goa is to help you make better music using virtual synthesizers and your ‘Mac or PC. With this objective in mind, we bring you easy'to-ollow tutorials and guides, software recommendations and a CD packed with software and Batches so you can get started Meh away!THE FAST GUI Lower Dsainoi ‘aod Instruments have seen tel flr share roversy, bu they’ powerul fools forthe adventurous synthesist this ol¢ approach ase of Iie by softnar 46 invent sounds that could never ens outside the ital domMya =A rae) 1B 70 Acid basstine ‘80 Sample and hold 71 Classic lead 81 Sequencer bass 72 Classic pad 82 ce pad 73 Hoover 83 sub shaker 74 Nasty kick 84 synclead 75 FM percussion ‘85 synth bass 76 Polysynth brass 86 swoosh 77 Mbells ‘87 synth pluck 78 whistler 88 synth strings 79 Electric plano 89 Electro lead ln ae Ad fe} s pas Au 34g THECD. onl tf es Elid c ¢ moments in synthesis... and ] Ferra eos ctueny Esra ones REASON: es) seesa bref history of virtual synthesis A brief history off... Virtual synthesis Make sure your flux capacitor is lly charged as we take a virtual trip through time 1822 Joseph Fuser publishes Théorie Anahique dela (Chaleur ana intoduces the des tat simple sine waves can be combined to ceste neary any peragie waveform Known as Foutler Arai, his becomes vey important in the study of sound, 1863 Hermann von Helmhot bulls an electrical deveo that combines muiile tuning forks, each tuned to 2 solact monic Alon, the forks mrocuce a sino wave. Together, ey produce 3 much more complex tone, This may be the very fst synthesizer ever ade, Adve, no less 1906 Elecvonic musics bom whon the Talharmorium { ‘makes its publle debut n NYC, Wolghing In at 200, tons and taking up nent Hoor ofthe Buin that houses Ihe instrument causes fry of fexctement before trance problems and advancing technology doom ito extineton, Sony, sams ~ there ae no known recordings the marti ctu some ofthe feebies you Fes-on the em cise every month, 19990 I Mocices syn, a visual programing aplication used to cieate syns and tec ts Pel Over tine, ably to export VST phisins TTT oe Insplles duluge of eeware anths mnade by oukd6 cevelones 2000 © ‘noher fst fr Steno tele Minbne0g copy, the ‘Modi, necomes the tis commercial vale VST sthosiet: Sofware instruments aré poe to spd into 9 bal indus 2000 avo tistraments abun tho PS, a emulation of th famous Prophet. the same year Rtizomale Softwar release the inal version of Absynth lor ge. Untke many sof syns uf te day, his one is ‘bout evelaton, rather than eration 2004 © ardare smesis slants Korg release the icy ‘election of plugin versions of os of ee ss instumems the MS-20 Pays and Wiest 2005-2008 Seigvae emusations of classic ear jist St bem and bate, 2006 sees the release of Nis pean FA, whl Arua make the sound of se emulations avalale i th frm of Ansloe [the wile, ev tron Is Being exci ‘Singin shh Canara no 08 Bere release! in 2007, we may bo Seeing = sBimese ofthe future of Shes em 2007 COMPUTER USEC:= il _ The fast guide to subtrac synthes Subtractive synthesis is by far the most common synthesis method out there. Learn about this technique and you'll be able to master most synthesizers you encounter SS <7 Srna ) ee grit EE sites with what is without dodbt the ; ‘most popular type of sytess valabe. pleas ‘Subwactve Instruments are te foundation upon ‘ate alos Beaty which both the hardware and sofware synthesizer ‘ indus is but. Neary every other for of synth ‘well ouch upon in 5 cou almost be be “Cana teary SOON as an aside, a ‘ers vay frm the predominant tchnigue of x subvecive shes So what do wo mean when we sy Subtactie synthesis? Simply ut asubratvo synth enables ment ora tangent that the user to create and shape sounds a producing a raw waveform, rch in harmonies, and thon provdos . a methods by which the frequencies ofthat MF weavetor are chives f ‘aay, leaving only the F desiree ine, The main constituent of this process is Fen companies ike te legendary ‘Moog have produced models that have become eases. Today, thore's much contusion surounding subtracte smthess, Many musielans mistakenly assume that the tom apples only to analogue synths fs tue that most analogue synths were infact, subtacthe instruments, but aryinstument with iter ‘onboard is making use ofsubractve techniques. nthe 80s, a fe nstrumentVe Yi Ye SEL rmanufcturers recognised the fact thatthe handful of aw wavelorms found on analogue instruments ould be replaced by more complex samples. The ‘Sow of samplo-based instuments that flowed wore no less subtractive than granny’ battered old Minimoog, Well cover these sort of instruments in eater depth elsewhere, you have an Understanding of subtractive synths youl be In a beter poston to got the most out of them. Varying voltages Analogue instuments have become vituly synonymous wth syhosiers. Tei squeley bioeps and otheworaly swooshes deine, or many people, exact what a smthesier sounds ke. The fist commercaly avaiable sts were analogue, ants Sor of nstument remained te standard for over a decade unt being ef supolanted by FM and wavetable synths inthe 80s Tily analogue instuments generate and contol thor inal using puro elctalvtages. or instance, the higher the vatage generated by the escilatrs, the higher the pitch. Such instruments fer many methods by which thse intemal Voltas may be manipuatd, hence the erm ‘otage conto used to describe the process. Theft wh tly analogue instruments fs that voltages re inherent unstabe. As any owner {fina analogue wl tl you, such instruments {ond 10 cit out of tune at contain fequencis. ven hangs in oom temperature and hui can lay havoc wih the Isrumens Forunat, ‘adrances in technology have enabled ws to ‘eorate all that wo lov about analogue sys wih WE CZ none ofthe drawbacks, and for far less ‘money fr even no money at all. Thanks to todays meticulously modoled emulations of classi analogue synths, this archaic architecture has retumed. ‘Tha signal path ofthe analogue subtractive srtbesizer has hardly changed since twas fst solid by the famous Minimoog, way back the eary 70s. That Instrument contained harc-wied signal path that consstod of thr oscilators ‘and a noise generator, al of which wore pumped through a low pass te and shaped by a pair of rudimentary envelope generators. Tis tempat, with minor veralons, provides considerable amount of flexibity and conto! without sacrificing ease-ofuse. Well ake look at ech section In tum, staring wih the asia. Oscillators ‘A gnihesizos ncuting analogues, tart wth escilatrs. The excite produces the raw sound thats fre sculpted and shaped by the other components in the sjstom. General specking an aselatr ofthe Sot ound on subtracts syns Produces @ number of selectable waveforms. Analogue insruments usualy gonertea mere hand of waves. The simplest ofthese, the sine wave, consist of onl the fundamental Feaueney, ‘witout any adetonal harmonies. More extn are Sawtooth, square, puse and tale waves. These have ving amounts of harmonies pled onto the fundamental and provide more fodder fo the ter {0 work with. ts examine these common sf ot ert on sis fo tp bteesmtoth Scuse sine nos sw sey ‘waveforms n eater dent ‘The square wave ls one ofthe most usoful ofall analogue waveforms I consists ofthe fundamental lus od integer harmonics, I practical terms this rocuces a sort of hollow tone, deal for, say, an ‘oboe emulation. As you can see rom our waveform ‘splay labovel, the square wave ges its name from Its rather evenly spaced dy cycle. you increase the percentage ofthe postive or negative cycles, youll got a pulse wave. ‘A sawtooth wave consists ofboth even and ode paras, resulting ina fuller, more requencystich ‘one. This makes it deal for subractve syihess ‘since it ges the ltr aft to work wih One of he ‘most popular sounds in madem musics created by stacking lots of sawtooth waves tousther each slit detuned from the others. Uk the square wave, the tangle wave consists 2007 COMPUTER MSEC SPECIAL [LEof only the oda harmonies, but the higher frequencies are role of alot mor than onthe sare wave, Sonically, resembles asigty more ‘complex sine wave In addon to generating these wavefoms, tho selators offer ways to contol and manipulate the waves, ch contol s almost aay on fer, both In coarse and fine incromonts.Coarso pitch control Is usually described in ranges, with, say, 32" being ule low, 16" abi higher and soo, with each range being an octave higher than the previous sting Fine tuning is defined in ‘cons You might aso find frequency modulation on offer, Aso known as FM, ths enabes tho frequency of one esclator to modlat anothe, resulting in harmonies that are not present in eter ofthe ofghal signals t's great for metalc tones. Ring modulation combines two waveforms, but ‘only outputs the sum and dference, Aga ths Is ‘00d for motalic and no'sy sounds Often, the osclators are joined in a mer section bya noise generator White noise contains all audible frequencies simutanooush, suiting in ‘whooshing sound. Its oten used as an audio source andissuitale for percussion, wind noises or special eects. When used as a modulation source I produces random, chaotic eects. Let them pass: filters After does exact what the name imps: ers out selected frequencies or groups of equencies Ring modulation Ring modulation Is one of the most esate ad misunderstood of sihesi tchniques. ough the method maybe arcane, youve ‘probably as a wee Oke hiding behind the couch a those Infamnous etratertestal pepper pots, th Daleks, stormed a loca quany In soar ofa cortan renegade Time Lod Yep that cling steatly and bay memorable sc7eeoh of "Extorm-nate" Was crated by runing th actor! ‘oiees through ang modulator Ring modulators ee an eal tol f= Thoy an also be a gold mine fr those looking or elangoous, metalic percussion sounds Just dont ‘Undoubtealy hoard the sound, for such toate fexpect them f0 Be in perect harmony wlth Your song. ‘ring modulator mutes two inputs apd outs the sum and ference between the two quences ‘he ogial frequencies are ot prose inthe fa Sena This technique Is very smart ampitude ‘modulation, ony in that parla technique, the onal ‘are heard inthe ouput So simi re these synthesis techniques {hat they are commonly interchanged by usere and deveopars ake. Thro aro more an a fw syntestors out there that Duubort to perf ring modulation when i scaly ‘Smpltude macuaton tat the developer has Include. ing modulators do Somo prety neat things with sampled waveforms or ive audio signals as wel as exemplified by ‘hose Enemies of Mankind, the Daleks, So, not time you ringmediatoe. (012 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 the ung t fake ove the pane or ‘the dance floor make sure you ae stmed with your tus, YY Exacty which frequencies those ares VirSyn Tera Though his, technical, semnémadular instrument vith far more m going for than mere analogue Imitation, we can't help but Include it In this Ist Tors analogue synthesis Is Stunning in ts esis. Wa know of ‘mare than one analogue ateionado ‘who has been wan aver by this fantaste Istumont. cr (014 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007Intay a rset cated Secondo aco to Dali L's oad nthe path alos pobfbktosle, ‘whch yt eon yur cows: ts smoke sin osiltor pte wih no Mig taka pace ly 2 ror va The sore You hers he sine wave fern subtractive synthesis secur ane wave cc Take ok tit Asyou can se, be a ‘ors tat Sie of pbs GUL Nace at USC fore of te sor ttc, payed ick on tho Wave a 0 Dg uo te mena of vb options There ae fur re ten actor sips Declater Fin base sound wl ate ony 4 enon am we te choose Slt and ly ach of rnc oct ‘ham nun gat fol fr how thy sound O16 :6(030 8 eae the sound Wot cant her cur seandocltr, Thats SSS Sse you mn each ofthe osalaes Roe EU Fey fow notes on your cntoter keyboae Con ou hear how ul and eh our sound swe to cond, dated saath ne? We ean 2 ot mor equnoy fodder or au itary ect te hed ‘scl n Mk 1 and bring up eel eta by and play sora nots Vr rie» ‘he ocr inthe mae, an sch on te Qianienieees ase generator Pay a note ow. AS you caf eae rica sounds ko statis Kean ba wart ta {our suo rere Swit Rut agin ad ng thet slats ack up. Some ss oltre oscil funetons Fyous des, periment wh her 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL| 015set tt cnt poston. New, ay ana cs Foto while tumeg ve Cut 190 ‘ore fis» sen Bo ea ‘STEP-BY-STEP Modulation » cf ‘ob asinod to en 2? lek o Dy seca a th ment ‘rc destnatons (016 | comPuTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007[ivssonSrnatoc me ae lo tector ol xa sled matory od aga ety Sretes etal Getaarha an sta soles nd drm motes {hye coma tester, tan be hy ee tents ou ‘Semple ‘any pr fn Da Ean (On the CD at Testes Kompleser an the freeware SOS In Softwae= Sn the tutor fes ye nso in Tutotalsrwavetabie ble synthesis Digitally sampled waves are a rich resource for (otoltno) cease alice ole] ae-iare em Merl Veer SN ne waveloms through the same familar ites and sfflects and modulate them with ervelope generators and LFOs H youre not woltversed In subtractive synthesis fp back to p10 and read our Fost Guido to the subjoct, ‘io recordings have fong been a stale of lectonic musi, Case in point the sequencers on tary analogue syths were, In actualy, attempts 0 recreate the musique concrete of avant garde composers whose creations