Table of contents for 11-2021 in Beat English

Turbofilter with Stereo Boost AudioThing THINGS - Flip EQ Often, mixing applications don‘t require ultra-flexible equalizers with countless filter types, frequency bands and setting options. In many cases, an equalizer with manageable parameterization and musical sound is just the right tool for the job. Just like our software highlight, AudioThing Things - Flip EQ, an equalizer for quick timbre adjustments, which also allows impressive stereo effects thanks to smart M/S options. Download: See top right Info: www.audiothing.net win | mac 6 Aces for Mix & Mastering Tubes & Tape Mixing Bundle Six effect processors for mixing and mastering await you in the Tubes & Tape Bundle: Look forward to two virtual preamps and a dynamics processor with charming tube sound from Analog Obsession, as well as an excellent emulation of…

Which hardware plug-ins do others like to use, what do they pay attention to when producing their music, how is their studio set up? When working with labels, producing remixes or at live events, one thing quickly became clear to our host Rüdiger Keller: everyone has their own style, not only musically, but also when it comes to creating. This led to the idea … hey… let‘s make a podcast out of it! Talking with musicians face-to-face The concept is simple: each show features a producer and three of their tracks, we talk about their approach to producing, tools and techniques and most importantly: the fun of it all. It doesn‘t matter how successful the guests are. Rather, it‘s what they have to say that counts. We talk about technology,…

BEAT 1 Tools & tricks We don‘t even need analog hardware from that time to capture the 80s feeling. The tools of every DAW and from our Beat Studio as well as some freeware tools are completely sufficient. Although synthesizers and drum machines were very popular back then, they didn‘t always sound fundamentally different from modern devices or plug-ins. The biggest difference is in the way they are used and programmed. 2 LM-1 Above all, the sounds were not as fine-tuned as they are today, it was allowed to be a lot rougher. As a main tool, we therefore use a really „old-fashioned classic“: the Linn Electronics LM-1. Create a new song in your DAW, load Geist Lite onto a track and feed it with the LM-1 samples from the…

1 LinnDrums! Let‘s start with the simplest element: the beat. Most synthwave songs only get by with kick and snare. Often these come from a Roland TR-707 or a LinnDrum. In the large sample package of this issue there is a suitable kit from Wave Alchemy, from which we load wa_free_ldrum_kick_02_t2 and wa_free_ldrum_ snare_02_t3. 2 Basic mood The beat is dead straight, so kick on every quarter and snare on every second. To create a basic mood, an arpeggio is a very good choice. To make it sound authentic, a synth of the era is recommended, such as the JP or JV series from Roland or Yamaha‘s DX models. We use the Reaktor ensemble JP-80 with the preset „Sound 4“. 3 Retro ensembles In the workshop download data we have…

1 Basic beat Load a drum kit and create a simple beat or load an existing project that might like to groove more. For our workshop, we created a simple 4/4 beat with kick, clap and hi-hat. The hat plays a shaker pattern, kick and clap an absolutely straight beat. Consequently, the beat is unspectacular to the max. Perfect then! 2 Duplicate hi-hat Switch to PROGRAM EDIT with MENU + Pad 14. Hold the COPY key, press the pad with the hi-hat and then a free pad, say in Bank B, so that the position remains the same. With the original, we set the pad duplicate under SIMULTANEOUS PLAY, so both are triggered at the same time. Now the beat runs completely out of control for the first time. 3…

1 Instrumental track Create a new Cubase project and load Retrologue 2 onto an instrument track. We will use the Atomic Synth preset as the flat synthesizer sound for composing the chords. Then, mark a 4 bar loop with the locators. On this track, we want to play an interesting pattern with the chord pads later. 2 Open Chord Pads Activate the lower zone in your project and open the Chord Pads tab. On the left side of the window, use the Chord Pad Presets button and then Load Chord Pad Preset to load the A Lot Of Nine preset. This will automatically assign harmonically exciting chords to the pads that go well together. 3 Customize voicing With the arrow keys on the right edge of the pads you can…

