Table of contents for 01-2022 in Beat English

Fat beats for Techno, Electro, Minimal & more Analog Techno Drums Every style of Club Music thrives on powerful and crisp drums. This month‘s software highlight comes with a whopping 1,056 drum sounds and matching modern synth sounds, ideal for a wide range of styles from Tech-no and Electro to Minimal, House, R&B and Hip-Hop. Analog Techno Drums shines with 66 kits including stylish bass, chord and effect sounds. Download: see Page 9 win | mac All serial numbers securely accessible: The Beat Serial Center To ensure that none of your serial numbers are lost in the future (for instance, in the event of a new installation, Outlook crash or disk crash), you can now conveniently manage them online. The advantages are obvious: The Editorial Team can send you targeted…

For professional Audio Restoration and Post-Production, iZotope helps out with the modernized restoration suite RX 9. Both the standard and the full-featured advanced version are now available. In the Advanced version, the Dialogue Isolate tool is said to have received improved extraction, allowing dialogue to be separated from an environment - free of artifacts. Speech should be able to be separated even better from crowds, traffic, steps, weather or similar. Ambience Match has also been enhanced with a new Complex mode, so it should be possible to seamlessly combine dialogue and ADR cuts with real background motion and textures. Both the Standard and Advanced versions benefit from the new Dynamic Mode of the Dynamic De-Hum plug-in. The goal with this is to eliminate humming, buzzing, wireless ringing or interference. In…

Numark introduces the Mixstream Pro, an inexpensive standalone DJ system with lighting and sound system that is supposed to eliminate the need for a computer connection. The DJ controller has built-in speakers and can be supplied with music wirelessly via WiFi interface. The music can be fed via streaming providers (Tidal, Beatport, Beatsource, Soundcloud Go+ and Dropbox) or from USB sticks. The connections include two USB inputs and a slot for SD cards. Music selection is done on the 7-inch display. Mixstream Pro is equipped with two decks and one 6.5-inch jog wheel each. The jogwheels are meant to invite scratching. The mixer boasts a 3-band equalizer and filter controls per channel. There are four pad buttons for each deck that allow you to set cue points, rolls and loops.…

From plug-in developer accSone from Munich comes Crusher-X 9; a granular expert which combines a synthesizer and effect in one. The synthesis engine is powered by Grain-Controlled Oscillators (GCOs). The Grain-Life-Time system is said to be especially significant for reactivating lost granulars. A total of up to 199 granular generators are available for selection. The granulation time can be set at up to 60 seconds. The grains can also be controlled externally using the sidechain input and are visualized in 3D. There is also a DCO generator with integrated sample player. Various parameters can be modulated in real time. The two global modulation matrices have a large part in this. The Envelope Generator is freely editable for additional grain modulation. This polyphonic, MPE-capable instrument can also output up to 10…

Pioneer DJ presents the DM-50D, a new pair of desktop monitors that can be used by both music producers and DJs. The special feature is that the monitor can be switched between DJ and Production modes via a toggle switch on the monitor, which adjusts the DSP settings to the application. The 2-way bass reflex speaker, with active design, is composed of a 5-inch woofer and a 0.75-inch small tweeter. The brilliance in the treble, the wide sweet spot, as well as the three-dimensional stereo sound are due to the convex DECO diffusers. The speakers have a power capacity of 25 watts. On the inside, a Class D amplifier operates with a 96 kHz sampling rate and DSP processor. Thanks to the grooved air channels, there should be a powerful…

Let‘s go straight to the point: An absolute low budget solution for recording acoustic instruments would be to simply use the computer, smartphone or tablet and press „Record“ in a corresponding app. This saves you a lot of effort and costs, because the internally built-in microphones and converters do all the work. It’s a fact that certain parts of large productions are actually created in this way. Lo-Fi is a popular “spice” for many producers, the contrast can make the song really exciting. So can we skip the rest of this special? No, because our goal is to record high quality percussive signals and to be able to process multiple tracks separately. Audio interface with enough preamps If you don‘t have one yet, you first need a suitable audio interface.…

1 More than drums The use of sticks instead of fingers creates a completely different feeling of playing and rhythm. The MultiPad also includes a looper and sampler, which even enables complete performances independent of the computer. The factory sounds already provide a lot of good material, but we add another nuance: Grab a pot … 2 Two variations …and a microphone (a smartphone headsetalso works), connect it to the input of the MultiPad and record several hits with it. Alternatively, you can record drums from a synth. Try to always generate two similar sounds in a row. Then we cut the samples and put a pair on each pad. 3 A pinch of randomness Variant 1 ends up in WAVE A, variant 2 in WAVE B. We set the sync…

