Sound On Sound UK June 2020

“Whatever happens, Covid-19 won’t stop us writing and producing the best music technology magazine on the planet.” By the time you read this, lockdown could be over. Studios, shops and music venues might be reopening. Musicians, engineers and producers could be starting to rebuild careers. Manufacturing and distribution could be returning to something resembling normality. That is everyone’s hope; but, of course, there is also the very real possibility that social distancing will have to go on much longer. Whatever happens, Covid-19 won’t stop us writing and producing the best music technology magazine on the planet. And we are determined to do as much as we can to support musicians and producers, during and after the crisis. So, for the next three months, and until restrictions are lifted, everyone is invited to…

Modelled after both tape-based and digital looping hardware, Enso is technically an effect but it offers performance controls, such as record, play and overdub. The GUI, with scalable window, flat controls and pastel colouring, is dominated by a rotary waveform display. To the left and right are settings and performance controls, while the bottom of the window is dedicated to effects, mixing and MIDI control. Starting with a blank slate, the record button kicks off the recording phase, for a maximum record time of a minute of stereo at 48kHz or 10 times that in ‘long memory’ mode. The recording buffer grows as the recording progresses; once you flip into overdub or play, the buffer is fixed and subsequent operations act on audio recorded in that range. Returning to record mode…

British mic makers Sontronics are no strangers to moving-coil mics: their current line-up includes the Solo handheld stage vocal mic, the retro-looking Halo guitar-amp mic, and the equally retro-looking Corona vocal mic. The Podcast Pro, however, is the first Sontronics mic designed specifically for the spoken word. Sontronics’ founder Trevor Coley was apparently inspired to make the Podcast Pro by his teenage children who, like a lot of teenagers now, are heavily into podcasters, YouTubers, vloggers and game streamers. Impressed by the video production values of this new generation of content creators, his aim was to make top-notch audio quality available to them too, and at an accessible price. Despite its affordability, and in common with all Sontronics mics, the Podcast Pro is handmade in the UK, and comes with a…

Delta Labs’ Stream supports AU (for Mac) and VST (for Mac/Windows) plug-in formats, and is best described as a granular effects processor that can create anything from tempo-sync’ed textural delays to grainy, polyphonic pad-like sounds and drones. It works by recording audio into a buffer, then taking segments to be used as grains. I was intrigued when I first saw this plug-in demonstrated at Winter NAMM earlier this year, and it has since been updated to version 1.1. Control Freak Tours of GUI control can be a little dull, I know, but in this instance it’s essential if you’re to understand what’s going on. On the left is the In panel, and here you’ll find Dry and soft-clip Drive controls. Dry controls the amount of unprocessed signal that’s fed to the output…

It’s not every day you find a channel-strip plug-in that offers out-there features such as pitch and formant shifting! Many producers have entered into partnerships with existing software developers to capture their trademark sounds in plug-in form, but Jordan Swift, aka DJ Swivel, has opted for a more difficult path: he has commissioned and overseen development work himself, and released The Sauce independently. Available in all major native formats for both Mac and Windows, it’s a highly unconventional channel-strip plug-in, aiming not to recreate the knobs and buttons of vintage hardware, but to provide a complete toolkit of modern vocal processing options. The Sauce also embodies a single-minded determination to stretch the metaphor of mixing as cooking to breaking point. So, for example, there’s a distortion algorithm called Spice, which offers Mild…

Designed to work alongside ADAM’s T-series active monitors, the T10S subwoofer houses a downward-firing 10-inch driver, and is driven by a 130W Class-D amplifier to deliver a frequency response of 28 to 120 Hz and a maximum SPL of 104dB at one metre. Its active crossover can be set to either 80Hz, 120Hz or bypass, and appropriately high-pass-filtered outputs are provided to feed the connected ‘tops’. This adjustability means the T10S can also be used with non-ADAM speakers, where desired. ADAM have the T10S subwoofer manufactured in China, which keeps the price attractive — indeed, you can buy the sub and a couple of T-series five-inch tops for under £600 if you shop around. The cabinet, which is rear-ported via a slot above the control panel, employs an unfussy construction and…