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SYNTHPOWER!
Unlock the potential of 2017’s
most forward-thinking synths
Issue 317
Making the future since 1992
EXCLUSIVE ACCESS
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS
NATHAN FAKE
Synth Power Up
It’s no secret that we love a good retro synth over here
at FM. Nothing gets us hot under the collar like an
old-fashioned, VCO-packing behemoth, preferably clad in
plenty of wood panelling and boasting an impenetrably
complex voltage controlled modulation system… Still, we’ll
freely admit that for all their warmth and character, the
analogue classics can’t hold a candle to today’s most
leading plug-ins when it comes to flexibility, complexity
and sheer sonic power.
It’s these qualities we’re celebrating in this month’s cover
feature. We’ll explore some of the cutting-edge techniques
made possible by modern synthesis technology, and show
you how you can use these to add power, depth and
complexity to your own music.
To make the most of the tutorials, be sure to grab the
latest videos, audio examples and tutorial files from
http://vault.futuremusic.co.uk
We hope you enjoy the issue!
Si Truss, Editor
[email protected]
5
FM
|
WELCOME
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FM
|
CONTENTS
IN THE STUDIO WITH: Nathan Fake
We track down the new Ninja Tune
signee to his Norfolk studio – get
a load of his gear collection, and
find out why he’s dropped the soft
synths for his new album Providence
This Issue |
Contents
7
rEvIEWS
In-depth tests of
all the latest gear
INCLUDES AUDIOl
78 Roland System-8
INCLUDES AUDIOl82 Teenage Engineering
PO-32 Tonic
86 Waldorf KB37
88 Roli Blocks
92 Round-Up: UAD 9.1
94 Universal Audio
Apollo Twin MkII
96 Group Test:
Looping Tools
98 Audio-Technica
AE2300
100 iZotope Neutron
102 Sounds & Samples
IN THE STUDIO WITH: Teengirl Fantasy
Five years after Tracer, the duo are back
with their trademark hypnotic sound
rEvIEW: Roland System-8
The new plug-out synth is fully loaded
with Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 emulations
60
78
88 98
82
100 86
68
94
TECHNIQUE
Essential production
advice and ideas
26
INCLUDES VIDEOl
Cutting Edge Synths
Up-to-the-minute
sound design skills
55
INCLUDES VIDEOl
Producer’s Guide
Build your own
multiband setups
68
INCLUDES VIDEOlModular Monthly
Malekko’s Voltage
Blocks CV sequencer
On the
FM Vault
Sample packS
VIDeO & aUDIO
vault.futuremusic.co.uk
Future Music has outgrown its covermount DVD!
We wanted to bring you more samples, sounds
and high-quality video than ever before, so we’re
putting it up online for you to download. Simply
head to the FM ‘Vault’ at the link above, login/
register, then hit ‘add a magazine’ to register this
issue and get all the video, audio and samples.
FM
|
ONliNE VaulT
INCLUDES VIDEOl
THE TrACK: Alan Walker, Alone.
The Brit-nominated Norwegian
breaks it down for us in the studio
ON vIDEO
>
Cutting-Edge
Synth Power
>
Modular Monthly:
Voltage Block
>
The Track: Alan Walker
Hear the gear first with our demos
Exclusive new sounds with every issue
AUDIO DEmOS
>
Roland System-8
>
Teenage Engineering
PO-32 Tonic
48
grOOvE CrImINAlS prESENT…
SH Collection
500
loops, hits and multis
generated with the gritty
sound engines of Roland’s iconic
SH-101 and SH-09 monosynths
CyClICK SAmplES prESENT…
Bendy Basslines
268
diving and swooping
loops and lines giving
you the gritty, pitchbend-heavy
sound of modern D’n’B and EDM
PLUS
ACCESS THE FM SaMPlE aRCHiVE!
Download the ‘Sample Archive’ packs and get over 8GB of loops, hits and instruments from our back catalogue of high-quality and royalty-free samples. From vintage synths and beats to esoteric sounds and FX – think of it as our best of. All the samples you need to create great music!
This Issue |
Contents
9
FEATUrE: Cutting-Edge Synth Power
Make your most modern patches
yet with this masterclass of
futuristic synthesis techniques
16
14
Find us online at
www.futuremusic.co.uk
Watch our videos
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FEATUrES
Expert tips, techniques
and tutorials
16 Classic Album:
Sander van Doorn,
Supernaturalistic
23 Album Reviews
26 Feature: Cutting Edge
Synth Power
38
In the
Studio with:
Nathan Fake
55 Producer’s Guide
60 Interview:
Teengirl Fantasy
68 Modular Monthly
104 Advice
106 Gear Guide
FIlTEr
All the latest gear from
around the world
12 Behringer’s big plans
14 Output Analog Strings
14 TAL-Dub-X
15 Talking Shop:
Juveniles
20 Subscribe to FM
IN THE STUDIO WITH: The Magnetic Fields
For his eleventh studio album, songwriter
Stephin Merritt has penned fifty
autobiographical songs spanning fifty years
70
26
15
12
Contents | This Issue
BONUS SAmplES
See this month’s selection of free demos at vault.futuremusic.co.uk
01
Splice Sounds Varien Steampunk Speakeasy
02Splice Sounds Future Bass Leads + Melodies
https://splice.com
01Looptone Ministry Of House
02Loopmasters Presents UK Garage & 2 Step 03Ghost Syndicate Pres. Assault Drum & Bass 04Samplestate Kreature Modern Tech House 05Loopmasters Pres Liquidism Drum & Bass 06Loopmasters Juke Footwork 101 07Singomakers G>Bass
08Loopmasters Presents Vibrations Instrumental Electronica
04
03
02
01
www.loopmasters.com
06
05
02
07 08
01
14 TAL-Dub-X
14 Output Analog
Strings
highlights…
15 Talking Shop:
Juveniles
16 Classic Album:
Sander van Doorn,
Supernaturalistic
13
The Future Of Music |
Filter
I
t’s just weeks since Behringer’s much-trailed DeepMind 12 hit the shelves, but it seems company founder Uri Behringer has the wind in his synthesis sails. According to a series of forum posts from the man himself, the German company have at least four new synths in the works, with plans for up to 20 in the near future. These will apparently include “both innovative new synths as well as reviving classics”. On the revival front, Behringer have expressed an interest in recreating ARP’s mammoth semi-modular 2600, the classic ’80s monosynths of British outfit Oxford Synth Company and, most recently, Tom Oberheim’s OB-Xa. Few details have been shared about what form these clones might take, but going on previous Behringer form we’d assume that affordability would be a top priority. More details are promised in the coming weeks– no doubt via Behringer’s favoured outlet, the Gearslutz forums.