ABLETON PUSH The controller, which was developed specifically for Live, doesn‘t bring any new features to the DAW, but makes haptic access easier and that is exactly its recipe for success. Push allows you to import beats and melodies, to trigger sounds, to create patterns via its 8x8 matrix and of course to control various parameters of Live, plug-ins and effects. www.ableton.com Tip: If the groove doesn‘t quite want to get going despite all the variety of functions, load an existing song or loop whose groove you like and borrow its swing using the „Extract Grooves“ function. Live analyzes the timing and volume and saves the information as a groove. You can then apply this to any clip via the Groove Pool. Borrow a samba groove and spice up your…

Beat / You refined your style for many years. What was your first studio like? kii / Yes, a tape machine for example. You can’t edit as much and have to work with your recorded performance. We do use newer technologies as well of course, but we don’t use AI-applications or Arcade. We love analogue and vintage equipment, that’s why we drifted away from VSTs – towards real instruments. We almost never sample from other sources, but like to sample ourselves. It’s just more fun that way. Right now, our favourite pieces are Prophet 10, Mellotron and different guitar pedals. Beat / How do you get started on a track? The Kii / We like to start with a vibe, some chords and then flip it and change it until…

1 The basic framework The vocal track for our processing used the samples „Andre Lyric“ 9 & 10 from the Apple Loop library. You can find them, combined with a funk-style electric guitar, in the audio samples for this article. The sound itself is already very good, but we would like to expand it to give it its own character. 2 Open effect Editing with Formant Shifting goes so far that you can make vocals sound more feminine or more masculine. Duplicate the main voice and open the Flex Pitch function by pressing CMD+F. Now double-click on the audio file and then on the Track tab. Now set Flex Pitch in the drop-down menu that is now visible. 3 Next steps However, it is important that the now visible inverted…

1 Duplicate panning One method of widening sounds is to double a track, such as the rim shots, and then pan the sound hard left and hard right. This is the best method to keep the mix mono compatible. To make the mono signal sound like stereo, change the duplicate a bit, for example, with the EQ or detune the sample a bit. 2 Reverse phase Record multiple mono takes of a vocal phrase, then pan them so that each track is at a different position. This gives you a rich stereo field. Phase shifting can also be used to make a sound very wide. To do this, duplicate a stereo sample and use the utility effect to flip the phase in a track. 3 Match rooms Reverb and delay change…

1 House recipe And the tool goes by the common name of Arpeggiator. As trivial as it seems, it can be used to create stirring rhythms in no time at all. Of course, it is an advantage here that the S1 Arpeggiator can not only play up and down, but can also play patterns. Load an instance of Impact with the Trance ID 2 preset (from the Ueberschall Expansion). 2 Kickstart Insert an Arpeggiator into the Note FX, activate Pattern Mode and turn Swing to 25%. Create a MIDI clip with a length of four bars and record a note of the same length on C1 that triggers the arpeggiator along with the kick. Duplicate the track four times, but not „completely“, otherwise Impact will be loaded four more times.…

Softube Saturation Knob In addition to numerous commercial plug-ins, the software manufacturer Softube, also offers a free saturation effect. Despite its limited possibilities, Saturation Knob has enjoyed great popularity for years due to its impressive sound. Now, through an update, the plug-in has received the previously sorely missed option of adjusting the volume. Since higher saturation inevitably increases the volume, an A-B comparison was difficult until now. With the new version, you can not only control the input volume and headroom, but also adjust the output volume. If you press the set button, the adjustment to the increased volume even happens fully automatically! High-pass filter, phase rotation and flexible metering (peak, true-peak, RMS, LUFS) are other new features; moreover, the interface is freely configurable and scalable. The central control element…

Synchro Arts has made a name for itself with its innovative VocALign software. With this software, the timing of one audio track can be quickly and easily transferred to another audio track. Anyone who has ever tried to manually bring several vocal takes or guitar recordings into synchronous harmony will undoubtedly appreciate this enormous reduction in workload thanks to artificial intelligence. With their flagship Revoice Pro 4, the editing possibilities go even further. Timing, pitch and more In addition to the extensively customizable synchronization of the timing of multiple tracks, Revoice Pro 4 also lets you edit pitches in detail and correct wrong notes manually or automatically. The APT (Audio Performance Transfer) technique makes it possible to copy the timing, pitch, vibrato and level functions of an audio performance and…

