Table of contents for December 2020 in Future Music

FM| WELCOME Still spinnin’ A lot has been made of the vinyl revival that’s been happening in recent years, but in dance music circles it’s a format that never really went away. If you make or play music designed to be heard in clubs, you’ll inevitably encounter terms, formats and conventions inherited from the realm of vinyl. From DJ decks to A/B-sided singles, record scratching to sampled drum breaks, so much of dance music culture is tied into the history of vinyl. This issue, we wanted to take a look at vinyl from an electronic musician’s perspective. How is a record made? How does that affect how you mix your music? What are the best ways to mix and sample from vinyl? We’re tackling these questions – with a little…

YOUR EAR IS KEY Always try to bend the rules, use whatever tools you have in unorthodox ways, but do it with your ear and by trusting your ear. Training the ear is probably the most important part of anyone’s process to become a great producer. There are of course tons of resources out there to tell you how to use a certain plugin or sound, but once you’ve tried those, start breaking the rules and trust your ear. There’s no right or wrong way of doing things and by using stuff differently, you can create your own voice. Your ear is your best instrument. Don’t care about anything else: experiment. Dynamics are vital Dynamics is probably the most important aspect of music. It’s an important way of conveying the…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… Various Artists Selva Selects: Thunderclaps That new comp from Will Holland’s label. Full of Quantic and co’s future boogies and beyond. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Quantic - ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’, Teletronix - ‘Metropolitan’, Favourite People - ‘Wading Out’ Quantic Apricot Morning The second Quantic long player that started to really mix live playing with sampling – the prototype for Mishaps Happening. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘Apricot Morning’, ‘Brand New Watusi’, ‘Primate Boogaloo’ Various Artists phonic:hoop Mixed by Quantic and Tru Thoughts’ boss Robert Luis, and given away at the label’s Brighton club night in 2002. A good indication of the DnB, hip-hop, and broken beat they’d spin. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Drumagick - ‘Easy Boom’, Seiji feat. Lyric L - ‘Loose…

Interview “In your hand is a sculpture that plays sound” Octo Octa & Eris Drew on vinyl DJing and staying creative under lockdown US DJs and producers Eris Drew and Octo Octa (aka Maya Bouldry-Morrison) each made a name for themselves in electronic music individually, but in recent years, coming together as both partners and musical collaborators, the pair have become a serious force to be reckoned with. Known for putting their own distinctive, eclectic spin on classic house and rave sounds, the pair have become one of the scene’s most in-demand DJ duos. Through their releases, DJ sets and T4T LUV NRG the pair have become evangelists for the communal and healing power of dance music, as well as vocal advocates for LGBTQ+ voices within the dance music community.…

In The Studio With Ela Minus Ela Minus’s debut is inspired by creating simple human interactions with technology. Danny Turner dissects her minimalist approach © Juan Ortiz-Arenas After studying jazz drums and music synthesis at Berklee College of Music, Ela Minus found her dream job when hired by instrument manufacturer Critter & Guitari to test, assemble and design their latest range of synths. Tired of the modern laptop-driven approach to recording and live performing, Ela embarked on a mission to bring back the simplicity and authenticity she felt was missing from electronic music. Led by her trusty Akai MPC1000, the producer focused on building a toolbox of instruments that could be perfectly replicated on-stage, enabling her to formulate ideas for future recordings while performing live. Her debut album, fittingly titled…

The Track Making The Relic’s Reeses using Ableton Live Travis makes a resampled Reese in its own dedicated project, before importing it into the track proper 01 The sound starts with an Operator patch featuring a modulating oscillator with a Coarse setting of 4. The Level of the modulating oscillator is modulated by a Max for Live LFO set to a sine shape. This is run through Live’s Saturator in Waveshaper mode and an Amp effect set to Bass mode to add further harmonic interest. 02 The signal is then filtered with an Auto Filter set to bandpass mode with an automated filter cutoff frequency. This is then filtered again with another Auto Filter this time set to notch mode, and this time both the Frequency…