Model behaviour
Slightly more concrete are the company’s plans for an affordable, desktop recreation of the Moog Model D. Announced last month, the Behringer D is touted as an analogue monosynth based on authentic VCO, VCF and VCA designs from the original Model D. Early design renders show a desktop unit with a control interface faithful to its ’70s inspiration. A number of modern touches are promised too though, including Eurorack compatibility, full MIDI implementation and 16-voice MIDI poly chaining for combining multiple synthesizers into a single mammoth polyphony.Before you get too excited, note that the Behringer D is still in the pre-prototype phase, although the
plans have already generated a considerable chunk of hype online, which we’d assume would be enough to convince the company to move forward with the project. If and when it does arrives, Behringer’s Model D clone will go up against Moog’s own recent, well-received reissue. The main difference is that Behringer are claiming their version will have a projected price point of $400, as opposed to the $3,500 retail price of Moog’s official version.
This is far from the first time Uri Behringer has expressed an interest in reviving classic instruments. Before the DeepMind 12 was fully revealed it was, at one point, touted as a revival of the Roland Jupiter-8. The company have previously teased a budget ARP Odyssey recreation too, and are supposedly still working on an analogue drum machine based around the 808 and 909. Plans have also been mooted for a desktop version of the DeepMind 12, so that ARP 2600 may have to join the back of a fairly long development queue.
If, in what form, and when any of these instruments might appear is still anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly fair to assume that Behringer are hard at work. “We’re all in and the teams are on fire,” Behringer stated in the latest forum post. “Exciting times!”
Behringer have
big plans…
The ARP 2600, OSCar and a $400
Moog Model D join the pile of
Filter | The Future Of Music
Released in 2011, Dave Smith and Roger Linn’s Tempest is one of the most ambitious and feature-packed drum machines, but its creators have now announced that it’s reached the
end of its development cycle and no further OS updates will be forthcoming.
Writing on the DSI forum, Dave Smith explained that, having implemented various requested
features and enhancements over the years, the team have now hit the limit of what the drum machine’s onboard processing ability is capable of. Although Smith acknowledges that there are still a few bugs remaining, they have “addressed the bugs affecting the Tempest’s essential operation and feel that it is stable, reliable, has abundant functionality, and is very fun to play.” Co-creator Roger Linn added, “Even with some remaining minor bugs, Tempest is incredibly deep and remarkably functional, and in my opinion has no competition for what it does.”
Tempest certainly holds a unique place in the hardware drum machine market, but it feels like this announcement marks the beginning of the end of its lifespan. It is still available to buy, however.
It’s the end of the road
for the Tempest…
Output unleash Analog Strings
If you’re looking for a strings library with a contemporary twist, Output
believes that its new Analog Strings instrument could be for you.
Promising unique and cutting-edge strings, sounds are created by
combining two sampled orchestras, vintage synths and unconventional
sound design techniques. There’s also “advanced” modulation routing,
dual tape loopers, dual arpeggiators, flux and macro control.
Analog Strings costs $199 and runs in Kontakt and the free Kontakt
Player (v5.6.5 or later) on PC/Mac. Find out more on the Output website.
Splice support
comes to the
Toraiz SP-16
Pioneer DJ have come together with Splice, the cloud-based sample provider, to enable Splice Sounds integration with the Toraiz SP-16 hardware sampler.
You can now build custom samples kits and sequences online, download them as SCENE files and export them straight to your SP-16. Everything is bundled up to make the process as seamless as possible, and you can then start working with the sounds on Pioneer’s hardware.
To mark the launch of this collaboration, Splice is offering a month’s free trial of its service. Head to the site and sign up, then use the promo code TORAIZ16 on the subscriptions page to take advantage of this offer.
Togu’s TAL-Dub
delay is reborn
as TAL-Dub-X
Togu Audio Line made their name releasing free plugins, one of which was TAL-Dub, a delay effect. Now it’s been rebooted as TAL-Dub-X, which comes with new features and 64-bit support.
Rather than being an emulation of a specific hardware delay unit, this promises its own “special sound”. It’s not a clean effect, and comes with a saturation stage and low-pass filter for added flexibility.
A spec list is below, and you can find out more and download a demo on the Togu Audio Line website. TAL-Dub-X costs $25 and is available for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.
The Future Of Music | Filter
J
ean-Sylvain Le Gouic and Thibaut Doray have just come out of the studio after finishing work on their latest album. Without Warning follows 2012's self-titled LP with a storm of upbeat retro synthpop.FM: Tell us about your studio…
“We recently turned the rehearsal studios we’ve been using for years into a recording studio. We have a control room with some hardware and it's patched to three small cabins and a big live room.”
What's your favourite thing to use in the studio?
“I don't have a preference between hardware and plug-ins. I'd go hardware for the ‘classic’ feel; software to get creative. I've just discovered mixing with an analogue summing mixer and I love it! I send groups the summing mixer, with a Bricasti M7 for my main reverb and a Stereo Toolbox on the output of the mix.”
Everyone's got to have one – what's your choice of DAW?
