MusicTech - January 2021 UK

WE’VE DONE
IT AGAIN.
Scarlett is already allowing more than three million musicians, songwriters
and producers to record, mix and play back audio in studio quality everywhere,
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performing Scarlett mic preamps the range has ever heard, updated with Air,
high headroom instrument inputs, and high-performance converters, the 3rd
Generation is the best in class USB interface range on the market today.
W ELC O M E
THE MUSICTECH EXPERTS Celebrating the

best of the year
It’s hard to muster much enthusiasm for a year
during which we faced unprecedented levels
of restriction to our daily lives. Musicians have
JONO BUCHANAN MARTIN DELANEY suffered heavily, as clubs, venues and studios
Jono is a composer, Martin was one of the first have been forced to shutter their doors. But in
producer, lecturer and UK Ableton-certified trainers. times of strife can come vivid art, and each of
journalist. His interest He has taught a wide range the Gear of the Year winners dazzled us – and
in everything to do with of people and has written you – in how they aided the music-making
electronic music started at three books about Live.
a tender age and has carried Martin designed the Kenton process. From page 12, we celebrate 2020’s
him through a career Killamix Mini USB MIDI key products across the industry spectrum.
spanning song-writing, controller and is the editor Among our numerous tutorial features
remixing, sound design of the popular Instagram this month, we explore how to recapture the flavour of classic sampling
and music for picture. account Abletonlive.london. techniques with modern software. Flip to page 28 to begin your journey into
crafting your own unique samples from all kinds of instruments and sound
sources. Elsewhere, on page 40, we delve into the soundtracking process
behind one of the year’s biggest videogames, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,
as Sarah Schachner and Jesper Kyd explain how they fused contemporary
techniques with ancient instruments to forge an all-new palette.
On page 54, we spend some time with J Willgoose Esq, better known as the
bow-tie-sporting frontman of Public Service Broadcasting, who created a new
solo record in lockdown, harnessing the power of long-neglected tech to do
DAVE GALE ADAM CRUTE
so. We also Zoom to Iceland to check in with multi-instrumentalist Ólafur
Dave is an award-winning Adam is a freelance
orchestrator, media engineer, media producer Arnalds. Head to page 120 to discover why he’s searching for peace.
composer and producer, and musician. Having cut his Meanwhile, on review this month, beginning on page 86, we scope out
with a passion for synths and teeth in tape-based analogue Spitfire’s Abbey Road One, Rob Papen’s Blade 2 and Arturia’s KeyStep 37,
modulars in all their forms, studios, his involvement among others. Enjoy this issue and have the merriest of Christmases.
whether software, hardware, with music technology has
vintage or modern. Dave spanned the move from
is MusicTech’s resident analogue to digital recording.
Eurorack expert, as well Adam is currently our go-to
as a soundtrack composer. Cubase expert.
Andy Price Editor andy.price@musictech.net
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ALEX HOLMES MATTHEW MANN
Subscribe and save money –
Alex has been an electronic Matthew has been making
see p108 for full details
musician for many years and music since the age of five,
has a passion for beats, bass and received a master’s
and all forms of electronic in music production from
music. He’s currently getting Berklee College of Music in
stuck into three different 2010. A pro Studio One user,
Visit our website
dance-music projects. Alex he took on the editorship of Head to our constantly updated
creates our sample-filled StudioOne.Experts and also website for the latest news, reviews
DVD each month and runs the StudioOne.London and 18 years of quality content:
handles our mini reviews. Instagram account. www.musictech.net
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MusicTech January 2021 3

In the issue…
The best products of 2020 get our biggest accolades
FEATURES TUTORIALS Rob Papen Blade 2

Korg Opsix
106
110
Gear of the Year 2020 12 Logic 60 Erica Synths Syntrx 114
From monitors to soft-synths, we chart Multi-sampling with Sampler Loopmasters Bad Taste
the gear that should be remembered Live 66 Recordings: Malux 117
from a year we’d like to forget Brand-new and updated devices Loopmasters Jungle Drummer:
Sample magic 28 Cubase 70 London Wake Up Drums 117
Your DVD We pull back the curtain and reveal
the art of modern sampling
Synthesising drums
Studio One 76
Klevgrand Skaka
Six of the Best: headphones
117
118
Turn the page for a full list Recolour your tracks 48 Performing with the Show Page
of the contents of the Apply a fresh lick of paint to your FL Studio 80
MusicTech Issue 214 DVD sounds with this amenable workshop Creative vocoding REGULARS
Welcome 3
INTERVIEWS REVIEWS Disc page

Preview: Ableton Live 11 beta
6
8
Sarah Schachner and Jesper Kyd 40 Spitfire Audio Abbey Road One: Subscriptions 108
The composers of the Assassin’s Creed Orchestral Foundations 86 Rewind: PPG Wave 130
Valhalla score tell us how they crafted UVI World Suite 2 90
their uniquely new Norse sound palette Toontrack Classic Rock EBX 93
J Willgoose Esq 54 iZotope Nectar 3+ 95
The Public Service Broadcasting Arturia KeyStep 37 96
frontman on old tech and his new LP Vochlea Music Dubler Studio Kit 98
Ólafur Arnalds 120 Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 Pro 100
The Icelandic pioneer on his lockdown Modal Electronics Cobalt8 102
exploits and ongoing search for peace Røde PodMic 103
4 January 2021 MusicTech

C O NTENT S
INTERVIEW
Assassin’s
Creed Valhalla 40 INTERVIEW
J Willgoose Esq 54
Reviews TUTORIALS
MULTI-SAMPLING
WITH SAMPLER
86 IN LOGIC PRO X 60
BRAND-NEW AND
UPDATED DEVICES
IN ABLETON LIVE 66
SYNTHESISING
DRUMS
IN CUBASE 70
PERFORMING WITH
THE SHOW PAGE
IN STUDIO ONE 76
CREATIVE
VOCODING
96 100 IN FL STUDIO 80
MT DVD214
4GB PC&MAC
On your DVD…
Evolving VIDEO FEATURE/110MINS
Top 5 Reverbs
Soundscapes Loop+ has turned its attention to reverb
Our lead pack this month comes courtesy this month. First up, producer Tim Cant runs
of composer and sound designer Michael through his top-five favourite reverb effects
Denny, and features 40 extended soundscape of 2020, which include Sonible’s Smart:Reverb,
samples created from a diverse range of Denise Audio’s Perfect Plate and the new
source audio. Traditional instruments used Paragon plug-in by Nugen Audio. We also
include an upright piano, a Korg Minilogue have an in-depth look at Spacerek by D16,
synth and a Fender Stratocaster, alongside and a comparison of spring and plate reverbs
some suitably abstract field recordings of using Arturia’s REV Plate-140 and Spring-636
birdsong, a chainsaw, and a Lake District effects. Finally, there’s a live stream with
summer storm. The samples have been Producertech’s Rob Jones, who’s joined by
processed with layered effects, the results iZotope product manager Udayan Sinha to
ranging from ethereal to outright disturbing. discuss Neoverb.
Size 476MB Format 24-bit/44kHz WAV Size 575MB Format MP4
michaeldennymusic.com loopmasters.com/loopplus
VIDEO FEATURE/37MINS
Ableton Live 11 Preview D’N’B and bass music special

With Ableton Live 11 having finally been announced, our Live expert We’ve hand-picked some tasters from Loopmasters’ latest d’n’b and bass music releases.
Liam O’Mullane has been hard at work exploring its many new features. To accompany the mini reviews, you’ll find raucous bass synths from Bad Taste Recordings: Malux,
From comping, tempo-following and linked-track editing to new devices and raw acoustic drums from Jungle Drummer: London Wake Up Drums. Elsewhere, there are
such as Hybrid Reverb, Spectral Resonator and Chorus-Ensemble, there wonky beats from Rygby Hybrid UK Bass, dubstep-style synths from Conrank Wubbly Jubbly, and
is plenty to be excited about ahead of Live 11’s release in 2021. moody pads and percussion from Dark Minimal Drum & Bass. Finally, we’ve got soulful vocals and
Size 396MB Format MP4 adlibs from Leo Wood D&B Vocals Vol.1. Use the code MUSICTECH10 for an exclusive discount.
Size 191MB Format 24bit/44.1kHz WAV
loopmasters.com
VIDEO LOOPS/ SOFTWARE

TUTORIALS SAMPLES DEMO Rob Papen
Blade 2
as age modelling, two
saturation models, tape
This 24-voice beast boasts
analogue waveforms and
VIDEO FEATURE 28MINS Reggaeton & Windows, Mac OS X hiss, wow and flutter, high-quality emulations of
Haas effect, Moombahton Kits This unique synth uses an and more. the Moog ladder, Korg-35
Berghain-style This month’s pack from X/Y pad to morph between aberrantdsp.com and SEM filters. Choose
techno leads, Equinox Sounds features waveform harmonics or four from 11 oscillator modules,
making basslines three construction kits for additive waveforms. Its DEMO Klevgrand draw your own waves,
with one-shots creating reggaeton and other features include Skaka modulate using four ADSRs
Enjoy three insightful moombahton, inspired a wave-analysis section, Windows, Mac OS X and four LFOs, and then
videos from Producertech, by artists such as J Balvin, analogue-type oscillators This percussion sequencer add onboard effects.
including an excerpt from Maluma, and Arcangel. and noise, 32 filter types, features 12 pattern slots thewavewarden.com
Rebuilding ‘Unstable Each kit has key and BPM and an arp section. and eight deeply sampled
Condition’ with John Tejada, info, and is presented with robpapen.com shaker instruments. Each FULL Nembrini
reviewed on p117, in which a mix and its component pattern lets you control Audio NA 808
Tajeda explains how to use parts – drums, percussion, DEMO Aberrant DSP pitch, velocity, gain, Overdrive Pro
the Haas effect to add width bass, leads, plucks, vocal SketchCassette II envelope, shuffle and an Windows, Mac OS X
to lead sounds. Plus Paul chops, and effects. You’ll Windows, Mac OS X advanced humaniser. The This responsive, versatile
Maddox on Berghain-style find one-shot samples in A lo-fi cassette plug-in sequencer also includes overdrive stompbox effect
synth leads, and Rob Jones the folders, alongside designed to recreate reverb, room simulator is modelled on a classic
on turning one-shot MIDI files. a range of cheap tape and about 200 presets. Japanese green pedal, and
samples into basslines. sounds, while offering klevgrand.se includes controls for drive,
Size 395MB flexibility and control, tone and level for dialing in
Size 216MB Format 24bit/44.1kHz WAV, SketchCassette 2 boasts FULL The Wave those satisfyingly crunchy
Format MP4 MIDI 12 unique tape type and Warden Odin 2 guitar tones.
producertech.com equinoxsounds.com quality profiles, as well Windows, Mac OS X nembriniaudio.com
DIGITA L SUBSCRIBER ? You can download your DVD content from MusicTech.net using the code MTW428

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MT PRE V IE W
TURN IT UP TO 11
It’s been two years since the release of Live 10. Now, the company has finally
provided the much-anticipated next step in the world-beating DAW’s
evolution. We’ve had some hands on time with Live 11, here’s what we found
WORDS MARTIN DELANEY
A
bleton is not a company known Another new feature is one of Live’s most adjusting clip lengths and loop statuses for
for erratic behaviour when it frequently requested: track comping. This linked MIDI tracks, and the same plus warp
comes to updates. Unlike with method streamlines the process of compiling settings for linked audio tracks.
other companies, there’s still a several recording takes (usually vocals) into
buzz of excitement when it announces new one new track. For this, Live 11 introduces WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?
releases. Two years on from Live 10, the Live Take Lanes, which can be attached to MIDI Live’s MIDI note editor now has a new
11 beta has now gone public. Let’s see what or audio tracks. Simply add one and, as probability lane, with shortcut buttons to
registers on the excitement scale this time your arrangement loop cycles around, new quickly randomise velocity and probability.
and get a taste of what Live 11 will bring lanes will be added indefinitely, capturing Your MIDI clips can have a scale assigned
to our screens next year. your new take while muting the previous to them, with the notes and root note
ones. When you stop recording, each lane highlighted in the lanes in the editor. There
LIVE AND LET LIVE can be auditioned, and the pencil tool lets are new editing lanes for MIDI Polyphonic
Superficially, this is still the Live we’re used to. you select from each take and build a new Expression parameters too, as Live 11 will
But when approaching the browser, you’ll master take. Not only is this a fast way to support MPE controllers such as the Roli
notice there are now left-column items for organise and edit takes, it can also be used Seaboard. This is bolstered by the wavetable,
grooves and templates; it’s finally possible with field recordings, samples or any other sampler, Simpler, and arpeggiator devices,
to save multiple projects as templates, yes. material to create new hybrid soundscapes and you can draw MPE control message
The right-hand column displays now include or even semi-random beats. changes into the Clip editor even if you
sub-folders for audio effect devices, and Speaking of tracks, Live 11’s new linked- don’t have a compatible controller. This
there are now new devices to explore track editing allows you to select two or more lends Live a new creative methodology,
here too. audio or MIDI tracks and edit them together, and it works beautifully.

PR E V IE W
To tie in with this development, Ableton’s

Push controller has received a firmware
update too, and now grants polyphonic
aftertouch. Live’s library will inevitably get a
spring clean too, and there’s more curated
content to come in the shape of Voice Box
(voice samples and processing), Mood Reel
(ambient soundscapes) and Drone Lab
(complex evolving instruments and effects).
There are also three new sample instrument
packs from Spitfire Audio: Upright Piano,
Brass Quartet, and String Quartet.
IN EFFECT
Although there are no new instrument
devices, there are new audio effects:
Phaser-Flanger and Chorus-Ensemble
combine previously separate devices while
being backwards compatible, while Hybrid
Reverb adds to Live’s previous reverb and
convolution reverb to bring impulse-response
reverb to non-MFL users. Spectral Resonator
breaks an incoming audio signal into partials,
before modulating, transposing and filtering
them. It also accepts MIDI notes, so it can be
triggered from keyboards or other sources.
The new Spectral Time effect also begins
with partials before applying delay, and
includes a neat freeze function.
Suite users will benefit from six new Max
For Live devices, including Robert Henke’s
remarkable PitchLoop89 for glitch effects,
digital shimmers and vibrato. In the past,
instrument-rack users may have been
frustrated by Live’s eight-macro limit (we
know we have). Thankfully, Live 11 offers
up to 16 macros per rack, which would
have saved many hours of our time last
year. Better late than never.
Macro settings can be randomised, and
saved as variations, recalled with a click or
MIDI note or CC – and these features are
performance dynamite, leaving us keen to
rebuild our live setup and try the updated
macros on stage as soon as possible.
Ableton has come good on yet
another long-time feature request too, LIVE IS KICKING
as follow actions can now be applied to Our exploration of the Live 11 beta has left
Session View scenes. For the first time ever, us fizzing with excitement. Any one of these
follow actions can now jump to specified new features might be a gamechanger for
positions in your track too. Dubbed Tempo you. With its many impressive small updates
Follower, here Ableton has forged its own and user-experience refinements, as well as
spin on the popular Max For Live device its process-updated features such as track
BeatSeeker, enabling tempo sync with comping and increased macros, the final
outside audio sources. That means drum or version of Live 11 looks set to be a winner.
percussion hits from real players can drive But let us stress, this is a preview of the
sync for an entire project or performance, beta version and, although it’s unlikely, in
including sending MIDI clock or Link sync theory these features might be chopped
information to other software or devices. and/or changed ahead of the release. The
Rounding things off for now, the CPU library is certainly going to be expanded KEY FEATURES
Load Meter has been enhanced, so that it and not all device presets are present in 16 macros per rack, up to 100 snapshots
offers more detailed information. There’s a the beta, which is why this isn’t a review Fantastic, functional track comping
new mini version of this that can be viewed and why we’re not scoring it yet. As of now, Spectral Resonator effect device,
at the bottom of each track too. Naturally, there’s no due date for the Live 11 release. with unique freezing functions
this encourages us to dump loads of But based on what we’ve experienced so Revamped Clip editing
plug-ins into a track to try to make far, that will be a thrilling day for music Interface and usability tweaks,
the meter peak. producers the world over. including sub-folders for devices

With 4 million sounds – what will you create?
Access millions of samples

Audition samples from the entire
Loopmasters catalogue
Authenticity at your DAW

New effects rack and multitrack operation
Plugin suite
Instrumental inspiration at your fingertips
e x c l u s i v e
Try it for free at Loopcloud.com

Great sounds. Serious inspiration.
S I G N U P T O R E C E I V E 1 G B O F F R E E S O U N D S
MT FE ATURE
GEAR
OF THE
YEAR 2O2O
During a year of horrendous global strife, we here at
MusicTech kept our attention squarely on the kit that can help
us make better music, while yearning to return to a world filled
with live performance and collaboration. We asked you to
vote in 13 categories, and our experts have since deliberated
on the results. So get comfortable as we announce the
winners of our first Gear of the Year round-up of the ’20s.
L
ast year was one that will live long in the For our Gear of the Year awards, we asked you to
memory, for reasons we’re all too aware vote in 13 categories online, with the results solidified
of. But on the flip side of 2020’s unforeseen by an evenly split combination of reader votes and
hardships, it gave us more time than we’d expert opinion from the MusicTech team. The list
ever had before to spend locked away in our studios, collates the year just gone’s most popular big-hitters
focusing on expressing ourselves through sound. The and draws attention to those products that deserved
pace of new tech releases didn’t slow despite global more of it upon release. Above all, it’s on these
and industry distress and, across software, hardware pages that we pay homage to the pinnacle
and instruments, we reviewed a wide spectrum of 2020’s music technology. It’s a year we’d like
of what’s been launched in our pages. to forget but its gear deserves to be remembered.
© Joseph Branston
FE AT U R E
Best Accessory Best Outboard

2020 2020
WARM AUDIO BUS-COMP

£650
novadistribution.co.uk
A company with previous when it comes to
bringing the sound of those glorious keystone
products of the past to contemporary audiences,
Texas-based Warm Audio’s take on VCA mix-bus
compression was a revelation upon its release in
early 2020. The Bus-Comp is an all-analogue two-
channel stereo VCA bus compressor based on the
unmistakable SSL designs that have enriched music
productions for decades. Presented as a pleasingly
straightforward 1U 19-inch rack-mounted unit with
a front panel that features an analogue dB meter,
the Bus-Comp also sports a handy high-pass filter.
PLUGIN BOUTIQUE SCALER 2 The unit comes in at a relatively affordable price
too, offering professional-sounding compression
£50
pluginboutique.com that might otherwise cost a fortune to attain.
Improving on the original Scaler’s compositional-assisting chops with a raft of

new features, this sequel boasts fantastic additions such as Expressions, which
captures the vibe of human playing and subtly adds it to your chords, breathing
life into otherwise flat recordings. It can also detect chords via MIDI or audio,
and suggest compatible alternatives. With Scaler 2, you have, in effect,
a constantly-on-hand, intelligent musical assistant that can be tailored to
whatever genre you’re working in.
BLACK LION
AUDIO EIGHTEEN
£1,000
scvdistribution.co.uk
When we reviewed Black Lion Audio’s
Eighteen in issue 213, we were taken
aback by the heaps of unadulterated
character it brought to the table. A vintage
solid-state preamp with an equaliser, the
SOYUZ LAUNCHER Eighteen harks back to a range of classic
£195 products and wears its old-school aesthetic
soyuzmicrophones.com with pride. Its EQ features two sections of
Injecting the vibrant analogue character of solid-state and high-end tonal control for high and low frequency
microphones into even the most basic of dynamic mics, the Launcher manipulation, which we found extremely
may look small and unassuming but run this high-powered weapon useful in our tests, particularly when it came
into your microphone and you’ll be catapulted to vintage heaven. to creating lush musical EQ curves.

G E A R O F T H E Y E A R 20 20 FE AT U R E
Best DAW
2020
CAKEWALK
BY BANDLAB
FREE
bandlab.com
Releasing the beloved Cakewalk Sonar as a
PRESONUS STUDIO ONE free-to-use DAW was a generous move but
BandLab hasn’t rested on its laurels. Over
PRIME: FREE ARTIST: £85 PRO: £345
presonus.com the past few years, incremental updates
have helped bolster Cakewalk’s workflow
The past year saw many sizeable DAW updates across the board, each bringing with studio-quality effects, unlimited tracks
new and enhanced functionality to its native environment. Studio One’s evolution and built-in tools for practically every stage
was an existential shift five years in the making. With its nifty new Show Page, version of the production process – and all for free.
5 is a fully-fledged live-performance hub that can finally go toe to toe with Ableton
Live. The new score editor is one of many convenient additions too.
Best Software Effect/Utility

2020
IZOTOPE RX 8
ELEMENTS: £80 STANDARD: £230 ADVANCED: £770
izotope.com
OEKSOUND SOOTHE 2 During its eight-stage evolution, we’ve

seen iZotope’s RX become the ultimate
£170
audio-restoration tool kit, with the latest
oeksound.com
version now sporting the incredibly useful
Though it hasn’t been around long, the Oeksound name already commands Spectral Recovery and Guitar De-noise, as
respect thanks to its near-magic plug-ins. With Soothe 2, the company took user well as improvements to existing modules
feedback on board from its first resonance-smoothing Soothe plug-in and used it and functions, and under-the-hood
to perfect the formula. The result? Soothe 2 is an astoundingly accurate dynamic performance tweaks – all of which work
resonance suppressor plug-in capable of reducing competing frequencies with in service of your audio treatments.
ease. It’s a gorgeous-looking bit of software too. We called it a modern classic
in our review – and we stand by that. It’s the best software effect of 2020.

Best Controller
2020
ARTURIA KEYSTEP PRO

£370
sourcedistribution.co.uk
Lit up by our Gear of the Year headlights as soon as we first laid hands
on it back at NAMM, the KeyStep Pro combines many of the best
sequential elements from its sizeable product range into a single
device, making modular manipulation amazing fun. Its central
selection area features four coloured tracks that add to its ease
of use. To the right, you’ll find 16 step buttons that can be linked
together to provide up to 64 steps in a single pattern, while five
rotary encoders provide performance control, as well as the ability
to send MIDI CC information.
SENSEL MORPH CONTROLLER

£245
sensel.com
To hell with keyboards. Sensel shakes things up with the Morph, providing a
unique way to interact with your sounds. Choose your rubberised overlays
and place them on the controller one at a time. Once in position, a strip
of white LEDs will glow to provide tracking and feedback.
© Joseph Branston
Best Modular Gear
2020
DREADBOX HYSTERIA
£90
dreadbox-fx.com
The innovative Athens-based Dreadbox has
continually impressed with its retro designs and
the sheer scope of its characterful synths’ sounds.
This analogue VCO packs the weighty power of
its larger-scale Dreadbox brothers into a simple
Best Monitoring 10HP form factor. Its an easy-to-use unit, with four
sliders split into two sections, each slider with its own
& Headphones CV input beneath. It grants a colossal amount of
waveform selection, the likes of which is rare at this
price. The sounds you can coax from the Hysteria
2020 are staggering and a clear reflection of Dreadbox’s
passion for providing quality synthesis without
breaking the bank.
ADAM AUDIO T8V

£518 PAIR
adam-audio.com
We were almost literally blown away by the oomph of these monitors.
The low-end performance from their eight-inch woofers is as strong as
that of many of ADAM Audio’s pricier competitors. Built for durability, the
acoustically optimised cabinets sport a lovely bevelled front panel that
aids smooth frequency response, another unusual feature for monitors of
this price. The T8Vs have an accurate enough response to serve as the
main monitors in many recording setups. Their cavernous soundstage,
stringent detail and hefty bass punch make these a fitting recipient of
our monitors of the year.
STUDIO
ELECTRONICS
MIDIMINI V30
AUSTRIAN AUDIO HI-X55 £2,900
£250 studioelectronics.com
austrian.audio Celebrating 30 years since the Midimini,
These pro-level headphones boast a generous soundstage, forensic detail Studio Electronics faithfully recaptured the
and a comfortable fit, particularly important given that many of us now power of that legendary unit, adding new
regularly spend hours mixing solely with cans. They’re lightweight too, colours and harmonic interest, including
with a foldable construction that makes them especially mobile. powerful new LFO sections.

© Joseph Branston
Best Microphone
2020
ASTON MICROPHONES ELEMENT

£160 BUNDLE PRICE
astonmics.com
Led by a series of blind tests during which more than 4,000 Aston
customers helped fine-tune the final model, the Element is a triumph
of communal product design. Despite its small size, the microphone is
packed with well-designed technology, which sees it outperforming
vastly more expensive options in our tests and others. The mic’s vocal
reproduction is faultless and, as a studio all-rounder, it throws itself
headfirst at all tracking challenges. With its tempting bundle, which
includes a magnetic pop filter and clip-on shock mount, Aston has in
many ways reshaped the microphone landscape with the Element.
SONTRONICS PODCAST PRO

£100
sontronics.com
The past year saw many take their first leap into podcast production,
repurposing studio tech to record the spoken word. Keenly aware of
this, Sontronics – known for its unique and attractive products – turned
its design prowess to crafting the ultimate no-nonsense podcast mic.
Best Virtual Instrument Best Software Synth
2020 2020
ARTURIA PIGMENTS 2
FREE UPDATE FROM V1 £90
arturia.com
An update that supercharged Pigments from
a straightforward palette to a vibrant beacon of
intelligent and colourful soft-synth design, Pigments 2’s
two synth engines coupled with its sample-import
abilities and MPE functionality make it a deeply
rewarding tool. With its onboard sequencer and
effects, this is a wonderful performance instrument
too, as well as a creative boon for sound sculptors,
thanks to its randomisation options.
SPITFIRE BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

DISCOVER: £50 CORE: £400 PRO: £900
spitfireaudio.com
With the release of Spitfire Audio’s Abbey Road One (reviewed on p086),
it seems that the UK company is on a roll with its premier-league product range,
in conjunction with some of the nation’s most iconic institutions. BBC Symphony
Orchestra marked the beginning of this sea change and proves an astonishingly
dense package, even if you plump for the affordable Discover version. Featuring
the full instrumental arsenal of the orchestra’s instrument sets, the sound quality,
tweak-ability and astounding space-saving storage system employed by Spitfire
makes this package a real gamechanger. That users are able to apply for a free
copy of the Discover version is particularly noteworthy, as it opens up a resource
that has long-been the preserve of those with larger budgets.
EASTWEST SLATE + ASH CYCLES

HOLLYWOOD £270
slateandash.com
BACKUP SINGERS Bristol-based Slate + Ash brought its wholly
£345 original approach to soft-synth creation to
timespace.com Cycles, sitting the synth engine alongside a
EastWest’s suite of dazzling Hollywood vocals would be worthy of plaudits step-based sequential and looping element.
even if it didn’t feature its exceedingly fun WordBuilder functionality. Though there’s some crossover between
This clever bit of tech allows you to program your own words and have the two, this is far more than a simple loop-
them intelligently sung back to you by some truly blockbuster voices. based instrument and can be exploited
Hollywood Backup Singers sounds suitably cinematic and is uniquely in a variety of ways. It boasts a pleasingly
flexible for all manner of vocal-based projects. straightforward but never boring UI too.
Best Interface
2020
AUDIENT EVO 4
£100
evo.audio
With its Evo sub-brand, Audient rethought
UNIVERSAL AUDIO interface design to provide this pleasingly
APOLLO X4 portable two-in, two-out – alongside the
Evo 4’s double-that sibling, the Evo 8 – unit. It
£1,450
may look like an ideal beginner’s interface
uaudio.com
(and it is) but it’s also more capable than it
Compressing UA’s DSP expertise into an easy-to-use four-input interface – each of seems. Its preamps and converters deliver
which sports the flavoursome Unison preamps that have become the company’s sparkling, uncoloured sound, and the
calling card – the Apollo X4 packs a punch in the studio, with its large monitor loopback bus makes it a handy asset for
volume control and colourful meter panel. It can take the strain of UAD-2 plug-ins widespread use beyond music production.
and the free addition of UA’s new recording environment Luna means this isn’t
just another interface but an all-in-one professional recording package.
Best Innovation
2020
ENDLESSS
FREE £4.49 P/M FOR ENDLESSS INFINITE
endlesss.fm
ASHUN SOUND MACHINES We miss the life-affirming joys of live music
HYDRASYNTH and collaboration. But the restrictions of 2020
have focused our attention on products
DESKTOP: £800 KEYBOARD: £1,300
that allow for long-range collaboration and
connectivity. Courtesy of industry guru Tim
We saw all manner of forward-thinking products in 2020 but few proved as Exile, the Endlesss app lets users create fluid
rewarding as the Hydrasynth, whose marriage of soft-synth design and quality online jams with others around the world. It’s
hardware makes it a modern classic. Available in keyboard and desktop formats, slick and fun to use, so download the free
it sports three oscillators, two filters, and DSP and CV gate input and output. This version and try it out with some friends.
digital wave-morphing synth isn’t cheap but you’re looking at nearly limitless sonic
potential here. It’s a stunning piece of music technology in more ways than one.

Best Hardware Instrument
2020
UDO SUPER 6
£2,200
handinhand.uk.net
Ever since we looked inside UDO’s Bristol headquarters last year, we had
been eagerly anticipating the release of the 12-voice analogue-digital
hybrid, the Super 6. When we finally got our hands on it, we discovered
a deep binaural synth that had been designed with love and attention
every step of the way, This expert players’ synth warmly invites you to get
lost in its murky depths, and has a pleasurably, irresistibly tactile quality
that can’t be denied. Everything about the Super 6 screams quality. It
might just be one of those synths that future generations look back on
as an example of truly original synth design.
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASCHINE+

£1,100
native-instruments.com
Completing the product arc of NI’s decade-defining Maschine series
with an all-in-one unit, the Maschine+ rightly stands on its own as a solid
music-making system. Whether you’re in the studio or out on the road
performing, the Maschine+’s benefits are numerous.
© Joseph Branston
MT FE ATURE
THE ART OF MODERN SAMPLING

Once a painstaking artform and now
a central component of modern music
production, audio sampling has come a
long way since the first commercial samplers
appeared in the 1970s. In the 2020s, there
are many ways to create your own audio,
using any sounds you can think of – but those
traditional principles still apply. So let us help
you break free of presets and begin sculpting
your own samples via some tried-and-tested
methods, as well as a sprinkling of magic
WORDS ADAM CRUTE
FE AT U R E
CLASSIC HARDWARE,
MODERN STUDIOS
A
udio sampling has been a mainstay What might be the most awkward thing about
of music production for more than 50 using vintage hardware samplers today is having to
years – and the first hardware samplers transfer samples back and forth between sampler
had terrifying price tags. Thankfully, it and computer (or a second sampler). This was always
wasn’t long before the cost of this technology started fiddly but, in the 21st century, it requires you to work
to fall, with the first truly affordable samplers arriving through some now arcane procedures, as well as to
before the 1980s had hit their halfway mark. maintain the outdated devices and operating systems
Upon its release in 1984, the Ensoniq Mirage synth capable of running the necessary software. If your
commanded about £1,500, still a financial stretch heart is set on using a vintage hardware sampler, it’s
but considerably cheaper than before. best to do so in the ways it was intended to be used,
In order to be so affordable, these mid-1980s and embrace its limited capabilities.
samplers had to cut corners. The Mirage, for example, You see, there’s something of a virtuous circle at
was 8-bit, sampled at between 10kHz and 32kHz, work with these samplers. Their simplicity lends them
and had 128KB of sample memory – that’s 1/8th of a certain immediacy, and the cut corners give each
a megabyte. That’s comedically small by modern model a unique character that can be exploited.
standards – and it was at the time too. But to focus Perhaps most importantly, the limited memory of
on the bottom-line specs is to miss the point of how these devices forces you to adopt novel approaches
awesome these samplers were – and still are. to sampling. It’s about learning to do more with less.
Though you’ll find many of working vintage So powerful were these combinations of attributes
samplers on online marketplaces, living with one and approaches that they spawned new production
in the 2020s is not as easy as it once was. Originally, techniques and musical genres during the 1970s and
these samplers were fitted with floppy-disc drives, 1980s, an example of which is the classic lo-fi hip-hop
which are slow and not easy to replace when they drum sound. This sound emerged from the act of
wear out, with blank floppy discs now vanishingly rare sampling sounds and snippets from old vinyl records
too. As a result, many elect to retrofit onto their old and using these as a palette for new beats and
hardware samplers an emulator that replaces the music. Integral to the sound are vintage samplers
floppy drive and lets the sampler write to modern such as Akai’s S950 and MPC-60, and E-Mu’s SP-12
media, typically to USB. Many popular samplers of and SP-1200. But all vintage samplers have their
the day can be given these contemporary overhaul. own character, and all have their own fans.