1 Lead sound As a first step, we program a typical David Guetta MIDI pattern. We hum a catchy melody that comes into our head and then play it in. We check that the quantization is correct and make any small adjustments to the rhythm so that the pattern sounds in a musical and intelligent way. 2 Load delay and reverb The next step is to load the Timeless Delay and the Pro-R Reverb from Fabfilter as a Send Effect channel. For the delay, we use a classic PingPong Delay with a dotted eighth note (1/8D) for the Delay time. For the reverb, we use a reverb time of 2.5 seconds and a Pre-Delay of 25 milliseconds. Both plug-ins are running at 100% wet. 3 Feed send effects Now we…

Spitfire Audio Ondes Musicales Spitfire Audio releases new free expansions for LABS on a regular basis. In September, they have taken on a particularly rare and unusual electronic instrument for this purpose: Ondes Martenot is a monophonic electronic musical instrument first introduced in 1928 and inspired by the Theremin. Like the Theremin, Ondes Martenot is based on the principle of the floating buzzer, the sound of which can be modified with electronic filters. The 7-octave electronic keyboard instrument is played with the right hand via a manual or by means of a ring (glissandi), while simultaneously controlling dynamics and timbre with the left hand. The ring for glissandi sits on a wire that runs parallel to the keyboard. With the left hand, the player can control the volume and influence…

The Mellotron is more or less the predecessor of the digital sampler. For each key, a tape was integrated with the recording of the corresponding note, which was then played back when the key was pressed. Since the tapes contained original recordings of acoustic instruments such as flutes, winds and strings, the whole thing sounded more realistic than the sound generation of organs or the first synthesizers of the time. However, the frequency response of the tapes was also limited, the sound became duller with frequent playback, and the mechanics could cause fluctuations in pitch and volume and dropouts. In this respect, modern digital samplers are actually vastly superior; however, it is precisely the aforementioned weaknesses, in conjunction with the distinctive recordings on the tapes, that make for an unusual…

Goldbaby EPROM Grind Equipped with an 8-bit sampler, Goldbaby has tackled old-school sounds and immortalized them in the EPROM Grind collection filled with 2,841 samples. The drum machines used were the 808, 909, 707, Mbase, PO32, Cycles and ER-1. The reworked samples are nice and crispy (hi-hats), punchy (toms and kicks) and really rich. In particular, the sub-part of the 808 kicks really impressed this reviewer. For the virtual drummer Geist, 25 presets and kits have been prepared; for the full Kontakt version there are 148 pre-mapped patches. In addition, there are 150 patches for Logic Pro, 25 drum racks for Ableton Live and various kits, instruments and projects for the groovebox Maschine. From funky, technoid 8-bit drum kits to chill dub kits, there‘s plenty to celebrate. Verdict The focus…

The communication between the individual modules is, in most cases, based on analog control signals; however, Continuous Control Voltages (CV) and switching pulses (Gate/Trigger) are also used in electronic musical instruments that were and are not primarily intended for use in the modular system network. Inexpensive semi-modular synthesizers and hardware sequencers not only invite internal rewiring: CV signals of a step sequencer that are actually intended to control pitch can, for example, be used for filter modulation and, therefore, enable complex rhythmic sounds or LFO-like movement patterns. (Photo 1). The misuse of arpeggiator patterns and rolls leads to unexpected, but the mostly musically interesting results. As the original „communication protocol“ for electronic musical instruments, CV and Trigger/Gate functionality can be found on many older devices. In particular, the trigger…

In 1978, the Sequential Prophet 5 was a veritable sensation, as it was the first polyphonic synthesizer with storable sounds and was, subsequently, used in countless hits. Four decades have passed since then, but the consistently beautiful and rich basic sound of this vintage classic still knows how to inspire today and plays a leading role in more than just the trendy Synth- and Retrowave. After a whole series of different Prophet models, Dave Smith has finally reissued the Prophet-5, as faithful to the original as possible and yet a bit better: USB/MIDI, Aftertouch, Velocity and a switchable filter are all available for purists. Another Prophet? The experts were a bit surprised when Dave Smith announced the replica of the Prophet-5. After all, his company already has a modern and…

