Table of contents for December 2019 in Future Music

WELCOME Just the touch… Cards on the table – I’m not a good keyboard player. I’m a competent (if rusty) guitarist and I can throw some basic chords together on a synth, but expressive keys playing is something I have to outsource to more talented friends. Fortunately, this isn’t the limitation you might think in the world of modern electronic music making. Thanks to the diverse, complex nature of modern controllers and sequencers, there are plenty of ways to get expressive and creative with electronic sounds, even for those of us lacking the dexterity to cope with anything beyond a simple triad. In this issue’s cover feature, we’re looking at taking control of software, hardware and – most interestingly – both at once, in order to unleash your full creativity.…

Superlative’s SB01 synth is like a portable 101 from the future While some companies are happy to create slavish emulations of classic synths, Superlative are taking a rather different approach. Previewed at Superbooth, the SB01 – pronounced Space Bee, apparently – might be inspired by Roland’s SH-101, but it’s also a forward-thinking analogue instrument in its own right. That said, sounds are generated with a 3340 voltage-controlled oscillator and 4-pole OTA filter for that distinctive SH sound. There are also analogue envelopes and modulation features on offer, as well as portamento. Things get interesting with the step sequencer, a new design optimised for “fluid live performance”. Patterns can be created by entering notes in order, with rests or slides. You can create patterns with up to 256 notes and save…

Softube’s Console 1 Fader is a hybrid mixing platform for your DAW Softube have expanded their Console 1 mixing platform, with Console 1 Fader, a hardware/software solution that centres on a new controller that features ten touch-sensitive 100m motorised faders. These are housed in a classy-looking and durable powder-coated steel chassis. The faders can be configured to control not only volume, but also high- and low-cut filter values, drive and drive character. By scrolling through pages, you can control multiple banks of 10 channels at a time. There’s just the one knob; this can be used to control both the pan for the selected channel and a stereo spatialisation tool. There’s also a Layer mode that enables you to make adjustments to multiple tracks at the same time. Fader ships…

Filter NI's “essential” Traktor Kontrol S3 4-deck DJ controller NI have introduced the Traktor Kontrol S3, a new DJ controller that slots into the company’s range between the S2 and S4 models. Described as an “essential” four-channel controller, this performance-orientated device offers upsized jog wheels (though not with the haptic feedback of those on the S4), extended pitch and channel faders, and a mixer section with EQ, filter and Mixer FX controls. Each deck also has eight RGB pads for triggering hotcues, loops and samples. The S3 contains an audio interface, too, and ships with the full version of Traktor Pro 3, Native Instruments’ DJ software. You can also use it to control the Traktor DJ 2 app on your iPad or using desktop machines. The Traktor Kontrol S3 will…

Jaded The Track Making Pancake’s epic vocal strip in Logic Pro Ashnikko’s vocals are run through numerous plugins to accompany the track’s trippy house beats 01 > Nari is the group’s appointed vocal mix-master, and he takes a gradual approach to honing Ashnikko’s vocals. “We like to compress and EQ in tiny amounts,” he begins. “We’ve taken a bit off at 100Hz with an EQ and there are a few dips, then a compressor that isn’t doing too much.” 02 > “Next is a heavy de-esser, followed by a crazy EQ… you guys don’t need to EQ like this, this is a bit over the top!” Nari notes. “Then there’s another EQ taking another dip in the low end, then another compressor, doing just tiny amounts.”…

Producer’s Guide To Collaborate direct from your browser with Bandlab The free online DAW lets you collaborate with a fast-growing musical community 01 > Bandlab uses Google Chrome. Head to www.bandlab.com, create an account and decide what kind of a ‘user’ you want to be. Are you an Artist, a Social Musician seeking collaborators, or a Fan, who listens to users’ music but doesn’t write tracks? 02 > You can create a new project as soon as your account is verified (check your email’s spam folder just in case the notification doesn’t come into your inbox). Then, decide whether you want to record a virtual instrument or an audio track. 03 > Bandlab’s tools will be familiar to anyone who has worked with a DAW before. If you’ve got a…