T H E A R T O F M O D ER N S A M P L I N G FE AT U R E
TUTO R I A L CRE ATING CL ASSIC LOW- FI HIP- HOP BE ATS
01 Find something to sample. Old vinyl records are a superb source, as 02 Limited memory can be used more efficiently by sampling at lower rates
practically every record ever made has something on it that’s worth but this will limit your audio bandwidth too. Use this to your advantage
sampling and turning into something new. Don’t worry about working from by playing the vinyl at a higher speed before pitching it down within your
worn-out vinyl – it will probably give you characterful and tactile results. sampler. This will fatten the sound and accentuate grunge and dirt.
03 Overdriving your sampler’s analogue input when capturing samples can 04 Perform your sample editing, trimming and processing within your
produce interesting results. Try sampling things a few times with different sampler. Think about editing out individual hits that you can sequence
amounts of input clipping. This combines well with the 45RPM trick, because into new loops. Make use of the sampler’s filter and other synthesis tools
the clipping can take on additional character when pitched down. to bring out the unique character of each sample.
05 If you’re working through a mixer, overdriving the sampler’s input to 06 When sequencing new loops from sounds within your sampler, switch
the mixer can bring out even more dirt and character. If you’re not using off your DAW’s grid-snapping and quantising. Focus on getting a natural,
a mixer, bounce parts played from the sampler into your DAW and add further human feel that pushes and pulls against the beat. Play the beat manually for
processing there. best results.

FE AT U R E
GET KNOCKED
FOR A LOOP
T
he idea of taking a pre-recorded section of ReCycle is still around but sadly no longer has
a rhythm or musical pattern and building new the ability to communicate directly with hardware
music from it didn’t start with digital samplers, samplers and so has lost one of its most useful features
as tape loops had been in use by producers (licensed users can still download old versions capable
of contemporary music for many years prior to the of talking to vintage samplers but may need to run
arrival of sampling. But tape loops were (and are) this on an old computer and out-of-date operating
tricky to make and trickier to manage, especially if system). Thankfully, the rest of ReCycle’s capabilities
you’re using multiple loops – and especially if those are available in most software samplers, and are also
loops need to be synchronised. It is no surprise, then, built in to many DAWs.
that one of the first uses of digital samplers was to The ease with which the tempo of a sliced loop
capture and play loops. can be matched to the music you’re creating is the
The limited memory available on most vintage key advantage of this technique and, unlike with the
samplers meant that many would be filled by a single time-stretching processing, sliced loops don’t suffer
one or two-bar loop. Rather than filling the memory from sonic artefacts and warbles when played outside
this way, many people would chop out individual hits their original tempo. Slicing loops has the happy side
from a loop and use these snippets to recreate the effect of capturing the pattern of the loop itself too,
original pattern and/or to create new patterns using because the loop’s pattern is defined by the relative
a sequencer. This had the advantage of separating positions of its slices. Software samplers, therefore,
the pitch and timing components of a loop – after make it especially easy to extract these patterns to
all, you can modify timing by editing the MIDI pattern MIDI files, while DAWs that have built-in slicing allow
and tempo, and you can modify pitch by editing you to extract these patterns into timing templates
individual samples. that can be used for quantising and as the basis
This became known as beat-slicing, and the for edit grids.
first software dedicated to this was ReCycle. This No matter how you go about it, loop-slicing makes
tool simplified the process of detecting and defining it easy to change the sounds that are being triggered
the slices within loops, and could import loops from without affecting the pattern or, conversely, to alter
samplers and export the resulting loop slices back to the pattern that’s being played without affecting
the sampler, while creating a MIDI file with which to the sounds. Now boot up your DAW, load up your
trigger the slices in the correct timing and sequence. samples and let’s take a look.

TUTO R I A L BE AT- SLI CING A ND LO OP M A NIPUL ATI ON
01 Load a loop into your sampler. Steinberg Groove Agent is particularly 02 Most software samplers can detect slices automatically by looking for
well suited to beat slicing and loop manipulation, so that’s what we’re transients within the loop. But they don’t always offer perfect results.
using here. You can use any sampler you like, including vintage hardware, Use the sensitivity slider to detect the majority of slices, then manually add,
though you’ll need to make some modifications to the process for that. remove and/or reposition these slice points as needed.
03 Your sampler will assign the slices to a chromatic series of keys or pads. 04 From the MIDI part, you can easily edit the pitch of each note in the part
It will also be able to generate a MIDI part that will replay the slices in just as you would any other MIDI note. In this way, you can rearrange
the correct order and timing. Place that MIDI part on a track in your DAW the loop by simply changing each MIDI note’s pitch so that it triggers a
that’s routed to your sampler. different slice.
05 To change the sounds within a loop without affecting its underlying 06 Load a new pattern, extracted from a different sliced loop, and spend
groove and feel, go into your sampler and replace some or all of the slice a minute or two repitching the MIDI notes within the new pattern so
samples with the sounds you’d prefer to hear. You can also apply processing that they trigger appropriate slices from your original loop. Combining
to individual slices and samples to further mash things up. the above techniques should help you create wholly original loops.

FE AT U R E
STRIVING FOR
AUTHENTICITY
B
y allowing you to capture more of the If you want truly original percussive sounds,
subtly varying timbres produced by acoustic however, you’ll need to get more creative.
instruments, multi-sampling helps to make Subtractive synths are a tremendous tool for
sampled instruments more expressive and creating percussive sounds. True analogue hardware
realistic. Sampling multiple notes produced by an usually yields the best results but solid soft-synths can
instrument and spreading them over limited key be almost as good. Another fine source for percussive
ranges or even one note per key, as opposed to sounds is found sound. Head out with a portable
spreading a single sample over the entire keyboard, recorder or set one up in a safe place and capture
is the most common form of multi-sampling. This is the noises that occur in there. You can also consider
closely followed by velocity switching, whereby old records, tapes and CDs as found-sound sources.
a different sample will be triggered depending Once you’ve reaped your sounds, you’ll need to
upon the velocity with which a note is played. comb through the material for sounds that can be
Software samplers and direct-from-disc sample repurposed as percussive hits, and chop them out.
streaming have blown away the memory limitations Applying some pre-processing to a sound before
of vintage hardware samplers, which has allowed you import or record it to a sampler is a good way
for additional layers of detail to be incorporated into to bring out its best qualities – it’s amazing what a bit
multi-sampled instruments in the form of articulations. of EQ, filtering and compression can achieve. You
If you’re sampling an acoustic drum kit, for example, can and sometimes will apply these effects in the
alongside sampling each drum at various velocities, sampler itself but, if they’re integral to the sound,
you might also sample left and right-handed strikes then consider applying them pre-sampler.
at each velocity. You can then program the sampler Resampling is another tactful way to add
to alternate between left and right-handed strikes of individuality to sounds. Edit or process a sample and
the drum, introducing subtle timbral variations that then capture as a new sample the results of playing
enhance the realism. You might then even introduce the processed sound. With this method, you can use
additional articulations – striking multiple positions on processors and tools unavailable to your sampler, such
the drum skin, for example – for even greater realism. as your favoured reverb or compressor, and specialist
Creating your own sampled drum kits needn’t tools such as Steinberg Backbone. Experiment with
consist of acoustic drum samples either – consider playing techniques too, such as chords or arpeggios.
classic drum machines such as the TR-808 and TR-909. The results will build with each round of treatment.

TUTO R I A L CRE ATING L AY ERS AND A RTICUL ATIONS IN KONTA K T
01 Record a series of percussive hits from a drum, a synth or whatever you 02 Create a new instrument in Kontakt. Rename the default group Art1.
like – you could even record yourself hitting your studio desk with a pen. Under Group Start Options, set Group Starts to cycle round-robin, and
Record examples of loud, medium and softly played hits. Edit these in your Position in round-robin chain to one. Duplicate the group, rename the duplicate
DAW or wave editor so that you have each hit as an individual audio clip. Art2, and set it to position two in the chain.
03 Select the Art1 group and disable Edit All Groups. Open the Mapping 04 Add the first articulation’s medium-velocity sample to the key. Drag
Editor and drag the first articulation’s lowest velocity hit to a key. Reduce the bottom of the sample so that it starts at velocity 51, and set the
the upper velocity cutoff to about 50 by dragging the top of the sample in the upper velocity to 99. Add the articulation’s hardest hit, giving it a velocity
Mapping Editor. range of 100-127.
05 Switch to group Art2. Repeat the above process to add the second 06 Play the note repeatedly using different velocities to hear the velocity
articulation’s samples to the same key as the first. Enabling the Mapping switching in action. Notice that the active group keeps toggling back
Editor’s Selected Groups Only option hides the first articulation’s samples. and forth between Art1 and Art2. Configuring articulations can become more
List View can be useful when dealing with multiple layers and articulations. complex, requiring Kontakt scripting, but you now know the essentials.

FE AT U R E
GET YOUR
PITCH PERFECT
D
rums and rhythmic loops are a big part But the problem here is that the loop information is
of sampling but things are different when part of the sampler patch, not the sample’s audio
it comes to sampling pitched instruments. file. If you want to then use that sample in another
Early samplers lacked the memory to patch or with another sampler, you’ll have to faff
capture sustained sounds in full – a single piano note around recreating the loop.
allowed to decay naturally could be 20 seconds A stable solution might be to use a dedicated
or more in length, which is far too much for most audio editor to define loops. Yes, you can edit audio
vintage samplers to handle. However, once past in your DAW but audio editors work directly with the
the initial harmonic-rich attack transient, the sustain audio files themselves – much like a word processor
and decay phases of most instruments consists of a works directly on the text within a document – and
stable, repeating waveform that slowly decreases in can do things easily that DAWs can’t.
amplitude and brightness. This can be simulated in a There are several solid open-source audio editors
sampler by creating a loop that starts after the initial available, such as Audacity and Ocenaudio, but few
transients have calmed down, and that cycles across freeware options have the tools to help you find loop
a short section of the decaying sound for as long as points. The free Windows-only LoopAuditioneer does
the sample is triggered. The sampled instrument can have such tools, alongside various features useful for
then synthesise the instrument’s natural decay and working with samples. But the software is clunky and
release phases using amplitude and filter envelopes. not for everyone. On the commercial front, many
Setting up this sort of loop in a vintage sampler regard Steinberg’s WaveLab as the best option,
can be agonisingly difficult, because the waveform thanks to its excellent loop-point matching and
at the end of the loop has to be a very close match crossfading tools, and its ability to embed loop
to the waveform at the beginning of the loop for the markers within audio file themselves.
results to be glitch-free, and this circumstance is all Instrument sampling can be difficult, and the best
too rare. Software samplers don’t need loops if the way to break yourself in gently can be by sampling an
sound being sampled has its own natural decay but analogue synth, because finding loop points in synth
loops are required if you want a sample to sustain for samples is a lot easier than finding them in acoustic
as long as you hold down notes on your keyboard. samples. How to approach this depends on the sound
Software samplers have tools to help you find these you’re sampling but, if that sound changes over time,
points and create crossfades to smooth out glitches. be it with an envelope, an LFO or another modulator,

TUTO R I A L RESY NTHESISING DRUM SOUNDS W ITH STEINBERG BACK BONE
01 We’re using Backbone for this tutorial. Visit steinberg.net, head to the 02 Find a kick sample with a pleasing initial attack, and another with some
Backbone product page and follow the instructions to download and low-end fatness. Drag the attack sample to Backbone’s first layer. Switch
install the demo version. Once installed, launch your DAW and fire up an to and enable the Resynth section. To harness the non-tonal aspects of this
instance of it. sample, switch the resynth mode to Noise.
03 Experiment with the resynth controls, honing in on the transient 04 Enable the layer’s Resynth module and leave it in Tonal mode.
characteristics you like. The resynth filter may help here too. Enable Adjust the Purity dial and focus on the low-pitched tones in the
it and draw a curve if needed. When done, drag your fat-kick sample sample. Experiment with the other controls until you find a balance that
to Backbone’s second layer and mute the first layer. you’re happy with.
05 Now that you have isolated a nice transient and a deep boom, start 06 The intention with Backbone is to export sounds created in it and use
blending the two together. Unmute the first layer and play the sound. the exported audio files in your session or sampler. To do so, open a
Tweak the resynth settings as needed and use the conventional synth controls sampler plug-in and drag from the arrow next to the Export button to a key
to hone each layer’s sound. or pad in your sampler.

FE AT U R E
you’ll need to multi-sample each note in order to A smart way of dealing with this within software
keep those time-dependent elements consistent. For samplers is to create articulations for each different
example, if a sound that includes an LFO-induced type of sound, and assign some sort of controller
vibrato is sampled and spread across multiple keys, or switch – typically very low or high keys on your
the vibrato speed will change as you move away keyboard – that allows you to switch between
from the sample’s root key, which is unlikely to be articulations as you play.
the outcome you want. A particularly interesting way to make timbrally
A more sensible alternative might be to sample rich waveforms in your sampler is to define very short
the rawest possible version of your synth sound – loops over a sample. If the loop length is less than
typically by leaving just the oscillator and the filter 1/20th of a second, you will start to hear a pitched
in action – and then add the envelopes, LFOs and waveform. The sample you use as the source for this,
other modulations within the sampler. This allows you and the section of the sample that you loop over, will
to map performance parameters such as velocity have a profound effect on the tone and timbre of
and aftertouch to the sampler’s synth parameters, the waveform that’s produced. You can then use
making your instruments more expressive. It also the sampler’s synthesis tools to filter and shape the
gives you the opportunity to create multiple waveform into your own entirely original instrument.
instruments from the same source samples. A variation of this theme is to use a wave editor to
The lessons you learn by creating sampled draw a waveform of your own and to synthesise
instruments from synths carry over to sampling from this within your sampler.
acoustic instruments too. In other words, you should As we have seen over the past few pages,
aim for as pure a rendition of the instrument’s sound far from being a stale and purely technical pursuit
as you can possibly create, avoiding vibrato and relegated to the annals of hardware history,the act
other performance nuances that can be of sampling is a fabulously engaging and creative
synthesised later within the sampler. activity, and one of the cornerstones of modern
Many acoustic instruments have the ability music production. None of the ideas and techniques
to create a range of different sounds – think of an we’ve looked at should be viewed in isolation either,
electric guitar, for example, which could be clean so be sure to bring as many of them as possible to
or distorted, with its strings ringing or dampened, your sample-creating endeavours. Record, edit,
and be played with a plectrum or with fingers, etc. process, synthesise and sample happy.

TUTO R I A L FINDING A ND DEFINING INSTRUMENT LO OPS USING WAVEL A B
01 WaveLab’s loop tools are included in both the Pro and Elements editions, 02 For the best results, your instrument loop should begin and end on
and demo versions of both are available too. Head to steinberg.net a zero-crossing point, which is a point where the waveform crosses
to download one if need be. Locate or record a pitched note and open it the central zero point. Enable zero-crossing snapping in WaveLab’s Edit tab.
in WaveLab. Here, we’re using a bass guitar note.
03 You want the loop to start at about the point when the timbre of the 04 Enable looped playback and hit play. Drag the selection’s end and
sound settles down following the initial attack phase. Listen to the tweak its start until the glitching is tolerable. You can zoom in and use
sample and try to hone in on this. When you think you’ve found it, start the waveform display to help find close matches. When ready, switch to the
a new range selection at that point. Insert tab and add a Loop Region.
05 Switch to the Process tab and open the Tweaker tool. Drag the start 06 When done, switch to the File tab and save the changes to your sample
and end points in the tool or use the blue arrows to have WaveLab file. The loop region markers and crossfade will be written into the file.
search for possible matches. You can further mask the loop point using To test this, open your sampler, drag the sample onto a key and check that the
the tool’s Crossfade tab. loop has been recognised.

MT INTERV IE W
HISTORY
IN THE
MAKING
SCORING ASSASSIN’S
CREED VALHALLA
As Ubisoft’s time-hopping Assassin’s Creed
franchise turns its attention to the Viking era,
we hear from composers Sarah Schachner
and Jesper Kyd about the ways they melded
modern production techniques with ancient
instruments to create an entirely new take
on the Norse sound palette
WORDS MATTHIAS SUNDSTROM

INTERVIEW
N
ow in its thirteenth year, Ubisoft’s Having travelled around the world and engaged
open-world action-adventure franchise with global instrumentation, Valhalla’s Nordic
continues to go from strength to strength. setting was a particularly appealing prospect.
Renowned for its distinctive combination “The coolest thing about composing for
of historic fiction and sci-fi elements, recent entries Assassin’s Creed is that you get to do your own
have seen the award-winning series striving to reinvent creative interpretation of the era,” says Schachner.
its successful formula, with loftier narrative ambitions, “At the end of the day, we’re making a fun fictional
more engaging character arcs and increasingly game, so I focus mostly on the emotional mood and
impressive world-building. the atmosphere I’m trying to convey. It’s good to
When striving for reinvention, it pays to look not draw outside the lines a bit.”
just to the future but to the past – and there’s always Given its setting, Schachner relished the
been more to Assassin’s Creed games than their opportunity to do a deep dive into Norse music
eclectic historical settings. Music has always played culture. “Learning new instruments from different parts
an integral role in bringing their extraordinary worlds of the world and exploring their sonic textures and
to life. For Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the franchise’s possibilities is my favourite part of the process,” she
twelfth major entry, Ubisoft tapped the talents of says. “For my score, I blended Norse and Anglo-Saxon
two series stalwarts whose impact on its musical influences, combining period instruments with modern
legacy has been unequivocal. synthesis to subtly reflect the fictional sci-fi angle of
Assassin’s Creed.”
OLD FRIENDS Also returning to the franchise for the first time
Returning for her fourth outing is US composer Sarah in almost a decade is Danish composer Jesper Kyd,
Schachner, who previously contributed additional also known for his work on other popular videogame
music to 2013’s swashbuckling Assassin’s Creed IV: franchises, including Hitman and Borderlands. Kyd
Black Flag, set in the 18th-century Caribbean, and provided the score for the first Assassin’s Creed game
co-composed the soundtrack to 2014’s très bien – released in 2007 and set in 1191, during the Third
Assassin’s Creed Unity, which took place during the Crusade – as well as its three subsequent titles, two
French Revolution. She later took the reins of the set in Renaissance Italy and one in Constantinople.
score for 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins, set amid Having set the standards, Kyd’s musical DNA has
the sprawling, sandy townships of Ancient Egypt. been woven into the fabric of every game since.

S C O R I N G A S S A S S I N ’S C R EED VA L H A L L A I N T E R V I E W
Having spent the past year working on a series of

celebratory concerts to mark the 10th anniversary of
Assassin’s Creed II, the series has remained close to
“Having the instruments at
Kyd’s heart. While Valhalla marked the composer’s
long-awaited return, it also represented a chance
my disposal gave me a better
for him to revisit old ideas and develop them anew.
“It was important for me to start over and write
insight into writing for them”
something really different from what I’ve done in the
past,” says Kyd. “The depth of the music style is still a “The depth and atmosphere are really key in Opposite US composer Sarah
key focus, and so is having the Animus influence the this score, and the melodies and performances are a Schachner playing a Moog
Matriarch in her studio
live performances with electronics. Apart from that, close second,” says Kyd. “Valhalla is played in a vast
this feels like a totally different approach.” nature setting different from previous games, which Above Danish composer Jesper
Kyd created the score for the
are more city-based. Because of this environment, I very first Assassin’s Creed
HISTORY REPEATING was able to go in a more spiritual direction. I tapped game, released in 2007
Assassin’s Creed games see players exploring the into things such as the Viking religion and complex
memories of historical assassins over the course of afterlife belief system.”
various timelines. Blending real-life characters and While the initial conversations about Valhalla’s
events with fictional narratives – real-world historical musical direction began several years prior to the
figures that the series has given you the chance to game’s release, both Schachner and Kyd were given
befriend and/or beat up include the Borgia family, access to early iterations of environments that would
Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington and even inform their initial musical sketches and ideas.
Cleopatra – these in-game experiences are accessed “I began composing in about September of
via the Animus, a machine that enables the games’ 2019,” says Schachner. “Most of the time, we’re
protagonists to relive the memories of their ancestors. working with pretty rough visuals, scoring narrative
In Valhalla, these memories take place against sequences completely out of order, and only seeing
the backdrop of the Viking expansion across Europe. patchwork bits and pieces of the game as they
Set in 873 AD, the player assumes the role of Eivor, become available. Open communication with the
who, prompted by war and overcrowding in Norway, audio team is super-important, as they test each
leads his or her clan to settle in Anglo-Saxon England. cue that we write in context.”

INTERVIEW
“Primitive styles of regional folk While software instruments were employed

for functional support or to bolster other sounds,
they were always used sparingly; the focus here
music can seem deceptively was largely on acoustic performance capture.
Schachner used a Neumann TLM 103 microphone
easy to write and produce” and a Manley Force four-channel tube preamp to
capture the rawness and imperfections of novel
acoustic instruments such as the skalmejen – a kind
“The game world was quite far along when I of primitive Viking-age oboe – and the tagelharpa
started,” adds Kyd. “Ubisoft would send me flyby in close-mic’d settings. Wind instruments such as the
videos from the different areas that I would be ancient carnyx, an ornate horn held vertically aloft
scoring, such as Northumbria, Wessex, East Anglia above the player, were reappropriated for more
and Norway. That was super-helpful and really contemporary uses, with Schachner using one as
inspired a lot of ideas.” a sound source in an unlikely and decidedly non-
ancient setting: Polyverse’s Infected Mushroom-
GETTING TECHNICAL endorsed Manipulator vocoder plug-in, which she
Kyd and Schachner both employed a blend then played like a synth. Didn’t expect an Israeli
of acoustic instrumentation and synthesisers to psytrance duo to have played a part in this
create a score that sought to capture both the Viking-themed soundtrack, did you?
historic elements of the game’s Norse environment, Kyd also used a number of hardware synths,
as well as the series’ overarching sci-fi elements. including a Yamaha CS-80, a Moog Matriarch,
“For my score, I acquired some Norse and the 1972 version of the ARP Odyssey 1, as well as
instruments that I had never played before,” says some soft-synths, such as U-He’s Zebra, Xfer Records’
Schachner, “including bass and alto tagelharpa, Serum and Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere. Blended with
a horse-head cello, a plucked lyre and various the sounds of various Viking horns, as well as other
animal-hide drums. Many of the sounds were run ancient instruments such as the bowed rebec, crwth
through external processing, such as the Elektron and lyre, Kyd sought to craft an authentic period
Analog heat distortion/saturation effects unit, atmosphere that felt distinctly rooted within the
and the Strymon BigSky reverb.” Assassin’s Creed universe.

THE COVID EFFECT

“Performing all the instruments myself here in my
studio had been decided before COVID-19 hit, so it
didn’t really affect me that much on the music-writing
front,” says Kyd. “Personally and emotionally is where
it has affected me the most and I’m sure that has
found its way into the music.” “We were all on the same page – to create a custom Opposite Valhalla unfolds
“It certainly made any large-scale recording palette that respected and referenced the historical across natural vistas a world
away from the series’ more
sessions impossible,” says Schachner. “I suppose influences, while feeling uniquely Assassin’s Creed. metropolitan settings
we were lucky that Valhalla takes place way before It was great to have a lot of space to explore and
orchestras existed and therefore didn’t require that. figure that out.”
Above Schachner’s setup to
But I did have some smaller soloist sessions planned. record an alphorn (left), as
I managed to do one session remotely in Scotland Kyd concurs. “They told me specifically that they well as dramatic carnyx horns
just as the pandemic was setting in, with one performer were not looking for symphonic elements such as a
and one engineer who were able to social-distance. string section,” he says. “Sounds from the orchestra
I was on Zoom with them for eight hours to get all the – for the most part – are not part of the score. Solo
material I would need in one go. Thanks to technology, instruments, however, such as cello, solo violin and
it all worked out great. Outside of that session,
Viking horns, are employed.”
everything else was recorded and produced
at my studio in Los Angeles.” For composers, the franchise’s depiction of
culturally diverse themes and time periods provides
fertile ground for musical experimentation, as well
as unique challenges.
“Having the actual instruments at my disposal “Primitive styles of regional folk music that
gave me a much better insight into how to compose aren’t necessarily harmonically complex can
music for these instruments,” he says. “Once I started seem deceptively easy to write and produce,” says
playing the instruments, I decided to perform all of Schachner. “But that was far from the case. The rustic
them myself, in addition to string instruments, such instruments are fairly limited and were not easy to
as the cellos and the morin khuur.” play. I was continuously trying to find new ways to
write for them to prevent the score from feeling
SUBVERTING EXPECTATIONS too repetitive.”
Working closely with Ubisoft’s audio team, “I acquired a lot of ancient instruments to learn
Schachner and Kyd were advised to steer clear how to write for them,” says Kyd. “It was going to be
of sound palettes that might be comparable to an acoustic-sounding score, with all the instruments
prior depictions of the Viking genre. “They didn’t performed live, and stylistically a huge departure
simply want a Viking-era carbon copy or anything from previous Assassin’s Creed scores of mine. Since
approaching Hollywood orchestral,” says Schachner. we wanted it all to come from a place of realism,

INTERVIEW
JESPER’S GEAR
SYNTHS Behringer Pro-1, PREAMPS
Yamaha CS-80 K2 and Model D Manley Force Preamp
Sequential Circuits Eurorack with Dave Hill Europa
Prophet-10 70+ modules SOFTWARE
ARP Odyssey 1 MIXERS INSTRUMENTS
Korg Mono/Poly ARP 8 U-He Zebra
Moog Subphatty Yamaha DM20000 Xfer Records Serum
and Matriarch Amek TAC Bullet Spectrasonics
Roland Juno60, Roland System Omnisphere
SH-5, and MKS 80 100 Model 103
I’m blending live recordings and performances with

modern recording techniques and mixing methods.
This allowed me to push the limits of what’s considered
the Viking music genre and to create something that
sounds uniquely Assassin’s Creed.”
REMOTE COLLABORATION
With Valhalla’s game world being divided into
several distinct regions and locations, Kyd and
Schachner shared the responsibility of developing
themes for different locations, missions and play
states, as well as the game’s cinematics, rather
than focusing on specific elements.
“Jesper and I both wrote close to three hours
of music and the interactive gameplay score was
split up evenly between us,” says Schachner. “That
includes everything from stealth, exploration, combat,
custom quests, regional music and more. When there
are multiple composers, it’s not uncommon to be
restricted to just one area of the game, so it was
great to both get to do a bit of everything.
It makes for a nice sonic balance.”
Though Schachner and Kyd worked
independently throughout the scoring process, the
duo received guidance from Ubisoft Montréal audio
director Aldo Sampaio and music supervisor Simon
Landry on how their work would blend cohesively.
“I trusted the audio team’s broader vision in how
all of our work would come together,” says Schachner.