“I work on Logic Pro, Ableton Live and Pro Tools, I also program my patches in Pure Data. DAWs are a medium – just like composing on different instruments for a song. Ableton is by far the easiest to get an idea down in minutes.”
What dream bits of gear would you love to have in your studio?
“A couple of DBX 162s, a Drawmer 1962, and a couple of Distressors!”
What’s the latest addition to your studio?
“TAL Sampler. A lot of the first Juveniles demos were made using these plug-ins from Patrick Kunz. I love writing my ideas on the road with TAL-Bassline & TAL-U-NO.”
Juveniles’s essential
production advice
Give space to what's important
“Sidechain compression is well known for its pumping effect, but it also has a purpose via multiband compression. If you have multiple elements fighting for a place in the low end of your mix – like a kick drum and a bass – you can sidechain only the low end of the bass with the input from the kick. The bass won't duck like with a traditional sidechain, but if that's what you're looking for, it's a good option. The same technique can be applied with vocals that need to be upfront in the mix.”
TALKINGSHOP
Juveniles
Read the full interview:
http://bit.ly/fmtsjuve
Talking Shop continues regularly at www.futuremusic.co.uk
We grill the funky French two-piece for their tips
Monitors that excel at low volume precision Great mixing at any sound level Dedicated to the art of accuracy Consistent non-fatiguing drivers Still handmade in Denmark
FM
|
CLASSIC ALBUM
For Trance superstar Sander van Doorn’s debut album he knew he wanted to push himself, and the genre. The scene was in danger of becoming stale and predictable. Too many releases followed the same patterns and too many producers coasted along with the same stock sounds. Over the course of Supernaturalistic, released on his own Doorn Records imprint, the flying Dutchman grabbed Trance by the scruff and shook the damn thing up. Techno beats met House chords, moodier textures brought in Soul, and rigid tempo templates were ignored in favour of letting the tracks find their own steam, rather than one dictated by the current dancefloor bangers.
“A lot of Trance out there at the time had started to use the same formula,” says Doorn. “I wanted to add other genres to the
mix, and bring in things like more melodic breakdowns.” Armed with his Nord Lead 2X, a Virus C, Logic 7 and a little bit of Space Designer, Doorn challenged himself to be surprising, diverse, and do what he felt, not what was expected.
“There were a lot of tracks produced using the same synths like the Roland JP-8000, and a lot of people were using the same kind of breakdowns, and pretty much the same drops. It needed a little changing up here and there.”
Supernaturalistic tracks like 15 broke the rules of 16-bar arrangements, while Grasshopper leapt about like its insect namesake. Album opener Look Inside Your Head took its inspiration from Alt Rockers Pixies, and By Any Demand took its hook from an early ’90s Hip-Hop club rocker. The rules had gone out the window, and the resulting glorious noise was causing Doorn to be hailed as ‘The Saviour of Trance’.
“I wanted to shake it up,” he says. “I started to bring in more of the Techno beats, and moody sounds, and experiment with bpms. Elsewhere on the album you have tracks that are more laid-back, and others that lean towards techy, or more progressive sounds.
“Through combing all these different types of sounds I guess I was making Trance a little more interesting to listen to at that point. It did get a bit more diverse after that.”
Sander van Doorn
Supernaturalistic
Doorn Records, 2008
W
Classic Album |
Filter
17
Track by track
with
Sander
van Doorn
Look Inside Your Head
“It’s been fun to look back at this album. It was made around ten years ago. It was a very important thing to do because it was my first album.“I was just producing away, and at one point I had a lot of tracks that were just ready to be released. It was quite an amount. I just thought, ‘Why not do an album?’.
“It was fun. When doing an artist album you can take steps towards different directions, musically.
“Look Inside Your Head was always going to be the first track, though. It actually came into my head when I was listening to a Pixies album. There was this one track, Where Is My Mind?, that inspired me to get in the studio. I changed all the notes and got inspired to make my own version of it. It was a combination of moody vibes and synths, and it came together really quickly. It pretty much produced itself, to be honest, and it just felt right to open the album with.”
Riff
“This started as a track that I didn’t know how to finish. I’d already had the main riff sound, but with a lot more notes. It was kind of going through a whole melody, but I couldn’t get the track really going. Sometimes that happens.
“It didn’t have enough drive to make it a fun track. So I simplified everything, and only ended up using two notes of my original melody. It worked, so I repeated that across the track. It ended up creating a lot of energy, which is exactly what I needed for that track so I was very happy with the way it turned out.
“I just added some cool beats and it came together very quickly after that.”
By Any Demand
“This samples the rapper, King Bee. I loved that track [King Bee’s Back By Dope Demand]. I’d always wanted to use that sample. I originally sampled it, and based the whole track around it, but when we went to clear the original track we couldn’t use the
original vocals, so I got in contact with MC Pryme from King Bee, who re-recorded it. I took him into the studio and recorded the vocals into my track, which was pretty cool to do.
“It was a really good track for the charts in Holland, as well. It stayed in the commercial charts for three or four weeks, so I was really happy with that. It was one of the first tracks that ever did that.”
15
“For this one I just had a basic melody going and then I started messing with the arrangement. Normally in Dance music a track traditionally has eight bars or 16 bars, but for this track I experimented with removing one bar at the end, so instead of 16 bars I now had 15 bars. I don’t think anybody had done that before so I thought I’d try it out. So that’s where the title comes from.
“I used to record under the alias Purple Haze, for making tracks with a more melodic flow. This track was very much in that vibe, as well.”
Pura Vida
“This one has a summer feel to it, for me. I’d actually just came back from a holiday in Costa Rica where they have the motto, or life saying, which was ‘pura vida’, which means ‘pure life’. It’s a way of saying, ‘Everything’s okay’. This track is quite optimistic.
“A lot of this album is dark, but there are flashes of light. I normally start a track with an optimistic tone, but it always turns out to have a pretty moody melody by the end. They always start positive, though [laughs].”
