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100 Articles

When you write regularly about music technology, as we do here at FM, there’s sometimes a risk that you can end up getting so worked up about new gear and technology that you lose sight of the real ‘point’ of all this stuff – the music itself. Sure, a new synth plugin or modular rig can be exciting in its own right, but unless it inspires creativity, then surely it’s nothing but an expensive toy? This issue’s cover feature is all about drawing a connection between those two sides of what we do – tracing the roots of one of the most important genres in electronic music, and seeing how its been shaped by gear, technology and multiple generations of ever-more adventurous musicians and producers.…

IN THE ARCHIVE – UPDATED!

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 samples) > Overloaded Beats (889 samples) ESSENTIAL DRUMS > 808 and 909 (39 samples) > Ultimate Cymbals (503 samples) > Ultimate Kick Bundle (505 samples) > Ultimate Snares & Claps (676 samples) > Vintage Drum Machine Hits (548 samples) FX & TRANSITIONS PT.1 > Filter Fun (496 samples) > Gates ‘N’ Sidechains (287 samples) >…

WELCOME Techno logic When you write regularly about music technology, as we do here at FM, there’s sometimes a risk that you can end up getting so worked up about new gear and technology that you lose sight of the real ‘point’ of all this stuff – the music itself. Sure, a new synth plugin or modular rig can be exciting in its own right, but unless it inspires creativity, then surely it’s nothing but an expensive toy? This issue’s cover feature is all about drawing a connection between those two sides of what we do – tracing the roots of one of the most important genres in electronic music, and seeing how its been shaped by gear, technology and multiple generations of ever-more adventurous musicians and producers. Si Truss,…

THE LATEST BATCH

AMBIENCE EXTRAS > Ambient Orchestral (246 samples) > Ambient Piano (469 samples) > Sound From The Ether (492 samples) BASS BUNDLE > Amped-Up Bass (234 samples) > Sub-Frequency Grooves (256 samples) FOUND FAVOURITES > Mechanical Sounds (390 samples) > Out There FX (500 samples) > Studio Noise (234 samples) > The Edge Of Noise (512 samples) > The Sound Of Water (375 samples) FUTURE DRUMS > Beyond Breakbeats (186 samples) > Digital Percussion (502 samples) > Electro FX (321 samples) > Granular Drums (499 samples) MORE BEATS > ‘80s Pop Drums (197 samples) > Dub Percussion 2 (537 samples) > Jazz Drums (499 samples) > Total Snares (501 samples) SYNTHS & MORE > Chord Stabs (136 samples) > Clone Wars (523 samples) > Percussive Leads (289 samples) > VHS Synths (207 samples)…

Loopcloud 6 can use AI to recommend sounds for your latest track

There was a time when buying a sample pack was a relatively simple transaction – cough up cash and receive a themed bundle in return. Recent years though, have seen the race between online sample suppliers hotting up significantly, with Loopmasters – now owned by Beatport – facing off with the likes of Splice and NI’s Sounds to find increasingly creative, convenient ways to serve up fresh sounds for your latest project. In the case of Loopmasters, this is facilitated by Loopcloud, the company’s plugin-come-storefront, which has recently been updated to version 6. The headline feature of Loopcloud 6 is a new AI-assisted search tool, powered by technology from Jamahook, which can suggest new sounds for your project using an analysis of any sound in the Loopcloud library as a starting…

Loopcloud 6 can use AI to recommend sounds for your latest track

IN THE ARCHIVE – UPDATED!

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…

THE LATEST BATCH

THE LATEST BATCH AMBIENCE EXTRAS > Ambient Orchestral (246 samples) > Ambient Piano (469 samples) > Sound From The Ether (492 samples) BASS BUNDLE > Amped-Up Bass (234 samples) > Sub-Frequency Grooves (256 samples) FOUND FAVOURITES > Mechanical Sounds (390 samples) > Out There FX (500 samples) > Studio Noise (234 samples) > The Edge Of Noise (512 samples) > The Sound Of Water (375 samples) FUTURE DRUMS > Beyond Breakbeats (186 samples) > Digital Percussion (502 samples) > Electro FX (321 samples) > Granular Drums (499 samples) MORE BEATS > ‘80s Pop Drums (197 samples) > Dub Percussion 2 (537 samples) > Jazz Drums (499 samples) > Total Snares (501 samples) SYNTHS & MORE > Chord Stabs (136 samples) > Clone Wars (523 samples) > Percussive Leads (289 samples)…

Focusrite buys Sequential (and Dave Smith’s analogue synths)

In a significant music tech industry development, British audio company Focusrite have announced that they're acquiring Dave Smith’s highly respected Sequential synth brand. Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974, designing the legendary Prophet-5 and many other influential synths and drum machines. He was also a key player in the development of the original MIDI spec, announced in 1981. Smith returned to the hardware synth market in 2002, starting Dave Smith Instruments. Over the past two decades, his products have been a crucial part of the analogue revival. Dave Smith Instruments was rebranded as Sequential in 2018, with Yamaha having returned the name to Smith in 2015. A rebooted Prophet-5 was released in 2020. Sequential now joins the Focusrite Group’s family of brands, which includes Focusrite, Focusrite Pro, Martin Audio, Optimal Audio, ADAM Audio, Novation,…

Focusrite buys Sequential (and Dave Smith’s analogue synths)

Ableton Loop Create event will connect musicians from around the world

Following its enforced postponement last year, Ableton’s Loop event is returning for 2021 – albeit in an online-only format. Loop Create will take place on 26-27 June, and is designed to bring together music-makers from all around the world. This will be hosted on the Ableton Loop microsite, with sessions kicking off at 11am CET and continuing throughout the two days. Sessions will then be repeated to suit different time zones. The sessions, which are designed to offer insights and techniques, will be presented in different formats, and hosted by artists, musicians, ‘technologists’ and educators. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet each other in “facilitated conversations”. Loop Create is free to attend for anyone who registers, with registration opening on 26 May.…

Ableton Loop Create event will connect musicians from around the world

Loopcloud 6 can use AI to recommend sounds for your latest track

FILTER Loopcloud 6 can use AI to recommend sounds for your latest track Loopmasters’ sample store also adds new search tools, extra effects and much more There was a time when buying a sample pack was a relatively simple transaction – cough up cash and receive a themed bundle in return. Recent years though, have seen the race between online sample suppliers hotting up significantly, with Loopmasters – now owned by Beatport – facing off with the likes of Splice and NI’s Sounds to find increasingly creative, convenient ways to serve up fresh sounds for your latest project. In the case of Loopmasters, this is facilitated by Loopcloud, the company’s plugin-come-storefront, which has recently been updated to version 6. The headline feature of Loopcloud 6 is a new AI-assisted search…

Loopcloud 6 can use AI to recommend sounds for your latest track

Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core puts an audio interface inside a USB microphone

There are plenty of USB condenser microphones out there, and some also serve as USB audio interfaces, but Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core goes a step further by offering modelled versions of 18 classic microphones, too. The story starts with the mic hardware – there’s a gold-sputtered diaphragm that’s designed to give a flat frequency response and give you as accurate a representation of your original sound as possible. The cardioid pickup pattern promises to minimise noise and put the focus on what’s going on in front of the mic rather than anywhere else. The hybrid preamp, meanwhile, is said to offer transparency, and there’s AD/DA conversion at 24-bit/192kHz. The Axino Synergy Core uses Antelope Audio’s own mic modelling engine, with the 18 emulations covering classic dynamic, tube and FET…

Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core puts an audio interface inside a USB microphone

UVI’s Super-7 combines Juno-106 and 707 sounds to recreate an ’80s groove

Released in 1986, Roland’s MKS-7 was a multitimbral sound and rhythm module that contained the combined guts of the Juno-106 synth and TR-707 drum machine. Now it’s been revived and refined by UVI, in the form of Super-7. Described as a “6-part analogue toolbox and groove designer”, this looks like something of an ’80s dream machine, giving you everything you need to create your next synthwave opus. Super-7 comes with 260 ensemble presets – these are based on multisamples of an MKS-7 and drum machine sounds from across the Roland X0X range and far beyond. The ensemble presets have discrete rhythm, bass, melody and three multi-purpose synth layers, all with their own voice and arpeggiator controls. Your patterns, grooves and sequences can all be performed in real time. Super-7’s sounds were sampled through…

UVI’s Super-7 combines Juno-106 and 707 sounds to recreate an ’80s groove

Focusrite buys Sequential (and Dave Smith’s analogue synths)

Filter Focusrite buys Sequential (and Dave Smith’s analogue synths) In a significant music tech industry development, British audio company Focusrite have announced that they're acquiring Dave Smith’s highly respected Sequential synth brand. Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974, designing the legendary Prophet-5 and many other influential synths and drum machines. He was also a key player in the development of the original MIDI spec, announced in 1981. Smith returned to the hardware synth market in 2002, starting Dave Smith Instruments. Over the past two decades, his products have been a crucial part of the analogue revival. Dave Smith Instruments was rebranded as Sequential in 2018, with Yamaha having returned the name to Smith in 2015. A rebooted Prophet-5 was released in 2020. Sequential now joins the Focusrite Group’s family of…