Meng Qi Wing Pinger In the world of modular synths, no idea is too weird; no approach, no matter how experimental, too outlandish. So Meng Qi‘s team probably thought „Let‘s build a synthesizer without oscillators,“ and they‘re not even taking an unfamiliar approach. But while modules and synths such as Metasonix generate their sound on the basis of tubes, two filters form the basis in the Wing Pinger. The principle behind it is relatively simple: if you turn up the resonance of a self-oscillating filter, a sine waveform is generated that can be played tonally using the cutoff frequency. This is also the case with the Wing Pinger, which offers two such filters that are triggered (or pinged, hence the synth‘s name) either using the touch-sensitive onboard keyboards or via…

The polyphonic software synth Phuturetone GR-8 [1] is an excellent choice for creating classic 80s sounds. So it is also our first choice for reprogramming the keyboard sound from the chorus of “Let‘s Love”. First load the init preset and select the poly mode on the left. Set the mix control in the OSC-2 section to 45.0 so that the second oscillator can also be heard. Use the semi control to tune the second oscillator one octave higher. Envelope 2 controls the volume on the GR-8. For the desired sound progression, set attack to 0, decay to 61.0 and sustain and release to 31.0. For a more brilliant sound, we use the equalizer in the FX section to emphasize the frequencies around 3100 Hz by 3 dB and the treble…

u-he Tyrell Nexus 6 1 Ring modulation The design of the Tyrell was inspired by Roland‘s Juno 60, but its tonal possibilities go far beyond those of the hardware model. For classic ring modulator sounds, set all mixer faders all the way down and only ring all the way up. Then adjust the oscillator waveforms and the tune control of Oscillator 2 to your liking. 2 Typical synth-pop basses Select the pulse wave for oscillator 1 and the sawtooth for oscillator 2. Tune oscillator 2 an octave higher and turn up Fine by a few cents. A slight pulse width modulation creates a more lively sound. Close the filter almost completely and increase the modulation intensity almost to the maximum. Adjust the envelopes as shown. 3 Snappy beast A real…

Beyond Synth (moderated) By far the loudest and most professional podcast of our selection, with almost 300 episodes of back catalog. This is about music, films, games and everything else that belongs in the cosmos of the eighties. Pure entertainment! www.soundcloud.com/beyond-synth The Prime Thanatos You prefer only good music and no chats and interviews? Then The Prime Thanatos is the best choice. The YouTube stream, which contains 3,500 songs, offers the finest synthwave entertainment from dark to electro for around ten days at a time. Tip: The other videos on the channel also offer a lot of material. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivo8ACb4TxA Synth Zone (moderated) In over 200 episodes, Raymond Garcia aka Rayzor presents the coolest tunes from synthwave, retrowave, synthpop, funk and music from the 80s in general. www.spreaker.com/show/synth-zone…

1 Mix problem solver When vocals or an instrument like the guitar or a synth sound don‘t quite cut through in the mix, AudioThing Things Flip EQ can quickly and effectively remedy the situation. Simply load the plug-in as an insert effect in the appropriate audio channel. Turn up Flip as desired. Now you need to set the Cutoff frequency appropriately. 2 Reduce rumbling Select these so that the vocals or instrument sound more present, but no other instruments are masked. You can use the Highpass control to remove impact sounds and low rumble at the same time. To do this, activate the filter section and turn up Highpass accordingly. For vocals, a frequency of 100 Hz is a good starting point. 3 Emphasize mids Want to boost the…

