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Soul Clap PLUS Interview: Boston synth funk duo talk WTF

Understanding MPE

Your essential masterclass

IK UNO Synth Pro Italian analog reviewed!

HEADPHONES •THE BEST PRODUCTION• and how to use them properly!

MAGAZINE

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Hear all of this month’s tutorial audio: musicradar.com/howto/em440-august2021-examplesand-files

GEAR

ARTURIA Pigments 3

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THE ART OF SYNTH SOLOING Celebrating Chick Corea

IK MULTIMEDIA UNO Synth Pro

EASY GUIDE Neo soul chords

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12.80 STNETNOC

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CLASSIC GEAR Teletronix LA2A Leveling Amplifier

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NEW GEAR All the hottest info on the latest releases

SOMA LABORATORY Pulsar-23

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SOFTWARE NEWS FabFilter Timeless 3

CABLEGUYS DriveShaper

PRODUCING ON HEADPHONES 24 SOUL CLAP

HOW TO

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WAVES Vocal Bender

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UNDERSTANDING MPE

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ROUND-UP Free delay plugins

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ELECTRONIC GUITAR Riding the Wave

Electronic Musician (ISSN 0884-4720) is published monthly by Future PLC,28 East 28th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

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AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

M-AUDIO M-Track Solo and Duo

MUTABLE INSTRUMENTS Beads

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STUDIO TALK Jas Shaw

Editor’s Note

It's all in your head(phones)

Ask any seasoned professional for advice about setting up a studio space and the first things they'll likely bring up are the importance of a good quality set of monitors and the need to apply at least some basic treatment to address any acoustic issues with the room itself. They're not wrong, of course; particularly if you're mixing or mastering, getting your space to sound 'right' is a must. The reality, however, is that for many modern musicians headphones play as big a role – if not bigger – than monitors.

There are numerous reasons why this could be the case. There's cost, for one: broadly speaking, a decent pair of headphones can be picked up for less than an equivalent level set of speakers, so for younger or cashstrapped producers they might simply be a smarter purchase. Alternatively, you could be in a situation like mine, where I've spent much of the past

year working from home with two young kids in the house, which rules out making music at any sort of substantial volume most of the time.

This issue, we're taking a look at headphones from a studio specific perspective. What makes a good pair SI TRUSS of production cans? And what software, accessories and techniques EDITOR-IN-CHIEF are out there to help producers make the most of them?

In reality, as with using any set of monitors, working with headphones comes down to picking the right pair, and really getting to know how they sound. With a pair you can trust, you can create and mix music just as well as with a reliable set of monitors.

Although, as with a speaker setup, the real key to creating mixes that work is trying them out on multiple systems.

So it might not be time to throw away your monitors just yet.

We hope you enjoy the issue.

Vol. 37 No. 8

AUGUST 2021

www.musicradar.com/electronicmusician

FOLLOW US twitter.com/EM_Magazine facebook.com/ElectronicMusicianMagazine instagram.com/electronicmusicianmag CONTENT Editor-in-Chief Si Truss simon.truss@futurenet.com Content Director, Music Scott Rowley scott.rowley@futurenet.com Art Editor Steve Dawson steve.dawson@futurenet.com Production Editor Jem Roberts jem.roberts@futurenet.com Editors at Large: James Russell Contributors: Andy Jones, Scot Solida, Andy Price, Jerry Kovarsky, Dave Clews, Michael Ross, Rob Redman, James Russell, Jon Musgrave, Roy Spencer, Martin Delaney FUTURE MUSIC GROUP BUSINESS Advertising Director Jonathan Brudner jonathan.brudner@futurenet.com Advertising Director Mari Deetz mari.deetz@futurenet.com Advertising Director Jason Perl jason.perl@futurenet.com Advertising Director Scott Sciacca scott.sciacca@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT Chief Content Officer Andrea Davies Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS

For article reprints please contact our reprint coordinator at Wright’s Reprints: 877.652.5295

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Rachel Shaw Electronic Musician is available for licensing and syndication. To find our more contact us at licensing@futurenet.com or view our available content at www.futurecontenthub.com.

Please direct all subscription orders, inquiries, and address changes to: 888.266.5828, outside the US 978.667.0364, emmag@computerfulfillment.com Back Issues are available for $10 each at 800.289.9919, 978.667.0364, emmag@computerfulfillment.com

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AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

RAEG WEN

NEW GEAR MIDI keyboard range M-Audio continues to revise and reboot its classic Oxygen range of MIDI keyboards, with the latest versions – known as the MKV models – getting smart controls, auto-mapping, and a built-in arpeggiator.

There are 25-, 49- and 61-note models in the range, all of which feature full-size, velocity-sensitive keys, faders, trigger pads and more. The Smart Controls relate to chords and scales. With the Smart Chord feature, you can play full chords by pressing a single key, while Smart Scale ensures that you’ll only be able to play notes from your chosen scale.

Both of these features are customizable, and you get more than 15 different scale variations.

The Auto-mapping feature is designed to make setup a breeze, with multiple controls – Transport, Faders, Pan, Record Arm, Solo, Mute,

Select – being automatically configured for your specific DAW. It seems that the majority of major DAWs are supported, including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, MPC Beats, Cubase and Studio One. It should just be a case of selecting your preferred DAW on the Oxygen (MKV) and making the appropriate preference settings in your DAW. The customizable arpeggiator, meanwhile, lets you adjust Type, Octave, Gate and Swing settings, and can operate in Latch and Momentary modes. It can run either at the tempo you set on the keyboard or sync to your DAW. As with so many MIDI keyboards, the new Oxygens come with a range of software tools along with 60 free lessons from Melodics and a 3-month subscription to Skoove.

FOCUSRITE BUYS SEQUENTIAL, TAKING OWNERSHIP OF DAVE SMITH’S ANALOG SYNTHS

In a significant music tech industry development, British audio company Focusrite has announced that it is acquiring Dave Smith’s highly respected Sequential synth brand.

Smith founded Sequential Circuits in 1974, designing the legendary Prophet-5 and many other influential synths and drum machines. He was also a key player in the development of the original MIDI spec, announced in 1981.

Smith returned to the hardware synth market in 2002, starting Dave Smith Instruments. Over the past two decades, his products have been a crucial part of the analog revival.

Dave Smith Instruments was rebranded as Sequential in 2018, with Yamaha having returned

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the name to Smith in 2015. A rebooted Prophet-5 was released in 2020.

Sequential now joins the Focusrite Group’s family of brands, which includes both Focusrite and Focusrite Pro, Martin Audio, Optimal Audio, ADAM Audio, Novation, and Ampify. The theory is that Sequential will benefit from greater resources to expand its existing global markets and future R&D efforts.

There is, of course, some crossover with Novation, who have several synth products of their own. The acquisition opens up the possibility of tech being shared between Novation- and Sequential-branded instruments. Although Sequential has become a wholly owned subsidiary

of Focusrite plc, Sequential’s day-to-day operations and product development will remain unchanged. In addition, Dave Smith will be remaining at the helm.

FREE FIRMWARE UPDATE MEANS ARTURIA’S KEYSTEP PRO NOW DOES EVEN MORE

We’re as keen as anyone to talk about new products, but for many musicians, it’s the updates to ones they’ve already bought that are the most important. Take, for example, the new version free 2.0 firmware for Arturia’s KeyStep Pro MIDI/CV keyboard and sequencer, which adds both new performance features and stability/workflow improvements.

New features include a global transpose function and global offset for the five main parameter controls. Users can now also record both arpeggios and chords into sequences. The MIDI Thru port can now be used as a second MIDI output too, making it easier to sequence multiple instruments at once.

Other refinements include a smoother Mono mode, the ability to listen to sequencer steps without hitting play, and the ability to create arpeggios without the sequencer running.

To our mind, KeyStep Pro was already one of the best devices on the market for melodic sequencing and flexible hardware control, and these subtle yet useful improvements look set to make it even better

ABLETON LOOP CREATE IS A FREE ONLINE EVENT FOR MUSIC-MAKERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

MODAL ELECTRONICS SAY THE SKULPT SE IS THE MOST AFFORDABLE MPE HARDWARE SYNTH

UK brand Modal Electronics has taken its original Skulpt portable synth back to the drawing board and returned with the Skulpt SE. Offering the same compact form factor as its predecessor, this replaces the grey and black touch keypads with more traditional black and white ones. The front panel descriptors have been made more legible, and the build quality has been improved.

You get 127 brand-new patches and MPE support – something that was added to the original Skulpt via a firmware update. In fact, Modal claims that Skulpt SE is the most affordable MPE-compatible hardware synth currently on the market.

The sound architecture consists of two Wave groups per voice, each with four oscillators. This enables you to smoothly sweep between waveforms, and there’s additional oscillator modulation, too.

There are also state-variable 2-pole filters – these can morph from low-pass through to bandpass and high-pass – and three envelopes.

The two LFOs (one global and one polyphonic) can be synced to internal or external tempo, and there are integrated delay and distortion effects.

Skulpt SE also comes with an integrated sequencer and arpeggiator, and you can polychain up to four of the devices (or the original Skulpt, for that matter) to create a 16-voice virtual analog sound engine.

In-depth sound and editing and management can be done using the Modal app, which runs on all major computer and mobile platforms and is VST/AU compatible. Skulpt SE is out now, priced at $199.

Following its enforced postponement last year, Ableton’s Loop event is returning for 2021 – albeit in an online-only format. Loop Create takes place on 26-27 June, and is designed to bring together crowds of music-makers from all around the world.

This will be hosted on the Ableton Loop microsite, with sessions kicking off at 11am CET and continuing throughout the two days.

Sessions will then be repeated to suit different time zones.

The sessions, which are designed to offer insights and techniques, will be presented in different formats, and hosted by artists, musicians, ‘technologists’ and educators.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet each other in “facilitated conversations”.

Loop Create is free to attend for anyone who registers at Ableton’s website, with registration open now.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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RAEG WEN UVI’S SUPER-7 COMBINES JUNO-106 AND 707 SOUNDS TO RECREATE AN ‘80S GROOVE STATION Released in 1986, Roland’s MKS-7 was a multitimbral sound and rhythm module that contained the combined guts of the Juno-106 synth and TR-707 drum machine. Now it’s been revived and refined by UVI, in the form of Super-7.

Described as a “6-part analog toolbox and groove designer,” this looks like something of an ‘80s dream machine, giving you everything you need to create your next synthwave opus.

Super-7 comes with 260 ensemble presets – these are based on multisamples of an MKS-7 and drum machine sounds from across the Roland X0X range and beyond. The ensemble presets have discrete rhythm, bass, melody and three multipurpose synth layers, all of which have their own voice and arpeggiator controls. Patterns, grooves and sequences can be performed in real-time.

Super-7’s sounds were sampled through a custom chain of outboard processors and recorded three times: normally, with the hardware chorus engaged, and with the noise switch active.

This means that you can turn these features on or off, just as you could on the hardware.

The presets in Super-7 are fully editable using the amp envelopes, multimode filters and filter envelopes and effects (EQ, drive, phaser and effect sends for two reverbs and two delays). The arpeggiators can also be customised and come with their own presets.

Super-7 runs on PC and Mac and can be hosted in either Falcon or the free UVI Workstation. The price is $79.

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AKAI GOES OLD-SCHOOL WITH THE ‘80S-STYLE MPC ONE RETRO If you’re a longtime user of Akai’s MPC production boxes, you may have been missing the ‘muddy grey’ look that helped to define their iconic products, such as the legendary MPC60.

Fear not, though, because Akai Pro has just launched the MPC One Retro – a new MPC that offers all the features of the MPC One, but looks like it’s arrived from the late ‘80s.

The distinctive 16 grey pads are here, as is the retrocolored housing. However, under the hood this is a thoroughly modern standalone music-making powerhouse, with a quad-core processor and a seveninch capacitive multitouch screen.

When you are happy to be tethered to a computer, the MPC One Retro can also operate as a controller for the MPC2 software, which offers DAW-like levels of functionality. There’s plenty of connectivity, too, along with 4GB of onboard storage.

“Akai Professional and the MPC have a long-storied history that resonates profoundly with users from all around the world,” says Dan Gill, Akai Professional’s Senior Product Manager. “Each recalls their first MPC encounter and the role it played in their most cherished musical experiences.

“The MPC One Retro is our tribute to this rich history while proudly asserting our continued commitment to creating the most powerful standalone music production devices in the world,” adds Gill. “MPC One Retro truly embodies the best of the legendary products throughout the years and the ultimate modern standalone music production workflow.”

The MPC One is available now priced at $899.

ANTELOPE AUDIO’S AXINO SYNERGY CORE PUTS AN AUDIO INTERFACE INSIDE A USB MIC

There are plenty of USB condenser microphones out there, and some also serve as USB audio interfaces, but Antelope Audio’s Axino Synergy Core goes a step further by offering modelled versions of 18 classic microphones, too.

The story starts with the mic hardware – there’s a goldsputtered diaphragm that’s designed to give a flat frequency response and give you as accurate a representation of your original sound as possible.

The cardioid pickup pattern promises to minimize noise and put the focus on what’s going on in front of the mic rather than anywhere else.

The hybrid preamp, meanwhile, is said to offer transparency, and there’s AD/DA conversion at 24-bit/192kHz. The Axino Synergy Core uses Antelope Audio’s own mic modeling engine, with the 18 emulations covering classic dynamic, tube and FET condenser models. These can all be used in real-time, and the workflow enables you to experiment with different emulations.

On top of this, you also get 10 Synergy Core effects, including compressors, EQs, preamps and dynamic processors based on classic studio gear. More can be added as paid-for expansions.

Controls on the mic itself include Volume and and HP (headphone) knobs, alongside -10dB pad and high-pass filter switches. The software control panel enables you to make further settings, and adjust the signal routing and effects processing.

The Axino Synergy Core will be available soon priced at $399.

REASON 12 IS COMING

The release of Reason 11 gave this much-loved DAW a new lease of life, with the addition of the Reason Rack Plugin meaning that everyone can use its impressive roster of instruments and effects in their own music production software.

Now Reason 12 is on the horizon; set to be released on 1 September, this has a firm focus on improving the Reason Rack. This will now benefit from highresolution, scalable graphics, meaning that the Rack should look significantly sharper. You’ll be able to set your zoom level to fit your setup, and all third-party Rack Extensions will also be hi-res from day one.

There’s also an improved version of the Combinator, which enables you to combine instruments and effects however you fancy. Greater sound design opportunities await – expect more CV inputs and controls, easier programming and more patches.

Finding content and devices should be easier thanks to an improved browser, while the new creative sampler is said to be all about sound manipulation, rhythm and ease of use. We’re assured that you’ll be able to play with your sounds in ways that weren’t previously possible in the Reason environment.

Reason+ subscribers will be able to access Reason 12 from 1 September, when perpetual licenses and upgrades will also be available for purchase. Anyone who purchased a Reason 11 perpetual license after 1 May 2021 will be eligible for a free upgrade to Reason 12.

UNIVERSAL AUDIO’S LUNA UPDATE TURNS THE DAW INTO AN API ANALOG CONSOLE Universal Audio’s LUNA recording platform has always had a strong ‘analog’ vibe, so it seems appropriate that the latest update (v1.1.8) sees UA giving users the opportunity to endow it with a full emulation of an API analog console.

The API Vision Console Emulation ($699) features software versions of API’s L Series preamp, EQs, compressor, gate, filters and summing circuits. It’s designed to give you the sound and feel of a large-format console within the LUNA environment, effectively putting multiple plugin windows in a single row in the software’s mixer.

The new add-on uses your Apollo interface’s built-in DSP for low-latency live tracking, then employs native processing when you’re mixing.

If you want to add some API flavor in another DAW, meanwhile, you can check out the new API Preamp plugin ($149). This emulates the API 212L’s preamp circuit, also offering Vision console features such as a Mic/Line switch, dedicated cut filter, and -6dB Line pad.

If you have an Apollo interface, you can take advantage of its Unison technology to get some API-style punch and detail during tracking, or apply the sound to multiple channels when you’re mixing.

Finally on an API tip, UA has updated the API Vision Channel Strip collection ($299), giving this analog console emulation switchable EQ modules and a modeled output section for additional tone-shaping.

These updates are all enabled by UAD Software v9.14, and this also includes C-Suite C-Vox ($349), a noise and ambience reduction plugin.

Designed specifically for vocals, this enables you to reduce ambient room sounds during live tracking, and clean up existing recordings.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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FabFilter Timeless 3

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he innovating Dutch plugin developers are back with another upgrade to one of their range, and this time it’s the out-of-favor Timeless delay that gets to go up a version number. Version 2 of Timeless was a hit back in the day, but its knob-heavy interface had begun to make it feel dated.

Timeless 3 completely re-imagines the concept, putting the easy Delay (time) control front and center, with its outer ring determining the delay time difference between the left and right channels, should you want to. A nearby Cross slider determines to what extent each channel should feed back into itself or the other.