Focusrite buys Sequential (and Dave Smith’s analogue synths)

Ableton Loop Create event will connect musicians from around the world

Ableton Loop Create event will connect musicians from around the world Following its enforced postponement last year, Ableton’s Loop event is returning for 2021 – albeit in an online-only format. Loop Create will take place on 26-27 June, and is designed to bring together music-makers from all around the world. This will be hosted on the Ableton Loop microsite, with sessions kicking off at 11am CET and continuing throughout the two days. Sessions will then be repeated to suit different time zones. The sessions, which are designed to offer insights and techniques, will be presented in different formats, and hosted by artists, musicians, ‘technologists’ and educators. Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet each other in “facilitated conversations”. Loop Create is free to attend for anyone who registers, with…

Ableton Loop Create event will connect musicians from around the world

M-Audio update the Oxygen MIDI keyboard range

M-Audio continue to revise and reboot their classic Oxygen range of MIDI keyboards, with the latest versions – known as the MKV models – getting smart controls, auto-mapping, and a built-in arpeggiator. There are 25-, 49- and 61-note models in the range, all of which feature full-size, velocity-sensitive keys, faders, trigger pads and more. The Smart Controls relate to chords and scales. With the Smart Chord feature, you can play full chords by pressing a single key, while Smart Scale ensures that you’ll only be able to play notes from your chosen scale. Both of these features are customisable, and you get more than 15 different scale variations. The Auto-mapping feature is designed to make setup a breeze, with multiple controls – Transport, Faders, Pan, Record Arm, Solo, Mute, Select – being automatically…

M-Audio update the Oxygen MIDI keyboard range

Akai go old-school with the ’80s-style MPC One

If you’re a longtime user of Akai’s MPC production boxes, you may have been missing the ‘muddy grey’ look that helped to define iconic products such as the legendary MPC60. Fear not, though, because Akai Pro have just launched the MPC One Retro – a new MPC that offers all the features of the MPC One, but looks like it’s arrived from the late ‘80s. The distinctive 16 grey pads are here, as is the retro-coloured housing. However, under the hood this is a thoroughly modern standalone music-making powerhouse, with a quad-core processor and a seven-inch capacitive multitouch screen. When you're happy to be tethered to a computer, the MPC One Retro can also operate as a controller for the MPC2 software, which offers DAW-like levels of functionality. There’s plenty of connectivity, too,…

Akai go old-school with the ’80s-style MPC One

Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core puts an audio interface inside a USB microphone

Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core puts an audio interface inside a USB microphone There are plenty of USB condenser microphones out there, and some also serve as USB audio interfaces, but Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core goes a step further by offering modelled versions of 18 classic microphones, too. The story starts with the mic hardware – there’s a gold-sputtered diaphragm that’s designed to give a flat frequency response and give you as accurate a representation of your original sound as possible. The cardioid pickup pattern promises to minimise noise and put the focus on what’s going on in front of the mic rather than anywhere else. The hybrid preamp, meanwhile, is said to offer transparency, and there’s AD/DA conversion at 24-bit/192kHz. The Axino Synergy Core uses Antelope Audio’s own…

Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core puts an audio interface inside a USB microphone

UVI’s Super-7 combines Juno-106 and 707 sounds to recreate an ’80s groove

UVI’s Super-7 combines Juno-106 and 707 sounds to recreate an ’80s groove Released in 1986, Roland’s MKS-7 was a multitimbral sound and rhythm module that contained the combined guts of the Juno-106 synth and TR-707 drum machine. Now it’s been revived and refined by UVI, in the form of Super-7. Described as a “6-part analogue toolbox and groove designer”, this looks like something of an ’80s dream machine, giving you everything you need to create your next synthwave opus. Super-7 comes with 260 ensemble presets – these are based on multisamples of an MKS-7 and drum machine sounds from across the Roland X0X range and far beyond. The ensemble presets have discrete rhythm, bass, melody and three multi-purpose synth layers, all with their own voice and arpeggiator controls. Your patterns,…

UVI’s Super-7 combines Juno-106 and 707 sounds to recreate an ’80s groove

Free firmware update means Arturia’s KeyStep Pro now does even more

We’re as keen as anyone to talk about new products, but for many musicians, it’s the updates to ones they’ve already bought that are the most important. Take, for example, the new version free 2.0 firmware for Arturia’s KeyStep Pro MIDI/CV keyboard and sequencer, which adds both new performance features and stability/workflow improvements. New features include a global transpose function and global offset for the five main parameter controls. Users can now also record both arpeggios and chords into sequences. The MIDI Thru port can now be used as a second MIDI output too, making it easier to sequence multiple instruments at once. Other notable refinements include a smoother Mono mode, the ability to listen to sequencer steps without having to hit play, and the ability to create arpeggios without the sequencer…

Free firmware update means Arturia’s KeyStep Pro now does even more

M-Audio update the Oxygen MIDI keyboard range

M-Audio update the Oxygen MIDI keyboard range M-Audio continue to revise and reboot their classic Oxygen range of MIDI keyboards, with the latest versions – known as the MKV models – getting smart controls, auto-mapping, and a built-in arpeggiator. There are 25-, 49- and 61-note models in the range, all of which feature full-size, velocity-sensitive keys, faders, trigger pads and more. The Smart Controls relate to chords and scales. With the Smart Chord feature, you can play full chords by pressing a single key, while Smart Scale ensures that you’ll only be able to play notes from your chosen scale. Both of these features are customisable, and you get more than 15 different scale variations. The Auto-mapping feature is designed to make setup a breeze, with multiple controls – Transport,…

M-Audio update the Oxygen MIDI keyboard range

Modal Electronics say the Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE hardware synth out there

Modal Electronics have taken their original Skulpt portable synth back to the drawing board and returned with the new Skulpt SE. Offering the same compact form factor as its predecessor, this replaces the grey and black touch keypads with more traditional black and white ones. The front panel descriptors have been made more legible, and the build quality has been improved. You get 127 brand-new patches and MPE support – something that was added to the original Skulpt via a firmware update. In fact, Modal claim it's the most affordable MPEcompatible hardware synth around. Sound architecture consists of two Wave groups per voice, each with four oscillators. You can smoothly sweep between waveforms, and there’s additional oscillator modulation, too. There are also state-variable 2-pole filters – these can morph from low-pass through to band-…

Modal Electronics say the Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE hardware synth out there

Universal Audio’s LUNA update turns the DAW into an API analogue console

UA’s LUNA recording platform has always had a strong ‘analogue’ vibe, so it's apt that the latest update (v1.1.8) sees UA giving users the opportunity to endow it with a full API analogue console emulation. The API Vision Console Emulation ($699) features software versions of API’s L Series preamp, EQs, compressor, gate, filters and summing circuits. It’s designed to give the sound and feel of a large-format console within the LUNA environment, putting multiple plugin windows in a row in the mixer. The new add-on uses your Apollo interface’s built-in DSP for low-latency live tracking, then employs native processing when you’re mixing. If you want to add some API flavour in another DAW, you can check out the new API Preamp plugin ($149). This emulates the API 212L’s preamp circuit, also giving Vision…

Universal Audio’s LUNA update turns the DAW into an API analogue console

Akai go old-school with the ’80s-style MPC One

Filter Akai go old-school with the ’80s-style MPC One If you’re a longtime user of Akai’s MPC production boxes, you may have been missing the ‘muddy grey’ look that helped to define iconic products such as the legendary MPC60. Fear not, though, because Akai Pro have just launched the MPC One Retro – a new MPC that offers all the features of the MPC One, but looks like it’s arrived from the late ‘80s. The distinctive 16 grey pads are here, as is the retro-coloured housing. However, under the hood this is a thoroughly modern standalone music-making powerhouse, with a quad-core processor and a seven-inch capacitive multitouch screen. When you're happy to be tethered to a computer, the MPC One Retro can also operate as a controller for the MPC2…

Akai go old-school with the ’80s-style MPC One

Talking Shop Jas Shaw

“Electrocution while poking a compressor isn’t the death I hope awaits” Jas Shaw| Simian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw has spent much of the past year in isolation – due to both Covid and in recuperation from an operation. He’s made the most of that time though, channeling energies into his wonderfully melodic, atmospheric new album, Sollbruchstelle. We caught up with Shaw to find out more about his workflow, inspiration and expensive-sounding desk habit... When did you start making music? “I started out with guitar and slowly bought pedals. I’ve not touched a guitar for ages but I think that the experience of how you can totally change the sound of an instrument just by re-ordering the effects chain has stayed with me. “It’s really worth doing if you are feeling discouraged, plug an electric…

Talking Shop Jas Shaw

Free firmware update means Arturia’s KeyStep Pro now does even more

Free firmware update means Arturia’s KeyStep Pro now does even more We’re as keen as anyone to talk about new products, but for many musicians, it’s the updates to ones they’ve already bought that are the most important. Take, for example, the new version free 2.0 firmware for Arturia’s KeyStep Pro MIDI/CV keyboard and sequencer, which adds both new performance features and stability/workflow improvements. New features include a global transpose function and global offset for the five main parameter controls. Users can now also record both arpeggios and chords into sequences. The MIDI Thru port can now be used as a second MIDI output too, making it easier to sequence multiple instruments at once. Other notable refinements include a smoother Mono mode, the ability to listen to sequencer steps without…