1 Bassline While the previous part was completely dedicated to the beat, round two is all about the bass and hookline for our Deep House track. You can quickly build the foundation: Load the Poly Synth and load a bass preset with a short pluck sound, such as the Cleaner. We adjust this by setting Osc A Tune to +5 and Osc B Tune to -12. 2 Pattern basis In addition, activating the Sync Mode is essential, as well as the wide-closed filter with a Cutoff at about 9 o‘clock. The foundation of the bassline is a simple pattern of ¾ notes on one key (A1 in our case) over four bars. From here on, the creative part begins: On the one hand, we experiment with transposing the pitches, but…

1 Universal trick Let‘s get right into the thick of things: We‘ll create a chilling track using samples of real percussion instruments. In Bitwig‘s Drum Machine, we find exactly the right sound to start with in Ethnopercussion. There is only one Hi and Lo sample each, but that‘s enough. Our technique works for any sound, whether sample or plug-in. 2 Rolls by chance Create an empty clip and draw a 16th note pattern for Lo on D1. For Hi on C1, a ¼ pattern will suffice. We leave the velocity constant for all notes, more on that in a moment. Duplicate the 16th notes for Lo, shifting the copies 1/32 to the right and setting the Chance operator to about 5%. This will create random rolls. 3 Adding random We…

Cherry Audio Mercury-4 After emulations of synth classics by Moog, Oberheim, Korg and ARP, Cherry Audio presents Mercury-4, another replica of a cult device from Roland. You may have guessed it already - the four-voice Jupiter-4 analog synth from 1978 was the inspiration for the plug-in. Like its vintage role model, Mercury-4 has a simple structure: For each voice there is a VCO with pulse width modulation, a sub-oscillator, a noise generator and a resonant multimode filter plus high-pass filter. In addition, there are two envelopes and an LFO that can be synchronized to the DAW tempo. At fast rates, it can also be used for metallic sounds. The arpeggiator and the Stereo Chorus/Ensemble effect from the Ensemble effect of the Jupiter-4 have been reproduced. A real enhancement is the…

Following the success of the Mirage, another hybrid sampler, the ESQ-1 was launched in 1986 and became very popular. The combination of digital and analog made the ESQ-1 and its successor SQ-80, which was extended by some waveforms, a very complex synthesizer for that time. Three oscillators are available as a basis, and each of these oscillators can be equipped with either analog or digital waves. Qualitatively, of course, you can‘t compare it with today‘s wavetable synthesizers or samplers, but the 8-bit waves have a lot of lo-fi charm and a special assertiveness. In contrast to the then ubiquitous Yamaha DX7, the SQ80 was much more pleasant to use and facilitated the transition from analog to digital with its familiar subtractive design. The SQ-80 is also one of the few…

AudioThing Speakers Looking for a tool to make individual tracks or entire mixes sound old? Speakers from Audiothing can do this and much more: The plug-in simulates 55 loudspeakers and 32 microphones; 18 distortion and degradation algorithms and 42 background noises are available for sound coloring and destruction. Speakers allows you to combine impulse responses from a microphone and speaker, for example, to send a voice recording through a vintage microphone and an old TV speaker. Each of the two modules has its own 5-band equalizer. There is a separate module for looped background noise. Furthermore, a Compressor and a Multimode Filter, as well as a Distortion module are on board. The latter comes up with good-sounding algorithms like Overdrive, Clipper, Foldover, Tape and Valve, as well as Bitcrusher, Interference,…

About half a year ago, we had the small Circuit Tracks groovebox in for review. Now, the Circuit Rhythm is also available and came to our studio for several weeks of testing. Differences from the tracks Externally, the only difference between the two devices is the color: Instead of black, the Rhythm comes in concrete gray. Internally, the division is such that the Tracks focuses on synthesizer sounds, while the Rhythm is responsible for the beats. Therefore, the Rhythm lacks the two polyphonic synthesizer tracks, as well as the two additional MIDI tracks for controlling external sound generators. Instead, the drum tracks have been doubled; instead of four, Rhythm offers eight of these sample-based tracks. The crucial difference is that Circuit Rhythm can record samples directly on the device via…

