Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i Future Music

Filter Akai unveil standalone APCinspired production station, Force Hybrid music production/performance platforms – think NI’s Maschine – have been with us a while now, so there’s been speculation that, one day, someone would eliminate the need for a computer and produce a completely standalone device. Well, meet Akai Pro's Force, a self-contained ‘production instrument’ that adheres to the clip-based workflow many of us are so drawn to; a natural next step for Akai, who released a couple of standalone MPC devices – MPC Live and X – in 2017, but it’s still a bold one. So what does it offer? As well as clip launching, via an 8x8 RGB matrix, the Force also has step sequencing, sampling, effects and a selection of built-in synths, while everything can be controlled from…

Technique Ultra-modern Mixing ULTRA-MODERN MIXING Catch the latest and greatest mixing tools and techniques in action, and do your best work yet with our guide Mixing has come a long way from what it once was. From a hardware-based analogue setup controlled from a console and racks of outboard gear, to the computer-based setup we know today, we’ve seen a lot of changes. No longer are you limited in the number of channels, in the number of times you can use one processor, or even in the speed it takes to make changes and compare different options. The modern producer has a huge amount of choice in every regard, and the quality of the tools at our disposal would be mindbending to someone working a few decades ago. Today’s compressors…

Advanced sidechain processing By making a dedicated channel for the sidechain, we can do almost any kind of processing to it Some compressors let you filter the sidechain signal (whether the internal or external one), most often to exclude bass frequencies from the compression response. We can actually go much further using the signal routing capabilities of modern DAWs. By isolating your sidechain signal on a separate channel, we can process it like any other channel in the project, adding processors that will – instead of being heard directly – influence the compressor’s behaviour to further refine the gain reduction we get. You can use this technique with an external signal or with the one you’re compressing, by sending the signal out first for processing, before it hits the compressor.…

In The Studio With Jazzanova Jazzanova The Berlin-based four-piece DJ/producer collective have set the bar with their sample-based melange of house, hip-hop and jazz. Danny Turner talks to Axel Reinemer about their long-awaited fourth album, The Pool © Marie Staggat Formed by Axel Reinemer and Stefan Leisering during the mid-’90s – not long after the fall of the Berlin wall, a group of DJs pooled their collective talents to create Jazzanova. Self-taught, with little access to gear, sampling became their stock in trade. As founders of the Sonar Kollektiv label, their debut album In Between would not arrive until 2002, expertly curated via the manipulation of samples culled from neo-soul, broken beat, modern jazz and deep house records. The album’s success paved the way for an intense period of demand,…

Using the Multi-Engine The Multi-Engine is a whole sound compendium in itself; you can make sounds with it exclusively or use it in addition to the two VCOs. Our advice is to devote some time to exploring it in isolation, as its scope is huge! First off, listen to the different characters of the noise options on offer in noise mode. Each type (high, low, peak, decimate) can add varying texture and air to VCO-based sounds, or you can use the LFO or sequencer to modulate the shape parameter of each noise type for evolving noise-based sounds and atmospheres. Using noise, some filter resonance plus delay or reverb is a great recipe for killer transition sounds and up or down sweeps during a live set (and you can shape the…

Korg Minilogue XD Sequencer and Arpeggiator performance ideas With a 16-step sequencer that records four lanes of motion, the XD is a winner for live sets 01 Start from an initialised patch. Select Chord mode then Mono mode using the Voice Mode Depth dial. Select a saw wave on each VCO, add some detuning then add in a square wave on the Multi-Engine to add further weight, tweaking its shape/pitch to taste! 02 Bring down the filter cutoff, set AD envelope to cutoff, then turn up the intensity. Keep attack fastest, set decay for a plucked-like initial transient. Use the AD/ ADSR to sculpt the sound further. Switch filter drive to 50%, add resonance for juice. Balance cutoff with intensity amount. 03 Set tempo to 60bpm to give the feel…