Free firmware update means Arturia’s KeyStep Pro now does even more

Modal Electronics say the Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE hardware synth out there

The Future Of Music Modal Electronics say the Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE hardware synth out there Modal Electronics have taken their original Skulpt portable synth back to the drawing board and returned with the new Skulpt SE. Offering the same compact form factor as its predecessor, this replaces the grey and black touch keypads with more traditional black and white ones. The front panel descriptors have been made more legible, and the build quality has been improved. You get 127 brand-new patches and MPE support – something that was added to the original Skulpt via a firmware update. In fact, Modal claim it's the most affordable MPEcompatible hardware synth around. Sound architecture consists of two Wave groups per voice, each with four oscillators. You can smoothly sweep…

Modal Electronics say the Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE hardware synth out there

DO NOT MAKE A TEMPLATE

“I see a lot of this ‘have everything ready to go’ type advice and while I can see that it’s great for some, for me this is not helpful. I’m not looking to maximise my efficiency or achieve quick results with minimum effort, or at least not with music. Making lots of music isn’t the aim, you’re aiming to make something you didn’t expect. ” Beware duct tape! “Do label cables but do not use masking tape or duct tape for labelling cables, that leaves a manky goo residue that your future self will hate you for. Also, label power supplies, both ends. A cable that goes behind the racks that is unlabelled is not an intriguing mystery, it’s a waste of half an hour.” Embrace the new “There’s a golden period when you…

Universal Audio’s LUNA update turns the DAW into an API analogue console

Universal Audio’s LUNA update turns the DAW into an API analogue console UA’s LUNA recording platform has always had a strong ‘analogue’ vibe, so it's apt that the latest update (v1.1.8) sees UA giving users the opportunity to endow it with a full API analogue console emulation. The API Vision Console Emulation ($699) features software versions of API’s L Series preamp, EQs, compressor, gate, filters and summing circuits. It’s designed to give the sound and feel of a large-format console within the LUNA environment, putting multiple plugin windows in a row in the mixer. The new add-on uses your Apollo interface’s built-in DSP for low-latency live tracking, then employs native processing when you’re mixing. If you want to add some API flavour in another DAW, you can check out the…

Universal Audio’s LUNA update turns the DAW into an API analogue console

Squarepusher Feed Me Weird Things Rephlex, 1996 He may be one of the most celebrated producers of his, or any generation, right now. But, when he started, the man they call Squarepusher couldn’t get no love. As Tom Jenkinson, he’d poured his soul into 1994’s Stereotype EP – a blistering stew of filthy force and fusion, years ahead of its time. Yet, of the 1000 made, 200 were couriered back and dumped in his doorway. “They couldn’t sell them,” says Tom. “Based on that, I came out of it thinking, ‘OK. I had a go’. I took it as a creative success. But, in all other respects, a failure. I accept that the world wasn’t interested in it…” Thoughts turned to jacking it all in. Tom, an academic to his core, would get back…

Track by track with Squarepusher

“I don’t think the original issue of the LP was flawless. Not at all. It became apparent, when we remastered it, how strange the record sounded. A lot of the 1-2K band removed. I believe that the mastering engineer was trying to unite the pieces, because some of the music on there does sound pretty harsh. But, it meant it took a lot of the energy out themix. So, this time around, we’ve gone how the DAT tapes originally sounded.” Squarepusher Theme “The guitar chords were sampled from an Applause acoustic guitar that I’d had since I was 11. And this was the first piece I recorded using the Fostex M80 8-track, which I think gives the solos a tangible sense of liberation from the gruelling live-to-DAT process. “The bass solos were performed…

Track by track with Squarepusher

Talking Shop Jas Shaw

Talking Shop Jas Shaw “Electrocution while poking a compressor isn’t the death I hope awaits” Jas Shaw| Simian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw has spent much of the past year in isolation – due to both Covid and in recuperation from an operation. He’s made the most of that time though, channeling energies into his wonderfully melodic, atmospheric new album, Sollbruchstelle. We caught up with Shaw to find out more about his workflow, inspiration and expensive-sounding desk habit... When did you start making music? “I started out with guitar and slowly bought pedals. I’ve not touched a guitar for ages but I think that the experience of how you can totally change the sound of an instrument just by re-ordering the effects chain has stayed with me. “It’s really worth doing if…

Talking Shop Jas Shaw

DO NOT MAKE A TEMPLATE

DO NOT MAKE A TEMPLATE “I see a lot of this ‘have everything ready to go’ type advice and while I can see that it’s great for some, for me this is not helpful. I’m not looking to maximise my efficiency or achieve quick results with minimum effort, or at least not with music. Making lots of music isn’t the aim, you’re aiming to make something you didn’t expect. ” Beware duct tape! “Do label cables but do not use masking tape or duct tape for labelling cables, that leaves a manky goo residue that your future self will hate you for. Also, label power supplies, both ends. A cable that goes behind the racks that is unlabelled is not an intriguing mystery, it’s a waste of half an hour.”…

In the studio with Squarepusher

“It was all made late 1994 to early ’96 in various bedroom rigs. I had the [Akai] S950 by this point. I’d borrowed one, before that. I didn’t have an Atari, or any other computer-based sequencing, then. I didn’t get anything of that order until well into the 2000s. “The Boss DR-660 was used for triggering the S950. Then, there was some of the Roland kit, which I still have. Like the SH-101, the TB-303, TR-707, and 606. I borrowed a 909 right at the end from Grant [Wilson-Claridge] at Rephlex. “The mixer was a [Soundcraft] Spirit Folio 12-channel thing. I also had a Viscount EFX-1 – sort of a nice little cheap and cheerful effects unit with plenty of fun stuff on there. I accumulated all this stuff as…

In the studio with Squarepusher

LIKE IT? TRY THESE…

Plug Plug 1: Visible Crater Funk The mix of live drumming and breaks on the first few Plug EPs inspired and fascinated Tom. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘710’, ‘341’, ‘607’ Tom Jenkinson Stereotype E.P. A Squarepusher was explored on this 1994 release. Its poor reception, however, nearly caused him to give up. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘1994’, ‘Greenwidth’, ‘Whooshki’ Various We Are Reasonable People Warp compilation, featuring a collaboration with Aphex Twin from around the Feed Me Weird Things album compilation days. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Squarepusher / AFX – ‘Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid’, Autechre – ‘Stop Look Listen’, Two Lone Swordsmen – ‘Circulation’ Aphex Twin Richard D James Album The other experimental drum&bass, electronica, and noisy acid album of the day. You might have heard of it. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘To Cure A Weakling Child’, ‘Cornish Acid’, ‘Logan Rock Witch’ Squarepusher Feed Me Weird…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE…

CLASSIC ALBUM Words by Roy Spencer© Donald Milne Squarepusher Feed Me Weird Things Rephlex, 1996 He may be one of the most celebrated producers of his, or any generation, right now. But, when he started, the man they call Squarepusher couldn’t get no love. As Tom Jenkinson, he’d poured his soul into 1994’s Stereotype EP – a blistering stew of filthy force and fusion, years ahead of its time. Yet, of the 1000 made, 200 were couriered back and dumped in his doorway. “They couldn’t sell them,” says Tom. “Based on that, I came out of it thinking, ‘OK. I had a go’. I took it as a creative success. But, in all other respects, a failure. I accept that the world wasn’t interested in it…” Thoughts turned to jacking…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Ishmael Ensemble Visions of Light Severn Songs Two years on from their critically acclaimed debut album, A State of Flow, Bristol’s experimental jazz and electronic outfit, Ishmael Ensemble return with their wonderfully expansive sophomore album. Led by saxophonist and producer, Pete Cunningham, the band exude an innate understanding of the visceral interconnectivity of jazz, electronic and experimental. Their music is at once cinematic whilst also channelling UK leftfield dub and bass sensibilities. Visions of Light is no different, treading that same line with perfect balance and poise. The gentle, emotive and light opening of the record soon turns to a harder-edged, faster hypnotic fusion of electronic music and jazz. Exploring darker, tougher sounds that we have heard from the band before, Ishmael Ensemble drag us down into their heady, unfamiliar but thrillingly…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Perila How Much Time it is Between You and Me? Smalltown Supersound The suitably sensual, weird and erotic debut album from experimental producer, sound designer and composer Aleksandra Zakharenko’s Perila alias. The Russian-born, Berlin-based artist first emerged on Berlin Community Radio and then went on to create her own brilliantly singular podcast series, Weird Erotic Tension. WET has since helped to grow a community of expressionistic music that combines field recordings, erotic poetry and atmospheric electronic productions. Perila’s debut album commits the same aesthetic to record, taking us on a mind-expanding, introspective but highly atmospheric and sensual journey across unfamiliar and almost mystic landscapes. Amorphous structures, eerie reverb, distorted vocals, distant, jangling melodies, breathy recitations, subtle drone textures and otherworldly FX drift through the centre of the record as the Russian’s innate…