were realised by cutting up bits of audiotape and spicing them together inthe desied order Sound familar? should! ’s a technique that would pop up decades later in ploneerng hardware and popular sofware instruments tke the Korg Wavestation, Concrete P's fubik and other wavetable synthesizers Wavetables defined There's boon much confuse over the years as to ha, exact, constitutes a Wavetable symbesze, While a huge numberof sts and sampler} Include Samples stood in ondoard ROM. some uns have aspect exoectatio fers an Instument described as a wavetable synthesizer This contusion stoms for how te instrument accesses the samples in meron Early insurers had but le memory tt was quite expense atthe nl Take the FPG Wave n orto break ee om the limitations of simpe analogue wavetoms, ts creator Wolzang Pam, decid to use dltaly Stored waveorms. He could sua relthely ‘masshe numberof complex 6 waveforms Into the tin. any one of which coud e tapped by tha instrument's oselators. These waves were arangea in 30 tables, each of which included 64 waves, a ‘rang together in series. The user could call yon 2 single wavela, or, more intresting, cyclo ‘rough a seis ofthe using a modulator such as ‘an envelope generator, LEO or sequencer. it was aban dea, and ater a decade and a hal of simple square, sawtonth and sine waves, fe stage was st fora wavetable takeover. only that ‘esky FM synthesis thing hadnt gotten Inthe way. Wavetable domination would have to wal, When It id tinal athe, the price of mentory had plummeted, snd the newer conquering \wavetabe synths ad the abit to pay back fu ‘multsampled instuments, Modulating though the ‘onboard memory was a function that ined on trough only @ anal of Instruments, Such fs the case to this wary day. Modom ‘ample-based Instruments tend o be of one ype the othe, hereto Inticetely sampled instrument collections that take up many gigabytes of hard tive space, Danstakingy crated to imate ‘eventing om a jazz drum kt toa fll smmphony orchestra, Yea few FOMplers woar thor waveable pedigee on thelr stoves, reveling in the evoking nature of the architecture. Bath of these approactos a powerful toos forthe adventrous synthesis, ‘ther creative applatons of sample playback Include vector synthesis and wavesequencing both at which can be found in Kor’ aforementioned. \avestaon synthesize, loving recreated in thelr Legacy Digtal Eaton, Wavesequencing imohes stin@ng together sampled waves in any order you1 builtin sequencer atthe oscillator lve. 6 both yt passages or slowly sonic tapestries -ceseibed vector nthesis in The Fast Guise e Synthesis [010 When applied to sampled waveforms this technique folie producing yb timbres that cant ‘Se natural word, Imagine you wil, a bet into bowed marimba and thon 3 pulso Seu getthe Wea! od form lf the reasons sample-base instuments es called POM sys) get abt ofa bad IS down tothe lack of creat shown by oftheir users Many musicians are content to ‘bigger a sample a set of samples without ethorng to shape of manipulate those Th very same musician migt have no in ing the cit or resonance knobs ital analogue sys wi. Yet samples Ser 3 sical cooper vel to mio than a of analogue waves does. This is especialy fnho0 a sample canbe used asa carr or f+ or Requancy modulation or Hg ton. LinPu's CronoX3 is fine proponent of of paver, combining sranlar smhess cs Go with the grain Most forms of sampleplayback ysis are ‘exactly that a svaghtforgad means of playing the ‘Stored aud fl back exactly a5 was recorded. ‘ay be shuttled though fitrs and oects processors, and it maybe subjected t0 some Shaping and modulation, but the Job ofthe ‘sellator prety cut and dled Howowr recent Years, eanulr syntess is begun fo make some ‘Solos roads, though perhaps nt In the way ath, ‘experimenters may nave expected, (rama synthesis sa Technique by which an ‘ao es broken down Int at of ty ‘ins, which can than be rearranged, manipulated and tered. The user of comprehonshe granular syesler might have contol ovr such Darameters as playoack speed, number of gras, Alspersion and tye application of random payback ofthe gains amltude, pan postion and pte, That nse might be enough o pique a crate synthesis’ imagination, bu granu ‘Stes has manifested ely some unusual ‘nd unexpoctad applietons, the most common of ‘Though were primaly concemed with mutisample or waveiabe synthesis hor, we should also mention that loop-based sample playback instumens also ofen spor, ‘comprehensive synthesis engines, and could be choice: wavetable synths wavetable synthesis ihe might belts use as a tmestetching ‘igor. One ofthe eraubacks of a conventional Sampler i that tars the phen of a Sound by ‘ily changing Ue layback speed ofthe samplad {eT ests Inte dreaded ‘hipmunk ect ‘when 2 sample I played ata high teh By breaking the sound down into gram the pteh can bo altered independent ofthe time domain and oa vers, “another application of granular symesis is found in the grlnable’ technology used In Reasor's Mastin sythestzer This amazing Instrument combines ganular and wavetable technologies for lng and inspirational timbres. ‘en asa lose relative tothe tractional ROMHer Cor wavetabe synthesize. ‘No matter what the incamaton or playback systom, the sampleased smtheszr isa power Aaddtion to ary alctronic muslean'stotbox. em > Korg Wavestation In 1991, Korg unleashed one ofthe mast innovative takes on etable synthesis inthe form ofthe Wavestation. Combining vector sis with the ably to string together custom wavesequences, Seumd ofthis miraculous machine as al the rage forthe next few 92s, appoaring on countless albums and movie soundtracks. Fast forward well vera decade andthe Wavestaton fs once again in| {roslcton this ime as a VST plugin. Pat of Kors's Digital Ection along with the Md, I's a must-have «Terratec Komplexer Komplexer drags wavetable synthesis Kcking and screaming ito the modem age. Sreathy textures, gurgling vavetable sweeps and harsh basses are ust the beginning Fans ofthe orginal PPG instruments or Waldoe's Mlcrwave series would do wel to chock thls ne out. KOMPLEXER) UN LLL LLL “Te uncerstand the mie power of sampleesed llth compe re oe Incubator presat- is patch nasa soto plcred stirgrecl quay that wot be possible wh anaogse avalos. ay somo notes ans mats wi he kbs 0 fararse yous whe bases > ‘Now that you had Some un wth th facto. Datos, a's experiment wi one of ou ovr Load inte ater cae KompenerBasi Fm your covers Tis pach exact wha th nae eps: 2 bse waversle patch wth tle modulo hat wl make ‘goed start pant > and esr te mor ig than plan ft toto sare wave bu hrs not alt sing hoe Lats gn the wevetate osellators Clk {he Main’ ahs 9 of GU eg up the main ‘to page Ths s where wel in oscars, es an. the, > AGiusmaes Fer fer contol verte waste. move tho sl ‘wht ers nh top of o waveform elo Ding tote rat to ce ough the varus wees nis partcuar wavetate Her ove slated Wve O54 we studs the he lose FM aot plano ‘ado famous by th Yaraha OX. > (020 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007, Theft wo te wavetalebasd, ile eid i ‘ur pica! slog wavelor generat nha etn ofthe er, oul bd Be Mar who ou can mix and rout your scl. Maka sion Oneltatr Ii tured up. > a ea the cant selocted waveforms 2 ‘deta el tone Tis caming Hom Osltor {Take look at Tews awe dpay the {ope comer ef te oselatrsocton You can ate ich ‘wave is bor lye by us te arews. > 5 nthe top ha ofthe Gul ar th hoo ost. 6 ay a ow notes on your koboan contol. 1s you ‘There ar to wavetbles tom which chose, nd yu ean set ether of ther us the WT oc WI Instr th lei corar af te ear naoguestile wavelom you want to cea a classic ‘Stawacthe sya pate > Reclet WT os the waetabl tobe ploy by salar 1 ang sat the wave t 000 aga Note ‘hat Ostia 2s using WT. Now at yous had Mier and mix Osistor 2 back it the sal path AS eu can see bath esi are being sent Fr 3. >Now ta ou nave a ie of Nat th alas poy dc a wats fs ave sore fn rego coat an erst pa et Sos tous the wave fr erat foc. Tis SSeS apr tck nth ays of tho PP, ad ss Sa Today Locate ne itr Ensone ar ieane he ecko sbut 70 Ce td ats ute sie ready, st nthing tou our do we sae saps paytack Tats re er wets coo mst = Seren hatte PH Pals With Mado! uncon ralystbuted to analogs square waves doles as ‘seve poston hineton nan nwa ‘rote lrease that vale to +60. Lats inoue the LO a te. Ck the ENVIRO Jaton tthe top ofthe day o big uo he soporte path. Ther re ro mare eles down. and.a oof Ds As youl ec we assed our ‘Scond silos watabl a De macutet 9) FOR. Shang 702% Shape 0 Rando wavetable synthesis Crate Decay up 1 ve 100 un the ie think te Fite Erle Atak cul bs Sst tena dun, Yu cn love te deed up 8 toch, to 89 or abo has elas a5 or now. Tas mine ete The sau no ossoms owl no Sereator desired wo york whe Mor ut at thea ats ut tne Amplifier Envelope. us the Inoment ts dara ugh un iter Ts Cu down 0 Atak segner up © about 45 and nerease Ne Reese ‘sound 32, hn nrease th Ev Amount 10 #32 Pay and ene to 80. Play and ald note Ocho. falda not ro cod Pay ad ld aye ora chor Hold or some Reta he Br Cao he presi ost. me beth let ofthe Fir Envelope ts flow st wh the woven Oscar Svesping dough the wavelales Open up th occ sain using Pe PWM futon. Ts ees ‘ert you eed alae plc, Gan you ear Me oweve LFO2 Ite assed Medan sore. shimmering amet metal garg ote wavlablesn__ reas the ee f modulation Yo +40 Py an old a [ul maton?’ an fect it's ana tete nary oer noe oF 9 chr Ts a vay coe ect > ‘pe of eran Sethe FO wae mt te ost tempo by wesomel aroha tp, ts swacten the lcs Cock fran et tat tay inne th io ects process Clea he ‘wth ay there you mbt De work with, ARPFX but athe tp of he GU 0 acess Inoraase OLED Speed. Ws St ors tara ‘a aries age, We jst wont o ay. ‘rccabe 174, ough ou can change to whatever gett Eee 2 hi saad) setup fo dy at hot dilonyeu th. Pay ana ha te ca ur processing to ate and 32) yo El Wee save ‘ur sound a ees computes asic SPectan | 022wavetable synthesis STEP-BY-STEP Shaping sampleswavetable synthesis a i ‘COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 023,‘oul neea val and _sMleiscope for this tutor ‘hoy nthe Software folder Patches fn TtorISFM. Cerne ot heres no deming it gta synthesis Is uiblautous. We have digtal recording devices, Adal mers, cigtal effects processors and leven our analogue sys ae, n actualy, distal Tis hasnt always been so. Analogue was once lomipreses. Bellow itor not ater over a decade as the only game In town, anaingue was even, dare wo say boring. took a fonvarthnking instrument company an American university researcher and a hel of alt of me and eto to shake loose analogue's grasp on the synth nus, ‘tas Stanford Uniersiys John Choving who Inaty came up wit to process that would shake the smth Indust ftom ts ennui. The idea behind Chowning’s discover is that modulating the frequency of one oscator wth the ampituge anc ‘requency af another resus in intresting wavelorms ‘that ae possessed of intresting adaltonal sigebands. Such waveforms ean bo pene not ‘depending on the rato ofthe inal waveforms. Uko FM radio slats, this technique roles on a carer the wavetorm beng modulated) and ‘modulator the waveform doing Enea carrer the modulating n is classi for, these waves ‘only need tobe simole sine waves. ‘The 1975 patent of the technology has long ‘ince lapsed, but for mary years the process and terminology) was held by Yamaha and Yamaha alana Interesting, Yamaha's FM synthesis bears ‘more resemblance tothe technique known 3s ‘phase modulation, a dstncton that aises the haces of some sythesists. Smooth operators Ate carer and moditor make for iteresting timbres Simple sine waves become male, elangorus tones St he thing or yes percussion. Ye FM Sythe spngs to He when sng mull carers ang oscators know, by the way, as opertrs In FM-speaK. Wt furor ic ‘operators in tow the esse FM nstuments had (ana st navel he aby to produce complex dere saunds that appear almost acoustic THs 2a breath of esha anyone whose experience has been esticted o sawtooth ond store waves FM has af itators. No one nas ever accused to being wart ora, but tis a formidable ai yeu want to synthsio bets, plickad sing, chromatic paesion or even so tects, ts also widel held to be afc to rogram, and it was the DX7 that almost shgle handed spawned th hp pach Indust. srt actualy as har as Bet Dut can be abt ura 0 those muslans accustomed to pole fies nd ADSRive envelop. ndoubtedb, to wo most amir FM _spunds would have tobe the ubiquitous OX? ‘lect piano and th 4-09 ‘ately Bass' found on the diminutive DX100. These sounds have bocome 2 standard part ofthe modem musical vocabulany Fora while, t seemed that Yamaha's assy Rhodes emulation was even beter known than the Instrument on which it was base You mignt be wondering why, FFM isthe stt of ‘the digital domain, same analogue snths sport an. FM kob or sider While ifs tue that analogue instruments can perform simple FM, their oscars, ‘have historically been too unstable to provide sully radi rasuls. Nevertieless if youve been tempted to ge the FM ob on, ay, Reason's Subtractor a twist, you a indeed using FAM sythesis. Even in this simple form it makes for ‘some awesome chrome-plated percussion! Filter free Fist me FM uses are often bemused by tho ack of fiers on some of the most popular instruments “he facts that thee not