In The Studio With Selling Selling Two electronic music giants collide, as Gold Panda and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco collaborate under the name ‘Selling’. Danny Turner visits their recording space to learn how they were inspired by each other’s gear © Will Ireland Born out of a decade-long friendship, and despite Simian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw already mixing two Gold Panda records, it took 10 years for these two electronic titans to pool their collective talents. If anything, the duo might seem to perfectly match, both having produced similarly immersive electronica with fragments of house and techno. The main difference lies in their production routines. SMD, itself a collaboration between Shaw and James Ford, is founded on an ever-growing bond with modular synths and hardware sequencers. Meanwhile, Gold…

QUICK TIPS 1 Folding a simple sine wave into more complex timbres is one of the defining factors of West Coast synthesis. Not only can it be used to create evolving sequences, but you can also create gnarly basses, leads and drones suitable for abrasive genres like techno or DnB. 2 AD/AR envelopes can often be set to a ‘looping’ mode, where the envelope shape repeats over and over. Use this to modulate volume or wave shape, then another modulator signal to sweep the repeat rate for ‘winding up/down’ effects. 3 As with any type of modular synthesis, you’re encouraged to get creative with your patching experiments. Use modulators to modulate other modulators, sweep multiple parameters with one signal, and get sequencers in on it. 4 West Coast synthesis can…

West Coast Synthesis Building a West Coast percussion preset in Easel V Let’s fire up Arturia’s colourful Buchla Easel V and patch together a trippy West Coast sequence 01 > After loading the Default preset, we’ll head to the synth’s Sequential Voltage Source – a five-step sequencer – and drag the five sliders around to create a random sequence. We then patch two cables from the sequencer’s output into the Dual Lo Pass Gate’s two mod inputs. 02 > Next, we pull down both of these mod amount sliders to around 2. The Dual Lo Pass Gate is now dampening the sequencer-triggered outputs of both the Complex (Gate 1) and Modulation (Gate 2) oscillators. We then crank up Master Volume for more level, and raise Reverb for some springy ambience.…

THE VOLCA HARDWARE For the most part, the Volca Drum’s hardware stick to the range’s established specs. As usual, the instrument is powered by AA batteries but also has a power input for use with a 9V power adapter. Audio output is provided by a 3.5mm headphone output or (middling) built-in speaker, and the standard pulse sync and MIDI-in ports are present and correct. The most notable variation here comes in the form of an upgraded LCD screen, which looks great and offers a higher level of detail than those on most other Volcas. The front panel is covered with a sleek-looking plate of etched aluminium too.…

RELEASE MORE MUSIC “Over time, I’ve realised that the existence of a song is very volatile, and eventually ends up not belonging to you anymore. Given that we live shared experiences, I think that publishing can help develop you as an artist. Showing your art and being exposed and vulnerable is the most enlightening experience of your life. Have reasons for not publishing, instead of searching for reasons todo it.” Island composing “Inside a project file, when making a big decision in the structure of the song or arrangement, try to do copies next to the song you are making the change on. You’ll end up with a linear sequence of variations of the same song (like islands), and a visual evolution of the process in time. This also gives…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… TTC Bâtards Sensibles Essential 2004 LP from the French rap crew who were partial to a little bit of Berlin electronica. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Ebisu Rendez-vous, Dans Le Club, Latest Dance Craze Modeselektor Boomkat Selected Mixtapes Volume 4 The party-ready mash up mix of club hip-hop and techy beats that inspired an anthem on Hello Mom!. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Tizzy Tixbown Riddim (MDSLKTR’s Barbielon Version), Light Your Ass On Fire, I House You Dabrye Two/Three 2006 album from roommate, Tadd Mullinix. These types of dope beats would have sounded round the house, back then. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: The Stand, My Life, Game Over LFO Sheath This album, from 2003, was a constant reference point for Modeselektor as they tinkered with…