“The most important collaboration is between

the composer and the audio director. While the
constraints of the technical audio system dictate
“Ubisoft made a great decision
certain aspects of the music, sometimes the music
can inspire changes to the interactive system.”
bringing Einar onboard and
NEW COLLABORATORS
really pushed that concept”
For the creation of the game’s main theme,
however, which came towards the end of the Selvik proved such a perfect writing partner, Opposite Alongside such synths
project, Schachner and Kyd collaborated directly lyricist and vocalist, in fact, that Schachner asked as the Korg Mono/Poly, Moog’s
Subphatty and the Roland
for the first time. Their work was further strengthened him to stay on to contribute to some other aspects of Juno-60, Kyd’s Sequential
by support from Norwegian musician Einar Selvik, the score. “Einar’s expertise in authentic Norse music Prophet-10 played a part
best known for his work as the drummer in satanic and poetry was such a good perspective to have,” in the Valhalla score
Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth, she says. “Just like the sea shanties added so much Above Schachner close-mic’d
and for his Nordic folk project Wardruna. to Black Flag, Ubisoft made a great decision bringing her alto and bass tagelharpa
to capture the instruments’
“Jesper came up with the initial vibe and the Einar on board and really pushed that concept even subtle imperfections
melodic motif that was a great starting point for the further for Valhalla. I asked Einar to collaborate on a
theme, which tapped into Eivor’s personal journey,” few other pieces after the theme. I treated his vocals
says Schachner. “I then expanded on the melody like an instrument.”
and produced it out into a full arrangement ready The Valhalla score is a towering achievement, not
for Einar to sing on. It was unusual co-writing a main only as a blend of ancient instruments and modern
theme when there wasn’t an existing relationship techniques but of three composers working towards
between the artists. But I love how our sounds a shared goal. “While we have individual styles,” adds
ended up merging together.” Schachner, “the fact that all three of us had a similar
Kyd was similarly motivated by Einar’s presence. process of playing the Norse instruments ourselves and
“When Ubisoft told me they’d brought Einar onboard, recording solo performances means the music shares
I was really excited,” he says . “He brings an authentic a unifying hand-crafted aesthetic.”
lyrical feel to the project with his original folk songs,
where my music was more about creating a mood.” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out now

MT FE ATURE
RECOLOUR
YOUR TRACKS
Time to get out of your comfort zone by reworking the
sonic palette – and overall sound – of your long-since-finished
tracks and breathing some dazzling new life into them
WORDS GREG SCARTH
WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• A DAW
• A VCA-style compressor plug-in
(Acustica Audio Tan)
• A Pultec EQ emulation plug-in
(Analogue Obsession Rare)
• A bitcrusher plug-in (Tritik Krush)
• A tape-emulation plug-in (Chow Tape Model
or Caelum Audio TapeCassette2)
• Our prepared audio files on the cover disc

FE AT U R E
T
here are infinite ways to affect the
colour of a sound when recording.
Take, for example, a vocal part.
You’ve got the fundamental choice
of who you want to sing a part, you can
dictate how they deliver it, and you can
select where you record them. Which mic
are you going to use? Where are you going
to place it? Which preamp will you pick?
Are you going to hit a compressor while
tracking? Are you recording to tape or a
DAW? Even in the seemingly simple process
of recording a singer, you’re making dozens
of choices, some of them subconsciously,
and each one of them is affecting the
overall sound of your music.
To use the obvious visual-art analogy:
if you were a painter, would you want to
use the same palette of colours for every
painting or would you prefer to mix it up
occasionally? Both are entirely valid artistic
decisions but restricting yourself to a limited
colour palette might, in turn, limit your
artistic expression.
Similar principles apply to sound. But
what’s interesting here is how rarely we
question our processes. Even the most
experienced musicians, producers and 1
engineers fall into routines. Maybe putting
your Les Paul through a Marshall stack
truly will give you the best tone for your
next solo but perhaps you need to take
a step back and consider whether a
different and more unusual approach
will yield better results.
But what about working in-the-box?
There are thousands of ways to tweak and
sculpt the timbre and tonality of sounds in-
the-box, whether they’re samples, synths,
existing recordings or complete mixes. We
could call this colour processing, a term
for which there’s no strict definition. Still,
as a rule of thumb, we’re generally talking
about quite delicate changes in timbre
and possibly dynamics – EQs, subtle filters,
compression, saturation (not too much),
tape emulation and so on.
What’s critical here is that we’re not
talking about using effects that produce
dramatic changes to the sound. Ambient
effects such as reverb and delays are
often too obvious and heavy-handed
to count, likewise modulation effects such
as chorus and flanger, and in-your-face
filter changes. We don’t want to add to
the sounds or completely transform them
so much as add character and shape
their tone.
2
In this tutorial, we’re going to start
with a simple loop and colour-process
each of its elements in turn, twisting the but it’s often considered a dynamic process change in mindset. It’s possible in some
sound into something subtly but distinctly rather than a colour process. Typically, you cases to run sounds through analogue-style
different. The original loop is audio file 01 are thinking in terms of glueing the drum compressors that colour the sound with
on our DVD. elements together and maybe adding minimal impact on the dynamics. But
a little punch and loudness to the mix. usually both happen at the same time.
1 DRUMS – COLOUR
COMPRESSION
We’ll start with our drum sub-mix, processing
A typical choice would be a VCA-style
stereo compressor, which might colour
the sound a little but not enough to suggest
Aberrant’s recently released
ShapeShifter compressor, a tool for
adding colour, body and grit to sounds,
the whole thing in one go. It sounds like a that colouration is the primary objective. is ideal for this. It can do standard
fairly sparse sample-based pattern with an However, for this example, we’re compression if you want but it encourages
R&B feel and some nice lo-fi artefacts on thinking specifically in terms of colour first you to think about colour first and foremost,
some of the hits (audio file 02). and dynamics second. The dynamics will with a tone control that adjusts how the
Drum bus compression is a standard likely be affected most of the time when effect compresses and saturates different
technique used in most mixdown processes you think this way but what’s critical is the frequency bands.

R E C O LO U R YO U R T R AC K S FE AT U R E
This lightly tweaked Warm + Crunchy

preset, which we’ve chosen for our final
loop, uses a 4:1 ratio for mild compression
but with a lot of drive for a bold tone
(audio file 03).
Drums – bigger snare The Bigger Snare

setting uses lower drive but much higher
ratios on the main compressor circuit and
the transient section, plus a faster release
for a more intense smack (audio file 04).
Drums – huge and punchy Somewhere in

the middle, the faster attack of this setting
gives the effect of squashing the transients
more and letting the decay of the drums
feel more prominent (audio file 05).
You can achieve a similar effect with

a VCA-style compressor in your DAW.
Acustica Audio’s Tan is a decent free
option. This plug-in doesn’t have the
same tone-shaping and saturation
options but listen to the way the tone
shifts as you change settings, not just
the dynamics.
2 BASS – TONAL CHANGES

Next up, it’s time to tackle our bass
part. Prior to processing, it sounds a bit
4
harsh and flabby, as you can hear on hear the results, which are usually very For more of a sub-bass effect, you can
audio file 06. Let’s fix that. good no matter what you do to the boost way down at about 40Hz, this time
We’re huge fans of effects that simplify settings. To hear what Bass XL did to our with very little drive and a shallow filter
complex processes, and Berlin-based flabby bass part, listen to audio file 07. slope to give your sound more rounded
brand Denise’s Bass XL plug-in is a superb For our chosen setting we’ve boosted and weighty bottom end. To hear that,
example of just such a product. A around 110Hz with quite a lot of drive but listen to audio file 09.
combination of EQ, compression, saturation a wet signal setting of only 63 per cent,
and filtering all wrapped up in one plug-in,
it’s designed specifically for bass sounds.
It’s incredibly easy to use and, unlike using
which has the pleasant effect of softening
the harshness of the bass sound, warming
it up and adding presence (audio file 08).
3 ELECTRIC PIANO – COLOUR
EQUALISATION
EQ effects generally fall into two groups:
all those different effects separately, you Boosting at about 200Hz with a fully clean and precise, and coloured and
won’t need to think too hard about how wet signal gives a noticeably different tone imprecise. Here we’ll use Logic’s built-in
you’re shaping the colour of your sound: and colour, emphasising overtones with Tube EQ, a vintage model loosely based
just twist the dials and you can immediately an almost wah-like effect (audio file 08). on the iconic Pultec equalisers of the 1950s,

FE AT U R E
packed with valve-style character and adjusting the wet/dry mix to taste. It’s a can give you crazy grit and colour It’s too
with big, broad controls rather than straightforward and effective way to sculpt much for us here but can be effective.
forensically detailed bands and narrow a sound. Most DAWs have a similar effect,
Q. You can guess which category this
one fits into. If you’re not running Logic,
Analogue Obsession’s Rare is a reliable
so try it out and see if it adds the character
you want. 5 MIX BUS – TAPE EMULATION
Finally, we’re going to throw a bit
of tape emulation onto the mix bus for
free substitute.
To hear what our piano sounds like
with a little plate rever, but before the EQ
4 PERCUSSION – DIGITAL
COLOUR SHAPING
Our percussion part is a simple quarter-note
good measure. This is one of the quickest
ways to colour an entire mix but exercise
caution because tape emulation can
has been applied, listen to audio file 10. shaker that serves to add a bit of colour to quickly smoosh your dynamics and
With a healthy dose of 2kHz boost our drums more than it contributes to the unbalance your frequencies. Sometimes
and a few other tweaks to add presence rhythm itself (audio file 12). that’s exactly what you want but be
and colour (we’ve put the EQ in the chain We’re going to go digital and lo-fi careful if not. U-he Satin is one of our
before the reverb insert), we get a more here, using a bitcrusher to add some favourite options here,
flavoursome sound (audio file 11). old-school 12-bit tone to proceedings. as it’s capable of doing everything from
Because we’re not looking for surgical, There are lots of useful bitcrusher plug-ins subtle gloss to extreme smashing. There
uncoloured EQ here, we can take some on the market (and several free ones, are also free options such as Chow’s Tape
liberties with the settings. Feel free to including Krush by Tritik) and most DAWs Model and Caelum Audio’s TapeCassette2.
break the rules of conventional EQ-ing; include one too. But we like D16 Decimort. Listen to what our final loop sounds like
boost liberally if it sounds good, dial in Here, we’ve gone for subtle grit but you with all of the colour processing applied
the ‘wrong’ frequencies if you want. We’re can go extreme with bitcrushing if you (audio file 17). To say that the colour has
looking to add colour, rather than shape want (audio file 13). changed significantly from the original
the sound to fit the mix, and you can Our chosen setting uses 12-bit version is an understatement; we’re now
always add a clean EQ after to make resolution resampling at a 24kHz sampling in completely different territory without
it fit into the mix. rate, with a 4.5kHz low-pass filter to give having changed a single synth setting,
This is also a good reminder that you a gritty but not too in-your-face sound. sample or original sound source.
don’t need to spend money to get useful Based on a 1990s Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler Above all else, what we want you to
colour-processing tools. There are plenty keyboard, this 16-bit setting offers a more consider here is that all of these aesthetic
of good options included in all major DAWs bright sound that cuts through mixes choices add up and eventually define
these days. An honourable mention here (audio file 14). the sound of your music. We take a lot
must go to Ableton Live’s Cabinet effect, Another emulation of a classic sampler, of this process for granted and it’s all
which is designed to imitate the sound this setting based on the Akai MPC60 is easy to fall into subconscious patterns
of a mic’d-up guitar cab but also works 12-bit but with a higher resampling rate of behaviour with your creative process.
as a quick way to change the tonality and (35kHz) and no filtering (audio file 15). Stepping out of your comfort zone and
colour of sounds. Try it on drums, flicking Taking things to extremes, an 8-bit splashing some different paint on your
through the speaker and mic settings and setting such as that heard in audio file 16 canvas could help.

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MT INTERV IE W
PUBLIC
SERVICE
ANNOUNCEMENT
As the corduroy-clad frontman of Public Service Broadcasting,
J Willgoose Esq and his band have curated a global audience
thanks to their intricate musical arrangements and intelligent
use of archive samples, which combine to create blistering,
melodic and emotional synth rock. But with recording sessions
for the fourth PSB album shelved due to 2020’s lockdown and
with his key kit out of reach, Willgoose was left with a lot of time
and only his home studio’s outdated tech with which to fill it.
These limitations, however, proved the perfect catalyst
for creativity – enter A Wonderful Hope
WORDS ANDY PRICE

INTERVIEW
As the weeks passed and Willgoose’s PSB plans

grew more distant, he decided that the time was
finally right to pursue something new: a solo project.
The result of J’s self-administered gear retread is the
organic and hypnotic A Wonderful Hope. But a new
album and a new sound required a new alias too:
Late Night Final.
“When I started making this record, it was pretty
much a blank slate,” says Willgoose. “The only thing I
had in my head was that I wanted to get away from
working with a computer and get a bit more hands-
on, with more of a live and reactive feel. I wanted
more improvisational elements and humanity. But I
wanted it to be machine-led rather than computer-
focused. The way I write with PSB albums allows for all
kinds of things that aren’t the norm with songwriting,
and I can use my imagination. Using other material
as a springboard is incredibly inspiring. But making
those albums has been very labour-intensive – even
before we write a note of music or record anything.
I just wanted to do something less intense.”
THE WAR ROOM

To do so, Willgoose was forced to unearth what little
technology he still had access to and assemble his
very own disparate assortment of gear, the core
component of which was the Nord Rack 2 he’s
owned since 2005.
“I bought it off a guy in Tulse Hill,” says Willgoose.
“I used it intermittently on The Race For Space but
then I superseded it with a Nord Lead 4. So the Nord
Rack 2 got a dusting down, and I discovered lots of
new tricks and depths to it that I hadn’t before. I also
harnessed more of its edit-ability and tweak-ability.
It has some amazing percussion and drum sounds in
there too. I’ve always liked them but I didn’t realise
you could totally manipulate them – I thought they
H
aving explored a diverse range of sonic were simple samples. There was a lot of rediscovery.
concepts across three dizzying records, There was this massive old Roland rack synth too,
Public Service Broadcasting have earned the XV-5080, which I’d bought second-hand off
their reputation as one of the UK’s most eBay really cheaply. I just needed something
distinctive acts, recognisable for their driving synth extra and so that played a part.”
sound and for incorporating vast quantities of archival With the Nord Rack 2 and Roland XV-5080
audio material into their work. John Willgoose (AKA released in the mid-1990s and 2000, respectively,
J Willgoose Esq) is the group’s lynchpin, establishing much of the gear Willgoose was working with was
the vehicle as a solo project in about 2009, before between 20 and 25 years old. But there were a few
it evolved with the addition of further members. more modern examples, namely Elektron’s Digitone,
The group truly exploded into the public which is just a few years old.
consciousness with the release of their critically “The Elektron Digitone was perhaps the most
acclaimed sophomore album The Race For Space recent piece of tech I used,” says Willgoose. “I had
in 2015, which charted the high-wire global tensions brought that home from the PSB sessions because it
and double-edged optimism of the Space Race run fit in my bag – but that’s the only thing that made it
by the US and the USSR from the 1950s to the 1970s. back. I used that for some of the synth parts and a
The album was followed in 2017 by the much more few of the arpeggios. It doubled with the Roland
down-to-Earth (in more ways than one) Every Valley, on some solo drum parts too. But I didn’t use the
which delved into the cultural history and legacy of sequencer on it that much.”
Welsh mining communities. Willgoose and his band The rest of Willgoose’s cobbled-together kit for the
had been due to deliver their as yet untitled fourth record consisted of older tech he’d picked up during
album during 2020 but the pandemic put those plans the mid-2000s, including a Yamaha REV500 that he
on hold – and was enforced at such a speed that was “amazed” to see still worked, and TC Electronic’s
Willgoose was estranged from his well-honed gear. D-Two, which ended up forming a significant part of
“The reason we couldn’t record that fourth Public A Wonderful Hope’s sound.
Service Broadcasting album is that none of my gear “I enjoyed working with a hardware delay,” says
was in this country,” says Willgoose. “It was actually in Willgoose of the D-Two. “I set up a few MIDI controls
© Alamy
a very inaccessible country. All I had was stuff that with it to vary the feedback and change the depth
I’d stopped using or wasn’t used for PSB.” of the modulation to give it movement and interest.

J W I L LG O O S E ES Q I N T E R V I E W
I had the Elektron Octatrack here too. I used that

to sequence pretty much the whole record. I also
had a very old Yamaha QY-70. I used some of its pads
“When you’re rediscovering
and percussion sounds, and ran some of that through
effects pedals. It only had a stereo headphone out
your gear, more unexpected
but I managed to pan it left to right and get two
outputs out of that, and then ran the signals
sounds present themselves”
through various bits and bobs.”
Coupled with all this outdated gear was the It was purely there as a MIDI router and then to record Opposite Best known as the
antiquated – and nebulously named – console stuff into. I’d record live takes as I went. That was it. The sharp-dressed frontman of
Public Service Broadcasting,
through which it was being mixed. audio was straight to stereo and wasn’t multi-tracked. Willgoose has been a music-
“The S2 mixer was made by Allen & Heath for It was a case of pressing play and seeing what we’d tech aficionado for years
a company called Thatched Cottage Audio,” says get. It was a very different approach to what we do Above Part of Willgoose’s
Willgoose. “I bought it second-hand in about 2006 in Public Service Broadcasting. I found it liberating.” makeshift home studio space,
for £150. It’s served me well since. I used it on Public where he made his new solo
LP A Wonderful Hope
Service Broadcasting’s The War Room EP and parts A VOICE FROM BEYOND
of the first album. Since then it’s been gathering dust. With these strange bedfellows corralled together,
But it still works and it was nice to have something Willgoose began the songwriting process by trying
that I was able to drive a little harder. It has EQ on to lay down some textures and drones. It was during
every channel and it has six aux sends. So with this this initial creative period that an unexpected voice
array of gear, the sound just kind of came together. pointed the way towards the record’s overriding
There was a lot of signal conversion going on, as theme: human connection.
you can imagine – the audio path was not pristine. “I was recording in guitar drones, just trying to get
But that’s kind of the point of it.” some nice moods worked up,” says Willgoose. “I had
So no computers at all? Not quite. “I cheated a little sequence written that I was building upon, as I
a little,” admits Willgoose. “There was a computer was messing around with Chase Bliss’s Blooper pedal.
hooked up to a MIDI interface to do MIDI filtering I didn’t really know what I was doing – as is often the
and routing. But I wasn’t writing with a computer. case! So I pressed the undo button at an opportune
I wasn’t staring at a screen, dragging stuff around. moment and this voice chimed in and said,

INTERVIEW
“I didn’t really know what I was making at the time

but the album does sort of point towards a yearning
for more humanity,” says Willgoose. “It’s a strange
time to be making a record, that’s for sure.”
NATURAL VARIATIONS
In tandem with that theme came John’s desire to
experiment more with that most human element
of music: chance.
“When you’re playing on your own with
machines, you can lose sight of that human
element of randomness,” he says. “I wanted an
improvisational aspect to it. That seems to be entirely
how Brian Eno writes these days – programming a
sequence and recording and editing where it gets
interesting. It was listening to his way of working that
inspired me to try it myself. I set a probability trigger
and input the parameters to operate within this
range of notes, in this key, within these octaves. Even
just little drum variations – when you’re working with
just eight tracks of MIDI, it helps to be able to add
colour. It brought a lot more humanity to it.”
This Eno-inspired methodology had the added
bonus of keeping the process fresh for Willgoose too.
“Every time I did a take, it was different, which is kind
of how it should be,” he says. “It’d be a bit dull if you
were just doing the same thing again and again.
“I was speaking to a lecturer at an audio college
and he told me that he asks his students for a show of
hands to see whether they’re in a band or not, and
nobody puts their hands up because they’re all just
doing it on laptops in their rooms. There is nothing
wrong with that but it struck him as interesting that
all these glitchy random sounds and elements of
THE OTHER SIDE probability that are very en vogue in electronic
music were still present. He figured it was because
Willgoose is predictably tight-lipped about what we can expect from the fourth Public
Service Broadcasting record, though he is hopeful that it will be finished by early 2021. they were reaching to get the natural variations
“It’s getting there. It’s recorded. We did that in September, which feels more and more like that would otherwise be there if the music was
a miracle. It’s just a case of getting it finished and getting some of the collaboration aspect made with other human beings. I thought that
locked down. We’re tinkering with it but the overall sound is there. There’s a fair bit of piano was very perceptive.”
on it at the moment. A lot of things change in that final tweaking though. Hopefully it’s not
too far off.”
THE HUMAN TOUCH
We wonder whether Willgoose found the process
of using hardware more creatively inspiring than it
would have been had he used software. He doesn’t
‘Thank you for ordering Blooper!’ Oddly enough, think twice about his answer.
it was perfectly in time and in key with the music. “Yeah definitely,” he says. “It was an approach
I didn’t manipulate the pitch or anything. It was that I was actually trying to work on for the next PSB
one of those moments that was just like, ‘Where record. I’d bought a couple of Space Echos and a
did that come from?!’ few more things that I was hoping I’d be able to use
“I couldn’t believe it, and I didn’t know what I’d to get a bit more movement and energy onto those
done to trigger it,” Willgoose continues. “So I instantly records. So I was already thinking of working more
recorded the thank-you into the sampler, which really out-of-the-box. I just had everything orbiting a little
set the tone for the record. When you set up a studio Korg NanoKontrol with eight faders and eight pots,
for yourself, with all kinds of stuff happening live in the and I’d rigged up some of the buttons to do various
room, you’re much more likely to stumble upon these changes on bits and bobs. That simplicity was so
happy accidents. They can happen on computers refreshing. I was using the arranger on the Elektron
too – I drag things into the wrong track and cause but I had it loop until I was ready to move on. So
something weird to happen frequently. But when it’s I was still dictating when I was ready to progress
more tactile and you’re rediscovering how your gear from section A of a song to section B.”
works, more unexpected sounds are likely to present In lieu of PSB’s use of archive material, Willgoose
themselves. It was vindication for working this way.” sprinkled on some real-world samples recorded
Immortalised on A Wonderful Hope’s opening himself during lockdown. “I wandered around our
track Thank You, Chase Bliss’s gratitude set the tone local park and captured some natural audio,” he
© Alamy
for the record’s four-track exploration of the craving says. “There’s the sound of kids playing – a sense of
for humanity especially relatable in 2020 and beyond. the lid being taken off and the pressure released.

J W I L LG O O S E ES Q I N T E R V I E W
I thought it was interesting and important to have But we’ll have to wait and see. Part of the reason ABOVE The S2 mixer was
that sound on the record. It just instantly changes the the record changed from being quite an ambient manufactured by Allen & Heath
in 1991 but not sold or marketed
feel. Working with sound artist Teddy Hunter on the thing to a much more pulsing and electronic thing by them. It was manufactured
track The Human Touch was much more pronounced was envisioning it live. It’d be nice to bring it full circle on behalf of Thatched Cottage
and artificial. I was slicing up the vocals she sent and see if it actually works in that environment.” Audio, a distributor in South-East
England. It is an eight-buss
through to me. It’s all about adding those extra Creating A Wonderful Hope in this way proved in-line studio recording mixer
levels of humanity to the music. It gives it that freeing for Willgoose – a feeling bolstered by the with MIDI Mute Automation. This
extra personality it might not have otherwise.” record’s quick turnaround and stellar sound. one has served Willgoose well
across work as Late Night Final
Overall, Willgoose spent about three months It’s something we’d love to hear more of. and Public Service Broadcasting
crafting A Wonderful Hope, interrupted intermittently “I’d like to keep Late Night Final going,” he says.
by his domestic duties as a new father. “I started in “It’s not going to be a one-off. It’ll run concurrently
late April and finished in early August,” he says, “and with Public Service Broadcasting. We’ve been working
in and among making the album, I was learning how on the new album for three-and-a-half years, so
to care for a little human. The album was mastered to make a record in a matter of months is quite
by Katie Tavini. She did Nadine Shah’s record and a good tonic. I don’t want to lose that.”
I just thought I’d give her a go. She did a great job. For those inspired by Willgoose’s lightning-fast
It was all mixed here on my tiny Genelecs. Hearing process and bold approach to gear, he has some
it on my proper speakers when I got my gear back advice he’d like to share that should help you finalise
was quite astonishing.” your own lockdown masterpiece. “Have a sense of
determination and get something finished – even if
GOING SOLO you’ve had a bad day,” he says. “It’s never going to
The new album represents a project conceived, be perfect so, rather than waiting until you think it is,
created and finalised entirely in lockdown, with the accept that you can’t fix everything. Lots of talented
pressure of being in a full band temporarily lifted. We people don’t seem to have the ability to let go of
wonder whether Willgoose will continue producing projects and actually finish stuff. It’s frustrating. Just
music under the Late Night Final moniker, and even get it done and see what happens. Don’t wait for
perform the record live should the situation permit. everything to be perfect.”
“It’d be nice to try. It’d be good to get the hardware
out there and run wild with some of the improvisation. A Wonderful Hope is out now on PIAS

T EC H N I Q U E
LOGIC PRO X TUTORIAL
MULTI-SAMPLING
WITH SAMPLER
IN LOGIC PRO X
Sampler’s new intelligent mapping can take the headache out
of multi-sampling. Here, we look at one of the speediest ways to
turn folders full of samples into finished instruments in Logic Pro X
WORDS MARK COUSINS
I
f there’s one word that sums up Apple streamlining has effectively ISOLATION ZONE
Apple’s revised version of sampling reduced the complex process of creating The next distinction to make is whether
in Logic Pro X, it’s “immediacy”. EXS24 instruments to four drag-and-drop you want a zone per file or a zone per
If you’ve followed our previous options that’ll get you 90 per cent of the note/split at silence. Traditionally, you’d use
workshops on Quick Sampler and Auto way towards a finished instrument. But to the zone-per-file option, on the assumption
Sampler (featured in issues 211 and 212, understand these options, you need to look that each file represents a different velocity
respectively), you’ll know that Apple has at the ways you might receive samples, as layer or note pitch, for example. The big
made a range of sample-based tasks well as the two most common ways those shift with Sampler, however, is its ability to
quicker and easier to tackle than ever samples can be mapped. create multiple zones from a single file,
before – whether that’s time-slicing drum As we’re dragging sound files over into which changes the way you go about the
loops or sampling hardware and software Sampler, we need to distinguish between process of sampling. Using the zone-per-
synths. One of the principle ways Apple Chromatic and Optimized mapping. note/split-at-silence feature, there’s no
has achieved such impressive immediacy
is by differentiating the various roles of their
sample-based plug-ins: Quick Sampler is
specifically limited to single samples and
Once a time-consuming process,
time-sliced loops, and Auto Sampler is
designed for sample recording. So
audio can now be quickly turned
where does that leave the rebuilt
EXS24, now known as Sampler? into multi-sampled instruments
Sampler has been designed to map
multisamples or, in other words, to deal with Chromatic is typically used to map drum need to create multiple audio files. Instead,
the process of mapping multiple samples samples, where you assign different drum you can simply record a single take with all
across a MIDI keyboard, which can require samples (kick, snare, etc) to each key of the pitches and velocity layers as one, and
complex layers of velocity switching. It’s an the keyboard. As such, Chromatic is much have Sampler do all the hard work for you.
amalgamation of the old EXS24 plug-in and the same as early the auto-mapping options Once imported, you’ll want to tweak
the separate EXS24 instrument editor, now included in the EXS24 editor. The Optimized Sampler’s mapping. Its zones are displayed
wrapped up in a singular entity. Sampler mode is most useful when working with a graphically across the keyboard, with the
also adds intelligent mapping options that set of multi-samples for a given instrument, aforementioned vertical axis governing the
make creating sample-based instruments all at different pitches and velocities. velocity mapping. Most of the edits can be
significantly easier. In Optimized mode, Sampler uses performed graphically – resizing velocity
intelligent analysis tools to map the samples split points, moving the relative position of
MAP READER in a way that makes musical sense. Firstly, the zones, and dragging further samples
This workshop explores the ways you can Sampler looks at the pitch of each sample, onto the mapping display. You can also
map samples using Sampler’s new drag- which it uses to map the sample horizontally make use of Groups, a convenient way of
and-drop features. This could, for example, across the keyboard, each sample covering dividing complex instruments into layers or
involve a series of one-shot drum samples or a range of keys before it hits the next, more accessing advanced mapping options.
a collection of multi-sampled instrument files higher-pitched sample. Where duplicate Sampler, Quick Sampler and Auto
with different velocities – the kind of fodder note pitches occur, Sampler assesses the Sampler change your relationship with
you can often find online as raw sound files sample’s volume and uses that to create a sampling in Logic. Once a time-consuming
rather than finished patches for Kontakt or vertical map based on different velocities. process, audio regions can now be quickly
the EXS24. Put simply, it’s a quick way to turn Sampler, then, is able to create finished transformed into multi-sampled instruments,
raw sounds into sample-based instruments. multi-sampled instrument in seconds. giving you more time to spend elsewhere.

M U LT I - S A M P L I N G W I T H S A M P L ER I N LO G I C TEC H N I Q U E
DATA MANAGEMENT Sampler’s plug-in settings (.exs) are separate Powered by

to the actual sample data. You can choose to save the sample content
with the project but, if you delete the project, you’ll also delete the data.
Alternatively, select Save As in Sampler, and hit Save with Audio Data.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Multi-sampling with Sampler
01 Create a new instance of Sampler. Use the browser to drag files from the 02 Sampler will import the audio files and update to show the mapping and
Drum Samples folder included on the cover disc to the top of Sampler’s zone displays. Note how the samples are mapped chromatically across
interface. Select the Chromatic, zone-per-file option. the keyboard (starting from C1), with a zone for each sample.
03 You can adjust the mapping graphically or use Zone > Remap > Remap 04 As well as mapping samples en masse, you can drag and drop single
White Notes to have Sampler remap the samples to white keys, which samples directly onto the mapping display. To map over a range of keys
will make drums easier to play. (up to an octave), drop the sample nearer the top of the mapping display.
05 Each zone has its own set of parameters, which can be seen across 06 The one-shot option (under playback settings) is also good for drums,
zones by clicking the small Z on the top-right corner of the mapping ensuring that the entire sample is played. You can also reverse zones.
display. Volume and pan are particularly useful for mixing drums. Adjust the end parameter to get the timing of the reverse correct.

T EC H N I Q U E
LOGIC PRO X TUTORIAL
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Multi-sampling with Sampler continued
07 Reset Sampler using the Recall Default option. Let’s explore more 08 Look at how Sampler has mapped the imported samples – without
complex velocity-switched mapping using the samples in the Rhodes any information contained in the file names. The pitch ranges track
Split folder. Drag these into Sampler using the Optimized, zone-per-file option. the keyboard perfectly and there are two distinct velocity layers here.
09 You can change the velocity switch point between the lower and upper 10 By default, Sampler will apply intelligent looping, which you don’t
zones by selecting all the zones (Cmd+A) and dragging the line between want here. Open the mapping pane zone view, select all the zones and
the two velocity layers up or down accordingly. disable looping by turning Loop to Off. None of the zones should loop now.
11 Reset Sampler again to explore the zone-per-note feature using a single 12 The finished map looks (and sounds) exactly like the version from
file (Rhodes.aif). This file contains all the notes – across a variety of note multiple samples. But look closely at the zone display and you’ll
pitches and two dynamics – this time completely unedited. notice that each zone refers to a different part of the same audio file.

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T EC H N I Q U E M U LT I - S A M P L I N G W I T H S A M P L ER I N LO G I C TEC H N I Q U E
Powered by
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13 Again, Sampler applies automatic looping to some of the zones, which 14 Drag the Rotor Wurli.aif file into Sampler, picking the Optimized,
you’ll need to deactivate using the mapping pane zone view. Now move zone-per-note option. Importing a new sample this way won’t erase the
back to the All Files browser to find the Rotor Wurli.aif file. previous mapping. Instead, Sampler will create a layered hybrid of the two.
15 Rather than ending up with a complex mapping screen, Sampler splits 16 Like zones, Groups have their own set of parameters, applied across the
the two imports across two separate Groups, which can be viewed to whole sample set. For example, you could raise the low-velocity range
the left of the keyboard display. Note the similar layout on the Wurli group. parameters so that Rotor Wurli is only triggered on higher velocities.
17 Another useful Group option is the output parameter. Assuming you’ve 18 The synth, mod matrix and modulators sections can add further interest
instantiated a multi-output version of Sampler, you could route the to basic mapping. Here, we’ve lengthened the release time on ENV 1
Rotor Wirli Group to its own output fader in the mixer. AMP, and used velocity to fully modulate the filter cutoff.