technical needed ‘Sounds are shaped by using envelopes to contol the nich and arnt of 2 ven operator. Wh clever programming you can eich most of the same sorts of ects you might eect rom a suivractve instrument takes some practise and ‘experience, but evertualy te digetsytesit ‘an produce the dst resis on demand, inthe pas ho evolnes associated with FM mths caused more than ate head scathing, ‘Mough much a what was new about thom i now od hat Rates tvs and multe stgos area ‘zammon in modem insruments, Ofcourse, mayem D7 erst ares yu et in en pn Doce He ack of todays FM synthesizers difer fom thoso that set the stage or his unusual synthesis technique. Some a the most suecessul combine elements of FM and subeactve synthesis for a power eancaction that ofers the complex tmbral qualtes fof an FM synth, but wth some ofthe familaty of ‘ur fteradon fevourtos. ifyouve never ed an FM symtheser you owe cm choice: Image Line Toxic III Tis potent concoction sts FM in with Toxic ‘samves up FM as an easly digestible lst ‘that nevertheless packs a spicy hick subtractive staples and a wicked n scheme, Cooked up by Maxx Cast eto yourself to explore tise resouree. may ‘soem allen at fst, but wth 2 lite eter and some {em tutorial action youll soon be whipping up oll! cigtalpatches that wi add Just he it spark and shine to your analogue arrangements You dont even need to wearalab coat or a pocket rotoctar you ust have to te un tho FM synth of your cholce and tum the page! FM synths ‘wth more pow whole lat mor ‘and sine, ths Is fm synthesis EerXT2 paige oh cen went act se ten Sess Yamaha held a stronghold on FM synthesis for ‘any years. However tore ware eventually some ‘temaive gta symhests methods invoduced to mighty OX7 some of which is Droduced, but the ange ofthe wave's phase is Glstorod, esuting in amor complex wavetorm. Tis efect is actually achieved by changing the playback rate ofthe dita wavetorm stored inthe Instuments memon, Uke FM. phase storion insruments excl at cystane tuned percussion, spiky basses and ‘usual eects that are simply nt possible onan analogue Instument. These nsturents can Souna erude when compared to tek FM counterparts, but sommes crude I Just what you wane “Tanks to the Inclusion of phase aston ‘oselators in Ie Mocintock’s Sit. pase iT esters stangs that a anol of sie waves con ‘Sn oscar wit no fodulton Wa uss fou ‘ars each wth 3p factors One ea he ‘ther a medustac Well star wit the sols of sounds Lod the ‘reset Sine forn your conte a pay a ew ‘ots There's ot gt gong on Nee Is st 2 Were going peo some simple exgernents {FM sites ang wart o able w raring he sus, so we ed some sat of esclloseope or waver doa. Fortuna hres ascope aval oe ite tom Srarlectron es eld slMlewscape ond ie fo th CD. Load to Ue sa path ast tr Vale.» ‘As you can so, weve tabbed oer 'o Vas OSC ave Pay ante on your MID contol equates You shou ace a wer dpe the scope’ soe. To bom ower siMixscopes “Tame parame Our simple sie wave flan $08. > Modulation motion Water the scape while horas OSCTs Mod Level ate samo tre As ‘ot se and ar, oth he sound an the water ‘Ply wl esond The sourd gus hash an bee 5 the modulation Ieeases > 7. ‘ta stants hepoering when you set OSCs (02 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL Now that weve sot up sth and scope, we an ot downto bss. Vl has 9 ray sng Stuctir Fach par ols two oscars OCI s ‘ modulator le 0502 He carter OSC Mad Lela ths way down adn the Me and esas turn of that oct ako no ference. >> ‘ug To Stuy the nave length ako ue the Freze futon fo stp in fs wack, ou shoud za click othe Syne Redraw buon 1 ke sure youre ‘Sroing pele what youre hear Yo ntcn a pn ‘ne wave ago Myeu dort. > 5 “To 200m nan the sonal ass ve the Arp kb Set tha Mod Lael o 360%. Te ound now ‘ute nasel and Rony. fr cy fom a sine eve Belre we ineeased the ddan dhs (501 pitch hed no etc Now Rowever has 3 Pron tect on oe term Dong 0c rst Petal, lngiaustanes tat re pret or prrcirion sounds. ‘We gat eck tothe pc a ite wile For now lus.st te Coarse Tine o 12 semitones nie wet at Sette Fine Tune parameter OSC} to (000 cont. Tha resus ae alte more peestian nom taut ats O€ ore moment Hae 9 oa asNet, es move on 0.0862 Ast ha Fine Spastngt state, youre the noted Now that you know what the Feedack Love ime paremeter to 000 eens You mit net that tate a none generators ou FA ‘uncon can dost around 31.00%. he eh O soraty os butt te purposes of these Newtons we aod te retin sua is it he lee. ho hastndng coat We eects of ou minsvatons i __chaes wor patch Wo can mae ue of De Feeduae gay. Nos St rot ery acing Si te Wael we nice Pay a ow notes to gta el ortho sound. ts Love side Ts erates OSC2 to modus fsa oven ave ceatod is fh tarmories. Normal, Ou MH. TUtSae at spor bu thats ‘wise beng macited by OSC. Geta shot ‘peta our not fp WOU be iter Naka me had enough of wat state waren so Wore ging to make a sot of pores or Las tum ur atentons to EVR, which eta ets ab over oo ENV page AS you cn sm, pure sauna tat les hoy ve ime 50 set fo OSC Start by rang the Sstaln Love ere ar pal of envelope sonore, oe th Resse Tot aro 9 Socond and he way down Play afew nts ow sounds Smo to a atontoxcator We tat wn EVE Set hal-Lets cease the Velacy Senay = site more Ske ariel bow That's 9 dened st aac athe Po ecay praca to st undorfour seconds, and un Sami. yee utonod th S04 youl note hat k Sat of We sud, a or Bt oso as HS buses Se Sistld Lovell tv wy dow ‘stunds gecdedy nrished ana els away instant Tae : ee _—_—— pao {VE Is fas hooey shaw ut onthe Cure the sound oars some resembance to Sick he OSC 12. Crank up 0SC1S Mod Leva. ‘Scapa nea the Decay Time to 0228 tne sound ofa lucked ting tough wes Me 25 wel 9 SCZ Fuck Level We wath 2 seconds ad he Release Tame toner 40 ur Sta aac for at wo want tn © O rates nosy into when we use 0 Sioa Fats ncrace the Velchy Sensty 1 aound another st of oscars Gack othe fab baled 210. eore the ask ane fo sound Ye 8 Sounds Pay 2 fon nts, 04.03 Near, ho nciaton cf access tat arcu par. Now elk Ne Pata, atl use au ow, Bl ul So to nat na moment As you cat $e hethosloert tum te tg on. ‘te ourwavstom ste compleof course ts sounds thing ho pike plucked or trek sound We need fo Weak oux Femelop goertars otha. ick te ENV iad {0 gt to pa 25 ervelop page, Wel sar fy ase "W210 Susan Lael a rte Docay Tne sting up about 0155 seconds ch ig on or our needs, srs tess th estas 3 wos bx mor Tab Bex oe 0 re SE Bae an ee the Output Level of 0502 0 somawhore tokow 800% Noa bin th Feedback Level dow to sr 18454 Pay ow ots. Tas re he ay Sar signal pa whoa eo 2 osc Bat can be arangod aos cambalans algothe We can ho nator a of scoters by achat pa 3 Clck the 3 tab and {hen tab ovr ote art ad fa Hove aay on your kato con or ton some notes wna your sean Nope, ht ts 1 Tis docaus ot modesto susan to eile of "oot Tan the usta or ERVE al tho way dow 00 Pay 2 couple of ros Now wero sting samouhe! Lats ene OSCr wile were at Resueo he Cars Tne grate 10-12 soos. tt aie our ar ols soar ess PS. Palle Md evel book touch to ond 68 or 696 ts sir ag your madsen snouts once you Rene Jour emelopes defined Ws uk wan or ut sustained ound. not reratel Kopin that nina ets ung vert out ENV pag and make some acme ty or erelopos an Vly Soni. Use Sour ow dame ae, or opy our sans you Tk. You envlpes shoud be dose the of hat ater than pat gv nates mat ou Se0pe ow eis 2 eve at eas wit sme complet Doe Setng down ean uruseng vaaon 003 sinewave, ots have see more un wth haa ‘nshrtGhe ENV tack Te 2 Mem. St 10 ‘rune 0007 seconds Now Sette Decay Te © 3 Supesast 0 seconds ‘seems e048 have ou sustain trae from br 1 responding to wl A at 2 doesn Lets tab ck ove toe ENV age to make some aastmont oe Velo Sensitiy finns of cr ero sorts We the S000% csr ENV? and tour 50% for ENV2. Ft ts hop est the OSE page 1 ae 24 osator to shape, A, oo5e Songs hat work beans fh om far ete neping re Output Level ow, we ‘Sornan the Feodback 1 38% 3. Adj he Paes ‘We want show yu how to crete some hase aveloms using adv etriaus. nero sa0 ‘ur avlonns ss we work wel aed a selloacops sh a tha ea svesc098 fom ‘Smarlecronic Uses Time and Amp ines to 200m In cmt velo. You ean state Se Redo fo peter accuracy. » ay a note on your kao conaler oF yous ‘Ssduutoec Ae you can ea ad ey the Osu ‘rogram genctes sing sa wav This Poa ‘Tosi he fundamen ton: and sara a etrmiing te oe pho the sou you Wee ‘tot Mor his sure nothing wut happen see ‘her a no adoro Ronmaes. > Thats not to mich fn, 0 es pie ins uo wh Some mor paral Let's yo cts aso ot Square wave Asie wavs conta on 0 harmonies Lets aa fei Sp the een nubs and ‘make each oe al eter ian tha an that procedes Hom, ange ral to our ndamentt ans Jou ean Scere esl the Scope. > Har, wee eshnt out at more We got 2 toa of 16 harmonies In ply, Ue eau are very tos toa squire wave be you can ss fom the Moscone dsiay. More nora sounds ae 2 Square wave Now Bat ou Se the wor we should tall you hat Addr coma rst of tone wave, # ‘ute ced to be ny stat Continuing wh ou theme of creating base waves, ‘weve decked 1 inthe gaps and ine proces hive create reasonable facsimile of savtecth vwaveforn. ou ca, ef eau, fess tess harmonics Unt ey teh any wasdonal wave shape. mt bo food practise ty comin the precise waver fom 3 Niage instrument.» Samoo> a CEE Now at you hae eat Ite about rating base “eos lets pt it trowedget use lek on the Presets buton end chose Ina orn ne mer Ts lim uo our Gt tte ‘damon Note Ban noel segs you ean use he Preview Duton to display your wavfom. Were ug the ger sone forthe sate ole vow. 032 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 Lots take ut he tndamenat. ty? To ete 3 langoois elke tne Dan few seat paral ofa ametudes,a we¥e done Ne. Nottoa mary, ough Lats hae reavay simple. Dont De too wor aboot what he wat oD Ih St ‘ate som hats pleasing ote ear Now wo nae waefoe, bute raise 3 DitscangYeu can use some of Adar awesome femelope generators rake the 035 way ot ae Simpy aust he Release nos as woVe dona hon You ‘ave Soran you he ty chucking eo Ades ‘Hess processor fx some sweetenSTEP-BY-STEP Resynthesis Sore ofthe teu of ate Sess can De alloted wth resins, a eceige by whan a fe S exarsd an erated as an ave ‘reszer patch Wile not Uses fr Sp ‘ean ef compo ls esos can sll & set nd spn oo. rags Lines Nerprine oles some ity resyness trons Oe kK (Once youve located your apes nae wl renytesae yet heer TOU can ast ha Sssuton rere going wi) High, sc you can est the Bsonce baboon th sare andthe rostszod Sein inontertoe-une ko ion th sare usa Fe est itor Gio 3s Were sont wsmtnesze a crom oop ang ute #8 "ests o cea a itr and si ye ‘tuna. Winoed 19 Sa wit Goan sata so clk en tho Priam say an slet Reset Progam wr thes of aatabeoptors. You saulnow sco clean ‘Stein the Brealpatt and Spectrum dep This whee the fun ox We nee ohne to igor our ap path Seo the Spectrum dene Inthe idle of ies? Ges onthe Specram aro fo open te rop-down manu ad chooce import Charged Sample Fonte atom of thes ofeplone take afew seconds for Moh to additive synthesis As you ons, news Resist seeton on te let sds a Moin’ GU. Ts hes you ohare! tho sample tbe esshesea Une the tn ton toca and lod the sol to Morin Wave ‘Seen repre’ acm lon tory clea DAStoop ana you ean on your cv ‘When Marshine is dane Ingo te eu oo, our soe th eats sled in bot ho Broakpoint ana Spectrum vikows. Play shld ‘aC as prety wd YoU not tate Spectrum splay has some oop fags Move thors Be Sa ard. ‘na pons of tho Spectrum. fe coo gs about creating 2 hyeamse ool op without suing the pe nef te Rate kno poioned aban zn Sepa ea wit Weve st ors o 21% se oop lye Back a 3 uch ste BP you str a pad te Spectrum snd then ast he mone content f ht noge Let's. Select th second tof tele and doo about athe Beak pay, Pay and ot oe fe ests Most sd syns fle sore so of meted wth eh he use an ke sens to mare han 2 singe fequeney Mepie sno excepon The ‘ool cop own consis ma seh ots Her, wee ‘hist onthe itis 3s You can S60 ad ose reoytness makes fo some fata sounds who the Word associated wth ade. compuren music sPeciatDemo software These demio versions will give youa taste of some of the best soft synths out there CONCRETEFX ADDER i>) ‘Adder isan ave syth that ors ‘advanced harmonic sculpting Greate Uunigue sound shapes using is 32 patials- each of which can be set to ‘one of fur diferent waveforms! tet sounds daunting ust tum to pp30-33, to lean how to use it. Tho ful version Is avaliable from the CancreteFX ste, Pos VST host ‘www.concretetcom LINPLUG ALBINO 3 jcc) The popular and sophisticated vital ‘analogue fom Rob Papen and LUnPug, This demo emis a noise ‘about ance a minute Pe: 4000 processor, 256M RAM, Windows 98 or later, VST host "Mac: 400M processor, 56MB FRAME Mac 05 X 1026, VST or AU host \worasinplug.com TERRATEC KOMPLEXER jr) Virtual analogue and wavetable action togetnr in one sthesizer You can ‘cover how its wavetables work with our tutorial on p18. The demo version Is save-lsabled, has limited presets and mutes ater an hour PP 1GHz procossr, 5120 RAW, Windows 98S of ater, VST hast swouteratecinet ARTURIA MOOG MODULAR V (Perma) Recreate the cassie Moog Sound your way wth tis modular monster there's fl tutorial n our Guide to Modular Symhesis tt on 036 This demo i savecsabled and wl ‘cocasionaly go stent PC: 15GHe processor, 512M, RAM, Windows 20000, VST host ‘and standalone ‘Mac: 1.5GHz processor, 512M RAM, Mac 0$ X 1039, AU, RIBS, VST host and standalone ‘wwwarturlacom IMAGE-LINE MORPHINE e/g Warning Once you ty this ade ‘gmtheszer tom the makers of FL ‘Studi you may wel nd It hard ‘uit. Tum to ou atrial on 933 to learn how to use Is resmthes's functions to insping effect This ‘demo version hisses occasionally and doesnt enable patches to be saved Pc: 2GH2 processor, 512M RAM, Windows XPIista, VST host ‘and standalone ‘Mac: G4 processor 512MB RAM, Mac 0$ X 103, AU, VST host ang standalone ‘winwimagesine.com “ROC Ans 251+ comer wen west os a ur ane pre (034 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 ‘As a special thank you % readers of (Computer Must, he desoloers of some of your chosen top ten commercial and fueware sys have put togote: tis excuse ‘lection of patches just for you, Inspiration on tat Albino 3 30 sounds rom Aino co-creator ‘nd renowned Suna desir Rob Papen. The colection incudes dalicious dity basses, scoring leads, swooping ads and 3 selection of yeh aps Load up a atch using Albino 3 and audton the colton using the back and fovward butons KarmaFX Synth Dea fam Kamer Sh devtpe Kasper is omacha uct YourNo Fear Sih nies 30 sip patos at sow oo fw to buld ashes fom ‘etch ~ prec er bngrmer Te fetoftecolecsors dred 0 eee ee ere I ead vaio etd vi Rapture ‘An etc st of programs that aim to hat he unique features of Rapture. Te included mutisamples area smal slecton ofthe Gatbanum architecture Waveforms, & vast election of meticulously esigned wavetabls. The collection unique staring poi re ‘an! protamring, Featured soung deslaners are Chad Becki, Tam Brockway, Stuart Dick and Andy Souter Check out the Reade We for instalavon instructions. Sylenth1 From the mind of Sieh sound designer Simon Foster, tis banka 12 patenes coves oenthing this _gniesior does best ~ agaesahe tases am laden ads and suey arperatons Zebra 2 tem readers’ No.1 Commorial Sy is now even more fun to use, thanks to hs selection commissioned by ‘eator Urs Heckmann With ‘ontbutions fom sound designe Hwa Scar and Tesmadla, and composer Hans Hanes tis bank wi hoop your head ining with ts uy Syethetecontont ZebraCM This enormous selection of 400, patches created by underground procuer Hath wll more than Sato your appetite fr upont new sounds. Copy the folder nto ZobracM's reser ciecton: Program Flles/rhel Prosets/ZebraCM on PO; Library! ‘Audio/Prosets/verZebraCM on Mac, ey Lary Audo/PlugsniNST/ Prose forthe Mac VST version.EE ODDITY jcc) fave the ARP Odyssey software form. In this al ackground noise Jour ater 30 hous of use, processor, 128M 98 0 ator RTAS or {2d standalone processor, 128M agship synth combines e syihsis to create @ if sounds. This domo ‘of 8 new-sehoo! virtual como features 2 etn of sounds compared Son, emis nose and is ‘or beter processor, *Werdows 2000 o ator, Jprocessor, 256M SX 10:39 or later AU or Windows XP o ater: DX, RTAS or VST host and standalone “Mac: 733MHe process, 512M RAM, Mac 05 x 10.9 o latr, AU, RTAS or VST host and standalone wor applied-acousties.com U-HE ZEBRA 2 (2) a) ‘Te amazing mammalian modular Iori synths yours to test dive with this domo version, which wil stat laying random notes ten minutes ater loading, ‘REQUIREMENTS! Pe: 1Ghz preoessor, Windows 2000, orlatr, VST host ‘Mac: 1GH2 processor, Mac 05 x 10:39 or later AU or VST host wwnwarhe.com NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASSIVE () ‘This great vial analogue synths 30 ‘massive we could the Mac ‘erslon ofthe demo on the disc! The PC version wil un fora 30-minute ‘session and is saveisabled. REQUIREMENTS or 1.4 GH processor, 12M RAM, ‘Windows XPMst, DX), RTAS or VST host standalone. swnw.atve-intrumentscom LENNAR DIGITAL SYLENTHL 0 Tearing vial analogue vibes abound with his diminutive synth. The demo ‘version has ited modulation coptons limited presets, and plays a sample every 60 seconds. REQUIREMENTS, PC: Pll or equivalent processcx, 128MB RAM, Windows 2000, VST host ‘lennardigtalcom RGC AUDIO Z3TAS i This seminal tybrid sft synth sounds 8s 8900 as ever Tho demo version, ‘ops in wolume every few seconds. ‘REQUIREMENTS. PO: iGitz processor. 125M RAM Wingows $8 SE or ater, DX or ites wee caeeacom CD contents Full software Get stuck into sound design with our pick of the best free synthesis tools around ALPHACM jc ‘ems own chuniy tual analogue has excing ing and amplitude ‘modlaon possible. Lear how to use it wth our Essent Patch Collection tutorials stating on p68. REQUIREMENTS: .: 400M processor, 256ME RAY, Windows XP, VST host Mac: ACO} prcessor,256MB RAM, Mac 05 X 10.26,\ST or AU host ‘ww.computermuste.co.uk CRYSTAL (rc There are more envelopes than in an ‘uemptled post box inthis fantastic FM and subtractive gom. Check out ‘ur ssetiol Patch Colecton stating €0n p65 to lea how to use it REQUIREMENTS: 50M procossor, VST host Mac: G4 processor AU or VST host ‘w.greenoak.com S{MJEXOSCOPE i Geta good took at our waves with ths scl oscloscope, which Your ned to folow our Fes ud to Ft Synoss on 928 REQUIREMENTS NST host Mac: AU or VST host ‘namsmartelectoniccom ‘TEBRACM jr)» Th smal syth with the big sound, ZebraGi's clear and uncomlicates Interface makes ita beautiful beast Indeod. Lean ow to use with our Essentol Path Collection tts stating on p68. REQUIREMENTS) VST host Mac: AU or VST host 1ww.computormuste.couk ‘AUGUR ir) “This lant Ite Prophet VS ‘emulation wil ake you all the way to wavetablo heaven, REQUIREMENTS: PC: VST host ‘users thk auowlvsttm| DOMINATOR (PC) Recreate the distinctive sounds of 80s syns but with al the funetonalty ofthe 2st century. ts ems very own Dominate REQUIREMENTS Pe: VST host \ww.computermusteco.uk FOORIUS rc) This furiously funky yor smth wt wow you with Is vast aay of fast features, REQUIREMENTS! PG: VST host <émismartelectronbscom KARMAFY, SYNTH ( Make your own synth setup with is ‘amazing modular plugin. Tur to ‘the walthvough on p36 to leam how to use ‘REQUIREMENTS! Pos V5 host armataot POLYIBLIT (Get on he Band Limited impulse Tran with ths chic tle beauty, ‘featured in our Fast Guide to Suwa Spiess on p10. REQUIREMENTS: Po vst host worabostreammallntiers) stp nt gat ro ‘software version othe Ensnia S080 fo tat classe 80s Woe “hase 8: sounds ist ooze eto Aut Checkout he uo ‘wall on 2223 a eam owt use REQUIREMENTS: POST host ‘wu buchbnet/onsonial VIVALDI MX i Vials PM sounds wl Rave you in Mitasy when you ty out ths great sth! You can uso it to find out how FM synthesis works wth ur tutorial onp2a REQUIREMENTS: VST host westelanduhnnet ZYNADDSUBFX ( This immense hybrid synth has some amazing features and is presented here in a VST. version. REQUIREMENTS, PC: VST host ‘rmaddsubh-sourcetorge.nat[J / Eee eee aie Moser sent crn mins eo Patch cable paradigm eit a fee ere) ee ee ae sie aaa eee tir sauces and datnaters eso et ’ Once affordable only for pro studios, universities and wealthy musicians, these lofty building block instruments have been reborn in software, and are more Instrument is e359 and intuit to prosram, ‘A modular instument offers no such ‘convenianco. Her, the programmer i prosentod ‘sth a framework into which vous modules may be inserted and connected to one another in an arbitrary manner. Modules general include the basls tke oscllators fers, amplifiers, mises and anything else you might find on a vadtonal sy However rater than being doled out in predetermined number as mary of these ‘modules’ a you need may be inserted ito the instrument ranged and patched as you see ft In the old days, patch connections were made by using tual cabs, and his is why we call a synth program a ‘patch Today's desitop musicians can aval tomslves of vtual patch cables. Sometimes as in the ease of Atur's cretion of Moog’ famous moctlar system, this analogy is used quite Ira The vtual patch cables look and behave the the ral ting, even tothe pont of dangling in font ofthe instument panel Unlike the roal deal, vtual cables can be made transparent for moved aside wth the click of a muse. ‘tua arent the only developer to ofr a tt recreation of modular hardware instuments. PSot's VOD is anather take onthe same sor of idea Again hardware modules can bo patched with ‘tual cables and al ofthe ypleal analogue ‘ubbins ae included. However, PSof let you ‘choose which modules to put In and how many to use. Arurla's Moog Modular Vis more limiting in this raed, with only a few switchable modules. In this way, ArtutasInstument boars some resemblance to 'semimodul synths (se Super powerful than ever before Check the Software folder for KamarX Synth andthe Arturia Moog Modular domo. Patches tie in itorials/Modular “Tank Goto vt 9s = mace ‘ete men hae ny Bett Semi pi, for more concerning that very subject Nevertheless there's more than enough included to keep you busy for years without ever repeating the same sound Stil you want a tue modular configuration you can lok to the modi ‘erronments offered by some other manufacturers Environmental concerns Modularsynthesis emironments ofr univaled ‘exit and conto inal evoking fom vitalDeere anne tea set morte dlr Moos gag Mo 6f modular analogue syns, these ns have become very Much more than Sesembing nothing ess than graptical ming languages for music applications Be can be no clearer example of this than Jef Mectintock’s now legendary iin which components are patched to produce, among other tings, YST and eects processors. ignitianty the of your ofors can be shared wit other Gian regardless of whothor they own Eat MicClniock’ inexpensive program has Seroluonay, nszatng a deluge of SE-made ss create by budding developers. SHEA shares much of hs architecture with a oer silty powerul applications he mighty Reaktor frm Native #5. And Ike Symi, Reaktor has a vibrant Ser community, mec of esercrsted (poet Instruments st to mention many of Nate Instumens standalone instruments Most modular envionment ao bl oun the same pian Theresa sort of ule’ area wherein varays modules, loge functlons and processing are inserted and strung together to form a userieined architecture, Te resus are then exported and Used in some sort of graphical user intertace, complete with Siders, krobs, and other atime contol devices. Oe, 1s UP to the User to install ‘and define these panel conto: goes without saying that the learning cune of these programs is qute step, Patlence, sll and knowledge ar required to get the most rom ‘modular sjstom, Fortunately the user communities ssurounding the dierent modular ar active and elu doesn’ hurt to havea song backround in synthesis and Sound, but even if you arent an por, these modular endronments can ofr nearly unlimited sonic potential em M@duist Synthesis. we ie etn er entier | Super semi any smiths advertised as modular are, fat, Sombmodulat These have 2 fed number of odes but ofr a lly user-detrable shal Dat They nee ingociced tn the 80s wth Oberhelns Matix smth While thelr components were simlar to Obethinis preceding struments, they offered a mediation ‘matt, The mat was ‘sed t define modulation sours and ‘estlaatons sé how much modulation occur, “tho tod mati snow 2 fai toot th soft syhese The panoramic Inertace of tsa | | ‘od matr They ea be ound everywhere {he faoware UnPlug rediphe an Green Oaks Crystal to Image Ue’ Toe and Rob Paper's Blue ‘Another semtmoduar patching techie bypasses the mod mat for he moro dee lsnpoaeh of drop-down menus asccitsd i ne inrumont’s parameter conto sys Ter temples this or of ota “ie semimodular struments thebestof = world, prosonth unifled sal path for tose J] want just make musie DU alowing r= een 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECT [2cm choice: modular instruments > Native Instruments Reaktor The undisputed heavyweight champion of mmodulrs, Native Instruments flagship is one of the bast buys in musle sofware roving st about every sort of synthesizer and effects racessor that you could ever want. On the ‘off-chance that you cai ind what your looking for inthe online User Library, you can make tyoursef using the familar module’ | @6G0 © o@S6s « Oo patchcord paradigm. Sequencer, samplers, synths anc everything in between - this may be the utimatesaftware tool for musicans, Cn as ere eR Ct) ete ee my Pr cE oe aay ie (ae 1'e@: ae) «Cycling '74 MAX/MSP Immensely deep, endlessly configurable, and with the abilty to export your creations as VST Instruments ang effects, MAX/MSP has oar ‘around for age. Starting out as a modular ‘environment for MID! applications, has since gf0wn Into one ofthe most comprehensive UP > ‘@ @: j @: 5c | Sw FUER = Aue —B Cronus = aosk ACSA Somewhat citfcut to grasol construction Kt for experimentaly-minded musos. >SonicBirth ‘Sonic is a newcomer among modular build block kits. Sct availabe to 05 Kusers, | SonicBith otters a selocton of useful modules, User riendly patching and plug-in export. ts not_| as comprehensive as some of the other macular ‘environments wove ciscussed In those pages, Dt ithas the singular benef of boing foe to anyone who fances giving ta go. While t may not ‘engender the revolution among Mac users thatarma jah is ately val fly modulo Dein seize or Wows You can bald SSc00e" 2 tenner or wo at woekarmati Install he Se ra ead Np nour Were gringo us an awesere sth Rom stro fae KarmafX yh Wel stat yoann the pach tatertap which can be eure on