There’s a lot more to it too, of course. With feedback path effects, easy visualization of delay timing, mid/side stereo mode, and some out-of-this-world modulation options, Timeless 3 goes further than most delay plugins while still remaining accessible to those who just need to apply a quick effect.

Let's take a closer look…

1. Delay controls The usual delay controls are easy to make sense of. Delay and Feedback control your delay’s timing and the amount it repeats in the same way as ever. Your delay ‘taps’ are represented very nicely in the graph display in the top left. Changing the feedback makes subsequent taps closer to the level of the original spike (and you can even apply Feedback levels above 100%). Meanwhile, to show how the graph represents left and right channels, tweak the Delay Time Pan control (the ring around the Delay knob) to watch the channels’ tap spikes separate in time.

2. Feedback With a decent amount of feedback and the Wet Mix turned right up, it’s time to check out the Feedback effects. These are processes you can apply to the wet (delayed) signal while keeping your dry signal unprocessed. Drive applies a nice analog-style distortion to the delayed signal; Lo-Fi, meanwhile, applies bitcrushing with a combination of both sample rate and bit depth that’s been tailor made for you. The Diffuse parameter is something approaching reverb, smearing the delay’s wet signal into an epic, cavernous sound.

3. Dynamics Dynamics lets you either compress or gate the delayed signal, depending on which way you turn it. The difference is easier to hear with Diffuse turned up: the gating and expansion side act to bring back the original timing of the signal, while compression turns it more into a smeared wall of sound. The Pitch control shifts the delayed signal higher or lower up to 12 semitones, and has two more options: to place it inside or outside the feedback path; and to pitchshift the opposite direction in the two channels.

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Infinite modulation

Timeless 3’s modulation section uses the same upgraded mod interface (and visualization style) as the recently upgraded Saturn 2 plugin, which in turn keeps things pretty similar in spirit to FabFilter’s original ideas.

The modulation section can be hidden completely, but when activated offers a choice of LFOs, envelope generators and followers, MIDI sources, XY controllers, and the lovely new Slider widget which basically acts as a macro control with a scalar value. All can be renamed, which makes them pretty helpful when looking to control complex patches from the presets. Further delightful features include LFOs that turn into full sequencers (with pitch snapping available), presets on the envelopes, and MIDI functions including Mod Wheel, Aftertouch, Velocity and CC.

4. EQ Let’s turn our attention to the EQ, a very recognizable part of the plugin to anyone who already uses any FabFilter plugins. You can call up a band by clicking on the display, and select its type from the usual suspects: bells, low- and high-passes, shelves and a notch. EQ bands can be applied in serial or parallel configuration (which may help with modulation setups, as we’ll see soon), or in Per Channel to service either left and right sides separately, or alternatively, mid and sides channels separately.

5. Modulation The filters are so visible that we can get to grips with the modulation controls quite easily. On the lower portion of the interface, we instantiate an XLFO, and send its signal two two destinations: a notch on the right channel and a bell boost on the left. As had been a FabFilter staple for years, we can change the frequency and ‘Glide’ (ie waveshape) of the LFO here, and assign more destinations through drag and drop. By clicking on the XLFO’s source node, we bring up a display of its destinations, where we can set depths and polarity for each routing.

6. Taps Back to the delay graph, we can select the Taps view to add extra delay stages into our setup (by default it’s just an input and a signal tap). You can double-click to add new taps between 0 and 100% of the selected delay time, and change levels and timing of any tap (you can have up to 16 taps here).

What’s more, you can right-click to set the taps in predefined shapes such as ramped and randomized, and you can modulated any tap’s level, frequency or panning with any of your modulators.

7. Further features There are more features to get into, but notable ones include the Cross control, which has the different channel feed back into each other to a selected extent, and the Ping Pong control, which lets you feed the channels into each other alternately, and disables crossfeed. There’s Stereo Width for the delayed signal; tape-style or sampler-style handling when you change the delay time, and delay buffer freezing onboard too. With so much going on, it’s hard to fail the design of the delay plugin, which is truly the last word in its category… at least for the moment.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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SENOHPDAEH

PRODUCING ON HEADPHONES Learn the benefits of those fancy electronic earmuffs, and discover how to make the best of both worlds

I

t’s a debate that pits two friendly foes against one another, siblings with opposite personalities. Both are built for the same purpose, yet they're continually placed in opposition in a debate that shows no sign of subsiding. So, how best to answer the question of which is best for mixing – speakers or headphones?

Speak to a mixing engineer, or a producer with an expensive studio, and they will most likely tell you that while headphones have their place and moment in the mixing process, the majority of the time you should be working with monitor speakers. And, if tradition is anything to go by, they are right.

The vast majority of records in the music history rolodex were birthed from monitors, hurtling through the air and into the eardrums and chests of those in the studio control room. Headphones played a part in their first few fledgling steps, of course, but

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mostly as a referencing tool or a way of isolating rogue elements of the mix.

This modality of work has held sway in the music industry for quite some time as standard procedure, and as a result you will no doubt have seen a lot of advice out there telling you that it’s preferable. However, preference is subjective, and the industry is no longer confined to expensive studios with galactic analog mixing desks and platinum plaques on the walls. These days music is made and listened to in every environment imaginable: studios, rehearsal rooms, trains, bedrooms, basements, buses… and the demands of each setting are different.

Even the term “producer” doesn’t mean what it used to, as the advancement of music software has put studio grade production tools in the hands of those who mightn’t previously have been able to afford them.

The influx of laptop beatmakers has brought

with it a “headphone brigade” – a phalanx of beginner- or intermediate-level music producers who produced and mixed their first songs through headphones, and have stuck with them ever since. There are plenty of reasons why, too.

Speakers vs speakers The most obvious downside to speakers is that they do what they’re built to do: play loud music. For those in thin-walled city apartments or sleepy suburban estates this is a less than ideal way of maintaining good relations with your neighbors. On top of this, the in-room frequency response of speakers depends on the way the room is acoustically treated. How the room is shaped, what it’s made out of, and what’s in it, will all have a big impact on how your speakers sound.

Setting up a room for optimal acoustics can be costly, and rooms in homes that don’t

need some form of treatment are an exceedingly rare thing to find.

Of course, this isn’t to say at all that headphones are eminently superior; they bring with them their own set of concerns. Stereo width is greatly exaggerated, as headphones isolate each ear so that no right channel information is provided to the left ear, and vice versa. With no crossfeed you get none of the different reflections, timing, and phase that all play a part when you listen to music from speakers. Listening to a track solely on headphones during the mixing process can distort your perception of it, leading to clumsy or ill-advised panning decisions that don’t translate well when your tracks are played from other output sources.

The frequency response of headphones is variable too, and it is quite common to make similarly heavy handed moves in the mix that either over or under-estimate high and low-end, and then require tweaking later. This is an easier fix than redesigning room acoustics, but there are other issues with headphones that can’t be solved. Some frequencies are felt rather than heard (bass frequencies below 20Hz, for example) and there is just no way that a set of

headphones can send a sub bass rumbling through your body in the same way speakers can.

Phoning it in At the end of it, there’s love to be had for both systems. Producing music on headphones isn’t the sacrilegious pursuit that some audiophiles would have you believe it is. Even the most hardcore monitor advocates usually have a pair (or more) of cans to reference a mix at some point, and some top mastering engineers

have even recently admitted to working exclusively that way. And don’t forget, a huge amount of people listening to music today are doing so with Airpods, over-ear Beats or some other set of bluetooth headphones hooked up to Spotify, so it certainly pays to look after your audience.

In this feature, we’ll shed some more light on the process of mixing through headphones, and show you some of the best software solutions for optimizing the experience.

Emulating monitors in your DAW Why is the experience of listening to music through monitors different to hearing it through headphones? As humans, we come equipped with a two channel hearing axis – our left and right ears receive sound independently, from opposite directions, and this information is then translated to our brains in one unified code.

When listening to loudspeakers, your right ear actually receives sounds from the left channel as well as the right, but fractionally later and at a slightly lower level. You also hear additional reflections from the space you’re situated in – walls, ceilings and floors all bounce or absorb sound waves in different ways, and define the sonic character of what eventually makes its way to your ears.

Of course, if you’re listening to your tracks on headphones, the sound reaches your ears more directly and won’t be affected by any of this, but there are ways of altering your listening experience so that it seems like it is. The natural way we experience sounds can be emulated through a simple enough effect that anyone can manufacture in their DAW, and we’ll show you how it all works on the next page, with our detailed walkthrough.

The idea is to simulate the conditions that create the physical environment in which we hear sound from monitors. If we can achieve this, things like frequency, level balance, depth and panning will all be easier to judge in your ears, and your mixes will translate better to speakers as a result. Creating a crossfeed that mixes a little of each channel into the other mimics the natural behaviour of your ears, and doing this in a DAW means processing the left and right side with an incredibly slight delay. In other words, sound from the left feed will reach the right ear about a millisecond later than sound from the right feed.

The next thing to recreate is the natural reverb of a listening space. Adding some light reverb to the original (in parallel with the delay effect you have created) will simulate some early reflections, nothing too spacey, with hopefully enough subtlety to simulate the environment of an acoustically treated room. It’s difficult to really accurately represent how this listening environment would interact with sound being played off speakers, but combined with the slight delay between channels, you are definitely one step closer. Remember though, this kind of crossfeed emulation is intended as a mixing aid,

and shouldn’t be left on when you’re bouncing out a final mix!

If you ever need to get a quick and dirty representation of the effects of monitor speakers while listening only on headphones, check out our walkthrough on the next page to find out how to get the effect yourself.

Lef Speaker

Lef Ear

Right Speaker

Listener

Right Ear

Sound from one monitor speaker reaches one ear first, but it also finds its way to the other – not possible on headphones AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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Step by step 1. Emulating monitor crossfeed in a DAW

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Drop a Utility on each chain. Panning the Balance knob locates each “ear” on its correct side, so turn the two chains ending in “L out” fully left, and the two chains ending in “R out” fully right. Reduce the volume of each chain to -13dB on the Audio Effect Rack.

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To mimic true crossfeed though we need an extremely short delay. Add a Delay to both the L in R out and the R in L out chains. Set them to 100% Wet with 0% Feedback, unsync the Left and Right delay channels and set the Time to 1ms. Switch the Filter off too!

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Finally, add some reverb to simulate a natural room environment. Right click on the Audio Effect Rack and hit Group. Then add an Ambience reverb between the two Audio Effect Racks so that it applies to the whole first rack. Set the Dry/Wet down very low, and switch off Diffuse.

We’re using Ableton Live for this tutorial, but you can achieve the same outcome in any DAW. You will need to download the free stereo imaging plugin A1StereoControl (http://bit.ly/a1stereo).

Start off by loading an audio sample onto an audio track.

Put A1StereoControl on the L in R out and R in L out chains, ahead of the Utility. Open up the plugin and press the SWAP L–R button. This swaps the left and right channels of the input signal, giving us something approaching the crossfeed effect that we mentioned earlier.

Place an Audio Effect Rack onto the audio track. Create four chains and label them: L in L out, R in L out, R in R out, and L in R out. To clarify, “L in L out” = left ear receiving input from left speaker; “R in L out” = left ear receiving input from right speaker.

Headphones spotlight

Shure SRH1540

The Shure SRH1540s provide detailed, accurate listening in an elegant package. With a yoke built from aircraft grade aluminum and carbon fiber earcup caps, these don’t just share their looks with a supercar, they’re also super lightweight, and can be worn for hours without bother – a great choice for about $500. Their 40 mm neodymium drivers deliver a wide, immersive listener experience with detailed highs and accurate bass. Not too flattering, not too clinical.

The ear cups are thick and feature slow recovery foam. Combined with the padded

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headband and the lightweight build, you can almost forget you’re wearing them.

There are some gripes: the cups aren't hinged to turn – possibly to save on weight – and so the '1540s don't fold at all. They come with a carry case but it’s large and bulky. From time to time, the cups can come off and are very hard to replace quickly. The straight (and particularly thick) lead can flap around and get in the way.

Even despite those problems, though, we've found ourselves coming back to the Shure SRH1540s time and time again.

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Headphones spotlight

Focal Clear MG Professional Focal are a French company known for their pro grade monitors. However, they’ve recently stepped into the studio headphone market with their $1500 Clear MG Professionals.

Whilst their price point may put the Focal Clear MG Professionals out of reach of most musicians, for those that can afford them, these cans offer a pretty spectacular listening experience all round.

With their open backed design, the Focals provide a uniquely immersive sound stage. They can sound a little 'distant' when you use them for the first time, but this sense of distance turns to depth after you get used to their sound.

We often talk about monitors and headphones for their ability to "reveal every detail". With this pair, it can even get paranoia-inducing, making you wonder, "Where was that all my life?"

The design of the Focals is eye catching, however it may not be for everyone. The red and black colorway is bold and the honeycomb style earcup caps are quite busy to the eye – they definitely make a statement in the studio.

Another property to consider is the weight of the Clear MG Professionals. The construction means they're solid, and anything but flimsy, but holding 0.99 pounds of weight on your head could be a potential issue for some.

As for your ears, listening fatigue feels almost out of the question. The earcups are soft enough to wear for long sessions, which will be greatly appreciated whether burning the midnight oil or simply putting the hours in during a long day.

The Focal Clear MG Professionals scream luxury. From their appearance to their general wearability, there's a lot to love here, but ultimately, it's the sound that counts most. In those sonic stakes, then, this pair is the winner between the four pairs showcased in this article, but not by a massive margin. Sound quality is gained with diminishing returns, and so the price tag will only be worth it for professionals – those who find it vital to have the ideal audio experience over long stretches of time.

More ways to monitor Entire plugins have sprung up to meet the needs of producers listening on headphones. These aim to emulate crosstalk and ambient environments in more depth than our walkthrough over the page did.

One plugin worth taking a look at is the well– reviewed and affordable Waves Nx Virtual Mix

Room. Waves uses its advanced Nx technology to help the headphone mixing experience, with Nx using a feature called head tracking, which uses your computer webcam to follow the movements of your head, and thus determine where you are in a virtual space. This is an important aspect of a plugin that seeks to locate you in the simulated mix room, as your head placement and ear direction relative to the speaker setup are factors in how you experience sound in a physical environment. You can set head circumference measurements to enable the software to be more accurate with this, or better still, purchase the dedicated Waves Nx Head Tracker unit separately, which clips on top of your headphones and connects to the computer via Bluetooth link.

Waves Nx takes producing on headphones very seriously

There are a few other plugins that might help headphone users out. 112dB's Redline Monitor creates gentle crosstalk between your left and right ears – similar to the process that we outlined earlier – making your headphone experience a little more natural. Then there’s Sonarworks Reference 4, which corrects the physical frequency response imperfections in a wide range of popular studio headphones. If your headphones appear on the Sonarworks list of supported headphones for average calibrations, then you can get the plugin, load the Average calibration file and get a flat, phase-corrected headphone monitor experience immediately. If your headphones aren’t on the list, you can send them into Sonarworks by mail; they will measure them and produce an individual calibration file for you to use with the plugin.

Then there's Steven Slate Audio's VSX system.

As we'll go over on the next page, VSX ships with its own dedicated headphones, and a software package to emulate many professional audio environments while wearing them.

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Austrian Audio Hi-X55

Headphones spotlight

This mid-level option has a straight-edged look, with its matt black and gray stylings making sure you know the audio quality is front and center.

You might know Austrian Audio for their range of microphones, but these headphones prove that they have just as much credibility at the other side of the audio signal path.

Austrian Audio’s Hi-X55 are a good mid level option for music producers. The drivers move a lot of air for their size. The sound is accurate and there are no problems with resonance which can be a real deal breaker. They have a simple, professional looking design. The hinges and bow are made from metal giving them a sturdy

feel and the slow retention memory foam ear cups are luxuriously comfortable. Despite these premium components the Hi-X55s come in at the reasonable mid-range price of €299 ($249) putting them at the same price point as the V-Modas. Though the two headphones cost the same, these are more of a high-end sound when it comes to performance. The Hi-X55 provide a more professional sound, with a weighty but clinical bass end, and a revealing high-frequency response too. With the simplistic black design which is reminiscent of Audio Technica’s iconic ATH-M40x silhouette, these cans look more at home in a professional studio too.

Step by step 2. Using Slate VSX 2.0 to emulate several listening experiences

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Steven Slate Audio's VSX is a specially designed system to emulate monitor speakers and whole audio environments on headphones – a calibrated pair ships as part of the deal.

Immediately on launching the plugin, we land in Steven Slate's 'Private Mix Room'.

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Far from being a monitors-only solution, VSX can also do heaphones. There are pro entries like the super-expensive Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-4, commercial grade 'pods', and these Beyerdynamic-aping 770 cans.

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By browsing the rooms, we can take a short trip over to Howie Weinberg's Mastering Studio. No biggie. Immediately, we're in a different sonic environment thanks to this hardware-meets software package.