T EC H N I Q U E
ABLETON LIVE TUTORIAL
BRAND-NEW AND
UPDATED DEVICES
IN ABLETON LIVE 11
With the Live 11 beta in our hands, we’re inspecting some of the most exciting
additions to this new iteration. There may not be much in the way of new
instruments but there are many novel sounds and workflows to explore
WORDS MARTIN DELANEY
T
he Ableton Live 11 beta has SLICE AND DICE But that’s a topic for a later date. For
brought us new and updated Live 11’s new Spectral Resonator works now, let’s just say that if you have a Roli
devices – some instruments, some by breaking incoming audio into partials keyboard, you can get greater levels of
audio effects. These novel updates, (in synthesis, these are the sine waves that control sensitivity from devices such as
however, are not all obvious at first glance. make up more complex sounds) for further Wavetable than ever before. Suitable
Live 11 boasts many new flagship features processing. A MIDI source can send notes controllers are now able to send multiple
too, such as track comping, which we’ll be to change the pitch of the partials, so the parameters from each note in a way that
examining in a later tutorial. Here, we’re effect can be played like an instrument. Put nothing else can (this will also work with
concentrating on Live 11’s new devices Spectral Resonator on a track containing MPE-compatible third-party devices). If
and the new sounds they offer, along with a clip, audio or MIDI, then send notes from you don’t have a compatible controller,
some small steps you can put into practice another track or keyboard – it’s similar you’ll have to make do with drawing
if you download the beta. Many of these to the concept of sidechaining. the parameters in manually for now.
changes will be part of your workflow
before you know it, so why not get
a headstart with them? Many of these changes will be
THE BETA BAND
The first thing you’ll notice with Live’s
part of your workflow before you
audio effect devices is that they’re now
categorised into sub-folders, such as Drive, know it. Why not get a headstart?
Dynamics, and Pitch & Modulation. This may
be confusing at first – for a minute or two, The freeze functions available via We all have our favourite working
you’ll have to consider the category that Hybrid Reverb are available in Spectral methods and sounds, which means that
your desired effect might come under but, Time too. It’s possible to manually grab a not everybody will be excited by the same
before long, you’ll know where to locate slice of audio or turn on Retrigger, and then updates to Live 11’s devices and workflows.
everything. You can still use the search tool freeze according to transients or at synced We haven’t had the opporunity to assess its
Cmd+F to find the effects you want, as well intervals according to hertz or note values. new content yet – such as the Inspired By
as otherwise organise them into new Redux was always good for bitcrushing Nature set, and the Spitfire Audio sample
collections named whatever you like. low-res sounds but now it’s more capable instruments – but we’re confident that they
We love Live 11’s Hybrid Reverb. The than ever, with more uses as a lo-fi noise- will perform admirably.
classic digital Reverb, however, remains maker. Its factory presets are excellent Taking into account the items that
available as a separate effect, as does the illustrations of what it can do. we’ve been deeply exploring thus far,
Max for Live Convolution Reverb. You can’t While we’re talking about classic Hybrid Reverb remains one of the most
go wrong running two reverbs in series or Live effects, you might notice that the impressive. It has everything you need for
parallel, and there’s also a freeze function instruments taken from AAS have had their flexible reverb and combining the two
that works well with Hybrid Reverb set after interfaces refreshed. In particular, Collision types in one device can be mindblowing.
Spectral Time. You can enable freeze on and Electric now boast more engaging Following that, it’s been the Spectral effects
both – it’s like a drone in a can! layouts that combine tidier interfaces with that have seized our attention most. Live 11
There’s also a vintage selector into graphics that represent key elements of represents a solid update to Live and the
which snapshots of bit depths and sample the instruments. The new MIDI polyphonic final release isn’t far away. Get your head
rates can be loaded to create degraded expression technology is likely to be pushed around its new capabilities now and you’ll
and old-school sounds. Live is full of these further into the mainstream too, now that have the edge once all Live users get their
fun extras, found within its devices. Ableton has adopted it. hands on them.

N E W A N D U P DAT ED D E V I C ES I N A B L E TO N L I V E T EC H N I Q U E
FIRMWARE TO BE FAIR Once you install Live 11, your Push will receive a
firmware update that enables polyphonic aftertouch. Aftertouch sees an
extra message sent from a pressed key after your initial contact. Polyphonic
aftertouch can see multiple keys sending different messages.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
New and updated devices
01 Live 11’s new Hybrid Reverb device brings the delights of convolution 02 Both types of reverb run in parallel here. Choose Halls and Soft Hall,
reverb beyond the province of Max for Live users. Begin by loading the then select Shimmer in the algorithm section. Use the blend control
default Hybrid Reverb, then play with convolution types via the menus. to dial in varying amounts of each, creating a unique texture.
03 Spectral Resonator is fantastic for sound design. It breaks incoming 04 This audio effect can function as an instrument too. Apply it to a source
audio into partials, which can be stretched, shifted and filtered. audio track, then play a MIDI keyboard or send notes to it, and the effect
There’s a typical sound with this kind of effect but it rewards exploration. will respond to the frequency of the notes. It’s very responsive.
05 In the same vein, Spectral Time works with partials but instead applies 06 Turn on the Freezer section. Click Freeze to capture a slice of the
delay effects. Juggle the delay time units, delay time, and feedback incoming audio. Turn on Retrigger and Onsets to have the next detected
controls to get started. transient frozen. Now raise wet/dry to 100 per cent to hear the full frozen effect.

T EC H N I Q U E
ABLETON LIVE TUTORIAL
MT STEP- BY- STEP
New and updated devices continued
07 Max for Live users will get PitchLoop89, which continues Robert Henke’s 08 In addition to the new devices, some of Live’s existing devices have been
association with Ableton and is based on the Publison DHM89, a vintage updated. Redux now features more controls, including a wet/dry control.
digital effects processor. It’s not in the Live 11 beta so we’re yet to try it. It’s now easier to recreate classic hardware effects using the supplied presets.
09 Load the Redux Chiptune Filter preset on a drum track. Turn on DC Shift 10 The Chorus audio effect device is now known as Chorus-Ensemble. The
and bring the wet/dry level back to mix in some of the original source. classic effect is here joined by Ensemble, which gives a thicker, smoother
We love this sound – even more so when we automate the rate dial. sound, as well as Vibrato. This effect pairs well with Hybrid Reverb.
11 Bring up Chorus-Ensemble’s warmth control while you’re playing and 12 Live 10’s Phaser and Flanger effects have here been combined into
you’ll hear it introduce distortion. Set the effect amount to zero so there’s Phaser-Flanger, and a Doubler function has been added. Try using
no modulation happening. This works well in its own right as a distortion effect. an LFO device to automate the phaser-spread function and the rate value.

N E W A N D U P DAT ED D E V I C ES I N A B L E TO N L I V E T EC H N I Q U E
MIDI POLYPHONIC PUSH The extra info contained in your Push device
can now be recorded into clips in Live 11. This is a step towards full MIDI
polyphonic expression, which has been enabled in Live instruments and
devices including Arpeggiator, Sampler, Simpler, and Wavetable.
13 Like Chorus-Ensemble, Phaser-Flanger has what sounds like the same 14 There are further device updates too, with Arpeggiator, Sampler, Simpler,
warmth/distortion circuit, so you could again consider using this device and Wavetable receiving MPE functionality. We’ll talk about this at length
purely as a distortion tool. Try it with some low notes from Operator or Analog. in a later tutorial. For now, play with the expression editor in the clip view.
15 Start drawing in parameters. Sampler, Simpler and Wavetable have MPE 16 The final release of Live 11 will include six Max for Live instruments
tabs that let you configure assignments for slide, pressure and velocity inspired by nature, including Vector FM, Vector Grain, Vector Delay, Emit,
inputs. It’s the dawning of a new age for Live users who wish for more control. Bouncy Notes, and Tree Tone, which uses fractal patterns inspired by plants.
17 Spitfire Audio has contributed three sample-based instrument packs, 18 Three new curated collections bring themed sets of clips, instruments
Upright Piano, Brass Quartet and String Quartet. These aren’t available and samples that can be used to make generic music or split into their
in the beta at the time of writing but we’re excited to hear them. parts and used across wprojects in more creative ways.

T EC H N I Q U E
CUBASE TUTORIAL
SYNTHESISING
DRUMS
IN CUBASE
Sick of using the same tired old drum sounds in your recordings?
Worry not. Cubase has all the tools required to craft your own
original kits – all you need to provide is your imagination
WORDS ADAM CRUTE
W
e all love the big, fat thump but this will devour system resources BRING THE NOISE
of an 808 kick as much as we and be terribly awkward to work with. There are many tricks and techniques
love the tight crispness of the A better solution, then, is to record each that can aid in synthesising drum sounds
909’s snare. If you could audit drum sound as standalone audio clips, with a subtractive synth such as Retrologue.
every computer and device in the world, which can then be loaded into a sampler First and foremost, unless you’re creating a
you would likely find petabytes of storage for further synthesis and playback. Again, crash or similar sound, the amp envelope
given over to these tiniest of samples. But Cubase has just the right tool for such a will need an instant attack and rapid decay
as iconic as these sounds are, if you want task, this time in the form of Groove Agent. back to silence. However, you can enjoy
your beats to sound original, you should Transferring drum sounds to a sampler in this a little more latitude when using pitch and
forswear the often clichéd tones of classic way also presents you with an opportunity filter envelopes – the falling pitch of a
drum machines and begin building your to add extra character via a few plug-in classic synth tom sound is a perfect
own drum and percussion sounds – and, effects and processors. example of this.
if you’re a Cubase user, you’re already
equipped to do so.
The idea here is not to create realistic
emulations of acoustic drum kits, nor faithful
Once you’ve mastered the
recreations of classic drum machines – there
are enough of such samples around; don’t
basics, introduce more expression
waste your time reinventing those wheels.
Instead, what you should want to do is craft to the drum sounds you synthesise
original, distinctive sounds. To do this, you
need to think about the essences of the Groove Agent itself provides you Next, think about how the sound of
drums and cymbals contained within a with other ways of creating original drum many drums is inharmonic in nature – there
typical drum kit, as well as the role that sounds too. It allows you to stack and layer may be a pitched element but most have
each drum plays within the kit and in any multiple sounds on a single pad, and while a strong noise component too. Retrologue’s
music made with it. You can then aim to its various synthesis stages can be relatively noise generator can help here, especially
recreate that essence in different ways. basic, you can seed those stages with any with snares and cymbals, and the different
You may still think of the sound you’re source samples that you like. Those source noise types on offer allow for greater timbral
creating as, say, a snare. But that doesn’t samples needn’t be drum samples either, flexibility. Noise isn’t the only way to create
necessarily mean it has to sound like any because it’s easy to sculpt a drum-like inharmonicity either. Widely detuned
snare that’s ever been heard before. envelope onto any sound – in other words: oscillators, rapid pitch LFOs, and ring
if you can record it, Groove Agent can modulation can also do the trick.
RETROMANIA make a drum sound from it. Once you’ve mastered the basics, start
One of the best tools for making drum Many of the other synths that come introducing more expression into the drum
sounds is the good ol’ subtractive synth. bundled with Cubase can create percussive sounds you synthesise. For example, softly
Some synthesisers are better suited to the sounds of some sort – although you may be played drums should likely have a different
task than others. Retrologue, which comes wasting your time trying to get drum sounds sound to those struck with greater force. This
bundled with Cubase, can certainly make out of Padshop. Many of the sounds found can be simulated by mapping key velocity
a go of it. Synths such as Retrologue don’t in HALion Sonic, for example, are sample- to both amplitude and filter cutoff. Mapping
let you assign different sounds to each key based and therefore not as appealing to use velocity to the strength of filter and/or pitch
in order to create an entire kit from a single as the basis for new sounds. But routing these envelopes so that higher velocities result in
instance of the instrument. Running an through processors and blending them with more prominent envelopes is also effective.
instance for each drum sound is possible other sounds can lend them character. Ready? Let’s build a drum kit.

SY N T H ES I S I N G D R U M S I N C U B A S E T EC H N I Q U E
STORE YOUR PATCHES Although you will probably bounce all your
synthesised drum sounds into audio samples, it’s important to store the synth
patches and/or effects chains that you create along the way. That way,
you can easily make tweaks and changes to your sounds in future.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Synthesising drums
01 You’ll end up with a fairly messy timeline and track list when creating 02 The amplitude envelope for a kick drum is simple: instant attack,
drum sounds, so create a new project. Let’s begin by using Retrologue fast decay back to silence. Set up such an envelope in Retrologue’s
to create a kick drum sound. Add an instance of Retrologue to your project. amplifier section. A decay of 300-400ms should be about right.
03 Set the release time to about the same value as the decay time to 04 Kick drums typically feature strong low-frequency components but not
ensure the entire sound will play when triggered, no matter how long many harmonics. A sine or triangle wave is therefore a good solution.
or short the trigger note. When you’re happy, dial in a matching filter envelope. Select either as the waveform for oscillator 1 (we’re using triangle here).
05 Set up your drums so that you get the desired pitch and timbre when 06 To add some noise to this kick, turn on Retrologue’s noise generator.
playing key C3. Repeatedly play C3 while adjusting the oscillator’s Though the darker sound of pink noise may seem a good match for a
octave, coarse and fine-tuning until you get the pitch and depth you want. kick, it can get lost once you set up the filter. Stick with white noise instead.

T EC H N I Q U E
CUBASE TUTORIAL
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Synthesising drums continued
07 Filter resonance accentuates frequencies around the cutoff, so dial in 08 Dial in a small amount of positive filter envelope to add more movement
additional low-end thump with a high resonance and a cutoff at about and character to the sound. Experiment with adding a bit of drive to the
120Hz. Use a gentle LP6 filter slope so that the white noise can still cut through. filter. Use the mix section to balance the level of oscillator and noise.
09 Now it’s time to sample your sound. Create a part on Retrologue’s track 10 You now have a sample of the kick on a track below the MIDI part. Add an
and draw a C3 trigger note into it. With the part selected, open the Edit instance of Groove Agent to your project, then drag the new sample onto
menu and hit Render In Place > Render (with Current Settings). GA’s first pad. Rename the pad. Save both the GA kit and the Retrologue patch.
11 Repeat the procedure to create a snare, which should be pitched higher, 12 Hi-hats should have different envelopes depending on whether they’re
feature more noise, and sport a longer decay tail. Snares have greater open or closed. Create one and then simply adjust the envelope for the
inharmonicity too – simulate this by routing fast LFO to the oscillator’s pitch. other. Use a high- or band-pass filter, and a blend of cutoff and resonance.

T EC H N I Q U E
RENDER IN PLACE Cubase’s Render In Place command is useful when

creating new drum samples, as it’s a fuss-free way of converting instrument
sounds into standalone audio clips, and for embedding effects and
processors into clips – both handy abilities when creating samples.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Synthesising drums continued
13 Once you’ve added closed and open hi-hats to your GA kit, make a small 14 The second samples added to the hi-hat pads will be velocity-switched.
adjustment to the filter and create a second pair of samples. Drag each Change this to alternating articulations by clicking both the closed and
to the same pad as the first ones and drop them on the upper-third of the pad. open hi-hat pads and, under GA’s Main edit tab, switching them to round-robin.
15 A classic synth-tom sound should have a strong pitched element, with 16 Let’s try something new. Set up a mic and record yourself doing
that pitch dropping slightly over the course of the sound. Set this up in something that generates noise. Listen for transients in the recording.
Retrologue. Remember to output at a few different pitches for different toms. Edit out a small snippet of sound starting at one of these transients.
17 Experiment with adding processors to the recording. Bitcrusher, DaTube 18 Think about the lessons learnt here on synthesising drum sounds
and/or Magneto will add dirt, while EQ and compression can bring out and apply these ideas to your new found-sound drum hit using GA’s
detail. Render your results to a new audio clip, then drag the clip to a GA pad. synthesis tools. Combine the above techniques and keep experimenting.

Give your music
some space
As one of the most used effects in the audio world, reverbs come in all
forms and flavors. A great reverb sounds natural and sits in the mix perfectly.
At the same time, it should not confuse you with over-technical controls,
but must be easy to set up and a joy to work with. Enter FabFilter Pro-R.
www.fabfilter.com
T EC H N I Q U E
STUDIO ONE TUTORIAL
PERFORMING WITH
THE SHOW PAGE
IN STUDIO ONE 5
Among Studio One 5’s new additions is its Live-like ability to arrange your
tracks specifically for live performances – and all the permutations that go
with such nerve-wracking endeavours
WORDS MATTHEW MANN
F
ans of Studio One are always on For example, let’s suppose you have a This page also displays basic information
the lookout for the next addition track on which you only play keyboards related to live performances, such as your
that will further streamline their and sing. You could have the Show Page setlist, the players in your set, what song is
workflow. By this point, users are mute your guitar. Do you want unique currently playing as well as its playback
well aware that PreSonus always has its guitar patches for each song? Of course mode, the time remaining in the current
ear to the ground and works tirelessly to you do. The Show Page can change the Setlist Item (song), and the name of the
put its most requested features in place, patches on your guitar channel or even next song in the setlist. There’s also a large
so the requests come thick and fast. Earlier change the patches on your virtual level meter so that you can see what’s
this year, PreSonus released Studio One 5, instruments, making it very flexible. going on, wherever you are on stage.
with a host of new features. One of those The one thing that the Show Page PreSonus has even included a
features was a processor-friendly version doesn’t seem to be able to do is change few buttons to help you manage those
of the Song Page, now dubbed the Show patches while in the middle of the song. inevitable and terrifying onstage moments:
Page. Its purpose? To finally provide users
with a platform for honest-to-goodness
live performance. Getting to grips with
how this works is the first step to breaking
PreSonus has even included a
your Studio One production environment
out of the studio and on to the stage.
few buttons to help you manage
THE SHOW MUST GO ON those terrifying onstage moments
The Show Page can be accessed in a
couple of different ways. From the Start Nevertheless, it remains a malleable feature there’s a mute button that mutes all output
Page, you can click the New Show icon that grants you increased control, ensuring from all the player channels, as well as an
at the top or use the key commands that Studio One users can finally get out of all-notes-off button that sends a ceasefire
[Cmd+Shift+Option+N]. Another way to the studio and perform in a live environment message just in case one of your MIDI
create a new show is from within a song. (or engage in lockdown-led livestreaming) instruments seizes up or gets stuck.
This makes it especially easy to launch a using their favourite DAW. This impressive
song straight into a show without having patch-automation function can be turned RUN THE RISK
to leave your production. off entirely too, should you want to handle The Show Page was designed to minimise
The Show Page creates a processor- all this manually. risks on stage and during livestreams. While
friendly page from which you can set up in Performance mode, you can only start or
backing tracks, live inputs for vocals, guitars LIVE AID stop the show by hitting the Stop button or
or any other instruments you can think of, Within the Show Page, you’ll also find a the space bar, so you don’t have to worry
as well as those of the virtual variety. The sub-page labelled Perform. This may remind about accidentally moving elsewhere in the
number of live inputs is only limited by the you of OSC apps such as Lemur, OSC/Pilot timeline. It’s easy to adjust the setlist based
number of inputs on your audio interface, and TouchOSC. Though the Perform page on your crowd too – clicking the X in the
which means you could have an entire is not nearly as flexible as those apps, it lets top-right corner takes you back to the
band set up with effects on each channel, you link various controls to macros that, in Show Page to rearrange your setlist.
plus backing tracks and virtual instruments, turn, can be mapped to a MIDI controller. Not only this but the Show Page is lighter
all easily controllable from one screen. The large controls in the centre of the screen on your computer’s processor than a Song
Studio One’s handling of the Show Page can be named and colour-coded, and can Page would be, with all its automation and
and the way it works allows you to leave function as volume, panning, send levels or editing abilities. Try it and see if it doesn’t
the most commonplace tasks to the DAW. anything else you need access to. become your new favourite live player.

P ER F O R M I N G W I T H T H E S H O W PAG E I N S T U D I O O N E T EC H N I Q U E
REARRANGE With the Show Page, you can rearrange your Setlist Items
by dragging and dropping them up or down in the Setlist panel on the left.
Creating unique sets for your show and seeing which arrangements work best
is simple. Once you’ve modified a setlist’s order, just save it with new name.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Performing with the Show Page
01 Click New Show from the Start Page or hit Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Option/Alt+N. 02 Click Artist and Venue and alter them as needed. If you know how many
Choose from the templates, which include Real Instruments and Stem players you need, add them via the + button. There are three types of
Playback, or click Template to create your own and save it for later use. player to choose from: backing, aux and virtual instrument.
03 Click Backing Track. Name the track, assign a colour, and set the output 04 Select the aux option. Name it Vocal and give it a colour. Select a preset
to the main output on your interface. Ticking the Ascending box will allow from the presets drop-down. Pick the input for the vocal (unless you
Studio One to choose your inputs in order. selected Ascending in the previous step). Select output and click OK.
05 Repeat the previous step to create a guitar track. You could select a 06 Finally, create two virtual-instrument players. Repeat the previous steps
preset for the guitar but leave it blank for now. There’s a better way but set Output to New Instrument and choose None. If you only have one
to do this for a longer setlist… MIDI controller, you can assign it to the input here, otherwise leave it blank.

T EC H N I Q U E
STUDIO ONE TUTORIAL
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Performing with the Show Page continued
07 Drag mixes of your songs into the timeline on the Backing Tracks player. 08 Hit F6 to show virtual instruments in the browser. Select the patches for
The width of each song will be adjusted, and you can click and drag up each song (and instrument) and drag them into the virtual-instrument
or down in the timeline to zoom out and see more of your songs. player under each song. Studio One will change the patches for each song.
09 Click the Input drop-down menu at the bottom of each virtual instrument 10 Right-click the top of each Setlist Item in the timeline to set follow actions
and select your controller to assign it to the player. Test your connection for the song (Continue, Stop at End, or Loop). You can also change the
by playing your controller. You should hear the first virtual-instrument patch. colour of the item, and add, duplicate, remove or disable setlist items.
11 If you want to use a virtual effects rack on your guitar, hit F7 and browse 12 Click the Patch drop-down menu for the guitar-player track and choose
through the presets until you find something you like for the first song. Save Patch. Give the patch a recognisable name. Repeat these steps
Once you’ve found one, drag the preset onto the guitar player track. for each song, adding new effects patches and saving them.

P ER F O R M I N G W I T H T H E S H O W PAG E I N S T U D I O O N E T EC H N I Q U E
THE INFORMATION PANEL In the small box below the setlist panel, you’ll
see important information such as your Setlist Items’ Playback Mode and
where in the timeline the songs start, as well as their length, tempo, time and
key signature. You can even set a pause amount between continuous songs.
13 Click the down arrow for the guitar-player track in each song. Select the 14 Find an appropriate ambience effect or effects to drag into the free
patch created for it. Now Studio One will automatically change guitar space in the mix area. This will create send effects for use with your
patches for each song in the timeline. You can do this for the vocal track too. tracks. Drag a simple vocal delay and a nice reverb here.
15 Click the + button on the vocal track and select the Analog Pong 1 delay 16 Right-click each fader and connect it to a fader in the macro control
send. Create a send for the Open AIR 1 reverb too. Adjust each to taste centre. This will assign it so that each fader can be assigned to and
via the blue slider in each send. Repeat for the guitar track. controlled by your MIDI controller. Do this for each player track.
17 Right-click the sliders for each effect send and assign them to knobs 18 Click the Perform button at the top of the Show Page. Move a slider on
in the macro control centre. This will let you connect these send your MIDI controller, right-click on a fader and assign it to that fader on
amounts to knobs on your MIDI controller and adjust them live. your controller. Repeat for each fader and your send knobs.

T EC H N I Q U E
FL STUDIO TUTORIAL
CREATIVE
VOCODING
IN FL STUDIO
Fancy laying down the next Homework or Discovery? Simply looking to add
a touch of Daft Punk-style synthetic vocals to your tracks? FL Studio features
everything you need to generate machine-like voices
WORDS MAX VENUS
R
evolutionary since its timely Many will be aware of the milestones For instance, you might have a
invention in 1938, the vocoder that Wendy Carlos’s 1971 score for the film spoken-word piece or a vocal singing
has miraculously granted all the A Clockwork Orange represented, among a flat pitch with just a single note. Using
power to sing for almost a century. them the prevalence of the vocoder. Carlos a vocoder, you could morph such minimal
It has become a staple of the electronic was fascinated by the concept of a singing vocals into melodic masterpieces. These
musician’s sound-mangling toolset too. synth, and used it liberally throughout the days, we have access to such an array of
Conceived on the cusp of World War II, synthesised tracks on the record. This was carriers that new and interesting vocoder
back when sending high-quality voice via a major revelation to mainstream listeners, applications are being discovered all the
transmission consumed a large amount of bolstered by the emergence of German time. You could employ a vocoder, for
bandwidth, it took Bell Labs scientist Homer pioneers Kraftwerk, who harnessed the example, to process your bass sounds in
Dudley to first experiment with degrading Sennheiser VSM 201 on some of their dubstep and drum ’n’ bass, using huge
the quality with his newly assembled tool, early records – just listen to Autobahn! low-end synths to output human shouts.
the vocoder. With this, users could speak
into a microphone and hear a degraded
copy of their voice that could easily be
sent as a simpler telecommunication,
We have access to such an array
therefore reserving precious bandwidth
for other needs during the conflict. Most
of carriers that new applications
people, however, think first of artists such
as Daft Punk and Zed when considering the are being discovered all the time
legacy of the vocoder But its true origins
lie with Dudley and military necessities. SPEAK AND SELL Vocoders can be used for drums too, as
Among music’s most iconic vocoder-led well as ethereal vocals and a host of weird
DIGITAL REVOLUTION tracks is French duo Daft Punk’s 1997 smash and wonderful effect sounds. We encourage
The vocoder evolved further in 1959, Around The World. Thomas Bangalter and you to bend the rules and experiment with
when German engineers Helmut Klein and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo embraced your carriers and modulators.
W Schaaf created the Siemens Synthesiser the vocoder and made it one of their most- In this step-by-step guide, we’re going
at the Siemens Studio for Electronic Music. used – and oft-imitated – elements, mixing to help you set up a basic vocoder sound
The world hadn’t seen or heard anything the electronic sound of processed vocals in FL Studio. Using this outline as a foundation,
quite like this before. The machine was with their driving melodies and beats to you’ll be able to build out and create more
equipped with an in-built vocoder and create multiple chart-bothering hit singles. complex patches. The idea here is to get
was capable of spanning seven octaves. Across their globally successful 2013 album you started with FL’s two built-in vocoders,
Technically speaking, the synth was made Random Access Memories, the duo skilfully Fruity Vocoder and Vocodex.
up of four punch-paper vari-speed rolls, balanced live vocals and vocoded vocals, We’ll primarily be working with Vocodex
which controlled the timbre, envelope, particularly on the ubiquitous Get Lucky, here but the same principles apply equally
pitch and volume of 20 oscillators. There setting a precedent that, once again, to Fruity Vocoder. Similarly, we’ll be using
was also a white-noise generator and many would follow. the Sytrus soft-synth as our carrier but any
something called a Hohnerola, a hybrid What’s exciting about modern vocoders synth will work. You’ll likely want something
electronically-amplified reed instrument is that the sound they create isn’t governed buzzy and harmonic to get the best results
similar to the Multimonica. The synth was by the voice alone. Instead, they’re steered but, of course, you’re not limited to that.
used by European composers such as by their carrier, which can be anything but Experiment wherever possible – after all
Milko Kelemen, Mauricio Kagel and Bengt is most likely to be a synth playing notes in you’re looking for your own sound. Now,
Hambreus during the 1950s and 1960. the key of the vocal of the track. time to clear your throat and get started.

C R E AT I V E VO C O D I N G I N FL ST U D I O T EC H N I Q U E
FIND YOUR VOICE When choosing your carrier, it’s tempting to just open
up a saw patch and call it a day. But it pays to explore new textures – try
using wavetable synths as carriers and modulating the wave position to
create more exciting sounds.
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Creative vocoding
01 Load a vocal into your project and into the playlist. Assign the vocal 02 Add a synth carrier for the vocoder and set it up as the following mixer
to a mixer track. Here, we have routed the vocal to mixer track 1. track (2) after the vocal itself. Here, we’re using Sytrus with the preset
Vocoder Carriers – Ensemble.
03 Add some notes or chords for the Sytrus patch to play. These will be the 04 Next, add Vocodex – FL Studio’s flagship vocoder – on mixer track 3.
notes that are used by the vocoder to harmonise the vocal. Keep it in key This will be used for the vocoder effect.
with your track.
05 Click on mixer track 1. Turn down the volume that the track is sending to 06 With mixer track 1 highlighted, right-click the routing for the Vocodex
the master bus to remove the original signal. channel (3) and sidechain it to this track.

T EC H N I Q U E
FL STUDIO TUTORIAL
MT STEP- BY- STEP
Creative vocoding continued
07 Select the Sytrus mixer track (2) and turn down the master routing. 08 Sidechain Sytrus (2) to the Vocodex channel (3) by highlighting mixer
You should now not be able to hear the original synth patch. track 2, right-clicking mixer track 3 and selecting Sidechain to this track.
09 Open Vocodex and set the Mod and Carrier settings to the corresponding 10 Improve the sound in Vocodex by experimenting with its attack and
mixer tracks – 1 for Mod, 2 for Carrier – by clicking and dragging them. release settings. Mid-level attack and release settings typically work
well here but your preferred settings will depend on your vocal.
11 Alter the Order setting. A low order (1) will give you more of a 12 Changing the Bands setting by clicking and dragging can drastically
synth-sounding vocal. A high order (4) will yield something that alter your sound. Play with the Order and Bands parameters until you
sounds more human and realistic. Decide what works best for you. find a satisfying sound.

C R E AT I V E VO C O D I N G I N FL ST U D I O T EC H N I Q U E
NOT WHAT YOU SAY Lyrics and legibility don’t necessarily matter with
vocoded vocals. Just grab a mic or open a voice-memo app and record
some spoken words. Once you’ve processed them, you might have a hit
single on your hands. It’s the sound of the voice that has the power here.
13 Experiment with the bandwidth to find a setting you like. Low bandwidths 14 Try out some different carriers too, by replacing Sytrus or changing
will provide a more resonant tone. High values will merge the bands. its preset. This will completely renew the effect it has on Vocodex.
We recommend trying Default GMS.
15 Add Fruity Phaser to the Vocodex mixer channel and reduce the wet/dry 16 Add Fruity Reverb 2 and increase the wet/dry and decay settings to give
parameter to about 30 per cent to add some subtle modulations. you more dynamics. These will vary depending on your vocal.
17 Experiment with distortion and delay but don’t be too gung-ho here. 18 Add Fruity Limiter to keep your output under control and to glue
Go easy on the effects for subtle improvements and additional timbre. the sound together. Switch to comp mode, set the threshold to -28,
the knee to about 40 per cent, and the gain to +3db.