You can carry the entire music history with you on your computer and go on a journey through time at a gig. But you have to be able to adjust to the moment. « Beat / You started out DJing when you were still pretty young. By now, you‘ve played for over a decade at the most diverse venues and all across the globe. What role does this experience play for the way you play today? Anna Tur / I think in order to feel like an artist and be 100% fulfilled you have to have a knowledge of music, you need to understand music. To have lived all possible situations, for example, to have played for a club with only 10 people present. Or to have been a resident…

1 Connect Connect a footswitch to the connector marked with a 2 on the back of Push. It is important that your model is a temporary footswitch, often described as a momentary „unlatch“-type footswitch, such as the Boss FS-5U; otherwise, you will not be able to use the following functions. 2 Start recording Select a track. To set the track to record standby, press and hold Push‘s Record button while selecting the desired track. Optionally, before you start recording, deactivate the pre-counter. If you now tap the Push button once, the record function is triggered in the selected clip. 3 Multiple functions Tap the footswitch again, and the clip switches to playback mode and continues to loop. The clip automatically loops to the next even number of bars. If you…

Mix analysis with Mastering The Mix With Expose 2, the developers of Mastering The Mix claim to have found the patent remedy against mistakes in mixing. Too many tracks are mixed with insufficient EQ balance, overdrive, overcompression and/or phase problems, which only become apparent when listening on large or professional monitors. For analysis, the desired mix is loaded in and can be adapted to the desired output format, for example, AppleMusic, CD, Club or YouTube, using presets. By setting loops, it is also sufficient for the analysis of song sections. In the analysis of the stereo or center/side signal, one obtains not only color-coded information about the problems of phase and dynamic range, but also about level crossings. The new Loudness Match function can be used to equalize mixes to…

Beat / Ars, what fascinates you so much about the musical and visual aesthetics of the eighties? Fury Weekend / I find the mood, the mysterious atmosphere and the many inspirations fascinating because I grew up with this music. Beat / How do you start working on new tracks and what inspires you? Fury Weekend / Usually everything starts from scratch or I improvise but that depends on the situation. Often I already hear the whole track or a hookline in my head and then just translate it into my sequencer. The basis of my production process are pulsating bass lines, powerful drums and glowing synth lines. As with good pop songs, hooklines play an important role. Beat / Many synthwave songs are based on repetitive progressions of a few…

Carpenter Brut – Turbo Killer Musically top, visual top performance and a story on top … The video for Turbo Killer is as striking as it is unique and awesome. The sound is groovy, impulsive and just gets under your skin, not least thanks to the imaginative and surreal scenes with lots of neon and fast cars. The 11 million views on YouTube speak for themselves. It’s a duty! The Midnight – Endless Summer Sparkling melodies, wide spaces, vocoder and a retro touch without end … Whether pop with saxophone, with synth solo and C64 retro aesthetics or allusions to Miami Vice, the „Endless Summer“ album is the pure package 80s in 61 minutes. Switch on the soundtrack, switch off your head, enjoy.…

1 Select sound With the reverse layer technique, it doesn‘t matter if you choose a guitar, piano, string sound or something similar. Even with a bass, this technique can work. In this article, however, we would like to deal with melody-leading instruments. In our case, we will use the MIDI file 70s Ballad Piano 06 from the Apple Loops library. 2 Bounce Next, right-click on the MIDI file and trigger the Bounce Region to Storage command. Select New Track as destination, Leave as Source and Include audio sound in file. You can leave the Bypass effect plug-in unchecked, as the effected sound will better match the source file. 3 Cutting If you already have an audio file as a source track, you can save Step 2. In this case, you…

1 Musty mix? We‘re using a Drum & Bass playback, which doesn‘t sound bad, but ultimately sounds too musty and the mix could use more punch. So, just add treble and compressor? Not at all, because on the one hand there are vocals that we don‘t want to touch, and on the other hand various frequency ranges are to be modified differently. 2 Split frequencies The solution is simple: we use the splitter! We load the tool onto the track with the mentioned track and increase the splits to 3. Using the sliders at the bottom left, we can adjust the frequency ranges: We set the first to around 2 kHz and the second to around 6.5 kHz. The fine-tuning follows later and is, of course, dependent on the material.…