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VSX's processing makes our master volume take a hit, so when hitting the Bypass button, the difference is considerable. Luckily, you can gain match the bypass, and auto-bypass when renderring the mix in your DAW.

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Down at the bottom of the interface, we can switch between Engineer and Client listening positions, getting two virtual perspectives on our sound. This space is great for making critical decisions, accurately judging gain changes and honing in on different frequency bands.

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Off we go to test how our mix will translate over a club's immense sonic weaponry. But we don't have to leave our house, as long as we've got our headphones on, thanks to VSX's Club environment, great for checking bass!

Referencing your work A huge part of getting good at mixing is being able to consistently discern what works in a mix, and what doesn’t. To do this you need to establish a strong level of familiarity with your equipment and listening environment – it’s difficult to make any improvements by working on a track with monitors in an acoustically treated control room one week, and mixing another track with headphones on your laptop the next week.

Without a way of creating a continuous thread between these different environments your mixes will end up being wildly inconsistent.

You need to be able to trust your ears when mixing, and one method is by referencing. By comparing your mix with a couple of reference tracks that you know well, you are giving your ears and brain a reference point.

Pick reference tracks that you know really well, with elements that you love that you can clearly identify – punchy drums, bright vocals, rumbling low end – and you will find that mix decisions are easier to make, regardless of whether you’re using speakers or headphones.

When making comparisons between a mix and a reference track, make sure that the volume levels are matched. Our brains are not always reliable interpreters of what we’re hearing, and according to the Fletcher-Munson Curve, we hear tonal changes to sounds at different volumes, despite the character of the sound itself actually remaining the same. In other words, our brains focus on different frequencies depending on the volume of the audio: midrange frequencies at levels below 85dB, and high and low

frequencies at anything higher. Remember, a mastered commercial release is probably going to be louder than your mix, so in order for you to be able to make good frequency comparisons you should lower it to match.

Spectrum analyzers and loudness meters can give you extra information to reference your track with. Visualizing the frequency response of a song you love and then EQ your own mix accordingly is a process known as EQ matching, and can be carried out with plugins like the FabFilter Pro-Q 3. Think of it as reverse engineering, whereby you analyze the reference and keep the matching EQ on your stereo bus as a corrective tool. This type of matching can be very helpful, but it’s important not to get too bogged down with trying to create carbon copies of other mixes.

V-Moda M-200 Headphones spotlight

You wouldn't take a pair of high-end headphones out on the street with you to listen to music, but that's where this pair find a true advantage over the other headphones we've had under the spotlight in this article. While the V-Moda M-200s don't quite have the sonic credentials of the Focal Clear Professionals or the Shure SRH1540s, they have a talent for portability instead. To begin with, they're sleak and small, yet still enough to fit properly over the ears. Their hexagonal cups fold up neatly into the band, and they look respectable and streamlined enough to wear outside – especially if you upgrade their replaceable 'shields' with more colorful options available from V-Moda.

Back to the sound quality, you get a full-range response that can be driven quite high, signifying their potential use for recording musicians and for DJs. The drivers are large enough to offer a good bass response, although that doesn't

necessarily extend into the sub bass range. The high frequencies are accurate if a bit washy, but they offer pinpoint, crystal-clear sound when you're working in high-volume environments. In a pinch, these make decent-quality headphones for production, but might be better as a second pair for referencing purposes – one that you can leave the studio and venture into the outside world with.

Despite their obvious remit as DJ and performer headphones, the M-200s might not be comfortable to wear for long stretched.

The cups' size and materials can make them a little clammy at times, and they won't be the best choice for long sessions – you'll need to come up for air every once in a while if you're using them for any real length of time.

You can pick up a pair of V-Moda M-200s for about $349, which is a good price if you're adding them to an existing collection.

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4 more production headphones to try…

Studio ‘phones for all scenarios, tastes and budgets

FOCAL

Listen Professional Studio Headphones Around $300

SENNHEISER

HD-25

Around $150

If the $1,500 Focal Clears highlighted on the previous page are a little out of your price range, the brand’s also-impressive affordable ‘phones are worth a look too. These closed-back headphones have a snug fit, but not too tight that long periods in the mixing saddle are unbearable.

We found the response of these cans to be perfectly balanced, with remarkably neutral, punchy bass with plenty of extension, full, clear mids and sparkling, smooth highs.

Complete with a beautiful hard-shell case, we don't think there's a better all-round studio headphone out there at this price.

The HD-25s are the go-to headphones for many DJs, acclaimed by pros for their ability to handle high sound pressure levels and deliver excellent sound reproduction. A stalwart of the booth thanks to their split headband, rotatable earpieces and reputation for durability, the HD-25 delivers punchy and accurate sound in a lightweight yet robust package.

From a studio perspective, these aren’t as honest as some headphones in this round-up, as the HD-25s can flatter music at times. They’re great for long creative studio sessions though, particularly for electronic musicians that like to be able to turn their tracks up for an idea of how they might sound in the club.

AUDIO TECHNICA

ATH-E70

AKG

Around $400

Around $180

It’s hard to imagine in-ears delivering a sound you can rely on for production duties, but be it tracking, sound design or mixing, the E70s impress from top to bottom. They don’t quite rival an equally-priced set of headphones, especially in the bass, a region in which physics throws up some serious constraints. Subs are audible and there’s no low mid scooping to mask poor phase response; the bass is just less punchy than you’d get with the average studio headphones. The mids are clear and free from fatiguing peaks, so the meat of a mix can be tackled with confidence, and even if the high frequency range is slightly soft. If inear monitoring is your thing though, these are the way to go.

AKG’s K371s are among the best closed-back headphones for studio recording, combining superb build quality with outstanding sonic performance. And now, cabledodging AKG fans can rejoice in the arrival of a Bluetoothenabled version, the K371BTs. Sleek, modern and comfortable, these closedback headphones are loaded with features: as well as the Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, you get a built-in microphone, earcup gesture controls and a 40hour battery life. What’s more, the 50mm titanium-coated transducers have been tuned to the AKG Reference Response Acoustics Curve for a professional, balanced response across the frequency range.

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K371-BT

SOUL CLAP

By Danny Turner

Soul Clap’s third album is founded on a passion for environmental and social activism. Danny Turner reveals the deep house duo’s motivation and dualistic approach to production

It’s been about five years since your last album. Did the pandemic accelerate your desire to make a new one?

CL: We actually finished this album before the pandemic and were wrapping it up in Los Angeles as the news spread that there might be a situation going on. I remember sitting in the studio with producer Lee Curtis at the helm and Eli standing behind him receiving a text from his wife about everybody having to be ‘quarantined’. I looked at them as if to say ‘she’s crazy’, but she was right on the money.

EG: It’s interesting that the whole concept and narrative of the album was pre-pandemic and pre-George Floyd protest, so these were already subject matters that we were thinking about and now seem to be quite pertinent and timely.

So the year-long delay in release was more due to not being able to tour or promote the album?

CL: It was more about having this luxury called ‘time’. Touring is connected to it because as you’re finishing an album there’s already plans for its release with deadlines set for the artwork, mixing and mastering.

Because we didn’t have to tour this time, we could spend an extra month having Zoom meetings with our mix and mastering engineers to really get things sounding perfect. We also took time to find the right label rather than putting it out independently.

World Transformation Force is quite an

idealistic-sounding title. What’s the meaning behind it?

EG: Through the process of writing the music and figuring out the story of the album we decided that we wanted it to have an element of activism and push for positive change. Everybody has this idea that there are a lot of fucked up things in the world, but we feel music can help us to recognize them and push forward. For me personally, going back to school to study climate science is an extension of the work we’d already been doing. Over the past five years, we’ve both become increasingly concerned but feel we can take more responsibility and share positive messaging through our platform.

CL: Anyone in the arts can stand on a soapbox and tell others what to do, but I respect how Eli has used his studies to develop an educated outlook and use his informed opinion. As a duo, we like to practise what we preach and be true to the songs we write in the way we live our lives.

EG: Dance music has become such big business that it’s lost a lot of the messaging that was rooted in subversive music by marginalized people. Disco was partially distilled by the Stonewall riots for gay rights in New York, and in the ’90s you had subversive ideas coming from Deee-Lite in the US or Future Sound of London and KLF in the UK. We feel these legacies need to be respected and hope we can build those narratives back up again.

WEIVRETNI

S

oul Clap’s Charlie Levine and Eli Goldstein originally hailed from Boston’s local DJ party circuit, gathering quick acclaim for their bootlegs and house remixes. Fusing multiple generic elements with futuristic production techniques, their debut album EFUNK demonstrated a bold electro-funk sound, followed four years later by the self-titled Soul Clap – described as a skyscraper of jazzinfused influences.

Disturbed by political and environmental issues, the self-taught duo’s third album, WTF (World Transformation Force) exhibits their activist leanings. A diverse body of work – and undoubtedly their most sophisticated album to date, the messaging affirms Soul Clap’s commitment to global change, aligned to their multi-genre spin on underground house.

How did you work with vocalists Nona Hendryx and Rich Medina to get their spoken word messaging across?

EG: We’ve been working with Nona for years and produced her most recent EP. She’s a real inspiration – a renaissance woman who works with technology and music and has already been an activist. We’d written an instrumental and had a manifesto for the whole album, which helped her write the lyrics to ‘What If There Was No America?’

With Rich, we got together in a studio in Brooklyn, talked through the ideas and he wrote the poetry, but it was very much a collaborative creation.

Your music’s very mood driven, in a positive way, but did you feel the need to downplay that positivity this time?

CL: There’s definitely a message of hope.

When you’re revealing social and environmental issues it can feel very bleak, AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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“We want people to walk away feeling they’re part of this transformation force”

but we want people to walk away feeling they’re part of this transformation force.

In the past we’ve been quite whimsical with our music, but while some of the lyrics feature some heavy stuff, there’s still an underlying message of love and hope, and plenty of party tracks on there.

As you’ve matured do you feel you’re able to move towards a more expansive sound that no longer needs to pay homage to specific genres?

EG: I feel like we’re always paying homage, both to our advantage and our detriment, but this time we set out to make music that was slightly more

instrumental-based. On most of our albums we’ve ended up having all vocal tracks, which is pretty cool, but we also have this DJ side that loves dubs and instrumentals, so on tracks like Enough is Enough, Peace Love Unity Respect and Breathe we were trying to make them in the deep house instrumental tradition.

The drum programming and sampling was influenced by your live performances. Was this reflected in your approach to recording?

EG: The initial ideas came together in Charlie’s teeny bedroom studio in Miami. We plugged in a bunch of synths

and used the sampler we’d used for our 2017 live sets to get the ideas going, then just hit record and lay down the tracks.

They grew a lot from that initial point, but that live feeling was a big part of the arrangement and programming.

CL: The goal was to go through a process whereby Eli and I can recreate these songs in a way that will take the Soul Clap experience further in a live performance context. It’s something we increasingly intend to do as we move forward.

Perhaps by extension Charlie, you’ve been studying instrumental music?

CL: I started taking piano lessons because I didn’t have a music theory background. My tuning is good enough that I can sing a melody for someone to play or hear when something in the production’s clashing, but I really wanted to be able to speak the language of communication with other musicians. There was an amazing moment in our career when we were rehearsing this incredible hybrid between Soul Clap and Amp Fiddler on the main stage at Movement Festival. The performance was awesome, but at one point Amp looked over to me and said, ‘Yo man, you need some lessons!’ Amp was totally right so I asked if he could recommend someone to teach me. Through his jazz Detroit inner circle he got to Sharp Radway and I’ve been taking weekly lessons with him over Zoom.

What have you learned from Sharp?

CL: Modal theory, inverted fingering with two hands, interesting chord voicings and ways to express certain basic chord progressions that I can apply to keys. It’s about hearing something then knowing where to go and how to get there — imagine you’ve got the Ferrari but you don’t know how to hit the gas!

Would it be fair to say that most of your gear is located in your studio, and therefore Eli typically visits you to work on music?

CL: In order to get to any Soul Clap album it has to be the two of us working together, but it’s fair to say that I’ve taken the lead on getting the productions off the ground during their early inception. On this album, however, we really felt that we needed to get in the same room and come up with these ideas together.

EG: The first album we wrote in Miami over the period of a month, the second one was mostly in Charlie’s loft in New York and this one was made back in Miami now that Charlie’s back there. Out of the two of us he’s probably the studio rat, but although I’ve been on pause right now at school, I’ve got my own studio setup and get super into that as well.

CL: I’ve got a lot of gear here but Eli’s got some pretty crazy pieces. He’s got the Roland Jupiter-8 that we bought when we were in Japan and I sent him the Korg M3 workstation and a whole bunch of Roland boutiques.

Do you find you work better together if you avoid treading on each other’s toes?

CL: In the beginning I did more keyboard stuff and Eli did more drum programming, then I really got into arrangement. In any collaborative experience it’s awesome when you feel you can stretch into your own lane, so there’s probably some toe stepping but it couldn’t be any worse than Fleetwood Mac or The Stones [laughs].

You’re both clearly fans of using synth hardware, so what are your go-to machines?

CL: Going back to the experience of playing live at Movement festival, during the middle of our set we turned around and who’s sitting there on stage? Dave Smith! That started a AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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“I’ve torn out everything and rebuilt it; I felt I needed a new energy flow”

casual friendship whereby we kept seeing him and his wife Denise. My girlfriend, Natasha, totally hit it off with her so we formed a bond and the next thing you know we spent the weekend hanging out at a comedy festival in San Francisco. Then they invited us to the Sequential Circuits office and that’s where I got the new Prophet X, which is really incredible. I also saw Amp Fiddler playing the OB6 and got one of those for myself, so I’d shine a light on those two synths and the Roland Jupiter-X, which is a whole lot of fun.

How do you find the modern Sequential gear compares to your vintage synths?

CL: The Prophet X is a different animal altogether because I believe it has two analog oscillators – or at least analog modeling – and the other two oscillators are sample-based. Sequential teamed up with 8Dio to help create an incredible plethora of sounds that you can combine.

It’s all very digital-sounding but if you compare it to a Jupiter-8, I think you’ll find they don’t necessarily sound the same. It all reminds me of our collaborations with Egyptian Lover who rapped up to the studio one day with his 808 and said, “Nobody’s got this 808; I’ve used the hi-hat so many times it sounds all crazy.”

You’ve got a lot of pedals and effects

racks. What’s driven through them?

CL: On the mixing board I’ll definitely set up a bus to the Eventide Eclipse or Space Echo and go back in or send things through a signal chain. Years ago we played Moogfest and Eli and I got to tour the factory and ended up buying a bunch of Moogerfooger delays, auto filters and phasers. We’ll run the synths through there and running drum machines through the Moog auto filter is awesome.

Sometimes I’ll take a Roland TR-8 and run it through a tube amp to blow it out – it just gives the modern machines more unpredictability.

Do you do much in-the-box processing?

CL: By the time we got to the finishing stage of this album our mix engineers and producer Lee Curtis were working in Pro Tools with Waves. The company had a blowout sale where they were selling things at 90% off, so I bought thousands of dollars’ worth of Waves software for a couple of hundred bucks. It’s not like I’ve retreated back into the box, but during this pandemic I’ve torn out everything in my studio and rebuilt it because I felt I needed a new energy flow. I bought a new laptop too, so now I have the capacity to run a lot of plugins or work with MIDI and track in some of those awesome synths.

You mentioned utilizing live beats and resampling them. Can you expand on that?

EG: For this album, there was definitely a lot of sampling from the Pioneer Toraiz SP-16 because we had a ton of samples loaded up in there from the last live shows we did. The Roland TR-8S had also just come out, so we’ve been using that with our samples because the machine’s so powerful and the workflow is quick and easy. When we were cleaning up the tracks we replaced a lot of the live drum samples with similar sounds that maybe sounded bigger and better. We find that when we’re making stripped back dance music it’s usually fine to use live samples, but when we’re thinking about sound design and fitting lots of pieces together we prefer to dig in the box to get that perfect drum sound.

We read that you’re big fans of Critter & Guitari’s gear?

CL: Those guys are so cool — we loved their Pocket Piano MIDI and the pink Bolsa Bass.

Then they created the Organelle, which went into the contemporary synthesizer ideology of having community-based patches where

anyone can add their own. It’s incredible because it’s whatever you want it to be – a polyphonic synth or a monophonic synth, a vocoder or a guitar pedal, a drum machine or a sampler. I‘m a huge fan of the company and just went on the waiting list for one of their video synthesizers called the EYESY, which we’ll be using for our live streams.

How do you think the events of the last year will change things for live music?

EG: It’s been a major financial hardship for many people and everybody’s been touched by it. However, it’s also been a moment for reflection in terms of the luxury of being able to take our time with this album and get it perfect. All of us in music need to fly less and travel more consciously, and maybe we

needed this time to kickstart new ways of thinking about how we do business.