Sushi
“I was working on this track, and I had this nice House sound going with a really relaxed melody, but it didn’t really have enough drive in it. So I started thinking about this festival called Awakenings, which is one of the bigger Techno festivals in Holland, and I’d just been there a couple of weeks before.
“I just pictured myself stood in one of the fields, listening to the
music, thinking, ‘What type of melody do I want to hear now?’. So Sushi started to evolve around my whole feeling of being at that festival.
“I added some moody chords towards the end of the track to give it a bit more speed and it turned out to be a pretty cool experiment.”
The Bass
“It all started with the bassline. I’d been messing with it for a while. I decided to keep the bass at one tone and try and create a real driving track around it. I started producing and got to the breakdown and used this FX sound that really built towards the drop. I was really interested in getting the drop just right so I started digging through my old library of old House samples and found this very simple House chord that was just perfect for the drop. It just completed the whole track.”
Lobby
“This was the first track of mine that wasn’t straight-up Dance music
“It’s shaping up to be a really cool year. I’m getting ready to release my, as yet untitled, third album. I’ve just got back from my honeymoon and am back to work. The album will be very diverse. I’m going back to the more melodic sounds, taking it into new brackets. It will have an old feel to it, too, combined with progressive sounds, techy sounds, and more House sounds. It will feature some guests. HI-LO will definitely be on there, as will Landscape. I also have a few other projects on the go, mainly a lot of solo tracks combining different sounds. I’m going to remix one of my older tracks too.”
“The album is a combination of the kind
of sound that people would have been
familiar with because of the things I’d put
out before and through DJing, and some
more experimental tracks. Tracks like Riff
would have been the style of tracks I was
playing out, so people would have been
used to that kind of sound. With tracks
like Grasshopper I got to go in a
completely different direction. That track
was a combination of genres.”
Filter | Classic Album
In The Studio With… Sander van Doorn
“Back then the studio was based around my Mac Pro. I was working on Logic. I was just making the switch from Logic 5 to Logic 7 – I skipped 6. Then I used that in combination with the Virus synth from Access, which was my main hardware. I also had a Nord Lead 2X. That was the only hardware I had. The rest I pretty much did with software, using basic synths from Logic, combined with a lot of synths from the Virus C. Logic 7 also had a great FX plug-in called the Space Designer, which came in very handy. The Virus was my main point of focus, though. It was a digital synth, but it had a really analogue feel to it. I would just mess around with the buttons and see what came out [laughs]. Oh yeah, this was around the time that I’d just bought the Evolver from Dave Smith Instruments. I used that a lot. It’s actually where the riff sound in my track Riff came from. I was really into that back then.”
related. I had the opportunity to explore different moods and speeds because this was an artist album. With tracks like Lobby I got to make music that wasn’t just like a normal Dance music beat.
“So I had that in mind and started working on this piano sound, and at one point this track came out. It had a little bit more of an Ambient sound to it.
“It actually gets used for a lot of documentaries in Holland. I was watching TV the other day and I heard it going round on a really moody and dramatic documentary. It was quite funny.”
Apple
“I had a Faithless track in mind when I was making this called We Come 1 [from 2001’s Outrospective album]. The melody in that song at one point reverses itself and comes back to the start. I really liked that sound and had always wanted to try and incorporate it into one of my tracks, and when I was working on this Apple track I decided to try that reverse technique. For me it created that same kind of Faithless feel.
“Then I added a techy, driven bass that held it all together. After
that it clicked into place. This one also works really well on the dancefloor, which is important too.”
Grasshopper
“This did really well. It was picked up by a lot of the cooler DJs as well back then. It was an experiment. I’d just started working on Logic Pro 7, which had this new FX plug-in
called Space Designer. You could add some really nice, cool, warm reverb to your melodies.
“I used it in combination with sounds from my Virus C. It helped me take the whole melody to an ultimate climax. Then I just dropped it back to like, nothing, with just a kick and a bassline.
“I was just experimenting with this track. I originally thought about releasing it under a different guise because it didn’t really have that traditional Sander van Doorn sound that people were used to. But, in the end I just thought, ‘This is me. This is my sound.’ If I wanted to try something new, I decided I could.
“I called it Grasshopper because it jumps from one part to another [laughs].”
Dozer
“This was a lot of fun to make. I wanted to try and find a different mood for this one. I was just messing around in the studio and this started to come together. I called it Dozer because it reminded me of a bulldozer. It had a really tough Rock beat. I used an ‘ahhh’ sounding synth, which kind of took me back to tracks like [New Order’s] Blue Monday, or stuff by The Farm.“I used that kind of sound and went about trying to build a decent element of suspense around it. Then I added a nice kick drum sound and a really techy kind of bassline over the top. It came together really well. It was definitely one for the rougher types of DJ sets that I’d do.”
Outrospective
“It was a perfect end track for me. It had a more Rock feel to it. It wasn’t on a House beat. It built more around a guitar sound. For me it felt like it had a little bit more of a U2 feel to it. It sounded like the perfect ending.
“Oh yeah, If you leave the track playing after it’s ended there’s a live recording of the end of one of my sets from a gig in Washington, DC. I recorded my set and forgot to turn it off at the end so the microphone picks up the crowd. I thought it was a funny way to end. Speaking of secret tracks. If you start track one on the album and immediately rewind it you’ll find an extra hidden record called Minus 1!”
