Future Musicの June 2022 の目次

Ambient music can sometimes be written off as something of a joke genre – aimless background music that’s as easy to make as it is to listen to. Despite what any detractors might say though, ‘ambient’ is more than just a flash in the pan. We’re now more than five decades on from Brian Eno’s pivotal ambient releases, and the sound and approaches of ambient music reach back considerably further than that. If anything, ambient music is experiencing something of a renaissance, thanks to artists like Jon Hopkins pushing ambient electronics forward, and countless others blending elements of ambient into genres as diverse as jazz, classical and techno. What better time then, to get in touch with your contemplative side and explore a more freeform, textural approach to making music?…

> Roland’s SP-404 portable sampler sometimes feels like it sits in a product category all of its own, but it could soon be joined there by Sonicware’s SmplTrek, a handheld sampler that's just debuted on Kickstarter.This compact device promises one-touch sample recording; it comes with a built-in mic and inputs for dynamic mics, electric guitar/bass and line-level sources, and you can also sample from your smartphone over USB. Sampled sounds can be auto-sliced and split across the bank of pads and timestretched and pitchshifted to match the tempo and key of your song. On the sequencing front, each of your projects can have 16 scenes, with each of these containing 10 sequencer tracks (these can handle loops, one-shots, drums, instruments and external MIDI). You also get three additional global audio…

>If you thought that you’d seen the last of ROLI and its Seaboard range of controllers, think again, as we now have the prospect of the Seaboard Rise 2. Launched in 2015, the Rise was a more affordable version of ROLI’s full-size Seaboard MPE controller, but has been off the market for two years. The new version is said to be easier to play, more durable, and comes with a better software bundle. The most significant improvement over the original Rise might well be the Keywave2 silicone playing surface, which provides ‘frets’ that enable players to more accurately judge the position of their fingers on each key. This new surface is said to make the Rise 2 more playable than its predecessor, and easier for players of standard keyboards to…

What exactly is ambient music? That’s not such a simple question to answer. While the genre of ‘ambient’ is fairly well established, the exact rules of what makes something ambient aren’t rigidly defined. The basic, sometimes derogatory definition is that ambient is background music. That’s certainly true of some ambient music. Many of Brian Eno’s early works, for example, were specifically created to blend in with the listener’s environment, more like a background texture than an up-front performance. Ambient music can be equally intense and all encompassing though – providing a sort of sensory overload that locks the listener into its world rather than drifting along in the background. You could say it’s generally beatless – especially in an electronic context – but this definition excludes rhythmic ambient tracks from…

INCLUDES VIDEO: SEE PAGE 8 01 > “I use a little bit of hardware in my vocal chain, I have a Focusrite ISA preamp that I love. It gives quite a lot of warmth to my tone. I also have a Focusrite interface and an AKG C414 mic, a vintage one. That adds a nice quality to the vocal. I like to approach vocals with kind of a gospel/soulful feel. I try not to over-process them.” 02 > “I use Logic to record. I start a whole new project for vocals, so I don’t overload everything. I’ll do the processing then bounce that in place so I can bring that into the other project for the instrumental. On this track I have quite a lot of BVs going on. I…

© Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns Most genres are defined by their sound, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s better to think in terms of an overall musical movement, defined not by its audible characteristics but by what it represents in contrast to genres which came before. The most obvious examples are genres like post-punk (a late ’70s/early ’80s movement which aimed to introduce a more expansive, experimental approach to punk) or post-rock (defined by music writer Simon Reynolds as “using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes”), but you could certainly say the same for post-dubstep. In the late 2000s, the dubstep scene was at a crossroads, with the deeper sound of the genre’s UK roots being overtaken commercially by the heavier, more aggressive styles heard mainly from the US. As some…

CONTACT WHO: Ashun Sound Machines WEB: ashunsoundmachines.com KEY FEATURES 16-voice polyphonic digital wave morphing synthesizer with Single/Multi Dual/Keysplit voicing modes and dual stereo audio outputs, CV/Gate, USB and MIDI connectivity, Keyboard with 73 full-size keys and Polyphonic Aftertouch, Multi-function ribbon controller (Modulation, Pitch bend, Theremin mode). ASM’s original Hydrasynth was an impressive debut, so how how does one go about creating a ‘deluxe’ version? In basic terms the Hydrasynth Deluxe combines two Hydrasynth sound engines into one unit and marries it with a 73-note keyboard. Obviously, there is a little bit more to it than that but ultimately this version is intended as the senior partner in a range that starts with a compact mini-key version (in the guise of the portable Explorer, see p76). THE PROS & CONS +…