RETROSPECTIVE Berlin techno The signature sounds of the German capital reflect a cultural melting pot with strong ties to Detroit © XAMAX\ullstein bild via Getty Images Some music scenes are defined by artists, some by labels, some by specific sounds or tracks. Berlin is different. Yes, you can pick out key contributors to all of those categories, but it’s somehow not enough to explain the broader creativity of the German capital. Perhaps the best way to trace the evolution of techno in Berlin is instead with the names of the city’s legendary clubs: Tresor. Bunker. Elektro. E-Werk. Ostgut. Berghain... Berlin latched onto techno in the early days of the genre, and has remained loyal ever since. As with so many musical scenes, it’s impossible to tell the story without explaining…

FM Advanced Production Beat the block The sine wave challenge Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a thee-part beat using only a single raw waveform. Let’s go… 01 > The sine wave is the raw building block of sound, of which all other sounds are made – so why not try making an entire beat using one? We’re starting with a single sine wave sample recorded from a synth, loaded into a sampler. 02 > Designing a kick drum from a sine wave is relatively straightforward – simply apply a fast downwards pitch envelope to the start of the sine wave. To beef up the kick a bit, we load up an Overdrive plugin and push up the drive. Easy. 03 > A snare drum…

FM ADVICE Best travelling ideas machine? There’s a number of great machines for capturing ideas on the fly while travelling. Some great ones to consider are the Akai MPC live, Roland’s new MC-101/707 and JD-Xi (probably the most fully-featured of this selection), Korg’s Minilogue XD and Volca beats, (but basically anything that’s capable of recording or sequencing beats, bass and chords in a compact format will do the job)! What’s the best iPad for music production on the market right now? Apple’s iPad line-up changes so frequently that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with what’s what – and which model is worth buying. To make a decision, you need to consider cost, size, power, and whether a particular iPad is likely to get an update anytime soon. The most…

GEAR GUIDE AUDIO INTERFACES Universal Audio Apollo x6 £1,800 Full Review: FM340 The new series is, sonically, now a match for any rival interfaces. If you’re tempted by the UAD ecosystem, this is highly recommended. Antelope Audio Discrete 8 £1,279 Full Review: FM351 An impressive platform: audio conversion is precise and the I/O configuration is deep. The future looks bright for Discrete 8. Apogee Element 46 £859 Review: FM318 If you’re happy with your studio interface being controlled via software, Apogee’s Element range offers great quality and features. Audient iD4 £120 Review: FM312 This compact interface delivers audio quality and stripped-back functionality for a thoroughly reasonable price. A great budget interface. Arturia AudioFuse £519 Review: FM321 A nicely designed, highly configurable interface ready to have almost any sound source thrown…

Gear Guide DAWS Reason Studios Reason 11 from $69 Full Review: FM350 Having the ability to use Reason’s Rack tools as a plugin is something of a revelation, and the new effects are great. Bitwig Studio 3 $399 Full Review: FM348 A powerful, inspiring update that further cements Bitwig Studio’s stake as the creative producer’s DAW of choice. Steinberg Cubase Pro 10 £480 Review FM340 Despite some niggles, this is a solid update to an excellent DAW; the new features could potentially do away with third-party tools. Tracktion Waveform 10 from $199 Review: FM345 Waveform is now friendlier, contains more creative tools and brings workflow ideas you’ll have missed from other DAWs. Ableton Live 10 €349 Review: FM329 Live 10 is a quality update to one of the best DAWs…

Gear Guide AFFORDABLE SYNTHS Roland JU-06A $399 Full Review: FM349 The JU-06 was already up with the best Boutiques, and this update is a winner all-round. A must-try source of classic sounds. Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 £99 Full Review: FM351 Easy to build and fun to program, the NTS-1’s flexibility and expandability make it a mini synth to be reckoned with. Novation Circuit £250 Review: FM299 A broad range of sounds with a fluid and intuitive workflow all adds up to make Circuit a winner. Arturia MicroFreak £279 Review: FM345 If you’re looking to go beyond regular analogue synths and expand your sonic palette with an affordable creative tool, Moog DFAM drum synth £549 Review: FM333 A unique and inspiring percussion synth, and the perfect partner to the Mother-32. The lack…