Track by track with Squarepusher

Classic Album Track by track with Squarepusher ©Rob Hann “I don’t think the original issue of the LP was flawless. Not at all. It became apparent, when we remastered it, how strange the record sounded. A lot of the 1-2K band removed. I believe that the mastering engineer was trying to unite the pieces, because some of the music on there does sound pretty harsh. But, it meant it took a lot of the energy out themix. So, this time around, we’ve gone how the DAT tapes originally sounded.” Squarepusher Theme “The guitar chords were sampled from an Applause acoustic guitar that I’d had since I was 11. And this was the first piece I recorded using the Fostex M80 8-track, which I think gives the solos a tangible sense…

Track by track with Squarepusher

In the studio with Squarepusher

In the studio with Squarepusher “It was all made late 1994 to early ’96 in various bedroom rigs. I had the [Akai] S950 by this point. I’d borrowed one, before that. I didn’t have an Atari, or any other computer-based sequencing, then. I didn’t get anything of that order until well into the 2000s. “The Boss DR-660 was used for triggering the S950. Then, there was some of the Roland kit, which I still have. Like the SH-101, the TB-303, TR-707, and 606. I borrowed a 909 right at the end from Grant [Wilson-Claridge] at Rephlex. “The mixer was a [Soundcraft] Spirit Folio 12-channel thing. I also had a Viscount EFX-1 – sort of a nice little cheap and cheerful effects unit with plenty of fun stuff on there. I…

In the studio with Squarepusher

40 YEARS OF TECHNO PRODUCTION

It’s hard to pin down an exact date that techno as we know it today was born; unlike some other genres, there isn’t one definitive release that can easily be singled out as the first proper example of techno. It’s more accurate to say that, like both house and hip-hop, it emerged over the course of the early ’80s out of the roots of synth pop and electro, as a byproduct of the arrival of the first wave of truly affordable electronic instruments. Even if the precise date is up in the air, you can certainly tie the birth of techno to a place – the city of Detroit – and a small circle of young Black musicians. If there is a single originator, it would undoubtedly be Juan Atkins. As…

40 YEARS OF TECHNO PRODUCTION

Orbital on creating UK techno classic Chime

“CHEAP AVAILABILITY OF THE ANALOGUE SEQUENCER SHAPED TECHNO”JEFF MILLS “We were using a four-track to record, when all of a sudden I just thought, ‘hang on why do I keep recording when it’s all happening live now? Why don’t I just use the four-track as a mixer and record into another tape deck?’ Chime was one of those funny things where you don’t really think about it. It turned out to be our bestselling record! I think there’s a lot to be said for doing music without any thought behind it, just slapping something together and seeing what happens. You get a good feeling, because you’ve started and finished before you’re fed up with listening to it.”…

Orbital on creating UK techno classic Chime

LIKE IT? TRY THESE…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE… Plug Plug 1: Visible Crater Funk The mix of live drumming and breaks on the first few Plug EPs inspired and fascinated Tom. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘710’, ‘341’, ‘607’ Tom Jenkinson Stereotype E.P. A Squarepusher was explored on this 1994 release. Its poor reception, however, nearly caused him to give up. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: ‘1994’, ‘Greenwidth’, ‘Whooshki’ Various We Are Reasonable People Warp compilation, featuring a collaboration with Aphex Twin from around the Feed Me Weird Things album compilation days. ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: Squarepusher / AFX – ‘Freeman Hardy & Willis Acid’, Autechre – ‘Stop Look Listen’, Two Lone Swordsmen – ‘Circulation’ Aphex Twin Richard D James Album The other experimental drum&bass, electronica, and noisy acid album of the day.…

LIKE IT? TRY THESE…

Basic channel-style percussion

01 > We’ve set Logic’s tempo to 141bpm and loaded a synth tom sound into Sampler. The choice of sound will depend on your track, but any short percussive sound will work well. Of course, it’s always useful to dedicate some separate production time towards creating your own library of unique drum and percussion sounds. 02 > With the metronome engaged, we recorded a series of MIDI notes from a keyboard and, using 1/16 Quantize, snapped the notes to the grid. A different feel can be achieved by experimenting with the Swing slider. This will depend entirely on the style of your track. 03 > The pattern is very static at this point so, to inject some movement, we have called up Logic’s AutoFilter plugin. We have selected the Panning Band Pass…

Basic channel-style percussion

Jungle-inspired breakbeat loop

01 > The most commonly used sample is from the 1969 track Amen, Brother by The Winstons. We have added a four bar break to an Audio Track in Live with the Warp Mode set to Re-Pitch. As our project tempo is 140bpm, the loop now plays slightly faster compared to the original. 02 > We now need to chop up this four-bar loop. To do this, right click on the audio clip, select Slice to New MIDI Track and click OK to use the default settings. Live now automatically creates a Drum Rack with each detected slice loaded into Simpler and mapped to different MIDI notes. 03 > We can now use a MIDI keyboard to create a new pattern at our project tempo by triggering individual slices from the original…

Jungle-inspired breakbeat loop

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH © James Koch Ishmael Ensemble Visions of Light Severn Songs Two years on from their critically acclaimed debut album, A State of Flow, Bristol’s experimental jazz and electronic outfit, Ishmael Ensemble return with their wonderfully expansive sophomore album. Led by saxophonist and producer, Pete Cunningham, the band exude an innate understanding of the visceral interconnectivity of jazz, electronic and experimental. Their music is at once cinematic whilst also channelling UK leftfield dub and bass sensibilities. Visions of Light is no different, treading that same line with perfect balance and poise. The gentle, emotive and light opening of the record soon turns to a harder-edged, faster hypnotic fusion of electronic music and jazz. Exploring darker, tougher sounds that we have heard from the band before,…

ALBUM REVIEWS ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Techno kick and rumble

01 > We’re using Sonic Academy’s Kick 2 plugin. Another option is to use a kick sample, typically from a Roland TR-909. However, Kick 2 allows greater flexibility in duration, pitch and top element clicks, essential to hone and personalise the style of your track. 02 > The next stage is to add harmonic bite to the kick using the Drive control on the Saturator plugin. It’s worth experimenting with the Curve Types as well as the DC and Color controls, and Dry/Wet balance, as these greatly affect the sound. We have then added EQ Eight to sculpt the sound. 03 > We then add an Effects Rack for several stages of parallel processing. The first chain is the dry kick signal. Additional chains are added for Dark Verb, Delay and Clear…

Techno kick and rumble

RECOMMENDED Perila How Much Time it is Between You and Me? Smalltown Supersound The suitably sensual, weird and erotic debut album from experimental producer, sound designer and composer Aleksandra Zakharenko’s Perila alias. The Russian-born, Berlin-based artist first emerged on Berlin Community Radio and then went on to create her own brilliantly singular podcast series, Weird Erotic Tension. WET has since helped to grow a community of expressionistic music that combines field recordings, erotic poetry and atmospheric electronic productions. Perila’s debut album commits the same aesthetic to record, taking us on a mind-expanding, introspective but highly atmospheric and sensual journey across unfamiliar and almost mystic landscapes. Amorphous structures, eerie reverb, distorted vocals, distant, jangling melodies, breathy recitations, subtle drone textures and otherworldly FX drift through the centre of the record as…

Richie Hawtin on making great techno

“THE 909’S SOUNDS ARE PARTY-READY. YOU DON’T NEED TO PUT EFFECTS ON THEM” “I would say don’t overcomplicate things. Create something that feels right to you that has a pure, honest energy and is infectious. An example of that is when I spent three or four days with the engineer explaining the patchbay to me. He showed me all these great effects, but I was like, no, fuck it, put all the effects in mono please – I want eight mono sends with everything coming back to the board so I can do feedback loops and EQ the hell out of them with minimal panning. It’s about making a track that feels good.”…

Richie Hawtin on making great techno

40 YEARS OF TECHNO PRODUCTION

Feature 40 YEARS OF TECHNO PRODUCTION Since its birth in the early 1980s, techno has taken over the world and remains one of dance music’s most enduring genres. This issue, we delve back through nearly 30 years’ worth of interviews to discover how the changing face of technology has shaped the sound of techno It’s hard to pin down an exact date that techno as we know it today was born; unlike some other genres, there isn’t one definitive release that can easily be singled out as the first proper example of techno. It’s more accurate to say that, like both house and hip-hop, it emerged over the course of the early ’80s out of the roots of synth pop and electro, as a byproduct of the arrival of the…

40 YEARS OF TECHNO PRODUCTION

Melodic techno synth

01 > Bright waveforms provide a good starting point for lead synths. Basic Shapes position 2 is selected for Osc A, and a saw wave for the Sub Osc but with the octave set at +1 so that it’s in the same register. Osc A is detuned slightly to provide a unison sound between Osc A and the Sub Osc. 02 > Osc B also uses a sawtooth wave but set to one octave below Osc A to thicken the overall sound. Additionally, multiple voices for Osc B are created by setting the Unison control to 4 with some Detune dialled in to provide a richer, and wider, sound. 03 > Pluck sounds are created with a short Attack and fast Decay. Release determines how long it takes for the notes to…