CL: There are a lot of mental health issues that come with touring musicians being beat up on the road all of the time. I know some people thrive on that, but others suffer. I’ve fallen into both categories, but it’s been wonderful for me to plant my roots and live like a normal person for a while. I feel there’s going to be a renaissance of music, arts and culture, so I’m really excited to see what everyone’s been cooking as it trickles out. n Soul Clap’s new album WTF (World Transformation Force) is out now on Fool’s Gold Records.

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ENIZAGAM

Celebrating Chick Corea THE ART OF SYNTH SOLOING

The music world suffered a huge loss with the sudden passing of Chick Corea in early February. His influence and wide-spanning creative output touched on so many aspects of jazz, latin and fusion music. This month and next I’d like to celebrate his innovative playing as a synth soloist.

By Jerry Kovarsky A Seminal Synthesizer Soloist Chick first started using synthesizers on the electric version of Return To Forever’s second album, Where Have I Known You Before, released in 1974.

He favored the Minimoog for his solos, and his signature sound was a bright sawtooth lead with no detuning, varying the filter cutoff and resonance to taste. He used pretty deep LFO-based vibrato, and had an unusual pitch bending technique. Watch some videos of 1974-76-era RTF and you’ll see that he kept his left hand just behind the wheels, resting his fingertips on the end block. He would grab the pitch bend between his thumb and index finger, rather than the more usual resting-of-the-palm-on-the -surface and using only the thumb.

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Chick’s Style I can break down Chick Corea’s synth soloing style broadly into maybe a few overarching concepts: 1) Clear motivic development and pacing: Chick often started out a solo with a simple idea, and left space so he can develop it. It may be melodic development, or rhythmic, but his solos always have clarity and purpose.

See Ex. 1, the opening of his solo trading with Joe Farrell (soprano sax) on the classic “Nite Sprite” from 1976’s The Leprechaun album. A very articulate two-note motif is developed (based on the alternating C and Bb triads of the tune’s main comping figure), which progresses into a pentatonic scale line in bars 3 and 4, resolving nicely back to the tonic.

2) Pentatonic scales: Where his acoustic piano work would take this vocabulary into very advanced realms, for his jazz-rock synth soloing Chick Corea often would stay more basic.

Ex. 2 is taken from the tune “Duel Of The Jester and the Tyrant” from Return To Forever’s epic Romantic Warrior recording (1975). The section alternates five bars of soloing with five bars of a unison band figure. The first solo phrase uses the E Harmonic minor scale to navigate the chord progression, but take note of the second and third solo phrases (bars 11-15, and 21-24). Throughout both he uses the E minor pentatonic scale across the whole progression.

Ex. 3 comes from the RTF tune “Vulcan Worlds” from their second album, Where Have I Known You Before (1974). Here he starts using the D Major pentatonic scale in bars 1-2, and then switches to the A major (or F-sharp minor) pentatonic in bar 3, due to the C-sharp notes he employs. However, by the end of that bar he shifts back to the D major pentatonic again. If you look back to Ex. 1 we can now analyze the pentatonic used in bars 3-4 as the B-flat major, or G minor, which gives the chord a suspended fourth flavor, before resolving into the last beat.

3) Broad pitch bends: Corea tended to bend much further, often going the full range of the wheel, which was almost a perfect fifth; resulting in some serious pitch swoops. This was distinctly opposed to the more bluesy, and guitar-like work of many of his peers, like Jan Hammer and George Duke. Bars 5 and 6, again from the “Nite Sprite” example shows this.

4) Advanced bitonality and chromaticism: Don’t think that all is simple with Chick. He explored all kinds of very “out” and free playing, starting off with his time accompanying Miles Davis and continuing into his group Circle, and he could build wonderful tension in his lines. Look at Bars 6–8 from Ex. 1 to see how Chick moves through some advanced chromaticism that is hard to

Fig. 1. The opening “trade” between Chick Corea and Joe Farrell on the classic tune “Nite Sprite” from his solo album The Leprechaun, released in 1976.

CÞœ CÞ œ œ œ œ œ. œ. œ œœ œ œ œœ œ . . . . œ œjù œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ R œ œ ‰ b ‰ ‰ ‰ ≈ œ œ ‰ ‰ ‰ ‰ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ ûœ œ œ œ 5 œ œ œ œ œ &4 1 2 3 1:40 œ œjù û œ œ œ œ #œ CÞ nœbœj n œ œn œR ≈ ‰ œ œbœ œnœ#œ œ œ#œnœnœ œ#œbœnœ n œ œ b œ bŒ ≈ ≈ œ & œ n œ b œ j 6 7 8 œ# œ n œ n œfi œ q = 145

Fig. 2. Part of Chick’s solo on “Duel Of The Jester and the Tyrant”, from Return To Forever’s most popular album Romantic Warrior (1975).

E‹ D C BÞ 4 Œ ‰ œ œ ˙ ÍÍÍœ œ œ œ ˙ÍÍÍ ‰ œ#œ œr ≈ œ œ œ ™ ≈ œ3 #œ œ ≈ œr ‰ 3 ÍÍÍÍÍ & œ4 #œ œ ˙ 1 2 3 4:21 A‹ B‹ BÞ(b9) E‹ œj œ œ C ÍÍ D ÍÍÍÍ Œ Ó ‰ J ‰ J œ œ œ ‰ œJ ‰ #œJ œ œ œÍÍÍœ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ & œBÞ 5 6 7 8 A‹ÍÍ B‹ ÍÍÍÍ BÞ(b9) ÍÍÍE‹ D #œ œ œ œ #œ . nœJ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó ‰ œJ œfijù ˙ û œ & #œ œ 10 9 11 12 C A‹ B‹ BÞ(b9) E‹ œj œ œ ˙ ÍÍ œ œ œ œ ≈ œj BÞœ œ œ œ œ œ œÍÍ J J Œ Ó ‰ ‰ œ œ & œ œ œ œ 15 14 13 16 D jœ C BÞ A‹ B‹ BÞ(b9) ÍÍ œ # œ #œ œ œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ#œ#œ .j ‰ nœ œj œ œj œ œ œj œ ‰ J‰Jœ œœ œ & œ 20 17 19 18 E‹ Dœ C BÞ œ œ Œ ‰ œœœ œ œ Œ ‰ œœ œ œœœ œœœ œ œœœœœœœœœœœœ œœœ & œœœœ ˙ 22 23 21 A‹ B‹ BÞ(b9) œfijù œ™ û˙Í &‰ q = 84

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Fig. 3. A small solo phrase from the tune “Vulcan Worlds”, found on the first album Chick used a synthesizer on, Return To Forever’s Where Have I Known You Before (1974). q = 139 E‹11 3 œ j & ## 4 Ó Œ ‰™ œr 1 œ œœ‰™ œR œ œ œ œœœœœ 2 œ œœŒ Œ ≈œœ 3 œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ 2:06 A5 >œ G5œ E‹11 jœ œ œ ÍÍ œ j # œ œ œ & # œj œ ™ œœ œ œ Œ ≈œ œ œ 5 œ œ œ œ œ œ Ó 6 ≈ R ≈ R ≈Ó 7 ‰ Œ Ó 4

analyze: I think of it more as a form of tension and release.

On Reflection Do I think that Chick was thinking as I am describing while he was taking the solos? Surely not. At his mature level of playing, the theory had been deeply absorbed and it becomes second nature. Sometimes

he uses a common scale to flatten the harmony that is occurring underneath, and other times he superimposes a shifting palette of key centers while the harmony remain static. These were the languages developed in the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s as modal jazz, and then jazz-rock/fusion were first being explored.

And Chick Corea was one of the most influential and accomplished players in those idioms, as he remained for over six decades, continuing to inspire and innovate until his sudden passing. We mourn his loss, and celebrate all that he gave to us. Next month we’ll explore his work with the Elektric Band in the ’80s and ’90s n

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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Neo soul chords EASY GUIDE

It’s time to get soulful as Dave helps you play and program the complex minor chords heard in modern R&B productions

‘N ENIZAGAM

eo soul’ is a label that has come to define the smooth, slick sound of modern R&B, from the '90s noodlings of Maxwell and D’Angelo to current exponents like Cory Henry, Taylor McFerrin or Robert Glasper. This is a versatile genre, the edges of which are easily blurred, allowing it to be readily fused with the likes of hip-hop, jazz, electronica, funk, house, drum ’n’ bass – you name it.

The main keyboard instrument of the neo soul sound is the electric piano, and there’s a very distinctive sound to the chords that make up the kind of part that typically represents the genre. The chords are fat-sounding, rich and complex, to the point where you might think you could never figure out how to play them yourself. Yet while the chord voicings are made up of many notes all playing at once, there are one or two tricks we can use to make

it easier to work out how to play and use them in your tracks. It’s really all about extended chords: chords built using tones from an extended version of the parent scale and note clusters, ie, the technique of rearranging the notes in an extended chord so that they’re played very close together on the keyboard.

So if neo soul is your bag, read on to discover how to unlock the chord voicings that can deliver the sound you’re after.

Step by step Piecing together neo soul chord voicing

Seeing as neo soul favors extended minor chords, let’s kick off with the A minor scale this month; seven notes, played on the white keys of the piano keyboard, starting on A and going up the keyboard through B, C, D, E, F and G before returning to the higher A one octave above the root.

01

02

03

04

05

We’ll take the 11th – the last note in the chord, D – and double it an octave lower so it appears between the C and E notes. We’ll also take the third, C, and double it up the octave between the B and D notes. Lastly, we’ll do the same to the fifth, E, and double that up the octave too.

An easy way to get an extended m11 chord is to voice a standard minor triad based on your root note, then go down two semitones from your root note and play a major triad rooted on that note on top of your minor triad. This makes what’s known as a polychord, which I covered in a previous Easy Guide.

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If we play alternate notes from this scale, we end up with an Am7 chord (A-C-E-G). But what happens now? If we want to make big, fat chords like ninths, 11ths and 13ths, it would seem that we’ve run out of notes to build them with. So to get around this, let’s extend the scale to two octaves rather than just one.

You can freely move notes around in octaves within the chords, or double up any note an octave above or below.

This helps build the note clusters that work well for this kind of sound, without affecting the pitch or quality of the chord itself. Let’s take a closer look at our Am11 chord – A-C-E-G-B- D.

Now we can access the tones we need to build extended chords. If we number the degrees in the two octaves, calling the octave number 8, we can add the ninth degree (B) to get a minor ninth chord, the 11th (D) to get a minor 11th chord, and the 13th (F) to get us a minor 13th chord.

06

Recommended listening

Pro tips

ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT feat. NORAH JONES – Let it ride An excellent illustration of how versatile these voicings can be, blended with other genres.

bit.ly/Glasper_LetItRide THE LAYABOUTS feat. PORTIA MONIQUE – Bring Me Joy (Vocal Mix) Too many exquisitely-voiced extended chords to list! bit.ly/Layabouts_Joy

General cluster A wide, open voicing as shown in step 8 can be tricky to play, as it seems like it contains more notes than most people have fingers! However, the great thing about clusters is they’re usually formed from adjacent notes on the keyboard, so you can play more than one note with a finger by hitting the gap between them. With our Dm11 voicing, you’d play the D and E with your left thumb and the F and G with your right thumb!

Flicks and grace notes Get an even more pro sound by adding flicks and grace notes to chords. For neo soul, this works well if you flick onto the top note of the chord from the note below. With Bmaj7#11 from step 10, top note is E, so hit D below it first and flick onto E from there. This needs a certain dexterity, but can be added to programmed chords in piano roll.

By Dave Clews

Over the course of his 25-year career, Dave has engineered, programed and played keyboards for numerous artists including George Michael and Tina Turner

07

08

Stick a T on the end of the phrase for the dominant to resolve back to, and it suddenly sounds much more satisfying – although a bit short. We can extend it by bunging a P in between the two to get a T - P - D - T phrase – C - F - G - C – a pretty common progression found in thousands of tunes.

10

11

Lastly, we’ll turn the final C9 chord (C, E, G, Bb, D) into a C13sus4 9 (!). We make a C13 by adding notes F and A to the top of the chord. The ninth is the D, so flattening that to a Db leads nicely into the D root of the Dm11. We then remove the third (E) and copy the C, G, Db and F up an octave to get C-G-Bb-C-Db-F-G-A-Db-F.

The final chord family is the predominant group, whose task it is to bridge the gap between the tonic and the dominant chords, extending the progression in a more interesting way than just using tonic and dominant chords alone. The IV, ii and sometimes the vi chord can all have predominant function (F, Dm and Am in this case).

Our third chord is Bbmaj7 (voiced as A-Bb-D-F). Adding notes A, C and E turns it into a Bbmaj7#11, the sharpened 11th being E natural. The top three notes form an A minor triad rooted on the note one semitone below the root of the original Bb chord.

We then copy the F down an octave to get Bb-F-ABb-D-F-A-C-E.

Let’s look at a few examples, beginning with the basic tonic to dominant progression. I’m using T to stand for tonic, P for predominant and D for dominant in these examples. Left openended, a T - D progression or ‘phrase’ like this one leaves the listener wanting and expecting more music – it just doesn’t sound finished.

The fourth chord is Gm7 (F-G-Bb-D, played over a G bass), which we transform into a Gm11 as before – adding the upper F major triad group of notes (F, A and C) to the top of the chord. We then duplicate the A down an octave to get G-F- G-A-Bb-D-F-A and C.

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AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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TECH SPECS

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier The very epitome of vintage vibe, this classic compressor has bathed many a track in its incandescent tube glow

ENIZAGAM

I

t’s not every day we can say this, but our story begins with the Titan Missile Program.

Invented by electrical engineer Jim Lawrence, the LA-2A derives much of its character from its T4 ‘optical attenuator capsule’, the design for which was based on work Lawrence had done for the defence industry at Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the 1950s.

The LA-2A was born out of a practical need. Whilst working at a radio station in LA, Lawrence grew weary of riding the gain knobs and began contemplating a means by which the task could be automated. Having designed optical sensors at JPL, it wasn’t beyond him to control the dynamics of an audio signal.

Released under the name Teletronix in 1958, Lawrence’s first leveling amplifier, the LA-1, found its way into the hands of singing cowboy Gene Autry, who spread the word about this marvellous new tool. Around a hundred LA-1s were built before the design was improved with a bigger meter and the now-famous T4 optoattenuator capsule. Next, the LA-2 found favor with entertainment luminaries, ending up in the racks of RCA’s New York and Nashville studios.

In 1962, the LA-2 was quickly superseded by a further improved model offering a new front panel, better wiring and lower noise. This new take, the LA-2A, would become the standard against which all opto compressors would be measured for decades. Soon after, Lawrence sold Teletronix to Babcock Electronics who then sold the brand to Bill Putnam’s Studio Electronics Corporation (now Universal Audio).

The secret to the LA-2A’s famous response comes in large part from that T4 capsule, which consists of an electro-luminescent panel coupled with a pair of photo-sensitive resistors; one for the gain reduction, the other for the meter (when in Gain Reduction mode). The louder the signal passing through, the brighter the electroluminescent panel. The brighter the panel gets, the higher the photo resistor’s impedance, which in turn reduces the gain.

By design, the T4’s attack time is fixed at 10ms; however, while the initial release time is 60ms during the first half of the release, the rest of the release is gradual and varies from between 1-15 seconds, depending on the length and volume of the incoming signal. Longer, louder signals

Year of manufacture 1984-1988 Original sale value $1,104 Current price $900 Number made unknown

decay more slowly than weaker signals. This is the signature of the LA-2A and one prized by engineers the world over.

Additionally, the LA-2A can provide up to 40dB of tube-amplified gain from input to output, meaning that it also acts as a preamp as well as a compressor. With only the merest of controls available, the LA-2A is a doddle to use and virtually incapable of producing a bad sound. Peak Reduction and Gain knobs are used to dial in the amount of processing and signal level, and a switch is provided to select the role of the VU meter, while another toggles between compression and limiting.

The LA-2A would be replaced by a solid-state descendent in 1967 and only built in limited numbers until revived by Universal Audio in 2000. Much as the Minimoog is to synths, the LA-2A is something of a sonic holy grail for compressor designers and developers. n

Three optimum opto compressor emulations

UA LA-2A Classic $322

Universal Audio’s virtual version of their own LA-2A hardware was one of several classic emulations that helped cement UAD’s position as the premium DSP system. The original ‘legacy’ plugin has been superseded by the Classic Collection, with its meticulously models of not one but three variants of the original hardware design. www.uaudio.com

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Waves CLA-2A $249

This cross-platform plugin is designed to bring the sound of the LA-2A to the native desktop environment. Precisely modeling the behavior of the original compressor/limiter, CLA-2A is enhanced by a preset selection designed by famed producer Chris Lord-Alge.

