Sommaire pour September 2017 de Computer Music

“We’ll break apart over a dozen genres…” To the outside world, the computer musician is often perceived as lazy and musically ignorant. And to be fair, music-making technology does make it easy for a novice to create relatively complex songs with absolutely no musical know-how. Want a chord sound? Call up a synth preset! How about a smooth progression? Grab a premade MIDI file! Need a disco stab or funky horn swell? Use a construction kit or sample a record, bro! But there is another way: get up to speed with that musical know-how once and for all! To walk you down the road to music theory mastery, we’ll break apart over a dozen genres, so you understand why certain chords, scales, modes and intervals work in different contexts. So…

THE LIVE YOU’VE ALWAYS DREAMT OF? Everyone’s got a view on where their favourite DAW should go next, but Nenad Milosevic has taken things further than posting feature requests on a forum, sitting down and redesigning Live for Ableton. He hopes to score himself a job. EVER-GO FOR IT Star/fan interactions at gigs can seem a little contrived, but we enjoyed the moment when Chris Martin pulled a young pianist from the crowd during Coldplay’s recent Munich gig, granting his request to let him play Everglow. Watch the video here: bit.ly/EverglowFan NAME FOR A LAUGH We heartily approve of the name Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, the title of Calvin Harris’s new album, which sounds suspiciously like it was also the name of a project folder on his laptop. We…

“Milestones in musical development came in rapid succession” Over the last century, we’ve seen an incredible evolution of the production and consumption of popular music, the beginning of which can trace its roots back to the earliest experimental wireless musical broadcasts, which were made in the 1900s. These brought music in general to a whole new audience – its new, readily available, free-to-air nature was embraced by millions globally as the 20th century progressed and the technology used in the capturing and broadcasting of new music improved along with it. From around 1910, recordings of blues music derived from the American deep south began to gain global appeal, while the 1920s heralded the beginning of the jazz era, with superstars like Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong emerging. Milestones in musical…

From a music theory perspective, jazz, gospel and funk are probably the most technically advanced genres, with exotic chord names like ‘minor seven flat five’ and ‘augmented seven sharp nine’ thrown about with abandon. We’re not going to go too deep down the rabbit hole in this feature – and indeed there are entire books dedicated to the subject on its own – but essentially, jazz is all about altering the chord in some way to make it sound different, while at the same time maintaining the basic harmonic progression of the tune. Occasionally, just one note – usually a fifth or ninth – will be altered, or maybe a chord will be swapped out for a totally different one that has the same function in the progression – a…

In the drum and bass genre, as the name would suggest, the main focus is on how the drums and bass interact. Typically motoring along at signature white-knuckle speeds of around 170-176 bpm and featuring ribcage-rattling bass tones, amongst the many offshoots of the genre that have evolved, such as jump up, drumstep and techstep, there are two distinct sides to the drum and bass coin. The smoother side of DnB consists of the uplifting ‘liquid funk’ style, often relying on jazz-funk-influenced chords and tending to feature the kind of euphoric progressions you might find in a trance tune. On the other side of the coin, the darker style of DnB that has come to be known as ‘neurofunk’ relies on a heavier production style, with more emphasis on sound…

We’re incredibly proud of the many exclusive special edition instruments and effects in our Plugins suite, but what most excites us, of course, is when we get the opportunity to add a full, unmodified retail release to the list. Sound the trumpets, then, as we herald the arrival of Ignite VST’s superb Areena reverb! Available to buy for $49, but yours for free with this edition of Computer Music, Areena is an algorithmic reverb plugin for Mac and PC with a refreshingly simple control set and a rich, characterful sound. It features two algorithms – Plate and Room – making it ideal for quickly and easily placing a diverse range of sources in virtual space, from drums, guitars and vocals, to synths, strings and pads. And although Areena was built…

If you’re new to this computer-based music production lark, you might not be familiar with Audio Damage, but before moving into Eurorack hardware a few years ago, they were one of the most prolific and respected developers of plugin effects (and, to a lesser extent, instruments). Now, it appears, they’re back on the software scene, re-establishing themselves with an update to their most popular release, 2009’s Eos vintage-style reverb (9/10, 142). A new dawn Besides a comprehensive under-the-hood overhaul (up-to-date libraries, VST3 support and XML-based presets), the two big new features in Eos 2 (VST/AU/AAX) are a much flashier GPUbased user interface and a new plate reverb algorithm. It sits alongside the original Eos rather than overwriting it, so while v1 presets aren’t compatible, old projects will still load as…