yur overs: Load ts ash athe patch manager your hast her tn he Rama? Sth Browse AS you can he's wl noting add to the worcpace Wo do have a sng Ouout module lr companent os ther calm Karmal ss anguagel Moe omponers ar adda by rt cchng and selecting the anata medules tom the crop-down ren nd sup mort Do 0 and slot 3 Note Pch module fom the Contr essay. Tats he Aad ‘Companents secon, obvaush Cy anaush,s mdute ges atthe endo the thal olor the Ostet ies you aig ets process, But wet saens hat Date fe sy sty enougbecaien is tho mote st we Be ete giles on te te ber ofthe Outpt and sec Cont a the Hout ete nat gong wor) t0 much about the various parame sets ist yt ~ wore more terested Sound Hower, wo can make some decsons up Se Forinsance wo mat want ate ype ot tor Dstt and slct Ose 2 Atte corral funstans we namaly 386 on a. ‘ed saa ath sh ao place nung octane ‘ranspoaon,poramert and tuning Unlike some ods KarmaFX Sy areay hs prassgne knobs 2s you can se, ou Secon Generator new spots 3 ‘soveloms, modulo ad mor, Any Drotty comprehensive virtual analogue osetor. ack in The clase estar sgnal ath cosets of Wo lor dve oslo pumped tro a er wih elotors Ril in an empty a af warspace sr dose Os 1 om the Generator cae. D0 is wie to proie ber ola sch to ad anatorGenaratae Thi tne lect a Nolo gneratr Hote eo a Components Whe nels» yr ssi auc toh uo and ctl eves, Ts oe us ors lect of role pes bee chosen Wit an Siento shaping at no, 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL| 0Protas a Lee rere Mas enero ake se conto oe sia wo Let irs es rone icc men ey rand ane aga de fot Ad Ganooort ron soles Att tom th egy tte sae une Aout esse set ou ther the pt mode i ie > (040 | coMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 1 45 weve een esting abou pay wt {eneatr Open your Add Comonent mea eee [05h fom te Modiates catego Now at ck on Smpiter3s Amp kb ane ast our ADS 1 5=: ron up the Mod ino on ror 3, rt Jon the ADSR module. tie ore you be ab your esllotos awe, be sur events wor Popa ou nes not rete a ened SUNS yet.» 251 11 Your edo eh whoo or ry yu tho e ved he pce wheel Tis We modem sts ince btn fits ‘Sys. You can fn Inthe Elects category. Roto this ‘no fom Conor 1 to he Opus dort dscannect {he Contr ron the Ou Make sure tha the Dry ‘us Swichod of an he Olay modus.3 easily ee moda exoarenc, wo noes ek ro rr in tra’ stung reseaten fie venerable Moog Modis snesec Tis Sat intdtng nstument cera sal amu Se SSSSiniaBlonk sth chen hough te keyboard sy eau nneced to th sco: and enlope enero. Dont wor, wel ett a Te Moog uses ‘ello anders To eotl tem Lok ate st st tf mese Sat the Range othe socond oslo & "Now we need o pach these tw oscars othe ‘rbot Ts soe by sig on the otpss Sd raging he esuig ital path cable the ested ngus. Her, woe connecting the ist osclators “Svtot fo theft mr inp ath socond tie wel hon eon ote iter Vary sera G17 YOU noe by te way, at some Ural seks sm and sre hexagonal The hen ks hve Sect bitin encunt tooo thats used aausing of modo at shel ecu when you oar nto tes ck "Nex, ors ote aur ost to one ft ar ‘modes Drag a eable om te Second jack below ‘ho mae ob t th In sek on hs rte Tre se te iter monies show hae fe’s anche ed ter bank tern nator By chron tho es of those iter, ou can choose a ow dlerent types | ine for ur pte, tea ht 3 is elope goerterN med second fom the fic on te bot ron. You can now ply te sound ‘om our eyboad conto, tough mt nat be tony xcha Now tat we can hear someting it's make af Sehustort 0 or ito parartrs Ba te Frequency down to aud 9 lock and Be Sesscanca ino 2 boost het of 33% or 0 cu to Bete You my nest increase he Gain evel ot you SSZVOA ss were cong nee Loto for a lsc Minioog reece That means add anther oslo oto ms Her ‘tev pate th hed olin ur parts sear soup tothe mie anne he ngs os We {bso Weve chosen te ston waveform, nen ‘detuned the coco and thd celts er 50 St) ‘rom one ante: (ue sound sabe oo ta 0 lets ad some rele cont tho ret Use he est ‘relop Be top ow and ag a cable to te Mod in on he Rr module Yo can eth ot ck 5 2 inode amo the sou Ag he amp ana Rar favolopes toasts Weve chosen a sho sound Wh no 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL| 041Lats ad an LO ee proceedings Ther’ an 20 rmxule net row Drag a atc cable rom te UO' sine wane ct oe second ‘moda npn cr iter mole Auster Mod “mounts at. Now, slow the LO Freqeney way down nd be sre tt eso delay rade. Ply some Wo now have a prety complete snes on ur Mand We cold nae 8 tnd but insted text sore herons ets Catlour sequencer module to play. To atogh th Wt OW he soquanea to ou asllatr der we neo ‘Change the hers puts For Kt No the one on ‘het and Now St forte ane on ha rat $n module ystems, you noe to ote Ba and roads Youth tm ee st st our de toe cota y th frst row of Sequencer sep, but we nod to also se the Sequene’ gg to tim nou orope generar. Do ‘by ecient on he erveloe nerf ous ‘zai hom tothe ae ne yuve probably guessed aur patch is no ong ges byte ford tod be contol ty 2 ecreton of Mog clase 900 Soqseral Contr made. Ute os Frode Mb seauencors the 960 rods an nace equal ol stick away the SeQFXsteton. ick he eon orig cde You can athate te ly by cekng he Sapa baton a9 he GUL Ones you ne ast tel fe Wet a ryote on te Sy Sc tesat me fine Sn Feeabcn mens arcs 262 | cmeuren nese SecA i he con or haere Shy on th Clete On btn to tart C8 you ans, te’ put baw the On buon so that You can stam ator sure. Our estore onto by ow oe. Ge te ods a st eae Imaodie pat Scquance Aus he ab for that row. ‘esant won about precson ust yt jou ean alas ‘Shesine ater Eos toc wi on te er’ emery When ave fl for haw th obs wok Jy eetng an ecto ptr y Seng to rebsopoaions tat eorespond tn ghen Sal, Ours be seething ha -12 5,0, 3,2, 93,5 ‘d'¢3 semitones. Tis ges us aie, ng Sequence mth se of sore of the popular Garman combusts ot the 708 ee: a Frequency vie Dsesnnet to FO We anode Bar ct ear Now 2g 8 ie tom ne sncand te Sea ows ate ao Dotan esses te ers son Mad in Acie omeaaamnamemtas you sce iigs fat fe tO neyo nts fat nd Wet tae hte nad 9 gets fiw sind wont doy? Aasurng tal yo eto pis Do ou ‘Sort cose or OND? Tho toate wih eno sha ny [earth tesa er uber tert won Pret ieerontnerro ied cam scone sin usta spld sind it vs ay ‘hough fo tog ton aac tae worm you can us btn sts Acton apostate Sich (abak cool oat oc on sie ne ce op pnts oo ya om ‘torso ore io lo fsbo put to ang to et area ay atsorpies mood et (us tn te postne sh noe ‘strat eave nines of ela comet Satan ancrone mars a st ih bln eo go sas ot thar es They drnd satin at maori a elas tals catty Ba Se Fasc min pcm eh tac or Model behaviour ‘ouve tkaly Soon th term pysical modeling bic about by synth or eects manulatrers The technology's been around for years, and has ‘been apalied to everthing tom receating vintage ‘analogue smtneszes to accurately simulating sultar amos and efects. However, we need to stingush between physical modeling and just plain modeling While they both incicat that ‘certain insrument or behaviour has beon rocreatod Inthe digtal domain, many manufactures apply the term modeling to anything that attompts to ‘emulate another device The sort of physical modeling we'e interested In invoNes an entiely mathematical model in which tho wavolorms ao (usual calculated in ral ime. ‘ete also primarily concemed with instruments that synthesize waveforms, rather than simply lets, itr, amps an the the. Physical modeling instruments require 2 eee cans, you can contol he seth with wih tbe pec pues the stig Tass 2 Galcataeperation a sa too gas) 0 ove it apa psh the ampliter to distri Tas moe Sead bla meculate, a evdenced by te kre us rezoning compan’ no vation Ty changing te As wall asthe Pectum tows aater extern ‘Seng unr usng ts Hgger oslo the most > (048 | CoMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 Yul note module led Excatrs nthe cents tt mie row is essen a mine modus ‘hou in eases combing ou bo eter Fancy a buet a tchno shock? Select Show Bude from the Vow me, Twi rel the soc ot roles a ke up cur serena ot 8 modus belo toy acu) ako coract wh to sting ‘aerganent oa can mit has fo tas. Py nots me 9 ‘oo hard to understand you taka a goa ong ook a Tes srt of ae asa ow chart Reta ode ew ‘menu and choose Show Perphysical modelling Beck in the Raye ts ir the Stings ‘module thes ony» hand aerate These chide an Ap con a Decay convo {da Dampfreq kb. the Day nao a wt wi Dib meres TSS a Guck way to ea a med lenin Dist Out Gui Bypase i: 12 The Damp\Feq conto! enables yu to dampen ‘ho sting Ts aks fo or rae reaste mt tings and ean when combined with ho ‘ine tng parameters, lifeadyetange te tbe ete, wee caning up fora sound more he that of ‘an sing ata Dist Out Ga Bypass Pre Gan avd L's move ont the seca resonator the Sigal path Tt on sinuses the Bars boy a's these named, Ts actualy mode! ‘As you can panes te Decay kb sone ‘an ta sound beyond recog. ean Sto caus the insurer to gnerte some Very loud strats Koop subta~ anust so atte “unas you but coe over. We ihe sound th 10 edock poston. > Oe of test nase of worn 1S wesc est in ‘Mott tt te rcs at Jove uly ener he we Yo ean ‘arts my fn anda some pret fovanoteg come Boy meds fy and Mos on 2 eA module, Wo fi ements Fy iat eit crete son ha wee aang on actual acouste ata. You crank Tod's Amp down, you her wal we mean becomes hin and wo-dmenstnat Hane some But watch hase volume lvls. > te ig te pot a wc Ks the and ch mo 1s 695/to make ute len isturertsn Tasman > erinent wth he varius sotings wee Stow ou You can reste soe snd ease accuse nsamentso wi urasil anes mor to work wth Mec thom u for someting ly nie 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL| 049em presents... SOFTWA SYNTHE Revealed! The results of our massive poll to discover which commercial and freeware soft synths em readers and forum users deem the greate: oftware synthesizers ar everywhere. They'e vast in number, vad in architecture, and come saci with wildy vaning pico points, Thore i, a the saying goes, someting for teryone ~ a bewildering aay fom which to ehcose. And you thought there were a lot of commercial synths 1 consider, take a deep breath Door plunging nto the food o rely avalabie srumomis At ost count, there were over 400, oeware and donationware synthesizers out tere, ‘aty for download. So how do you know which Is the best Syrhesize or you? if youre new to soundest ‘re Information inthis very issue wil have helped ju determine exacy what sort of shes wil get ur creatine juices owing OF couse, no two Users hav exacty the same needs, or be moved by ciety the same sot of instrument Evert $0, Sate have 1 be certain instruments that sto the #9p; that have that evra something that makes Find an excuse cotection of $00+ patches fom some OF he developers of ur Top 10-Commercat and Frowware ‘ja inthe Pate folder: Tin to 34 for move deals them favouttes among disceming sythesist Indeed there are, hence wa bring you te results of ourmassive pal to dscover which software dam the best of atime. Comping the 10 Ils ~ one for commercial sofware and ane for freeware ~ has been a Herculean task and the results wal undoubtedly be the sueet of much bate, auc we think youll ago that each and ‘everyone deserves tobe in the nal cut. These insruments represent quality Inspiration and value for money Enjoy the collection. top 10 synths RS of all time. The selection process To comple this list, we nites em readers and forim users to emal us thelr ots for ok favoust sot synths. From dig we complied 3 Shots, which was supjcted Yo ste err. Fist, we were looking fr dedicate Sms. A umber of samplers couldve been considered, as thane fs on lure, win so many synths Importing user weve fle, We also excluded drum ‘machines though many of them sway between ‘hal purported nent and sytem the ‘rational sense ‘ie decided fo exclide modular graphical programming languagos suas those ised In Sitio: Aeaktr Semi modulo ys were Considered as were mote istuments tht focused primal on Symes aly we cifrentated between feevare and commerelal software 9 come up wth final op ten foreach catosor. 