IK Multimedia AmpliTube X-Gear With its X-Gear product family, IK Multimedia has ventured into the digital effects pedal market. It includes four compact pedals, each with 16 Algorithms and 50 Presets. As the name suggests, X-Drive is dedicated to distortion effects. You can choose between Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz, Compressor, Bit and Sample Rate Reduction. Distortion pedal classics from BOSS, Ibanez, Marshall and Electro-Harmonix, among others, are emulated here. With this wide range of different modes, distortion effects in all shapes and colors are possible - and in excellent quality. In addition to a drive and a volume control, there is a three-band tone control, as well as noise gate and compressor. With the integrated cab simulator, you can choose between five different speaker models. In practice, X-Drive also shows…

Typhon Ltd. Edition Typhon is a monophonic desktop synthesizer whose clear hardware layout provides beginners an easy start into analog tweaking. For this, Typhon offers analog sound synthesis with two oscillators and low-pass filter, as well as DSP effects. Even for professionals, Typhon is an enhancement of your setup thanks to very good basic sound, complex modulations and sophisticated step sequencers. Unlike other inexpensive analog synthesizers, Typhon patches are also completely storable. Typhon is now available in a limited edition with a darker design that looks a bit classier than the 80s synthwave outfit of the regular version. To match, there are new patches aimed more at producers of dark-wave, dark-ambient and other darker styles of music. These presets are also available to owners of the standard model as part…

Apple has tried many things in the past five years to reinvent the MacBook Pro. The only problem is that Pro users don‘t really want any change. Sure, they want more power, better displays, more efficiency - but all that in a 2017 MacBook Pro and most professional users would still be happy. Let‘s look back for a moment. The 2015 Mac-Book Pro had a MagSafe charging port, an HDMI jack, an SD card slot, 2 Thunderbolt and 2 USB-A ports, and real function keys. This MacBook Pro also retired all of those things a year later. If we look at the new MacBook Pro models that have now been unveiled, we see that Apple has basically turned back time by five years. New design Of course, that is only…

For mobile streaming, IK Multimedia is dedicated to all podcasters, DJs and YouTubers with two new interfaces - iRig Stream Solo and iRig Stream Pro. The two interfaces are designed for connections with a smartphone or tablet. As an accompanying app, iOS users get iRig Recorder LE and Android users get iRig Recorder 3. The battery-powered iRig Stream Solo model has two RCA line connectors and a headphone output. The latter is also intended for headsets, for example, to connect a microphone. These connections are also present on the iRig Stream Pro, which acts as a complete audio interface with a resolution of 24-bits at 96 kHz. On this model, however, there are two headphone outputs. The second output will be of interest for mixers and cameras. A microphone (with…

Have you always dreamed of playing live in front of 25,000 spectators in a stadium concert? Then you now have the chance to do so together with about 1,000 other live performers. The market-leading music retailer Thomann invites you to a stadium concert as part of The Grand Jam on June 25, 2022. Where usually the footballers of Eintracht Frankfurt or the National Team play, after the Rock Band World Record 2019, The Grand Jam 2022, a musical highlight, moves again to the Frankfurt stadium. The Grand Jam band will feature vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass, drummer, woodwinds and brass (alto and tenor saxophone/trumpet/trombone), and strings (violin, viola, cello). A broad music mix for every taste and impressive show effects with light and pyrotechnics are also promised. Everyone can be there,…

Native X-Echo is the latest effect plug-in from Solid State Logic (SSL) that sonically transports you back to the age of 1960s tape echo devices. The visually appealing and modernly designed delay is meant to authentically recreate the characteristics of tape echo classics. There are four delay lines that work like four virtual tape heads and can be moved individually. If desired, the delay times can also be entered in note values. The signal of the tone head is displayed as a waveform. For tape fluctuations, there is a Wow and Flutter section. Saturation of the tape is provided by the Saturation section. A new reverb algorithm can be tried out with the diffusion control. If required, self-oscillation is also possible at feedback values above 100%. In addition, there is…