Ultramodern Mixing Esoteric dynamics defined A standard compressor will bring down the level of a signal once that signal has passed the threshold. Another term for this is downward compression – in other words, the dynamic range is being compressed by bringing louder parts of the signal downward. Sure, we usually just call it ‘compression’, but the distinction becomes useful when you encounter something called upward compression. Upward compression again leaves us with a lower dynamic range in our signal, only here it’s done by bringing the quietest parts upward in level when they’re below a certain threshold. In FabFilter’s Pro-MB, for example, this is achieved by increasing the Range parameter to a positive value while in compression mode. Now add two other concepts to the equation: upward expansion and…

MIXING MYTHS FALSE It is not always necessary to high-pass every track in a mix. This might be useful for recorded material, but it can often cause more problems than it solves, due to the phase changes caused by using analogue-style filter tools. FALSE The classic EQ advice is to cut and not boost… but this stems from the days when a main objective of mixing was to keep the noise floor as low as possible. You don’t have to be so cautious with digital EQs. FALSE DAWs don’t sound different to one another. The underlying digital calculations that sum tracks together are simply additions – adding two numbers together – which can’t sound any better in one than another. It’s the inbuilt instruments and effects that determine its ‘sound’.…

Spikes in time The transient shaper isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – producers seem to either ignore them or swear by them. These dynamics devices are, sort of, in a class of their own, capable of certain tricks that others aren’t, due to the different way in which they operate. With the shortening of modern music’s dynamic range, you may think that transients would have lost their power altogether, but not so. In fact, transient shapers can be a way to combat this, eking out every last drop of potential from those squeezed transients with new tricks that keep the limit but enhance the sound. SPL’s Transient Designer is a classic shaper design. With only three knobs – Attack, Sustain and Output Gain – the idea here is to increase…

AXEL’S ESSENTIAL GEAR UTA UnFairchild 670M II “The most impressive-sounding compressor I’ve ever had.” UTA MPEQ-1 “The EQ section on this one is unreal. When you sweep through the bands it feels like a synth.” Fulltone Tube Tape Echo “Nice combination of tube and tape. The tube distortion is really fat and always helps add more personality.” Bricasti M7 “The lushest and widest reverb around.” Strymon pedals “Most used are the Blue Sky, Brigadier and Deco Tape.” Neumann mixing console “Custom-made for the Berlin concert house in 1991. The heart of my control room.” Neumann U67 “If I only had one mic, it would be this.” UAD plugins “I use the 1176s and the Fairchild collection a lot.” FabFilter plugins “I use the Q2 for corrective EQ – to cut…

Modulation and envelopes for adding movement Sculpting sounds is child’s play on the XD; the LFO, envelopes and targets are key to adding movement. Here’s how... Although the XD has a single LFO, it can target one of three destinations (at audio rates). You can also record LFO/envelope tweaks into the sequencer (and assign LFO rate/intensity to the joystick for further fun)! You can send the LFO to Oscillator Pitch (the oscillators targeted are set in the menu), to osc shape or filter cutoff. Alongside this, the AD envelope can be sent to the pitch of all oscillators, Osc 2 only or Filter Cutoff. Between all of these settings, there’s plenty to get a great vibe happening intuitively. In addition, the ADSR (hardwired to the VCA) allows you to sculpt…

ESSENTIAL GEAR Roland Juno-106 “It’s the opposite of FM, super-easy, quick to use and sounds good wherever you put the faders.” Roland TR-606 “While it’s a lovely drum machine, the mods make it odder and trashier and give you some room to carve some dynamics into a take.” Roland SH-09 “Just turning it on, the basic sound you get is just so good.” Sequentix Cirklon “This had quite a strong influence on the new album.” Yamaha TX81Z “The thing that makes the TX fun is the controller. It allows you to make changes to sounds without having to navigate the menu system on a faded LCD screen.” Nord Lead “A very simple two-operator FM but super nice-sounding in a frizzy, chilly way.” Studer 089 Console “Lovely to use for synths…

