Future Music

10 years on…

Looking back on the past decade of electronic music making, it’s remarkable how much has – and hasn’t – changed. As with anything technology-related, ten years is a long time, and comparing the DAWs, plugins and digital synths we were using in 2009 to their 2010 counterparts, it’s undoubtedly remarkable how much more power producers have at their fingertips. As much as things have moved forward though, some things never seem to change. ’80s classics still dominate the sound of dance music in 2019 and, thanks to an assortment of reissues, reworks and ‘tributes’, 808 and 909 grooves, M1 pads and DX7 chords are still everywhere. (Not that I’m complaining – I’m as much a sucker for a classic house groove or ’90s hardcore revival as the next dance music fan). What…

future music

Editor Si Truss, simon.truss@futurenet.com Reviews Editor/Online Content Manager Simon Arblaster, simon.arblaster@futurenet.com Managing Editor Kate Puttick, kate.puttick@futurenet.com Art Editor Phil Cheesbrough, philip.cheesbrough@futurenet.com BIG THANKS TO… Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman, Jono Buchanan, Philip Wise, Danny Turner, Leo Maymind, Roy Spencer, Phil Barker, Oli Bell, Kevin Lake, Joe Branston, Bruce Aisher, Ben Rogerson, Adam Lee, Ben Wilson, Greg Scarth, Catherine Hood, Robbie Stamp, Tom Jones, Tim Cant, James Russell ADVERTISING For Ad enquiries please contact: Kyle Phillips, kyle.phillips@futurenet.com MARKETING Direct Marketing Executive: Will Hardy PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Production Controller: Fran Twentyman Production Manager: Mark Constance Printed in the UK by: William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future Distributed in the UK by: Marketforce (UK), 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Tel: +44 (0) 203 787 9001 CIRCULATION Head of Newstrade: Tim Mathers INTERNATIONAL LICENSING Head of Print Licensing: Rachel Shaw, licensing@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT Chief Content Officer: Aaron Asadi Brand Director, Music: Stuart Williams Content Director: Scott…

archive

AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.1 ’90s Ambient (562 samples) Ambient Dawn (490 samples) AMBIENT SOUNDS PT.2 Majestic Bells & Mallets (444 samples) Spring Reverb & Tape Delay (533 samples) ATMOSPHERES & BACKGROUNDS Atmospheric Beds (369 samples) Noise, Crackle & Hiss (512 samples) Sounds of the City (371 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.1 Analogue Polys (625 samples) SH Collection (500 samples) CLASSIC SYNTHS PT.2 Analogue Poly Chord Hits (342 samples) Classic Synths: ’80s, ’90s, ’00s (678 samples) Hardware Arps (511 samples) CREATIVE DRUMS Cyborg Beats (514 samples) Lo-Fi Sampling (555 samples) Obscure Drum Machines (517 samples) Overloaded Beats (889 samples) ESSENTIAL DRUMS 808 and 909 (39 samples) Ultimate Cymbals (503 samples) Ultimate Kick Bundle (505 samples) Ultimate Snares & Claps (676 samples) Vintage Drum Machine Hits (548 samples) FX & TRANSITIONS PT.1 Filter Fun (496 samples) Gates ‘N’ Sidechains (287 samples) Total Transitions (260 samples) FX & TRANSITIONS PT.2 Destroyed synths (519 samples) Sci-Fi FX (501 samples) HIP-HOP, FUNK & SOUL Cosmic Soul (386 samples) Funk Keys (279 samples) Hip-Hop Drum Machines…

expressive e unveil osmose – could it be the most expressive synth ever?

We’ve seen expressive musical keyboards before, but many of them – ROLI’s Seaboard models spring immediately to mind – eschew the standard piano action in favour of something different, requiring players to adapt their technique in order to use them. Osmose, the new Augmented Keyboard synthesiser from Expressive E – the company behind the impressive Touché controller – is different. The result of more than seven years of research, and a collaboration with Haken Audio, this has both the look and feel of a standard keyboard – meaning that players should immediately feel more comfortable when using it – but it also responds to a number of per-note gestures to give you significantly more control. In fact, you get three dimensions of control on every single key, enabled by the patented A.K.A…

behringer release a 303 clone and a multichannel digital mixer

Behringer’s seemingly endless line of analogue ‘tribute’ synths marches on, as the company unveil their 2019 take on Roland’s classic 303 bassline synth. Unlike Roland’s Boutique TB-03, the TD-3 is fully analogue, and promises to reproduce the analogue circuitry from the original 303. It adds distortion circuitry that’s based on the Boss DS-1 guitar pedal, along with several front panel I/O ports for inputing external signals, analogue sync input and outputs for gate and CV. The TD-3 also adds a USB connection for MIDI as well as full-sized MIDI in and out ports. The sequencer is based on the 303's, but adds extra modern features. It has seven tracks each, with 16 steps, but can save up to 250 user patterns. There’s also an arpeggiator, plus you can poly-chain multiple units to…

cubase 10.5 is here: what’s new in steinberg’s daw update?

Let’s deal with a couple of Cubase Pro exclusives first, starting with the Spectral Comparison EQ. This is a new mode in the Channel EQ that enables you to compare the spectral components of two audio signals, making it easier to adjust and balance your mix. The self-explanatory Import Tracks From Projects feature has been revised with support for additional track types (Group, FX and Folder tracks) and an Auto Map function that aligns imported tracks with the same name as existing ones. Of course, there are new plugins, too, and the good news is that the Padshop 2 synth is included in both the Pro and Artist versions of Cubase 10.5. This is a granular and spectral instrument that comes with 570 presets, 570 pre-produced samples and the option to import…