Drums are the backbone of almost every production and represent the rhythmic foundation in almost every imaginable music style. This applies to rock, pop, funk and soul as well as to hip-hop and trap as well as to electronic music such as techno, house, trance and EDM. In every musical style there are proven and often style-defining drum sounds and patterns. Whether you want to play real drums live, arrange samples in your DAW or use specialized hardware or software: There are many ways to an infectious groove. Assertive basic sounds and a balanced mix of the individual elements are essential ingredients for a fat foundation. Careful sound selection as well as skillful frequency and stereo staggering are immensely important so that all elements of a beat harmonize as best…

SIGNATURE DRUMS BY LAYERING 1 The right combination From a purely logical point of view, it makes sense: If you put two drums on top of each other, the result sounds fatter. It‘s not that trivial, however, because sound A does not automatically match sound B. A promising combination are synthetic and acoustic drums, here overlapping is as good as impossible. Let‘s create a beat. 2 Hip-Hop beat We use the Toontrack Beatstation as a basis, although any other source with acoustic drums can also be used. With this we play a hiphop groove: The kick (C) at the beginning of each bar, as well as occasionally on the 16th before the snare (D), which we put on each odd quarter. That sounds very straight already. 3 Deviations We leave…

… and get the d16 Punchbox for free! What do you get when a renowned software manufacturer and sought-after sound designers join forces? The impressive answer MUST-HAVE is the bass drum synthesizer PunchBOX, which combines the excellent drum modules and effects of D16 with the club-proven samples of Sounds Of Revolution and CFA Sound. The plug-in has a modular structure, four sound sources can be combined. The kick generator provides the “belly” of the bass drum. TR-909, -808, and -606 models, a flexible sine generator, and a sample-based variant are available. Each module offers extensive adjustment possibilities and can be played chromatically. A must-have for kicks in all kinds of styles! Order premium subscription now Web: www.beat.de/jahresabo Phone: *49(0) 711/7252-292 Item number: BE17ONE Abo-Service falkemedia, Postfach 810640, 70523 Stuttgart, Germany…

In 1991 I saw the logo of the band Nirvana on one of the tables in our school. A classmate named David had drawn it on there with a marker pen. David wasn‘t usually a guy I was on the same page with. He uses an old Converse shoe as a pencil case, wore torn jeans, and his hair had turned a garish shade of green after a failed dye attempt. Musically, however, we regularly exchanged ideas - about Skinny Puppy, Dinosaur Jr and the metal band Death, for example. For this reason, I memorized Nirvana and had the name ready the next day when I first saw the video for „Smells Like Teen Spirit“ on MTV after school. There are few things I remember as clearly from my school…

1 Start sound First of all, we need a sound and we quickly find it with Mellow Pluck in the Hype Synth. In general, the PITCHED PERC section offers a surprisingly large number of sounds that are ideally suited for percussion, as well as hooks. Particularly in Octave 1, the sound reaches from massive to woody. With the note G#1, we record a simple rhythmic sequence. 2 Variations We limit the length to one bar for now. Switch to PROGRAM EDIT, turn the macros Delay to 60%, Reverb to 20% and Pumper to 40%. Pumper provides pseudo-sidechain ducking. Now we duplicate the length of the SEQUENCE to 8 bars and record additional, arbitrary notes in Octaves 2-4, but keep the velocity low. 3 Note repeat We keep the number of…

1 A simple sine wave Create a new instrument track in your Cubase project with the Retrologue 2 synthesizer. Initially, the first oscillator is already activated. The basis for the 808 kick drum sound is a sine waveform. Set the waveform to sine and tune the oscillator down an octave by setting Octave to 16‘. 2 The Matrix In the Matrix section, we now link the third envelope to the pitch of the instrument to create the attack noise of our kick drum. To do this, select Env 3 as the Source in the first slot. Set the Pitch parameter under destination and set Depth to the maximum value to activate this modulation in the matrix. 3 Pitch envelope The influence of Envelope 3 is not yet audible because all…

1 Create drum loop First, we need a beat that has tidy dynamics and no ghost notes. I will use a self-recorded, Hip Hop style shuffle for this. The recorded tracks also contain a room track. This should serve as a mixable effect track at the end and, in particular, lengthen and „pump up“ the backbeat. 2 Set a lowcut All processing steps are performed on the room track or, alternatively, on a copied overhead track. To prevent the delay from muddying the bass drum, we first clean up the signal with a Low Cut. Any parametric equalizer can be used for this purpose; the cutoff frequency should be selected so that the snare drum remains „complete“. 3 Tape A tape saturation plug-in ensures that the signal is smoother and…