Interview Enrico Sangiuliano Enrico Sangiuliano The Italian techno figurehead talks us through his studio setup and how he gets creative in the DJ booth © Joseph Branston Italian producer Enrico Sangiuliano has been one of the fastest-rising names in techno over the past few years. With a background in sound engineering and a natural ear for percussion, his productions turn a stripped-back mix of synths and drum sounds into tracks that are both propulsive and epic in equal measure. Following releases for the likes of Drumcode and Truesoul, and ear-catching remixes of Moby and Armand Van Helden, 2018 saw Sangiuliano release his debut full-length album, Biomorph. FM caught up with him at last year’s ADE festival to talk studio gear, hypnotic synths and more. “Don’t start from presets. It influences…

FMCHOICE Six of the best West Coast-inspired virtual instruments Arturia Buchla Easel V One of Arturia’s latest software replicas of famous hardware. We like the up-to-five-step sequencer, rugged Complex Oscillator and experimental patching capabilities. Propellerhead Complex-1 Propellerhead’s three-osc monster not only serves up a Complex Oscillator and Function section for West Coast timbres, but also throws in East Coast functionality, too. Madrona Labs Aalto Excelling at all types of West Coast sounds, this Buchla-inspired beast features a complex oscillator, sequencer per voice, vactrolemulating lo-pass gate and more. Reaktor Blocks NI’s accessible modular environment has the bundled West Coast Blocks: a DWG osc, LPG lo-pass gate, CFG modulation hub and XYS step sequencer/gate. Gumroad Floats for VCV Rack A combined envelope, LFO and osc for the free VCV Rack environment. Its…

Nicky Romero VIDEO ON FILESILO Nicky Romero The Dutch dance music figurehead and Protocol boss talks plugins, inspiration and why you can’t force musical ideas © Joseph Branston Nicky Romero is something of a titan of the European electronic music scene. A producer of hit records, hugely in-demand DJ and owner of the influential Protocol label, the Dutch artist has collaborated with the likes of Rihanna, David Guetta and Britney Spears, and remixed countless others. He’s lent his name to several plugins in recent years, including Sonic Academy’s original Kick drum designer, and sidechain-centric Cableguys collaboration Kickstart. FMcaught up with Nicky late last year at ADE to find out more about his current studio workflow. What’s your current studio setup? And which of that gear most inspires you? “It’s pretty…

THE ALTERNATIVES Korg Minilogue £415 Still going strong with many well-known acts, the original sounds nicely different to the XD and offers a multimode filter too. Great for travelling with too. korg.com Korg Prologue 8 £949 Korg’s flagship analogue eight-voice poly offers a four-octave keybed, Multi-Engine, two VCOs per-voice, nicely textured two-pole filter with drive and stereo effects with user import. Bitimbrality allows layering and splits. korg.com Roland JD-XA £1399 Four analogue voices (two DCOs per-voice), ring mod, cross mod, mono/ poly modes, extensive effects, 64-note poly digital engine, 16-track sequencer with motion recording, four-octave keybed with aftertouch and a whole lot more! roland.co.uk…

M-Audio M-Track 8X4M M-Audio M-Track 8X4M £260 If looks are important, this stylish audio MIDI interface may be for you. Jon Musgrave gets tracking M-Track 8X4M is the latest C-Series USB audio and MIDI interface from M-Audio. It’s a mid-sized eight-in, four-out desktop unit with a simple one-knob-per-function design and looks pretty basic. However, the slick black surface comes to life on power up, as a bunch of coloured button labels appear alongside large four-part LED signal meters. However, lights mean power, and the 8X4M is not USB bus powered (you’ll need the included PSU). Given the switch designs and overall shape there’s something retro about the 8X4M’s looks. Even so, in technical terms it’s all but retro, with up to 24-bit 192kHz operation, M-Audio’s transparent Crystal mic pres and…

ROUND-UP Levelling plugins Getting levels balanced throughout a track can be very time consuming. Streamline the volume automation process with these handy tools Accusonus ERA Voice Leveler $59 Also available in Accusonus’ ERA bundle of like-minded audio clean-up processors, Voice Leveler uses few controls, leaving processing voodoo unseen. Set your intended output level, and push up the big Processing knob to define the amount of processing – automatic gating, detection and timing definitions are all handled intelligently. Normal and Tight modes change the results, but their impact depends on the material and recording quality; meanwhile Emphasis automatically applies EQ if a signal is spectrally off-the-mark. Getting a vocal up to a decent, consistent dynamic range is remarkably easy, though changing the processing strength and output level don’t seem to have…