Rails and end panels 1 The rails you attach your modules to aren’t all made equally. Some have lips to ease alignment, some have built-in threaded holes, while others need you to add threaded inserts or individual sliding nuts. I prefer lipped rails and threaded inserts. 2 Now decide how to attach them to the case. I prefer these 3D printed end cheeks, as they keep everything lined up, particularly if you’re planning more than one row of 3U. M5 bolts tap the rails as you screw them in so they stay rigid too. 3 If you are following along with a similar design, you should now have two pairs of rails, neatly connected with ends. Use these as a guide for cutting your case material, to account for any…

Building a box 1 The first task is measuring out your material. Use a good square to ensure everything’s equal. I do these one at a time just to ensure the kerf (cutting thickness) of the saw blade doesn’t reduce my dimensions. I clamped the wood to a table and used a circular saw, with a second straight piece acting as a fence or guide, to ensure my cuts were perfectly straight. 2 The only time I used a special tool was for marking and drilling the dowel holes. Use the jig to ensure all the distances are equal and holes are drilled perpendicular, or you’ll find it hard to glue up at the proper angle. The jig is worth the few pounds outlay as it’s very hard to do…

THREE OF THE BEST Pittsburgh modular £various 1 Excellent build quality and good clean power. These cases are very expensive but will last a lifetime and come in various sizes and formats. pittsburghmodular.com Tiptop Audio Mantis £300 2 The Mantis is a plastic case, so light and fairly durable. It has a very different aesthetic compared to a lot of cases, with its more ‘factory’ look. Two of these can be combined at an angle giving a console-like feel. tiptopaudio.com Roland System 500 skiff £300 3 This is an 84hp case so you won’t fit huge numbers of modules in it but it’s very nicely made, has a great power supply and the lid is just deep enough to close with it patched. The only negative is that it isn’t…

Breaks Retrospective Breakbeats: the evolution of sampler technology E-mu SP-12 1 Breakbeats and samplers go hand in hand, helping shape the creative options of producers and the sounds themselves. Released in 1985, the SP-12 was widely considered the first commercially successful sampler. Other equivalents like the Akai MPC60 followed, bringing sampling to a (relatively) affordable price next to its far more expensive predecessors like the hugely expensive Fairlight CMI workstation or E-mu’s own Emulator sampling synths. With a built-in sequencer, drum-focussed workflow and gloriously gritty 12-bit sound, the SP12 is a true classic. Akai S1000 2 Sampler technology advanced quickly, and by the late ’80s the focus had shifted from standalone sampling workstations with built-in sequencers to the more compact and powerful rack-mount format of samplers like the Akai S…

THE ALTERNATIVES Roland MC-101 £350 Roland’s other miniature groovebox offers a broader, albeit shallower array of sounds for the same price [see boxout] roland.com Elektron Model:Cycles £295 Elektron’s FM drum machine is less versatile overall but more characterful, with some more advanced sequencing tools too elektron.se Roland TR-8S £599 If you can afford the step up in size and price, the original TR-8S still offers more studio convenience thanks to its individual outputs and additional tracks roland.com…

THE ALTERNATIVES Denon SC6000 Prime £1,299 The SC6000 Prime offers many of the advanced features that have just landed in the CDJ3000, as well as a larger 10.1” touchscreen and dual layer support, allowing you to mix two tracks from the one deck. denondj.com Pioneer XDJ-XZ £1,899 If you’re not so fussed about having individual decks, then the XDJ-XZ offers up much of the CDJ3000’s feature set at a more sensible cost, but as an all-in-one DJ system that also boasts a four channel mixer and Pro DJ Link, letting you add extra Pioneer kit. pioneerdj.com…

Reviews Arturia KeyStep 37 £150 Arturia add a mid-level controller to the KeyStep range. Si Truss sees if this is another step in the right direction rturia’s BeatStep A and KeyStep controllers have carved a niche by spanning the realms of analogue and digital control arguably better than any other range. These are controllers for modern musicians who want to keep one foot in the analogue realm; combining the gates and triggers of classic CV sequencers with DAW-ready MIDI control and modern conveniences. This year, Arturia added an all-singing, all-dancing keyboard-come-sequencer to the line-up, in the multi-track KeyStep Pro. Now they’re rounding out the key-equipped side of the range with this, the mid-level KeyStep 37. Elements of its counterparts are present: the keyboard itself is the same 37-note ‘slim key’…