REVIEW
REVIEWS
HARDWARE | SOFTWARE | ACCESSORIES | GUIDES
HARDWARE UVI World Suite 2 90
TOONTRACK Classic Rock EBX 93
ARTURIA KeyStep 37 96 IZOTOPE Nectar 3+ 95
MODAL ELECTRONICS Cobalt8 102 VOCHLEA MUSIC Dubler Studio Kit 98
KORG Opsix 110 NATIVE INSTRUMENTS Guitar Rig 6 Pro 100
ERICA SYNTHS Syntrx 114 RØDE PodMic 103
ROB PAPEN Blade 2 106
SOFTWARE LOOPMASTERS Bad Taste Recordings: Malux 117
LOOPMASTERS Jungle Drummer:
SPITFIRE AUDIO Abbey Road One: London Wake Up Drums 117
Orchestral Foundations 86 KLEVGRAND Skaka 117

REVIEW
SPITFIRE AUDIO
Abbey Road
One: Orchestral
Foundations £400
Marking the start of a new relationship between Spitfire Audio and the world’s
most famous recording studios, could this be a match made in heaven?
WORDS JONO BUCHANAN
T
hose who have followed the Spitfire story Key features TUNING UP
will know that this UK sample developer’s 69GB WAV audio Having been reliant on Kontakt for software
sound was born and largely raised within hosting for many years, flagship Spitfire libraries
Runs in dedicated Spitfire
AIR Studios. Though last year’s impressive Audio plug-in – VST, AU, are now hosted inside the company’s proprietary
flagship BBC Symphony Orchestra libraries were AAX-compatible software instrument, Abbey Road One included.
rightly recorded at Maida Vale, AIR Studios has Up to 10 mics and two mixed If you’re familiar with any of the Labs instruments
formed the backbone of its Albion collections signals per instrument (or a library like BBC Symphony Orchestra), its look
and, for pro users, the Symphonic Series libraries. Up to five dynamic layers and feel should prove familiar right away, with the
But if you were approached to develop a new (more than for any previous upper section of the interface panel dominated
collection of libraries in partnership with one Spitfire ensemble library) by two sliders, for dynamics and expression/volume
of the world’s most famous recording studios, Full symphony orchestra control of the samples (mapped to MIDI controllers
alongside Grammy-winning engineer Simon line-up, pre-orchestrated for one and #11 respectively), and a rotary dial with
Rhodes – who created unique mixes for the ease of use and quick writing which to control another parameter – there’s
subject of this review – we suspect you’d Individual patches per a range of options f for each loaded sound.
find the offer too tempting to resist. So it orchestral section, Tutti The lower half of the interface is dedicated
patches for whole orchestra
proved for Spitfire. to the details of the assigned instrument, starting
The library in question is Abbey Road One: Contact with its articulation. You’ll see a list of these and,
Orchestral Foundations, and it represents the spitfireaudio.com by default, they’re selectable in the usual way,
first step in a new endeavour that will see Spitfire via lowest-octave keyswitches. However, this is
Audio and Abbey Road Studios partnering on one of a number of defaults you can alter, should
a modular series of tools. This inaugural library you want to move through articulations using any
promises to cover a number of bases in a single alternative parameter, such as velocity switching
significant step. or a free MIDI controller assignment.

S P I T FI R E AU D I O A B BE Y R OA D O N E: O R C H EST R A L F O U N DAT I O N S R E V I E W
DO I REALLY NEED THIS?

That depends on Even if you have sampled orchestra company’s Albion
how well stocked a range of trusted you can rely on, One and BBC SO
you are for sampled sampled tools you’re Abbey Road One is a Core libraries, in
orchestral tools and already working with, solid choice, though particular. Both of
how seduced you are the lure of Abbey it’s one you should these offer a large
by the idea of having Road’s biggest certainly compare orchestral sound too,
the fairy-dust of recording space will not only to libraries albeit with different
Abbey Road’s be irresistible for configured by Spitfire players and, most
magical sound on many. If you’re not Audio’s rivals but crucially, recorded
your hard drive. yet stocked with a also to the same in different rooms.
All this functionality is carried out via the from two vintage microphone channels, The third and final page is for controllers,
interface’s Technique page but there are two labelled Pop (with room and close which has a slightly misleading FX-labelled
two others too, via buttons above the grid options), as well as the well-established logo. You won’t find any options to add
of available articulations. The middle of Spitfire favourites: close; two Decca tree delay or tweak EQ here. Instead, this page
these, indicated by an icon of three sliders, options; ambient; and outrigger. is dedicated to helping you dial in a range
is the Signal Mixer page, which lets you set There’s also a spill microphone, which of sound-shaping controllers via MIDI. Yes,
a blend from the microphones used to is a summed balance of close microphones one of these does control reverb but the
record these samples. set on the sound stage but not covering the others are for Tightness (effectively sample
The ways Spitfire Audio has always orchestral section currently being played. attack time), vibrato and release. These are
captured samples is more akin to those Hovering over any of the microphone all pre-mapped to specific controllers but
of film-recording engineers than those of signals provides further insight into exactly they can be reassigned easily to others
sample developers. In other words, the where each microphone (or microphone should you wish.
microphone choices reflect those that array) was placed to record the samples,
the engineers at Abbey Road would make, giving you the opportunity to blend the INSTANT GRATIFICATION
rather than the kind of startlingly dry, signals you like. We’ll get to individual orchestral sections
shortly but, understandably keen to show
Expect a good 30 minutes of your

off the sound of Abbey Road One, Spitfire
Audio has made the first programs you’ll
hear full orchestra tutti patches, which
life to slip away as you explore this lay all sections of the orchestra across an
appropriate key range of your controller
page upon installation keyboard (excluding percussion). As such,

you can enjoy meaty massed sustained
chords and feel a John Williams-esque
close-microphone choices preferred by However, let us offer one mild note Star Wars-style staccato for brass, winds
some of Spitfire Audio’s competitors. The of warning here. In addition to activating and strings under your fingers, or take in
same is true of Abbey Road One, for which your microphone choice, you’ll need to the building crescendo of orchestral swells
the extraordinary microphone cupboards push its slider up in order to hear its signal. across three speeds. It’s remarkably fun.
of the world’s most famous studios have We wonder whether activating a kind of Expect to see a good 30 minutes of your
been thoroughly plundered. In addition to jump-to-half-volume approach might be life slip away as you explore this page
two Mix channels, which feature tastefully better for each new microphone source upon installation.
blended combinations of the microphone you enable, which might help you avoid Of course, this is the first real validation
sources on one handy fader, you can playing silent activated channels before of why you might choose this library over
individually select your choice of sources you realise you need to turn them up. those recorded at AIR Studios or Maida
Vale. After all, this is Abbey Road. Whether
you’ve been lucky enough to record there
or whether the magic of Studio One has
reached you via the movies you love, you
should feel an immediate attachment to
the sound of these samples, demonstrated
never more capably than within these
cleverly situated introductory full
orchestra patches.
ALL FOR ONE

When you can finally peel yourself away
from them, clicking the drop-down arrow
at the top of the interface will grant you
access to the samples in the assorted
orchestral sections individually. As with all
orchestral sample libraries, it’s important
to strike a balance between the need
to facilitate a tool kit designed for the vast
demands of quick-deadline writing and the
depth and focus required at the deeper
production and mix stages, and all users
will have their own ideas about where the
line between these often competing
requirements lies.

REVIEW
Spitfire’s perspective on this blurry line a significant part of this reviewer’s main RICH REEDS, BOISTEROUS BRASS
are in evidence from the moment you load orchestral template, and what’s particularly The woodwinds adopt a similar approach
the first orchestral section in the list, Strings, pleasing about the string patches here is to the strings, with High and Low patches.
which is organised into Strings High and the increased dynamics range of the long The high winds provide a balance of
Strings Low patches, rather than offering articulation. Turn the expression control oboes, clarinets, and flutes/piccolos, which,
individual sections of the string orchestra. up to maximum volume and push the of course, you can’t change, as they’re
This is the approach Spitfire adopted for dynamics controller to minimum so that mixed together. This might prove restrictive
the Albion One library, and while it might you’re playing the most quietly recorded but it makes orchestration a lot of fun and
feel restrictive for some, the ultimate test samples as loudly as they’ll allow, then, helps you take several quick steps towards
comes when mixing: can you use Abbey while holding a chord, steadily increase a fully mocked-up score.
Road One to make a string ensemble that dynamics controller to move through You’ll probably notice different
sound authentic and convincing? the layers of samples, progressively moving instrument prioritisation in the mixes
The answer? A categorical yes, towards the ones recorded with the most between the Long and Short patches.
especially if you use the stereo width intensity and bow pressure. What you’ll hear Where the Longs feel most dependent on
and balance options offered within the here is a richness and depth that seems to the reediness of the clarinets and oboes,
Signal Mixer section. A bigger restriction go beyond what we’ve heard from Spitfire the shorter patches sizzle with the lightness
arguably comes within the articulation libraries past, affording you new levels of of the flutes. There are also Tenuto and
options offered to the string patches, where expression when it comes to writing with Marcato patches before three durations
legato is conspicuously absent. The Long Abbey Road One. of Swells. Bassoons and bass clarinets
articulation is legato-free and, while the The high strings include violas, meaning dominate the low winds and sound
long muted Con Sordino patches are a that the low strings concern themselves wonderful, with the short Staccatissimo
delicate, warm and welcome addition, exclusively with cellos and double basses, patches a particular favourite – they’re
you’ll have to decide whether you can which offer the same articulations. Again, warm, rich mischievous and fun.
live without legato, for now at least. the richness is wonderful here. Should you Otherwise, the articulations for the low
Elsewhere, there’s a beautiful Tremolo want to get more adventurous than simply winds are the same as those for the highs,
that offers everything from delicate, eerie supporting the high strings with some well so it’s easy to use the same keyswitches but
and fragile to sinking horror, as well as a chosen, rounded bass notes, you can set experiment with doubling instruments up
pleasingly perky Spiccato and a rounded the warm and chocolatey low melodies and down octaves and playing with chord
and bouncy Pizzicato. We use Spitfire to take centre stage – and they’ll do so voicings. The brass patches break rank with
samples on a daily basis. They form comfortably, without strain. the file structure by offering trumpets and

S P I T FI R E AU D I O A B BE Y R OA D O N E: O R C H EST R A L F O U N DAT I O N S R E V I E W
horns as separately-selectable instruments,

before the catch-all Low Brass program
covers trombones and tubas.
This was a wise decision on Spitfire’s
part, particularly for a library for which
the sound of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings
and Indiana Jones scores (to name but
three brass-rich examples) were recorded.
In fact, we dare you to not reach for the
Raiders March theme the moment you get
your hands on the short trumpet patches.
If you’re a fan of the kind of trumpet
writing you’ll hear all over John Powell’s
How To Train Your Dragon scores, the short
trumpet patches should provide much
happiness. Meanwhile, the long horns
sound as noble and bold as you could
wish for, with the same rich dynamic layers
that benefit the long strings patches in full
evidence again here. The brass patches
benefit enormously from having so many
microphone choices to pick from – for
a more silver-screen feel, switch to the
Vintage models and step back into
the golden age of cinema.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP

When you consider that the term
‘orchestral percussion’ covers everything
from tuned instruments such as harps,
This is a wonderful-sounding
The main reason for this? In addition to
Spitfire’s know-how, it’s the sound of the
studio itself. Iconic, rich, lush… pick any
library and it offers a truly inspiring adjective you like. To have that sound
surround the instruments in this collection
collection of sounds to write with is genuinely magical.

The best news is that Abbey Road One:
Orchestral Foundations is but the first fruit of
marimbas and glockenspiels to snares, the available percussion sources across this new collaboration. The next two steps,
toms, timpani and orchestral bass drums, the keyboard, allowing you to build large named Sparkling Woodwinds and Legendary
it’s no surprise that Spitfire has thought ensemble drum performances from Low Strings, are due for release early next
carefully about what to include for Abbey a single program. year and we suspect there’s plenty more in
Road One. There are five patches in total, the pipeline too. In the meantime, consider
the first of which offers 14 instruments on THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD the stall well and truly set out – Abbey Road
separate articulations, so that one can be This is a wonderful-sounding library and it One is a hit.
played at a time, and with Low Booms and offers a truly inspiring collection of sounds
Bass Drums, Snare Drums, Cymbal Rolls and to play and write music with. Yes, some
Crashes, Toms and Octobans, there are instruments are combined and there’ll be
plenty of non-tuned options. Experiment moments when you wish you could, for MT V ER D I CT 9/10
with the microphones here – the main Mix 1 example, separate the long oboes from
is deliberately full of hall and quite distant the long flutes. And yes, there’ll be times
but the second mix channel is much closer when you wish there were legato patches
and more urgent. to help you guide a melody even more
+ New levels of realism thanks
to enhanced dynamic layering
The Drums and Metals patches separate sumptuously from one note to the next.
this full list of instruments into their own But this is way more than a sketchpad + Pre-orchestrated patches sound
discrete ones, while the Tuned Percussion for knocking up ideas you’d otherwise stellar and facilitate writing
patch contains glockenspiel, xylophone need more exhaustively-sampled tools to + The first step on a journey to build
and timpani hits (no rolls). The final patch develop; everything here can help you put a range of libraries in partnership
takes a different approach, mapping all of together realistic orchestral arrangements. with Abbey Road Studios
– No legatos
– No way to separate instrumental
sections used in the high and low
winds and strings patches
Alternatives If the quality of this first release is the
VSL ORCHESTRAL TOOLS
Special Edition Volume 1 £175 Berlin Orchestral Inspire 1 £350 benchmark, then Spitfire and Abbey
Vienna Symphonic Library’s collections include Another library offering a full orchestral palette Road may well be a marriage made
dedicated libraries for solo and ensemble groups of collated from a sample manufacturer’s extensive in heaven indeed. We’ll harness the
every orchestral instrument. This core library covers orchestral packages, this is a tool kit designed to give cinematic scope of this pack for
many of the most common orchestral bases. you maximum writing flexibility with minimum fuss. years to come
vsl.co.at orchestraltools.com

REVIEW
UVI
World Suite 2 £270
Now in its second incarnation, UVI’s itinerant suite features even more
instruments and functionality. Is this the definitive world-beating collection?
WORDS MATTHEW MANN
T
here’s a sizeable market for plug-ins that Key features It requires at least 4GB of RAM too but UVI
cover world instruments. From the African Massive collection of recommends more than 8GB to run it smoothly,
udu to the West Indies’ sun drum, from the global instruments especially if you’re running it within a DAW.
well known to the lesser known, almost 65,000+ samples Fortunately, installation is a breeze using UVI’s
any instrument can be found in sampled form. 369 instruments, Portal, and World Suite 2 can be registered using
The problem is that, in most cases, you have to 48 of them new a free iLok Account. Even more fortunately, it no
cobble together instruments from various libraries 10,000+ loops and phrases, longer requires the iLok Dongle to work, and you
to get a genuine variety of world instruments for 2,000+ of them new get three activations for your licence, so you
your compositions – and this can get expensive. Automatable parameters could assign an activation to an iLok and two
What if you could mix and match all the computers, or two iLoks and one computer,
Loops can be dropped
global instruments you could ever hope to have into DAWs or even to three computers.
as part of one massive library? What if that library It’s instantly apparent to our ears that
Compatible with UVI’s
also included tools such as keyswitches and Falcon (2.0.9+) and the programming of these brilliantly sampled
effects that further enhance those sounds? What Workstation (3.0.14+) instruments is very deep. UVI has made sure that
if the library also boasted loops and phrases that 40GB disk space required composers can adjust a number of things for
highlight the instruments in their native contexts each instrument. In some cases, it’s the timbre of
AU, AAX, VST, standalone
yet allow you to use them in any genre of music? the instrument, with adjustments to the transient,
Contact
That’s what UVI is offering with the reasonably body amount, octaves and more. In other cases,
priced and grandly titled World Suite 2. uvi.net it might be the amount of fret noise or tremolo.
UVI has given many of these global instruments
AROUND THE WORLD unique expression controls too, and has included
The library comes in at a whopping 39.15GB. equalisation and a nice reverb with which you
You’ll need 40GB of disk space just to install it. can enhance the instruments further.

U V I WO R L D S U I T E 2 R E V I E W
GLOBETROTTING
There are more than 350 instruments in
World Suite 2. When you think about the DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
amount of time it took to sample each Whether you’re and more than
of these in loving detail – and then the a composer who 10,000 loops and
amount of time it took to program the favours diverse phrases, you’re
patches with all the tonal enhancements flavours or just bound to find sounds
want to add to your that will excite you.
and performance features – it’s quite productions with There’s no global
obvious that it must have been a true some unique new instrument collection
labour of love for the UVI team. timbres, this suite out there that’s this
The instruments are categorised by is a fantastic choice. comprehensive or
region and by instrument type, and you With 369 instruments this well-priced.
can search by either grouping. If you search
via region, you’ll find 12 groups arranged
by geographic region and/or ethnography:
Africa, Asia, Australia, Celtic, Eastern Europe, HAVE SAMPLE, WILL TRAVEL menu and the Traveler will select random
India, Indonesia, Middle East, Occidental, Travelers are truly innovative six-track instruments and their loops (from those
South America, Spanish Gypsy and the West loop tools. There are 10 here and each is hard-wired into that particular Traveler).
Indies. Searching by instrument type allows unique to its style or region. Each contains Most of the percussion instruments sound
you to find instruments by categories: Bell, six instrument performance loops. These are the same when run through this feature.
Metal and Gong, Fretted Strings, Keys, played tempo-synced, either together or Unsurprisingly, it’s the melodic instruments
Percussion, and Stringed and Woodwind. individually. The Traveler interface consists such as sitars and other stringed and wind
The categories are sensibly assigned and of six channel strips. Each channel contains instruments that benefit the most from these
make it quick to find what you need. a different instrument and there are arrows randomisation abilities. More variety in these
There are more than 10,000 loops, on either side of the instrument that let you instruments, particularly with percussion
melodic loops, phrases and vocals within choose a variation of the performance for patterns and instrument sounds, would’ve
World Suite 2. They include everything from that instrument. Below the instrument is a been nice considering the staggering
percussion loops to acoustic guitar riffs to power button and volume dial for tweaking number of loops on offer elsewhere in
harp glissandos and everything between. the individual channel’s level or turning it the library.
There’s even a selection of Gypsy hand off completely. There’s also the Vocal and Vocal
Ambience Travelers, both meant for
This impressive collection of global

creating vocal ambiences and phrases.
Both are five-part multi-track instruments
and each includes one drone instrument
instruments radiates with the love and four vocal phrase strips. These, too, are
immense fun to use and even have sample
put into their sampling processes start and speed, filters and basic envelopes
to play around with.
Overall, UVI has once again turned
claps should you need to pepper them Below these, you’ll find a solo and mute out a remarkably impressive collection of
into a mix. All the loops are well labelled button, as well as a pan control. Just below fascinating global instruments that radiate
with the tempo and key (in the case of the panner are low- and high-pass filters with the love and attention put into their
melodic loops). By default, the melodic and a tuning slider. This tuning control lets sampling processes. With such extensive
loops and phrases will be time-stretched you tune the instrument in semi-tones and programming capabilities, this library could
to fit the tempo of your project, though this you can even tune the many percussion well serve as your new repository of global
can be turned off, if necessary. Percussion instruments featured as part of the suite. sounds, perfect for those more traditional
loops have an additional option called There’s also a reverb dial that allows you soundtracking tasks, and as a launchpad
Slice, which allows you to play them to place your chosen instruments in set to help you get to grips with distinctive
convincingly at higher pitches without ambient space as much or as little as you sound-design work.
having to change the tempo. like. Ctrl-clicking on these parameters
Though you may think this pack will be allows you to automate them via your
of most interest to soundtrack composers DAW’s automation settings too.
and those that need ready access to UVI has thoughtfully included a play MT V ER D I CT 10/10
international sound palettes, the reality is button to the left of the patch menu too,
that makers of any and all genres of music so you can try out entire loops easily. The
should find plenty of valuable samples and loops in each Traveler are arranged by + Beautifully sampled instruments
loops here. They can all be dragged and tempo. Once you find a loop you like, you + Extensive instrument collection
dropped straight onto audio tracks in your can tweak it with the controls in each strip. + Inspiring loops and phrases
DAW too, giving you a totally fresh and If you want to experiment with the loops,
unique bedrock on which to experiment. click the dice icon to the right of the patch
+ Valuable Traveler instruments
+ Well-priced for so much content
– The Travelers could use more

percussive loop content
Alternatives This is one of the most extensive

collections of global instruments
IMPACT SOUNDWORKS GARRITAN we’ve ever seen and, at this price,
Complete World Bundle £515 World Instruments £140 it’s one of the most logical choices
A collection of some of Impact’s most popular global Sampling more than 350 global instruments, this has
for composers and sound designers
instrument collections, this bundle boasts authentic been a go-to for international sounds for a decade.
sounds from Japan, India, Ireland and Kazakhstan, It lets you build instrument groupings to your own who need more variety in their own
and is a solid source of region-specific flavours. specifications and explore many unusual offerings. libraries. It’s a substantial addition
impactsoundworks.com garritan.com to any composer’s tool kit

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REVIEW
TOONTRACK
Classic Rock EBX £60
Providing the sound of thunder to bottom out your virtual band,

the first EZBass EBX expansion library achieves classic status
WORDS DAVE GALE
Key features Toontrack states that it couldn’t think of The resultant low-end onslaught is
Meticulously sampled classic 1960s bass, a contender to go up against the Precision. remarkable, sporting authentic presence
with finger and pick playing options “This bass is rock.” Despite the fact that this and depth. It’s difficult to ascertain how
Variety of tonal presets, from dark to bright is a single-instrument expansion though, the Toontrack has managed to extract so
Sample capture derived from both neck and package isn’t short on colour. Toontrack much colour from a humble bass.
bridge articulations has extracted every nuance of musicality While these presets should prove
Clean DI available for all presets it can from its sample capture. gratifying, you can make further tweaks
Custom MIDI content, inspired by classic Classic Rock EBX integrates smoothly to the amp colour and tone, and even at
1960s and 1970s rock with EZBass, letting you build songs within its the sub-bass level. It’s easy to turn your bass
EZBass 1.0.6+, 1.2GB disk space required browser, in standalone mode or within your to thunder, as our studio cones attest. But
DAW. You can also import its supplied MIDI there’s plenty of top end available too,
Contact
content into your DAW to keep the tracks to help you cut through mixes.
timespace.com
and edits in a single location. But EZBass’s
own editor remains robust and easy to use. ACE OF BASS
I
t was mere months ago that we got The Precision has been sampled from This EBX expansion performs admirably as a
our first taste of Toontrack’s EZBass several perspectives, beginning with the sampled sound source. As sampled basses
package. Supplying the Swedes’ articulations generated from the neck and go, it’s brilliant. The onboard note editing
typically slick EZ treatment but this bridge. The other options – which include gives you deep control, and you can take
time for bass, it’s a polished product that alternate fingering, picking, slapping, ghost advantage of the ability to make tuning
saw us award it the highest accolade. Our slapping, and tapping techniques – each tweaks too, either in line with bass guitar
only real criticism was that it featured only boast subtle details that minimise any sense tradition or by applying tuning variation
two basses and, though we won’t suggest of repetition. Although the supplied MIDI per note. It all adds up to a very believable
that our critical acclaim had anything to content will serve many well, it’s the ability expansion that provides the perfect third
do with the release of this expansion pack, to drill down and dictate how notes are bass to EZBass’s already strong content
we’re glad to see it arrive nonetheless. played that results in such realism here. for rock, pop and far more besides.
Upon loading, the initial bass setup can
BOLT-ON BASS feel underwhelming – but don’t be fooled.
This is an expansion library, so you’ll need Loading one of the 33 presets – organised
EZBass to use it, but both are sensibly priced. in three batches of 11 to accompany the MT V ER D I CT 10/10
The foundation package features a Fender sampled content, with categories relating
Jazz Bass and an Alembic modern bass, to to finger- and pick-based playing from
which this expansion adds another firm the bridge or the neck – will bring + Superb sample of a classic bass
favourite: the Fender Precision Bass. this P-bass to life very quickly.
+ Detailed articulation options
+ Terrific presets and effects
+ Extremely well priced
– You’ll need EZBass to use Classic

Alternatives Rock, which bumps up the price
UJAM SPECTRASONICS
Virtual Bassist Rowdy: Trillian £200 The Fender Precision is an iconic
The Rough One £100 What Trillian lacks in MIDI provisions, it makes up instrument that deserves its place
A standalone package rather than a sample expansion, for in sonic content. It boasts basses for almost every in the rock pantheon. By adding it to
Rowdy provides rock sounds from a later era, drawing occasion and, though it has more of a smooth LA feel, EZBass, Toontrack has rounded out
inspiration from the 1990s, ideal for grunge setups. the onboard effects can soon put an end to that. a holy trinity of desirable and well-
ujam.com spectrasonics.net captured bass instruments

1 You asked, we delivered
Our latest software version contains
advanced audio processing, integrated
collaboration tools, feature updates and
hundreds of bug fixes, with more updates
still to come.
2 World-class audio production

Comping enhancements, ARA 2 support,
zplane élastique v3 audio stretch and
BETTER
pitch shift are just a few recent additions
— but that’s not all.
Cakewalk by BandLab comes with a
THAN EVER
powerful 64-bit load balanced audio
engine, built-in ProChannel studio
hardware emulation, Drum Replacer,
VocalSync, full VST3 integration, and
multi-touch on Windows 10.
3 Still on SONAR? Make the switch

Cakewalk by BandLab picks up
where SONAR Platinum left off, with
significant stability and performance
enhancements included. No trials. No
gimmicks. 100% free.
Free to download now.

Go to cakewalk.bandlab.com
REVIEW
IZOTOPE
Nectar 3+ £190 OR £60 UPGRADE
iZotope has tweaked its flagship vocal-production suite with

some new features – but are they worth the asking price?
WORDS ALEX HOLMES
Key features as well as a limiter and a gain-riding feature. track was affected even when the vocal
Improved Unmasking controls and key There’s also a separate RX 8 Breath Control wasn’t playing. But Nectar 3+ gives you an
detection plug-in, as well as Melodyne Essential for amount slider that runs from 0 to 200 per cent
Two compressors, limiter, two EQs, more in-depth note and pitch correction. and with which you can control the effect.
gate, saturation, de-esser Arguably the suite’s most useful feature is There’s also a Dynamic button that only
Dimension, delay and reverb effects the Vocal Assistant, which listens to your ducks the clashing frequencies when they
AI Vocal Assistant & Auto Level Mode tracks and generate presets for them. We are present in the instrument track/bus.
Real-time pitch correction find this one of iZotope’s finest AI assistants, You can go one step further too, and
as creating clean and balanced vocal engage the sidechain, which only ducks
8-voice harmony with MIDI control
sounds is much simpler than mixing a dynamically while the vocal is playing. Sure,
Separate RX 8 Breath Control plug-in
whole drum beat using Neutron or this may seem like a simple upgrade but
Comes with Melodyne Essential mastering a track using Ozone. it renders this function infinitely more useful,
Contact The whole package gives you transparent and controllable. It can be used
izotope.com everything you need to edit and produce to help vocals sit more comfortably in the mix
pro-sounding vocals, and the slick GUI and carve out space around them without
features excellent visual feedback and silky you needing to turn them up to hear them.
W
e reviewed Nectar 3 about smooth spectrum and waveform views. You could also use it on instruments other
two years ago and found it than vocals.
a jam-packed package for BEHIND THE MASK Another addition of sorts, is that Key
all vocal-production needs. But it’s that new and improved Unmasking Detection has been added back to the
Since then, it has found a place on millions feature that prompted us to take a closer Pitch module after it was inexplicably
of vocal tracks and its tools have proved look at this upgraded package. This feature removed. For those interested in vocal
invaluable for quick and precise mixing. works by placing an instance of Nectar on production, iZotope has launched its new
One area that we found under-developed, your vocal track and another on any track Producers Club membership. For £15 a
however, was Nectar 3’s Unmasking feature. or bus that has competing frequencies. You month, you’ll get Nectar 3+, Vocal Synth 2
This new version offers a small but important can also use Neutron or the included Relay and more. Nectar 3+ is expensive for a small
improvement to that – but does that make plug-in for this. You then run the Unmasking upgrade but it is an improvement.
it worth the upgrade function, which listens and works out where
Nectar 3+ is a channel strip with real-time there are competing frequencies between
pitch correction, two EQs with dynamic and the two signals before reducing these in
frequency tracking modes, two compressors, your bus or instrument track. MT V ER D I CT 9/10
a de-esser, gate and harmony, plus delay The previous version of Nectar made this
saturation, reverb and dimension effects, a static EQ curve, which meant that your
+ All-in-one vocal processing
+ Improved Unmasking feature
+ Superb, smooth spectrum
and waveform views
Alternatives + Great value if buying new
WAVES FABFILTER
Scheps Omni Channel £115 Mixing Bundle £500
– Only one reverb algorithm
Designed with Grammy-winning mixer Andrew Scheps, It’s hard to find an alternative with the same massive
this channel-strip plug-in might not boast Nectar 3+’s feature list but this comes close. It includes Pro-Q 3, It might not warrant the cost of an
flashier features but it does have a tried-and-tested Pro-C 2, Pro-DS, Pro-G, Pro-R, Saturn 2 and Timeless 2. upgrade but if you’re coming in fresh,
set of vintage-sounding processors, and more. Excellent GUIs but without the vocal-focused workflow. Nectar 3+ remains the best vocal-
waves.com fabfilter.com production package available

REVIEW
ARTURIA
KeyStep 37 £180
This mini keyboard controller speaks fluently with a range of gear and
looks to be the centre of your live setup. But does it earn its place there?
WORDS BARRY WATSON
T
he latest addition to Arturia’s Step family, Key features Further along, there’s an LCD screen that
the KeyStep 37 feels reassuringly sturdy as 37 slim keys with aftertouch displays the most important data values and, to
soon as we remove it from its trendy box. its right, there are chord and strum controls, which
64-step sequencer with
There’s a real sense of weight behind this eight user memories double up as continuous controller knobs in four
to stop it sliding around when played. But it’s the Onboard arpeggiator with banks of four.
range of ins and outs that’s one of the biggest eight patterns In the keyboard section, pitch bend and
draws here. Chord and strum functions modulation appear as touch strips, with pitch
The left-hand side of the front panel houses bend springing back to a zero value as you’d
USB, MIDI pots and CV outs
controls for the sequencer and arpeggiator, and traditionally expect. The LEDs above the keys light
Control software for fine
a toggle switch alternates between the two modes, up green to show activity on the sequencer,
control, customisation
while you can recall one of the eight user presets and storing data and yellow for the keyboard.
using the neighbouring knob. The division, rate On the back panel, you’ll find MIDI in and
Contact
(tempo) and transport buttons complete the out, as well as an always-welcome sustain pedal
line-up, and there’s a tap-tempo button for socket. There are also customary 3.5mm jack
matching the sequence/arpeggio to your arturia.com connectors for sync and CV in/out sockets. The
live performance. USB port means you can connect the keyboard