King Bee
Royal Jelly
Dutch Hip-Hop banger from 1990 that took over clubs worldwide. Sander van Doorn honoured this classic by sampling it for his own album.
add these to your playlist:
Back By dope demand, Feel the Flow, Must|
Bee the Music|
Pixies
Surfer Rosa
Alternative Rock classic. Stand out track Where Is My Mind? inspired Doorn’s own Look Inside Your Head from the title down.
add these to your playlist:
Where is My Mind?, Bone Machine, Vamos|
Faithless
Outrospective
Besides nicking their album title for his last track, Sander also took the way tracks like We Come 1 used reversed sounds for another
Supernaturalistic track, Apple.
add these to your playlist:
We Come 1, donny X, Code|
New Order
Power, Corruption
& Lies
Later collectors’ editions of this album contained smash hit 12-inch
Blue Monday. Dorn says this monster
track inspired some of the mood of his own song, Dozer.
add these to your playlist:
Blue Monday, age of Consent, ecstasy|
Sander van Doorn
Eleve11
Check out Doorn’s follow-up album. More of the same genre-bending, plus his first true crossover hits.
add these to your playlist:
love is darkness, Koko, rolling the dice|
When doing
an artist album you
can take steps
towards different
directions, musically
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23
FM
|
ALBUM REVIEWS
album of the month
R
épublique Amazone is the inspiring debut album from Les Amazones d’Afrique, an all-female collective of West African musicians who are campaigning for gender equality around the world. Bringing together an eclectic mix of musicians from across the continent, including world-renowned and emerging talent, the record is an electrifying melting pot of styles, cultures and time periods. The vocals drift between English, French and Mandinka as the lyrics take on domestic violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, gang rape and oppression while also promoting love and female empowerment.République Amazone’s fascinatingly diverse soundscape sees traditional and ancient styles blended with Afro-rhythms and then pumped through an undercurrent of Dub and Electronica. This engaging sound is then constantly flecked with Hip-Hop, Funk, Blues, Reggae and Jazz in an album that moves through disparate
genres, tempos and moods, giving an all-encompassing snapshot of the spirit of contemporary Africa. The record is alive with energy, colour and passion.
But it is not just their exhilarating, provocative and invigorating music that is helping Les Amazones d’Afrique to make the world a better place – the band raise money for the Panzi Foundation who treat women affected by sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dynamic, inspiring and endlessly talented, Amazones d’Afrique are triggering the change of attitudes and perceptions armed with an album that sounds so good that it will get you dancing as you clench your fists in solidarity. Tom Jones
ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST:
Dombolo, Doona, Anisokoma|
9/10
Les Amazones d’Afrique
République Amazone
Reviews | Albums
US House stalwart Fred P delivers a highly immersive and expansive record with Escapism. His second LP under his Captain P guise, Escapism is the New York DJ and producer’s seventh overall album. Released on his own Soul People Music imprint, the LP showcases some of his most personal and stylistically varied work to date. Ingrained with plenty of his trademark deepness and lush
House and Techno, the record also sees the producer, real name Fred Peterkin, delving into a vast range of field recordings and sound collage. These excursions allow him to splay the record out into unexpected tangents, creating its diverse and expansive soundscape.
There is also plenty of Peterkin’s usual lush deep House, Chi Town groove, Motor City Techno and Detroit
Hip-Hop bristling away throughout the album too. Spacey synths, warm pads, deep, rolling basslines and tight drums combine to build a distinctive sound palette. Laid-back, refined but with plenty of sparkling club fodder, this is Fred P at his subtle best.
Tom Jones
ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST:
All I Want To Say, Way Of The|
Vibe, Escapism|
8/10
Recommended
T
he Far Field is undoubtedly the most anticipated of Future Islands’ albums so far. Despite forming in 2006, it wasn’t until their 2014 album, Singles, that the Synth-Pop outfit broke through onto the global consciousness. Almost three years on, the Baltimore trio follow it up with their fifth and most expressive album to date. Like much of their previous output, The Far Field is an emotion-laden exploration of dreamy Synth-Pop and New Wave. Brimming with an intense yet buoyant energy, the record bristles with shimmering synths, fluid basslines, warm pads, subtle melodies and Samuel T. Herring’s distinctive vocals.Bold, confident and expressive, yet with an intimate,
melancholic vulnerability, The Far Field channels difficult emotions into finding joy, strength and positivity in life. The LP effortlessly shifts moods, jumping from reflective to joyous, heartbroken and defiant with consummate ease. There is a breeze of naturally flowing energy throughout the entire record as each of the 12 addictive tracks slot into place with an evolving sense of groove and vigour. The magnetic power and potency of the album mirrors that of Future Islands themselves. The Far Field is yet another reminder of the individuality and singularity that makes Future Islands one of America’s most exciting and distinctive bands. Tom Jones
ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST:
Ran, Cave, Candles|
9/10
Few people have had as lasting an effect on the UK’s underground club culture as Mr C. Forever pushing in new directions, the LA-based veteran now returns with his third album, Incidents.
A masterclass in all things Acid, the record barbs with jagged synth lines, trippy FX, stabbing basslines and wild syncopations throughout. Yet for all of its tough Acid, this is Mr C’s most expansive and diverse work to
date. Feeling much like a love letter to the history of club music throughout his long and distinguished career, Incidents also draws on elements of Dub, Electro, Ska, Roots, Italo Disco, old-school Techno, Chicago House, breaks and Tech House. All meshed together with adept skill, the whole album feels like a condensed Mr C set.
Merging modern club aesthetics with underground scenes
throughout the years, while also injecting a political edge, Incidents forms a unique and immersive energy that takes you on an unpredictable journey throughout time and space. As innovative and authentic as ever, Mr C remains a true and unmoveable bastion of club culture. Tom Jones
ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST:
A Civil Dose, Stand Up, Shape
Your Dreams|
8/10
Future Islands
The Far Field
4AD
Mr C
Incidents
Superfreq
The Incredible Adventures of
Captain P
Escapism
H
ere in 2017, we’re living in a golden age of music-making. Computing power and DSP technologies are more advanced than ever, so hot new synthesisers are hitting the market on a weekly basis, giving today’s producer convenient access to tools that can generate almost any sound. From speaker-incising leads, animalistic bass splurges and beautifully shimmering pads through to dream-like chord washes and ear-defying FX creations, anyone can now design sounds that leave dancefloors screaming for more.Yet with the mind-bending complexity of modern synthesis reaching further and further heights, it’s become all too easy to scavenge through ready-made presets and banks in search for an easy fix; or even copy your favourite artists’ sounds in a cookie-cutter fashion. If we’re describing you, then it’s
time to ditch those lazy habits and step up your sound design game once and for all!