DIGITAL POLYSYNTHS FutureMusic Platinum Award ASM Hydrasynth Deluxe £699 Full Review: FM383 | The Deluxe is a great-sounding, flexible polysynth, ideal as a performance-led keyboard that can reach a wide range tones and textures. FutureMusic Platinum Award Korg Modwave £699 Review FM373 Modwave is far from the only wavetable game in town, but it sets itself apart with unique tools and a few added gimmicks. FutureMusic Platinum Award Korg Wavestate £699 Review FM353 Wavestate walks the line perfectly between paying tribute to a ’90s classic and offering cutting-edge tools. A fantastic update to a much-loved synth line. FutureMusic Platinum Award Waldorf Quantum £3,500 Review: FM336 A stunning piece of hybrid synth design – setting a new benchmark for features, interface and sonics. It’s expensive, but a synth that you’ll find…

> The past couple of years have seen Universal Audio performing some significant – although not unwelcome – u-turns in the way their business works. UA have been known for a variety of things over the years, from makers of analogue hardware to, in recent times, innovators in the guitar realm, but for the past couple of decades the Californian brand has mainly been synonymous with their linked ecosystem of UAD plugins and Apollo interfaces. Traditionally, it has worked like this: UA interfaces come equipped with built-in DSP chips, which allow them to run low-latency UAD effect plugins that boast circuit-level emulation of classic studio hardware. Those two parts of the ecosystem were intrinsically linked; if you wanted in on the UAD system, compatible hardware was your only way in.…

> Said to “stand on the shoulders of 60 years of chasing ‘the holy grail of DSP’”, Baby Audio's Crystalline is a new algorithmic reverb plugin that harks back to classic digital reverbs of the past while taking advantage of modern processing power. The result is a plugin that promises everything that today’s DAW-based producer needs. For a start, Crystalline enables you to hard-sync the reverb attack and decay time to your DAW’s tempo, creating reflections that sync with the music. That being said, you still have the option of setting the pre-delay and decay times in milliseconds if you’d rather. A dedicated Reflections section, meanwhile, enables you to set the size of the room, add ‘Sparkle’ – which emphasises the high frequencies within the reverb algorithm – and set…

> We’re used to DAW developers talking about releasing the ‘biggest’ update to their software in a while, but in the case of Tracktion’s Waveform Pro, we’re told that version 12 is the ‘broadest’ revision in a decade. Presumably, this refers to the fact that improvements have been made right across the board: there’s a new Smart Browser, more plugins and effects, a reworked audio engine, enhanced MIDI features, improved hardware controller support and more. The end result, we’re assured, is “the most creative, inspirational and affordable DAW ever created”. The new browser has been designed to speed up your workflow, with fast access to key elements of Waveform 12, the option to colour-code favourites, and Smart Lists that can be used to preview and consolidate edit and project items.…

In the ’80s, developments in music programming inspired a whole new way of writing and producing music. Drum machines, after steadily creeping into pop for a while, were suddenly everywhere, as were sequenced melodic patterns from indefatigable synths. Was this the death knell for homegrown, organic musicians as we knew them? Far from it. Although emerging artists who embraced music programming tech at the time faced disapproval from bewildered forebears (and who doesn’t?), this evolution in music-making methodology only gathered pace from then on. Programming music used to require you to have some form of either analogue or digital hardware, but the wide world of computers and DAWs soon turned all that on its head. Today, almost every artist programs their music, mostly in a broader sense through the use…

Music equipment reviewers and tutors Higher Hz have branched out into the world of audio effects with their debut plugin, simply entitled Delay. This free plugin does a lot more than just simple repeats, though. The makers behind the plugin make it very clear that their goal with this device was to deviate from the norm, offering features that aren’t often found in most delay plugins, and actually removing features that you might expect from other similar products. We’re going to take Delay for a quick spin to try out some of its features, and you can grab it yourself for free from higherhz.com FEEL OVER FUNCTION While the advancement of technology has brought innovation and accessibility to the world of music production, there is a belief held by some…

CONTACT WHO: Bitwig WEB: bitwig.com KEY FEATURES Fully-equipped DAW with 130+ devices and modulators, plus Grid modular environments with 150+ modules. Purchase includes 12-month update plan I’ve been a vocal fan of Bitwig Studio in these pages since version 1, but I was, initially, slightly underwhelmed by version 4 when I reviewed it. Whereas versions 2 and 3 introduced seismic new features that radically expanded the capabilities of the DAW – the unified modulation system and modular Grid, respectively – the comping and note Operators introduced for Bitwig 4 were comparatively conservative additions. As acknowledged at the time though, this comparison was arguably unfair due to the way Bitwig’s update plans works. Rather than simply buy each version outright, users activate a 12-month update plan that immediately gives them access…