Melodic techno synth

Mutated Absynth techno drones

01 > Load an instance of Native Instruments Absynth and create a two-bar MIDI note, in this case a very low note at E0. The starting point is to find a preset that has some movement and character. For this example, we selected the Alcove Fields preset. 02 > With a preset selected, the key part of this process is to use Absynth’s Mutate function. This randomly alters various parameters producing an entirely new, mutated version of it. This stage can be repeated until a useable sound is produced. This process is unpredictable and usually takes several iterations with the Mutate button. 03 > With the mutated Absynth note playing, record to a new track using a resampling audio routing within your DAW. We use Live, and select a 2-bar section of…

Mutated Absynth techno drones

Orbital on creating UK techno classic Chime

Orbital on creating UK techno classic Chime [FM 10, 1993] © artyn Goodacre/Getty Images “CHEAP AVAILABILITY OF THE ANALOGUE SEQUENCER SHAPED TECHNO”JEFF MILLS “We were using a four-track to record, when all of a sudden I just thought, ‘hang on why do I keep recording when it’s all happening live now? Why don’t I just use the four-track as a mixer and record into another tape deck?’ Chime was one of those funny things where you don’t really think about it. It turned out to be our bestselling record! I think there’s a lot to be said for doing music without any thought behind it, just slapping something together and seeing what happens. You get a good feeling, because you’ve started and finished before you’re fed up with listening to…

Orbital on creating UK techno classic Chime

Basic channel-style percussion

40 Years of Techno Production Basic channel-style percussion Perhaps more than any other genre, techno allows endless creativity when it comes to the percussive elements. Here we’ll use some plugin presets in Logic Pro X to create a shifting, dub techno-style percussion line 01 > We’ve set Logic’s tempo to 141bpm and loaded a synth tom sound into Sampler. The choice of sound will depend on your track, but any short percussive sound will work well. Of course, it’s always useful to dedicate some separate production time towards creating your own library of unique drum and percussion sounds. 02 > With the metronome engaged, we recorded a series of MIDI notes from a keyboard and, using 1/16 Quantize, snapped the notes to the grid. A different feel can be achieved…

Basic channel-style percussion

Jungle-inspired breakbeat loop

40 Years of Techno Production Jungle-inspired breakbeat loop Breakbeat loops have been used in many areas of electronic music, most prominently jungle and drum & bass. But this versatile drum loop can also be found in various forms of techno Here’s how to create your own… 01 > The most commonly used sample is from the 1969 track Amen, Brother by The Winstons. We have added a four bar break to an Audio Track in Live with the Warp Mode set to Re-Pitch. As our project tempo is 140bpm, the loop now plays slightly faster compared to the original. 02 > We now need to chop up this four-bar loop. To do this, right click on the audio clip, select Slice to New MIDI Track and click OK to use…

Jungle-inspired breakbeat loop

Robert Hood-style lead synth

01 > The first step is to create a sequence of MIDI notes that will form our synth loop. One useful technique is to use Ableton Live’s arpeggiator, located in the MIDI Effects section, in order to generate tempo-locked notes at various octaves when pressing just a single key. 02 > For oscillator tones in the Source Mixer section, we’re using a Pulse Wave with the Pulse Width slider set to zero to produce a square wave. The Saw Wave is blended in to add some edge and, to add some distinctive 101-character, a subtle amount of the Noise oscillator is also added. 03 > The waveforms are now shaped by the Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF) section by adjusting the relationship between the cutoff filter Frequency, Resonance and Keyboard Tracking (KB) sliders.…

Robert Hood-style lead synth

Techno kick and rumble

40 Years of Techno Production Techno kick and rumble The low-end of dark driving techno is often created by processing the kick drum. Here we’re using a selection of aggressive effects in Ableton Live to produce what’s generally known as the “rumble” 01 > We’re using Sonic Academy’s Kick 2 plugin. Another option is to use a kick sample, typically from a Roland TR-909. However, Kick 2 allows greater flexibility in duration, pitch and top element clicks, essential to hone and personalise the style of your track. 02 > The next stage is to add harmonic bite to the kick using the Drive control on the Saturator plugin. It’s worth experimenting with the Curve Types as well as the DC and Color controls, and Dry/Wet balance, as these greatly affect…

Techno kick and rumble

Formed in 1978 by vocalist Michel Moers, keyboard enthusiast Marc Moulin and sound engineer Dan Lacksman, Brussels-based Telex blended experimental electronic music with disco and pop through their stripped-down cover versions and self-depreciative songwriting. The group’s success peaked in 1980 when, despite their misgivings, they were persuaded to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Preferring to remain anonymous and shunning live performance, they teamed up with glam-rock synth poppers Sparks, remixed Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys and released albums intermittently up to 2006. However, after the untimely death of Moulin two years later, Telex decided to call it a day. Thankfully, a final flurry of activity now sees them working with Mute Records to rework their back catalogue and release a 14-track compilation featuring unreleased tracks. What were your…

TELEX’S GO TO GEAR

Moog Modular IIIP “Our main synth for drum sounds, bass sounds and sequences. We used to pass sounds through its filters too.” Polymoog “The first polyphonic synth we used, mainly for pads but also to create the vocoded choirs and polyphonic sequences through the Moog filter.” Roland Sequencer System-100 Model 104 “Compatible with the Moog Modular but at a fraction of the Moog 960 sequencer price.” Oberheim OB-X “I wanted a companion polyphonic synth for the Polymoog that was programmable and could save and recall sounds. The Prophet-5 was difficult to obtain in Belgium and the OBX-8 had 8-voice polyphony and the Prophet only 5.” Fairlight CMI “Time for sampling! In 1983, after working with Thomas Dolby on his second album, The Flat Earth, I decided to buy a Fairlight CMI. We used it a lot on Wonderful World…

Richie Hawtin on making great techno

Richie Hawtin on making great techno [FM 301, 2016] © Joseph Branston/Future “THE 909’S SOUNDS ARE PARTY-READY. YOU DON’T NEED TO PUT EFFECTS ON THEM” “I would say don’t overcomplicate things. Create something that feels right to you that has a pure, honest energy and is infectious. An example of that is when I spent three or four days with the engineer explaining the patchbay to me. He showed me all these great effects, but I was like, no, fuck it, put all the effects in mono please – I want eight mono sends with everything coming back to the board so I can do feedback loops and EQ the hell out of them with minimal panning. It’s about making a track that feels good.”…

Richie Hawtin on making great techno

Simon Doty The Beacon

VIDEO ON FILESILO Canadian prog house prodigy Doty’s productions have become popular with a diverse selection of DJs including Carl Cox, Joris Vorn and Hot Since 82, who released Simon’s Ananda Project-sampling The Beacon on his Knee Deep In Sound label. We caught up with Simon to enquire about his audacious sampling habits, and discover more about his approach to music production in general. The Beacon uses part of Gaelle Adisson’s vocal from Ananda Project’s seminal Cascades of Colour. It’s a brave move to sample such a beloved track! “It was a really personal favourite for me. It’s not something I’d normally do, but I hadn’t heard too many versions of it out there. So I decided, ‘let’s just see what happens’, if it ended up being just something for me to play…

Simon Doty The Beacon

Melodic techno synth

40 Years of Techno Production Melodic techno synth Lead synths in melodic forms of techno use snappy filter envelopes for pluck sounds that lend themselves to atmospheric processing. Here we show you how using Xfer Serum… 01 > Bright waveforms provide a good starting point for lead synths. Basic Shapes position 2 is selected for Osc A, and a saw wave for the Sub Osc but with the octave set at +1 so that it’s in the same register. Osc A is detuned slightly to provide a unison sound between Osc A and the Sub Osc. 02 > Osc B also uses a sawtooth wave but set to one octave below Osc A to thicken the overall sound. Additionally, multiple voices for Osc B are created by setting the Unison…

Melodic techno synth

Mutated Absynth techno drones

40 Years of Techno Production Mutated Absynth techno drones Background textures are hugely important to techno. Let’s create a techno-tinged, unpredictable and movement-filled drone with the help of NI’s additive synth 01 > Load an instance of Native Instruments Absynth and create a two-bar MIDI note, in this case a very low note at E0. The starting point is to find a preset that has some movement and character. For this example, we selected the Alcove Fields preset. 02 > With a preset selected, the key part of this process is to use Absynth’s Mutate function. This randomly alters various parameters producing an entirely new, mutated version of it. This stage can be repeated until a useable sound is produced. This process is unpredictable and usually takes several iterations with…

Mutated Absynth techno drones

Making The Beacon’s deep piano lines in Live

01 > “I played this one out pretty quickly,” begins Simon. “I did a couple of takes, and I ended up just quantising everything to the grid. It was pretty simple but the groove of it fit with the track, and it really fit with the vocal too.” 02 > The patch Simon uses is the M1’s M1HousePiano program. Valhalla DSP ValhallaPlate is applied with a relatively lengthy 2.6s Decay time. “One thing I’ll use quite a bit on these is the low gain, which is a nice way to EQ out some of the bottom of the reverb, so it doesn’t get too messy,” he says. 03 > Next, Waves H-Delay is applied with a 1/8D delay time. “You can hear the piano bouncing back. I think it probably…