Conveniently, you’ve already uncovered a way to elevate your patch-building chops up to advanced level: simply flip the page and dive into our Cutting-Edge Synth Power guide! Aside from giving fundamental synthesis techniques a thoroughly modern twist, we’ll design a raft of unique synth patches from scratch, incorporating futuristic synth design techniques such as intricate sequencer modulation, vocal resynthesis, wavetable bass design and much more.
Plus, in addition to our 9-page treasure trove of expert synthesis tips and step-by-step preset-building tutorials, we’ll use screen-capture video to take you on two epic preset design sessions – with no edits or cutaways in sight! To follow along, simply grab the vids, presets and audio from this issue’s Vault.
Master up-to-the-minute synthesis
techniques and get the most fr
om
today’s mightiest virtual instruments
27
Cutting-edge Synth Power! |
Feature
complex harmonic overtones are generated within the carrier signal. At restrained modulation amounts, this can create everything from realistic instrument emulations through to metallic sound effects and searing growls. Go too far though, and you’ll end up with a clangorous, inharmonic mess!
Another sound-generating method that operates inversely to the old-school subtractive approach is additive synthesis, which is found in modern synths such as NI’s Razor. Based on Joseph Fourier’s proof that all sounds are made up of multiple sine waves, this technique combines hundreds of basic sine building blocks (‘partials’) at various frequencies, which are modulated in frequency and amplitude to generate interesting combinations of harmonics.
Operating in a similar vein to additive is spectral synthesis, as found in modern synths like iZotope’s Iris 2 and Apple Alchemy, whereby a signal is split into ‘bins’
(ie, frequency bands) for visual manipulation on a per-bin basis.
Then there’s the much-discussed technique of wavetable synthesis, featured in NI Massive and Xfer Serum amongst others. A wavetable is comprised of hundreds of individual wave shapes, and by scanning through the index of these various waves, a whole array of modulating timbres are generated. As the current-day producer can import additional wavetables, or even now draw entire wavetables from scratch, this approach is probably the most common for creating Dubstep-style ‘wobs’, dark D ’n’ B growls, evolving textures and more.
Granular synthesis, meanwhile, breaks down a signal (usually an audio signal) into tiny – wait for it – grains! When these tiny chunks of sound are recombined at differing speeds and pitches, unique ambient and stretched timbres are possible. Propellerhead Reason’s Maelstrom synthesizer uses its own ‘graintable’ technology, a combination of the two previous methods.
It stands to reason that these different synthesis types create wildly varying sounds, meaning that you should dig in and really experiment for yourself. And we haven’t even touched upon the various ways you can use samplers/resampling, layering, audio manipulation and signal processing to elevate the most basic of subtractive synth tones into more characterful sounds – we’ll leave that for another session! For now though, let’s dive in headfirst and get hands-on with some futuristic sound design… To kick off, let’s briefly cover the
most common synthesis types, starting with the most famous of all – subtractive synthesis. As its name implies, you begin with very simple, harmonically-dense oscillator shapes (sine, saw, square, etc) before carving away these harmonics with the synth’s filter. Although this approach can generate a broad palette of bread-and-butter timbres, you’re pretty limited to classic analogue or VA sounds – think Moog basses, G-Funk leads, Juno-esque pads, and so on.
Therefore, in modern sound design situations, it helps to be able to generate more complex harmonics and overtones. Popularised by the classic Yamaha DX7 synth (and now Native Instruments’ emulation, FM8), the also aptly-named frequency modulation synthesis – FM for short – uses the inverse approach to subtractive. By using an inaudible ‘modulator’ oscillator to wobble the frequency of an audible ‘carrier’ oscillator at an audio-rate speed,
Modern
On the previous page, we discussed the various synthesis methods that can be used to design the ultra-modern synthesizer sounds heard in today’s cutting-edge genres. But why bother synthesizing your own efforts from scratch when sampled oscillators can be loaded into a sampler and played back with almost
the way the sound’s frequencies, dynamics and harmonics alter over time. How is this done? Yep, you guessed it – through modulation!
The fundamental principle behind synthesizer modulation is simple: instead of needing several physical fingers to get dials rotating, you can instead employ a synth’s built-in modules to do it for you, hands-free, by assigning one synth parameter to modulate another. The classic example is a low-frequency oscillator, or LFO for short – a sub-20Hz signal that creates a steady rhythmic pulse. By defining an LFO’s wave shape, then telling this (usually inaudible) signal to sweep multiple parameters at once – eg, a wavetable oscillator’s index amount, FM amount and the filter cutoff – by a particular amount, it becomes extremely easy to inject temporal vibe and motion into a synth patch, triggered with only a single note press. Other examples of modulators include envelopes, that are one-shot, four-stage dynamic shapes; and MIDI signals such as velocity and aftertouch.
Customisable modulators
This stuff is basic analogue synthesis theory, of course, but traditional LFOs and other modulators are known to zero effort or sound design
knowledge? Well, a complex but static synth timbre is almost pointless if the sound is one single snapshot – a repeating, ‘machine gun’ sample or static oscillator will lack movement, variation and interest. The real key to futuristic, ear-catching synth sounds lies in
spit out rudimentary shapes – sine, square, or steps, for example – that aren’t always that useful for designing complex rhythms and morphings. However, more and more modern synths are now incorporating more customisable, unpredictable modulators that amalgamate the various types of old. For example, plenty of synths now enable you to draw your own sequencer-style LFO shapes with multi-breakpoint envelopes. By syncing this kind of custom LFO to host tempo, you can dive in and design intricate fins, curves, peaks and troughs that will cause other parameters to duck and dive around other elements of your track, in perfect sync with beats and the overall rhythm. Conversely, by unsyncing an unusual LFO shape from your host’s bpm and setting its rate in Hertz, synth settings can be slowly swept over time to create Ambient-style bubblings and drifting soundscapes.
