Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Computer Music

Dan Griffith, aka Gryffin, is a US DJ, songwriter and record producer who is fast carving himself out a fanbase of millions across Spotify and YouTube. He released his debut (and critically acclaimed) album Gravity in 2019, after making a name with a variety of melodic house tunes, including Heading Home with Josef Salvat (a Number One on the Spotify US charts) and Just For A Moment ft. Iselin (which has hit 51 million views on YouTube and counting). Since then he’s worked with Maroon 5, Carly Rae Jepsen, Aloe Blacc, AlunaGeorge, One Republic, Olivia O’Brien, and MØ among many others. So when he teamed up with Norwegian and Ed Sheeran remixer DJ Kygo late last year, the project was almost destined for success. The resulting single, Woke Up In…

Understanding how a compressor works doesn’t really reveal the breadth of outcomes it can achieve, and when you factor in the individual attack and release characteristics of different compressor designs it’s easy to see why people develop favourites for certain tasks. Here I’m focusing on one specific effect that requires a fast and flexible compressor. This technique, sometimes called snap compression, is a technique that fine-tunes the attack and release stages of your compressor to add punch or snap to a sound. It works best for back-beat sounds such as snares and rims, although it isn’t necessarily limited to these. What’s more, it’s an unapologetically audible compression effect where the sound of the compressor is what we’re utilising. When a sound starts with a sharp fast transient, a super fast…

Steinberg’s HALion (standalone, VST, AU, and AAX) is a do-everything plugin and features sampling, virtual instruments, a wealth of sound design and synthesis options and over 37GB of content. Version 6 was a big chapter in its story, a life which began as a humble virtual sampler way back in 2001. The Wavetable Zone was added to VA, granular and organ engines, the sampling options were increased and piano, brass and string instruments were included. Version 6 was designed to improve on HALion in some key ways. It had very much become a fabulous sound design tool, with plenty of elements to twist and turn the ingredients into something new, or create entirely fresh instruments. It did feel a little cumbersome, though – almost too powerful – and six years…

The mere mention of the Minimoog will bring a smile to the faces of most musically-minded people. But, there are times when you want just that little bit more. GForce Software are on hand to provide and deliver a Mini, with a hell-of-a-lot more. Classics reimagined We love the original Minimoog, and with plenty of great reimaginings in the software domain, we’re rather spoilt for choice. If you’re only interested in the basics, you will not be disappointed; a quick trip to the preset patch browser reveals the Init Patch button, which will reduce this plugin to its barest essentials and a good place to start our critique; the architecture is reassuringly familiar to all who’ve previously used a Minimoog, with three oscillators providing the initial heavy lifting. There are…

Audio analysis tools are a key component of modern music production so it’s tempting to upgrade your DAW offering with something more capable. Vision 4X (VST, VST3, AU, AAX and standalone) from Excite Audio and Dutch trio Noisia is such a plugin and bundles six key analysis and metering tools into one workspace. These are VU and RMS meters, spectrogram, bar graph analyser, waveform display and phase correlation meters. The plugin uses a single resizable window divided into four panes and these can be rescaled collectively within the window by dragging the panel divider to achieve 4, 2 and 1-panel configurations. Clicking on the tiny cog in the bottom left reveals a side panel with further settings including an option to rotate the display orientation. Other global settings include a…

Audiotent Patterns $56 Monumental drum library stocked with 1,000 expertly-programmed hits and loops. Each dynamic pattern, locked in at a rabble-rousing 122bpm, is clean and precise, with the full stereo field being worked for its grand groove potential. Drum styles and flavours are given their own space across the crates, allowing you to pull out the right sounds for the job. Choose from some moody modular percussion, loose live performances, found and foley funk and low-end patterns. Each has a tone and texture to die for – perfect for tribal house heads and freaky electro noise-mongers alike. www.audiotent.com 9/100 Zenhiser Convex £44 Supreme supply of blistering breakbeat and electrifying electro samples from the high-end sound scientists at Zenhiser. This bassline-heavy bunch will certainly put speaker stacks and trainer treads through…

Fancy a free softsynth, drum machine, compressor or reverb? You’re in luck! You can grab them all right now, plus a thousand other similar titles. Yes, the world of freeware has so many options that you can quickly and easily compile the main components of a virtual recording studio. But, the fact is that there are so many freeware options to choose from, that you could spend an age filling your bandwidth and hard drives with downloads and then what have you got? Severe plugin bloat and the tyranny of choice, that’s what! Inevitably, you’ll end up spending more time choosing and auditioning than you will creating. And that’s why, every year or so, we take a look at the whole ecosphere of free music software, to save you the…