> While the new Volca FM looks pretty much identical to its predecessor, there are some significant changes that enhance its capabilities considerably. First and foremost of these is expanded polyphony, up to six voices compared to the original’s three. The new Volca FM now responds to velocity via MIDI too, for a more expressive experience when used with an external controller. Korg’s compact, DX7-inspired Volca FM first landed six years ago and it remains one of our favourite mini synths to this day. Now, like the Volca Sample before it, the FM is getting a second generation update bringing a raft of new features and enhancements. Also on the MIDI front, Korg have added a MIDI output (via a TRS adapter) allowing the Volca FM’s sequencer to control external…

> Toontrack have launched EZdrummer 3, the latest version of their accessible drum sampling and groove generation software.This is designed to make it easier (EZier?) than ever for musicians to quickly create rhythm tracks that sound like they were played by a real drummer. Rebuilt from the ground-up, EZdrummer 3 comes with a new, fully scalable and resizable interface and a new library of MIDI grooves. The Tap2Find feature now includes a step sequencer, and you can now mix and match elements of different grooves in an instant. If you’d rather program your own grooves, there’s now an onboard grid editor, while new humanisation features automatically adjust velocity and microtiming to create a more natural performance. Articulations are automatically varied, too. The mixer has been redesigned to be more intuitive…

Sometimes we find ourselves wanting to use an audio loop or phrase (let’s take an example of some chords), but we maybe wish those chords would trigger a different sound or instrument, or we could change some of the sequence of the chords. Or maybe we have an idea of a melody that we can hum or sing, but aren’t sure what notes we’re actually singing and therefore unable to play these notes as MIDI. Live offers a range of conversion options for these occasions to help extract MIDI information out of audio material. In this example we’re going to work with an audio loop of piano chords which we will convert to MIDI, then edit the notes and change the instrument that these chords will be playing. ABOUT THE…

KEY FEATURES 5-voice analogue polysynth with digital control; 44-note semi-weighted Fatar keyboard with velocity and aftertouch; two VCOs and a sub osc per voice; Prophet-5-lineage 4-pole analogue filter; Vintage knob for increased instability; two LFOs (1 global, 1 per-voice); two ADSR+delay envelopes; extensive modulation; 64-step polyphonic sequencer; multimode arpeggiator; two effects generators (dedicated reverb + multi-effects); 128 factory programs, 128 user; I/Os: stereo out (2 x 1/4-inch jacks), headphone out, MIDI in/out/thru, USB, footswitch and pedal; DIMENSIONS: 635 x 324 x 112mm; WEIGHT: 7.71kg THE PROS & CONS + Fantastic, compact design and build In-depth modulation features, sequencer and arpeggiator give it a modern feel Neat Low Split feature allows you to extend the keyboard range Quality Prophet-5 ingredients allowed to blossom with newer features - Five voices will not…

CONTACT WHO: Novation WEB: novationmusic.com KEY FEATURES Fully integrated with FL Studio, including the Sequencer, Channel Racks and Mixer; 16 pads for performance and slicing; eight knobs for volume, pan, and automation; transport buttons; FL Studio plugin preset browsing; chord mode (FLkey 37 only); software suite includes FL Studio Producer Edition 6-month trial, virtual instruments and effects. PRICING: FLkey 37 – £199.99 FLkey Mini – £99.99 Given how long FL Studio has been around in its various forms (Fruity Loops came out in 1998, can you believe it?), the question is really ‘why didn’t this happen sooner?’. Akai’s Fire gave FL users their first dedicated controller, and now Novation bring us the FLkey 37 and Mini keyboard controllers. We had both the FLkey 37 and Mini in for review –…

Spitfire Audio – Heirloom £249 > As regular readers will know, many of Spitfire’s libraries appear to cater primarily to creators of music for film, TV or games. However, the same readers will also know that I regularly point out that these instrument collections often lend themselves to a wide range of genres – especially if you value originality over sonic conformity. Although Heirloom – subtitled ‘The Emotional Ensemble’ – covers some classic Spitfire territory, as with many other Spitfire creations, the devil is in the detail. This library takes a toolkit approach, intended on giving a complete set of matched elements, and focusses on organic ‘analogue’ composition. Piano and electric guitar are combined with an 8-piece string section, contrabass clarinet and tubax. What’s a tubax you might ask? Well,…