Other useful modulator types with a heritage in old-school synthesis are step sequencers – ie, pattern-based grid devices that output uniform signals at a rhythmic division of your choosing; and arpeggiators, which swallow up incoming chords and spit those notes back out in sequential, monophonic patterns. Today’s power synths advance the primitive sequencers and arps of yesteryear by adding more options for manipulating step length, shape, per-note level, pitchbend, and much more.
Time to experiment
While a knowledge of all this modulation theory is useful, it’s far easier to learn ‘on the job’, so to speak. Yep, that means firing up your favourite power synth and hooking up all these futuristic modulators to target parameters in an experimental fashion. We all know what it sounds like to modulate a synth’s filter cutoff with a standard sine wave LFO shape (hint: ‘wob, wob’!), but you’ll really advance your modern synth patches by pushing past the norm. For starters, design an intricate LFO shape or sequencer pattern, then use this to induce movement over tens of parameters at once, all by varying amounts of subtlety – for instance, FM depth, oscillator level, unison spread, filter cutoff/resonance, white noise colour, effects wet/dry mix… you get the idea!
The importance
of modulation
>
Spectrasonics Omnisphere serves up a raft of synthesis options: subtractive, wavetable, granular, FM/ring mod and more – and you can even import samples and mess them up with the unique Harmonia and Innerspace algorithms.>
In Xfer Records Serum, if only one oscillator is assigned to subtractive or wavetable synthesis duties, you can modulate its frequency or amplitude with the other. Use the audible oscillator’s Warp dropdown – select FM or AM from the list, then ramp up the amount dial.>
Oh, Logic Pro X users, you lucky things. With Alchemy now included in the package as standard, you’ve got yourselves one of the deepest sample-based instruments around. Each patch’s four sources offer up granular, additive, spectral, sampler and VA.Combining Multiple Synthesis Types
Cutting-edge synths often let you combine several advanced
synthesis methods at once – here are three of our faves
The majority of today’s all-powerful synthesizers are jam-packed full of various synthesis types, ranging from frequency modulation (FM) and additive through to wavetable, phase distortion synthesis, subtractive and more. Having several types of sound-generating options all under one roof means you can combine these modes in futuristic new ways. Want to frequency-modulate two wavetable-morphing oscillators against each other? No problem! How about sculpting an additive oscillator with subtractive-style filters and envelopes? Of course you can! However, one caveat is that it can be easy to crank everything up to 11 and turn a smooth sound into an inharmonic mess – so go easy. With all this in mind, here are three top synths that let you mix and match synthesis types at will…
29
Cutting-edge Synth Power!
| Feature
>
Futuristic resynthesis techniques are great for transforming simple recordings into mind-blowing synth sounds. Here, we start by dragging in a chunk of a vocal sample onto NI Form’s main window – the synth then analyses and resynthesizes the vocal sample into an oscillator for playback.>
Over in the Form Osc section, we get the Formant knob wavering with a second, triangle-shaped LFO, which adds formant-wobbling to the main oscillator for timbral interest. We then assign the first sine LFO to the Osc FX>Shaper parameter for more expression and grit.>
In Form’s Sample tab, we set up a back-and-forth loop around a suitable portion of the vocal oscillator. Then, by reducing the Sample Length Speed right down to around 0.04 samples, we slow the playback right down to create a stretched tonal vocal effect.>
Now Form’s built-in FX will spice up the overall timbre further. We dial in the two Frequency Shaping bands to taste, and push up Drive for more grunt. The Dynamics, Unreal Reverb and Ping-Pong Delay effects then place the drone in a dense, cavernous, resonant space.>
Now over to the Sound page, where we blend in Form’s Additive Oscillator for a solid square wave layer, adding thickness. After this, we modulate the Osc FX>FM dial with a slow-moving sine LFO, which slowly introduces dissonant harmonic overtones over time.>
To wrap up, we head back throughout the various pages and fine-tune our patch for visceral impact and temporal movement. The FM, FM Stereo, FM Multiply and Additive Oscillator Volume parameters all have their modulation amounts tweaked and refined to inject more FM-like sweeping dissonance.Dissonant FM Drone With
Form’s Vocal Resynthesis
Want to morph the most basic of sound
sources into a dystopian soundscape? Look no
further than Native Instruments’ synth Form
>
Many modern synthesizers allow you to pile up multiple oscillators, combine various synthesis types and dial in uber-thick unison features. To demonstrate, we’ll create a complex ambient pad with Vengeance-Sound’s insanely powerful VPS Avenger. We start by triggering the synth with a basic C minor triad.>
A third sine oscillator is then used to provide basic solidity and consistency in the low-mids. After that, we program a fourth wavetable oscillator via the synth’s tempo-sync’d step sequencer, to provide a rhythmic ‘blip’ pattern that rides above the floatier elements.>
Let’s set up our first oscillator as the core evolving element of the pad. After dialling in some ultra-thick five-voice unison detune, we audition through the synth’s wavetable oscillators, settling on an organ-style wavetable. A free-running LFO is used to scan through the wavetable’s index for a constantly evolving timbre.>
Let’s add further movement. The jagged LFO from Step 3 is used to modulate the sequenced oscillator’s FM amount, which gently morphs the rhythmic blips in and out of a state of inharmonic noise for more treble texture. The same LFO also subtly wobbles the overdriven low-pass filter cutoff.>
Next, a contrasting wavetable type is called up as the second oscillator. A different free-running LFO – this time set to a more jagged curve shape – slowly modulates this oscillator wavetable index. The same LFO also modulates this oscillator’s level for more motion.>
Finally, we call upon Avenger’s plentiful effects for a splash of character: the Vinylizer module mixes in vinyl crackle and noise; Chorus adds swimming width; a Bitcrusher fades in treble fuzz and grit; and some ping-pong Delay injects ambience and lush repeats.Evolving Ambient Pads With Oscillator Stacking
By layering multiple oscillators and modulating each at a slow rate,
you can quickly generate blissful ambience. Let’s dive in further
The majority of our tutorials throughout this feature have one thing in common – we’ve blended our chosen synths’ multiple oscillators and/or processed signals in parallel to generate a full-frequency, 3D sound. This isn’t a new concept by any means: the classic Minimoog bass sound, for
example, is comprised of all three oscillator tones, each tuned equally apart to create a thick sound spanning three octaves.