IN THE ARCHIVE – UPDATED! FM’s Sample Archive gives you over 18GB of carefully-curated, royalty-free sounds to use in your music. Here’s what’s inside... AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.1 > ’90s Ambient (562 samples) > Ambient Dawn (490 samples) AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.2 > Majestic Bells & Mallets (444 samples) > Spring Reverb & Tape Delay (533 samples) ATMOSPHERES & BACKGROUNDS > Atmospheric Beds (369 samples) > Noise, Crackle & Hiss (512 samples) > Sounds of the City (371 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.1 > Analogue Polys (625 samples) > SH Collection (500 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.2 > Analogue Poly Chord Hits (342 samples) > Classic Synths: ’80s, ’90s, ’00s (678 samples) > Hardware Arps (511 samples) CREATIVE DRUMS > Cyborg Beats (514 samples) > Lo-Fi Sampling (555 samples) > Obscure Drum Machines (517…

CLASSIC ALBUM Words by Roy Spencer Quantic Mishaps Happening Tru Thoughts, 2004 © Maxwell Schiano International super producer, DJ, and label boss Will Holland really cranked up the dial for his third album as Quantic. Recent additions to his record collection had inspired him to experiment with wilder rhythms, and incorporate more musicality to his beats than ever before. “I’d started collecting Afro Latin, Caribbean, spiritual jazz and Afrobeat,” he says. “They were big influences, and made me change things up a lot more, rhythmically. “I’d made Apricot Morning – the second Quantic record, which started to encompass sampled elements and live compositions, with vocalists, and jazz harmonies. But that was the prototype. And now I was doing it proper.” With this new blueprint and zeal Mishaps Happening became the…

ELA’S GO-TO GEAR Yamaha DX100 “I love the sound of this 1985 FM synth. It’s extremely limited, which I like, and I always seem to find a sound that fits perfectly.” Roland Juno-60 “It’s the only ‘realsize’ synth I own. Even though it has a very recognisable sound it’s very flexible once you get to know it. I essentially live in a cloud with an arp from the Juno.” Moog Sirin “The Moog Minitaur has been my bass synth for years but I always dreamed of having the same synth available in higher octaves so I could use it for melodies too. The Sirin is literally a dream come true.” OTO Biscuit “This is such an interesting machine because it adds so much depth to everything. I love detuning synths,…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE THE PRODUCER’S GUIDE TO… DIY MODULAR SKIFF Modular maven Rob Redman guides us in the art of planning and building your own Eurorack enclosure Modular synthesisers are possibly the most varied, personal, versatile and complex form of electronic instrument and can mean different things to different people. Once you dive down the rabbit hole it can be equally daunting and exciting, with a number of aspects that can prove tricky to understand. A traditional ‘all in one’, keyboard-based instrument is easy to understand, as the box houses everything with no user input. Modular is a very different beast; however, a little understanding of your forward journey can prevent disappointment and even damaged modules. There are quite a number of cases on the market that will provide a mechanism…

Measure twice, cut once It’s rare to find a woodworking tutorial in an electronic music mag but it’s one overlooked aspect of the process. I build custom guitars, which means I have a lot of tools but the intention here is to make this accessible, so I’ll use as few tools as possible, with simpler joinery and no specialist items. If you have some method of cutting a straight edge then you’ll be able to follow along. So gather up a ruler and square (anything you know to be 90 degrees will work in a pinch): either a circular saw or a jigsaw, or a table saw and some clamps. If you don’t have any clamps you can use something heavy to apply pressure as your glue sets. I’m using…

DIY modular skiff Power to the people I’ve seen and read about people attempting a modular case build who have been confident with the woodworking aspect but whose attempts fail on the electronics. This is perfectly understandable and if you don’t wish to tackle this part of the build you can try an alternative method. There are a good number of options out there, including the Tiptop Audio Micro Zeus, that you attach like any other module. Plug a laptop power supply into the front and then it has flying bus boards that run behind the rest of your modules. Simple and easy, although not cheap and for a case this size you’ll need multiples (they do offer a linking system that helps). IF YOU DON’T WISH TO TACKLE THIS…

