CATEGORIES

Simon Doty

The Beacon Knee Deep In Sound, 2021

Hannah Peel

Peel’s new album, Fir Wave, sees her resampling, re-imagining and re-dreaming the music of celebrated electronic pioneer Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop. Hamish Mackintosh found out more

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

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

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.

Oramics

From founding the Radiophonic Workshop at the BBC to her unique Oramics machine, Daphne Oram was a pioneer

Strymon NightSky £439

Bruce Aisher explores the infinite world of modulated reverb with Strymon’s new time-warped reverberator

Squarepusher

Feed Me Weird Things Rephlex, 1996

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

Focusrite FAST Series plugins

From £5.99/month Focusrite meets Sonible for these new ‘smart’ mixing tools. Si Truss takes a spin…

Output Frontier £1,259

Audio company Output have shifted their attention to studio monitors. Jon Musgrave explores their new Frontier

CME WIDI Master $59

Fancy wireless operation between your old MIDI gear? Jon Musgrave pairs up with this new wireless MIDI system

Chillout

Lie down on a bean bag, close your eyes and relax as we explore the nebulous world of chillout music

BATTLE OF THE BEAT MAKERS

There's never been a better time to dive into hardware beat-making. This issue, we put eight of the finest drum machines and percussion synths head-to-head to crown the king of the beat

M-Audio BX3 and BX4 from £85

Need some compact monitors for your set up? Jon Musgrave sizes up two new offerings from M-Audio

Aston Element £159

Marketed as “the people’s mic”, Aston say their latest mic has undergone exhaustive public testing. But what does reviewer Rob Redman think?

Ableton Live 11 Suite £539

The immensely popular DAW enters its eleventh chapter with an array of new features. Tim Cant goes Live

Steinberg Cubase Pro 11£499

Bruce Aisher takes a look at the latest iteration of Steinberg’s popular DAW to see if it is still up there with the best

Luke Abbott

Norfolk’s premier electronic explorer, Luke Abbott takes a sabbatical from his Szun Waves trio to offer up the rich, filmic textures of new album, Translate. Hamish Mackintosh catches up with Luke and gets lost in Translation

AAS Chromaphone 3 $199

The ‘acoustic object synthesiser’ is back. James Russell looks at the new version of AAS’s physical modelling instrument

DJOKO

Building a track from scratch in Live

Fraser T. Smith

Award-winning hit maker Fraser T. Smith is famed for his songwriting/production work with Adele and Stormzy, but now the shoe is on the other foot. Danny Turner discusses his hugely ambitious debut solo project, Future Utopia

Sequential Pro 3 from $1,400

Sequential’s Pro 3 may appear to be simply a beefy monosynth but, as Rob Redman discovers, it’s far more than that

JZ Microphones Signature BB29 €1,299

JZ are expanding their mic range. Jon Musgrave sizes up their signature model

Celemony Melodyne 5.1 from €99

With Melodyne 5’s release Bruce Aisher asks whether Celemony can remain top of the note-based audio editing tree

Amon Tobin Foley Room

Ninja Tune, 2007

A Winged Victory for the Sullen

A Winged Victory for the Sullen comprises Stars of the Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and film composer Dustin O’Halloran. Danny Turner speaks to Wiltzie about the duo’s latest theatre production score, Invisible Cities

Leapwing Audio RootOne £180

RootOne promises a new approach to creating and boosting sub frequencies. Si Truss goes low

Roland TR-06 £350

The TR-606 is the latest Roland groovebox to get the Boutique treatment. Si Truss asks if this is a classic worth reviving…

MOOG MATRIARCH

Let’s get patching and see what Moog’s four-VCO, vintage inspired semi-modular can do