Spitfire captures the BBC Symphony Orchestra in their “most ambitious project” so far Sampling specialists Spitfire Audio have now released what they're calling their most ambitious project to date: a library that captures the sounds of the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra. Created in collaboration with BBC Studios, this required 84 sessions and 200 hours to record. It features 99 players and 55 instruments. Users can take advantage of 418 playing techniques that span strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. What’s more, there are 20 signals – 11 mic positions, five spills, two atmos and two mixes – for total control. Spitfire are calling this a “definitive orchestra, made accessible through cutting-edge technology”. BBC Symphony Orchestra is available now from the Spitfire Audio site and it's priced at $999/£899/999 euros.…

Steinberg’s WaveLab 10 is designed for mastering, audio editing and more WaveLab is one of the best-established audio editing apps in the business, and it’s just hit version 10. This update applies to both the Pro and Elements versions, though, as you might expect, there are plenty of differences between the two. Designed for mastering, post-production, sound design and more, WaveLab Pro 10 gives you more ways to integrate external hardware effects, and you now have the option to add a Reference Track audio file and toggle between that and other tracks. WaveLab Pro also works with other audio editors, such as Steinberg’s own SpectraLayers, enabling you to access them from within the software. Audio Montage, meanwhile, now supports multitrack recording and non-destructive inline editing, and you can record and…

Talking Shop Redrago “Much of the album was created on a hummus diet among other Mediterranean cuisine” Redrago| Redrago sees Italian producer and label boss DJ Tennis teaming up with punk-influenced Israeli production duo Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi (aka Red Axes) for an exercise in vibrant, genre-hopping club music. Recorded in Tel Aviv and released on DJ Tennis’ own Life & Death label, their self-titled debut LP is a collection of stripped-down, hardware-driven club tracks. When did you start making music? DJ Tennis: “The way Redrago was formed was after an event in Barcelona I organised where Red Axes performed. Me and Niv were at home with a little Volca FM, a computer and an old cheap Yamaha Analog drum where we created the first track together that we…

In the studio with Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power Hung: “We recorded in The Bunker – Andy Weatherall’s studio. I’m sure he used Pro Tools and a big Mac with the grate. Then Yamaha NS10s and a pair of ADAMs. It was quite basic. “We were using toys – kid’s pianos, Casio stuff. Ben had an ’80s keyboard called a [Casiotone] MT-11. It had analogue circuitry. I had a Roland SH-32, and the [Casio] SA-5, which was one of the first kind of digital keyboards. Then we had an EBow, and beats were made on a Game Boy using LSDj. We also used a ‘thunderstick’ percussion tube to get rumbling sounds. Power: “I had a Boss Looper, two Metal Zones, a Slicer pedal, a small Fisher-Price karaoke machine, some…

Incorporating hardware into a Maschine Mk3 setup Native Instruments’ Maschine ecosystem has traditionally been fairly self-contained – whilst it’s been able to host third-party plugins for some time, as well as run as a plugin itself, for a long time it wasn’t really suited to working with anything ‘out of the box’. The introduction of Maschine Mk3 changed things somewhat though; by including both MIDI and audio I/O within the controller itself, it was a Maschine far better suited to controlling and sampling external instruments. In fact, NI themselves created a bundle of hardware control presets for precisely this purpose, which allows Maschine to sequence and manipulate a host of popular MIDI-equipped synths and drum machines. The addition of audio loop recording makes things more interesting too. 1 Download NI’s…

Feature Control & Sequence Slave to the rhythm Most tutorials in this feature have worked on the assumption that you’re using a computer as the central element of your studio ‘hub’. This is the most common setup you’ll see in electronic musicians’ studios; most of us use a computer to record at some point in the process, even if it’s just for capturing final stems, so it makes sense to have your setup rooted around this as a master clock. It doesn’t have to be this way, however, and there are multiple benefits to not being bound to a DAW for your creative process. The main plus point here is simply the fact that it frees you from your computer – if you use an external hardware device as your central…