Making The Beacon’s deep piano lines in Live

Octave One’s Lawrence Burden on working with hardware

Octave One’s Lawrence Burden on working with hardware [FM 312, 2016] © Joseph Branston/Future “YOU CAN HAVE AMAZING SYNTHS BUT YOU HAVE ONLY SO MANY HANDS”RICHIE HAWTIN “A lot of it is about the relationship with the machine. The different characteristics you get with them. If you come from this era, you can probably get the same kind of feeling from software, but for us it’s like, this 909, not only does it sound different but there’s a way it reacts differently. Like, a particular synth has an individual way it reacts; it’s the quirks, the little nuances.”…

Octave One’s
Lawrence Burden on working with hardware

MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC Discover our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! THE TRACK Leading producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Joal, Eighty Four The Berlin-based artist shows us how he created some of the effects on Eighty Four in Ableton Live DON’T MISS: Document One, Hands Up Joe Froud and Matt King show us how they made this ‘filthy’ DnB number Nookie, Kaeya (Rage Mix) The Berlin producer breaks down his latest slice of vocal-driven techno Victor Ruiz, Love Story The Berlin-based producer breaks down his latest slice of techno DJOKO Johannes Kolter builds a track in Live before our very eyes… steinberg Studio Sessions Top producers show you the world of Steinberg in our monthly video series DON’T MISS: We’re back in LA for a chat…

Sample synthesis

Sample synthesis is an umbrella term that covers a few other names, like texture synthesis and granular synthesis, which all have one thing in common: unlike subtractive or additive synthesis, which use pure waveforms (think sine and square) sample synthesis uses found sound. By this we mean that the final ‘voice’ is created by manipulating sounds that have been The takeaway point is to not limit yourself to your DAW. You can get fantastic results in the box, but we wouldn’t underestimate the possibilities that you can uncover if you take a field recorder out and about with you. We tend to now keep a Zoom H5 in our bag with a windshield, so we can quickly capture any interesting noises, from traffic, rain and other ambient sound to more local,…

Sample synthesis

Robert Hood-style lead synth

40 Years of Techno Production Robert Hood-style lead synth Many classic techno tracks have been created with simple mono synths which suit hypnotic grooves. We’re using the TAL Bassline 101 plugin, sequenced within Ableton Live for a Minimal Nation-style riff 01 > The first step is to create a sequence of MIDI notes that will form our synth loop. One useful technique is to use Ableton Live’s arpeggiator, located in the MIDI Effects section, in order to generate tempo-locked notes at various octaves when pressing just a single key. 02 > For oscillator tones in the Source Mixer section, we’re using a Pulse Wave with the Pulse Width slider set to zero to produce a square wave. The Saw Wave is blended in to add some edge and, to add…

Robert Hood-style lead synth

THREE OF THE BEST

Native Instruments Pigments £159 1 Pigments is one of those VSTs that covers a lot of ground. With virtual analogue, wavetable and sample synthesis, heaps of modulation and a great interface, it could be the only synth plugin you need. native-instruments.com Instruo Arbhar £499 2 Instruo’s granular synthesis module is a thing of beauty, in looks as well as sound. Its multiple buffers, versatile modulation and even a built-in mic make this one of the best, and most musical, granular/sampling modules out there. instruomodular.com Mutable Instruments Beads £275 3 Mutable Instruments Beads, the successor to the wonderful Clouds, is a complete redesign and one that does the job of texture synthesiser wonderfully. Complete with tape emulation and reverb, it pays its way, even in the smaller skiff setups. mutable-instruments.net…

THREE OF THE BEST

In The Studio With Telex Belgian trio Telex was one of the first to bring electronic pop to the European hit parade. Danny Turner chats to Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers about the band’s past and present © Jean Christophe Guillaume Formed in 1978 by vocalist Michel Moers, keyboard enthusiast Marc Moulin and sound engineer Dan Lacksman, Brussels-based Telex blended experimental electronic music with disco and pop through their stripped-down cover versions and self-depreciative songwriting. The group’s success peaked in 1980 when, despite their misgivings, they were persuaded to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Preferring to remain anonymous and shunning live performance, they teamed up with glam-rock synth poppers Sparks, remixed Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys and released albums intermittently up to 2006. However, after the…

Andrew Hung, best known for being one half of electronic music duo Fuck Buttons, is very much in demand. Despite the project being on hold since 2013, he’s subsequently recorded a track with Jean-Michel Jarre, co-produced for Beth Orton and Aimee Osbourne (daughter of Ozzie), and wrote the soundtrack to cult director Jim Hosking’s comedy horror, The Greasy Strangler. Hung’s second solo electronic album, Devastations, documents a transitional period in his career. Striving to perfect the one-man-band approach to its predecessor Realisationship – a body of work he’s only recently come to appreciate, despite being recorded almost entirely digitally, its propulsive beats, angular instrumentation and stark, yearning vocals are a disarming throwback to ’80s new wave songcraft. Was Devastations recorded pre-pandemic or did the isolation give you the perfect opportunity to work…

There are few movements in music named after a single person; even fewer are named after women. Daphne Oram’s work is one of the great contributions to music tech. Born in 1925, Oram was a talented pianist and organ player as a child. Her professional career in music and recorded sound began during World War 2; in 1942, on leaving school, she turned down an offer of a place at the Royal College of Music in London to instead take up a role as a junior studio engineer at the BBC, where her responsibilities would include mixing live broadcasts and creating sound effects. The BBC’s approach to sound and music was, at the time, as much a scientific pursuit as it was artistic. Like so many major broadcasters, the corporation valued precision…

Keeping the Oram legacy alive

Oramics (2007) > This definitive compilation of Oram’s recorded works was first released by Paradigm Discs in 2007 and re-pressed on quadruple vinyl by Young Americans last year (it’s also available from daphneoram.bandcamp.com). As a starting point, try Bird of Parallax, composed in 1972 for Xallaparallax, a ballet performed at the Edinburgh Festival. It opens with sounds of the Oramics machine before developing into the kind of rolling musique concrète groove which has led to Oram being hailed as an accidental pioneer of proto-techno, about a decade and a half before anyone in Detroit stumbled upon similar ideas. The Oram Awards > The British copyright collective PRS for Music launched The Oram Awards in 2017, seeking to support “the next generation of innovative women, girls and gender minorities in music and sound”. The…

Keeping the Oram legacy alive

TELEX’S GO TO GEAR

TELEX’S GO TO GEAR Moog Modular IIIP “Our main synth for drum sounds, bass sounds and sequences. We used to pass sounds through its filters too.” Polymoog “The first polyphonic synth we used, mainly for pads but also to create the vocoded choirs and polyphonic sequences through the Moog filter.” Roland Sequencer System-100 Model 104 “Compatible with the Moog Modular but at a fraction of the Moog 960 sequencer price.” Oberheim OB-X “I wanted a companion polyphonic synth for the Polymoog that was programmable and could save and recall sounds. The Prophet-5 was difficult to obtain in Belgium and the OBX-8 had 8-voice polyphony and the Prophet only 5.” Fairlight CMI “Time for sampling! In 1983, after working with Thomas Dolby on his second album, The Flat Earth, I decided…

Full disclosure… Fir Wave, the sublime new offering from sonic alchemist Hannah Peel, has become something of an obsession to these ears. From the other-worldy voices of opener Wind Shadow, through the hypnotic beats and synths of Emergence In Nature all way through splendour closer, Reaction Diffusion, Peel has crafted a spell-binding electronic gem. Given access to use original recordings from BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend Delia Derbyshire as DNA for the project, Fir Wave, allowed Peel to respectfully re-interpret the source-material, building digital instruments from it to then launch it into bristling electronic realms Derbyshire would be proud of. Fir Wave, is a high watermark in Hannah Peel’s already impressive musical CV, which includes an Emmy nomination for her soundtrack to Game of Thrones: The Last Watch along with musical collaborations with…

Simon Doty The Beacon

THE TRACK Simon Doty The Beacon Knee Deep In Sound, 2021 VIDEO ON FILESILO Canadian prog house prodigy Doty’s productions have become popular with a diverse selection of DJs including Carl Cox, Joris Vorn and Hot Since 82, who released Simon’s Ananda Project-sampling The Beacon on his Knee Deep In Sound label. We caught up with Simon to enquire about his audacious sampling habits, and discover more about his approach to music production in general. The Beacon uses part of Gaelle Adisson’s vocal from Ananda Project’s seminal Cascades of Colour. It’s a brave move to sample such a beloved track! “It was a really personal favourite for me. It’s not something I’d normally do, but I hadn’t heard too many versions of it out there. So I decided, ‘let’s just…