As the name suggests, TAL-Dub-X was clearly built with dub-style ‘infinite’ feedback delay workouts at the very top of the agenda. Cranking up one or both (linked or not) Feedback knobs loops the output back into the input, causing the delay taps to quickly build up to an increasingly smeared and distorted wash of sound that can be filtered (either within the loop or after it, depending on the status of the Post button) and modulated in real time (ideally with a MIDI controller assigned via the internal MIDI Learn system) in classic dub style. Importantly, the saturation circuit is in the loop too, so as well as filtering the feedback, you can also control the distortion, dirtying up the signal at lower levels and smashing it to bits higher…

HYBRID SYNTHS Our synths have been created by the best software developers in the world to bring you a suite of sound-making tools for all music production scenarios u-he Zebra CM • Blendable oscillator waveforms • Super-programmable step LFOs • Slick delay, reverb and chorus • Original synth designed just for CM • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.u-he.com Enzyme CM • Scanned synthesis sound generator • Easy-to-use preset-based synth • Assign parameters to controls • Based on the full Enzyme synth • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit humanoidsoundsystems.com KV331AudioSynthMasterCM • Dual wavescanning oscillators • Multimode filter and built-in effects • FM/AM synthesis modes • Based on SynthMaster 2.5 • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.kv331audio.com Cableguys Curve 2.6 CM • Design-your-own-waveforms synth • New waveform capabilities for v2.6 • Phat 16-voice Unison mode • Based on Cableguys Curve…

Unlock an issue Log into FileSilo on your PC or Mac, then just click an issue and answer a question – you’ll have to reference the magazine to get the answer. Import older mags FileSilo will replace our old Vault system, and you’ll soon be able to migrate your mags from one to the other. To find out more, head to bit.ly/CMsiloFAQ PLUGIN IGNITE VST AREENA The spacious algorithmic reverb, as sold for $49, is yours for free with this issue, p54 SAMPLE PACKS LOOPMASTERS URBAN COLLECTION Download one gigabyte of premium samples, and check them out in context in our track-builder video, p104 PLUGIN COLLECTION CM Plugins Our exclusive collection of free plugins for Mac and PC. Check ‘em out on pcm107 TUTORIAL VIDEO Tutorial videos High-quality videos to…

Ampify Groovebox From the Novation spin-off developers formerly known as Blocs, Groovebox features a couple of synths and a drum machine, and gives you a few patterns and presets for each device. You can add more of these, and expand the control set, with in-app purchases. Audiobus, Inter-App Audio, Ableton Link and Ableton Export are all supported, leaving you with an app that anyone can pick up and use. Best of all, Groovebox is free. ampifymusic.com Bram Bos Ripplemaker This app puts a West Coast flavoured modular synth on your iPhone or iPad. All modules are prewired to get you started, but the potential for exploration is still there, with the virtual cables just waiting for you to start plugging in and out. A built-in sequencer means you…

“One reader took issue with our advice to keep your DAW computer offline” Back in our day – by which we mean 2007 – people didn’t buy new computers; they resuscitated old ones. OK, that’s not strictly true, but in 116 we did show you how to avoid having to buy “a shiny new Core 2 Duo” and bring an ageing machine back to life in our Scrapyard Studio feature. True, it wouldn’t run the latest software, and yes, it would turn out to be an endless source of frustration, but reviving an AMD 550 PC with 64MB of RAM and running Windows 98 was definitely a good idea. Definitely. Elsewhere, we had a temporary bout of guitar fever with a massive guide to making metal, and we showed you…

Ramek Williams “The software and technical base won’t develop, but interface design will bring an artist without any technical ability closer to the world of production.” Christos Andreou “VR/360° implementation for sound and mix manipulation. Placements triggered by hand gestures.” Gone Absent “Brands will remake Moog clones; VSTs won’t sound any better than they did in the 90s; hardware still won’t sync properly with a DAW; and Roland will put out more Junos and remakes of their old gear! “Music will become more boring, because it won’t be played, but instead drawn on a screen. And the ‘analogue vs digital’ debate will be ongoing...” Dave Mayson “Music technology won’t progress much in the near future. With Spotify essentially killing the money in streaming and selling tracks, bedroom producers are going…