One great approach when designing synth patches is to use one oscillator as the core provider of timbral character, movement and interest; then use the other signal
Mega-thick synths
with stacking
and layering
generators to bolster this main oscillator and fill out the frequency spectrum. This works well with morphing oscillators generated via wavetable or FM synthesis, as these methods inject dynamics and sinewy motion at the expense of solidity – yet a simple sub oscillator and sweeping white noise tone can merge in, lacking the bass weight and treble sharpness required.
Another great technique we’ve touched upon in Sequenced Melodic Rhythms With Massive is the concept of filling in gaps left by one oscillator’s movement. If you’re moving one tone around with positive LFO modulation, try gently fading in a thinner oscillator that’s being negatively modulated with the same LFO. This embellishes the first signal with a subtler ‘mirror image’ signal for not-so-obvious interest and individuality.
Finally, just as in the realm of mixing, parallel processing (via a synth’s built-in effects) is really just another way of layering additional character and depth. Just as you’d blend a reverb signal in gently, have a go at sliding up multiple effects processors by small amounts, helping elevate a decent sound into more texturally varied territories.
>
Many synths let you
create your own
wavetable oscillators
from scratch, but the
process can often feel
like trial and error.
Be sure to dissect your
favourite preset ’tables
to get a feel for what
separates the wavetable
wheat from the chaff.
>
Frequency
modulation
synthesis has a
daunting reputation for
complexity. Build your
FM knowledge up slowly
by designing simple
basses and leads, then
gradually adding more
modulators until you
grasp how it works.
>
Samplers are
essentially
synthesizers, so
don’t be afraid to
multisample your most
complex oscillator
creations and carry on
the synth design process
using your favourite
sampler’s
sound-mangling features.
>
Designing a
complex synth
patch during the
heat of a track-writing
session is the quickest
way to kill your
compositional creativity.
Set aside dedicated
patch-building sessions
to stock up your custom
presets folder ready for
creative droughts.
>
We’ll begin with a basic sawtooth. Cranking up the unison voice amount will pile up that number of identical osc voices. While the JP-8000 synth could stack up to seven voices, Serum can go right up to 16 voices – but this can make the final sound a little cloudy and indistinct.>
After backing the unison voices down to 7, we ramp up Unison Detune, which sets the tuning offset for the given number of voices, creating the ‘supersaw’ sound. Serum has a Blend amount, which alters the level offset between the central voice/s and the additional ones.>
Most synths let you spread the multiple voices out to the sides of the stereo field. 100% gives maximum width, but can create phase cancellation – so experiment with lesser settings of around 50% for a good balance between stereo spread and mono compatibility.Oscillator Voice Stacking And Detuning
One of the easiest ways to create ultra-modern synth leads is by
stacking and detuning oscillator voices. Let’s take a closer look…
For years synthesists have been detuning two identical oscillators slightly in opposing directions to create subtle ‘beating’ and thickness. Yet it was the Roland JP-8000 synthesizer in the early 2000s – responsible for the classic Trance ‘supersaw’ sound – that popularised the modern synthesis technique of oscillator stacking and detuning. Following in the JP-8000’s footsteps, most modern ‘power synths’ let you pile up multiple voices within the same oscillator, then detune and spread these stacked voices. This is now a staple synthesis technique for generating incredibly thick leads, pads, hoovers, Reeses and more. Let’s walk through this simple but effective technique for jaw- droppingly dense synth sounds. We’ll use the ever-popular Serum synth, but many similar synthesizers offer some variant on this feature.
QUICK
TIPS
>
Call up Xfer Records Serum, load up the Bs Reese Evolve preset we’ve supplied, then trigger the synth by playing notes across your MIDI keyboard. This thick, evolving Reese bass sounds complex but is actually pretty easy to synthesize using Serum. Let’s delve deeper into the patch…>
Head over to Serum’s FX tab, and you’ll see that the insert effects we’ve dialled in are huge contributors to the bass’s aggression and character. Heavy compression is placed after reverb, causing the ’verb to swell out between notes. There’s also forceful distortion, careful EQ and widening going on.>
The synth’s Mono and Legato are on, and Portamento is at around 12 o’clock, giving us a bending, gliding effect. The patch’s core movement is created via LFO 1’s slow, unsync’d modulation of Osc A’s WT Pos knob, which is scanning through Osc A’s gnarly wavetable.>
Back to the Osc panel. For fizz, Serum’s Noise oscillator is pushing additional high-frequency noise into the final distortion stage; and the sub oscillator is adding solid low-end to the overall sound. Finally, note the filter: we’re modulating a double notch type for even more sweeping motion.>
Old-school D ’n’ B ‘wobble’ basses often have a distinctive change in speed when played up and down the keyboard. To replicate this, Osc B (a sine) is modulating Osc A’s amplitude via Osc A’s Warp mode, set to AM (from B). A slow-attack envelope is increasing this Warp amount over the course of each note.>
LFO 1’s Mode is set to Off, so our wavetable modulation is constantly evolving. This means that each bass note has different modulation. Therefore, for more consistency, it’s a good idea to print a good few minutes of a programmed riff down to audio, then chop out the very best takes.Tearing Neurofunk
D ’n’ B Reese With Serum
Modern synths such as Xfer Serum make it easy
to synthesize complex growls and morphing
timbres in the style of Noisia. Here’s how…
33