Simon Doty The Beacon

Making The Beacon’s deep piano lines in Live

Simon Doty | The Track Making The Beacon’s deep piano lines in Live Simon uses the classic Korg M1 plugin with judicious application of effects to create a majestic piano 01 > “I played this one out pretty quickly,” begins Simon. “I did a couple of takes, and I ended up just quantising everything to the grid. It was pretty simple but the groove of it fit with the track, and it really fit with the vocal too.” 02 > The patch Simon uses is the M1’s M1HousePiano program. Valhalla DSP ValhallaPlate is applied with a relatively lengthy 2.6s Decay time. “One thing I’ll use quite a bit on these is the low gain, which is a nice way to EQ out some of the bottom…

Making

The Beacon’s

deep piano lines in Live

IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro from £399

CONTACT WHO: IK Multimedia WEB: ikmultimedia.com KEY FEATURES Desktop or keyboard variants, Analogue oscillators and filters, onboard stereo effects, paraphonic synth, either touch or semi weighted Fatar keyboard PRICING: Pro, £649 Pro Desktop, £399 IK Multimedia’s latest synth offering comes in two flavours; the desktop version with its touch sensitive keyboard, pitch and mod strips, and the full version, which has a full size, semi-weighted Fatar keyboard. The keyboard is larger, sporting a heavy duty metal enclosure, as well as physical wheels for pitch and mod. Those differences – and the keyboard version’s power socket – aside, the two are identical. The user interface and innards are exactly the same, so choosing which to get becomes a matter of which ergonomics you prefer, rather than any capabilities of the two. UNO momento With…

IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro from £399

YOUTUBE MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC Discover our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! THE TRACK Leading producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Joal, Eighty Four The Berlin-based artist shows us how he created some of the effects on Eighty Four in Ableton Live DON’T MISS: Document One, Hands Up Joe Froud and Matt King show us how they made this ‘filthy’ DnB number Nookie, Kaeya (Rage Mix) The Berlin producer breaks down his latest slice of vocal-driven techno Victor Ruiz, Love Story The Berlin-based producer breaks down his latest slice of techno DJOKO Johannes Kolter builds a track in Live before our very eyes… steinberg Studio Sessions Top producers show you…

THE ALTERNATIVES

Korg minilogue £430 Korg’s minilogue is a polyphonic option with some similar capabilities. It has that Korg sound, and it’s feature rich… but doesn’t hold up so well in areas like the sequencer. korg.com Modal Cobalt 8 £499 Eight voices and also an app, to let you dive deeper without too much menu diving or button gymnastics. There’s a 37-key version for an extra £100. modalelectronics.com Moog Grandmother £769 For a bit more investment there is Moog’s wonderful Grandmother, which also has a similar feature set, albeit with a very different flavour. Lovely playability and a gorgeous real spring reverb too. moogmusic.com…

THE ALTERNATIVES

CONTROL THE VOLTAGE

The UNO Synth Pro, in both its guises, has two channels of gate and CV in and out, adding an extra layer of functionality that is rare at this price (although it’s becoming more common with the surge in modular equipment). The easiest way to take advantage of these is through the mod matrix, where the ports can be assigned however you like. If you like euclidean sequences then you could have one sending gates to the UNO. Maybe send the value of the mod wheel to an external effect, or you can send an LFO to your rack to sync up modulating a piece of Eurorack equipment. There is a lot on offer here, just another element to making the UNO a truly useful synth.…

CONTROL THE VOLTAGE

Roland Verselab MV-1 £599

We like the self-contained nature of it… the challenge of doing it all in this box CONTACT WHO: Roland WEB: roland.com KEY FEATURES Built-in microphone, external microphone input with phantom power, Zen-Core compatible (3,000+ presets, 80+ drum kits), up to 128 voice polyphony, seven tracks and one vocal track, eight looper tracks, 16 vocal takes, effects, step sequencer, looper, SD card storage, USB audio and MIDI, can be powered via USB Unusually for a hardware sequencer, the Roland Verselab MV-1 is all about vocals. It’s a sequencer, sampler, and software instrument host that uses all that as a support network for your voice. Whether processing your vocals in real time, or recording them, or importing from another source: the Verselab is good for it all. The MV-1 features a small LCD display, and…

Roland Verselab MV-1 £599

Sample synthesis

PRODUCER’S GUIDE Sample synthesis Rob Redman cuts and shuts, granularises and mangles samples to discover new sonic possibilities Sample synthesis is an umbrella term that covers a few other names, like texture synthesis and granular synthesis, which all have one thing in common: unlike subtractive or additive synthesis, which use pure waveforms (think sine and square) sample synthesis uses found sound. By this we mean that the final ‘voice’ is created by manipulating sounds that have been The takeaway point is to not limit yourself to your DAW. You can get fantastic results in the box, but we wouldn’t underestimate the possibilities that you can uncover if you take a field recorder out and about with you. We tend to now keep a Zoom H5 in our bag with a…

Sample synthesis

THREE OF THE BEST

THREE OF THE BEST Native Instruments Pigments £159 1 Pigments is one of those VSTs that covers a lot of ground. With virtual analogue, wavetable and sample synthesis, heaps of modulation and a great interface, it could be the only synth plugin you need. native-instruments.com Instruo Arbhar £499 2 Instruo’s granular synthesis module is a thing of beauty, in looks as well as sound. Its multiple buffers, versatile modulation and even a built-in mic make this one of the best, and most musical, granular/sampling modules out there. instruomodular.com Mutable Instruments Beads £275 3 Mutable Instruments Beads, the successor to the wonderful Clouds, is a complete redesign and one that does the job of texture synthesiser wonderfully. Complete with tape emulation and reverb, it pays its way, even in the smaller…

THREE OF THE BEST

IT’S ABOUT THE VOCALS

The Verselab MV-1 is fairly unique in terms of the way it incorporates the human voice into the world of sequencing and grooveboxes. On one level, it’s not really so different from Roland’s own MC-707, but that machine is also squarely aimed at exploiting the ZEN-Core sounds, with a bit of sampling, sequencing, and enough controls for live interaction. The MV-1 keeps those elements, but bumps them to one side, to accommodate the vocal capture, import, and processing. There are plenty of hardware tools that deal with vocal processing – Roland themselves have the VT-1 and VT-3 Voice Transformers, and Boss (a division of Roland) offer the VE-500 Vocal Performer, a pedal aimed at performers who also need real-time vocal effects. TC Helicon are a big name in this field, with the…

In The Studio With | Andrew Hung Andrew Hung Left dissatisfied by his debut solo debut album Realisationship, Andrew Hung felt the need to brush up on his craft and break through some mental barriers. Danny Turner discusses the follow-up, Devastations Andrew Hung, best known for being one half of electronic music duo Fuck Buttons, is very much in demand. Despite the project being on hold since 2013, he’s subsequently recorded a track with Jean-Michel Jarre, co-produced for Beth Orton and Aimee Osbourne (daughter of Ozzie), and wrote the soundtrack to cult director Jim Hosking’s comedy horror, The Greasy Strangler. Hung’s second solo electronic album, Devastations, documents a transitional period in his career. Striving to perfect the one-man-band approach to its predecessor Realisationship – a body of work he’s only…

RETROSPECTIVE Oramics From founding the Radiophonic Workshop at the BBC to her unique Oramics machine, Daphne Oram was a pioneer © Daily Herald Archive/National Science and Media Museum/SSPL/Getty Images There are few movements in music named after a single person; even fewer are named after women. Daphne Oram’s work is one of the great contributions to music tech. Born in 1925, Oram was a talented pianist and organ player as a child. Her professional career in music and recorded sound began during World War 2; in 1942, on leaving school, she turned down an offer of a place at the Royal College of Music in London to instead take up a role as a junior studio engineer at the BBC, where her responsibilities would include mixing live broadcasts and creating…

VPME Euclidean Circles v2 £235 and Six Switches £42

Euclidean Circles might just be your new best friend If you are interested in creating sequences that don’t stick to the normal 16-note grid so often found, then Euclidean Circles might just be your new best friend. With six channels to play with, there is plenty to be getting on with and the form factor means it doesn’t eat too much of your valuable hp either. The blue faceplate is just 10hp wide (12 with the optional extension) but manages to feel roomy. In part this is due to the interface design, which uses three buttons surrounded by LEDs to create patterns, with a fourth ‘F’ button for other functions. The success of this design is in the wonderful colour coding system, which lets you see exactly what is happening at any given…

VPME Euclidean Circles v2 £235 and Six Switches £42

Keeping the Oram legacy alive

Oramics | Retrospective Keeping the Oram legacy alive Oramics (2007) > This definitive compilation of Oram’s recorded works was first released by Paradigm Discs in 2007 and re-pressed on quadruple vinyl by Young Americans last year (it’s also available from daphneoram.bandcamp.com). As a starting point, try Bird of Parallax, composed in 1972 for Xallaparallax, a ballet performed at the Edinburgh Festival. It opens with sounds of the Oramics machine before developing into the kind of rolling musique concrète groove which has led to Oram being hailed as an accidental pioneer of proto-techno, about a decade and a half before anyone in Detroit stumbled upon similar ideas. The Oram Awards © Vicki Couchman > The British copyright collective PRS for Music launched The Oram Awards in 2017, seeking to support “the…