Looking at the current freeware market for music creation software, as we have in this feature, it’s fair to say that there have never been as many good quality, and almost pro-sounding (and looking) freeware titles available. You could, should you wish, not spend a penny on making music; just fork out for your Mac, PC, phone or tablet, download a selection of titles and go. So what does this mean for music software developers around the world? Is it fair to say that people will tire of paying for music software? Is the subscription model the way forward? Let’s grapple with the big issues… Is the software behind the music under threat? The musicians who use music software have certainly benefitted more and more from cheap or free software…

“I’m convinced that this technology will replace stereo,” exclaims ARK360° COO Kristopher Winter, when asked of the future of the immersive audio formats that he and his team have been exclusively working in. Alongside CEO Ricky Barber, Winter and a globe-spanning cabal of engineers have been at the forefront of converting many of the world’s biggest tracks into immersive audio formats, specifically Sony’s 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos. Based at The Church Studios in Crouch End, London, ARK360° is not only working with labels and clients such as Sony, WMG, and UMG, but has recently built a bridge for new and emerging artists to both create, mix and present tracks in this all-encompassing format. The Immersive London project took a group of 30 London-based artists and producers and sought…

Audient’s EVO 16 was released at the end of last year to quite some acclaim. For around just £400 you get 24 ins and outs (made up of eight inputs with quality mic pres, eight outs and 16 further digital ins and outs) plus a couple of quite brilliant design extras. EVO 16 featured ‘Smartgain’ so you can automatically set input recording levels of all eight inputs with ridiculous ease. Simply plug in whatever inputs you like and the unit automatically set its levels in seconds. There are also some fabulous control software to partner it and a great screen that features Audient’s Motion UI technology, and it’s so clear and functional that the software is almost made redundant. What we have here is not just a partner for EVO…

Can it really be three years since we looked at SSL’s first forays into the budget interface market with the 2 and 2+? And what interfaces they were and still are. It was, for one thing, somewhat surreal to read the SSL name – still the epitome of unobtainable studio cool for many of us – on a product that cost a mere £180. The SSL 12 is the bigger new relation to those entry-level interfaces, featuring extra connectivity but still the option to inject some classic SSL character into your recordings. Before we get to that extra connectivity, let’s recap on that ‘classic’ angle. Big brother The SSL 4000 series consoles were used throughout the ’80s and ’90s on classic recordings by Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard and many more.…

Though no strangers to audio brutalisation, cinematic sample library stalwart Heavyocity has taken things to the next level with Uncharted 88. Tearing apart and re-moulding the internal organs of the piano into an impactful rhythmic instrument, Uncharted 88 is less ‘prepared’ piano, and more ‘traumatised’ piano. It can deliver thunderous impacts, snarling scratches, evocative atmospheres and metallic force. Leaning on the versatile engine and design aesthetic of Damage 2 (and flagged as an addition the ‘Damage’ family), Uncharted 88’s three main sections grant the ability to perform, mix, shape and loop these unique, often startling sounds. The Ensemble Designer brings us a top-down representation of the soundstage (Damage 2 users will be right at home here), wherein you can move specific sample elements around a 360 field, and harness the…

At Computer Music we aim to give you not only production advice but also awesome tools for your computer-based music. This includes free software and content either as part of our long established Computer Music Suite or through special limited edition offers. It’s the latter we have this month and it’s an absolute cracker. DH Plugins Halo (AU, VST, VST3) is the work of Dan Havers from drum & bass duo DC Breaks. It’s a hybrid ROMpler-style synth that uses samples sourced from both hardware and software synths. This carefully crafted sample set provides core edgy basses, pads and leads tailor made for drum & bass, dubstep and any bass-led electronic music. The samples are joined by two further sound generators (sub and synth) and a powerful package of processing…

Everything you need to arrange your tracks In the next issue we’re diving deep into the inner workings of our tracks to understand how we can improve arrangements prior to mixing. We’ll be exploring instrumentation, topline emphasis, drops and altering your track for live performance. Don’t miss it! PLUS! Auto-Bounce! Composer Tom Salta on his new time-saving plugin Free samples Our sample-heads rip apart and mangle their instruments... On test Cherry Audio Mercury-6, FL Studio 21 and many more……

Waves announces subscription model It seemed everybody had a take on Waves’ new subscription model… It’s one of the most well-respected and beloved plugin companies in the world, yet it certainly caused no small amount of consternation when Waves announced it was ending individual sales of its products and instead embracing a 100% subscription-only model. Shortly after announcing this, and a subsequent backlash, the company backtracked on its plans and instead pledged to continue to offer perpetual licenses for both individual and bundled plugins alongside the new subscription route. The subscription options range from the $15-a-month ‘Essential’ tier – which gives you 110 plugins at launch and access to a select number of new plugins as they become available – to the full-fat Ultimate subscription at $25 a month. The…