Get it in a bundle with models of Urei’s other classics, the LA-3A and 1176LN. www.waves.com

Native Instruments VC 2A $99

Included as part of NI's Vintage Compressor bundle, the VC 2A has been created in collaboration with Softube and offers an accurate recreation of the look and sound of the original LA-2A. With a price tag just shy of $100 – which also gets you recreations of classic compressors from dbx and UREI – this wins for value. native-instruments.com

Arturia

Pigments 3 $119 arturia.com

By Martin Delaney

Strengths + An incredibly powerful

modern-sounding synth + Upgrade greatly expands potential + Pigments 3 includes four new effects + Runs as a plugin or standalone + Users can import samples/wavetables

Limitations - Too much to fit the

display - Almost too much factory content!

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The Pigments powerhouse gets upgraded to v3, adding more engines, more waveforms and more effects. Have we reached saturation point?

A

fter 20 years of successfully producing software synths based on classic hardware products, Arturia released its first unique synth, Pigments, in 2018 – and now we have Pigments 3. Pigments is a synth instrument that works as a standalone application so you can play live with a keyboard controller, or as a plugin within your favorite host software. Pigments combines virtual analog and wavetable synthesis, and includes filters, effects, modulation, sequencing and arpeggiation. Version 2, released in 2019, added sample-based and granular synthesis, as well as MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression).

Now we’re looking at Pigments 3, which includes a new Harmonic Engine for additive synthesis; a Utility Engine, with a sub oscillator, supplemental analog waveforms, and two noise sources – so now up to three Engines can be layered together. There are also 80+ new wavetables, and other additions and improvements. Pigments 3 installs as Audio Unit, VST, or AAX plugins, as well as the standalone mode. The review was conducted with a 2019 iMac running macOS Big Sur, Ableton Live 11, and assorted MIDI keyboards and controllers.

All of Pigments’ controls are contained in one panel, but some tab-clicking is required – inconvenient but not unusual for such a full-featured synth. From left to right, there’s the preset browser, Synth, FX, and Seq tabs, a Tips

icon, and Master Volume. Below that, there are the tabs for three Engines – 1, 2, and Utility, followed by a Filter section, then a row of modulation controls, with more tabs – this time toggling views of an on-screen keyboard, envelopes, LFOs, Functions (three complex modulation sources), randomization, and Combinators (another type of modulation source that combines two other modulation sources). Finally at the lower right are four Macro controls, and a button which enables MPE and displays some relevant options.

The extensive preset library tells you everything you need to know about Pigments in general – excellent quality sounds, with depth and movement, more focused on blatantly being a synth rather than emulating real instruments, and many using the built-in arpeggiator and Sequencer, which are always good with Arturia.

Beyond that, as we’ve reviewed Pigments before, let’s focus on what’s new in version 3, starting with the Utility Engine, which is a third sound engine in its own right – you can even turn off the first two, and use Utility on its own, dialling up two different noise forms, and adding the oscillator and filters. The noises are based on a range of samples including machine noises, digital tones, and natural sounds such as forests and rain. The oscillator presents a choice of waveforms, and each element, noise and oscillator has its own Filter, Mix and Volume controls (two filters are shared by all Engines).

Being able to stack up three of these Engines leads to some profound sound design moments, the third Engine enhancing what’s already an excellent sounding synth. In the same way, a third Combinator takes modulation into wild new areas. As we said earlier, these are a way of building a modulation source from others, with assignable behaviors for each, so you might take LFO 1 and LFO 2 as sources, then choose how they’ll combine (difference, multiplication, and so on). Each Combinator can also use the other two Combinators as a modulation source.

Four new audio effects have been added, in the form of a rather excellent pitch shift delay, a multiband compressor, the BL-20 flanger, and Jun-6 Chorus, derived from Arturia’s V Collection. We didn’t have an MPE-compatible controller available for this review, and it’s not a new addition to Pigments 3, but we just want to mention that we used Live 11’s new MPE envelope features to control Pigments, and it worked very well, with some of Sensel’s free Pigments presets.

The magic number Pigments 3 is up against many other big name synths, but really it’s not a competition in that sense; they all have their good points. A list of the usual names could include Serum, Massive, Iris 2, Hive 2, and Sylenth. And let’s not forget that most DAW software includes a great synth or two, examples being Ableton Live’s Operator, Bitwig Studio’s Phase-4, and Logic Pro’s Alchemy. The truth is, we all end up with more synths than we know what to do with. Pigments has always stood apart from Arturia’s more

ANALOG VS DIGITAL

As far as Arturia’s software synths go (they also have a range of hardware synths), it's primarily about emulating vintage hardware products – anything from a Synclavier V, to a Moog Modular, to a Roland Jupiter 8. The Moog Modular V software instrument was designed in collaboration with Dr Bob Moog himself, and has been supported and maintained with the necessary updates since it was first released in 2003 – we’ve had it that long and still use it.

Against that background, Pigments stands out as something unique and unashamedly modern, although Arturia has certainly benefited from the experience of working with the virtual classics. Unlike the more focused synth instruments of the past, synths like Pigments aim to cover as much ground as possible, with synthesis types including wavetable, virtual analog, granular, and sample-based. Arturia is offering a discount price for current users of their Analog Lab, which is kind of a ‘greatest hits’ of their analogstyle offerings – with that, and Pigments, you’re pretty much covered for synths!

Anyway, the point is that philosophically, Pigments is quite different from the analog offerings, and it’s so comprehensive, we can’t imagine that Arturia could ever come up with a second original synth!

‘traditional’ collection of vintage softsynth instruments, and we mean that in the best possible way. This isn’t a situation where you choose one style or another, and for Arturia, we’d guess it’s a way of keeping users connected to them even when they want different, more modern, sounds – especially as bundle prices and discounts for current users are available.

And why on earth not? Pigments isn’t a token gesture – it’s a fully functioning, potentially deep, synth in its own right. There’s no need to debate the value of upgrading, as it’s free for anybody who’s using Pigments 1 or 2 already.

For those who aren’t using Pigments already, this could be a good time to jump onboard.

This is a great-sounding synth that can go very complex in function while still being easy to use, with some fantastic presets, and the control layout is impressively clear and rewards experimentation. Sometimes we wish we could see more of the content contained in the various tabs at once, but that’s about it as criticisms go.

Used as a plugin or standalone, Pigments 3 is a fine addition to any synth library. n THE ALTERNATIVES XFER

Serum $189

Ever-popular wavetable synth that includes sample loading and editing in the synth IZOTOPE

Iris 2 $149 Now that Ableton Live 11 includes MPE control, it can send those messages direct to Pigments 3, with or without a compatible hardware controller

Iris 2 is primarily about sample-based synthesis, but also includes oscgenerated synth waveforms AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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IK Multimedia

UNO Synth Pro from $399 ikmultimedia.com

By Rob Redman

Strengths + Versatile sound

+ Some excellent stereo effects + Sequencer is very capable + The full keyboard feels good

Limitations - Desktop version feels slightly less sturdy - Some menu diving to navigate

Does this duo of synths from the budget-friendly Italian brand earn that 'pro' tag?

I

K Multimedia’s latest synth offering comes in two flavors; the desktop version with its touch sensitive keyboard, pitch and mod strips, and the full version, which has a full size, semi-weighted Fatar keyboard. The keyboard is larger, sporting a heavy duty metal enclosure, as well as physical wheels for pitch and mod. Those differences – and the keyboard version’s power socket – aside, the two are identical. The user interface and innards are exactly the same, so choosing which to get becomes a matter of which ergonomics you prefer, rather than any capabilities of the two.

UNO momento With that in mind, it’s worth noting that while the desktop’s keyboard is quite responsive and playable, the pitch and mod strips are a little less so, occasionally missing input. In all likelihood this won’t be too much of a problem, as most users will be controlling this from their DAW, or a controller keyboard.

Ports are plentiful, with full size MIDI DIN, a pair of ¼” jacks for audio out (the effects are stereo), some CV and micro usb. Both variants can be powered by USB but this can introduce unwanted noise, so the full version also offers a power brick. USB power banks work as well and they appear to have less of a noise issue, meaning that if you want a portable synth for travel the desktop might actually be better, whereas for stage situations the keyboard is the better choice.

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On to the sounds, then – here the UNO shines and from here on out, both models are completely identical.

The UNO sports three analog VCOs and a white noise generator, all with some great tone shaping options. Each of the three oscillators has continuous wave shape variations from saw to pulse width, with modulation.

There are two analog state variable filters, with dedicated cutoff and resonance controls.

The potentiometers all feel smooth and firm, with a nice amount of resistance and, while the filter controls are dedicated, the function of most changes dependent on the active menu.

At first that may seem off-putting, but it really only takes a few minutes to get to grips with that, as the grid below them makes it very clear, with illuminated labels indicating what is happening. The final potentiometer is for master volume, leaving a single clickable rotary control for data. This feels slightly less robust but that’s the nature of the beast (without hardstops and its need to be pressed as well as turned). Thankfully, although there is some menu diving, it’s all logically implemented.

You’ll find it hard to get lost.

Sounds about right Back to the sound shaping. Quick access buttons to the left get you where you need most, from the VCO, mix, filter, LFOs, filter and amp envelopes, mod matrix and effects.

Pushing any one of these highlights the labels

for the four controls. These aren’t changeable but do present the most obvious choices. Take the LFOs as an example, where the main controls are wave, rate, fade in and sync. These four controls are all you get and can also be accessed and changed by the data encoder, with a visual representation on the display.

Selecting between the two LFOs (or the filters) is a simple case of pressing the button again, with a telltale label lighting to show you which is being adjusted.

The filters themselves are state variable and they’re totally discreet, with various modes and settings for amount and spacing, so dialing in complex tones is really easy, especially with the mod matrix. The matrix itself utilizes the same four knobs to select the mod number (including aftertouch and velocity), the source

which covers everything from oscillator levels right through to CV gate and sequencer ties, so a lot of capability to unleash. The fourth knob is for controlling the modulation amount. The matrix is a doddle to use, fast and powerful, belying its appearance.

Uno, dos…

The two envelopes, one each for filter and amp, are both ADSR envelopes with fairly decent ranges. This leaves the effects section, which is one of the strongest (mostly) digital effects you’ll find on a synth at this price, or far beyond.

The effects are limited to Drive, Chorus, Delay and Reverb, which may not seem like a lot but I’d rather have fewer great effects and a host of average ones. Hit the FX button and turn the corresponding knob to set the amount, then use

the data encoder to dive deeper into things like delay type, chorus color, or reverb pre-delay.

This is where the menu diving comes in but it’s only a couple of levels deep. All the effects sound wonderful; however, the drive – the only analog effect here – is my top pick, as it provides plenty of warmth and can really scream. Team it with resonance and use the mod wheel to control it and you get some almost guitar-like lead sounds, or aggressive basses. Chorus is very clean and also acts as flanger and phaser; the delay has a heap of options, including a fantastic ping pong.

Reverbs range from small plates, through to large hall type, each sounding good, with enough control to dial in just what you need.

There is plenty of control available to shape just about any kind of synth sound you can imagine, with 256 preset slots to use, many of which come with entries already for you to play.

As with any synth, many of these may not be to your taste but they do give a good starting point to create your own and to check out some of the possibilities. Loading and saving is done to the right, where you’ll also find the buttons for tempo, voice, hold and arp and sequencer.

There’s also a song mode, which is useful but AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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THE ALTERNATIVES

Control the voltage

The UNO Synth Pro, in both its guises, has two channels of gate and cv in and out, adding an extra layer of functionality that is rare at this price (although it’s becoming more common with the surge in modular equipment). The easiest way to take advantage of these is through the mod matrix, where the ports can be assigned however you like. If you like euclidean sequences then you could have one sending gates to the UNO. Maybe send the value of the mod wheel to an external effect, or you can send an LFO to your rack to sync up modulating a piece of Eurorack equipment.

There is a lot on offer here, just another element to making the UNO a truly useful synth.

KORG

minilogue $607

Korg’s minilogue is a polyphonic option with some similar capabilities. It has that Korg sound, and it’s feature rich… but doesn’t hold up so well in areas like the sequencer.

korg.com

MODAL

Cobalt 8 $704

“For me, one of the stars of the show here is the sequencer” also the most fiddly setting to use. The setup button for master settings is here also. A click of the data encoder takes you into things like master tune, MIDI settings and so on. All simple but useful stuff.

Sequence of events For me, one of the stars of the show here is the sequencer. Sure you can hit record and capture a live performance and you can treat it like a standard step sequencer but you can also sequence modulations per step with it. This isn’t overly new. In fact one of my favorite synths, the Sequential Pro 3, has this, as does my Moog One and a few others. What excites me is the fact that the UNO comes in at such a good price point and offers such a capable instrument. It has a really simple workflow too.

Select a step, out of the 16 step buttons, of which there are four pages, for 64 in total (more if you want to head into song mode) and adjust the parameter you want. Playback will have those modulations locked in place, giving your hands more freedom to interact on the fly.

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Complex performances are a breeze with this setup and it is a real joy to use.

One last button needs mentioning: the ALT button. This is basically a shift, giving certain other buttons a second function. Labeling for these is clear if a little dim but preferable to more menu diving, as it is for things like Ties, accents, copy and paste. Yes, copy and paste, which works for things like copying step information from one step to another, speeding up the process of setting rhythms up using the sequencer – great when using locked mod steps you want to reuse.

All in all, this is a great instrument and one that definitely punches over its weight class, in terms of sound and functionality. When first seeing photos of these I thought they’d feel more akin to playing a plugin but the reality is far from that. The biggest decision here is not whether you should shortlist it but which of the two variants to get. Both come with compromises but either would be a great addition to your arsenal, on the road, stage or in the studio. n

Eight voices and also an app, to let you dive deeper without too much menu diving or button gymnastics. There’s a 37-key version for an extra $100.

modalelectronics.com

MOOG

Grandmother $1,086

For a bit more investment there is Moog’s wonderful Grandmother, which also has a similar feature set, albeit with a very different flavor. Lovely playability and a gorgeous real spring reverb too.

moogmusic.com

Soma Laboratory

Pulsar-23

$2,444 somasynths.com

By Si Truss

Strengths + Utterly unique design,

with endless creative options + Sounds great for both percussive and melodic sounds, plus excellent DSP effects + Enough I/O and utilities to act as a handy modular hub – even without considering the synth engine/effects

Limitations - No standard

step sequencer - Workflow is complex and, at times, a bit unpredictable - Expensive

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AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

Combining esoteric sequencing, an experimental ethos and tons of patchability, Pulsar is a drum machine like no other

T

he brainchild of Soma Labs founder Vlad Kreimer, Pulsar-23 is one of the most fascinating, inspirational and – at times – bewildering electronic instruments we’ve tried in a long time. Described as an ‘Organismic Drum Machine’, this is a four-part percussion synth based around principles similar to those of Soma’s cult-classic Lyra 8 – replicating the interactions within a living organism through its non-linear design and multi-approach interface.

At a basic level, Pulsar-23 is a four-voice semi-modular percussion synth, with generators labeled Bass Drum, Bass, Snare Drum and Hi-Hat. The first two of these are more tonal, and it’s possible to play them melodically using MIDI and/or CV routings. The Bass Drum is a tunable triangle waveform with adjustable pitch sweep, capable of classic, meaty analog kick sounds, but great for longer bass sounds when sustained or played melodically. The Bass is a simple analog monosynth but with a secondary Percussive mode with a slightly noisier timbre. Each of Pulsar’s sounds has a distinct sonic palette and – along with identical amp envelope, volume and effect send controls – its own set of parameters to adjust and modulate. For the Bass drum, these include controls for tuning and pitch sweep, along with enigmatic patch points labelled ‘WTF?’ and ‘OMG!’. The Bass has a resonant low-pass filter, as well as Shape and Warp parameters controlling initial osc shape and waveshaping respectively.

The Snare Drum is primarily noise-based, with a mix control adjusting the balance between pink noise and a more characterful spectral noise mode. It also has a Clap parameter, which introduces a staggered attack to the sound and can be pushed to a fairly extreme length, creating interesting percussive tones. Finally, the hi-hat generator is a fairly classic, metallic-sounding synth hat. It features a resonant high-pass filter, tuning and a Warp control that adjusts the noise spectrum. Combined with the amp envelope – an AR design, as with all the drum sounds – this Warp parameter can push the hat into shaker or synthesized tamb zone.

Soma so good These cursory descriptions of the sound generators perhaps don’t do each justice – the more you dig into the voicing controls for each, the more range reveals itself, particularly once you factor in the semi-modular patch points.

Those ‘WTF?’ and ‘OMG!’ inputs, for example, are like hands-on circuit bending tools – there’s not space to go into them here, but Kreimer has produced excellent in-depth YouTube tutorials.

Connectivity, both internal and external, is key to what makes the Pulsar-23 special. One of the most noticeable elements of the design is the extensive range of pins spread across the entire user interface. These are patch points for re-routing the various sound elements and utilities, which can be done either using the

supplied crocodile clips or by placing fingers across pins to let your body itself conduct signals – with more expressive, less predictable results.