In The Studio With Piezo Milan-based Luca Mucci’s (aka Piezo) debut album pulsates with innovative sound design. Danny Turner reveals his battle to tame the ‘nerd tendency’ © Roxana Cerioni Italian-born Luca Mucci spent three years in Bristol, UK, soaking up the local music culture while working at instrument company Modal Electronics as a product specialist. Influenced by early trip-hop and IDM pioneers Aphex Twin and Autechre, his early dancefloor productions were pervaded by elements of breakcore, with particular emphasis on rhythm and percussive sampling. Following releases as Piezo on Idle Hands, Version, Wisdom Teeth and his own Ansia label, Mucci releases his debut full-length on Milan’s Hundebiss. Titled Perdu, the album is an extraordinarily hi-tech blend of dirty lo-fi beats and sub-frequencies, driven by Mucci’s insatiable thirst for complex…

TR-6S vs MC-101 Roland’s MC-101 and TR-6S – what’s the difference? Mainly the sound engine. The TR-6S contains circuit-modelled Analog Circuit Behavior sounds, some of the most convincing 808, 909, 707 and 606 emulations about. Supposedly these recreate the precise nuances of each element of the original machines’ electronics. The MC-101 uses Zen-Core, which lacks the depth of the ACB emulations and relies more on PCM samples and standard virtual analogue synthesis. Therefore the MC-101 can contain a broader range of sounds, including numerous polyphonic synth tones and an audio looper, next to the mostly drum-focussed TR-6S. The MC-101 can also load custom patches created with the desktop version of Roland’s Zenology Pro plugin. In short, the MC-101 combines synth, drum and sampled sounds, with a broader range of presets…

KEY SYNC The CDJ-3000’s increased processing power has been used to great effect for the new Key Sync feature. You can now shift the key of the incoming track to match the one that’s playing already, with surprisingly good sound quality! You can pitchshift the key of a track up, or down by a max of two semitones to make it mix harmonically, avoiding any unnaturally massive pitch shifts. You can also use Key Shift to adjust the key of a track manually, opening lots of creative possibilities. The Key Sync works well with less complex program material like acapellas, or musical loops, but still sounds decent on a full track.…

Reviews Klevgrand Skaka $50 The Swedish developers’ latest specialises in complex hand percussion patterns. Si Truss gives it a shake… The latest release from Swedish developers Klevgrand, Skaka is a sample-based instrument specialising in shaken percussion sounds like tambourines, calabash, egg shakers and ghungroos bells. What makes this plugin interesting however, is how it makes it easy for users to set up and edit multiple contrasting rhythmic patterns. The plugin – available in VST, AU and AAX for desktop or AUv3 for iOS – houses 12 modules, each of which can trigger a pattern from one of Skaka’s eight sampled sounds. Each of these modules is assigned a fixed MIDI note, used to trigger the sound. Rather than trigger individual hits, however, incoming MIDI works more like a mute/unmute trigger…

Reviews ALBUM REVIEWS Actress Karma and Desire Ninja Tune © Jaxon Whittington A decade and a half on since Darren Cunningham first introduced us to his Actress alias and the UK producer is still raising the hairs on the back of your neck like no other. Having first teased us all with mentions of a new album as far back as 2019, his highly impressive seventh studio album, Karma and Desire now finally makes its long-awaited arrival. The record is rendered in stunning greyscale, pulling together an array of rhythms. Densely layered and richly atmospheric, the immersive soundscape subtly wraps itself around you and cocoons you into its distinctive world. Paring his music with vocalists for the very first time, Actress enlists the services of Sampha, Zsela, Aura T-09, and…

Technique Vinyl sampling: What’s the best approach? Grabbing hits and loops from vinyl records is one of the oldest and most widely used techniques in dance music production, but what’s the best way to go about this in 2020? The key thing worth aiming for is having a setup that involves as little hassle as possible. When you stumble across inspiration hidden on the b-side of your latest charity shop find, the last thing you want is to lose momentum as you untangle wires or replug a turntable into your audio interface. If you have space for a vinyl DJ setup in your studio, you have a simple solution – most mixers offer some kind of analogue or digital output that can be kept hooked up to a studio computer,…