Welcome to the wild, unregulated west of the freeware world, where you could saddle up with an entire studio of big gun software applications, without spending a dime, or end up in the saloon, drunk on cheap whiskey and with a hard drive of unusable varmints. Let’s lose that ‘western’ thing and help you make sense of the world you’ve entered, starting with the simplest of scenarios… What’s free, what isn’t free Really there are two sorts of freeware options available: those titles that have been created to butter you up to pay for full-fat titles, and those that have simply been created for the love of programming and making music. Two worlds: a cynical, capitalist one only concerned with making money from your passion for music making, and another…

The ever popular and ubiquitous synth pad is the perfect example of a synth patch that has developed exponentially over its many years of production deployment. Emanating from synthetic string machines, which were one of the few polyphonic devices in use during the early ’70s, it didn’t take long for producers to find ever more ingenious ways of creating pad-like textures. While the sound of string machines was relatively plain, bolstering their basic tones with modulation effects, such as chorus, substantially thickened the texture. This was often coupled with the use of some form of gating effect; the basic square gate, which effectively switched the sound on and off in tempo, became a popular device, used by everyone from Roxy Music to The Who. As polysynths became more prevalent, the…

01 Dolby Atmos Production Suite £240 The official production software for mixing in Dolby Atmos. This suite allows for the editing of every corner of your Atmos mix, with 128 inputs able to be positioned and tweaked amid the Atmos field. While purchasing the full suite is pricey, a 30-day trial is also available. 02 Steinberg’s Nuendo 12 £895 If money is no object, then Steinberg’s industry-standard post-production mega-suite is more than capable of mixing, tweaking and adjusting Dolby Atmos mixes. The most recent addition includes a Binaural Renderer which gives you a complete immersive experience within any set of cans you own. 03 VISR Production Suite £FREE An open-source array of immersive audio tools, VISR Production Suite features a spherical workflow and the wider ability to synchronise your mix…

Some instruments are iconic; the Minimoog, Stradivarius violin, Steinway pianos, and we’d like to suggest one other instrument which fits a similar cult status, which can be referred to by a single word: Rhodes. Electro-mechanical software design So what is a Rhodes? In essence, it is an electric piano, but it resides in the electro-mechanical design camp. An original hardware Rhodes provides a piano-style keyboard, which triggers hammers that strike an element known as a tine. You can think of these as being the equivalent of strings on a piano, the added quotient being that the tine moves across a pickup, much like those found on an electric guitar, inducing an amplified signal (there is a little more to it than that, but that’s the bare bones). Company histories relating…

Last year, BLEASS released the SampleWiz 2 sampler app and AUv3 plugin for iOS. The app and plugin were developed in partnership with world-renowned keyboardist Jordan Rudess, the brains behind the first incarnation of SampleWiz. Now, BLEASS has released this same creativity-focussed sampler as a plugin for desktop-based hosts. Unlike big sampling beasts such as Kontakt and HALion, with their multiple layers and articulations, a SampleWiz 2 patch is built from just a single sample. Because of this, creating sounds with the plugin is more of an enjoyable creative process than the painstaking technical process of creating a detailed multi-sampled instrument would be. In no time at all you can go from grabbing a sound to having an original and fully playable instrument. Sample engines The sample at the heart…

Yes it’s been a decade since we looked at Rayblaster from Tone2, so it’s about time we revisited this synth to see how it has matured. And it really has upped its game, but before that, we will address why it was revolutionary in the first place, before we decide whether it still is… New and not so new Impulse Modeling Synthesis (IMS) is what we’re talking about here (more detail about that in the box, right). We could be pedantic and add that this isn’t quite the “revolutionary, new synthesis method” that Tone2 states, simply as it’s at least 10 years old. However it still delivers enough intrigue and complex promises to put many newer synthesis methods in the shade. Essentially it attempts to combine the best of waveshaping,…

Bass and Leads 1 Robbie at Cyclick’s results combine analogue and digital textures, creating enrapturing loops and one-shots “This sample pack provides a set of bass and lead synth lines in loop form (either two or four bars in length) across ten tempos. Each tempo folder contain six bass lines and six lead lines which were created as complementary pairs by key. Where there are two pairs of the same key, a number suffix has been added to the filename. “The One-Shots folder houses a simple set of bass tones and pitch drops, as well as lead-synth single notes that have been fed into zingy, fizzy reverbs for some additional track adornments. “The samples were created with a combination of analogue and digital synths (see below) which were constantly tweaked…