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL | O51his knockout punch of a plugin may not have had the soc of fe that you'd expect witha new release from ane ofthe major league synth developers, but ‘ts gamored no small amount of praise from press and pundt alk, Why? na wort: sound. A throooscilator subtractive sy Surge flat ut rocks. Developer Claes Johanson has a 8000 idea wn: “Thee pars ofthe design really ‘make It stad out Fst up, he cosclators, which havea good valety lathe newcomers to the software synthesis fold, LennarDigtal have come out of tho gato swinging From the slick interace feportedty designed in ‘SynthEdt tothe eallsm of ts scllators and fiers, Seth is Iockout Wile were often auick to ‘uestion the need for yet another ‘viral analogue synth, scepticism falls away when presented wth something so utr, mind bencingy ‘authentic Wit sting away rom COMMERCIAL SYNTHS SURGE PRICE: £89 TYPE: Subtractive analogue FORMAT: VST/AU PLATFORM: PC & Mac [MANUFACTURER: Veber Auto REVIEWED: m96 of algorithms to choose fom, plus all of tem provide a aferent set of soundshaping parameters. This phes hugo timbre palete to choose om “when creating sound. ve abaays lked it when single parameters can transform the sound ~ tke the good ide cut knob — and many of hese parameters do ust that, which makes them fun to modulate. The graphical display ofthe wavetorm 2s fs being tweaked gs you a good idea of wats going on undor the hood. “Secondly, he fitr section. The SYLENTH1 PRICE: £94 TYPE: Analogue/subtractive FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC. "MANUFACTURER: LennarDigtal REVEWED: om113 ‘overt emulation the developer has ‘choson to present an analogue subtractive insumedt wth ts o¥n defined character, ‘wit four bancwathliited cosets and a double dose of sereo multimode tering this fellow has the jute to pum out eventing from spoton 203 basslines bolstered by bultin arpexsiator with step sequencing faites! to massive Oberheinke brass blasts. ‘Al he usual analogue gubbins are “MODULATING MULTIPLE PARAMETERS FROM THE SAME SOURCE IS A BREEZE” way you can use foodback with the youre modulating And modulating tworfters ges alot of soundshaping mulliple parameters rom the same ables atthe angry end ofthe soures Isa breeze, so it's 035) 9 spectrum, And fone of thom isthe create sounds that transform when Comb fer you can even create some yeu move the mod-wheel, eto” ‘udimentary physical modeling Such dedication has pad oft “Finally the modulation routing, Surge @ synth fas dream come \which realy nites ou to use efor tue, om og bolserous basses to ‘ny parameter asthe procecure is _scrbeching solos, Surge begs 1 be always the same regardless of what payed as well as programmed. “SCEPTICISM FALLS AWAY WHEN PRESENTED WITH SOMETHING SO UTTERLY, MIND-BENDINGLY AUTHET hor, Incusing ADSR envelopes and 2 The biggest surprise is that this Dar of Los, along with fe favours of knee buckling sound comes with = dstorton. The proved presets are _elatvely consents hit on the CP decided contemporary, with ‘om readers love this thine ane == squolching aci-eady basses, huge do wo. Sent I this years slesee trance tones and rie, lquld pads. it of he VST worMash, those wzards behind ites. Yep, wee taling subtractive Tice cetr cane haunting te ere Sl ae hon 9 Oo tk agnin tansy ako hve sh ape ae fonolve asd ero ators Rv ror dows alow Dr onamic medusa eso beset tera dene tu arund e en Stag we ey eset ves tiv ech cat nd sow cognate MASSIVE PRICE: £150 TYPE: Subtractive/wavetable FORMAT: VST/AU/DX PLATFORM: PO & ac MANUFACTURER: Native instruments REVIEWED: em107 sms agai, 1, Sil whl the era technique ‘may be tami thors much thats unusual about Masse, including a rather kegn feedback finn which {enables youto reroute the signal ‘rom various inset points in tho signal path beck tough he terinpst.—— “TFG STMPLE MATTER TO KNOCK OUT A. (umes of he Minimoog oe ely rads tee heen aorecoton COOL SOUND, EVEN IF YOU HAVENT A CLUE Ha WHAT YOURE DOING" There are loads of LFOs and exvelope generator along with stop also Included. Macro contols make desler. t's simple matter to User to choose or modulate between sequencors and ove a dozen 229) Work of assigning your fvourte knock out a cool scun, even you ‘he two shapes. This method provides diferent elects processes, Mod Mot contol havent a clue what youre doing Awoath of new wavefoms forthe destatins ae choson via asimple Masso Isa cracking synthesizer though if you're Inclined to eke a too oscillators, which are then ‘and elegant cresanddrop method, that’ as splatonal or the iste deeper youl be rewarded with a plowed tug the dual multimode shes edo Cee rater Serra ie uh ot Biecoy pote econo Sct vem orth unter ave Ina ches Bette rach ne to Berctcmaeieend score Rowe otaiasooo Sconce canduaemaaeomrectinc —ecceamns ‘hough 2 deccated routing matixS neophyte as its for Seasoned sound comprahensive timbral toolbox aS RAPTURE PRICE: £101 TYPE: Wavetable FORMAT: VST/AU/DX PLATFORM: PC & Mac MANUFACTURER: Cakewalk REVIEWED: em99, _woatth of tweakableparametors by wich te included sampled ‘wavelorms may be manhandled nto something entirely now. Ring ‘modulation is ofred, and each ‘selator Is ranted pal of ‘mutimode fers for fnessing those ‘reauences. The tts oer no less ‘han 16 modes from which to choose, “EVERYTHING ABOUT RAPTURE SMACKS OF EXCESS” and if youve been hanging around the plugin party for any lang of of no less than 40 envelope Cakowalk webs ‘ime youl na doubt recognise the generators LFDs and sty generators, Rapes manufacturers have dat-hand of sesgner Rone Ceballos Perfect or twisting those timbres _ attempted to raise the bar of at work here. His tne touch Is 90d and prope! you're he type of wavetable synthesis with this one Cconfired bythe fact that Rapture person that pofers thelr matches. and theyve dono a very anata ‘can bringin user samples In the form prepackages you'll be peasad to __jod of Raptr offers the Of SFZ patches Know that Rapture comes with 500 of — powor and majesty of @ mat Eventing about Rapture smacks the suckers ight out ofthe box and artware ROMPler, butt ration a Gf excess: Users can aval themsoles more are avaiable onine trom the. the price. 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECTAL| 253W= the soft synth Wee is crowd with emulations of tarnous ‘snthesiers, few have garnered as ‘much pralse as GForce's Oddity. Tis ‘meticulous recreation ofthe ARP Cayssay has even managed to win the hears of the rabid colectors of ODDITY RICE: £90 TYPE Subtractive analogue FORMAT: VST/AU PLATFORM: PC-& Mac MANUFACTURER: GForce REVIEWED: em57 very appealing The ring modduo vibe ts such a nasty anc special tone and the ‘SHHULFO log one of my tave atime ticks foe creating good funk tones. sa “THE-RING-MOD/DUO VIBE 1S SUCH A NASTY AND SPECIAL TONE” the real dea We asked GForce's Dave vitage-symthnea ove the ‘Add to that the tonal character and Iryoute already read our feature Soles to We us the scoop on why he chose to recreate this partcular Instumert, and why he flit nad struck chord with sythesist the word over. “Tove the sound of he originale Dave tls us “an for me, he challenge of selng that raucousness cout be captuod was F: The very name strikes fear In the minds of would-be Fess Why? Probabhy Decause the orginal wave of Fa smihesizers from moga-manufacturer the vitual resi. Nathe instruments Yamaha were utter allen to keyboardists weaned on simple ‘analogue monosynits. They wore ‘made even more aifcut wth their miniscule LCD displays and deep, ‘menu-ven operating systems. Eventually the resets woe out helt welcome and musicans tured othe was a sucoess would be an patches of Yamaha's classic DX Ancestors, While vale not going to Instant gatiaton of understatement. M7 wasnt just sete, can even impor them pretend that FMS is a reese to semple-playack instruments, destabl, twas downright oblizaton. — drecty sla SysEx. rogram, I's @ helluva lot easier to Yet FM synthesis fered sounds Recent, Nath Instruments However the single most set your head around than a that wore unobtainable wth any other upped the ante with FMS ~ 2 Important features the expansive yet__DX7 SUI you cant be bothered, ‘ett Specially FM is revered for revamped, wltowashed version ofits elegant interlace, Wi todays screen thee are loads of excollntprosets sharp, spiky basses cpstalne balls predecessor Offering sk operators realestate, FM synthesis gains @ and an Easy page to get you up and and elke percusshe timbres that and afexible modulation matrix FMB_-mocleum of fendiness that was running Bilan. (054 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 ‘architecture ofthe ARP suf and| youve got something wth atop vibe! piting software clones aginst the ‘thought t deserved tobe crossed “When twas released we knew hardware that Inspired them, tien you Into the vitual domain and not we were taking a risk with the lack of Know Odelty doos the joD admiab cspatched tothe dustbin of hist. polyphony and we got some gre for and throws he use a onus oro Everyone knows how a Minimoog that but his eally wasnt an attempt Ito the bargain, Like ts progenitor, works, but there's something to crete a big commercial st synth adi just the thing for percolating orderly diferent about the hig twas a genuine labour of love, sample-anc-hold eects, rubbery tsssey cormls and layout that ‘Maybe that and is unique vibe, has basses and whistng leads. An ‘makes you tink i afeent way. inspired people” Incredbe achievement FM8 PRICE: £150 TYPE: FM FORMAT: VST/AUIOX. PLATFORM: PC & Mac MANUFACTURER: Native Instruments REVIEWED: emt09 ae perect for modern electonie rmusie sles. Being gal by nature, FIs @ perfect candidate for rencatnation In new ths, and unleashed FMT early on. That neatly notefornote recreation of Yamaha's DX L instruments took the Idea and ran, 'WITH TODAY'S SCREEN REAL ESTATE, FM SYNTHESIS. ‘adcng complex maitstage envelope GATNS A MODICUM OF FRIENDLINESS’ ‘generators, ulin effects and a few subtacthe funcons to boot To say itis not only capable of reproducing the simply net aalabl to its hardwareALBINO 3 PRICE: £133 ‘TYPE: Subtractive analogue FORMAT: VST/AU PLATFORM: PC & Mac MANUFACTURER: LnPlag REVEWED: emi08 has eared a reputation as a Ie shows, to. Flom the very fst ic subtractive analogue synth by 2 sound designer ~ mysalt” Stora pevinmer among, tie yu open Abin, ou fnew Alcenngelecrone rule Wn yout desing wih poesonaly Dower ost and ate rtd paces Factory ofetngs nin | Ren, Ring scheme, twas deslgnedio the gamut om Mooge leads and etna __ Aten) meat he requfemnts foe ofthe tance basses exc dmosphes ———— Dest tis inthe bz Rob that italy blew. ino Renate tendoané te cues “FROM THE VER FIRST TIME YOU OPEN nd whose syrtivheayy excursions in Yet for those who wish to leave ALBINO, YOU KNOW YOU'RE DEALING WITH flectonic acts such as Peru and thelr own mark, lbino ponies up the PROFESGTONALLY CRAFTED PATCHES” Nova have made him a cut igure goods. UnPugs awesome osctators among synthesizer alsonados, resent the user wih a plethora of shortage of options. Asif that werent presets and deep prograrnmabity “ADbno was the fst ‘custom bul waveforms that reach far beyond the enough there are loads of excallent make Ita great choice no matter symiesizer says Rob." was bull by offerings of atypical subtractive ecs onboard fa sweeten the dea what your leva af experience. From LUnPiug~ Petr Linsener coded the analogue synth With stereo fters, ItSessy 0 ee why Abino has _elactonica to emo, itch to garage, fosclators fr, etc - but ha layout, abundant maculation options and a Become a must-have forsa mary Albino fs into any gene, while stil features and presets were determined whip-racking arpogsatr, thes mo desktop sy freaks. hs qually, ‘stanlng out from the owe. \ Z3TA+ PRICE: £19 TYPE: Waveshaping/subtractive = FORMAT: VST/OXi ==) PLATFORI (MANUFACTURER: Cakewalk REVIEWED: em59) Pac ey | is: ‘developed and released to choose rom. Thee fs, of course, by rgcAudi of Pentagon 1 resonance and even a resonance fame the enptcalnamed boost funtion for sounds that have Z3TM+ was an instant hit with synth your neighbours knocking, fans. I's easy S00 wy ts Modulation fs represented by no ‘eeveshaping csciators and user less than six LF0s, each wih 60 “ravetabio suppor go Z3TA+ a log waveforms, in addon to ten user Sprght rom the stat. Even without shapes. hiss supremely paw Sich noetes this thing has power to resource, and one that aves Z3U4+ “THERE'S SOMETHING DECIDEDLY MODERN ABOUT Z3TA+” Sam, with si oscilstors pervolce, much ois statue sound 5c) sporting 60 bultin waveforms ‘Theres naturally, a sales of ralase modes, they prowde quite a of bedroom musicians, 2374 would 35d an independent waveshaper. __emselope generators. Eiht of em. in bit af sound shaping prowess. a bargain at tro times the price “TeoW in pulse wieth modulation fact. These are S-stage alas and we There ate oodles of oherfetures, All ofthis amount o an Actions for each and avery ane of have to confess that this Is one awa Including an XY contol, a masshe instrument that sucks you in. Fom ‘em. and you have oscillators thall that doesnt que match up to the mod matrix builtin alts and a deep sik pads to basses thal Set any hardware ants to shame, extavagance ofthe other sections, __manesllus MDI1eam implementation, loosen your mola ZT promises ing modulation, Fuland smc aro Z3TA* seems an obvious candidate ven from our bret desertion, the user imbral tapestes witha 50 in tow. formasshve mut-realooint ECs, la you can see that 737A has the goods unique soni stamp. ina word of Youll iso find apa of mutimode Angin Nevermeless with adjustable under the hood. Kudos to Cakewalk reo refi, there's something (mers ccboatt wR en Glrent es | Sope tet and Reme crent for keeping the rice tag witin each decidedy modem about Z3R+ 2a ConpuTeR eS Pec | 2SCOM! TAL INNES Cae! ABSYNTH 4 | price: S150 TYPE: Semi-modilar FORMAT: VST/AU/DXt PLATFORM: PC & Mac MANUFACTURER: Native Instruments REVIEWED: em103, be refered to as a‘classic’ I's ‘elecronie music, Simply put thst @ Native Instruments’ Absynth. smiesiss symesier. Now in its four ncaration, Absynth 58 ‘vas one ofthe fist sotware snthes's. Nuts ‘n’ bolts success stole. nal developed for Absynt isa semmodular [ene ‘gmthesizer can onthe “elecvonl’ haf ofthe term Instruments to fully embrace suround Sound playback, as euéenced by ‘some ofthe patches made available by tip developers, paeulay the eather stl Blolobs sets tom (Camel Audlo. Digital master yar wor any cout Ajo sd