A R T U R I A K E Y S T EP 37 R E V I E W

If you’ve been The KeyStep 37
looking for a works really well as
keyboard for live a second controller
performance that keyboard too, with
isn’t too big to lug expression on tap
around but also feels using the neat pitch
sturdy, look no more. bend and modulation
The 37’s arpeggiator strips. For more
and sequencer can straightforward
lay down quirky and interfacing with retro
repeating grooves, MIDI and voltage-
letting you pick up controlled gear,
another instrument this is much more
and play along or exciting than boring
simply add a lead interfaces or control
line on the keyboard boxes, which may
using the play, chord end up costing
and strum functions. more anyway.
to a computer – the unit is bus-powered in Unlike with a traditional mod wheel, Having the four chord knobs work as
this mode – but the keyboard can also be it’s fairly easy to brush past the strip and continuous controllers is useful for shaping
powered from a USB charger in standalone accidentally turn modulation on – and you parts. The control software takes care of
mode or an optional 12v power supply. are not always immediately aware that you mapping the knobs to instrument-specific
Finally, there are dip switches to select have, particularly on software instrument controller numbers, and these can be
the sync mode for the keyboard – to set sounds where modulation is not mapped to saved and recalled too.
to internal sync in standalone mode, pitch. There’s no readout of the modulation
for example. value anywhere either. STEPPING STONE
Creating arpeggios is a breeze, with the
It’s possible to get sumptuous

LEDs providing a visual representation of
what’s going on. Once you’ve got the
hang of entering steps, the sequencer is
tremolos at times reminiscent of pretty intuitive too. You can use the control
software to back up and edit sequence
that Suzuki Omnichord sound patterns in a simple piano-roll form, which

makes fine control simple, and opens up
possibilities for storing (and sharing) larger
STEPPING UP BACK ON THE SCALES numbers of sequences. To top things off,
The KeyStep 37 is a joy to use, as we test it Chord mode makes for seamless and the keyboard’s play mode allows you to
in internal sync mode and trigger software inspiring fun. Though the scale mode switch to playing a live line over the top
instruments within Logic Pro. The slim keys enjoyably locks us safely to a scale, we of a sequence once it’s been triggered.
feel surprisingly solid, and are not spongy plump for going off-piste with full minor, Despite its small footprint, this is a packed
when triggering aftertouch. It’s perhaps major and suspended chords, and find that controller and a diverse tool. Whether you
a little harder to hold down chords if you the octave setting works well for layering want to sequence, arpeggiate or refine,
have chunky fingers. However, performing solo and arpeggio lines, particularly with KeyStep 37 can give you a leg up.
fast monophonic solos with jumps well in the strum feature enabled. With strum,
excess of an octave are a breeze. After it’s possible to get sumptuous tremolos
all, we’d rather have a greater number between the chord notes, which are
of slimmer keys than, say, a couple of at times reminiscent of that beloved MT V ER D I CT 9/10
octaves of full-size keys. Suzuki Omnichord sound.
Pitch bend and modulation controls In addition to chord type, the
add to this positive experience, especially parameters include number of notes and + Quality keybed with aftertouch
since contrasting pitch bend values can velocity to notes, which varies the number and solid controls
be accessed really quickly by touching of notes according to the velocity triggered
+ Easy-to-operate step sequencer
opposite ends of the control strip in close on the keys. Strum works well with sounds and arpeggiator
succession, giving greater speed to bends. that have a tuned percussion or stringy
For modulation though, it would have been timbre and, with the right settings, can be
+ Useful control software for
customisation and storing data
great to have some more visual feedback. used to produce unique arpeggio patterns.
+ Connects to a range of external
gear, as well as computers
– No visual feedback for

the modulation strip
Alternatives – Some funcitons require you to
master a slight leaning curve
NOVATION WALDORF
Launchkey 37 £180 KB37 £640
This alternative offers a similar form factor but doesn’t For those who want to delve deeper into the world The neat KeyStep 37 offers a wealth
have CV outs or a sequencer. Instead, it goes to town of analogue synthesis, the KB37 offers rack space of tantalising features in a compact
with real-time MIDI control knobs/pads for detailed for Eurorack units to be mounted above a Fatar form factor and at an attractive cost.
control of your DAW plug-ins. mini keyboard with an onboard arpeggiator. There’s little else like it for the money
novationmusic.com waldorfmusic.com if you want get lost in music-making

REVIEW
VOCHLEA MUSIC
Dubler
Studio Kit £260
It promises to unlock your musical ideas but can this live voice-to-MIDI
controller manifest the stone-cold bangers we hear in our heads?
WORDS WILL BETTS
V
irtually every producer has at one Key features BEATBOX
stage wanted to realise the brilliant Low-latency voice to MIDI The two main criteria for assessing any audio-to-
concept in their head but lacked the MIDI system, particularly one that involves live
USB mic and software
means to translate it into sound. With tracking, are latency and triggering accuracy.
Pitch tracking
the Dubler Studio Kit, British music-tech company For drums, the Dubler kit’s triggering is impressively
Vochlea aims to help you quickly turn that idea Learns your voice for fast. Any latency when using the Dubler USB mic
percussion accuracy
into reality by giving you voice-to-MIDI control is virtually imperceptible – and that’s the caveat.
over drums, melodic lines and mappable Chord generation While you can set your own mic as the input
parameters in your DAW. Pitch bend control device for Dubler, this latency doubles when
The Dubler Studio Kit comprises a USB Vowel control of CC values using a regular mic plugged into an interface,
microphone and a desktop application that Velocity responsive even with a DAW buffer size of 32 samples.
converts the incoming audio into MIDI data for Contact In the Triggers mode, Dubler is capable
triggering sounds in your DAW. The first question vochlea.com of responding to eight different trigger sounds.
that, then, that comes to mind for most users You can assign these to any musical key but start
is: can’t I just use my mic? You can. Sort of. on C1 by default to trigger a kick drum. To define
We’ll get to that. each trigger sound, you will need to train the
The kit’s set up is straightforward, with the software. This is as simple as making that noise
easy-to-follow tutorials on Vochlea’s YouTube into the mic a few times, and the clean UI
channel the best way to get started. There are ensures that the process is highly intuitive.
a few settings alterations deep within your DAW It’s essential, however, that you define sounds
that you might not know to change, so following that are identifiable enough that they don’t cause
these is critical. After all, Dubler is acting as both mistriggers. It’s a good idea to keep a glass of
a MIDI input device and a control surface. water close by because refining your beatboxing
style can be thirsty work and, when your mouth
is dry, you won’t make such distinct sounds.
To get the most out of Dubler, you’ll also
want to record a clip of yourself beatboxing
to understand what sounds you actually make
when beatboxing, rather than the sounds you
think you make. Our first attempts failed pretty
miserably. By beginning with just three elements
– Boo, Ti and Ka sounds – we had greater success
and could snappily turn out serious drum ’n’ bass
breaks. But it turns out that the Ti and Ts sounds
that you might reasonably expect to work for
closed and open hi-hat triggers are too similar
and can confuse the Vochlea engine.
If beatboxing isn’t your thing, you can train the
drum triggers to respond to claps, chest-beating,
finger clicks and any other distinct sound you can
make into the mic. But again, ensuring that these
sounds are different is critical for avoiding
mistriggers, and saves time in MIDI editing later.
Once you begin recording drums in your
DAW, the results are very useable, especially if
you keep the number of triggers to a minimum.

VO C H L E A M U S I C D U B L ER S T U D I O K I T R E V I E W
No matter what your sound source is,

you’re unlikely to trigger the right drum all
of the time. But that’s more to do with the DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
consistency of playing or beatboxing than There are several addition of mappable
the software. We also had several double live audio-to-MIDI vowel controls makes
triggers early on but fixed these with the systems out there Dubler unique, and
input-sensitivity control. but none can match a lot of fun to use. If
Vochlea’s drum you like editing MIDI
The fantastic thing about Dubler is trigger performance. data, you’ll love this.
how well the drum triggers track velocity. The USB mic also If you can play keys
You can bring life to drum parts quickly, makes a difference and don’t love MIDI
especially closed hi-hats, and if you want to the low latency editing, this probably
your kicks and snares to land consistently, performance. The isn’t for you.
you can disable velocity control on each
trigger individually.
MELODY MAKER Latency is unsurprisingly much higher for This is an intriguing extension of the
Aside from the Triggers mode, the other half the melodic pitch tracking than for drum singing synth concept and, alongside the
of the software is Controls, which converts triggers too. When you’re in a scale, you full octave pitch bend, lets you control your
your voice into melodic MIDI pitch data and can also engage the Chords function, virtual and electronic instruments in more
your vowel sounds into MIDI CC messages which triggers simple triads based on your expressive ways than ever. The parameter
that can be mapped to any parameter sung note. This is useful but options for mapping is easy to do but the generated
in your DAW or instrument. chord extensions would significantly values for vocals and the overall volume
If you can sing in tune, you’ll find the improve the experience. (ENV), which can also be mapped, isn’t
pitch portion of Dubler highly effective. If Where Dubler gets particularly exciting always the most predictable. Also, while
you’re, let’s say, tonally challenged in that is with the inclusion of pitch bend, which you can set min and max values for each
area, thankfully Dubler features a few tools adds a different dimension to humanisation. parameter within your DAW, it would be
that can help, even if they take some getting With a bend range of up to 48 semitones, useful to have this option visually in Dubler.
used to. One of these is the pitch wheel, Dubler can track precisely the melody
which lets you know how close to your you’re singing. It captures all the swoops TRIGGER HAPPY
intended pitch you’re actually singing. and bends of the human voice and, Because you can set the Triggers and
Controls modes to use different MIDI
Dubler lets you control your virtual

channels, it’s possible to control a drum
part and play a melodic instrument all
with your voice. Considering how much
and electronic instruments in concentration it requires to use Dubler
even moderately well, this will only apply
more expressive ways than ever to advanced beatboxers and vocalists.

Dubler is undoubtedly an excellent
controller for triggering and recording drum
For example, we noticed in our own when connected to a virtual instrument, parts, and the vowel-based control is fun.
attempts a propensity to bend up to notes, creates an eerie singing synth sound. The However, the notion that it can unlock your
which produces the wrong note output. In downside is the amount of MIDI pitch-bend musical ideas suggests that using Dubler
solving your lousy singing habits, Dubler data that you’ll have to tidy up. But if you would be easier or faster than playing a
becomes far more co-operative. can handle that, the payoff is enormous. controller keyboard. Once you weigh up
Working in the chromatic scale isn’t You can also use an instrument to trigger the amount of time required to edit the
recommended, especially if singing isn’t the note data. We found both acoustic MIDI data, you might find that you were
your strong suit. However, you can limit the and electric guitars were capable of better off figuring out how to play the part
available notes to minimise MIDI editing more accurately triggering notes. in your head on a pad or keyboard. But
later on. There’s an automatic key detector whether you’re a keyboardist or not, Dubler
to determine the notes in your melody but THROWING IN THE VOWEL will undoubtedly help you create music you
we preferred creating custom scales. In our The final part of the picture is the ability to might not otherwise have been able to.
tests, the pentatonic scale worked well, with convert vowel and level information into
just the right amount of space between MIDI CC data. In theory, you can map the
notes to reduce unwanted note hopping. Aaa, Eee, and Ooo vowel sounds to any
There’s also a Stickiness parameter that parameter. But we found that mapping the MT V ER D I CT 8/10
dictates how easily Dubler will switch to the Aaa vowel parameter to filter cutoff gave
next note. As helpful as Stickiness is for less us the most immediately satisfying results,
confident singers, it comes at the cost of turning wah-wah imitation singing into + Impressive low latency for drums
latency, and rapid melodic sections can something that could probably pass + Adds human expression to synths
suffer significantly when it’s engaged. for honest-to-goodness music.
+ Gets you out of old writing habits
– Difficult to master if your

singing isn’t tuneful
– Requires serious MIDI editing
Alternatives – Less useful for skilled keyboardists
IMITONE WAVES
IMITONE STUDIO £60 OVOX £110 Vochlea’s drum-trigger performance
This beta software has been in development since This vocal processor has MIDI out for triggering other makes this an attractive prospect for
2015 and contains the melodic portion of Dubler. virtual instruments with your voice but it also boasts quickly building beats but its melodic
Imitone claims to have the fastest pitch-tracking a comprehensive suite of vocal resynthesis tools and controls are challenging to master
technology available too. synths with which you can create all manner of effects. and often produce MIDI parts that
imitone.com waves.com require heavy editing

REVIEW
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS
Guitar Rig 6 Pro £180 OR £90 UPDATE
A staple of the modern guitarist’s digital tool kit, Native’s Guitar Rig has
been given a new lease of life with its latest update. Let’s unpack it
WORDS LIAM O’MULLANE
G
uitar Rig Pro is a legendary Key features With this major update, Guitar Rig 6 Pro, however,
processing workstation. Like many New macro system comes a new and modern look that may make
of the hardware counterparts from long-time users baulk at first but will soon become
New ICM system that
decades before its existence, Native allows for more frequent easier on the eyes once they get acclimatised.
Instruments’ Guitar Rig has slowly become a staple future additions The refreshed look is cleaner and feels less like a
of software-based multi-effects processing. At Added NI effects gimmick – but that may be something you can
its core, the program is an effective emulator of Modern visual overhaul only appreciate once the gimmicks have gone.
classic tones from amps, pedals and cabinets.
Ergonomic improvements
But it has also become part of a larger tool kit SHHH, THIS IS A LIBRARY
Contact
for adding character and tone to audio. The new library interface is another solid addition,
Guitar Rig’s presets have always been a stable native-instruments.com making for an all-round better workflow for both
way to grant your instrumentation a more specific the eyes and the brain. One of the reasons we
place in your mix. In doing so, it has also become like the workflow of Native Instruments’ Maschine
a go-to for many audio-shaping tasks that stretch platform so much is that it encourages navigation
beyond its remit as a guitar-based platform, even and exploration throughout its library. Now, we
if the program’s major strength remains the can say the same for Guitar Rig.
creative processing of guitar sounds. The previous version of the platform had basic
Similar to Reason and Native Instruments’ presets and individual components to select from
Kontakt, Guitar Rig Pro operates via a stacked but now you can build your rig from the ground
drag-and-drop system meant to simulate a gear up according to what kind of sound you want to
rack. There are advantages and weaknesses to process, and narrow these parameters further by
this setup – for all the quick and easy visuals, it can selecting from tabs that categorise the nature of
be tough to navigate the audio routing system. the sounds you want to hear. Using this new and
more intuitive method, you’ll get interesting results
much quicker than you would’ve with Guitar Rig 5.
Guitar Rig’s entire window can now be resized
globally and on the fly to best suit your DAW too.
Without realising it, here Native Instruments has
once again revealed one of the constraints of its
prior version – it’s only by improving things that you
recognise the faults of programs past. With Guitar
Rig 6 Pro, we’re able to resize the display to have
it properly conform to our review computer’s
true resolution.
Guitar Rig 6 Pro makes use of ICM, a new
emulation of the circuit behaviour within specific
hardware and broadly referred to by NI as based
on machine learning. There are three new amps
on offer via this ICM-based update: Bass Invader,
based on an 1980s-1990s bass amp; Chicago,
based on 1950s fuzz effects; and Fire Breather,
based on modern British blues and metal legacy
tones. The forward-thinking idea behind the ICM
technology is that it will react to user requests. This
way, what it learns in the future and what it is able
to recreate from hardware will be shaped by users,

N AT I V E I N S T R U M EN T S G U I TA R R I G 6 R E V I E W

If you already have more traditional should be a temping in an improved
Guitar Rig Pro, this approaches of many option at its purchase form. Upgrading to
upgrade should be competing platforms. price too. Komplete 13 isn’t
a no-brainer, and for With the richer sonic If you already own cheap but it comes
newcomers, the level palette provided by Komplete 12, you’ll with Guitar Rig 6.
of sound-design and the new additions find that many of the Those who just
shaping control here coupled with the ‘new’ Guitar Rig 6 want guitar tones
should be attractive novel workflow Pro devices are really may want to demo
compared to the improvements, just repackaged old other options before
workflows and this package devices, presented settling on this.
whose decisions will be factored into the DOWN IN THE DIRT The dynamics processing now covers a
regular software-update cycle. These first Covering digital-sound degradation with who’s who (or should that be what’s what)
three ICM amps sound impressive and many variables, the new sample-rate and of classic compression, making available
authentic, and demonstrate plenty of bit-reduction tool Bite functions as a superb the Komplete package’s VC 160, VC 2A
playing dynamics. signal-destroyer for sound effects. But it can and VC 76 compressors, which can be fed
Though not ICM-based, you’ll also find also be used in moderation to add dynamic by the external sidechain input capability.
Rammfire’s plucky distortion amp and cab background noises to signals to increase Using the well-regarded attack and release
setup included in Guitar Rig 6, one of many their presence. The soft-clipping saturation stages of the vintage hardware that these
new bundled additions to the package. The and both input and output filters make emulate, you can achieve musical and
new Matched Cabinet Pro offers IR-based dialling in and fine-tuning tones quick dynamic smoothing of your levels or you
room responses to the Matched Cabinet and easy, and the presets are ideal could just outright slam your signal path.
amp and cabinet combinations that Guitar for instant old-school fidelity too. There are more vintage tones in the form
Rig Pro users will already be used to too, Dirt is a double distortion unit with three of the RC 24 and RC 48, based around
granting a remarkable sense of room and clipping types and internal parallel/series a culturally significant high-end reverb
amp interaction for smoothing sounds. routing options. The unit can take you from from the 1980s.
Vintage in fidelity but rich and musical
You can achieve musical and

in tone for classic-sounding depth on tap,
Reflektor is an IR-based convolution reverb
that brings a new level of space to Guitar
dynamic smoothing of your levels Rig 6, doing so via a smooth process, with
no audible pops and clicks as you move
or just slam your signal path the parameters around while it recalculates
your new IR. There are new reverbs too. With
Grounded, Airy and Cosmic modes, Raum
One issue we had with past editions subtle warming effects to asymmetrical caters for a variety of spaces for lush yet
of Guitar Rig is how difficult it can be to shaping and everything in between, and it synthetic space design. Freeze functions let
manage parameters across large racks boasts a full-range frequency response that you generate sonic beds and twist them
with many components. With a vertically means it functions well on all sorts of sound with the size parameter for tape-stop-like
scrolling interface, all it takes is about five sources. Once again, the robust range of warping too.
large components and suddenly it can presets allows you to get going quickly With other new additions that include
become troublesome to keep tabs on and tap into the sonics you require. Solid EQ, Bus Comp and Solid Dynamics
essential sound-shaping parameters. for more classic processing, plus Traktor Pro
Hoping to solve this minor but persistently PAINTING WITH AUDIO processors, and effects such as Choral, Flair,
frustrating issue, Native Instruments has Alongside Dirt, Bite and Guitar Rig 6 Pro’s Freak and Phasis, you’ve got yourself quite
introduced a macro system, which means many other effects, there’s another serious the new set of colours to paint with.
that your panels can remain static in the boon for users in the form of the bundled
rack as you scroll and make modifications. Native Instruments processors that have
It allows for a maximum of eight parameter previously been exclusive to those with
assignments per macro, with a total of 16 NI’s more costly Komplete and Komplete MT V ER D I CT 9/10
macros making this a powerful tool to Ultimate library suites. While these welcome
better manage your workflow and additions to Guitar Rig 6 are not technically
automation duties. You can set custom new products, they will feel new to many, + Elegant new presentation
minimum and maximum values per and they consist of useful tools for those + Smoother library access,
assignment too, making this quite who haven’t been able or willing to with favourite-tagging
an expressive system indeed. invest in NI’s Komplete packages. + ICM technology shows promise
+ New macros make things
more manageable
– Macros limited to eight

Alternatives –
assignments each
Some effects categories would
LINE 6 POSITIVE GRID
still benefit from new additions
Helix Native £300 BIAS FX 2 £230
This plug-in offers superb-sounding virtual guitar The Guitar Match system captures the character of
processing. It doesn’t have the envelope or modulator your individual pickups and tonality across different This is a big update for Guitar Rig
actions of Guitar Rig 6 but it does boast a simpler neck positions. Once this process is complete, you can users in terms of workflow and new
layout and an easy-to-use signal-routing interface. achieve usable approximations of other guitar types. bundled toys, and the ICM tech might
line6.com positivegrid.com mean more regular additions in future

REVIEW
MODAL ELECTRONICS
Cobalt8 FROM £500
Bristol-based synth pioneer Modal Electronics goes organic

with its latest elemental synth series. We test its credentials
WORDS DAVE GALE
W
hen Modal Electronics first burst Key features The pre-requisite MIDI in and out sockets
onto the synth scene back in 2015, Eight-voice extended are accompanied by a class-compliant USB
it made quite the impression. The virtual-analogue synth connector, which also allows for editing and
mesmerising 002 and 008 drew high 64 high-res oscillators, firmware upgrades via MODALapp, available
praise, despite their lofty price points. Having set up to eight per voice for desktop and iOS/Android portable devices.
a high bar, Modal has more recently turned its 4-pole morphable ladder The Cobalt8 range looks incredibly stylish,
attention to a series of modestly priced synths filter, with resonance with its subtle but striking colourway and central
that don’t compromise on creativity. Now, a Three envelope generators displays that are responsive and crisp. The pots
new sibling has entered that line-up – and all Three audio-rate LFOs, and buttons back up the aesthetics too. Both the
eyes are on its virtual-analogue potential. two polyphonic basic Cobalt8 and the larger 61-key Cobalt8X
Premium fatar keybed feature top-notch Fatar action keybeds, which
HEAVY WEIGHT included with T8/8X assure the units’ credentials as proper players’
The Cobalt units are exceptionally robust, housed Class-compliant MIDI via synths. The action is weighty, with quick key
in heavy-duty plastic casing with an inviting metal USB, with accompanying returns from every keystroke. The metal joystick
front panel. Bedecked in cobalt blue and black, 5-pin MIDI I/O on each model, located to the left, above the
they’re uniformly heavy, which might be a surprise Full integration with desktop keybed, provides pitch and modulation control.
to some given their virtual-analogue architecture. OS X/Windows and iOS/
The pots feel sturdy and well proportioned, with Android devices, via NEW MODAL ARMY
audio output via a pair of 1/4-inch jack sockets, MODALapp On the face of it, the sonic architecture of the
alongside a headphone output. There’s also an Contact Cobalt range seems fairly traditional. But that
audio input, with Sync I/O coming via dedicated modalelectronics.com begins to unravel once you start exploring the
mini-jacks, which ensures easy clock connections oscillator section. Modal describes the Cobalt8
to modular and other similarly equipped devices. as an extended virtual-analogue synthesiser, and
that extension begins at the front end. The unit
offers two oscillator groups per voice, with each
oscillator group employing up to four oscillators,
which results in up to eight oscillators per voice.
The polyphonic voice count is topped at eight
but, due to the mass of tone created via the
oscillator groups, an eight-note chord might
well contain 64 oscillators, so it’s hardly a surprise
that the Cobalt8 sounds big, rich and warm.
Many of the preset patches demonstrate a
degree of analogue warmth and impurity, largely
thanks to the movement possible at the oscillator
stage. This is strengthened by the vast modulation
potential across the whole voice infrastructure.
The Cobalt8 is a digital synthesiser capable of
emitting signals that sound very analogue, while
benefiting from all of the complex waveforms
and control that digital forums have to offer.
Modal has taken the complexity of the
oscillator groups and made them effortless to
control by keeping things simple on the front
panel. The initial waveforms are described
as Algorithms, and there are 34 available.

M O DA L EL ECT R O N I C S C O B A LT8 R E V I E W

The appeal of its reduced size. keep control close at also takes synthesis
the Cobalt series If the keyboard is less hand while working in an interesting
is widespread. The important to you, the in your DAW. The 8X direction, so if you
smaller Cobalt8, 8M version will be offers the full player like the idea of a
with its three-octave happier on your desk experience and could good-quality and
keyboard, is perfect still, or as part of a well prove a valuable great-sounding
for many desktops. rack. Thanks to the keyboard for use in hardware synth,
It’s compact but does integration possible the studio. The build these have plenty
not suffer from a lack via MODALapp and of all three is stellar. to catch the eye
of control because of plug-ins, you can They Cobalt series and the ear.
These range from traditional rich-sounding As each LFO is equipped with a rate and With 300 factory presets and room
subtractive classics such as saw and pulse depth pot, the control process is quick and for up to 200 more, the Cobalt synths
to chaotic, metallic and ring-modulated easy. While your more complex oscillator boast plenty of potential for both studio
tonal clusters. Two further control pots allow algorithms that contain movement dance and live use. The integration of a 512-note
you to morph and mutate your selected around reflectively the Cobalt8’s display, step or real-time sequencer gives it yet
algorithm, with these controllable elements any resulting LFO modulation is unfortunately another dimension too. The sequencer
automatically assigned to suit the selected not reflected in this way. It’s not a massive can be programmed using the panel,
wave. The result is a complex-sounding flaw but given how good the visuals are though MODALapp can make considerably
front end, equipped with an easy-to-edit we would’ve liked to see them here. lighter work of the programming process.
set of parameters. Modal has stripped the Two of the three LFOs are polyphonic, During our testing, we find MODALapp
sweat and toil from this creative process, which can yield some fascinating and so helpful that it becomes the primary
making the Cobalt synths satisfying to use. complex modulation possibilities. LFO display for all our editing functionality,
These controls are mirrored across both syncing is available over MIDI, with up mirroring all pot tweaks and button
oscillator groups – a see-saw mix control to 12 routings possible within the presses instantly, as we edit from the
blends between the two oscillator waves. modulation matrix. front panel.
The Cobalt signal chain ends with a
Modal has put a lot of synthesis

finely balanced set of high-quality effects,
all of which can be utilised live and just as
easily deactivated when you’re working
into these fairly compact synths in the studio.
Above all, the Cobalt series provides
but they never feel cramped an incredibly deep synthesis universe. It

might be a virtual-analogue design but
it sounds convincingly analogue in many
CLIMBING LADDERS It’s a similar story with the Cobalt8’s three ways, with a satisfying complexity and
Following the traditional signal path, the envelopes, initially assigned filter, amplitude sharpness that reminds us of many industry
Cobalt8’s oscillator section feeds its filter. and modulation. These are traditional ADSR classics. In a market that’s becoming
This is a newly designed 4-pole ladder filter envelopes. There’s a pot for each envelope increasingly populated by slick polyphonic
switchable between four filter modes, which stage, along with a depth control. But you synths, the raw blue sheen of the Cobalt 8
include low-pass and balanced filter. The have to select which of the three envelopes and its siblings shines through.
filter can also be driven to self-oscillation you wish to control, by pressing the labelled
through the application of resonance. The button, which addresses each envelope
most thrilling party trick available here is in turn. This limits manual control to one
the ability to morph filters in real time, a envelope at a time – from the front MT V ER D I CT 9/10
function accessible via the morph pot panel at least.
next to the resonance control.
With so many options for morphing and TRUE BLUE + Aesthetically pleasing synths
modulation available within the oscillator Modal has packed an enormous amount with superb, complex sound
and filter sections, the Cobalt8 truly invites of synthesis into these fairly compact synths + Oscillators packed with
modulation routing. Equipped with three but they never feel cramped while you’re creative potential
LFOs, the Cobalt8’s modulations are dealt exploring their sounds. The MODALapp
with rather intelligently. Upon selecting an
+ Exceptional integration
software makes some parameters a shade
via MODALapp
LFO, the crystal-clear display instructs the more accessible too, with integration
user to nominate their desired modulation through VST and AU plug-in’s taking + Modulation possibilities create
destination by turning the relevant pot. the concept further.
depth and detail in tone creation
+ High-quality Fatar keybeds
– Onboard screen and editing

takes some getting used to
– Modulation signal-sums aren’t
Alternatives reproduced on the wave display
KORG MODAL ELECTRONICS
Minilogue XD £500 Argon8 £520 This is an eminent new crop of
This compact poly from Korg is a fully analogue affair Almost as exacting in look and design, the Argon8 polyphonic synths from a British
but only comes with a voice count of four. It’s equipped features similar usability and credentials but as a company with plenty of momentum
with a three-octave keybed in slim-key form, and wavetable synth. Same build quality, similar specs behind it. The Cobalt series looks and
sounds predictably, impressively analogue. and price, this is a worthwhile alternative. sounds fantastic, and are likely to
korg.com modalelectronics.com perk up any live and studio setting

REVIEW
RØDE
PodMic £100
Can Røde’s little PodMic give the broadcasting heavyweights a run

for their money? We pit it against the industry-standard Shure SM7B
WORDS WILL BETTS
R
øde has made some smart moves in Key features Ergonomically, the PodMic is pretty well
the world of podcasting in recent years. Dynamic microphone conceived, though it’s perhaps not quite as
With its PodMic, the Australian company versatile as the SM7B for positioning. The only flaw
Optimised for spoken word
is creating tough competition for classic in the design is that the XLR plugs into the back of
Cardioid pattern
broadcast microphones at a fraction of the price. the mic, preventing a full range of motion when
For this review, we’re pitting the PodMic against Built-in pop filter it’s in its bracket. In practice, this is no issue at all.
the de facto podcast standard, the Shure SM7B. Rugged all-metal The nuts for loosening the mic body in the cradle
We’ve spent a lot of time with the PodMic. construction are easier to use than those of the SM7B too.
Not only have we used it to record the MusicTech 172 x 109 x 62mm It’s unlikely that anyone will reach for the
My Forever Studio podcast for the better part of 937g PodMic for Michael Jackson-style singing in the
a year but it’s also been pressed into action for Contact control room. It’s not designed to be picked up
frequent Zoom calls. The microphone is small but røde.com and held like an SM7B – the mounting bracket
hefty. The main body is only about 12cm in length isn’t long enough. It suffers from handling noise
and under 6cm in diameter, making it significantly too. In our tests, the PodMic, while significantly
smaller than other pro mics and suited to cramped less susceptible to handling noise than a Shure
spaces. At just shy of 1kg, it’s heavier than the SM58, is not quite as immune as the SM7B. In
SM7B, giving it a premium feel. Its boasts a similar podcast settings, where mics are occasionally
matte-black powder coating to the Shure mic, repositioned, the PodMic performs well as long
and feels like it would survive several drops. as the mic stand or boom arm isn’t creaky.

