There’s been a decades-lasting joke among members of the Computer Music team – and indeed between us and many other music gear magazines – that whenever we attend a music equipment show, we are guaranteed to hear someone, usually of middling age, either demoing or auditioning a new synth by playing the intro to Van Halen’s Jump. At least five times. A day. And considering we’ve been going to gear shows for two decades now, that’s an awful lot of times that we have heard that intro. It’s fair to say, then, that when we finally get to review an emulation of the synth behind it, the Oberheim OB-Xa, you can surely understand that we are approaching said review with some trepidation. Actual anxiety and shaking, if you must ask, and even the ‘fact’ that some say the actual synth used on Jump was actually the OB-X (the ‘a’’s predecessor), doesn’t calm us down at all, especially when the very first video we stumble upon on Arturia’s website demoing this new OB-Xa V plugin hits that growl intro chord, and plays that (bloody) riff… But if you can, look past that intro – and apologies for planting it in your ear for the rest of the day – as the OB-Xa was used on many other tracks and by artists as diverse as Talk Talk and Prince. And to seal its approval in our eyes, Gary Numan once cited it as the ‘best analogue synth ever’.
X versus a versus V
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Denne historien er fra September 2020-utgaven av Computer Music.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Sonuscore The Score $399 PC MAC
The Score comes up with a film soundtrack based on your stylistic choices, but that’s just the start of it. Andy Jones scores The Score
Baby Audio Humanoid $129 PC MAC
Humanoid brings the ‘extreme’ and ‘radical’ to the world of vocals, but is also one of the easiest plugins to use and abuse, says Andy Jones
The Synth Factory Horizen $129 PC MAC
A synth/sampler that packs in a lot of power at an almost silly price - despite its low profile, Andy Jones gazes at Horizen...
Flow Mastering Suite $15/month PC MAC
Mastering your music just got as easy or as complex as you want. But, Andy Jones asks, is it worth yet another monthly subscription?
Universal Audio LA-6176 $299 PC MAC
UA has bundled three of its classic emulations into one channel strip. Is this analogue dream your ideal plugin team? Andy Jones finds out
Rack'em up...
IK Multimedia has announced a comprehensive update to its mixing and mastering software, T-RackS, that brings some smart mastering additions
FX Collection 5 €499
Arturia's huge bundle of effects gets its regular update and it's still easily as essential as the company's V Collection
Make a pulsing bass with GForce Axxess
Get mechanical, with a garage-inspired bass patch, which gets right to the pulsing heart of the Axxess synthesiser
The software that shaped us
Computer Music has had a 25-year history, and over the life of this magazine, the technology behind music production has changed beyond recognition. Here are the products that set the stage for the modern world…
PERFECT VIRTUAL GUITAR!
Need a great guitar sound, but lacking any guitar-playing contacts, or the skills to play it yourself? Have no fear, your computer is here! With a few pointers, buying advice and hands-on tips, you and your PC or Mac can emulate the greatest guitarists in the world…