UVI SunBox If the term „analog flagship“ applies to a synth, then it applies to the Jomox SunSyn, which was released in 1999. Its sound is characterized by two two analog and two digital oscillators per voice and an analog filter with continuously adjustable charcteristics. With its SunBox instrument, UVI makes an attempt to bring the incredibly powerful sound of the synth into your DAW. SunBox can be operated in the UVI Workstation and the Falcon sampler and comes with over 450 presets. The user interface of this sample instrument is extremely chic and close to the hardware model. It offers two sound layers, into which you can load raw waveforms, as well as the ready-to-play sounds of the SunSyn. Each has its own volume and filter envelope, as well…

The recording and mixing studio, Reason, which always stands out for its virtual rack wiring, has now reached its 12th generation. In addition to conventional sales, the DAW can also be subscribed to for the first time. The update also includes not only a visual refresh through high-resolution graphics of the rack elements and pulled cables on 4k monitors, as well as being sonically and technically upgraded. The standard still includes an unlimited number of audio and instrument tracks; however, the factory sound library has grown to 11 gigabytes with over 29,000 patches, loops and samples to be able to implement a complete production across multiple styles. In addition, as before, the stand-alone DAW can also be integrated into other DAWs as a VST, AU and AAX plug-in rack. Mimic…

109 BRUTAL BASSES AND LEADS FOR D&B, FUTURE BASS & EDM Whether it‘s House, Future Bass, EDM or Drum & Bass, the low end has to be powerful and defined; otherwise, the whole track won‘t pop! So it stands to reason that we provide you with a concentrated load of bass. But these are no bread-and-butter sounds that you already have in your collection anyway; rather, there are 70 powerful and contemporary, punchy low-end sounds, plus 39 hybrids that can be used as both leads and basses. Also perfect for Bigroom House and Trance! www.zamplersounds.com 1 Beat foundation To build a rousing rhythmic foundation and get into the right mood when recording or programming the sounds, it has proven useful to start a D&B track with a beat. We found…

At least on paper, modwave presents itself as a deluxe wavetable synthesizer: Numerous knobs, buttons and an XY-pad provide direct access, with Kaoss Physics and Motion Sequencing 2.0, the sounds can be animated dynamically and rhythmically. Filters based on analog models and an extensive effects section complete the compact synthesizer. In terms of the external format, Korg has taken its cue from the recently released OPSix and wavestate models. After the announcement of the modwave, this raised the question of to what extent the synthesizers from Korg‘s new series differ at all. modwave vs. wavestate OPSix is based on frequency modulation and comparable digital algorithms, so it offers a different type of synthesis and correspondingly different sound possibilities. The difference to wavestate is less obvious, because both synthesizers are based…

What hardware or plug-ins do others like to use, what do they pay attention to when producing their own music, how are their studios setup? 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…

1 Load visual device Load the Max For Live device Geometrum [1] into the track to which it is to respond or, alternatively, into the Master Track so that it responds to the signal arriving there. A second screen will open automatically so that you can see the visual result. If you deactivate Render, the device stops immediately. 2 Tempo response The device is divided into three sections. On the left you will find function buttons, on the right the two shape generators and in the middle you will find the global parameters. Start your track so that the Device receives a pulse. The speed of the reaction to the beat is selected on the left using the Clock Divider fields 1n to 8n. 3 Choose graphic form Click Map-Off…

Cableguys introduces NoiseShaper, a new Lo-Fi effect plug-in to the studios of the world. The central element is the freely drawable or synchronizable LFOs, which are typical for Cableguys. This also makes every modulation visually apparent. LFO edits can be restored with unlimited undo. LFO quantization ranges from 1/128 to 32 beats. Dozens of noise samples are included in the plug-in, sorted into noise, organic and analogue categories. Noises include vinyl crackle, hum, destroyed digital textures, organic field recordings and much more. Importing your own sound files is also supported. Nine slots are available for saving your own samples. In addition, there is a ducking mode, mono mode, envelope follower and a high and low pass section. Over a hundred presets are included. NoiseShaper should appeal to sound designers in…

