Computer Music January 2022

welcome

“There’s only one thing to cover in issue 303…” There’s only one thing to cover in issue 303 of Computer Music and that is, of course, the Roland TB-303. We like to think we’ve done this iconic piece of tech justice in a special feature (p16) and with double the number of new sample packs dedicated to it. And for these we’ve now gone ‘download only’ as, just as we went to press last month, we heard that DVD costs effectively trebled so it’s gone, as have all plastic covermounts from magazines in our company. “And why not?” the environmentalists among you might say, and I’d like to say this was our motive – our very own contribution to COP26 – but really there was little choice. I’m politically neutral, of…

cm/news

Can you handle all this free stuff? There’s a lot of free software on the way for Christmas… You’d be forgiven for thinking that everything – and we mean everything – is just about to treble in price, and if you want a turkey for Christmas then just forget it. Lorry drivers, Brexit, Mrs Brown’s Boys… whoever. Whatever. They are all to blame for increased prices across the board and the resulting lack of variation in cheeses for your Christmas lunch. But not so the music software world. We don’t need lorry drivers because we use the internet! And that means there’s a whole load of bargains still to be had. And not just any old bargains either; ultimate bargains. Free bargains!* Not strictly ‘bargains’ then, yes we know* Yes, we have a…

app watch

Zentracker Spurred on by the belief that “recording music doesn’t have to be complicated,” Roland has created Zentracker, a new free multitrack recorder for iOS and Android. You can run as many tracks as you want (or as many as your device can handle) and there are both effects and audio loops to get your productions going. Projects can be saved to Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive for easy storage and sharing. Although Zentracker is free – providing you have a Roland account, that is – if you become a Roland Cloud Core, Pro or Ultimate member you’ll get an enhanced feature set. roland.com/us/products/rc_zentracker/ Polywave Created by the team behind the award-winning Fingerlab and Dream Theater keyboard wizard (and self-anointed actual wizard) Jordan Rudess, PolyWave is a new iOS synth that takes inspiration from the Korg…

get with the programmers

cm How did you get into music software? YV “I grew up in Washington DC, and we were lucky to have two amazing club nights in town. I started going to both and watched how the DJ controlled the room – I was absolutely fascinated. I picked up some turntables, started DJing and my love of music and software helped me to start Mixed In Key. I’ve always loved harmonic mixing – if you take two songs in the same key and mix them together, they sound perfect in a DJ set. My dad and I used to spend time together where I’d play a record, he’d play the piano for me, and I’d label the key. I moved away and couldn’t rely on my dad’s amazing ears anymore. I needed…

computer music 10 years back

If we had a pound for every time we’d run a feature on mastering… we probably still wouldn’t have enough for a decent set of mastering plugins. 173 (January 2012) saw us showing you, once again, how to “give your mixes a professional, polished sound,” with some specific advice for applying a “high-gloss” finish to tracks in several different genres. “Our ‘playing the field feature’ wasn’t a guide to using Tinder” Going back to the beginning of the production process, a Facebook poll ‘revealed’ that most of our readers liked to start a track with the drums (no surprise there) and we spread a wild rumour that Apple might be about to ditch plugin support in Logic and GarageBand (thankfully, this turned out to be untrue). Elsewhere, our ‘playing the field feature’ wasn’t…

ins & outs

DEFINITELY JD Roland are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their JD-800 synth in style, re-releasing it as a Zen-Core Expansion, Roland Cloud plugin and compact Boutique hardware synth (the JD-08). Can’t get your 90s kicks from any of that? You never will... SP AVIN YOU Speaking of reissues, what should arrive recently but a new version of the E-MU SP-1200 sampler, created by original designer Dave Rossum. Faithful to the original both inside and out, this promises all the 12-bit crunch that won over hip-hop producers back in the 80s. MACBOOK WHOA! The ‘chunky’ look might be dividing opinion (in our office, at least), but first impressions are that the new MacBook Pro – replete with either M1 Pro or M1 Max chips – is seriously powerful. And it also heralds the beginning of the…