R ØDE PODMIC REVIEW
ROOM TONE
The low barrier to entry for podcasting
means that recording often happens DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
in spaces that lack acoustic treatment, If you want to You might be
such as bedrooms, living rooms and even dip your toe in the surprised by the
wardrobes. It’s essential, then, that these podcasting waters, quality. With its
mics are less sensitive and preferably very Røde’s affordable excellent off-axis
PodMic is a stellar rejection, production-
directional, so that they don’t pick up your solution. If you’re ready sound and its
terrible room sound or your guests’ voices. considering the rugged build quality,
The Røde PodMic is admirable in this regard. Shure SM7B, you it’s a far better mic
Unless you’re in a tiled room, the PodMic owe it to yourself to than it has any right
rejects enough off-axis noise that the result try the PodMic too. to be for the price.
sounds very professional. It performs well
but doesn’t quite have the isolation of the
industry-standard SM7B, even with heavy
compression, the mic doesn’t give away Tonally, the PodMic has a decent MODERN PROBLEMS
much about your surroundings. amount of low end, with a hump at about In the world of podcasting, if the SM7B is the
The proximity effect on the PodMic is 150Hz. The mids are articulate with small king, then the queen is the Cloudlifter, a box
prominent too. This has pros and cons. If peaks at about 900Hz, 4kHz and 5.5kHz, for turning +48V phantom power into 20dB
you want that rich radio-broadcast sound, notably dipping in the sibilant 7kHz region. of clean gain. This boosts the notoriously low
you can achieve that by getting close. The Finally, there’s a small boost at about 9kHz output from the Shure so that it works with
bass and level fall away as you move a few for a little sheen, rolling off from about 11kHz cheap audio interfaces that don’t offer
inches off the mic and, for most applications, to 15kHz. The resulting mic sounds polished much gain. But does the PodMic require
that’s where you’ll want to be. The pickup without much processing. The dip at 7kHz such a device? Not in our tests. While the
pattern is cardioid rather than hypercardioid, means that sibilance is less of a problem PodMic’s sensitivity is low by design, it’s
meaning you can be 20 degrees off-axis but if you have a particularly sibilant voice, still about 6dB louder than the SM7B.
and your tone won’t dramatically change. you’ll still need to break out the de-esser. Because many podcasters record into
This is ideal if you tend to move a bit while The PodMic is a little less smooth in the their computers and will have masses of
you talk. Beyond 90 degrees off-axis, sound top end than the Shure SM7B but not electrical equipment nearby, shielding is
rejection even up close is impressive. £300 less smooth. important. We notice some high-frequency
electrical interference on the PodMic,
For our money, being able to

where the Shure had none.
Paired with the Rødecaster, with its Aphex
Big Bottom and Aural Exciter processors, the
buy four PodMics for the price low end of the PodMic gains a pleasing heft.
Following April’s RødeCaster pro 2.1 firmware
of one Shure SM7B clinches it update, you can now tweak the mix and
harmonics amount on the Aural Exciter for
a tasteful amount of top-end sparkle too.
The lack of sensitivity and excellent Though it’s not entirely fair to pit the You could also do this in your DAW with an
off-axis rejection means you can capture PodMic against the much more expensive exciter plug-in. The key is that conservative
cleanly separated audio from three or four SM7B, it compares favourably in the sonic use of harmonic exciters might deliver
PodMics even in relatively close quarters, tests. The PodMic sounds a lot like an SM7B better results than a standard EQ.
which makes the edit more flexible. with its presence boost engaged. There are Again, pitting the PodMic against the
no switches on the PodMic to adjust settings SM7B isn’t exactly fair but we are pleasantly
POP PREVENTION but it takes compression and EQ well. But be surprised by how well the PodMic performs
One of the PodMic’s big selling points is its aware of the frequency response before and, for our money, being able to buy four
built-in pop filter, which does catch some fighting the character of the mic. PodMics for the price of one SM7B clinches
plosives. However, when we recorded an On men’s voices, the PodMic sounds it. If you’re looking for a podcasting mic,
episode of the MusicTech podcast using excellent but, when compared to the SM7B the Røde PodMic is an absolute steal.
PodMics and no additional pop filters, there with its presence-peak switch engaged,
were plosives still to fix in post-production. the PodMic sounds a little brittle in the high
The best way to save editing time is still to frequencies, with harsher sibilance than the
pick up the WS2 Pop Filter, sold separately Shure. But again, it’s not £300 of difference. MT V ER D I CT 9/10
for about £15. Ideally, the PodMic would It’s possible to iron out most differences
ship with the WS2 but we’ll forgive Røde on in tone with dynamic EQ or de-essing.
account of the mic being so affordable in On women’s voices, the PodMic sounds + Superb-sounding mic voiced
the first place. With the WS2 on, the PodMic rounded without processing but can be a for spoken word
does lose some top end – but that’s not little harsh when heavily compressed, and + Incredible value for money
necessarily a bad thing. we find it benefits from a low-end boost.
+ Solid construction
+ Excellent off-axis rejection
– Røde WS2 foam pop filter

is another £15
Alternatives – Output level is low
SONTRONICS SHURE
Podcast Pro £100 SM7B £360 The PodMic is an enormously
For a similar price as the PodMic, you can get a hand- This professional broadcast microphone is notably capable microphone for voice
built British model from studio mic experts Sontronics. used by the lord of podcasts, Joe Rogan. It takes applications, and has a similar tone
This similar design also comes in red and can connect processing well and has low-cut and presence boost to the Shure SM7B with its high boost
to games consoles via an XLR-USB cable. switches for tailoring the tone to your voice. engaged, all for less than a third
sontronics.com shure.com of the Shure’s price

REVIEW
ROB PAPEN
Blade 2 £80
With an appetite for partials, saws and plenty more, Rob Papen’s
newly updated soft-synth cuts straight to the heart of your mix
WORDS DAVE GALE
F
amiliarity breeds comfort. But there Key features The flashy batarang-shaped blade that
are some forms of synthesis that still feel 16-voice single-timbre adorned this soft-synth’s first edition has now
under-represented by the market. It might virtual synth been replaced by a simple buzzsaw, which sits
be because synth-makers do not want to Primary Harmolator and behind the Blade 2 logo. The saw blade’s shape
confront customers with drastic change. It may be Additive oscillator core, with also acts as the toggle buttons for the synth’s
because these more alien synth types are more analogue-style oscillator various sections, oscillators and effects atop the
difficult to package and present professionally. Comprehensive filter main interface. The circular saw might require
Whatever the reason, finding ways to exploit section with 36 filter types a further click to bring the relevant parameters
lesser-known synth engines and present them X/Y screen and mod matrix to the foreground, which feels counter-intuitive
in ways that still feel comfortable and familiar for easy control and routing at first but becomes easier the more you play.
to users is a formidable challenge – and it’s a More than 1,500 presets Previous users of Papen synths will feel right
challenge that Rob Papen plans to tackle. 32/64-bit AU, VST and AAX, at home with Blade 2. It boasts that familiarity
for Windows and macOS we mentioned earlier, with the oscillator section
SLICED AND DICED NI NKS compatibility again housed to the left of the plug-in window,
Introduced in 2012, Rob Papen’s Blade virtual coming soon while the filter, envelopes and effects occupy
synth certainly made an impression with its canny Contact the right. The large central section can display
take on additive synthesis. But since then, both timespace.com one of five different control elements, including
the technology and Papen himself have evolved. the arpeggiator/sequencer, modulation matrix
Blade’s GUI felt a little dark and drab back then and the famous Papen X/Y panel. Above, there
and, although it packed a punch sonically, it felt is some new eye-candy in the form of a display
brittle in some quarters too. Blade 2 however that toggles between dynamics, harmonics and
looks and feels sharper, with its deftly applied waveform. The animated feature offers an almost
textures making everything easier on the eye. Fairlight-like representation of your waveform.

R O B PA P EN B L A D E 2 R E V I E W

Anyone well versed It’s the front end generator is heightening interest
in the products of that makes Blade 2 something special at every build point
Rob Papen will know unique, with its sharp too. Despite the with a stereo spread
roughly the level of palette that can be physics, not all white that sounds amazing.
quality to expect turned into true grit noise is the same. It’s another highly
from Blade 2. through its detuning It would be easy to impressive synth
The modulation, and distortion options. overlook this humble from the Papen
sequencer and Without wishing to element, yet it could stable, at another
X/Y sections feel overplay it, the become the very competitive and
reliably familiar. white-noise heart of your track, welcome price.
It’s fascinating to look at but it’s just over-layered Timbral Wave element. That plays an important supporting role, able to
a simple reflection of the parameters, said, the harmonic onslaught induced by perfectly shore up those sharpened waves
which are properly set elsewhere. the involvement of this asset is very exciting by offering more traditional subtractive
But Blade 2 begins with its oscillators. The however. The vocal-style timbres are waveforms along with an extensive white
primary oscillator can be switched between particularly interesting, with plenty of noise generator. There’s tremendous scope
two modes: Harmolator and Additive. Both scope for ingenious sound creation. for creating whooshes here, thanks to the
can sound similar but are intrinsically different myriad options for adding depth and
operationally. The former mode offers 96 FULL OF ADDITIVES colour to the noise.
partials, which are all employed within the In Blade 2’s Additive mode, you can
single oscillator mode. The guiding principal draw complex waveforms in the style THE FINAL CUT
of additive synthesis is that each partial is a of a bar graph or histogram. There are 16 Those familiar with Rob Papen products
sine wave assigned to different harmonic. partials available here at the point of wave won’t be surprised to learn of the extensive
Combining these partials can create rich creation but you can sum up to four of and superb-sounding filter section present
harmonics, which in the case of Harmolator these together. Each wave set is labelled in Blade 2, which slopes from 6dB to 36dB in
can be tweaked in real time. A, B, C or D, and there’s a drop-down various configurations, which include comb
filtering and ring modulation. Add to this
As if all of this wasn’t enough,

the extensive modulation matrix, the ability
to draw and record real-time control and
a plethora of back-end effects including
Blade 2’s primary oscillator allows a beautiful filter-linked distortion, and it’s
clear that Blade 2 is Papen success story.
for super-saw-style thickening In another nice addition, the soft-synth

now features an easy mode, which sees its
main control elements presented as part of
The sculpting fun begins as you alter the menu through which you can select the a much more gratifyingly simple display,
five primary controls within Harmolator mode, combination of waves you want to hear. while a host of patches demonstrate all
which move the symmetry and alignment of You can access the Timbre set from the that the instrument has to offer. Somehow
the harmonic structure. The Base control acts Harmolater here too – a quick way to recall Blade 2 sounds rich and distinct but, unlike
rather like a high-pass filter, and is mirrored predefined waveforms within the Additive other Papen synths, it also offers significant
beautifully by the letterbox-style waveform setting. There’s also a sub-oscillator, which interest and detailing at the front of the
display, while in Harmonic mode it’s instead may be tuned to octaves, fourths and fifths, signal path, leading to real rabbit-hole
visualised with a wave-like sweep. both above and below the fundamental. sound creation.
The Even/Odd control can duck or The sub-oscillator produces either a sine or
exaggerate the appropriate harmonics by square wave, which is applied by turning
number, while the timbre control radically the pot to the left or right, while also
alters the harmonic structure of your sound dictating volume. MT V ER D I CT 10/10
by applying a secondary timbre. This is not As if all of this wasn’t enough, Blade 2’s
simple layering but a case of mixing the primary oscillator allows for super-saw-style
content of the two waves at the harmonic thickening, with the addition of up to four + Impressive-sounding soft-synth
level. Blade 2 is equipped with more than Unison voices, which can then be detuned.
+ Primary oscillator invites
100 timbral waves, ensuring that your The overall effect is floor-shaking, without
experimentation
sounds should always be sharp. any alteration to the overall voice count
Initially, we find that it’s easier to explore of 16 notes. The primary oscillator, then,
+ Many modulation options,
especially for Harmolator mode
the effect that each parameter places on is clearly one of this soft-synth’s biggest
the initial wave without involvement of the attractions. But the secondary oscillator + Diverse filter section
+ Useful white-noise generator
– Switching components on and off

and changing settings takes some
getting used to
Alternatives This impressive overhaul of Rob
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS NEKTAR
Razor £90 Bolt £75 Papen’s 2012 soft-synth brings it
Living up to its name, Razor provides cutting-edge It’s not strictly an additive synth but Bolt offers a right up to date, with a multitude
sounds from a sum of up to 320 partials. It lacks the different take on synthesis by letting you add up to of user-interface refinements and
traditional filtering, due to the control being at the front 20 harmonic overtones to your starting sine wave, unique additions to the signal chain.
end, but it’s an impressive and stylish instrument. resulting in original and interesting textures. Like its predecessor, Blade 2 is
native-instruments.com nektartech.com a bleeding-edge synthesiser

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REVIEW
KORG
Opsix £700
For all its appeal, Yamaha’s DX7 proved a programming nightmare for many.
Can Korg repurpose FM synthesis and make it accessible for a new generation?
WORDS JONO BUCHANAN
O
f the many consumer-facing and Key features The DX7 relies on FM (frequency modulation)
industry-changing technological Altered FM synthesiser synthesis, plotting an alternative pathway to
battles that have been fought over electronic-sound generation. The problem with
Six operators, three EGs,
the years, some have had clear three effects the DX7 was that its algorithmic approach and
winners that have set new standards against Single filter with 11 types use of waveforms not as sonic builders in their
which their rivals are judged. Synthesisers have own right but as modulation sources seemed
Three LFOs, 23 waveforms
seen their fair share of competition down the baffling to many users. It’s perhaps true that its
decades, not solely in terms of manufacturers Step sequencer approach to sound design appealed more to
competing with what they’re able to pack into Arpeggiator programmers than to traditional musicians.
their instruments but via the foundations of the 40 presets Yet the DX7s hall-of-fame status has never
very sounds they produce. Five-mode operator dimmed. For many years, manufacturers have
In terms of popularity, by this point it’s pretty Contact tried to find ways to facilitate the capabilities
clear that subtractive synthesis has won out. Most korg.com of FM without confusing new generations of
synth users are familiar with oscillators that feature potential users. Here, Korg attempts to put
waveforms that are blended together before FM back on the sound-generating map
being passed through filters and amps, with LFOs with its new synth, the Opsix.
and envelopes there to help shape each of
those stages via modulation. Yet subtractive GREEN MACHINE
synthesis is by no means the only way in which The Opsix’s design follows in the footsteps of
synthesised sounds can be generated. Yamaha’s the Wavestate, another recent synth designed to
DX7, one of the world’s most famous synths and facilitate the occasionally confounding workflow
still considered a landmark instrument today, of its inspiration. The Wavestate is modelled on
is veritable proof of this. an original Korg design, the Wavestation.

KO R G O P S I X R E V I E W

In addition to the But the appeal of the The question, then,
alternatives on p113, Opsix goes far beyond becomes, do I really
Native Instruments’ its physical form. This need an FM synth?
FM8 is another highly synthesiser makes FM If the answer to that is
capable FM-based synthesis playable in a yes, and you’re drawn
synth. With that in way we’ve never seen to making sounds in
mind, do you even need before, with sliders you a way as yet broadly
hardware to acquire can push and dials you snubbed by many,
FM-style tones at all? can turn. It also brings many music makers,
If you think not, then new variations to the then the Opsix is an
that plug-in will please FM framework, each of instrument to which
you for a fraction of the which brings sonics you should give proper
cost of the Korg Opsix. all of their own. consideration.
But there’s a new format of synthesiser With subtractive synthesis, that block is a To make sounds of your own using
that Korg has identified through this pair of combination of waveforms blended at the the Opsix, you’ll first need to select an
instruments, which makes you wonder what oscillator stage, before you’re able to use algorithm (or structure). This is done by
else their engineers have planned for the parameters to chip away and fashion it pressing the Algo button on the top panel,
future. The Opsix is one of the most square into a sound with the tone, volume, shape, before using the first rotary dial to scroll
keyboards we’ve ever played. It’s only wobble, vibrato and presence you want. through the options. Not only will the OLED
three octaves wide and there’s a deep At the heart of FM synthesis lies an display show you a small graphic for each
and generous panel of dials and switches altogether different approach, more to algorithm, you’ll also see the lights for the
above its keybed that makes the synth do with carriers and modulators than with rotaries and sliders on the left change
feel almost as broad as it is long – and clay and craft knives. Think of a carrier as colour to indicate whether it’s a carrier
appealingly chunky to boot. a regular oscillator; it’s the modulators here (red/pink) or modulator (blue/purple).
The rear panel has a headphone out, that tend to confuse programmers of FM In the display, each operator is
stereo outs, a USB port, five-pin MIDI in/out synths. These are oscillators too but, rather represented by a die, with its number
ports and an inlet for the power supply. than being patched to an output so that indicating its place in the overall structure.
Once you’ve loaded an algorithm you like,
you can then start to mix those elements.
Traditional FM synthesis isn’t the The sliders for the carriers turn their volume
up and down (remember, these make
only approach you can use a noise), while the rotaries above tune
them in octaves.
to shape the Opsix’s sounds Push a modulator’s slider up and

the amount of modulation it provides
will increase. So while these don’t make
The power button is located here too. Press they can be heard, they are instead a noise in the same way, the effect they
it and the Opsix lights up, its shining backlit ‘interrupters’, signals designed to modulate have on a carrier becomes more intense
rotaries and sliders dominating the left side the frequency and harmonics of a carrier as they are pushed higher. Similarly, their
of the panel. There’s also a series of stepped to warp its shape into something new. rotaries control frequency too – by rotating
lights for the onboard sequencer running Still with us? Things get more complicated to the right, frequencies multiply to produce
above the keybed at the bottom, and a from here. There are a number of algorithms faster and more intense modulations.
set of six rotaries flanked by operational available in FM synths that determine which
buttons that dominate the middle and right of its sound sources are carriers and which CALL THE OPERATOR
sides. The central section is anchored by an are modulators. For instance, using one Using the operator buttons below the
OLED display that acts as the nerve centre algorithmic structure, you might have five rotaries, you can jump directly to the
for programming the Opsix. It also provides carriers whose combined output can be function you want to edit, before using the
users with a Minilogue-style oscilloscope warped by a single modulator. In another, OP Select buttons (+ or -) to highlight what
if you press the Analyzer button. perhaps the modulator only interrupts the you want to work on. Here, the Opsix truly
output signal of carriers four and five but comes alive and you begin to realise that
LET’S GET ALGORITHMIC not carrier signals one, two and three. Korg has dragged FM synthesis kicking and
The reason subtractive synthesis makes With the Opsix, Korg simplifies this screaming into the 21st century.
sense to the vast majority of synth users is mystifying process and presents it to users Traditional FM synthesis as outlined
the same reason that making models from without overwhelming them. There are six above, you see, isn’t the only approach
clay makes sense to children: you begin with operators here, each of which can act as you can use to shape sounds. In fact, in
a block of material and whittle away at it a carrier or a modulator. Once you have the Opsix, it’s but one of five modes, all
until it resembles the shape or character scanned the presets to get a sense of what of which make use of related but distinct
you want, at which point you’ve done it. the synth can do, you’ll be ready to go. approaches to sound creation.

REVIEW
The first of these modes is DX-style

traditional FM, which you can select by
using the first of the six rotaries (labelled A)
to scroll between it and other modes.
Having chosen a mode, you can pick its
waveform via the dial below. One of the
major plus points about the Opsix is that
you can audition and hear options without
having to commit to them. This frees you up
to scroll through and listen to the choices
available but only make changes when
you can confirm you like one more than
another. It’s not exactly a shout-it-from-the-
rooftops addition but is the kind of quiet
quality-of-life feature that could really
warm the synth to your workflow.
For each of the modes you can select
here, the remaining rotaries are assigned
to related parameters. In the FM mode, for
example, there are dials for feedback and
width. The other modes are Ring Modulation,
Filter, Filter FM and Wave Folder, each of
which alters the behaviour of the selected
waveform. Remember, each of these can
be a carrier or a modulator and, as each
operator therefore becomes a malleable
combination of harmonics (or a pure sine
wave), its power in either category can
be thrillingly diverse as a result of these
interchangeable modes.
TAKING SHAPE
Once you’ve got your head around the
shape, behaviour and harmonic footprint
for each operator, further functionality
allows you to warp sounds to taste in a
series of ways. Buttons to the right of the
Mode switch let you control key functions,
the first of which is the Pitch button. Pitch
can either be manipulated in a fixed,
traditional way or via a ratio, which
effectively multiplies or divides the
frequency of the wave.
You can also detune things to add
enormous amounts of richness to sounds.
Next comes a Level/EG button that lets you
shape both the overall level, as well your
attack, decay, sustain and release phases
and, via a second press of either of these
buttons, you can dive into deeper pages
that control LFO and further envelope
assignments. Under the Modulators button,
you can cycle through functionalities for
three envelope generators and three LFOs,
some of which are tied to specific areas of
the synth engine (pitch or filter stages, for
example) and some of which you can
freely assign.
The multimode filter offers several
curves with low-pass, high-pass and
band-pass designs, including a modelled
MS-20-style low-pass filter, with resonance
available for any filter choice you make.
The Effect button provides access to three
onboard effects engines (press multiple
times to cycle between parameter pages
for each) with a long list of available effects
per engine, including everything from
doubling effects such as chorus, phaser
and flanger to crunchy distortions and
guitar-amp simulations and even spatial
effects like delays and reverbs. Again,
the rotary dials pick key parameters from
each effect type for you to tweak.

KO R G O P S I X R E V I E W
THE GATE KEEPER but parameter offset choices to each meaning that more aggressively played
The Opsix’s arpeggiator is one of the best individual step. This means you can have notes can yield sonic variations that go
ways to experiment with the structure of its a different filter offset step per note but way beyond mere volume control.
sounds and begin exploring the carriers might just as easily mean that sequences To get a sense of what’s possible, you
and modulators. Once you’ve enabled it that begin bone-dry at step one are able can use the randomise feature triggered
and held down a chord, you’ll find that to disappear into clouds of smog-thick via a button in the top-right corner. Use this
pushing the sliders up and down to alter reverb by step nine and recovered again to change every parameter of the synth or
the volume balance of the noise-making by their end. It’s magical stuff. to customise and focus on one module only,
such as the operators. It’s a shortcut to the
dizzying sonics the Opsix is capable of but
The Opsix’s most ear-catching still but a taste of what it can do.
ASM’s Hydrasynth is the only other
possibilities lay in the sounds of hardware synth we’ve tested in the past 12
months that’s felt so immediately tempting
its sequencer and keyboard to us. With the Opsix having muscled in on
that territory too, we love it for its sequences
and the unpredictability offered by the
elements and to hear the effect of the THE RULE OF SIX kinds of sounds you’ll hear in Slate + Ash’s
modulation from the purple sources is Korg’s Opsix is a deep and rich instrument Cycles plug-in. Regardless of the musical
a fantastic way to manipulate sounds capable of mind-bendingly unexpected styles you’re drawn to, if you’re looking for
on the fly. sounds. A quick stroll through its preset list a synth that’s ready to put an individual
A tap-tempo button in the top-left will take you on a whistle-stop cross-decade stamp on the music you make, this is it.
corner allows you to easily bang out the tour of the kinds of sounds that FM has
speed at which you’d like the arpeggiator always done so well: bells and anything
to work its magic and, by pressing shift and with clanging overtones; super-playable MT V ER D I CT 9/10
mode, you’ll launch the dedicated arp and detailed electric keyboard sounds;
page. Here, you can choose its playback clavs; Rhodes emulations; warm strings,
mode, its resolution and its octave range, fruity brass and rich pads. All of which is + FM synthesis reborn, expanded
as well as dial in a gate amount to have fine, impressive and diverting. In our tests, beyond previous capabilities
things morph from smooth and undulating we find that the Opsix’s most ear-catching
to spiky and aggressive. The sequencer is possibilities lay in the warping, bleeping,
+ Hands-on control
even more powerful, letting you record mangled sounds that benefit the deeper + New FM modes and powerful
notes and chords on a step-by-step basis capabilities of the sequencer and the arpeggiator and sequencers
or dive into extended functionalities that velocity-sensitive keyboard. Remember + Customisable randomisation
include the ability to assign not just notes too that the velocity can be routed freely, feature to create new sounds
and mangle modules
– Some important functions are

several menu layers down
– Three-octave keyboard will
Alternatives seem restrictive to some
ASHUN SOUND MACHINES YAMAHA
Hydrasynth Desktop Module £800 DX Reface £310 Korg’s modern take on FM synthesis
This multi-talented synth offers FM among many You might think Yamaha best placed to reboot the boasts some of the most exciting
approaches to synthesis. Its semi-modular structure DX brand and, in a way, they have with this. It’s more bleeding-edge synth sounds we’ve
allows the Hydrasynth to act as a front end to modular than half the price of the Opsix but is far less versatile, heard in 2020. The Opsix is a synth
systems. Pay the extra £500 for the keyboard version. offering a fraction of the Korg’s capabilities. with few equals when it comes to FM
sourcedistribution.co.uk uk.yamaha.com

REVIEW
ERICA SYNTHS
Syntrx £2,700
With its latest not-quite-clone, Latvian synth specialist Erica has

delivered a future all-analogue classic inspired by a classic of old
WORDS DAVE GALE
E
rica Synths has garnered a respected Key features and its more portable incarnation, the Synthi AKS.
reputation over recent years – and it’s Complex all-analogue Housed in a small black case and complete with
the company’s development of synthesiser keyboard, the AKS would not have looked out of
interesting Eurorack modules coupled Inspired by the place in a Bond film. It’s this design that Erica has
with wide support for the Eurorack community EMS Synthi AKS been drawn towards, developing something
that is the backbone of this success story. While Cable-free patching similar with the help of Riga Technical University.
breaking out of Eurorack has spawned such via matrix However, Erica is clear that this is more a homage
products as the applauded DB-01, Erica is now Three independent VCOs to an inspirational instrument than a simple clone.
dreaming bigger, drawing inspiration from one of Revolutionary joystick
the most iconic electronic musical instruments of
Triggering via MIDI
ENTER THE MATRIX
all time. and CV/Gate The original AKS brought an enormous number
of groundbreaking concepts to synthesis, none
Inputs for processing
TO PUTNEY AND BEYOND external signals more obvious than the presence of a matrix,
Peter Zinovieff is a British-Russian veteran which allowed for complex modulation sans
Built-in speakers
engineer, composer and private studio owner cables. The Syntrx matrix is fairly exacting in style
Contact
from Putney in South London. He founded EMS and detail to the AKS version. The biggest
(Electronic Music Studios) in 1969, which sparked ericasynths.lv difference is that the Syntrx does not require
a movement in the development of electronic patching with pins, which have been replaced by
music and associated instrument and computer two rotary encoders that control the vertical and
technology. As the driving force behind EMS, horizontal movement of an illuminated LED. Once
Zinovieff was soon joined by designer David the required patch point is reached, a press of
Cockerell, who was responsible for creating the the right-hand encoder engages the signal
legendary VCS3 synth (nicknamed The Putney) routing.

ER I C A SY N T H S SY N T R X R E V I E W
The left-hand encoder provides the

same function but with varying degrees of
preset attenuation. The biggest advantage DO I REALLY NEED THIS?
of this is the ability to save up to 254 matrix This is an incredible in modular form, and
patches. There are 256 patch points on the synth but it’s a far cry would be nowhere
matrix, which also doubles as the location from the other future near as hands-on in
for storing and recalling patches. The first analogue classics software. It’s a synth
on the market. You you can experiment
and last memory locations, however, are get what you pay for with, while creating
reserved, presumably for such functions and with the Syntrx, extraordinary sounds
as the non-volatile recall of the last patch you’re buying into a and textures. If you
setting. Syntrx auto-saves patches every world of sound that enjoy exploring with
30 seconds too. would cost far more sound, it’s a must.
Even if you have a firm grounding
in synthesis, you may find yourself drawing
breath before drawing sounds out of the
Syntrx. It takes some time to get your head The resultant wave alteration creates VCO 3 operates well across the audio
around the complicated but flexible matrix a timbre that moves from thin to rich, with range but is deigned chiefly for those low
and, even then, it’ll leave you scratching a slight sense of overdrive. As a sine, it does frequencies, with a range of from 0.05Hz to
your head now and again. not sound unadulterated but it does sound 500Hz. In its stealth form of an LFO, it can
weighty and has plenty to offer when it’s be set to free run or key-follow, depending
ADD TO SUBTRACT blended with the accompanying saw. The on how you wish to use it. Enabling the key-
While the Syntrx is arguably capable saw sounds rich and flavoursome too, with follow function means you can get some
of more than just subtractive synthesis, it a quality of tone reminiscent of a bygone wonderful modulation effects, particularly
certainly excels at it, with three VCOs at vintage synth. VCO 1 also has a perfunctory as it produces square and triangle waves,
the front end of the signal path. But before switch, for dropping or raising the pitch by also open to modulation within the VCO.
you can hear any of them, you’ll need to one octave. Because the frequency is set Alongside its VCOs, the Syntrx features
route them within the matrix. The Syntrx is via a free-wheeling pot, the tonal centre a colourful white-noise generator, based
equipped with two outputs, which can be here is somewhat up for grabs. around a Zener diode. Apart from offering
treated as mono lines or paired to form VCO 2 has square and triangle waves, a dedicated level control, it incorporates
a stereo signal. In the case of the latter, controlled independently via their own pots. a colour control, which boosts high or low
frequencies according to the pot position.
The Syntrx’s ring mod is one of the

In a setting such as this, the humble noise
generator suddenly turns into a creative
powerhouse when applied through
finest we’ve ever heard, and gives a longer signal chain.
you beautifully crisp metallic tones PUT A RING MODULATOR ON IT

The VCO tones are sensational. Whether
independent or combined, they move
each output offers a manual pan, as well Both are open to pulse-width modulation effortlessly between purity and distortion.
as an output filter that functions as a tone via an accompanying pot too. VCO 2 can There’s a vintage richness to the filter circuit
control at the output stage. be blended to create a tonal pairing with here. There’s no significant drop-out upon
The VCOs are all broadly the same, VCO 1, as well as synced for classic sync resonance application. The key-tracking is
equipped with vintage-style frequency tones. Things can seem fairly uniform here an integral part of the synth’s design too,
pots. But all three possess an individual set of but be in no doubt that the nature of the and emits a gnarly sine wave for use as an
unique parameters too. They’re also able to Syntrx’s analogue circuitry yields extremely oscillator if required. The filter is of the low-
track reliably over eight octaves. We begin interesting results, especially as the pitch pass flavour but remember that there are
by routing VCO 1 directly to an output, with and tonal elements of each signal appear back-end tone-control filters here too.
no additional treatment. It offers a sine and to fight each other. The net gain is a rich Should you wish to make your tones
saw simultaneously, each with its own level signal, with the occasional happy accident even more interesting – and why wouldn’t
pot, and waveshaping available for the sine. leading to incredibly organic textures. you? – there are a wealth of further options
available here too. The Syntrx’s ring mod is
one of the finest we’ve ever heard. Applying
two VCOs to this circuit – also known as a
four-quadrant multiplier – gives you some
beautifully crisp metallic tones. This is routed
via the matrix, with the resultant sum open
to signal routing to further locations. Straight
to the output via the filter would be the most
obvious path. However, next door you will
find the spring reverb – and it’s the real deal
too, not an emulation. As it is with the Arp
2600, the spring reverb is arguably part of
the Syntrx’s sound, even if it isn’t of the
highest fidelity.
This is also a good time to mention the
external inputs, specifically with regard to
the ring modulator. Combining a mic signal
with a VCO signal summed via the ring mod,
for example, will give you an effect that’s
almost like a vocoder, leaving you sounding
like a cross between Cabaret Voltaire and
a Dalek pretty quickly. Just add spring
reverb for added sonic spice.