Arturia provides the users of the Microfreak synthesizer with the firmware update to version 4.0., whose main focus is the new Wave-User-engine. Using the MIDI Control Center, you can now import your own WAV or AIFF files as wavetables. The position of the tables and bit depth can be user defined. In addition, 16 wavetables are already available. Of the 320 manufacturer presets, 64 presets have been newly added by the update. Another new feature is the accelerated scroll speed of the encoders. Last but not least, the sound generator gets unison and chord modes through the update, which can also be used for the 64-step sequencer. The USB-enabled Microfreak also features 18 digital oscillator modes, a modulation matrix, an ADSR envelope, an analog 12 dB multiband filter and can…

UniChannel is the name of the latest emulation achievement from United Plug-ins, a plug-in in which rare dynamics processors are reproduced authentically. It includes preamps, equalizers and compressors with three different types for each. Also, tube sound coloring can also be realized. VARM II technology is intended to emulate the minimal sound changes typical of analog devices, so that different behavioral changes in the simulated electronic components are noticeable with each instance opened. The BR, US and GE buttons, select either a British, American or German sound character. The British mode is said to be particularly suitable for bass, the German one for drum buses and vocals, while the American one is recommended for electric guitars. When no signal is present, the scalable plugin switches to sleep mode and consumes…

Beat / When buying a drum kit, many beginners wonder whether to buy an acoustic drum kit, e-drums, or a hybrid. Which variant can you recommend for which applications? Yoshiaki / I think it‘s generally best to choose how much time you can spend on the drums. For example, if you have a soundproof room, you can play acoustic drums every day and at any time, but otherwise the playing time may be very limited. An electronic drum kit, on the other hand, offers the opportunity to have more time to play and practice. In addition, electronic drums are much easier to record than acoustic drums. So if you want to publish videos or songs online in the future, electronic drums have a huge advantage. Hybrid drums are not suitable…

Beat / In the home or project studio, you rarely have optimal conditions for drum recording. How can you still achieve good-sounding recordings there? Norman / Of course, recording the drums is basically a rather complex task, as this instrument is known to consist of many individual instruments that you want to capture and reproduce as true to the original as possible. In order to record a good, solid and authentic drum sound for your own song-writing production, it is by no means always necessary to use complex miking with dozens of close and ambience microphones. Very good results can already be achieved with targeted and well thought-out recording and rather reduced miking. In addition, the technology of drum replacement or supporting drum enhancement, which is frequently used in professional…

Direct access The appealing user interface of Analog Techno Drums gives you direct access to the most important sound parameters of the 16 samples of a kit. The sounds of the drum instrument have been organized into 66 ready-to-play kits. At the top you can switch between the presets. Global effects The reverb effect and the high/low pass filter in Analog Techno Drums affect all the sounds in a kit. You can also use the Pitch knob to change the mood of the entire kit. Tip: Automate these parameters for extra lively grooves. By automating the Cutoff Frequency, you can instantly create exciting filter effects such as filtered snare rolls for the buildup of your track. 16 pads, 16 sounds The heart of Analog Techno Drums is the 16 drum…

1 Legal To get started, you first need a suitable video. We strictly advise against sampling from finished tracks, because that would certainly be the thinnest of slippery slopes in terms of copyright. Instead, we want to make use of rare hardware synths and drum machines, which, by nature, have a unique sound and are also hard to find as samples. 2 Sampling We found what we were looking for with the SOMA Pulsar-23 and the Orpho Voodoo modular tube drum machine for the Eurorack. In principle, we only sample parts from the videos in which, on the one hand, only a few sounds can be heard and, on the other hand, only those for which neither additional equipment was used nor extensive sound design was applied. 3 Cutting up…

1 Synth first For the workshop, we load our Thorn Solo with LEAD Desert preset, which we adjust minimally to make the sound less like „pluck“ and more analog and mellow: turn on Noise, turn up the Env 1 knob on the filter a little more, reduce the DELAY Mix to 9 o‘clock, Feedback to 0% and set AMP Attack to 16%. 2 Monophonic! Thorn Solo is monophonic, which is a great advantage for the desired sounds because it curbs melodic chaos. So, if you are using another synth, switch it to monophonic. Now we need some chords as a melodic base, which we record by hand. For non-virtuosos, an instance of the KEY FILTER is recommended. 3 Generative part Select a scale here, such as Phrygian, and the desired…