tonnd sar’ oor eco toung thors bat sian Sieve wan era and fr ae fe et st ste thats equal capable of ong pounding bosses searing as. tre plslng pees fee eds to bcstl rapes and oars creole stings a fasta nan dy wn tral cones Aunt sal ma iveanie a eee tht woud nave Don posse the Mac by eran Coving now instumen, meaning that you can ‘working for NI, Absynth gained route the various components ofits “SIMPLY PUT, THIS IS A SYNTHESIST'S SYNTHESIZER" Inymediat atenton and garnered signal path ina wide variety of ways considerable ciical praise upon ts You cant add more components, but rojease In 2000 under the Rhizoma you are alowed more contol over the an S-poe Mer offered. More unusual Software banner Sawy symhesists ones that ar included tinbres may be achieved using the were quick to recognise Absynt's Things bogin witha bangin the comb tex, Potential as a serious sound design oscllator section Absynthsjustiably Though Absynth ecelved a few {oot However blockousterstans and urveraly praised oscllatrs _eamiparsons 1 Kong Wavestatiot would have fo wait unl NI picked offer tho conto of addtve ynthess, upon release, I dowsnt actualy up and made It available a8 2 the fexbitty of user waveform possess wavesequencing capabilites. epseplatorm plugin instrument. drawing the chaos of granular Instead, complex rythmie patches ‘what makes Absynth so speciat? _symhesis and the ich txtral ‘ate achieved with powerful envelope ‘hot are as many answers to that possbiles of wavetable smhesis. _gonerators. Abysni’s envelope ‘question as there are use ofthis Ring modulation and FM are onboard ganeratos can have upto 63 semimodular mastrpece. Some for those metal, clangorous tones. _breakponts, which can be swear by its usororawabis and wavefom momting tas recenty syncronised to ack thor or the waveforms, while hers are atracted been intoduced for ringing your host's tempo. quick scan trough by ts masshe 68-stage envepe sounds toe the factory presets reveals a number ‘generators. Theo are some who see Once youve wrangled your ‘of patches that use this abit to 12s the utimate tool or dep oscillators ito shape they canbe great advantage. Is quite concehable synthesis and others who are content shuttled trough a vast anay ofits, fo use the Instument as a sort of to work with ts gorgeous palette of incudinghirpass, notch, band-pass, elecronic drum machine. reset patches. at-pass and, of course, lowpass Adcitonaly,Absyth ofrs LEDS However, near evenore ees varieties In Ct ere are nw less and a wie varety of ects ‘hat Abgymth s @ must-have for those than sk ofthe later included, with processor to futher push your sound ‘amongst us who Ike the emphasis Moogsive pole, 2-pole and even around, fs aso one of tho few Ocean the haraware era, Yop it's a cassiaZEBRA 2 _ PRICE: £108 ‘TYPE: Semtmodular FORMAT: VST/AU PLATFORM: PC & Mac [MANUFACTURER «he REVIEWED: emi08 ‘modula edged ahead ofthe pack. would allow me to workin diferent Combining staggering realist itrs ways. Now| can add and remove litte wa calete pang yt. compontss a sep he wer Data a tee oa fvace for mints aut ists sere stot alate pest comoeoy or “THTS Th Be iesnt.coctiaanan —ayaine icalovene mFS INSTRUMENTEAN TAKE Una fase boon pido aching instance, wap worn rtogpes ot REACHES OF SONIC EXPLORATION WITHOUT LEAVING Dehighest possible ely Zeba st about anftngfowhané back YU SCRATCHING YOUR HEAD IN CONFUSION” pos fur oscilatos four FM with muslelans and see what they sclotors, four fters, four mulstage think. Ths fs how plugins Ike frvelopes, anaher four ADSR EGs_Fiterscape and Zebra 2 have been and, you guessed four LFOS Al ae yrowe with Instant feedback and the highest quay anda fe evaluation over he whole couse os espend tral anc of development smoot Tho parameter anges are suite wide, meaning tha ike certain. LOOK, no cables! Rarivar snheszr of days gone “The madulaty things a side eect Bj Zebra can be pushed to exreres. of th engine” Us expla. “The Aad tots the tex cred by gant par about tte ways Nest and veiabe maduaion sources dSpayed inte Gd contol a BME rscciodeanitte peter mama cttert wes Bt cucnsanocen — remvtribom soo Gu Bic icnwcsousonknrayour toes rm op totem ey ssn feoesrs he ga vl fo i tm press a of es lors Wild by nature i eae We asked developer Urs Heckmann easir to handle on a screen than sat le him to design tis majestic patch cords, ana the functionality of odular- his reply reveals that he's patch cords would require a much man who takes a chalenge ‘more comolex intemal design. So Seriously “One night ina pub | here we have ease of use and CPU. Sczed about how mocilar Zebra 1. economy in one go" Ss bul incamaly la, the signal path Zebra sa benign but poweril Ses fly configurable tothe beast that stands tal and prout at evclape but not the use and the very top of our Ist of op ton Semeone askod, So why dont you commercial symths. It ines ase to SR aN Bake modular? That probably travel anywhere ther imaginations TT) Sted the thoughts about making might ead, but doesnt burden them a euarty controled by 2g rather with cantankerous and unpredictable Hen patch cons. ‘haviour Like the reatuw ater “However unt Zebra 15 | used'@ which ifs narmod,Zobra s tuly ‘00s way of eating pkgins going capable of providing a wid land sein progammatiotechniques Ike thooushlyenjyabll id, and new fest other desclopers That ls there and unengloned sas await those astobeaconcestendthen you wing Dimes Re Sno in taming wok ut yeu nen me concent Fis manna and tenes cee® © F= sa Windowsonty Forse unlike any othor. ‘There are virtual analogue features included, tobe sue, but Fooris ao throws in FM and AM, noise and wavsequencing Yes, wavesequoncin, It snit as powerful 25 that seen on the Wavestaton but nevertheless adds some Intecest to your patches, ‘As that werent enough his semimodular sts routing far ‘exceeds the lltations of most ‘modiulation matrees. The signals re © F: smthesis has 2 reputation Fe feu Since it swept tho wor Inthe frm of the Yamaha 1X7 FM has lft many synthessts sctatching thelr heads or resigned to across the vast realestate oft the incuded presets \__ Fas notariety change tle over “the ensuing years, thanks In part to FOORIUS DEVELOPER: di “TYPE: Sem-modular FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC WEBSITE: wo.dm totally and completely freely routable, ‘making this a contender for those looking for an ‘all mod cons version of the logendary EMS instruments. ical stants vith the four oscars, leh ate cistibuted across the too ‘ofthe trace, You can select fam a handful of wavetorms, the shapes of whlch ean be manipulated in eal time by dragsing @ handle across the wave spay you choose the Noise ‘oscllator, the handle alters the calour cof te noise, ‘Tere ae over two daze fer VIVALDI MX DEVELOPER: SK TYPE: FM FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC WEBSITE: wowstefan-kuhnanet ‘came oan end, jst time for modem sotware doveopors to pick it ‘2 upand afer new takes on FM. Ths time, the technology could be splayed ‘modem computer monitor, Nowfor sts more apparent than inthe elegant interface of Stefan the fact thatthe patent was held by a Kuhn's Viale MX Presented in clan, single manutacturer Kyou din’ Tae the way Yamaha served It up you ere ol of luck. However, Yamaha's hold onthe teciology eventual ih tabbed fine, Vale! MK sponses wih Yamaha's algorithms in favour of ‘a hardwired signal path comprising @ ‘qartt of two-sclator FM volees. FREEWARE SYNTHS: ‘A CONTENDER FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR AN ‘ALL MOD CONS’ VERSION OF THE LEGENDARY EMS INSTRUMENTS” 'ypes fom which to choose, and ‘modilaon is supplied by the 20, Ds and 20 128-point envelope ‘Benertors. Yeah, theyre that big Of all he synthesizes that made our top fen, Footus is alone in that it has a fay obtrusive nag screen, which overtakes the ene GUI every few minutes, wont inter the sound, but can be tresome i you “FREQUENCIES ARE SHAPED WITH JUDICIAL USE OF MODULATION, ENVELOPES AND LAYERING” Fiters oe st conspicuous in thelr absence ~ this is nota subracine Instrument. Uke wit FM synths of od, frequencies are shapet and moulded ith ucelous use of mocalation, ‘envelopes and layering, Indeed, upto four wo-aso pants can be stacked fr tick, ush timbres, and si assignable outputs ensure ar ling away at he eiting screen, ‘The nag screen can be eliminated by ‘making a donation. few minutes ‘wth the included presets wil convince you, te reminder doesn. From cntaine bels to chugging sequences on a key, ext atmospheres to bouncy basses, thoy 4o a good Job of exibting the strengths of tls wondrous machine. ‘that each part canbe individually processed and tested in your host. FM is never going to bo simolo, out with Vala MX making some Inspting times ts less ofan up race, There are some decent presets ‘anne, nd tl mpor kb banks fom ‘the prevous version of Val Sony Mac users, but this one's PC-onbyJ flector smihesis. Once rare and Iysterious, these days i Apnea in some form or other 2 vide variety of synthesizes, most Sebi the recent Prophet V fom Bara. tas the taping of point SS which Kors bul the venerable cession, and Yamahs the S22, Beak hese struments can trace ee lineage cect back to one ot Pe ast products ofa decining Seevental Greuts some 20 >= 20. That instrument was the Posner VS Before the Prophet VS, most SeSesizers enabled users 0 select {© czclatoe waveform or wo, mi Se together and then tos the ot ut ters and VoAs. The Penhet may have an unwieldy ‘money and truth be tld Sei the prettiest synthesizer Se ere aid eyes on, but SeASSUbFK is, novortoles, an JSSerent unique in both sound and BS aso stands alone in our ist Be is sable for Uru and has Bee compat wth lack the SSo MO interconnection protocol Bes os ron Linuxdasod music BS Wircows and 05 X versions are Be ccctabe or dowrioad BeccSub0X is a0 uniaue in Bees rh fooware. tmay be tool, eates under version 2 ofthe BBE Se anc te soure codes Pps tx ase who might wart 0 peek roe te nome DEVELOPER: Smart Electronix {VPE: Wavetabe/vector FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PO. (WEBSITE: htp/users hk aftuovvst tml VS took a more eynamic approach to ‘oscilator design by enabling users to end diferent waveforms together va the use ofa Joystick this way, a col, gta Ure cau fade int, 3,2 vaditonal analogue wave, hich ther could be mised into yet anather and soon. What's more, he Prophet was blessed wih over 100 ‘waveforms trom which to choose These two features meant that the machine was fly bursting with fe ‘and moto, and al before leaving the oselator stage! ‘Allo his power and more can be had free in the form of Sant lection’ Augut Aupurs an ‘ongoing attempt to creste an ‘accurate clone ofthe classic hardware VS in sofware form and its ‘8 darned he ono. Sporting convincing es and a Ccomprehonsve modulation mat, ‘Augusta easier se than Is snot and plastic ancestor, thanks in no small measure tothe lage somewhat utltaran| GUL ar of Ls, oopable emveopes arta bultin chorus fect add even ‘mare fe to yur sounds. Seemingly ‘tuck in beta, Auris nevertheless a killer yt for lush pads, undulating soundscapes and more. DEVELOPER: Paul Nasca ‘TYPE: Hybrid analogue subtractive/addve) FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC, Mac, Linux WEBSITE: htp:/2ynaddsubéusourcetorne.net/ ‘As you can seo by the screenshot on the rit the interface can be abit oft pitng at st. Dul grey and nat tee exting to lok at, the GUIs nevertheless easy enough to get ‘around, once you fire out how to ‘access al ofthe various windows. ‘Once you have dane so, you gain entry to a muitiimbral, pobyphonic Instrument with elements of both additive and subtractive synthesis, ‘and a few other goodies besides. There are tree dierent synthesis. ‘eniines inthe fom of ADsyt, SUBSymah and PADSynth. The fst of upto 128 harmonies per wie, ets, errstopes Ls and more. SUBS SS 2 seer postion enabing 25, Itdoes the shaping of tones va subtractive sythesis, Final there's the PAs whi, as the name Imoles, is ideal for spacious pads. ‘oss in lads of tfcts and deen cdting at every eve! ofthe ‘rohit, and you have an Instument that demands some selousattenion “ZymaedtsubfX can bea ie mmind-boging at frst but experienced smihesists lwo I. Neopites need not fet though, as a much easier atemathe intsce i also provided. 