FM VERDICT THE HIGH PERFORMER There’s nothing better than the real thing. Luckily, the OX Amp Top Box is even better than the real thing. A big plus is that it’s so easy to use. We were really quite amazed at the new life it breathed into our test amplifier. The OX is pretty much your amp, but on steroids. THE BEST VALUE The Bias Mini Guitar only just pips the Headrush for  its thorough, detailed amp modelling. Like the Headrush, the Amp Designer software also gives access to an online community of users sharing models and presets.…

FM CLASSIC ALBUM Modeselektor Hello Mom! BPitch Control, 2005 Words by Roy Spencer © Birgit Kaulfuss Back at the dawn of the new millennium, thriving art communities took root in downtown Berlin as they’d done for decades. This was before the heavy hand of gentrification swooped in and flicked all the weirdoes and musicians out. You could live in a big old building with likeminded nutters and make beautiful music for a pittance. “That’s what we did,” says Gernot Bronsert of Modeselektor. “Now it’s not affordable anymore. If you want to buy a flat there it’s around€10,000 for a square meter. Back then we paid, like, 150 bucks a month!” Gernot, along with Sebastian Szary, hunkered down in this cheap and cheerful little world and made the beats that would…

FM ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH Ossia Devil’s Dance Blackest Ever Black Bristol-based producer and label owner Dan Davies has developed an impressive network of innovative, underground imprints within the city over the last few years. From No Corner to Hotline Recordings, Lava Lava, Peng Sound and FuckPunk, Davies has built a distinctive and uncompromising wave of fresh underground energy. His debut album, out on Blackest Ever Black is no less singular. Channelling dark, dubby energy and snarling industrial mechanics, Devil’s Dance sucks you into its tense, unnerving, and subterranean world. His mutant strain of dub techno is addictively disorientating and infectious, constructing immersive soundscapes out of a ramshackle collection of smudged bass, layers of distortion, decaying structures, rattling rhythms and otherworldly synth lines. Drawing on elements of techno,…

Ultra-modern Mixing Advanced compressor and EQ controls explained Auto Makeup As compression triggers gain reduction, we usually set a Makeup Gain parameter to re-level the signal. Auto Makeup makes this happen for you, often informed by the average gain reduction that’s going on. Feedback/Feedforward Every compressor (or other dynamics device) consists of a detector and amplifier in a circuit. The detector measures the signal, and this measurement is used to control the amplifier. On a circuit level, the detector’s input can be taken from before (feedforward) or after (feedback) the amplifier, with its output still controlling the amplifier in each case. Hold A control to supplement a compressor’s attack and release times, in effect ‘holding’ the gain reduction in the same place after the signal has breached the threshold. With…

Transient shaping on guitar Guitar sounds are very dynamic and often need heavy compression. Try using a transient shaper beforehand to bring down the highest peaks Earlier on in the article we discussed serial compression, a technique for reining in especially dynamic signals and bringing them under control using two stages of compression. The guitar is one such signal, springing between huge transient spikes and minor details, probably thanks to its sensitive magnetic pickups and the force that can be used to engage the strings to ring out. The technique is also relevant when the first, peak-scalping compressor is replaced with a transient shaper. There’s not loads of difference, but the way a transient shaper is designed allows it to clamp down on peaks in a slightly different way (that…

Snow THE TRACK Throwing Snow Simmer Houndstooth, 2018 © Joby Sessions Musical polymath Ross Tones is a veritable jack of all trades: as well as his diverse solo work as Throwing Snow, he’s collaborated with DnB artists OneMind, is half of Snow Ghosts with Hannah Cartwright, scores for film and TV, and runs his own label, A Future Without. We caught up with Ross in his studio in rural Wiltshire to find out how he created the dancefloor bubbler Simmerfrom his latest albumLoma. How does Simmer fit into the context of the album? “The last albumEmberswas quite complex, a continuous piece of music: one track would end and kind of fall apart and then be re-imagined as the next track... so it was really complicated to do! ForLomaI wanted it…