Keeping the Oram legacy alive

Softube Spring Reverb $89 Offering realistic sound quality, with a refined interface enabling speedy reverb design, Softube’s classic spring reverb plugin creates authentic, dark, splashy tones. Spring models are chosen by a continuous blend knob from 1-3 combined spring pairs. Tension simulates spring tightness, with higher values resulting in more condensed, upfront, higher frequency decays. The Shake control is similar to traditional diffusion controls, and the slider can be ‘twanged’. A simple dry/wet mix knob balances the relative volume of the reverb, and there are bass and treble controls for tone shaping, and cutting or boosting frequencies with analogue-style filtering. It’s very solid, but a bit pricey. softube.com VERDICT 7.5 FM | MUST HAVE! u-he Twangstrom $69 A fully featured, studio-grade, spring emulation plugin, Twangstrom is named after its “Twang” feature, mimicking real springs, where…

Black Lion Audio Revolution 2x2 £399

CONTACT WHO: Black Lion Audio WEB: blacklionaudio.com KEY FEATURES 24bit, 192KHz USB-C interface, 2 combination mic, line and instrument inputs, Bus powered over USB (no PSU), Macro MMC clocking technology, Analogue circuit features high quality components, PG-i noise reduction technology, Bundled software package DIMENSIONS: 213x 175x 44mm WEIGHT: 1.43kg Black Lion Audio originally made their name customising and upgrading other makers’ hardware interfaces. Over the years they’ve also designed and built various hardware devices including mic preamps, compressors, converters and external clock units. Throughout, the vision has always been to squeeze the maximum sonic performance from the available components. Their latest venture, Revolution 2x2, incorporates this circuit design experience into their very own 2in, 2out, 24bit, 192kHz, USB-C audio interface. What’s more, at £399, it’s more affordable than many of their…

Black Lion Audio Revolution 2x2 £399

Hannah Peel | Interview Hannah Peel Peel’s new album, Fir Wave, sees her re-sampling, re-imagining and re-dreaming the music of celebrated electronic pioneer Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop. Hamish Mackintosh found out more © Peter Marley Full disclosure… Fir Wave, the sublime new offering from sonic alchemist Hannah Peel, has become something of an obsession to these ears. From the other-worldy voices of opener Wind Shadow, through the hypnotic beats and synths of Emergence In Nature all way through splendour closer, Reaction Diffusion, Peel has crafted a spell-binding electronic gem. Given access to use original recordings from BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend Delia Derbyshire as DNA for the project, Fir Wave, allowed Peel to respectfully re-interpret the source-material, building digital instruments from it to then launch it into bristling electronic…

Strymon NightSky £439

CONTACT WHO: Strymon WEB: strymon.net KEY FEATURES Three selectable reverb types. Mod section to modulate the reverb or tone filters. Tone section to sculpt reverb timbre. Shimmer for adding pitch shifting of up to the reverb. Glimmer dynamically enhances high/low frequency harmonics Very much designed to cut its own furrow in terms of sound and usability Although Strymon predominantly cater to guitar players and their requirements for floor-based effects pedals, they have gained plenty of fans elsewhere through their delay and reverb effects alongside the occasional foray into Eurorack territory. Their BigSky and BlueSky reverbs, in particular, have found a lot of favour in both studio and live synthesis circles. NightSky, their latest pedal, takes some aspects of these as a starting point but it is nevertheless very much designed to cut…

Strymon NightSky £439

IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro from £399

Reviews IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro from £399 Rob Redman checks out this duo of synths from the budget-friendly Italian brand CONTACT WHO: IK Multimedia WEB: ikmultimedia.com KEY FEATURES Desktop or keyboard variants, Analogue oscillators and filters, onboard stereo effects, paraphonic synth, either touch or semi weighted Fatar keyboard PRICING: Pro, £649 Pro Desktop, £399 IK Multimedia’s latest synth offering comes in two flavours; the desktop version with its touch sensitive keyboard, pitch and mod strips, and the full version, which has a full size, semi-weighted Fatar keyboard. The keyboard is larger, sporting a heavy duty metal enclosure, as well as physical wheels for pitch and mod. Those differences – and the keyboard version’s power socket – aside, the two are identical. The user interface and innards are exactly the same,…

IK Multimedia UNO Synth Pro from £399

THE ALTERNATIVES

THE ALTERNATIVES Korg minilogue £430 Korg’s minilogue is a polyphonic option with some similar capabilities. It has that Korg sound, and it’s feature rich… but doesn’t hold up so well in areas like the sequencer. korg.com Modal Cobalt 8 £499 Eight voices and also an app, to let you dive deeper without too much menu diving or button gymnastics. There’s a 37-key version for an extra £100. modalelectronics.com Moog Grandmother £769 For a bit more investment there is Moog’s wonderful Grandmother, which also has a similar feature set, albeit with a very different flavour. Lovely playability and a gorgeous real spring reverb too. moogmusic.com…

THE ALTERNATIVES

CONTROL THE VOLTAGE

CONTROL THE VOLTAGE The UNO Synth Pro, in both its guises, has two channels of gate and CV in and out, adding an extra layer of functionality that is rare at this price (although it’s becoming more common with the surge in modular equipment). The easiest way to take advantage of these is through the mod matrix, where the ports can be assigned however you like. If you like euclidean sequences then you could have one sending gates to the UNO. Maybe send the value of the mod wheel to an external effect, or you can send an LFO to your rack to sync up modulating a piece of Eurorack equipment. There is a lot on offer here, just another element to making the UNO a truly useful synth.…

CONTROL THE VOLTAGE

The Urei 1176 is one of the most vaunted compressors in history thanks to its super-fast attack times, but also for its famous all-buttons-in trick. The stereo version of this classic FET hardware was the 1178, and married those super-useful features with the ability to work on two sides of a stereo signal at once. Pulsar’s 1178 takes what producers loved about the 1178 (and 76) to digital territory. All the classic features are present, including a simulation of that all-buttons-in effect which smashes the signal. But Pulsar have also added mid/side capabilities, a selectable saturation stage, full gain reduction metering, and an entire EQ to work your magic on the compressor’s detection circuit. Starting to compress The 1178 has no Threshold control unlike many compressors. Instead, you push up the Input…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES

Roland Patch Collections – various synths $19.99 each (or included with active Roland Cloud subscription) > RolandCloud, the online shop and subscription service for Roland software is featured occasionally in these pages, but usually with regards to their synths and drum machines (of a software kind). As well as emulations of their classics (in the so-called Legendary range), the Roland line-up includes a host of other drum, synth and playback engines. However, Roland are also constantly releasing new sounds and patches for them. Let’s focus on those for a couple of Juno synth and the TR-909 drum machine… First up, we have ‘French House’ for the Juno-106. There are only 32 patches in this pack, but they cover some key tones in the genre. Most successful here are hefty sub basses and…

SOUNDS & SAMPLES

Roland Verselab MV-1 £599

Reviews | Roland Verselab MV-1 Roland Verselab MV-1 £599 The MV-1 prioritises vocals – as per the name – but it still covers you for samples and instruments says Martin Delany We like the self-contained nature of it… the challenge of doing it all in this box CONTACT WHO: Roland WEB: roland.com KEY FEATURES Built-in microphone, external microphone input with phantom power, Zen-Core compatible (3,000+ presets, 80+ drum kits), up to 128 voice polyphony, seven tracks and one vocal track, eight looper tracks, 16 vocal takes, effects, step sequencer, looper, SD card storage, USB audio and MIDI, can be powered via USB Unusually for a hardware sequencer, the Roland Verselab MV-1 is all about vocals. It’s a sequencer, sampler, and software instrument host that uses all that as a support network…

Roland Verselab MV-1 £599

Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

Finding new ways to interact with sound whether it be directly in a note editor or via a MIDI keyboard/control surface can sometimes be the solution to a creative block. Ableton Live offers some extremely useful MIDI effects and instrument routing options that allow us to customise and expand the way we play our favourite instruments. In this tutorial we will create an Instrument Rack that contains two instruments stacked on top of each other and use Live’s Note Length MIDI effect to alternate between each instrument as we play notes on our controller, resembling a very simple call and response method. The two instruments can be contrasting to one another or complementary. As we play on the controller/keyboard, held notes will play the first instrument and released notes will play the…

Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

STANDALONE MUSIC MAKERS Roland Verselab MV-1 £599 Full Review: FM371 | The vocal-centric Verselab is a workable solution for computer-averse producers, while integrating with the computer when you need it to. Polyend Tracker £449 Full Review: FM357 Less esoteric than it first appears, this is a well-designed sampler that’s both fun and inspiring. Worth a look whether you’re experienced with trackers or not. Akai MPC Live II £1,040 Full Review: FM358 A truly go-anywhere production experience – and now better equipped than ever. The Live II remains the high point of the current MPC range. Roland MC-707 $999 Review: FM349 It lags behind some rivals on the sampling front, but on the whole the 707 is a powerful and well-designed groovebox. A welcome return for the company’s MC line. NI Maschine+ £1,099 Review: FM363 There are some limitations, but Maschine+…

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