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL | 058¢' alticul to overstate the Lmpact of tis erossplatorm freeware plugin rom Glenn ‘Olander. When Gystal was inital released hore were few instruments = commercial or othenvse ~ capable of such complex, rihly texture Sounds, Wh a semi modular signal ath and wid malleable delay rocessor, Cysal was a breed apart from the ypical twat anaonus synthesizers ofthe day. Of cule do analogue, make no mistake, but ‘that was just the beginning Aste assed and is reputation grew, so tao eld Cystas ahead Duseoning feature sot ‘Chstal is 2 three-oscator ‘ere wo havo an enty on our Uist of em readers top ton rooware synthesizers from cur eum GM Stud. This should ‘come as no surpis, as em has teen proving qualty robles ever since OM-101 fitthe stands ‘ofso-many years ago Hubris asi, In Dominator we have one ofthe best sounding vitual analogue synthesizers avalable anywhere, for any pie. From ts overthetap colour schome tos blistering esclistos, everthing about Dominator ensures thatthis tiple oscar rant wil rolgn oer any mix Made music ‘demands sounds that speak wih authorty, ane Dominator is designed to'scream and squeal chob and 050 | COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL rr CRYSTAL DEVELOPER: Groen Oak ‘TYPE: Seml-modular FORMAT: VSTIAU PLATFORM: PC & Mac WEBSITE: wwwugreenpak-com/cnstall ‘symesizer Each oscllatorofrs up sik snthesizod waveforms fom ‘whic to choose action to another 20 sample-basod waves. Whats more, wou ca loadin your ‘ov wares via Crystal's buiin ‘Sounafont support. A the expected oscator goodies are present includ reasonably complex FM portent, and coarse ‘and fine turing Exch of Cysts the voices can be shuted through a multimode ft, with Seven diferent tte types on tap, Resonance of couse on hand, ‘and each tte has ts own dedicated loopabe ninestage envelope. ‘Yen, we said ninestage. The amp DOMINATOR DEVELOPER: em ‘TYPE: Analogue subtractive FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC. WEBSITE: aew.computermusic.couk ‘thrum youl have no wots about being heard over the guitars wth this bad boyt Dominator rules with ta) ‘wavestaning userdefinabe Unison ‘modes and a Smart mote that resets cemelopes and osciltors wth each note for fast, punchy tacks ‘Analogie detuning ses the oscars the fle Sound that reuDfeisiss ae sure to appreciate, ‘anda pat of multimode titers offer all the sonic shaping yore exer key ‘to want oF need. No Jess tart cree DSR emelopes and an LFO are ‘rovided for your modulation requirements, and sopbistested routing ison ofr for shutng those ‘mod signals rcund, ‘Special mention should be mado “EACH FILTER HAS ITS GWN DEDICATED LOOPABLE Q-STAGE ENVELOPE. YEP, WE SAID 9-STAGE” ervelopes are thkewise outited with nine stages. Each stage has a ‘efinable siope and can be ‘smchronised to th others (or the hosts these complex, muitstage envelopes that earnod Crystal ‘comparsons to Absynth and many of the multeydlous avalate presets show aff the power ofthese cemvelopes to goat fick. (stl fs all about modulation Ther are six 0s and sic modulation ervelopes (again, they nine stages hore. nda fledbie and Ccomprehenshe mod mat to tafe ‘the mod signals about th piace, ‘As you Can tll fom our escrinton, there really fs no excuse for making ststc sounds with Onstal Wts a cracking combination of semi modular subsactve with a huge dollop of ctl trawn into the pot. musta fr exotic tlots and _amblonoes, a a lot more besides ae Dominator. "MODERN MUSIC DEMANDS SOUNDS THAT SPEAK WITH AUTHORITY, AND DOMINATOR 1S DESIGNED TO SCREAM AND SQUEAL, THROB AND THRUM” ofthe bultin noms lc was painstaking crated after the now-famous eect used on Roland's aching hip lun series. ften up the weadlest tones wth ts lsh, syrupy set ‘You name it Dominator can lay it ‘down. Brutal bass sounds can squeal with some serious squelch, and shrieking solos that can soar over oven the fattest mbes ae al just a click away. Yep, Dominators big bad ‘and domans your fea. nike some nets, thoush, Dominator wi ‘low you unheart-o feeoms... of ‘the creative vate, of course!ith the CM Stado, weve always ted to provide you With tho vory best in ree SSbrare. Weve bouEht you S905, drum machines, efects See more sts than you can shake Bese at However, as great as al Bp plusins ao, Zobra OM i, wot Sn Developed ty Urs Heckmann, Bees CM isa chip off of whe's Eeeencious Zobra 2. Uno ts big eter the coss-plattom Zebra Co ESsubiractve synth of unparalletod Send aualiy and vast fest ks ee oselators ae fart busting with Bette, Incucin sine, dual and Ses modes, syne and wavetorm Pedulsion. There's a noise generator along that makes us shake our heads in aslo. While onine [poston are crammed ful of ree $22 analogue synmesizers, they Eanetimes come up short on Heaters, sound qualty or both. Some Be pared-iown versions of SSoumeteial plus, while others are Be woDdly baby steps of an up and Eaming doveteper who has yet to find side. For tesa reasons land {Bare many users feo! that they have B soond afew quid to aval Pemsetves ofa ful fleshed out Fstument. ancreas Ersso's poh Bas that misconception to rest once, Sorat fering tree asciaors per voice $d the potential for two discrete S ‘ometimes a feeble comes, DEVELOPER: whe ‘TYPE: Analogue subtractive FORMAT: VSTIAU PLATFORM: PC & Mac WEBSITE: wwwtte.com DEVELOPER: Androas Essar! ‘TYPE: Analogue subtractive FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PO. WEBSITE: ww. bostreammalinevers/pobvbit that offers white, pink and dita nose, along with crackles. The resonant iter enables users t0 choose from any of 291 modes, ‘netuding some of to best vintage ‘emulations weve ever hear In the modulation department, ‘hore ae afew parametor packed sstage envelopes that offer three Playback modes and a seloctable ‘ume base, You can aso aval yourself of atrloof LEDs Jone fda Al nt them have agustabe rates ampltdes and phase, while L702 and LF02 can be turer modulstea by Wo sources each. They also have ‘a delay function Al of tho usual LF ‘waveforms are present along with a rity Usor waveform that can be use JNANT FILTE to crt custom shapes or act as @ sot of stop sequencer ‘Asif that werent enough you got rmutpe etfocts generators for splashing abit of day, verb _Bhaserof chorus ovr your patches. in) signal paths the Windows-ony ‘nba boasts 32 voices of po}yphony, assuming your CPU is up to the Job. Each esllatr can spt out the usual sine, trang, sawtooth and pulse waveforms, and thor's a Dulin noise generator for those ‘whooshing wind and efects sounds. Fiter modes Include low ss, ‘banc-pass and high-pass varieties, ‘and resonance i, of couse, on the menu ‘Modilaton is represented by no Jess than four tempo-syncod LFOs ‘and another four ADSR-sple envelope ‘Benerators. The envelopes can be ‘rggored by tho LFOs 880) GCs or prtament, along win the more traiional note-on commands Assignable mod destination knobs (eee [I tie tie ‘ate popperedltberaly across the instruments intertae. Such attention to the modulatlon sourees and ‘estnaions hes polit the abity to erate sounds that val simple ‘morklar syns in complex, Al ofthis stuf would probably {eam poy a place in our top ton butts the sound that guarantees its R MOI IULAT INCLUDE SOME OF IONS WE'VE EV HEARD” ‘nt its unusual osclatrs and ‘comprehensive st of fits, ts hard not to make a illant sound wit this thing Whecter you noed a eutng ead sound ora deep, sweeping pad, Zebya OM can get you there, ioe ee ie te: est eee leie sei erg ta 1) (e166 16 \(eiewie 1) standing Nw in tid place Put simply, polit sounds gorgeous Tho band-imitsa wavelorms gvo the ‘sclators a ful, powerful sound that can hold ts gum wit many a cass hardware synthesizer politi an essential ploce of feeware. you arent aleady a convert be sure ‘ve ta by ~ ifs on the dsc 2007 COMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL | 051DEVELOPER: Wusik TYPE: Wavetable FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC WEBSITE: ww wuslkccom/w/ndex uskstatlon CM ~ featured ‘every month onthe dsc that comes withthe regular ‘edition of em ~ i a tuo git to readers, belng the ful inal version of Wusikstation with absolutely no restictions, Based on the distal Powkased smth workstations that came ino vogue inthe late 80s — and stil fowish today ~ Wuststation (is chock ful of mutisampled \wavetorms that fuel ts powerful synthesis engin, From is ast menu ‘of modulation options, to is abit to bringin user wavelrms, ths one versatile Instument (no of Wuskckation’s mast sgnicant features sits ability 0 perform wavesequencing Made famous by Kors Wavestation series, wavesequencing isa method by which disparate waveforms can be programmed for sequerta playback This enables users to patch in unique ‘hydmic passages or shifting organic timbres that buble wr mation. ts ‘an undereppreciated technique that 's rely avalalo at any price. Of coursa al that wavesequencing ower would be worthless if the thing ‘dnt come packed with an excelent selection of samples with which to ‘work Whsistation GM draws upon a rmessie selection of mulsemled waveforms trom a wide selection of sources. Alla the expected analogue ubins were tapped for that Analogue vibe along with a tucNoad of dgtal smi that are often overlooked including models rom Ensoniq which as youl see, had some hand n insping Wushstation All about the Wusik Willam Kad honcho of Wusik tas Us how it was conceved: “had this Keyboard workstation ‘an Ensonia T-10, for some years, and Iwas realy used to working with It However it was an old unit with too ‘many bugs. knew that there were now things onthe earket, but | wanted something very 03s to use, that would work as a VST and be Inexpensive for people to buy. The word "Wusi’ appeaed to me in a eam, ard the Wustkstaton name ‘came up because | wanted to create ‘workstation’ VST that would feature ood sample handing, sthesis and wavesequencing. ier sar tne | notice that Wusik was the word “muse with W and Krepiaced, as in im K Go figure! | announced i and started to take pre-orders to fnanoe the thing Four months and stem CM eu wneensencng the CM So | tse | coMPUTER MUSIC SPECIAL 2007 several bank loans lato, Wuslistation ‘Vt was ready for eease. wasnt perfec, ana had several problems ‘hat we had to deal with inthe folowing wooks, but twas a 000 product “Today, wih Wusitstzton V4, woe Introduced even mare new features stereo layer suppor, Wavesequencing ‘Arpoaslator the apeaoiator can be sed for wavesquencing duties, 128 ooes of polyphony per tye, several row modematrx ousngs, new flebrowser,categosedibrary, VST fects importing and many other things shat users requested t's been wary efor, with users and Wu working togethor” That collaboration has paid of in an inetument rat uses with i and offers up a plethora of patches associated wit hardware POM machines. om qui rhythmic vwavesequences to shimmering cis ads, Wusitstation CM delves and then some And all forthe mice ofa ‘magizine that you were Intending to ‘ayy arquayl No wonder em reads voted Ione of tho best freeware, ‘sntheszes of al time!tin beta, and si avalabe as “dnationware;, KarmaFX Syeth simply put a wonder. fully Ssular synth, KarmaPX Syth offers Sarthe power and floxlity you'd eect rom a good software moda Se itu o0 much head Stoning Whereas a produit theo Betor0F COP might be soon as a ical programming language Eeplete wih customisable Gus Se dp programmabily, KarmaPX Beet ropresonts a more waditonal Seehable modular synthesizer Uli the above-mentioned Secular environments, KarmaFX Fem doesnt require the usec to Basen evory aspect oftheir Sa Bee preted variety meaning you Sy, acl a knob oF slider as, Seesed, anc include conventional Beoaie-shieoscilatos, along win Bessie based and ven addivestvie Beeston ror are a good number te, envelope generators, Scencers and effects processing escies onboard as wo Modules ao selected tom a Fee and connected wits vial BS cables. You can opin as FS snocules as you th for that $= wil allow), and you can BRS tho signa about in ary way Bese. kod on ary module Be be modulated ty any other Feet Most patching as simole E eeicicking You wont be diving Be ssbmeny ater sub-menu o So Be youl mover be askod to enter 2 See Ine of command code Difinite Karma coolest thing about a modular See Hee Kermak synths at es Dee ietod 1.2 sing design or ted frstoae of having one you can have as many as 6. each wth ks own distinct =: Went an emulation of, sy. seri Po-One? How about e Sigal path using ¥ q v f f @ DEVELOPER: Ogo ‘TYPE: Modular FORMAT: VST PLATFORM: PC WEBSITE: http 7karmabunet the same sort of medules and range them as closely to the ‘tga as possible. Better sl, create something thar combines the best atbutes of your tvourte instruments, ana shed the funeions you never use Cleary, Karmarx Synth is potent 100 fr indidual expression. K's 2 breeze to cane out your own sonic signature wih an insrument ike ts For those who prefer to lt someone else do the hard labour, KarmaPx Syth comes loaded with a bnuge selection of preset patches, ‘angina rom simole, savelching 303-akes to complex evoling pads to chugging sequenced posrtytims. ‘hate are even some handy starter patches to gve you a umping-f Pot for your own creations ‘As a special thank you! rom KexmaPx Syn cretor to em rades, the dsc that came wit his ‘magazine contains an exclusive collection of patches. For beginners, theresa bank of around 30 patches called ‘Simple’ that shows how to ‘ul a patch tom scratch, Only a few changes were made foreach save, so ‘each patch shows almost every ceaing step. Even if you arent a DY Kind af user, gen KarmaFX Sys inte Interace, youl be crating your awn sereaming leads or ‘maniting samples inno tne ‘Te second part ofthe bank a coleton of more compen bran new patches and edits of existing patches, Some of them sound very peculiar and some of them sound just beauttul arma? Syh offers an elegant esrtouse approach to modular ‘smiths, ts sti in beta an so il time out after a period of some months, but Ogo have always hac a new version at the ready Make no mistake, tis is 2 ful funetonal instrument wth no restctions. you find you the it be sur to send a onation tothe deelopor to ensure is continued development. om ae aa re of nee coneeres usa SPECIAL | 063