Pop music’s broad appeal lies in the fact that the songs are memorable, and therefore easy to sing along to. The easiest way to make a song memorable is to base its chord progression on a template that has been proven to be repeatedly successful over the years. The most basic progressions are known as diatonic progressions, meaning that the chords they contain only use notes found in the scale on which the key of the song is based. For more information about diatonic harmony, see Dave Clews’ Easy Guide in issue 211 of Computer Music. Here we have three of the most popular and enduring diatonic progressions, which are behind literally thousands of songs common to all genres. I-vi-IV-V In key of C major: C-Am-F-G The recent UK chart…

With its metronomic 4/4 beats, synth basslines and electronic percussion, disco evolved throughout the cm1970s, eventually becoming the forerunner of house. It was disco that most successfully married the new sonic possibilities of the synthesiser to the traditional sounds of strings and brass, sustaining the use of orchestral instruments in pop until synths finally took over completely in the new wave explosion of the early 80s. Disco embraced orchestral instruments, with bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire using strings in particular to great effect. Two of the greatest exponents of this technique were Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, the production masterminds behind Chic, Sister Sledge and many other disco classics. Making prominent use of soulful major and minor seventh chords, they hit on the perfect blend of slick 4/4…

In the early 20th century, as new recording and broadcast technology prompted a shift in mainstream popularity from classical to folk, blues, ragtime and jazz, one final refuge for classical composers was the blossoming movie industry. Just as its previously widespread audience started to wane, the niche market of classical soundtracks for movies was born, establishing a style and sound that’s still relevant today. Modern film composers like James Horner, Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman all take cues from classic soundtracks of the 30s and 40s, with orchestral instruments front and centre in the mix. Current movie soundtracks still rely heavily on the orchestral sound, taking inspiration from Romantic-era composers such as Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, as well as modern classical composers like Copland and Schoenberg. The proliferation of superb orchestral…

“If you try hard enough and you’ve got a niche to your sound, you’re going to shine through somehow. It’s taken me six years” Kit List HARDWARE: Apple iMac Universal Audio Apollo Twin Focal Solo 6be Genelec 1029A Avantone MixCubes PreSonus Monitor Station V2 Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro Alesis Q49 Rode NT1-A SOFTWARE: Apple Logic Pro X Antares Auto-Tune EVO A.O.M Invisible Limiter G2 Camel Audio CamelCrusher Brainworx plugins FabFilter plugins Native Instruments plugins Sonnox plugins UAD plugins Valhalla DSP plugins Vengeance-Sound VPS plugins Waves plugins Xfer Records LFO Tool Dreams can come true Earlier this year, DJ Alex Ross dropped his debut single, a cover of Gabrielle’s fondly-remembered UK R&B classic Dreams on Ministry of Sound, complete with vocals from Dakota – featured on Jonas…

What has the science of hearing ever done for us? Handfuls of boffins scurrying around in dingy little labs, conducting tests on the way people hear sound – and for what? Well, it might not seem so obvious when we’re sitting in the studio, but our techniques, practices and processors owe quite a lot to those people who study the way our brain perceives what we hear. Some hardware effects were designed with a specific, perceptual purpose in mind, while some have been co-opted to fulfil a sonic function they were never intended for. Stereo sound, for example, was designed specifically with our left and right ears in mind; whereas compression was initially conceived to regulate dynamic range, not to use on a microscopic level to make snares sound punchier.…

Our promise We bring you honest, unbiased appraisals of the latest computer music products. Our experts apply the same stringent testing methods to all gear, no matter how much hype or expectation surrounds it. What the ratings mean 1-4 A seriously flawed product that should be avoided 5 This product’s problems outweigh its merits 6 A decent product that’s only held back by a few flaws 7 Solid. Well worth considering 8 Very good. A well-conceived and executed product 9 Excellent. First-rate and among the best you can buy 10 Exceptional. It just doesn’t get any better than this! See and hear the latest software in action in our ‘2 Minutes With…’ videos! Wherever you see the icon, head straight to your DVD or our YouTube channel for a rapid-fire…