YOUTUBE THE TRACK Leading producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Bensley, Hard Times We catch up with Peter Bennett at London’s Dairy Studios to learn more about this sax-centric track from seond album Muskoka, featuring Emer Dineen DON’T MISS: GRiZ, Mercy feat. Valentina US artist Grant Richard Kwiecinski – aka GRiZ – reveals his secrets Josh Butler, Right Time Learn how Butler made the rolling beats of Right Time in Ableton Live Prospa, Intended Gosha Smith and Harvey Blumler take us into their production lair Ambassadeurs, Nocturnes Mark Dobson talks us through a cut from his new album DON’T MISS: Principleasure shows us the processes behind his debut album, I In the studio with Berlin-based techno eccentric T Raumschmiere Michael Gray breaks…

Stem preparation: the universal language of audio Audio formats remain universal across all major DAWs, meaning that, with a little preparation, sharing these is straightforward Audio has its restrictions. Once rendered, an audio file can’t easily have its individual notes changed, or its ‘tone’ swapped out for another and so audio files do tend to be associated with the latter stages of production; why print audio when you can carry on being flexible with MIDI? Yet nothing beats audio for collaborative efficiency. There are a number of ways to prepare audio files, depending on the nature of your collaboration, so we’re looking at one way here but exploring the topic further in this month’s video. In this walk-through, look out for output channel effects before printing stems, as well as…

Embrace the power of MIDI Files It might seem a lowly file type, yet they contain the data required to take a track from a sketch to a production to a score 01 > We’ve been sent a track which was created in Cubase. It’s a rough sketch of a string piece which has been quickly written and put together with a minimum of editing. We want to develop it in Logic Pro, so we start by importing the MIDI file via the File Menu. 02 > As you can hear, this yields a slightly chaotic result! Logic automatically assigns a piano sound to every track and you can also hear that the notes haven’t been quantised. But the composition is working and, importantly, the MIDI file imports tempo information…

Tutorial | Modular Monthly Stereo audio, sidebands and complex CV routing Create panning stereo sound worlds with audio; and, with CV sources, turn X-PAN into a modulation hub 01 > Let’s start by basically fading and panning sounds. Take two different oscillators into the A and B inputs on channel 1. Take an LFO to crossfade between the two sounds. Use another modulation source to then pan this sound between the left and right outputs. 02 > Need more VCAs? Of course we all do. Patch a sound into B and leave input A empty. Now use the crossfade CV to fade from nothing to the B input. This works exactly like VCA does – taking a single sound from nothing up to full level. 03 > For a wild…

Retrospective Berlin tech innovators 1 Native Instruments Attempting to define specific production techniques or instruments that define the Berlin techno scene is even harder than trying to define its sound – just about every combo of hardware and software has contributed to one of the Berlin scenes in some way. Perhaps most notable of all in a tech sense is that the musical side of Berlin has fed back into the technical side in a way no other city can match. Native Instruments, founded in the city in 1996, is a prime example; the company’s contribution to electronic music has been huge – from Komplete and Massive and various hugely influential synth plugins, to Traktor, controllers, software protocols and more – all informed by strong connections to the city’s techno…

Let the machines do the work Often, when you’re in a creative lull in the studio, you should judge whether the technology at your disposal is helping or hindering you. Having a small selection of hardware and software tools you know inside and out will help to narrow down your palette of options, but even then, you’ll probably have more options than you actually need. One way to ‘defeat the machines’ is by working out how you can use them to assist the compositional process. For example, by chaining up your DAW’s MIDI processors (arpeggiators, chord generators, scale plugins, etc) in creative ways, you can funnel a basic note input into an elaborate chord progression or sequence that you’d never normally play on a keyboard. To take the concept even…

REVIEWS Roland Jupiter-Xm £1,319 The Jupiter-Xm packs packs a plethora of Roland sounds into a very compact package. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman checks it out The last Jupiter-badged synths I reviewed were the Jupiter 50 and 80 back in 2011. I was actually a big fan of these boards, despite a slightly lukewarm reception from some. So here we are in 2019 and Roland have used the Jupiter name once more for an all-digital product. I don’t mind this as Jupiter seemingly represents the pinnacle of their synth tech but its analogue association is still undeniable. I do hope that those of us still hankering for an all-analogue Jupiter-8 successor/clone can instead appreciate what this new synth is; an extremely portable, capable, compact ‘best of’ Roland machine. The Xm also has…