REVIEW
Its true appeal only becomes

The Syntrx is far more than a regular
subtractive synth. It can tackle the usual
subtractive duties with ease. But if that’s the
apparent when you switch on, sort of synth you yearn for, you might find
the business of patching via the matrix a
start twiddling knobs and get lost little long-winded. It’s certainly got grit for
basses, distortion and even the more
musically avante garde. But this is a synth
ENVELOPE LOOPS FAMILY MATTERS built for experimentation and exploration.
Both the Syntrx and its inspiration, the AKS, There has been considerable buzz about Its true appeal only becomes apparent
have many unique features. One of them the Syntrx. EMS synths are legendary among when you switch on, start twiddling knobs
stems from the envelopes. While this is an industry types and, while this is not a clone, and get lost in electronic music. This will
AD or ASR type, it has the same trapezoid it’s much better for being designed with an happen quickly too. Though there’s no
function found within EMS devices, named eye towards contemporary requirements. accompanying sequencer or keyboard
for its trapezoid-shaped envelopes. The It’s also considerably cheaper than it’d be here, which might limit its standalone
circuit can be switched from the regular to buy any vintage EMS classic, even if it potential, it packs a lot of character into
attack/decay-style functions to the ASR commands a hefty price of its own. Is it a box that oozes vintage charisma and
mode, which allows for looping. This will worth it? Yes, in design and build alone. sonic prowess. The potential for timbral
prove invaluable if you’re using the Syntrx But this is a musical and technological recreation is limitless.
as a standalone synth too, as the resulting investment too. An EMS equivalent would
looped gate can be used to modulate cost you about four times as much.
amplitude or anything else assignable from The build quality is outstanding. The
the matrix while in loop mode. The attack full metal chassis with vintage styling and MT V ER D I CT 9/10
button also activates the gate, which assists exceptionally robust pots make this feel like
if there’s no external trigger connected. an old-school classic. It’s even got a VU
Another EMS-inspired inclusion is with the meter with two built-in speakers, even + Stunning all-analogue synth
joystick, which gives you X/Y control of any if they won’t exactly glorify the Syntrx’s + Quirks and eccentricities
parameters patched via the matrix, with sonic potential very much due to their for creative exploration
attenuation available via the adjacent pots. small size.
+ Matrix lets you save routings
+ Basic but useful MIDI
implementation
– No onboard sequencer or
Alternatives –
accompanying keyboard
It’s not cheap – but quality costs
BEHRINGER ARTURIA
Arp 2600 £555 Synthi V £180
Since the Korg Limited edition Arp 2600 has been and This isn’t the hardware bounty of the Syntrx but it’s a Erica has recreated the classic EMS
gone, it’s been left to Behringer to clone it. Similarly great software recreation of the Synthi AKS. Apart from AKS with all the charm and charisma
characterful and full of vintage charm, this version being an excellent virtual model, it’s equipped with of the vintage original. It sounds
shares many audible characteristics with the Syntrx. plenty of extras, including a built-in sequencer. superb and is full of extensive
behringer.com arturia.com experimental attributes

REVIEW
LOOPMASTERS LOOPMASTERS
Bad Taste Jungle
Recordings: Drummer:
Malux London
Wake Up
Drums
Price £20 Price £25
Contact loopmasters.com Key features Contact Loopmasters.com Key features
With a stream of releases on labels Heavy drum ’n’ bass, Loopmasters has again teamed up Live acoustic drums
samples and loops 615MB of 24-bit audio
such as Bad Taste, RAM, Visions and with Jungle Drummer for a pack of
more under his belt, d’n’b producer 308MB of 24-bit audio live new-school jazz and breakbeat 563 loops
Malux brings his tech-driven sound- 79 loops, 143 one-shots drum loops. The content is comprised 70 to 170bpm
design skills to Loopmasters. There 70 patches for EXS24/ of the drum parts for Extinction Point’s Jazz, soul, funk,
are about 80 loops and about 140 Sampler, Kontakt, recently released London Wake Up breakbeat and jungle
one-shots here, available in a range NN-XT& Sfz EP, with more than 550 loops spread
of formats. They cover tight drum and 172bpm across eight folders. The loops range
percussion loops, deep cinematic from simple and soulful 70bpm beats
pads, upfront synth stabs, aggressive to faster and more complex jazz-like
neuro-basses, and twisted effects. patterns, as well as blistering 170bpm
There are 70 patches for playing the jungle workouts. There are also two
hits in your sampler of choice too. The folders in 5/4 time. We found some
production is excellent throughout,
MT V ER D I CT 9/10 of the production to be a little raw
MT V ER D I CT 8/10
with plenty of movement and powerful and the EQ on loops in some folders
processing. Overall, it’s an interesting A broad collection of was quite sharp. If you’re looking for Raw-sounding acoustic
mix that combines loud and growling cinematic synths, tight super-tight and produced live drums, drums with plenty of loose
synth work with some thoughtful and percussion and aggressive then you may want to look elsewhere. energy make this a good
tech-inspired chords and patterns. basses, with top-notch However, the performances are pack for adding organic
There’s plenty of creativity on show, production throughout bristling with energy and there’s vibes to your tracks
as well as bread-and butter-loops. plenty of variety here.
PRODUCERTECH KLEVGRAND
Rebuilding Skaka
Unstable
Condition
with John
Tejada
Price £25 or £10 per month Price £40 or £15 iPad
Contact producertech.com Key features Contact klevgrand.se Key features
This new Producertech course sees 11 streamed videos Programming the nuances of a live 12 pattern slots,
2+ hours eight instruments (egg,
producer John Tejada recreating his shaker or percussion sound can be
shaker, tambourine, caxixi,
2011 minimal house track Unstable Uses Ableton Live plus notoriously difficult. New plug-in single shot, ghungroo,
Condition using Ableton Live. There third-party plug-ins Shaka offers flexible and natural- calabash & seeds)
are 11 videos in total, spanning more 60MB of bonus samples sounding percussion patterns with 8/9 velocity layers with
than two hours, and you also get the Includes project files 12 sequence slots that can load any 30+ round-robins per layer
project files, plus 60MB of samples of its eight deeply sampled sounds. Reverb, room simulator
taken from his Loopmasters pack. The You can edit individual parameters and advanced humaniser
chapters cover building up the drums, for each pattern on (or off) a grid, VST, AU, AAX (64-bit)
designing the lead and other synths including velocity, pitch, duration and AUv3
using wavetable, effects processing, and gain, with additional controls
EQ, compression, automation and the for shuffle, an advanced humaniser,
Haas effect, as well as master bus envelope and more. There’s also a
processing. Despite the track being
MT V ER D I CT 7/10 built-in reverb, room simulator and
almost 10 years old, it still sounds high-shelf filter. The presets include
MT V ER D I CT 9/10
superb thanks to forward-thinking An occasionally slow but simple shaker patterns and Motown
production. Tajeda didn’t prep heavily nevertheless informative shuffles to special effects patterns An easy-to-use, highly
for the course so that he was able to examination that covers the that can sound like helicopters or flexible and incredibly
talk through his work as he rebuilt rebuilding of an excellent ocean waves. The plug-in is a superb realistic-sounding shaker
each part. This makes it a bit slow in minimal house track solution for adding realistic shaker instrument plug-in
places but there are good tips here. percussion to your tracks.

REVIEW
SIX OF THE BEST

All-purpose
headphones PART ONE
Looking to mix at home, record in a pro studio or
make music on the go? You’ll be hard-pressed to
do so without a decent set of cans. Here’s the first
our 12-strong top picks
BEYERDYNAMIC
DT 1990 PRO £400
Contact europe.beyerdynamic.com
They may be one of the older entries on this

list but Beyerdynamic’s DT 1990 Pros are far
from dated. With their open-back design,
ADAM AUDIO
these headphones deliver an uncoloured
and spacious sound ideal for music-making, Studio
Pro SP-5
mixing and even some mastering tasks.
Each set comes with two pairs of ear £465
pads – one designed for a natural output
and another that emphasises your low-end
frequencies. Regardless of which ear pads Contact adam-audio.com
you choose, you’ll find them well built and
comfortable to wear for extended periods. Best known for its impressive monitor
The Beyerdynamic range also boasts speakers, ADAM Audio favours practicality
a closed-back version, the DT 1700s, and sound above all else, as evidenced
so you won’t have to disturb anyone. by its Studio Pro SP-5 headphones. These
aren’t the cheapest cans you’ll find on the
market, nor are they the most head-turning.
But they do deliver if you’re looking for
AUDIO-TECHNICA reliable, accurate ’phones for mixing.
ATH-M60x
The Studio Pro SP-5s feature technology
£140 courtesy of Ultrasone, which gives them an
extended high-frequency response and
a few more unusual features that ADAM
Contact audio-technica.com claims produce a more natural sound
and reduce fatigue during long sessions.
While the closed-back design of Audio-
Technica’s ATH-M60x headphones may
make them better suited to the live room
These instantly
than mixing and mastering tasks, they still
perform well enough to be considered an
able all-rounder. If you’re a session player
working from a simple home studio, these
headphones offer comfort for long hours of
throw listeners
play without breaking the bank. They also
offer a crisp top end, detailed mids and
into their mixes
tight, balanced lows. There’s a noticeably
pronounced peak at about 2kHz, which – the first sign of
can be revealing when making tweaks
to the critical mid frequencies. stellar ’phones
S I X O F T H E B ES T R E V I E W
AKG
K812 £1,100
Contact soundtech.co.uk
There’s no way around it, AKG’s K812s

carry a hefty price tag. So why would
you consider them against all the other
examples here? Well, if you’re working in
a sub-optimal room – and most of us are
– these reference headphones could give
you a better impression of tonal balance
YAMAHA than your monitors. Going back to the
HPH-MT8
principle that accurate headphones can
£170 reveal sonic details that are less readily
apparent than when working on monitors,
these offer a wide frequency response and
Contact uk.yamaha.com pin-point stereo imaging, letting you zero
in on mix problems effectively. As for audio
With Yamaha’s HPH-MT8s, you get a no-frills Their larger drivers help deliver a wider quality, we named the K812s one of the
pair of headphones that prioritise accuracy frequency response and more bass-mid best-sounding headphones we’ve ever
over flattery – which is just what you’d want separation for making critical low-end heard in our 2016 review. Mixing on cans
in a pair of mixing headphones. Building on mix decisions. The MT8s also have a very can notoriously scrunch tracks in a mix
the more affordable HPH-MT5 ’phones, these comfortable feel and better build quality but these just place everything better,
offer a flatter response with extended bass. than the cheaper MT5s. allowing mixes to breathe a bit more.
SHURE
SRH1540 £400
Contact shure.com
The SRH1540s are the most premium Coming in at just 286g, they’re much lighter
member of Shure’s wide SRH range, which than your average reference headphones.
according to the brand are for professional During our review, we found that these
and audiophile-level applications. Built with cans are able to instantly throw listeners
aircraft-grade aluminium alloy yokes and into their mixes – always the first sign of a
carbon-fibre enclosures – all materials that stellar set of ’phones. The ability to ‘look
you’d be forgiven for thinking should be around’ the sound field and make tweaks is
reserved by spaceship design – these top- precisely what you should want from mixing
end materials are more than gimmicks. The headphones – and the SRH1540s deliver on
net result of such space-age technology is that front too. They’re not the cheapest but
a lighter set of headphones far less likely to they’re far from the most expensive
weight on you as long sessions drag on. example on this list too.

MT INTERV IE W
GIVE
PEACE
A CHAN
A musical everyman whose talents have melded the worlds
of synthetic pop, techno and classical music, foregrounded
his trademark delicate piano. Ólafur Arnalds boasts a
reputation as a sonic pioneer par excellence. With a new
album out now, constructed pre- and post-lockdown,
we check in on Ólafur to find out about its making
WORDS JONO BUCHANAN

INTERVIEW
T
he name of Ólafur Arnalds new album is MT: How much of the album itself existed before the
Some Kind of Peace. We wish. Clearly fate pandemic and how much has been a reaction to it?
took an ironic opportunity to intervene shortly OA: About half of the album was written before the
before we had a chance to talk to him about pandemic but everything was recorded and finished
both the new album and his approach to creativity during those past few months. But I was already on a
more broadly: an earthquake shook Iceland right path before everything shut down, to concentrate
before this interview took place, prompting Ólafur’s on what is important in life: human connection. The
opening exclamation of, “There’s a lot of energy pandemic confirms all that. If it teaches us anything,
in my body right now!” it’s the importance of human connection.
That’s true, of course, for all sorts of reasons.
Having reimagined the piano with his remarkable, MT: It feels like the narrative arc of the album is
semi-generative Stratus instrument, which has been reflected in the sequencing of the tracks as well
exquisitely sampled and captured by Spitfire Audio, as the title. It feels like peace is found as it unfolds.
Ólafur sought to follow his 2018 LP Re:member with a OA: Yes, that’s fair. The oldest track on the album
new record that represents a sea change in how this is the first one. I did swap a few things around but
musical perfectionist has decided to approach life mostly the album was written in the order it appears.
going forward. His aim? To let his guard down. Here, This was not done consciously. It just turned out that
we press Ólafur on what spurred such an approach the tracks made the most sense in the order that
and how he achieves his unique sound. I wrote them, which I think is telling – it’s the story
of my life for these months.
MT: Have the events of 2020 and the ultimate release
of this new album led to a place of calm for you? MT: Let’s go back to the beginning of your musical life
OA: Yes – or, at least, I’ve found a desire to search for – you played in metal bands and loved Chopin. Those
that place. There’s been a shift in my mindset in terms are diverse influences. How did you focus on what you
of what I want. Whether I’ve found that calm? That’s wanted to do?
probably a lifelong mission. I’ve realised that I’m more OA: I’m reminded of one the track titles, We Contain
interested in telling or being part of stories rather than Multitudes. It feels appropriate here. For me, sounds
‘doing a job’. I’ve pushed away projects that I was and genres aren’t mutually exclusive. They don’t
involved in to focus on art as personal expression. belong in different worlds. All of us have different

Ó L A FU R A R N A L D S I N T E R V I E W
things inside us. We can choose to take different

routes. There were years when I was concentrating
on being a drummer and a performer not only in
“I’m addicted to spaces.
hardcore punk bands but also playing jazz and as
a session player. I thought that my path in life would
I’m very sensitive to them.
be as a drummer. It was just by total accident that
someone heard some of the music I wrote on the
I can’t write just anywhere”
piano and the ball started rolling. That took over my
life and now it’s all I live for. But the fact that I come the songwriting. They’re writing the beats and the Above Working in his Reykjavík
from being a drummer and a sound engineer in background tracks for vocalists. In general, in the based-studio, Ólafur began to
make his new record right on
studios really affects the way that I make music modern world, this is how we look at music – it’s all the cusp of the pandemic
now – in a big way. sound design as much as melodies. That’s no different
Opposite Ólafur’s piano
for me than in pop music. People are surprised about represents a distinctive
MT: The sound of sounds is as important to you as that with me for some reason because I’m doing the sonic signature
the notes. Texture seems crucial to your music. same thing with classical instruments rather than
OA: Yeah! You can take it back further to a wider working with loops in Ableton Live.
perspective: why are you not playing this on guitar
instead of piano? Because it would be a different MT: It feels as though there’s a homogeneity in the
sound. Then if you zoom in further: why play this sounds of your records, whether you’re working with
piano instead of that piano? Then zoom in further electronic sounds or recordings of real instruments.
again: why this mic and not that mic? Why place You seek out a particular ‘quality’ of sound.
it here instead of there? It’s all part of the same OA: There are choices I make on both sides, both in
creative decision in terms of what the music terms of the synth sounds I choose and the musicians
is supposed to be saying. I collaborate with. That has been the work of the past
10 years of playing with the same people all the time,
MT: So composition and production are part of to slowly define our sound. There are things in stringed
the same process rather than separate entities? instruments that don’t match with electronic ones.
OA: Yes. But I’m not unique in that. With mainstream But when you play a certain way, you get rid of those
music today, producers are doing the composing, high mid-overtones, which helps glue things together.

INTERVIEW
“I’m an analogue guy but If you play things big and bright, you will end up with
frequencies you will have to unavoidably carve out
I’m not anti-digital – it’s about in the mix, and this is kind of doing that at the source.
a marriage between the two” MT: How do you get into the right mindset to be
productive? Do you do this before you get into
the studio or does the studio provide the means
to achieve the right state of mind?
Above Ólafur worked with But of course I’m making the same choices on the OA: In terms of getting into the right mood, I’m
Bonobo on Some Kind of Peace ’s synth side to find sounds that fit with the strings, addicted to spaces. I cultivate my spaces very
hypnotic opening track Bloom
so it can work that way round too. particularly and I’m very sensitive to them. I can’t
When we think of string players performing, we write just anywhere. I can come up with ideas if I’m
think of players dragging bows across their strings. But on tour maybe but I can’t go deep into it unless I’m
there are a number of ways to do this, depending on in my studio. I often find if I’m getting stuck, it’s just
how much pressure you put on the bow and string because I’m not fully in the space yet.
and where exactly you choose to place the bow. Often, it just takes staying in there, relaxing
There are timbral differences to be found within and just really feeling the space. You have to place
each of those choices. everything in the room so that it’s the most friendly it
can be to creativity. Can I work fast here or do I have
MT: You mean string techniques such as flautando? to walk to the other side of the room to touch that
OA: Flautando is part of it but we actually use sul tasto button? I try to have everything set up so that there
more than flautando, which is where you play more are always mics on every piano – there’s always a
up towards the neck of the instruments to give you mic set up for vocals, there are two mics hanging
a hollow and more harmonic-sounding tone. If you from the ceiling. But at the same time, you don’t
combine this with keeping to the lower end of the want things to become too easy, with everything
instrument’s range – violinists staying on the G string, in front of you. I used to have my studio like that. I
violas staying on the C string, for example – then you had a desk with all the rack stuff at my sides. Every
can get a warmer sound with fewer overtones. It’s button was within reach. But I felt it made me too
really all about not having to EQ things in the mix. closed off. You need to walk around the space.

MT: Does that extend to your relationship between MT: Talk us through your microphone choices.
hardware and in-the-box production tools? OA: A lot of them are things I’ve learnt to use through
OA: I’m an analogue guy for the most part but I’m not experience over the years. For instance, I use the
in any way an anti-digital guy – it’s about a marriage Neumann KM84s on strings – I’ll probably never
between the two. Modern technology is amazing. change that. Someone told me to try that at some
I really care about preamps and mics, external EQs point and I just liked it. I don’t have a huge collection
and compressors. But anything to do with the editing of mics. I just want to own precisely the stuff I need.
part, let’s say surgical EQ-ing, for example, it’s all There’s a lot of tubes involved in what I do because
in-the-box. But I don’t have a single soft-synthesiser. I like the warmth. For for the strings, it’s KM84s, and
Everything you need to create the character of the for main mics in front of the strings, I like to use the
sound that becomes an expression of what you’re original AKG C12. There’s also a pair of Coles but
doing, for me, that all needs to be outside of the I just add them for their low-end warmth, and I
computer. But anything that becomes more of a cut out the top-end harshness.
logistical problem – like how you place those into the
mix, whether something is on the left or on the right, MT: You’ve collaborated extensively with Spitfire
or precision EQ-ing – all of that’s fine in the computer. Audio, most recently for the Stratus library. How
did that relationship start?
MT: Do you use Pro Tools as your DAW? OA: I contacted them because I needed something!
OA: Yes. But if I want to manipulate things in more I use samples a lot when I’m writing, particularly strings
creative ways, I use Ableton Live. Pro Tools just isn’t and piano. I had this beautiful, rare felt grand piano
made for that. But I’m an engineer. If I want things and I wanted its sound in a sample pack. I contacted
to make sense to me, then Pro Tools does just that, Spitfire because I couldn’t find a sampled piano that
because it’s a recording program. I’m too young I really liked. I said “I think there’s a lack of something
to have grown up recording with tape – my first here. Can I help you make it?” It was a purely selfish
recordings were made using software. But these endeavour! But we really got along. We have a very
days, I do use tape, mostly for effects. I have similar approach to sampling – that it’s not designed
a couple of nice machines and I use them as a final product, it’s supposed to be something that
especially for solo piano recordings, just inspires new ideas. We’ve had a fruitful relationship.
to add a little instability to them. We’re good friends. We love working together.

© JAndrew Benge/Redferns
MT: The Stratus instrument is a key component to your

sound. Did you feel conflicted making that available
to everyone via a sample library?
“Collaborations are never
OA: First of all, I don’t feel like ‘that sound’ is my
property. All the decisions I make in my creative
career decisions. I just need to
process are, in turn, influenced by other people.
I don’t believe anything is an original idea. My ideas
want to hang out with them”
are influenced by countless people: the string sound
I like is determined more by the string players I work MT: On Some Kind of Peace, you collaborate with Above The Korg PS-3100 is
with than me, because I don’t know how to play the Bonobo, Josin and JFDR. Tell me about the mindset the most dominant synth on the
record – and Ólafur’s favourite.
violin, all I do is to help guide the players. But I know required to collaborate, rather than working solo. “I just keep finding new things
what you mean and my answer to that is that it’s OA: You have to let go of your desire to control with that synth,” he says
actually really great to give up your secrets because everything. I try to put my mind in a place where
it forces you to move on. If everybody is using my I am open to learning. I think that’s one of the most
sound, it’s going to be a great kick in the butt for important things – what can this person teach me
me to try and find a new one. It keeps me evolving right now? How can this collaboration benefit me
and looking for new things, and helps me avoid so that I become better at what I do? By going
getting stuck in a loop. into it with that mindset – that this person truly has
something they can teach you – you also open up
MT: You mentioned you were stepping away from to their ideas more. But collaborations are never
writing for picture. Are you stopping that altogether career decisions. I just need to like the person and
or just changing your relationship with it? want to hang out with them, and then hang out in
OA: I’ll definitely keep doing it. It just needs to be in the the studio. It grows organically out of a relationship
right moment. It’s not a very different way of actually that already exists – that’s really important.
working but it’s a very different mindset. I just need to That said, at the moment, collaboration is mostly
be in the mood when I do it. I would be interested in happening remotely. In which case, someone needs
picking one really good project to do each year to come up with the idea – the core of it. I like to send
and do it really well but I don’t have an interest people a chord progression I’ve come up with, or
in becoming a career film composer. send them a piano line or a melody. Either that,

INTERVIEW
“I’ll be glad to be able to tour I’m not lying when I say that it’s pretty much the
only synth on the record – maybe with the exception
of one lead and a couple of sub-bass lines from the
again but I do hope we learn Roland Juno. But all of the characteristic lines come
from the Korg.
something from these times” Loom, the song I wrote with Bonobo – all those
synth lines come from the Korg. What I got really into
on this record was using my original Stratus software
Above Ólafur has long or I like to have someone send me something that and applying that software to the Korg to have it
been known for his sonically I can then work on top of. I think when you’re doing come up with patterns. This was hugely inspiring. You
captivating live performances,
which he hopes to get back to that, the idea needs to be really strong; you can’t can hear it in New Grass – I’m actually sending the
as soon as he’s able leave it too open. In normal, non-pandemic times, piano Stratus stuff to the Korg too, which creates this
Opposite Ólafur’s studio was
I would rather just have someone come here so that texture that turned out to be very unique and a big
cultivated very particularly. we could jam and improvise until there’s an idea discovery for me.
“I can’t write just anywhere,” that comes from both of us. I just keep finding new things with that synth. I’ve
he says
had it for about five years. I used it for the first time
MT: Do you plan to release more music as Kiasmos, when I worked with Nils Frahm on our collaborative
your techno project with Janus Rasmussen? Trance Frendz record. He had just got one and we
OA: Yes! That’s funny – he actually just messaged me were both kind of discovering it at the same time
five minutes ago. Yeah, we are slowly getting there. and, when I got home, I started looking for one
It’s been a crazy year. I’ve been making Some Kind too. I got really lucky because they can be very
of Peace and Janus has been off doing his solo stuff expensive. I found a guy who was super-chill and
too, so it’s been slow-going for us but I think he gave it to me for a really fair price. I like that
something will happen next year. synth more because of that!
MT: Let’s talk about the Korg PS-3100, which also MT: What else provides inspiration like the Korg does?
features prominently in the Stratus Spitfire library. OA: On this record, it’s mostly that synth. I don’t think
OA: The Korg PS-3100 is my all-time favourite I realised quite how much until now. But I did use the
synthesiser and it’s all over Some Kind of Peace. Tape Echo from Roland, which bring everything to life.

The other thing that was new for this record was of us being responsible and getting through this
the Studer desk. It was my first time in my own studio together is a bigger thing, so I don’t feel like me not
working with a console, and I think it affected my touring is actually important in this context. However,
workflow in a big way – working with synths and I do think it’s been a really interesting challenge for
suddenly I was hands-on. I only used the Studer at us, because our industry is built up in such a way that
the tracking stage – I haven’t mixed through it yet. you make a record and you promote it and tour it
It’s more about the interesting sounds that you can and, for a lot of people, that’s how you make money.
make by creating feedback from different outboard There’s not much money for most people in releasing
effects; you can send this sound into a Space Echo records. So, for me, there’s an interesting and exciting
and from the Space Echo into a reverb, for example. challenge in that – what do we do? How do we do
This is something that wouldn’t be so easy to do this now?
from the computer with all of the patching and all We just have to make our minds as wide open
of the buttons you’d need to press – you probably as possible and, in the end, I think that that’s a very
wouldn’t end up in that place. And if you try to set healthy thing for all of us to do. I do think that when
up the same thing on a computer, you have to think we can eventually get back to touring, this period
about what you want before you get it, which means will have had a lasting impact on how we release
you control the result. Doing it this way, it’s more like music in the future. I will be very glad to be able to
the difference between a soft-synth and a hardware tour again but I do hope that we learn something
synth – touching buttons with your mouse rather than from these times.
with your hand. Cognitively, it’s just a very different Also, I hope that we’re all gaining a little more
thought process. awareness of how unhealthy for our planet our
lifestyle has been until this – maybe we’ll be forced
MT: How does it feel to not be able to put plans to. I think the touring industry will take some time to
in place to tour this album due to the pandemic? come back, so we might be forced to make some
That’s always been something you’ve done before. changes that might also be good for our planet.
OA: It would be easy to be really disappointed and That’s a positive.
to be sad about it. But I’ve never fallen into that. This
situation isn’t anyone’s fault so you can’t be mad Some Kind of Peace is out now. For more info,
that touring isn’t possible right now. I think that all visit olafurarnalds.com.

RE W IND
PPG WAVE 2
Faced with having to drag analogue devotees into
the digital age, PPG rode the crest of a new wave
WORDS DAVE GALE
While a student at music college,

a kindly and respected professor
offered to introduce me to a composer
who was something of a hero of mine.
Paddy Kingsland had been one of the
second wave of composers at the BBC
Radiophonic Workshop. A timely trip to
Kingsland’s post-BBC studio in West London
gave me the chance to meet him, while
also picking up a second-hand purchase
for the college – his PPG Wave 2.2.
Once I had finished my hero worship,
accompanied by the obligatory ogling
of fashionable late 1980s tech, I was left
to bundle the Wave into the back of a
London taxi. Given its size and weight, this
wasn’t easy. But, unbeknown to me at the
time, this hulking instrument would go on
to influence many contemporary synths.
While the core of the Wave 2.2 was
digital, it exhibited all of the facets of an
The Quantum and the Iridium are

analogue panel, bedecked with all the
familiar pots. LFO, ADSR and VCF were
all present, nestled next to a two-line
LCD display accompanied by a chunky
numeric keypad that looked as if it had
the PPG Waves of the modern
been lifted straight from an early Apollo
lunar module.
age, with similarly inspiring sound
The PPG path to glory began in
Hamburg, Germany, where designer and The first time I became aware of the Even without being backed up by
synth hobbyist Wolfgang Palm started his full potential of wavetable was with the the Waveterm, the Wave 2.2 was a real
synth career by servicing and modifying Thomas Dolby track Windpower. The track ‘players’ synth. With a five-octave keyboard
analogue synths. By the mid-1970s, Palm used a strident synth colour that seemed that’d feel clunky by today’s standards, the
was producing his own products, and to meander and mutate in real time, with signal flow of the Wave 2.2 was pivotal. The
began a relationship with synth pioneers incredible modulated consistency. This was starting point of a digital oscillator would
Tangerine Dream. In 1976, Palm produced a sound that the teen me simply could not allow access to more than 2,000 different
one of the first programmable synthesisers, work out how to recreate on my own single-cycle 8-bit waveforms. The crunchy
followed two years later by the System 340. analogue synth. and often tinny-sounding waves could then
This was the first product to use the PPG In hindsight, this shouldn’t have come be tamed by the analogue filter, which in
Wave tech and, here, the groundwork as a surprise, given that Dolby’s weapon the case of the 2.2 was provided by the
was laid for the Wave synth series, which of choice was the PPG Wave and its new SSM2044 filter chip. This filter provided much
underwent many revisions, increasing in accompanying brainbox, the Waveterm. of the character of the 2.2 and ensured
numerical points with each improvement Housed in a 7U metal case, this separate that many parameters were left open to
in much the same way that computer but connected instrument was available real-time manipulation while playing live.
software would creep from one iteration in two revisions, model A and B. The bright- The demise of PPG came in 1987,
to the next. green visual display unit was partly to blame largely due to competition from other
The Wave 2 was a pivotal machine, for the Wave-and-Waveterm combination digital-based based products such as the
providing eight-note polyphony from a being labelled a poor man’s Fairlight. But Yamaha DX-7 and the Sequential Prophet
single oscillator per voice. This increased to that’s unfair given that the Wave 2.2 still 2000. From the ashes of PPG came Waldorf,
two oscillators per voice with the revision to had a price tag of £5,000 upon its release whose own innovative and well-regarded
Wave 2.2. However, the real crunch came in 1982 – and it didn’t even come with products recently culminated in the release
from the oscillators themselves. Being digital a Fairlight-esque light pen. Even so, the of the Quantum and the Iridium – the PPG
and 8-bit in resolution, they certainly could Waveterm was equipped with two large Waves of the modern age, with a similar
have been smoother in sound and clarity. floppy disk drives, which were downsized signal flow and similarly inspiring sound. You
Nevertheless, they revealed wavetable from eight to 5.25 inch floppy disks with don’t have to look far to find other modern
synthesis to the world in a format open the revision from model A to B. Don’t let synths drawing on PPG’s influence either.
to substantial modulation. anyone tell you that size doesn’t matter. They’re everywhere.

nd optional USB and Dante digital connectivity for the modern studio environment.
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WE’VE DONE

THE MUSICTECH EXPERTS Celebrating the

Andy Price Editor andy.price@musictech.net

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