A so-called “secret weapon” for mixing drums and other percussive instruments, Waves’ painfully-titled new transient shaper plugin (VST/AU/AAX/RTAS) is a spiritual successor to their classic Trans-X, with a few clever tricks up its sleeve. Like any transient shaper, Smack Attack enables independent boosting and/or attenuation of the attack and release portions of the transients in the incoming signal – the hit of a drum, pluck of a string, etc – in order to give it more or less impact and punch. However, it’s in the detection of those transients and shaping of the gain control envelope that Smack Attack really sets itself apart. Smack, crackle and pop The amount of gain reduction or increase applied to the two transient portions is determined by the big Attack and Sustain knobs. Used…

The original Eos featured a Lexicon-style scaling function, whereby the decay times of discrete high and low frequency ranges in the reverb tail could be altered independently for tonal shaping. It was an incredibly useful feature, but the corner frequencies of the crossovers defining those ranges could only be accessed via the host DAW’s generic control interface or automation system. With Eos 2, they’re available directly within the GUI as a pair of dials named Low Crossover and High Crossover. Both crossovers top out at 16kHz but differ in their lowest settings: 50Hz for Low and 500Hz for High. As with Eos v1, the Low Mult knob scales the decay time for the low frequencies by a factor of anywhere between 0.50 and 2.00 – ie, from half to double…

DYNAMICS Check out this huge collection of processors – from classic compressors to modern digital creations, we’ve got everything you need to shape your signals eaReckon CM-COMP 87 • Slick, punchy compressor • Mix knob for parallel compression • Limiter to keep the output in check • Clear VU- and LED-style metering • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.eareckon.com LVC-Audio Transector CM • Transient tweaking and saturation • Define and process envelope stages • Useful metering/display functions • Mix control for parallel processing • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.lvcaudio.com Audiority TS-1 CM • Flavoursome transient shaper • Set attack and sustain gain • Blend control for parallel processing • Based on the full TS-1 plugin • AU/VST, 32-/64-bit www.audiority.com Unfiltered Audio G8 CM • Get tight dynamics or creative FX • Includes advanced gating controls…

GENRE-BUSTING MUSIC THEORY Get a grip on the musical ideas behind 13 genres in our theory-made-easy feature Read the full article on p20 1 Theory basics: Notes 2 Theory basics: Intervals 3 Theory basics: Scales 4 Theory basics: Chords 5 Making a pop/R&B progression with triads 6 The m7b5 chord formula 7 Jazz chords 8 Introducing major and minor 7ths 9 Disco string runs: the repeated high note 10 Classic house: spread piano chords 12 Arpeggios in EDM 11 Detroit techno fixed-interval chords 13 EDM one-note drops 14 Deep house m9 chords 15 Progressive house eighth-note chords 16 Uplifting liquid DnB chords 17 Composing a dark neurofunk DnB intro 18 Orchestral theory and articulations 19 R&B subsidiary chords 20 Jazz: tritone substitutions cm Producer Masterclass ALEX ROSS Check out…

“A lot of the magic comes from the post-production” Output Jacob Penn CM Movement was your first foray into the world of plugins – what were the differences/challenges in working on this format, as opposed to the Kontakt format? JP “The biggest difference is that there’s less of a sandbox to work within. We have to make our own constraints as to how we’re going to implement or limit the plugin. What sort of functionality is going into it? How much time are we going to spend on a framework versus actually working on the product? “The development cycle has a lot less pre-built components to use and work from. There’s a lot less nicely packaged Native Instruments code for us to use, so there’s a lot more time spent…

Over the past few months, we’ve featured a beginner’s guide to chords and scales ( The Producer’s Guide to Chords & Scales , cm 234) and a huge tutorial on creating catchy hooks ( How to Write Perfect Hooks , cm 240). Now it’s time to build upon those solid foundations and break apart the underlying language of music. It may conjure up images of dusty lecture halls presided over by ancient professors shedding equal parts dandruff and chalk dust, but music theory is a vital component of everything we, as computer musicians, deal with on a daily basis. Whether it’s a floorfiller from the latest superstar DJ, or the baroque equivalent from centuries ago, the one common link between all pieces of music is the…

Major & minor triads Popular music can be categorised into a multitude of genres, but since we don’t have space to include all of them in this feature, we’ll be using fairly broad strokes in our distinctions between particular styles. Probably the broadest is mainstream pop and R&B, the kind of thing you hear on the radio every day, and possibly the genres that rely the most on regular major and minor diatonic triads. This palette of chords can produce millions of combinations, which is why so many classic pop songs can be boiled down to relatively simple progressions of basic chords like these ones. Rhythmically speaking, the broad genre of pop and R&B can assume many guises, from slow power ballads through mid-tempo jams to full-on dance-style tracks. Plenty…