Pulsar-23 is designed with a brilliantly open, experimentally-minded ethos. As with most modular gear, no distinction is made between control and audio signals, so in many cases these can be used interchangeably to hack extra functions out of the sound engine – for example, repurposing the clock or LFO as sound generators, or using the Bass Drum as a modulation source. Pulsar-23 is set up to eliminate the risk of ‘wrong’ connections too – although it responds to voltage signals between 0 and 10 volts, the permissible voltage range for its inputs is -20 to +20 volts, and all inputs and outputs are protected from overloads. As a result, you can pretty much approach Pulsar-23 with a ‘try anything’ mindset, patching elements internally and externally at random just to see what happens.

Interestingly, although most of Pulsar’s pins are labeled as either inputs or outputs, like most standard semi-modular gear, several are designed to be able to acts as both. For example, the envelope generators for each sound module have trigger connections that are both input and output, capable of either receiving a signal to trigger the envelopes or outputting triggers themselves, and their behavior will alter depending on what’s connected to them.

Although the system of pins and crocodile clips aren’t particularly compatible with external gear by themselves, Pulsar-23 has no shortage of tools for interfacing with the outside world. On the front panel are eight modular-style 3.5mm patch

SHAOS THEORY

Pulsar’s Shaos tool is a pseudo-random generator designed to generate spontaneous rhythmic patterns. Its name is a portmanteau of shift register and chaos, the two primary elements that make up its design. It can be used to make looping sequences of pulses of either 16, 63 or 217 pulses in length, which can be synced to the internal clock or an external one. There are multiple outputs, offering 1bit and 2bit modes – which alter the amount of states the output signal has – and 1bit and 3bit sample and hold outputs. This kind of sequence generator has many uses, but one of the simplest is as a way to generate interesting hat or shaker patterns. The Shaos clock can run into audible rates too, and can be modulated, so you can even use it for oddball modulation synthesis effects.

“Designed with a brilliantly open, experimentally-minded ethos” points, joined by six full-sized jacks on the rear (in addition to the master output jack). Each of these connections has its own pin, meaning they can be routed to/from any available synth element and act as either an input or output for audio or control purposes. On the audio front, this abundance of I/O is a nice touch as it lets

users do creative things like create stereo outputs, route audio through Pulsar’s engine and effects, and create unusual feedback loops.

On the control side, Pulsar offers not only I/O but an abundance of modular-style utilities, including attenuators, inverters, MIDI to CV conversion, two independent VCAs, clock dividers, diodes, capacitors, pulse shapers and more. There are also a pair of routable touch sensors, which can send variable CV created by placing a finger across their two pads. In fact, for modular users, Pulsar makes a strong case for itself as an incredibly well-equipped utility hub, even ignoring its sound engine.

A drum, a drum This flexibility carries across to the ways Pulsar can be controlled. While there’s no traditional step sequencer, as found on most standard drum machines, there are many ways to trigger the four modules. There’s an external MIDI port on the rear, and a handy MIDI learn feature, allowing Pulsar to be easily triggered from a DAW or external MIDI sequencer. When used with external MIDI control, the Bass module can be played melodically and sustained to create drones and melodies (it’s possible to control the Bass Drum pitch via CV, or via MIDI using the onboard MIDI-CV converter). When used with AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

45

THE ALTERNATIVES

ERICA SYNTHS

Techno System $4,835

You need to look to full modular systems to match the patching potential of the Pulsar. Erica’s Techno system is similarly handy at interesting rhythms and sounds.

ericasynths.lv

MOOG

MIDI all sounds gain full velocity sensitivity and Bass will respond to pitch bend and portamento.

On the top panel, each module has a trigger connection (both input and output), letting each sound be triggered using external CV or internal sources such as the clock divider or LFO. The most interesting way to sequence the sounds is using Pulsar’s trigger sequencers. These are loop recorders that record, play and overdub triggers input using metal touchpads. By default they’re sync’d to the internal clock, but each can be clocked separately to make unusual polyrhythms.

The sequencers can record three velocity levels and have a simple quantize function that snaps triggers to a 16-step grid in the loop.

Pulsar-23 is at its most exciting, however, when these approaches are used simultaneously. You can, say, send MIDI and/or CV to a module at the same time as use the loop recorder, or use the trigger in/out pins to chain one sound to another.

On the pulse As is the case with much of the Pulsar-23 workflow, results can be unpredictable. While this sense of ‘organic’ unpredictability is kind of the point, and it can certainly make Pulsar-23 feel creative and inspiring, it may irk some users with its tendency to often behave not quite as expected. There were several occasions that I’d be fairly certain I knew what I was doing with its sound generation and sequencing tools, only for a patch or function to throw up something rather unexpected – and I often wasn't entirely sure whether it was me or the machine at fault.

The final major string to Pulsar’s bow is its

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array of onboard effects. These are divided into two sections – an analog master distortion and a DSP delay and reverb. The former of these is a pretty simple affair, with just Drive and Mix controls, but it complements the sounds nicely and can add real grit and heft to patches.

The DSP effects are more complex, with distinct reverb and delay channels. Sounds can only be sent to one at a time using the internal effects sends, but both have patchable inputs and outputs, so you can route any sound to both and set up various cross-effect/feedback routings.

There are three modes for the effect module – which are linked for the delay and reverb – offering a band-pass 1-tap delay and hall reverb, a 2-tap delay and different hall algorithm, and pitch-shifted delay and reverb. Although both effects channels are mono, the 2-tap delay has a stereo mode whereby the delay and reverb outputs become stereo channels with the effects mixed. The effects are made to boost experimentation and modulation, offering multiple patch points routed to parameters including delay time, pitch, feedback and DSP clock modulation. With creative patching, you can coax out wonderful, dub-like effects and weird textures.

As a complete package, Pulsar-23 won’t appeal to everyone – this is no do-it-all workhorse.

Creating sounds is as much a process of happy accidents as careful sound design. It is, however, a genuinely unique instrument, and one designed to inspire creativity rather than just be weird for the sake of it. In all, this is a thoughtfully designed and hugely powerful music machine. n

Sound Studio $1,976

These new bundles from Moog contain a DFAM and either a Mother-32 or Subharmonicon. As a full package, they cover similar ground to the Pulsar, with equally experimental credentials.

moogmusic.com

Cableguys

DriveShaper

$47 cableguys.com

By Si Truss

Strengths + Distortion effects suit

ShaperBox’s modulation-centric workflow + Grip and Accent parameters work great for transient shaping + MIDI triggering and switching are great for performance

Limitations - Has fewer distortion

modes than some other dedicated plugins

THE ALTERNATIVES OUTPUT

Thermal $189

Costs way more, but contains its own complex multi-effect options FABFILTER

Saturn 2 $160

A modern distortion classic, Saturn is pricier, but you get more distortion flavors for your money

Analog-style distortion and creative wavefolding make this a pulsating box of gritty filth… which is far more pleasant than it sounds

D

riveShaper is the latest effect to be added to Cableguys’ modulation-focused multi-effect plugin ShaperBox 2. It arrived as a freebie for existing Cableguys users towards the end of last year, meaning all existing ShaperBox owners had it added to their collection without paying.

DriveShaper’s core setup is broadly in line with its stablemates. Its UI is focused on the familiar LFO shaper, which allows users to define a custom curve that, in this case, controls drive level. These custom waves can either be drawn in manually, using an assortment of tools and an editor grid, or selected from an array of handy preset shapes. As is standard ShaperBox fare, DriveShaper is multiband, allowing three distinct frequency bands to be freely defined via the spectrum view in the top left of the UI. Each band has its own effect controls and shaper curve, meaning users can set different modulation patterns and distortion styles for the high, mid and low parts of the spectrum.

As well as being able to sync the rate of these custom LFOs, each also offers MIDI triggering and a one-shot mode, meaning they can act like envelope shapers as well as standard cycling LFOs. ShaperBox’s MIDI switching is here too – a fantastic performance feature that lets users store multiple waveshapes and switch between them on the fly using incoming MIDI notes.

There’s an envelope follower too, for dynamic, reactive distortion effects.

DriveShaper itself comes with ten distortion algorithms. These cover analog-style hard and soft Clipping, a pair of fuzzy, mid-boosting Square modes, hard and soft Rectify – which can boost high frequency content creating octave pedal-like effects – and four varieties of wavefolding. These modes sound excellent even in default settings, but they can be enhanced further using the plugin’s Accent, Tone, Grip and Push parameters.

Accent can adjust the volume of the distorted parts of the LFO wave, controlling how much the drive is emphasized in the mix. Tone, meanwhile, adds a bi-directional low/high-pass filter after the distortion to tailor the effect’s frequency qualities.

Grip is probably the most interesting tool. This adjusts the degree by which low-level and ambient elements of the incoming audio are affected by the drive. For example, when applied to a reverberant loop, Grip can create an ambient squash of distorted reverb at one extremity or, at the other, remove the reverb tail by emphasizing the transients and silencing the ambient release.

Finally, Push – only available for the Rectify and Wavefolding modes – introduces a DC offset before the distortion creating a more asymmetric effect. The DC offset is then filtered out before the output so as not to be present in the final mix.

As with CrushShaper, DriveShaper really suits the modulated, multiband setup of ShaperBox. The ability to precisely sequence and target the distortion opens up lots of creative possibilities.

It's a real must-try. n AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

47

Waves

Vocal Bender $155 waves.com

By Andy Price

Strengths + Incredible levels of

manipulation + Simple and accessible UI + No latency or sync loss

Limitations - Make sure you update to Waves V12, as default UI size is tiny!

This appealing vocal mangler lets you give music’s most essential instrument the color and dexterity modern pop production demands

I

t’s hard to know exactly where the trend for overtly pitch-shifted, processed vocals in modern pop first began. While vocoding had been commonplace in more outré fields for decades, and intermittently used in a somewhat gimmicky fashion on various big hits, particularly those concerned with technology (here’s looking at you, Trevor Horn) it arguably wasn’t until Cher’s 1998 dancefloor-filler 'Believe' that on-the-nose auto-tune became the viable ingredient in the stew of modern pop production it is now.

Since then, processed vocals have become commonplace across many genres, with the rise of EDM and its often cartoonish musical landscapes bleeding across the spectrum of pop. Vocals that – to varying degrees – modify in pitch and intensity, distort, stutter and loop can be found almost anywhere. It’s a state of affairs that plugin heavyweight Waves is keenly aware of. The developer's solid form in this field is demonstrated by products such as the recent voice-controlled processing synth OVox and its classic (but still mightily useful) Tune.

Waves now offers up speedy, real-time pitch shifting and instant access to some of the modern vocal producer’s tricks, all controlled via an intuitive UI. Haven’t we met before?

The basic simplicity of the UI invites immediate experimentation, and reminds us in

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no small way of SoundToys’ excellent Little AlterBoy, with which it shares an identical dual-knobbed design. That being said, there is a significant amount of complex, and utterly unique, programming potential here. These two knobs, labelled Pitch and Formant, can be scaled up or down by 12 semitones (or, if selecting the ‘Fine’ view, by 1200 cents). Pitch in this context is referring to the central tone of the human vocal, whereas Formant covers the resonant frequencies that shape the overall timbre of the vocal. If you’re a tad confused as to this subtle difference, a quick dabble on a pre-existing vocal track sonically illustrates that difference – and also how dramatically this simple tool allows us to totally transform our vocal sound.

To the left of the Pitch control, the Flatten button allows us to force the input signal to snap to a predetermined note from C2 to B3 – and makes it affect an eerie monotone. Our tests prove that this is a really handy, speedy tool for building up augmented choruses and harmonies across multiple tracks. The resulting effect of building several carefully tuned, flattened vocals can easily conjure that slightly robotic Bon Iver-esque texture.

There’s a simple Wet/Dry mix knob to the right of Formant too, while between both our major knobs, a small link chain simply allows us to move both controls simultaneously while thoughtfully keeping any offset in play. This is

particularly handy once we get into the more advanced controls.

You took the words right out of…

Though the main controls are simple to experiment with, and results can be crafted speedily, once we reveal the modulation and automation options, vast creative scope presents itself. The four sub-windows can be revealed by clicking on one of the four acronyms beneath the main window – this is easy to miss if you’ve not consulted the manual. Each of the four modulators can be neatly dragged to the Pitch, Formant or Mix knobs, to kick in once a certain threshold is met. Clicking on M1 or M2 opens up a sub-window where we can delicately build up unique LFOs, and Step Sequences, using both a Pen tool and the delicate carving of the Phase, Warp, Smoother and Level controls. The ‘Organic Modulators’ (AM and PT) use the input signal itself as the starting point of their modulations, AM (Amplitude) allows you to use the amplitude envelope of your vocal signal to dictate when other modulations come into play, while PT (Pitch) erases all pitch detection data from the vocal signal to make way for more detailed and individual pitch variations.

A simple blue ring, along with a small indicator displaying the acronym of the modulation appears beneath one of the main knobs, once you’ve dragged and dropped.

Dragging vertically over this modulation slot adjusts the modulation depth, illustrated by a small colored arc inside the knob. This type of automation can be a superb way of introducing vocal effects (such as sudden pitch drops, or additional vocal support) that activate based on the volume of the input signal, so the intensity of your performance can be the triggering factor.

ROUND THE BEND

Digging into the presets a little further reveals a diverse range of instant effects. There are some presets that can bolster a performance, like ‘Fake Vibrato’ which sneakily adds a realistic-sounding vibrato to your vocal. It’s actually astonishing how our (admittedly sub-par) vocals can take on a studied polish by delicate application of this preset. Dad Support provides us with a very recognizable sound used by many to fatten up a vocal section with a low baritone. It reminds us of the numerous rap tracks where this technique is frequently used.

The more fun presets include Game Over which add a cool arcade game effect, which could be used to add some sonic color, while the demonic Dark Magician is – genuinely – absolutely terrifying, particularly when applied to a tender, close-mic’ed voice. It’s clear that some of these presets should only be applied to vocals at specific parts of a track, while others could subtly run throughout sections (Low Double Tracker is a nicely subtle enhancer). All of these presets could serve a purpose in your tracks, and can be used as jumping off points to explore the outer reaches of what Vocal Bender is capable of.

Mouthing off While we’re only really scratching the surface of the range of possibilities presented by the plugin’s modulation controls, the aim of the game with Vocal Bender is really getting that professional-sounding vocal manipulation at speed. We’re happy to report then, that not only did Vocal Bender provide that within minutes, but that there was absolutely no processing lag. We can dramatically scale the pitch of our backing vocals on the fly during track playback, and experiment with modulating our vocal in order to get the right tonal qualities without any CPU slack.

If you just want to jump straight in to emulate the tricks of the pros, then Waves have thankfully provided a wide range of impressive presets. These include those that add additional deep and high voices, vocal doubling, harmony effects and humorous ‘character’-types such as ‘Chipmunk’ and ‘Broken Bot’. See the boxout for more information on these.

Vocal Bender is certainly one of the slickest vocal plugins we’ve experimented with. While those hankering for more expressive vocoding effects will find more appeal from Waves’ larger OVox vocal synthesiser. The (complementary) Vocal Bender is undoubtedly the best in class for quick-fire, modern pitch manipulation. n

THE ALTERNATIVES OUTPUT

Exhale $253

A vast ‘vocal engine’, similarly geared towards emulating modern pop vocal quirks.

SOUNDTOYS

Little AlterBoy $99 The basic UI of Vocal Bender has a simplicity that invites fun experimentation

With a similar UI to Vocal Bender, this has been a staple of modern vocal production for a while.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

49

M-Audio

M-Track Solo and Duo from $60 m-audio.com

By Jon Musgrave

Strengths + Very affordable

+ Decent preamp design + Light and portable with solid build quality + Integrated minimum latency monitoring

Limitations - No MIDI connectivity - No USB or activity indicator

Want a basic, reliable interface? One of these handy boxes from M-Audio might be just what you need

I

n recent times, new audio/MIDI devices from M-Audio have carried the Air 192 badge and for a while, it wasn’t entirely clear whether the long-running M-Track name was being retired.

But lo and behold, two new M-Track devices have just landed on my desk and the label lives on.

M-Track Solo and Duo are entry level audio-only interfaces. Both are class compliant USBpowered devices and have 2-in 2-out connectivity with up to 24-bit or 48kHz operation.

Their feature sets are different but underlying specifications are similar. Solo includes one mic/ line channel with switchable phantom power and one line/instrument channel. The main outputs are on unbalanced RCAs and the front headphone output is on an 1/8” mini jack. Both outputs share a single output level control. A front switch selects between just the output stream (USB) or minimum latency monitoring option combining the inputs and the output stream.

Duo has a pair of mic/line/instrument inputs with global switchable phantom power. The outputs are on balanced 1/4” TRS jacks, the headphone output is a 1/4” jack, and there are separate headphone/output level controls. Like Solo, Duo also has zero latency switching to combine input and output streams, but with both mono and stereo (hard panned) options.

Each package includes the interface, a one metre USB-B to USB-A cable and instruction manual. There’s also a decent bundle of software, which you can download once you’ve registered the device on M-Audio’s website. Titles include

the AIR Music Tech Xpand!2 synth, Eleven Lite guitar amp sim and 20 Avid plugins, as well as Pro Tools First M-Audio Edition and MPC Beats.