ROUND-UP Lo-fi effects Bring back the imperfections that engineers worked tirelessly to remove, with our plugin selection RC-20 Retro Color €80 A cavalcade of various and useful sound-crapperisers, RC-20 Retro Color is a true dusty gem in your plugins folder. You get six modules – Noise, Wobble, Distort, Digital, Space and Magnetic – to imbue specific types of crusty audio effects onto tracks and buses. Each has unique settings to customise the effect it pumps out, and a further Flux slider to bring even more randomness to proceedings. The modules can be switched on or off, but one obvious omission here is the inability to change their order. The fixed signal path is a reasonable catch-all for most uses, but an option to swap things around wouldn’t have been hard…

FILTER Universal Audio launch next-gen Apollo An updated Twin and new x4 are on their way to desktops near you Universal Audio have delivered two new Apollo desktop audio interfaces: the Apollo Twin X and Apollo x4. The Apollo Twin X is an evolution of the highly-acclaimed Apollo Twin MkII, and is available in both duo and quad-core formats for running UAD plugins. It’s a 10-in/six-out Thunderbolt 3 audio interface that inherits A/D and D/A conversion from the Apollo X rackmount devices, and comes with two Unison-enabled preamps that model the impedance characteristics, gain stage “sweet spots” and unique circuit behaviours of a wide range of sought-after tube and solid state preamps, guitar amps, and stompboxes. There’s a Hi-Z instrument input, too, plus eight channels of additional digital I/O via…

Filter ROLI’s Blocks controllers launch an attack on your desktop space When ROLI launched their Blocks range of hardware controllers, the emphasis was very much on their use with iOS devices. With the announcement of the new Studio Editions, though, the focus is on desktop musicians. Now, anyone who buys a Lightpad Block, Seaboard Block or Songmaker Kit will get ROLI Studio, a new software suite that’s designed to unlock the power of these MPE controllers in your studio. At the heart of this is the ROLI Studio Player plugin, which puts hundreds of MPE sounds from ROLI’s Equator, Cypher2 and Strobe2 synthesisers in one place. There are specially tailored effects in here, too. There’s also the ROLI Studio Drums plugin, which promises to enable MPE beatmaking on your Lightpad…

Analogue Pocket has your gaming and synth needs covered There’s long been a love-in between retro videogame and electronic music, and so it continues with the Analogue Pocket (not to be confused with the Playdate, announced earlier this year). This is a new ‘next-gen Game Boy’ that not only plays classic game carts from Nintendo’s back catalogue, but also has the Nanoloop synth/sequencer built into it. Nanoloop, of course, began as a cart for the original Game Boy, and let you make chiptune music using its internal sound system. It’s since been released as an iOS and Android app and, earlier this year, a hardware handheld version was successfully funded on Kickstarter. Fitting that Nanoloop is on the Analogue Pocket, then. The device has a lovely 3.5-inch, 615 ppi, LCD…

Control & Sequence | Feature CV, MIDI and much more In the early days of electronic music making, there were effectively only two methods of controlling electronic instruments: via their inbuilt controls – usually an assortment of keyboards, pads, rotaries and sliders – or via an external control signal. With those earliest instruments, control signals would take the form of control voltage and gate signals. These electronic signals use voltage values to transmit pitch and parameter information as well as on/off gate triggers, which could be used to trigger envelopes, sync internal clocks and more. While it was possible to do a surprising amount with these simple control signals, the system had its limitations. For one thing, there’s an inherent slight unpredictability to control voltages, which meant timings and note…

CREATIVE INSPIRATION Beat the block Push past a blank screen and instantly spark fresh ideas with a few creative hacks © Getty Images/iStockphoto When you’re inspired, the creation of electronic music can feel effortless. Every sample you select is the perfect one, falling into place on your DAW’s timeline like magic. Firing up and triggering a synth instantly inspires a bassline or hook. MIDI notes and audio build up to create a composition you never could’ve planned. Once those creative juices are fully flowing, it feels like the music is writing itself. If you’ve experienced this zen-like state, then you’ve probably been through the complete opposite, too: those times when a blank screen remains overwhelmingly empty, and every technique doomed to fail. The harder you push against this creative drought,…