EDM as a genre is something of an umbrella term. Standing for electronic dance music, EDM encompasses house, trance, electro, dubstep, drum ’n’ bass, complextro and pretty much everything in between. That makes it a huge genre to analyse as a whole, but from a theory standpoint, the most obvious common traits tend to be a general leaning towards minor chords and the heavy use of chromatic harmony – in other words, chords that use notes that don’t belong to the scale of the key the song is in. The biggest breakaway from the norm that’s accompanied the rise in EDM’s popularity is in the realms of song form. Intros and outros have been stripped down and extended to make tunes easier for DJs to mix in and out of,…

01 R&B SUBSIDIARY CHORDS Subsidiary chords share two or more chord tones, and thus can be switched out for each other because they share the same harmonic function. In this example, we have a I-I-IV-V progression in C major (C-C-F-G). To find the subsidiary chord of a major triad, we simply raise the fifth by a whole tone. So the subsidiary of C major (C-E-G) is A minor (C-E-A). This can now be substituted for the second C major chord in our progression, giving us I-vi-IV-V (C-Am-F-G). 02 TRANCE AND TECHNO: 16TH-NOTE SEQUENCES Like most dance music, trance and techno are most comfortable in a 4/4 rhythm, which is usually pinned down by a solid kick drum on all four beats in the bar. This provides the perfect backdrop for…

Xfer Records LFO Tool cm 166 » 9/10 » $50 “The sidechaining capabilities that it has are unrivaled by any other plugin! You can really change the shape and set the attack and release how you want them, plus you can see exactly what’s happening as you’re editing!” www.xferrecords.com Apple Logic Compressor “I think it’s probably my most used compressor. There are all the fancy ones out there by FabFilter and SSL and all the companies that make them, but for a quick go-to effect, you can’t go wrong with the standard Logic Compressor.” www.apple.com A.O.M. Invisible Limiter G2 cm 235 » 9/10 » $99 “This is by far the best limiter I’ve used. I’ve tried nearly every single one that’s available, and as long as you’re not clipping before…

Smack Attack offers loads of control over the shape of the Attack and Sustain envelopes. Under each gain knob are three Shape buttons, each one establishing a particular level modulation profile. The first two Attack Shapes (Needle and Nail) are designed with drums in mind, boasting a very fast rise/fall and two angles of recovery slope; the third (Blunt) is slower at both ends, intended for other instruments. The Sustain Shapes comprise Linear, Non-Linear and Soft Linear. The curve of Non-Linear is affected by the Sustain level, and Soft Linear is again intended for use on non-percussion sources. The lengths of the Shapes are adjusted with Duration sliders: 0.5-500ms Attack, 30-1000ms Sustain. With such a fine degree of envelope control, Smack Attack really does take you to places other transient…

Still available but no longer actively supported by developer Togu Audio Line (aka Patrick Kunz), the TAL-Dub (including TAL-Dub-II and TAL-Dub-III) delay plugin is a bona fide freeware classic that’s provided thrifty computer musicians the means to generate super-saturated feedback delay lines at no expense for over a decade. The latest version, TAL-Dub-X (VST/AU/AAX), is a mash-up of all three freeware versions (mostly I and II) that sees the extremely bold addition of an all-new – but thoroughly reasonable – price tag. A number of architectural improvements have been made to justify this commercialisation, of course. First and foremost for Mac-based producers, TAL-Dub-X is compatible with 64-bit hosts. That alone will put it back on the map for many, we’re sure. It also now comes in an AAX version for…

The Plugins collection is a suite of complete, limitation-free instrument and effects plugins. It’s an incredible resource, boasting more than 70 pro-quality plugins that you won’t find anywhere else, all for PC and Mac, in VST and AU formats. All of the included software is created exclusively for us by respected commercial developers such as D16 Group, u-he, AudioRealism, Ohm Force, KV331 Audio, Cableguys, XILS-lab, AudioThing, Vengeance-Sound, Rob Papen, zplane and more. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Enough talking! Where do I get these plugins? You can grab them all on the cover DVD with out print edition, or as a download from FileSilo (see p5 for instructions on how to access). How do I install Plugins? It depends on the plugin. Some have dedicated installers, while other just drop into your…