Despite the low price, both units look well made.

With class compliant drivers, getting started is as simple as plugging up and making sure the device is selected in your audio software.

Nevertheless, there’s no USB-active LED on either interface and no output meters, so there’s no obvious way to see everything’s working, which is annoying. That said, you do have two-tone (green/red) input/clip-level LEDs for each input so setting up a healthy but clean signal level is easy enough. Plus, you also have an orange phantom power indicator.

M people Both interfaces use M-Audio’s Crystal Preamp design, and this provides you with plenty of clean neutral gain (up to 54dB for mic and up to 44dB for line/instrument). This is great for lower output dynamic mics or weedy passive guitars.

Even so, I found both interfaces sounded pretty nasty when they overloaded, and so I kept well away from the red clip LED. In terms of drivers, on Mac OSX and at 44.1kHz I achieved a roundtrip latency of 9.4ms with a 64 sample buffer. Not class leading, but workable.

M-Audio’s no nonsense interfaces are simple, and although it’s a shame that there’s no MIDI, at this price who’s complaining? And, weighing up the options, for the sake of an extra tenner I’d go all out for the more flexible M-Track Duo. n AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

51

Mutable Instruments

Beads

$360 mutableinstruments.com

By Rob Redman

Strengths + Lots of character

+ Can act as a wavetable voice without audio input + Emulations for tape wow and flutter

Limitations - Feedback, mix and

reverb can only be modulated individually

Is this reimagining of Mutable's popular texture synth Clouds a case of blue-sky thinking?

A

s the manual lyrically begins, ‘Once upon a time there was Clouds. Then came time to clean up the mess’. So, let’s acknowledge right now that Beads is somewhat of a version 2 of Mutable Instruments’ immensely popular texture synthesizer. The fact that it isn’t called Clouds 2 feels odd, but then, Beads is all new; it may have a similar function but it’s a ground-up reimagining and the better for it.

To start with, it manages to fit in three more physical controls into a smaller space but feels somehow more manageable. The layout is logical, easy to read and playing with the various functions is far more straightforward.

There are some limits to this but they are few and come down to the modulation of the feedback, mix and reverb density, which share a modulation input jack. There is a button to select which of the three receives the modulation, with only one available at a time.

It’s a small limit but worthy of note.

The design fits nicely alongside other Mutable Instruments modules, so if you are one of the many who like to group by manufacturer, or like single-make rigs, you’ll be happy. The only variance in this regard is the labeling system for the feedback, mix and reverb but this makes perfect sense, as the labels sit next to similarly sized knobs.

Likewise, the jacks are grouped at the bottom of the unit, so access to controls is easy, and the outputs are highlighted in gray,

also grouped, making patching an intuitive process. I do like it when modules are designed this way, so that I can set and forget, with cable ties keeping things in order, if I know the signal flow is unlikely to change for some time.

Beady aye Although billed as a texture synth, where it takes incoming audio and samples, splits and manipulates it in various ways, Beads is also a wavetable voice and if you leave it unpatched (except the outputs) for a while it will start making noise on its own. In this mode, some of the knobs change their function. The feedback control becomes a wavetable knob, giving access to a set of eight different waveshape banks, taken from Mutable Instruments’ own Plaits module. The Time control then becomes a low-pass filter cutoff.

Pitch can be randomly generated or an external pitch source can be patched into the appropriate input. This, like many of the extra modes and easter eggs, is typical of Mutable Instruments and adds a layer of value, as well as musical possibility.

On to the granular side of things then, the headline act of Beads and where most of the fun and performance will be found. In essence, Beads takes incoming audio (there are left and right channel inputs) then passes that audio through the internal buffer, or stores sections of it in the buffer, before AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

53

THE ALTERNATIVES

ATTENURANDOMIZERS

The key to a successful modular setup is modulation. VCAs are the things we need most of because we use them to dictate the where and when of our modulations. In Beads, Mutable Instruments has taken this to a new height, with attenuators that, turned clockwise, act as you’d expect, attenuating the incoming modulation source. However on Beads they’re called attenurandomizers, as a turn counter-clockwise internally randomizes the attribute they’re attached to. Plug in an external mod source and this counter-clockwise turn instead increases the external modulation.

This is a fantastic addition that I hope gains traction, as that one pot can control three different styles of modulation. The only downside is that there are no attenurandomizers for grain density or the assignable input for feedback, mix and reverb.

processing it further. Let's offer you two examples of how it can work — as with most modules, it can be twisted in many a direction.

First up we can look at a short sample, say an acoustic guitar. If we store that in the buffer, via a press of the Freeze button, we can chop it into a maximum of 30 pieces using the density knob, which is a bit like adding playheads to a tape deck. To define a start point of each grain you use the Time knob, with the size knob effectively setting the end point. This size knob can be set to negative values to reverse the playback too, for some ’60s psychedelic grains.

Beads on toast The second method is to input a continuous source, say a saw from a VCO. You can then use the same controls as above to make grains out of this wave, building new textures that range from short plucky spaced out grains, to dense, smooth, overlapping ones. The possibilities are huge. In this way of working, dialling in a wet/dry mix of texture and original audio can yield delicate, pretty results to wild, aggressive and harsh tones, or anything in between. Either way, it is the balance of size, density and time controls that are the beating heart of Beads and are probably where most of the time is spent.

As mentioned before, the feedback, mix and reverb density can all be modulated, albeit only one at a time but other attributes can also be modulated with external input, so you can

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put all your LFOs, random voltage generators and envelopes to good use. These affect the grain seed, pitch, density, size, feed and time controls, so Beads becomes the tool, for sound design and integration into a modular rig.

It is time to talk about sample rates.

Mutable Instruments label these as things like Scorched Cassette and Cold Digital which indicate the vibe they offer and they definitely feel like more than just sample rate reductions, although they do offer the benefits of longer buffer sizes. Scorched Cassette for example, adds some lovely warmth, with the emulated wow and flutter of, well, a scorched cassette. While it adds this mojo it also comes with a longer buffer time of 16 seconds, whereas Bright digital is just four, with the remaining two levels with eight and ten seconds. These buffer sizes are doubled when you input a mono signal. What is interesting about this is that Beads will output stereo anyway, opening opportunities for up to 32 seconds of record time. Not only that but Beads will spread some of the randomized grains across the stereo field, so you won’t be losing out too much.

This goes to show how well thought-out the module is and what it can offer. For smaller rigs it can add buckets of scope for sound shaping and can easily fit into many genres of music. In larger rigs it can be equally at home, with so many options for interplay between mod and sound sources. n

INSTRUO

Arbhar $747

This incredibly capable granular module has six buffers, a built-in mic to complement the audio-in port and ships with an expander, for access to extra CV inputs.

instruomodular.com

ADDAC

112

$650

With all the patch points grouped together, access is easy on this module. It boasts a huge buffer of up to five minutes for sampling and looping, and an intuitive interface.

addacsystem.com

Loopmasters

The Mouse Outfit – UK Hip Hop $50

Super dope samples from the heavyweight rap production crew and festival-rocking live outfit, who’ve been holding it down for the UK for a hot minute. This, their debut pack, comprises of 24 construction kits, designed to come off like a crate of dusty 45s – the kind of haul of wax producers dream about, where every other bar is a funky-ass loop, begging to be chopped.

It’s boom-bap business, crafted with vintage gear for that authentic sound, but run through a fresh modern chain for punch and clarity, too. Well worth your cheddar if you’re after 1.65GB of loops, hits, chords, and melodies, that’ll find a happy home in everything from UK drill, future-thinking trap, Golden Era East Coast, or bumping neo-soul.

Roy Spencer loopmasters.com

Audiotent Artist Kicks $80 A big, beefy batch of killer kicks for you to plonk, front and center, in your next masterpiece. The 440 hits here have been purloined from a huge list of famed producers’ own libraries. So, if you want your kick to sound as fat as the Cosmic Boys or as layered as Tim Engelhardt, then why not just swipe theirs?

The alphabetized crates take care of every possible variant of this essential track factor, too. From lo-fi and crunchy, to crisp and overdriven, you’ll find a thump for every occasion. Plus, they’re all key-labeled, so you can get the tone and timbre of this vital element locked in and gel your track around it. Essential ammo.

Roy Spencer audiotent.com

Sample Magic Jazz Hop 2 $7.99/mo Smooth grooves from the cats at SM, who deftly mix up tough street beats with that smokey late-night jazz club vibe, to a tee. Fly flutes, sexy saxes, and dope double bass are the order of the day. Plus some sizzling, splashy drums and finger-snapping loops, backing them up.

Even though it’s cool, everything in this collection is warmed so thoroughly that you could toast bread on these beats. In fact, a fat stack of the sounds were pressed to wax and sampled back in, for maximum old school Blue Note crackling authenticity. Wow! Just another factor that makes this collection of dusty vintage fare, so well worthy of your attention.

Roy Spencer splice.com

Spinnin’ Records Sander Van Doorn: The Ultimate Sample Collection $7.99/mo Huge sounds from the Dutch dance don, as you’d expect. Covering everything from progressive house keys and insane rumbling techno basslines to electro percussion and proper darked-up trance synths.

The hundreds of inspired loops and one shots are a breeze to drop into your workflow – plus, with a focus on low-end sonics, you can take care of the bottom end on any beats left wanting.

It feels like Van Doorn has geeked right out on this, too, mixing new and old gear and techniques for a rounded collection of layers to weave. Hard to believe that this is his first ever sample pack.

Roy Spencer splice.com

Loopmasters Artist Series Tough Love: House & Tech Origins $50 Debut pack from the Londonbased boys with a penchant for infectious grooves and a warm fuzzy energy. Across 834MB of content they successfully serve up, and break down, a plethora of polished production parts – from snappy 4/4 drums and their trademark banging beats, to chunky, funky basslines, and dancefloor-ready piano rhythms.

With their signature swing and swagger, this forms a well-stocked library of sweaty sounds to rock out to. Tempos and grooves keep in house and tech bounds, but these samples are gonna spruce up any variant.

Roy Spencer loopmasters.com

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MPE UNDERSTANDING

MPE – an expressive, polyphonic take on MIDI control – started life as a niche new tool for keyboard players, but in 2021 it’s being added to some of the biggest DAWs and softsynths. This issue, let’s explore how — and why — you should be using MPE in your music making

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What is MPE…?

Depending on how religiously you keep up with news and developments in music technology, you may have first heard the term MPE some time around five or six years ago. Largely popularized

by UK brand Roli, the initialism originally stood for Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression, although in recent years it’s become MIDI Polyphonic Expression after being officially adopted by the MIDI Association.

Despite this name change and ‘going official’ the concept behind MPE has remained unchanged. The idea is to allow for more nuanced and acoustic-like control of electronic instruments, replicating the modulation and articulation applied to individual notes by guitarists or sting players.

This is done by sending/receiving additional control messages along with each note. An MPE controller will transmit multiple ‘dimensions’ of expression alongside each note’s pitch – in the case of Roli gear, these are labeled Strike, Glide, Slide, Press and Lift, but the amount and naming can vary depending on what software and controller you use.

While MPE itself is a relatively recent term, the underlying technology behind it isn’t actually new. MPE is an extension to the existing MIDI protocol, meaning the tech it uses has existed since MIDI was first created in the early 1980s.

While they’re often given new names, the ‘expressions’ used by MPE controllers are based on things MIDI devices have been capable of for years. Sticking with Roli’s terminology, Strike is simply velocity, Glide is pitch bend, Press is aftertouch, Lift release velocity and Slide is a modulation signal similar to a mod wheel on a standard keyboard.

What sets MPE controllers apart, however, is that they send each of these messages on a per-note basis. When playing a chord with a traditional MIDI keyboard, using the pitch wheel will alter the pitch of every note in that chord simultaneously. With an MPE controller, sliding just a single finger in a chord shape to a new note will alter the pitch of just that note, leaving any other notes in the chord completely unaffected.

MPE does this by using multiple MIDI channels simultaneously. The MIDI protocol uses 16 channels, and standard MIDI gear usually requires the use of only one of these.

Traditionally, these multiple channels have been used for multitimbral control, or to allow musicians to chain multiple instruments from a single MIDI output – you could, for example,

“The underlying technology behind MPE isn’t actually new” sequence a synth on channel 1, then make use of that synth’s MIDI thru port to send MIDI to a second synth assigned to channel 2. MPE devices assign each note its own MIDI channel, with a further channel used for global messages such as program change. Effectively, think of it like controlling separate instruments for each note, all from a single controller.

Just as the underlying tech isn’t entirely new, the concept of expressive controllers isn’t entirely unique to Roli either. Back in 1999 Dr Lippold Haken created the Continuum, a synthesizer focused around a highly-sensitive touch fingerboard designed for advanced polyphonic expression. The Continuum and its various offshoots are still available today, and although they work with the MPE protocol their creator still states that the Continuum fingerboard is more sensitive and faster than any other device on the market.

In more recent times, alongside Roli creator Roland Lamb, several other instruments designers have played a key role in the development and popularization of MPE,

including QuNexus creator Keith McMillen and Roger Linn, who launched his own MPE controller in the form of the LinnStrument. ... And why should you care?

Early iterations of MPE controllers were fairly easy to write off as niche and often expensive oddities. The original Seaboard Grand from Roli retailed at around $2,000, and the Haken Continuum goes for over double that. Even as more affordable controllers began to appear, it wasn’t immediately obvious what to do with them. While the Seaboard Grand and Continuum made use of internal sound engines, the LinnStrument originally involved a fair amount of user setup, meaning potential users needed the ability to imagine precisely how they’d make use of it in their setup. Similarly, when we first tried out Roli’s affordable Blocks range, we were, in all honesty, fairly underwhelmed by the somewhat limited implementation.

So what’s changed? For one thing, expressive MIDI controllers are becoming more affordable.

Roli’s own Blocks and LUMI ranges are both AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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KNOW YOUR… CONTROLLERS As with MIDI controllers in general, MPE devices come in all shapes and sizes

As is true of the whole MIDI controller market, there’s no one set form of MPE device. While they all, broadly, do the same thing – allow for multiple dimensions of polyphonic control – layouts and functionality can vary wildly.

If you’re coming from a keyboard playing background, you’ll likely favor a classic keyboard layout, but there are controllers that mimic guitar fretboards, vintage synths and customizable designs you can shape around your own needs. Let’s see three examples...

“You can now incorporate MPE control into your music without worrying” available below $400, while other brands such as Joué, Sensel and Artiphon have their own unique takes on the ‘expressive’ controller concept that can be picked up around the same price point.

More importantly though, implementation has become far more mainstream. Several major DAWs, including Logic, Cubase, Waveform, Bitwig and, most recently, Live 11, now offer simple plugand-play compatibility with MPE controllers.

In most cases at least some of their internal instruments can be used for MPE sounds too.

As for Roli, back in 2016 the brand acquired UK plugin developer FXpansion, which proved to be a savvy move. Within a few years new versions of the company’s popular Strobe and Cypher softsynths had appeared, each equipped with deep MPE integration and a ton of expressive presets.

Most recently, the company has launched a new version of its own Equator synth, which started life as a Seaboard sound engine but has evolved into a powerful ‘super synth’ in its own right.

Other softsynths have come on board too, including the likes of Xfer Serum, Hive and Bazille from u-he, Omnisphere, Reaktor and even a good number of iOS apps. As a consequence, if you pick up an MPE controller in 2021, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re already geared up with an instrument ready to get stuck in and make use of it with minimal setup.

As a result of both of these things, MPE is no longer of sole interest to the skilled keyboardists

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out there. While, naturally, a bit of playing skill will help you make the most of an expressive controller, there are plenty of ways even the most ham-fisted electronic musician can use MPE synths for interesting sound design.

Try, for example, using a synthesizer like Equator 2 or Omnisphere to build drones or pads which allow you to hold a single chord but that also blend between different timbres using slides or aftertouch.

As DAW updates have become increasingly more MPE-friendly too, it’s so far a lot easier to quantize, refine and edit MIDI recorded by an MPE controller. Although the exponential increasing in expression data can still be a little time consuming, it does mean there’s a great deal less pressure to be able to nail the perfect take when recording.

If nothing else, it seems like we’ve reached a tipping point now where MPE no longer runs the risk of being a fad that might lose support in the long run. The software implementation mentioned above is unlikely to be dropped in the near future, even as MIDI 2.0 begins to roll out. Whereas early adopters of Seaboards or Linnstruments might have run a slight risk that the format might end up as something of a dead end if the controllers didn’t catch on, it’s pretty safe to say that you can now incorporate MPE control or sounds into your music making without worrying about longevity.

Roli Seaboard Probably the most recognizable form of MPE

controller, Roli’s Seaboards (and the smaller Rise and Blocks variations) are based on the layout of a traditional keyboard. Their silicon-covered keys have no gaps between them, allowing users to seamlessly slide from one note to the next. For a more ‘traditional’ keyboard feel, try Roli’s LUMI or Keith McMillen’s K Board.