In Version 4, Bitwig gets the long-awaited comping, which has been a standard feature of other DAWs for more or less a long time. For example, if you have recorded the chorus vocals several times in a loop, Bitwig displays the different takes one below the other. The individual tracks get different colors, which makes it easier to keep track of them. Now you can listen through the individual takes, select the best parts in each track, and use these to compile the master track arranged at the top. The colors of the individual tracks are adopted, so that the respective source is immediately apparent. Individual parts can be directly adjusted in pitch and timing, and unwanted noise such as throat clearing and pops can be removed. Conveniently, comping works…

1 Develope ideas Before we start a new sample track, let‘s try out the sounds in the sound bank as usual and note down any favorites. To do this, load Zampler//RX in your DAW, click Load Bank and select the file „Zampler Layerz.FXB“. The inspiration for our sample track came from patch 026: LD Overweight from LAYERZ. 2 Musical basis With the left hand, we played a descending note sequence of E2, D2, A1 and G1 over four bars, and with the right hand, we alternated the notes E3 and B3. This results in the tense chord progression of E5 (power chord), B minor, Asus2 and E minor, which provides a great foundation for the whole Downtempo Electronica track. 3 Drums and Bass We reduce the Glide value of Zampler//RX…

After Akai has primarily taken care of the standalone devices and the MPC software in recent years, there is now a new controller again. The MPC Studio is a descendant of the MPC Studio (2012) and Studio Black (2016), but is officially not explicitly distributed as version 2. Together with the MPC software 2, the controller forms a complete production environment for beats and songs that can be used either standalone or as a plug-in for any DAW. Equipment In contrast to its predecessor, the four Q-Link controls have been omitted, but there is now a touch strip that can be used to control a number of parameters. More on that in a moment. The new model also has a much smaller screen, but it is now high-resolution and colored.…

The The sound production of the Cobalt8 is completely digital and is calculated by a DSP. This allows subsequent extensions through firmware updates. And the very first update to 1.1 is so extensive that it justifies a reconsideration only a little more than half a year after the publication of our first test. VA Synthesizer with character For those who don‘t know Cobalt8 yet and don‘t have the previous review handy, first a short summary: Cobalt8 is a modern virtual analog synthesizer with a well thought-out and quickly learnable operation. The oscillators and filter allow for classic analog sounds that sound transparent and organic; somewhat reminiscent of Sequential/DSI synthesizers like the Prophet08 and Rev2. The flexible oscillators, the extensive stereo options and the modulable multi-effects also allow you to create…

1 Track mode Connect Toraiz Squid to a MIDI controller or to a DAW with the USB connection. Check the MIDI settings there and press the Global button on the Toraiz Squid so that USB Sync and USB StartStop are both set to Send. To access the individual tracks of your arrangement, first select Track mode. 2 Trigger Load a beat sequence or program individual drum elements into a pattern in Trigger Mode. Determine the playback direction for each track. Different running directions can make a rhythm pattern sound more varied. Using Shift and Active, you can also create random patterns. 3 Duplicate pattern Once a groove is complete, create additional patterns so you can modify the rhythm. Duplicate the rhythm by holding down Pattern + Copy and pasting the…

It may sound obvious, but if the drop doesn‘t work, the rest of the song will have a hard time. It won’t always need a blast à la Trap or EDM, it‘s more about the skilful build-up of tension and its resolution. Ultimately, every style of music depends on this, one more musical, the other banging. Look out for our feature where we’ll explain how provide all your tracks with coherent arrangements that will inspire your listeners. Review: Behringer TD-3-MO Behringer presents an extended version of its TB-303 replica. The „MO“ stands for „Modded Out“, because this is a modified version with numerous new features thanks to new circuits based on the popular Devil Fish modifications of the original. Including filter FM, a sub-oscillator, overdrive and soft attack, which help…