Computer Music

Future Audio Workshop – best known for their Circle2 synth (8/10, 220) – have released SubLab, a plugin synth for Mac and PC dedicated solely to the production of “powerful 808 style sub-bass that sounds punchy on every speaker, every time”. A SubLa

Tell us how Audiaire came to be SR “I’d always wanted to make a synth. Once I’d embarked on that first instrument, I realised the developers were incredibly talented and it made perfect sense to expand into other wares, so Audiaire was born.” cm Y

only on way, Apple also said the iPad will get its own operating system, iPadOS. Still based on iOS, this will make the tablet feel more like a ‘proper computer’ – likely to please any iPad musicians. Both iOS 13 and iPadOS will get a new Files app t

The option to use standard plugins in an online DAW may still be some way off, but Soundation are bringing Propellerhead’s Europa Reason Rack Extension synth to their web-based music-making platform later this year. Is this the start of something? R

If you’re after a taste of Reason on your iPad, you’ll be disappointed, but for making beats on the go, the updated Reason Compact delivers We’re never going to stop hoping for Reason to be ported to the iPad – it just seems a natural fit, and with

“It took me quite a few years to get into Ableton Live. I started out with a Roland MC-505 Groovebox, then moved on to Cubase. After a while, I realised everybody was using Logic, so I switched again, but never clicked with it. No matter how much pra

From inner-city USA to the sunny terraces of Ibiza via the fields of rural England, house and techno culture has been the lifeblood of underground dance music since wannabe musicians began bashing away on old step sequencers and discarded drum machin

The keys to a great tech house arrangement are to not overelaborate, and to make the most of every single sound in your track. While introducing new parts later in the arrangement can be a powerful way of increasing a track’s impact, it can often be

Get authentic 90s drums by referencing the tropes and tricks of old-school beat-building A surefire way to give your 4/4 beats a retro-inspired feeling of groove is by referencing the head-nodding shuffle of UK garage. Characterised by skipping ghos

We might be stating the obvious, but the minimal sound is all about, er, minimalism. There are no overblown arrangements here, no complex patterns and multi-layered mixes. Instead, it’s almost a question of seeing just how few elements you can use. A

cm : Stylistically speaking, your tracks span a wide range of tempos and influences. Tell us some of the specific producers who have influenced your sound. TF: “I’ve been influenced by bands and singers about as much as I have by producers. Some of

Computer Music: What does the classic ‘Detroit techno’ sound mean to you? What advice would you give to producers looking to emulate this aesthetic? SG: “I believe it’s more likely a feeling in the music that’s not very easy to explain. Obviously,

Blasting out a steady stream of club bangers from their Maidstone studio, Leftwing : Kody – aka Jon Kong (Leftwing) and Chris Adie (Kody) – have been a musical partnership to be reckoned with since 2012. With residencies at Fabric and Sankeys, and re

Regular readers of our monthly Freeware News column will be familiar with indie software devs HY-Plugins, purveyors of quirky step sequencers, slicers and effects processors – and we’ve teamed up with them to bring you an unmissable plugin that’s gua

When it comes to legendary names among drum machines, Roland stand firmly at the top, having created a number of seminal beatboxes that have pounded their way into our collective consciousness over the years thanks to the innumerable hit tracks in wh

Even as long ago as 1983, tabletop gear was plagued by the ever-present Shift button. Then, as now, it was necessary to access a secondary level of functions below select dual-purpose buttons. You can tell which ones they are by the field of orange t

Digital audio workstations are now the mainstay of most producers’ workflow, but despite their cutting-edge credentials, you might be surprised at just how far back their roots can be traced. In the early 1980s, the first, primitive versions of what

Apple’s entry-level DAW is much younger than its big brother, but GarageBand shares more DNA with Logic than you might realise. When Apple acquired Emagic in 2002, the company’s co-founder, Gerhard Lengeling, moved to California to take on a new role

You know those short chords that, though not part of the main chord progression, help you pass from one chord to the next? Those are passing chords: extra points of harmonic detail that shore up the tune’s structure. Generally played quite briefly,

Structuring tracks can be tricky. Often, you’ll create a track sketch that has potential, but struggle to extend the idea beyond a basic loop – perhaps the transitions between sections aren’t as smooth as they could be, or maybe the order of the sect

