CATEGORIES
Toontrack Gospel EZX & EBX Expansion packs €75
In the search for new bass and drum grooves that will move the spirit, we go to Church and get Gospel with Toontrack
Ro-ro-ro your synth…
Roland get their software act together but there’s plenty more in 106 land
Waves Vocal Bender £110
This appealing vocal mangler lets you give music’s most essential instrument the colour and dexterity modern pop production demands
Solid State Logic UF8 - £1199
DAW controllers let us take direct control over our projects – can SSL’s new UF8 bridge the gap between software and hardware?
LAU.RA
Laura Bettinson’s multifaceted career has found the Midlands-hailing artist leaping seamlessly from the technicolor avant-garde pop of FEMME and the cerebral intensity of Ultraísta to the fresh, wonky electronica of lau.ra. On the heels of a slew of new singles, we ask what initiated her new direction, and discover how lockdown has fuelled a new studio approach
Leapwing Audio Al Schmitt - £139
Bottling the sonic signature of the sadly departed producer, Leapwing Audio’s latest plugin promises the sound of a legend…
Cableguys DriveShaper - €39
Analogue-style distortion and creative wavefolding make this a pulsating box of gritty filth… which is far more pleasant than it sounds
SHE'S GOT CLAWS
With a sound that melds ominous synth textures with effect-driven bass guitar, yet simultaneously leaves space for sparkling, transcendent pop hooks, She’s Got Claws haven’t let a pandemic stand in the way of a fierce new record, co-produced by OMD legend Andy McCluskey
Arturia Pigments 3 - €99
The Pigments powerhouse gets upgraded to v3, adding more engines, more waveforms and more effects. Have we reached saturation point?
15 questions with…MORCHEEBA
As producers of lush, downtempo tunes, Morcheeba have had more than a quarter of a century of success. It’s been quite a ride, and we’re not just talking about the transition from Atari to Mac…
Caelum Audio Tape Pro £39.99
Tape saturation can be an excellent flavour-enhancing tool. Let’s see if this new affordable plugin from Caelum Audio tingles the taste buds
TOM HOLKENBORG
Having just scaled his personal ‘Mount Everest’ with a four-and-a-half-hour score for Justice League: The Snyder Cut, Tom Holkenborg reflects on isolation working methods, casting out his old kit and his enduring passion for boutique Eurorack synths
Spiritual Sounds
It’s time to raid the mighty Vault, and we have found a much-needed collection of samples to calm us all down a bit. One, two, three: breathe…
Tom Wolfe Premier Collection £239.99
This preset collection for softsynth classics could catapult your next soundtrack into the top division, but is it in the premier league?
New keys samples
We have two all-new packs of highly-processed keyboard samples for you this issue. You can get both packs on the DVD or download direct at filesilo.co.uk
Neuratron PhotoScore & NotateMe Ultimate 2020 £199
To scan and edit existing musical scores, the best option is a dedicated application (and one with a very long name)
The cm guide to MODULAR SYNTHESIS
Modular, aka Eurorack, synthesis has taken the production world by storm. Here’s your complete guide on how to get going, as we go from zero to modular hero…
Spitfire Audio Contemporary Drama Toolkit £169
Spitfire invite you to enjoy a world of effortless, feel-based scoring. But are these simple routes to sonic success just smoke and mirrors?
15 questions with…SNARL
Snarl might not be old enough to set foot in a club yet, but he’s already producing tracks so good that he has been described as ‘dance music’s next great prodigy’. Not that Prodigy, although he does come from Essex…
15 questions with… JIMMY EDGAR
Playing games with music, using three EQs, no compression, nor reverb. Welcome to the glorious mind of Jimmy Edgar
Recording Masterclass
Recording external instruments or an entire band into your computer can seem a daunting prospect if you’ve never done it before, but with today’s tools – and advice from the following pages – it’s surprisingly easy to get great results. Welcome to the Recording Masterclass!
UVI: Shade
UVI are well known for their instruments but also do great effects too, and their latest EQ might well, wait for it, put others in the shade
KRUST: Moving in cycles
Along with Roni Size, Krust was at the forefront of jungle in the 90s, helping to launch the genre and one of its most legendary labels, Full Cycle Records. After taking a seven-year break from music production, he is back with The Edge Of Everything, his first album in 14 years, an extraordinary cinematic production that came together with the best of old and new technology…
JEFF RUSSO
Jeff Russo is one of the world’s leading film and TV composers, currently on a mission to boldly produce exceptional soundtracks for both Star Treks Discovery and Picard. For these critically-acclaimed soundtracks, he even had his own custom-built sample library co-developed with Orchestral Tools (now available for us all to use) complete with a Klingon Choir…
CM diary
In part two of his exploration of the human side of computer music-making, Ashley talks about how to keep social – outside of your usual beat-making bubble
Using repetition and variation
Dave Clews talks us through how to use repetition in a way that even your harshest critics won’t detect as anything more than ‘catchy’
The Sequencer, pt 1
Scot takes us through the history and development of another synth staple and advises how to use it in a modular setting
Arturia: V Collection 8
The move to improve, enhance, add to and tweak already impressive software bundles continues apace with this latest package from Arturia
A touch of chaos
The experts from Audiotent bring extra dimensions to your synth sounds by exploring chaos generation, random LFOs and velocity
15 questions with… SOPHIA LOIZOU
The composer and academic produces intense electronica “inviting us to see the Earth through the eyes of others”…