The Vinyl Issue “The craft of how to properly cut a vinyl record has been forgotten” Berghain resident Fiedel on creating the perfect vinyl DJ tool © Danny Croucher As a longtime resident of lauded club Berghain, a former employee of both the Dubplates & Mastering pressing studio and Hard Wax record store, and head of the dub-infused soudsystem party Wax Treatment, Fiedel is a genuine cornerstone of Berlin’s world famous techno scene. As an artist, he’s continuously impressed over several decades with his deep and eclectic DJ sets, and numerous excellent releases, both solo and as one half of MMM alongside Errorsmith. © Danny Croucher This year, Fiedel launched Super Sound Tool, his latest label project, releasing all-vinyl DJ tools that are carefully crafted to make sure the physical…

Machinedrum THE TRACK Machinedrum The Relic feat. Rochelle Jordan Ninja Tune, 2020 © Beth Vargas Fans of envelope-pushing electronic music will need little introduction to Machinedrum AKA Travis Stewart: his glittering career includes releases on prestigious labels such as Planet Mu, Vision and Astrophonica, a long-running collaborative project with Jimmy Edgar as JETS, and remixes for likes of Om Unit, Kelis and Bonobo. We caught up with Travis to find out how he created the neuro-footwork-R&B-orchestral hybrid The Relic from his new album A View of U. For The Relic you designed the neuro bass sound in its own dedicated project. Is that typical of your workflow? “My organisation with all my sessions in the past couple of years has gotten super meticulous and I have a whole separate folder…

Planning your modules 1 Once you have an idea of what you will be doing and decide on your first few modules, take a trip to modulargrid.net where you will find tools to lay out your case. First up you’ll need to decide on a style. To follow along here choose monorocket or enclave. 2 We’re using this tool as a guide and to solidify our idea of what we need to build. I chose those two options mostly due to the location of rails and the overall construction (no gap/shelf between rails), but this is a guide, not set in stone. 3 You can now define the horizontal pitch (hp) and the rows needed. Add up the hp of modules you know you want, then double it to futureproof your…

Top and bottom 1 You may not need any isolation from unwanted vibration but some modules may benefit and in live situations a set of rubber feet could prove useful, say, when you’re sampling vinyl. I’ll use six of these feet to provide suitable support. 2 Another element for consideration is transport. If your case will be used live, suitable handles are needed. Mine is 90% for studio use, so I opted for a leather handle (meant for Fender amps) that has a captive nut to help with the case weight. 3 If you plan on using your case live I would strongly suggest adding some corner protectors too. The difference in materials is relatively inconsequential so go for what you think complements your case material best.…

Wire it all up 1 With the electronics it’s important to lay things out so you don’t need to stretch any cables from module to power. Lay out the bus boards and measure. If needed you could always get some longer ribbon cables. Places like Thonk sell longer ones. 2 Transfer the mounting hole position to the backboard, drill pilot holes and mount the hardware. Use risers for easier clearance and better cooling. Take a ground wire from the chassis of the power supply to one of your rails too. 3 If using multiple bus boards check that you mount them in the same orientation, so that wiring is cleaner and you’ll be less likely to make mistakes. It’s vital you daisy chain them correctly, with ground to ground and…

REVIEWS Roland TR-6S £350 The TR-8S gets a pint-sized little sibling but, as Si Truss discovers, there’s more to this compact beatmaker than first meets the eye… Even at the best of times, Roland’s expansive range of grooveboxes can get a little confusing. Case in point – Roland’s recent ‘606’ themed drop, which launched the TR-6S and TR-06 drum machines and TR-606 plugin. While the latter two of these – which we’ll review next issue – both emulate 1981’s TR-606 drum machine, the TR-6S actually has little to do with the original 606 or either of its new recreations. In fact, the TR-6S is a close sibling to Roland’s TR-8S, the sample-equipped evolution of the company’s TR-8 digital drum machine. All clear? Setting naming conventions aside, the important thing to…

MODULE ROUNDUP L-1 Quad VCA and L-1 Tube VCA £250 L-1 Quad VCA L-1 is a modular synth company based in Belarus with a reputation for some solidly built, useful modules, including their tuner module. As the adage says, you can never have too many VCAs so I thought I would take a look at their quad VCA (followed by a review of their Tube VCA), which seems like the best balance between rackspace (it’s 14hp) and ability. Typical to the rest of the L-1 range, this module has a 2mm thick front panel, with black graphics. Nothing fancy here and in my opinion that’s a good thing, as required skill as a lexicographer can halt the musical process with some modules. Absolutely no head scratching needed. The module is…