Beat / What inspired you to create Elements? Stefano / Hello folks! It‘s a pleasure to be a guest of Beat Magazine again! While developing Ethera Gold Sahara Voices, I was already thinking about an idea for a new sound library. I wanted to create something unique that would be useful in the real world of everyday composing. An instrument to play and create new organic, atmospheric and modern sounds, accompanied by a clear user interface that allows easy and instant sound customization. My goal was an instrument that would help composers create organic soundscapes that you often hear in many soundtracks today. I am always on the lookout for high quality, organic instruments and have recently been very inspired by Hans Zimmer, Ludwig Göransson and Ramin Djawadi. Beat /…

Ueberschall Modular Structures IDM Producer and Sound Designer Yvat has created the experimental sample collection Modular Structures as part of the Inspire Series for Ueberschall. With a size of 1.5 GB, there are more than 300 loops and phrases with up to eight bars to discover. It sonically covers the genres of Experimental, Glitch and Ambient. Recorded at 90 BPM, the sounds are powered by synthesizers, drum loops, pads, and stutter and glitch effects, each with its own texture. Whisked-through Atmospheres, Wobble Basses and crunchy sick 8-bit style drums are represented here, as well as nasty, aggressive pads and screeching, heavily resonating leads and basses. Broken, dissonant rhythms and eerie atmos have also been carved out of the modular synthesizers. Verdict Modular Structures serves a niche that may not appeal…

It quickly becomes clear on unpacking that, at the very least, they didn‘t cut corners in terms of packaging and design. In typical Arturia style, the hardware is robust and immaculately finished; the metal housings, available in black or white, in combination with the controls, look chic and classy. With dimensions of 154 x 100 x 43 mm, the smallest model also fits easily on a cramped desktop and, with a weight of 400 grams, can be easily packed into a gig bag and used on the go. Power is supplied via the USB-C port, and a cable to Type A is included. The MiniFuse series is class-compliant, which means it can be used without special drivers and is, therefore, also suitable for iPads and such. The built-in USB hub…

The digital drum synth was created in close cooperation between Erica Synths and Sonic Potions and was originally a DYI project which, fortunately for all non-solderers, has made the leap to a readily available product. Each of the six tracks can be adjusted in detail with over 30 parameters, covering virtual analog drums and percussion, as well as hard-hitting Industrial sounds or weird LoFi sounds. Besides the wide sound palette, drum kit morphing is one of the highlights of this instrument. Operation and haptics The LXR-02 comes elegantly packaged in black. The handy printed manual, which proved to be quite helpful in the test, is a positive feature. Although we were able to intuitively tweak the first beats without any assistance due to the well thought-out operation, the small and…

Hardly any other application field will benefit as much from the enormous performance increase of the new MacBooks Pro, with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, as video editing. Here, maximum performance is demanded from all components of the system. On the one hand, large amounts of data have to be stored and copied - and as quickly as possible. Processing this data also requires large amounts of working memory, and the processor and graphics units are also pushed to the limit. The potency of the new devices enables things that were not possible before. According to Apple, it will now be possible to play seven streams of 8K ProRes or graded 8K HDR video simultaneously. Time is money - those who don‘t like to wait will be happy about…

Those who are familiar with Denon DJ‘s SC6000, SC6000M, SC5000 and SC5000M Media Players in everyday DJ life, know about the possibility that up to two decks and layers can be controlled, but only one jog wheel is available. In order to be able to put together a setup with two decks, the new LC6000 DJ controller was created as a supporting aid to the inhouse media players, in order to still be able to mix professionally. The design of this newcomer has also been coherently aligned with the media players. In another function, the LC6000 can also be used as a software controller with renowned DJ programs such as Serato DJ Pro, Algoriddim djay Pro and VirtualDJ 2021. Connections and navigation The LC6000 Prime has nothing more than a…

Feature: Get tracks done The objective is clear: more songs and tracks have to be finalised. But not heartlessly and according to a template, but polished and with attention to detail. How can this be achieved when time and muse do not play along at the push of a button in everyday life? The BEAT editorial team has a lot of tips and helpers at the ready to get your studio workflow up to speed and ultimately make more projects ready for release. Review: Studio Electronic SE-3X The SE-3X is a further development of the monophonic classic SE-1(X), which was released almost 30 years ago and has since enriched many productions with rich analogue sounds. The sound generation, which is based on the Minimoog, was supplemented with additional filters in…