PRODUCER’S GUIDE Korg Minilogue XD Korg’s new Minilogue XD has recently caused a big stir in synth world, offering the same compact and reasonably priced form factor of the original Minilogue with features taken from Korg’s newer ‘Logue’ products (which include the baby Monologue and the big daddy; aka the Prologue)! The biggest news is that the synth now includes the versatile and powerful Multi-Engine from the Prologue which offers up several noise options and VPM (FM) oscillators, along with the user-oscillator/effect import feature which is really starting to come into its own on the Prologue. In addition, we now have the Prologue’s beautiful stereo effects to work with and these can also be motion-sequenced by the XD’s onboard sequencer (which we’ll be exploring in this Producer’s Guide). We’ll also…

QUICK TIPS 1 Using Microtuning: who wants the same old scales all the time anyway? Using the Microtuning and User Octaves function can really help inspire new tonal explorations. Break with the norm! 2 For achieving a wider sound, the XD doesn’t have voice panning like the Prologue but your go-tos for a wider sound include the ping/ pong and panning delays, plus stereo chorus too. 3 For extending sequences using the Arp and Favourites: the sequencer/arpeggiator can work simultaneously – record a mono sequence then use the poly (and other) Arp modes to develop your sequence further. Arps record too! 4 With sequencer modulation, you can use the sequencer for melodic content but also for modulating sounds too. Motion-sequence several parameters, then hold notes and let the sequencer transform…

Korg Minilogue XD Making a triple oscillator textured pad with FX The Multi-Engine and two VCOs allow the creation of complex hybrid sounds. See for yourself… 01 Dial up an initialised preset, make sure you’re in Poly mode and start with two saw waves. For a softer/hollower sound, use triangles/square waves. Bring up Oscillator 2’s level and then you can add some detuning via its pitch control until your sound is fattened up nicely. 02 Switch on the ring modulation and add a little cross modulation to add some further texture and movement to the sound. Things should now be sounding much more interesting than just two stacked VCOs would (which is what we basically have)! Now let’s employ the LFO. 03 Each oscillator has a modulatable shape parameter that…

MODULAR MONTHLY Creative Limiting DPW Designs L-1 is a triple limiter for Eurorack that will really get your creative juices flowing You’re in a bar and in walks a slim, 6hp, seemingly simple Eurorack module and what do you do? Beyond questioning your own sanity, you probably wouldn’t think much of it. But – and we can’t say this enough – utilities are the things that totally ignite a modular system, so don’t overlook them. Why? Well the L-1 from DPW Designs may seem utilitarian in nature but it unlocks serious sound design power in the Eurorack format. The L-1 is a triple channel limiter that can be AC or DC-coupled (more on that later) and has a simple input-level-output per channel. It’s deceptively simple but distortion, compression, limiting, waveshaping,…

EXPLAINER West Coast synthesis Let’s head West and deconstruct Don Buchla’s pioneering approach to experimental sound generation As the FMteam fly to Anaheim, CA for this year’s NAMM Show, let’s take a look at the region’s beloved method of synthesis that has inspired experimental synth musicians the world over. New York’s Robert Moog and California’s Don Buchla are probably the most famous synth pioneers, both independently creating the first analogue electronic synths in the late ’70s. Moog’s East Coast style forms the basis of subtractive sound generation as we know it: fairly simplistic, musical and therefore ‘traditional’. Here, harmonic signals generated by voltages (voltage-controlled oscillators, or VCAs) are blended, then filtered with a voltage-controlled filter (VCF) to create new harmonic waveforms. The filter and/or amplitude is then modulated by four-stage…