Three creative challenges Boost your creativity by restricting yourself in the studio. Here’s a trio of ideas to try When you sit down in front of an empty DAW, your creativity can often feel stifled by the overwhelming number of options you can choose from. A producer’s hard drive is typically stuffed full of dozens – or even hundreds – of virtual instruments, sample packs, processing plugins and more. And that’s not counting the myriad of hardware synths and outboard gear that are all plugged in and ready to go. The secret to overcoming this ‘decision paralysis’ is to firstly recognise that it’s a problem, then impose some kind of creative limitation designed to rewire your thinking. After all, back in the day, producers and engineers were limited by the…

I-ARPEGGIO, EFFECTS, CONNECTIVITY As currently there’s no sequencer onboard (though the hardware is there) the I-Arp is the next best thing. This ‘intelligent’ arp adds multipart layers to harmonies, melodies and beats according to what you play on the keyboard. It certainly works well, plus it outputs multipart MIDI and can inspire new ideas. It’s also programmable via a (confusing!) multitrack grid interface and the 16-step buttons. However, with all the hardware/step buttons already present, it makes sense for Roland to still provide a full-step sequencer – this would increase the Xm’s appeal massively. In effects implementation terms you get reverb, delay, chorus and drive which work across a scene, plus an MFX slot where you choose from one of the 90 or so great MFX on offer – all…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES Robotic Bean – Hand Clap Studio €59 When it comes to hand claps, most FM readers will be be familiar with the electronic or single-hit sampled variety, but may have only a cursory interest in the possibilities of authentic versions of the real thing. However, as anyone who has tried recording the sound of their own clapping will know, the results can be some somewhat varied when compared to the confident crack of an 808, 909 or other beatbox. Electronically-generated hand claps, followed closely by the sampled kind, have been employed widely in dance and pop music, but there are times when only the real thing will do. Luckily, Robotic Bean have come to the rescue with their new plugin – Hand Clap Studio. The company are…

External sequencing with JD-XA How do I set it up to sequence external gear? Roland don’t have any proper official tutorials regarding external sequencing. Each of the 16 polyphonic sequencer tracks can send MIDI out to external machines, while triggering the internal sounds monophonically or polyphonically – (it’s a 16-part multitimbral synth with a 16-part sequencer). While sequencer editing isn’t super-comprehensive, you do have classic Roland step and real-time entry, with unquantised or quantised recording and shuffle too (swing). Downsides are no song mode for pattern chaining, the quantise isn’t in realtime and you can’t transpose the sequencer by key-press. Here are some tips... Firstly, decide whether you want to record your audio from your sequenced machines back into your DAW; if so it’s worth syncing the XA to your…

Gear Guide SOFTSYNTHS Kilohearts Phase Plant from €169 Full Review: FM350 Phase Plant’s modular architecture is an incredible resource for conjuring real and otherworldly sounds. A powerful, flexible synth in every way! Native Instruments Massive X £179 Full Review: FM348 A long time in the making, NI’s follow-up to the most successful softsynth of all time doesn’t disappoint. There are still some rough edges at launch, but it sounds exceptional. Arturia Pigments $199 Review: FM342 With a multipart synth engine, sequencer and lots of creative tools, there’s a lot going on in this latest synth powerhouse. Xfer Records Serum $189 This flexible, powerful wavetable synth has quickly risen through the ranks to knock Massive and Sylenth off the top of the ‘synth every producer must own’ list. Audiaire Zone £99…

Gear Guide DRUM MACHINES & SAMPLERS Roland MC-707 $999 Full Review: FM349 It lags behind some rivals on the sampling front, but on the whole the 707 is a powerful and well-designed groovebox. A welcome return for the company’s MC line. Elektron Model: Samples £410 Full Review: FM346 Model:Samples is immediate and affordable, but still retains much of Elektron’s deep and creative sequencing tools. If you can cope without the more advanced tools, this is a good buy. Elektron Digitakt £659 Review: FM320 With deep sequencing and a powerful sound engine, Digitakt is the ‘affordable’ Elektron groovebox we’ve been dreaming of. Elektron Analog RYTM £1,499 Review: FM331 Though the MK1 remains a great box, there are plenty of reasons to upgrade to the MKII – user sampling, individual outs, and…