Roger Linn Linnstrument The Linnstrument is a grid-style controller

that allows users to arrange notes in a variety of patterns and scales – think of it like a more expressive and responsive take on the way notes are played using Ableton Push or a Launchpad. The advantage to this is that it doesn’t rely on traditional keyboard skills to play – users can lay notes out like a guitar fretboard and other variations.

Sensel & Joué Sensel’s Morph device and Joué’s Pro

controller are examples of customizable controllers. In both cases, the devices use a base panel that can be overlaid with different controls. The Joué Pro comes with a modular selection of keys, pads and controls that can be mixed and matched, while the Sensel offers overlays including traditional keys, drum pads and a Buchla-style touchpad.

What’s the difference between MPE and MIDI 2.0?

If you keep an eye on developments in music technology, you’ve no doubt spotted a couple of terms cropping up with increasing regularity in recent years, one being MPE – which we’re discussing here – and another MIDI 2.0. Seeing as both are, on the surface, updates to the standard MIDI format we’ve been using to control hardware and plugins for decades, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re one and the same. In reality though, they have little to do with one another. So what exactly is the difference here?

MPE is basically a simple extension to standard MIDI, using the exact same tools as any regular MIDI control setup, albeit giving each note its own MIDI channel, allowing individual notes to be treated like distinct instruments. As drum machine legend and Linnstrument designer Roger Linn put it when he spoke to MusicRadar last year, “It’s existed since the beginning of MIDI in the form of what they called MIDI Mode 4.”

MIDI 2.0, on the other hand, is a major change to the entire MIDI spec (although it will remain backwards compatible) promising more precise articulation and pitch control, as well as increased flexibility in how MIDI devices can communicate with one another. While we won’t get bogged down in the technicalities here, benefits of MIDI 2.0 will include the ability to have devices communicate bi-directionally through a single cable, the ability to share configuration ‘profiles’ for devices via a MIDI lead, as well as smoother control changes and tighter timing.

You can read full spec details at: bit.ly/MIDItwo Technically then, MIDI 2.0 is the bigger change, although users won’t notice a sudden difference.

As Linn says, “The vast majority of what people really want to do has already been made possible by MIDI 1.0. This industry moves very slowly, and we have a lot of small developers who don’t have the resources to support every standard, so MIDI 2.0 might take a long time before it is widely in use.”

Conversely, while MPE is built on the original specification, its implementation in controllers and synth design immediately lets musicians do new and interesting things. While the two developments are diferent, fortunately neither runs contrary to the other – the arrival of MIDI 2.0 will benefit MPE controllers as much as any other MIDI device, without necessarily ever superseding them.

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6

ways to get the most from your MPE controller

From Roger Linn’s Linnstrument, to Roli’s Seaboards, to Expressive E’s Osmose and Haken Audio’s Continuum Fingerboard, these controllers unlock a wealth of polyphonic expressivity…

1

Approach One thing that really helps get the most from MPE controllers is to imagine you are playing a string on a violin or set of strings (on a guitar) via the keys/surface. So sliding, wobbling, vibrato and velocity are all appropriate techniques.

2 4

Interaction

Don’t be afraid to really make wild/ extreme gestures on whichever controller you are using. We are all used to controlling multiple things at once via our touchscreens on smartphones and touchscreens/tablets – MPE controllers can be interacted with in a very similar way.

3

Choose your sounds carefully

With classic instruments like violins, electric guitars and pianos, a certain level of proficiency is needed to make them sound convincing musically.

Instead, try choosing more versatile or effect-type sounds for your first MPE forays...

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Try single lines with one finger

Start with your selected sound. Place one finger on a single note/pad on your MPE controller and move it up/down, side to side and at varying pressures and see what happens.

5

Playing chords

Now you’ve explored what moving a single finger does to your chosen sound, hold down a simple triad chord, practice moving just one of your fingers and observe the sonic result.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

Put it all together!

With the above ideas and

6

approaches to consider, now try putting a right hand single finger melody together with chords in your lef, whilst adding pitch slides, velocity, vibrato and other CC assignments you fancy (filter, LFO, release etc).

Creating your first MPE patch with Equator 2

Although an increasing array of plugins and DAWs now come stocked with MPE presets you can use right out the box, synths such as Roli’s new Equator 2 make it easy to design your own custom patches for use with an MPE controller. Let’s build a simple virtual analog poly sound, and tailor it for MPE expression

01

Starting from an Init patch, we’re using two vintage synth wavetables from the Analog library, spaced an octave apart. We’ve set up LFOs 1 and 2 to slowly modulate each wavetable’s position. Next we engage Filter 1 in LPF 12 mode, roll the cutoff down to around 12 o’clock and add slight resonance.

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In the center of Equator’s Mod Panels are the five transfer curve editors. These can be set in either MPE or standard mode. In MPE mode, these offer Strike, Slide, Glide, Pressure and Lift inputs. Clicking any of these selects it as a modulation source. Drag on a control to route it.

04

Strike (ie velocity) is automatically routed to the amp level, and Glide automatically controls pitch. We can edit the response of these to taste by adjusting the transfer curves – either shape a custom curve in the box, or load a preset using the folder icon.

05

Now we route Pressure (aftertouch) to filter cutoff.

We add a noise source as a third oscillator, and use Slide to control its level. Finally we route Lift (release velocity) to negatively modulate the Amp Env release, so our sound becomes more abrupt depending on how quickly we ‘lift’ from the controller.

06

With the MPE expression signals routed to logical places, play your patch and tweak the transfer curves and modulation depth in the Mod Matrix window. You'll find that adjusting these parameters is absolutely key to getting the right ‘feel’ from your sound.

We use Env 2 to add some cutoff modulation, then head to Env 1 – routed to the amp – and increase attack and release a little. To finish our basic patch we add a touch of reverb. Combined the result is a pretty straightforward analog poly sound. So, now let’s make this work with MPE.

AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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FREE DELAY PLUGINS

From classic copycats to supermassive modern favorites, here are our picks…

Valhalla Supermassive

Probably the most experimental and dynamic plugin on this list, Supermassive’s results range from heavenly smooth hypnotic-entropic, to swirling heady delirium. It combines parallel delays and reverbs with varied times for interesting groovy polyrhythmic results. The main controls are Delay Time, which is either manual (02000ms) or BPM-synced (1/64 to 4/4 note, with Dotted and Triplet options). Warp (0-100%) determines the variance in the feedback and delay times for the parallel loops. It has 13 algorithm modes that switch up the processing configuration, with unique attack/decay envelopes and varied blending of its variable feedback networks, some more reverb than delay. The Density control determines how quickly the delay turns into a reverb – very unique! valhalladsp.com

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Matthieu Brucher Stereo Universal Delay A small and simple delay plugin with a few quirks compared to your average delay. What sets this one apart is that it gives controls for both feed-back and feed-forward.

Feed-forward is an echo created by using a parallel delay path summed with the dry signal. This lets you create long, swirling polyrhythmic delays with wide stereo images.

Compared to your standard delay unit, the features are fairly limited here, missing some of the controls you’d expect. The time control is only given in milliseconds (0500ms) with no tempo sync feature, so you’ll have to set it by ear. Use the Blend controls to set the wet/dry mix. The other knobs control how much feedback/ forward is getting sent into different delay stages or stereo L/R of the plugin. They don’t have display values, so much of what’s going on is guesswork. Sound-wise, it’s fairly transparent, perhaps a little tinny and the feedback quickly builds up to distorted mess if you’re not careful. Its ideal use is probably making experimental long delays or trippy chaotic effects. audio-tk.com

Nembrini Analog Rack Delay A free, minimalistic delay plugin that combines analog-emulating saturation with a variable delay. It’s simple with a usable sound, though more resource-hungry than others.

The delay time control can be set manually or synced to your

project’s BPM. Alongside the typical time, feedback, and mix controls, there’s a switch for bypassing the analog emulation circuit, and a time offset so you can easily harness the Haas-effects or flanging and phasing. It could be useful as a quick delay tool for making subtle slap-backs and echoes. Gives a nice crunch when driving the input, and the low end still feels tight without turning to mush – a competitive saturation tone despite being free. nembriniaudio.com

GSi Varispeed A simulation of the Watkins Copicat IC400 Varispeed UrsaDSP Lagrange Lagrange has a large array of controls, many not usually found on a delay, that give it some extra spice and complexity. This plugin has granular randomization, rare for delays that creates asymmetric and organic-sounding lines by modulating the delay time, giving you controls for the fixed (1700ms) and variable (5-700ms) delay times. It also has built-in peak and RMS limiters with attack and release controls, a single-band EQ, and five algorithm modes, all packaged with a neat preset system. There is a HPF/LPF in the feedback circuit for gradually filtering the signal each repeat. The Lagrange’s built-in limiter/ compressor helps prevent feedback explosions, protecting your ears and speakers. ursadsp.com

Tape Delay hardware unit, “with all the pros and cons” of the original units. Varispeed authentically captures the sound and workflow of hardware tape delays as you twist the Varispeed and Swell controls, generating that classic pitch-shifting, timeexpanding flabby dub tape delay that fades into a warm pulsing drone. The saturation circuit is onpoint, creating sizzling but natural distortion, without the harshness often found in digital plugins. It has controls for delay length (Repeat), delay output level (Swell) and stereo balance; all given as percentages, making you listen rather than rely on numbers. There are buttons for engaging the three delay heads, with a Tone control for brightening/darkening the signal. It even has a switch for turning off the motor, for an iconic tape wind-down effect. Good budget option. genuinesoundware.com AUGUST 2021 | EMUSICIAN.COM

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RATIUG CINORTCELE

Riding the Wave Maybe the ultimate modern guitar pedal?

By Michael Ross

S

ource Audio has been a mainstay of modern guitar effects since 2005.

They burst on the scene with a way of controlling effect parameters with a ring attached to the player’s finger and a line of space-age plastic pedals with futuristic shapes. Ahead of their time, the company ultimately made a mark with the rise of dubstep, when bass players warmed to the idea of controlling Source Audio’s filter pedal with the ring.

Eventually the company revamped their pedal housings into a more classic shape with simpler controls to accommodate pedalboards, and the conservative aesthetic of most guitarists. But lurking beneath the surface was a level of tweak-ability unheard of in stompboxes of the era, accessible by simply downloading the Neuro app and plugging a phone or tablet into the pedal. This ability to control a plethora of parameters bloomed with the recent C4 synth pedal and now the Ultrawave Multiband Processor.

Electronic guitar legend Craig Anderton’s concept of multiband processing inspired the company’s original Multiwave Distortion pedal in 2008. Save for a few sonic adventurers like Adrian Belew and Reeves Gabrels, that pedal failed to connect. But, as the first decade of the 2000s drew to a close, a new generation of guitarists appeared, less tied to classic sounds of the Sixties and more interested in creating new ones. This found Source Audio perfectly positioned to redesign the Multiwave as the Ultrawave.

Accessing this pedal’s wealth of hidden parameters with the Neuro app or desktop editor is a must. Once booted up you will find an input section with global controls for overall drive, along with tunable treble, mid and bass controls. The Ultrawave then splits the incoming signal into multiple bands and provides separate drive and output level controls for each band. With 37 splitting options, ranging from one to 10 bands; and 44 distortion types including Tube, Diode, Foldback, Negative Flip Diode, and Octave

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Up, you already have unprecedented potential for creating new kinds of grit.

But this only scratches the surface. Ultrawave’s compressor, with its studio quality sound and control is worth the price alone, especially since by adding Source Audio’s Neuro Hub MIDI control you could create 128 presets. Then we have a Multiband Tremolo that provides individual control of each band’s tremolo depth, rate, and wave shape. Though you could set up standard amp tremolos, why would you when you can conjure up sequencer and arpeggiator effects? Since hyper-fast tremolo speeds create ring modulator effects, why not throw that in as well? With these features alone the Ultrawave let me create guitar sounds heretofore unheard.

But believe it or not, the pedal was still ramping up.

For tonal fine tuning there is an eight-band graphic equalizer. So far, so normal.

But the parameters of the graphic eq, the Multiband Drive, and the Multiband Level sections can all be Morphed. In the case of the eq, clicking the Morph button creates a second set of sliders.

You can then move between the two settings with the pedal’s envelope follower, LFO, or an expression pedal, for unique phase and Uni-Vibe-like sounds. Morphing the Multiband Drive and Level sections lets you set up two different drive types, and then morph at will between each one’s drive and level sliders.

If this sounds complex, it is. Fortunately, there are tutorial videos to get you through. If yet another learning curve is anathema, you can use the Neuro app or editor to access factory presets and those uploaded to the cloud by users. A typical electric guitarist might be happy with a Tube Screamer and/or a Fuzz Face. But if you consider yourself an audacious electronic guitarist, the Source Audio Ultrawave is a must have. n

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sound; so if you only have headphones or bits of foam on your walls don’t worry.

KLAT OIDUTS

Jas Shaw

S

imian Mobile Disco’s Jas Shaw has spent much of the past year in isolation – due to both Covid and in recuperation from an operation. He’s made the most of that time though, channeling energies into his wonderfully melodic, atmospheric new album, Sollbruchstelle.

We caught up with Shaw to find out more about his workflow, inspiration and a slightly expensive-sounding desk habit...

When did you start making music?

I started out with guitar and slowly bought pedals. I’ve not touched a guitar for ages but I think that the experience of how you can totally change the sound of an instrument just by re-ordering the effects chain has stayed with me.

It’s worth doing if you are feeling discouraged, plug an electric guitar directly into a line amp with no effects, then strum. It’s the weediest sound known to man and all of rock music came from that with distortion. Whatever gear you have, it can do cool stuff if you keep at it.

Tell us about your studio…

I’ve got a studio next to my house, fancy monitors and one of those spinny chairs with lots of levers, I’m not mucking about. Having more space than the old SMD studio meant I could retrieve old bits of gear stored at my mum’s house and stuff that lived in the live lock up so there’s loads of synths and amps and cables.

What DAW do you use, and why?

I’ve used a bunch of DAWs and they are really much of a muchness. They’ve all nicked ideas from each other so I’m not sure it makes much difference. I use ProTools as I’m used to it and

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when I started out that was what all the studios ran. It suits me because it’s good for editing and the fact that it’s a bit of a joke for MIDI is fine for me because I do all of my sequencing with external sequencers.

What tools or equipment do you think you would be lost without?

Probably Cirklon or Norns if I’m in writing mode, but then a good monitoring system is also really the backbone of a studio. It’s a hard choice.

Having amazing monitors is great but I bet my new monitors measured similarly to our old ones at 10cm from the cone.

Having a bigger room with treatment is as important as the frequency plot on your boxes.

Saying that, I recorded 90% of the recent tracks in an untreated room and I really like how they

Jaz Shaw’s essential tips

Don’t make a template “I see a lot of this ‘have everything ready to go’ type advice and while I can see that it’s great for some, for me this is not helpful. I’m not looking to maximize my efficiency or achieve quick results with minimum effort, or at least not with music. Making lots of music isn’t the aim, you’re aiming to make something you didn’t expect. ” Beware duct tape!

“Do label cables but do not use masking tape or duct tape, it leaves a manky goo residue that your future self will hate you for. Also, label power supplies, both ends. A cable that

What was your latest studio purchase?

Like many, I’m not in a ‘buy gear’ mode at the moment, the last big purchase was Norns and that was 18 months ago. For Sollbruchstelle I used a stereo ribbon mic and was having trouble getting enough level from it so I bought a pair of the germanium fetheads and they’ve been great.

It doesn’t make sense to me that adding gain earlier up the chain and then backing off your desk gain would work, but it seems to, so they are staying plugged into those ribbons.

In the spirit of misuse, I’m wondering if they’ll go pop if I throw line-level audio into them. My main desk is a germanium-based thing but it’s not powering up and these may give me the vibe I’m missing while I can’t use my favourite desk.

I have a bunch of different desks, all quite small; an 8-channel, a 12 and a 16. I did consider selling them all and getting a single big desk but in the end I found that I never record more than 12 things at a time anyway.

What dream bit of gear would you love?

I’d love something acoustic I could control over i2c but stuff like that requires big money and a team of techs. Perhaps more achievably, I’d like one of those grainy future-synths with digital voice engines.

What are you currently working on?

I’m back to tooling about, learning how stuff works and nibbling away on various projects in the hope that some of my new knowledge will react with something and push it over the line to being a thing rather than something that isn’t quite a thing. n goes behind the racks unlabelled is not an intriguing mystery, it’s a waste of an hour.”

Embrace the new “There’s a golden period when you first get something, record that. But, you get that again when you go back to something that had been overlooked for a while, and this time because you’ve already exhausted all the low hanging fruit, you push it to somewhere that wouldn’t have been possible the first time around. Certainly, it’s not practical to keep everything but if you can hang on to a few bits, then sometimes the best uses are still to come.”