While modulation effects aren’t the first things that come to mind when processing drums – if, indeed, they come to mind at all – the likes of chorus, phasing and flanging can work wonders in terms of stereo widening, imbuing a sense of movement and

There are many types of synthesis out there, but there’s one in particular that can really help you understand how sound can be generated. FFT theory states that all melodic waveforms are made up of individual sine waves: a fundamental frequency and

“House music! You want me to tell you about house music?” David Morales furrows his brow, scratches his stubbly chin and finally shakes his head in defeat. “How can I tell you about something that is now so big that it figures in the DNA of 99% of al

cm: From a production point of view, what were the most important elements of those early house tracks for you? DM: “Well, let’s take a song like Music Is The Key by JM Silk. A very early track that was released in 1985 on DJ International Records.

The release of a new V Collection update is always something for classic synth and keyboard enthusiasts to get excited about, and version 7 adds three more classic emulations to a line-up that already takes in a what’s-what of legends by Moog, Roland

In 2016, Kilohearts launched Multipass – a multiband effects suite that thoroughly impressed us by being both highly customisable and pleasantly simple. That plugin made us think of the company’s Snapin system, whereby users purchase effect modules –

Phase Plant’s effects section uses the company’s Snapins setup, where simple but effective processor modules can be loaded and combined. The base version comes with six Snapins – covering EQ, chorus, gain, delay, limiting and stereo widening. Users c

Inspired by the grand old polyphonic beasts birthed by Roland, Korg, Sequential Circuits et al in the 80s, Super 8 is Native Instruments’ first virtual analogue polysynth since Pro-53, almost two decades ago. It runs standalone or as a VST/AU/AAX plu

Singular in its purpose, Waves’ new plugin effect generates sub-harmonic signals based on the dynamic and tonal characteristics of the input signal. The most obvious source candidates for Submarine, (VST/AU/AAX) are basslines and kick drums, but anyt

The debut from plugin developers Pulsar is an emulation of the legendary Binson Echorec 2 magnetic drum delay unit, as made famous through the 60s and 70s by the axe-wielding likes of Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, Led Zep’s Jimmy Page and The Shadows’ H

Developed by Audiaire in partnership with Sinevibes (who coded most of the DSP), Nuxx (VST/AU/AAX) is a step-sequencing multieffects module based on the parameter sequencer from the company’s Zone synth (9/10,cm265). In essence, it’s all about creati

Web polyversemusic.com Format PC/Mac, VST/AU/AAX This unique ‘morphing’ algorithmic reverb isn’t intended to be a convincing model of any particular real-world space, as Is made apparent by the range of the Size control, which runs from 1 cubic centi

New Zealand’s leading samplist returns, this time with just shy of 3GB of multisamples (3634 files) captured from a PPG Wave 2.2 wavetable synth via a treasure trove of fancy outboard. The sampling is as well-executed as ever – even with the admissio

Inspired by the sounds of Roland’s TB-303 BassLine synth, this royalty-free collection of bass loops, arpeggiated lines and one-shots has been handcrafted using hardware synths, guitar pedals and rack processors. All of the samples are supplied as WA

The Plugins collection is a suite of complete, limitation-free instrument and effects plugins. It’s an incredible resource, boasting more than 80 pro-quality plugins that you won’t find anywhere else, all for PC and Mac, in VST and AU formats. All of

Check out this huge collection of processors – from classic compressors to modern digital creations, we’ve got everything you need to shape your signals • Slick, punchy compressor• Mix knob for parallel compression• Limiter to keep the output in che

Though there are a wide variety of DAWs, each with its own unique interface, there are similarities when it comes to loading up and using plugins, and most stick to one of two approaches. The first – as seen in Steinberg’s Cubase, Apple’s Logic, and

So how does your DAW know where to look for your plugins? Actually, it might not. Mac users have it easy, as there are OS-specified folders into which plugins are installed. These folders can be found by going to your Library folder (if you can’t fin

The story of Yamaha’s brief foray into vector synthesis is likewise a story of the demise of one of the greats – Dave Smith’s Sequential Circuits, the company that begat the legendary Prophet-5 polysynth. Sequential had ridden high on the success of