Computer Music1 min read
Loopmasters 332 samples
Download all assets for this issue at bit.ly/cm332downloads ■
Computer Music9 min read
15 Questions With… Canblaster
It’s becoming increasingly common to find electronic artists and creatives having a hand in the development of the types of creative tools they themselves want to use. It’s often the case that those questing, idea-filled creatives are used as the ori
Computer Music10 min read
Petri Alanko
It’s rare for any new video game to receive near-unanimous praise, but in the case of Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment’s follow-up to 2010’s underrated action/horror thriller, the prevailing giddy response was justified. Centred around the titular A
Computer Music8 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Leapwing Audio: Their Own Best Customers
cm: Firstly we must talk about StageOne 2. It’s such a 21st century plugin, with its superb stereo visualiser and the smart phase recovery algorithm really changing the game for a lot of people. Was saving people time and headaches a big motivation w
Computer Music4 min read
Moog Mariana £30 (iOS) £99 (PC/Mac)
Whether you know it or not, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that you’ll have heard a Moog synth playing a bass sound somewhere on a recording at some stage in your listening life. From modulars to Sub Phatty, via the Minimoog and the legendary Tauru
Computer Music1 min read
Welcome
Here at Computer Music, it goes without saying that we’re ardent advocates of software synths in all their forms; whether we’re discussing 21st century, algorithm-driven monsters, or faithful, circuit-modelled reproductions of analogue classics. But
Computer Music2 min read
The Great Synth Showdown
It’s time to celebrate the polysynth! Let’s be clear, that pretty much encompasses every synth you use on your computer. What we once called a polysynth is essentially any synth where you can play more than a single note simultaneously. Today, we’re
Computer Music5 min read
News
This year’s NAMM show brought an intriguing array of product launches to the table… NAMM 2024 had a lot riding on it, being the first fully-fledged January show since the pre-pandemic era. The industry collectively pondered whether the NAMM show woul
Computer Music2 min read
Ambient Guitars + Delays
We ordered some delicate guitar textures and that’s just what we got. Robbie from Cyclick explains his approach… “Electric guitars are highly textural instruments, especially when treated to heaps of compression, EQ, reverb, modulation, pitch-shiftin
Computer Music1 min read
Next Issue
Next issue, we go beyond the typical applications of reverb and illuminate how turning a little off-road can create unnatural, mind-bending effects. Our tutorial-packed guide spans many ways that reverb can be harnessed to explode your track’s potent
Computer Music5 min read
#04 Craft Avicii-style melodies
The Swedish DJ producer Tim Bergling – aka Avicii – was one of those musicians whose careers were cut far too short. But he’ll always be remembered for crafting unforgettable melodies. A lot can be learned by studying Avicii’s melodies and using his
Computer Music3 min read
Ableton Live 12’s Accessibility Revolution
As the imminent release of Ableton Live 12 makes the inevitable waves, we all begin to focus on our new favourite features, things that we just know will become part of our daily workflow. Then, there are the additions which have less widespread appe
Computer Music5 min read
#02 Create A Fractal Sync Tone With Bazille CM
When it comes to lead synth sounds of the last 50 years, the patch described as ‘oscillator sync’ is about as iconic as it gets. Created by synchronising the pitch of one oscillator against another, while also modulating the pitch of the secondary os
Computer Music4 min read
6 Of The Best Vintage Polysynth Emulations
The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 was the first ever polysynth (kind of), so forgive us for including two emulations. Each has its own plusses, but Softube’s perhaps sticks to the original – and its limitations – the most. The UI looks so real that y
Computer Music3 min readMusic
Soundware Round-up
The loose groove of funk gets laced with heavy rock attitude in this sweet ’70s musical melting pot. Think Sly Stone, for stylings, with the slapping bass and tough drums of his freewheeling fusion at the forefront. Elsewhere, there’s fly guitars to
Computer Music1 min read
Video
Follow along with the video as we dive into this extraordinary free reverb, which retails for £55! Read the full article from p84 Our resident music production gurus walk you through their specialist field every month Read the full article on p52
Computer Music3 min read
Are Softsynths Now Superior?
As seasoned music technology journalists, we’ve been very much writing about the separate worlds of hardware and software polysynths over the last two decades. They’ve long been very different beasts in terms of cost, with hardware, and, especially v
Computer Music4 min read
UVI Falcon 3 $349
Every type of hardware synthesiser has now been emulated in software and Falcon 3 is pretty much every type of synthesiser under one roof. The nearest hardware comparisons are perhaps the all-conquering workstation synths from the likes of Yamaha and
Computer Music4 min read
The Rise Of The Software Polysynth
Of course, all synths we use at Computer Music are polysynths at heart, simply because computer processing is now up to speed to deliver as many notes as you can physically play for any plugin you load up. However, you can trace a lot of our current
Computer Music4 min read
Native Instruments Kontrol S-Series Mk3 £649 to £1,129
Native Instruments’ Kontrol keyboards were incredibly ground-breaking when they were released nine years ago. The idea has been to get control of your software ‘off-computer’ – to be able to select plugins and tweak parameters using keyboards rather
Computer Music2 min read
6 Of The Best Workstation ROMplers
In many ways Falcon is the greatest software polysynth… and sampler… and effects box. All the power does cost, it’s not the prettiest, and you need a large monitor to get the best from it. And yes, it does pretty much everything with a layer hierarch
Computer Music7 min read
Tone2 Ultraspace
UltraSpace (AU, VST) from Tone2 is a multi-effect plugin designed to provide all aspects of space simulation. It’s super flexible and normally retails for $79, but this month it’s yours absolutely free. Tone2 are best known for their excellent synth
Computer Music9 min read
Synth workstation ROMplers
As we’ve seen, throughout the first half of the 1980s, polyphony crept up, but it didn’t really hot up until the invention of multitimbrality. This then gave rise to the synth workstation, the second kind of polysynth that we’re including in this fea
Computer Music2 min read
Classic Samples Rough And Tough Bass
The first of our gritty bass collections was honed by Cyclick Samples. Here’s Robbie to tell us more about it… “Roughness can be expressed as a lack of smoothness, and the bass sounds created for this sample pack are proudly just this! Analogue ampli
Computer Music5 min read
#17 The Benefits Of Submixing
A mixing technique that’s commonly mentioned but not always understood is submixing. This technique groups audio signals together prior to the main mix bus and can help balancing and mix cohesion. Long before DAWs with massive track counts became the
Computer Music4 min read
Mastering the Mix RESO £49
Mixing and mastering plugins have completely revolutionised how we produce music. But one of the most significant enhancements in mixing related plugins has undoubtedly been the rise of products which can assist you with troublesome elements, such as
Computer Music5 min read
#2 How To Get Billie Eilish Vocals
Billie Eilish and her producer/songwriter brother Finneas have been the success stories of 21st century pop music. They have won multiple Grammys, an Oscar for the theme to the 25th Bond film No Time to Die, and countless other awards, the most recen
Computer Music2 min read
Computer Music
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Computer Music4 min read
Toontrack Stockholm & Stories SDX Expansions €179 per pack
Ever since Toontrack premiered EZDrummer nearly 25 years ago, it’s carved a unique path. The upgrade provided by the next-level Superior Drummer suite has extended drum sampling to new heights, with ever-more packed in via their SDX expansion packs.
Computer Music4 min read
6 Of The Best Software Polysynths Of 2024
From the brilliant and warped mind of Dawesome (aka Peter V) comes a synth that stands out from most of our choices by trying very deliberately to do something different. Here we get ‘Strangely Attractive’ oscillators, and a fantastic UI that makes A
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