Suitcase synthesis with the Buchla Music Easel Join us as we explore Don Buchla’s legendary semi-modular instrument using a modern software emulation… Packing tons of personality into a suitcase form factor, Buchla’s Music Easel is as distinctive in sound as it is in appearance. Thanks to its snappy modulators and plentiful patching options, it’s a synthesiser that excels at strange sequences, West Coast percussion, experimental drones, out-there textures, techno-style spiky rhythms and more. In our next tutorials, we’ll explore the Music Easel and West Coast synthesis using Arturia’s Buchla Easel V, a modern software recreation. Before creating a distinctive West Coast patch over the page, we’ll look at the instrument’s two oscillators: the Complex Oscillator, a wave-foldable two-part signal generator; and the Modulation Oscillator, a modulator that can operate at…

Korg Minilogue XD Korg Minilogue XD £565 Three years after the Minilogue was launched, it’s time to welcome the Minilogue XD. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman ‘logues a glowing report I’m a big lover of Korg’s ‘Logues. Each model offers something unique for a wide range of budgets. This new model slots comfortably into the Logue range between the original Minilogue and the Prologue 8. The XD is built into the same case as the original Minilogue and build quality feels similarly tough and roadworthy. Once again, the case is metal, the rear panel is wood and the pots are all metal-shafted and sturdy, topped off with black plastic knob caps with grey pointer lines to show positions (Prologue-style shiny silver pointers would have been clearer in-use though). The buttons are the…

Korg Volca Drum Korg Volca Drum £150 The compact Volca range gains a digital beat machine. Si Truss can’t get enough… The third percussion-focused instrument in Korg’s Volca range does things a bit differently. While the previous Volca beatmakers – Volca Beats and Kick – both condensed analogue drum synths into the range’s compact hardware format, the Drum uses digital synthesis to create a percussive palette that’s broader, and weirder, than its predecessors. Rather than use PCM samples as many digital drum machines do, the Volca Drum’s sound engine uses a system of virtual analogue oscillators, modulators and resonators to create its percussive sounds. The sound engine has six parts, each of which is identical to the others, so you’re not restricted to, say, using a certain part just for…

Reviews | Audiaire Zone Audiaire Zone £99 Does the world need another wavetable synth plugin? As Si Truss discovers, Zone makes a solid case for ‘yes’… Z one, the debut plugin from Audiaire, is a virtual instrument designed to go toe-to-toe with ‘power synth’ plugins like Xfer Serum or Vengeance Sound’s Avenger. Inevitably – as is the way of things with modern synth plugins – at its heart are a pair of wavetable oscillators, which here come stocked with a library of 151 sample files but also allow users to upload their own. Given that Audiaire is the latest venture of Sample Magic founder and hardware aficionado Sharooz, it comes as little surprise that the library of wavetables features an assortment of lovingly-recorded analogue synth sounds. These range from bread-and-butter…

Reviews | Mutable Stages Mutable Stages £255 Billed as a Swiss Army Knife-style ‘modulation construction set’, Mutable’s latest offering has Philip Wise intrigued… The latest in Mutable Instruments’ new line-up, Stages is a less flashy module than the preceding Plaits and Marbles. At first glance, it’s simply an envelope generator; a replacement for the discontinued Peaks offering far greater flexibility. Pretty much any type of envelope is achievable and the six inputs let you alter the Time/Level of each step via CV. The attack/decay curves can also be shaped from logarithmic through linear to exponential, giving great control over the expressiveness of your sound. However there is much more on offer here than just an envelope. Like Maths or the Serge DUSG that inspired it, this is a Swiss Army…

User effects/oscs for Prologue It’s not clear how to load these in? One of the most intriguing features on Korg’s flagship Prologue is the ability to load in custom user oscillators and effects, but it’s not immediately apparent how to do this, or where to find effects. However, again, there are already some great free user effects out there and Len’s free effects (found at github.com/len/korg-prologue/tree/master/builds ) work great. His first effect forays include Split (to send layers to separate outs) plus ring mod, amp mod, tremolo, autopan and pluck/organ oscillators. Other third parties making paid-for content include DirtboxSynth ( dirtboxsynth.com ), Eduoard Digital (edouard. digital) and SineVibes ( sinevibes.com ). Here’s how to install them… Firstly, ensure your Prologue is updated to…