Computer Music's goal is to help its readers create great music with a PC or Mac. Each month find easy-to-follow tutorials for all sorts of music software, unbiased reviews of the latest products and answers to technical questions.
“We’re in an era of choice, connectivity and creativity” Although us music-obsessed folks here at cm HQare proud to champion computer-based tune-making, we never shun the use of outboard gear. If anything, we’re excited to live in a world where anyone can make music using any conceivable combination of physical and virtual tools. We’re in an era of choice, connectivity and creativity. That’s why we’re exploring the synergy between modern digital and classic gear this month. First, our cover feature, Punch & Power (p20), shows you how to use both analogue-modelled and digital mixing tools to strike the perfect balance between classic dynamics and modern weight. After that, house pro Alex Arnout makes a track from scratch on video (p42), using his enviable array of classic Roland kit alongside in-the-box…
Step 1 On your PC or Mac, go to vault.computermusic.co.uk, then either register for a new Vault account, or log in if you already have one. Step 2 Click ‘add a magazine’ in the top bar, select the issue you want to add to your Vault (eg, this issue is 243), and answer a few simple security questions. Step 3 Go to ‘my vault’ to see all your mags – click a cover and use the links to download! You can download as much or as little as you like. PLUGIN AF2-10-CM Install and use this issue’s free four-band equaliser plugin from OverTone DSP. Start unpacking it over on p52 SAMPLE PACKS ORCHESTRAL TENSION 500 exclusive brass, string and wind ensemble samples to add emotion to your tracks, p106 LOOPMASTERS…
PUNCH & POWER Get your sounds to pop like never before with all these videos from this month’s cover feature Read the full article on p20 1 Five easy methods to build punch into your mix 5 Adding punch to drums with amplitude shaping 6 Exploring slow-attack compression for punch 7 Perfecting a mix’s punch with transient shaping 8 Multiband transient shaping to sculpt punch 9 Dialling in frequency-specific snare smash 10 Unsquashing overcompressed sounds 11 Three bassline power-ups 12 Analogue preamp punch 13 Parallel gated distortion for attack 14 Custom compression for consistency 15 Advanced limiter tweaks 17 Using a custom chain of multiple limiters 18 Advanced layering tactics for pro punch 19 Adding pre-punch with reversed layers 20 Precise punch with extreme transient surgery cm Producer Masterclass…
EASY GUIDE NON-HARMONIC TONES Learn the music theory behind connecting two or more chords together Read the full article on p72 STUDIO STRATEGIES CREATIVE REVERB TRICKS Discover the creative uses lurking within your favourite reverb plugins Read Read the the full full article article on on p74 pxx DR BEAT TIMPANI Program epic orchestral percussion in your DAW with this tutorial Read the full article on p76…
It could be an expensive month for lovers of Universal Audio’s DSPpowered UAD-2 plugins, with five new releases. Let’s power on the Apollo Twin and check them out… In recent years, UA have offered improved remakes of several older plugins, and now their official emulation of the iconic SSL 4000 E Channel Strip (£229) gets this treatment. It offers high and low filtering, four-band EQ, gating/expansion and punchy compression. The new version is fully remodelled with “end-to-end circuit emulation”, capturing aspects like the Jensen mic preamp transformers and dbx “gold-can” VCA output. It’s now Unison-ready, so owners of a UA Apollo interface can record through the emulated mic/line preamp stages, with hardware impedance matching. The Moog Multimode Filter Collection (£189) features the all-new Multimode Filter XL…
Before we get into the app news, a quick word on Apple’s new iPad. Its name might not feature a suffix, but this is actually the replacement for the ageing iPad Air 2, and at £339 for the entry-level 32GB version, is now the cheapest Apple tablet. We like the look of it, and we suspect that many musicians will feel the same. www.apple.com You might think that you know what a sequencer looks like, but Seaquence will surely convince you otherwise. This new iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app enables you to make music using not a grid or row of buttons, but a collection of sea creatures, which change their behaviour as you adjust parameters. It sounds like a gimmick, but there’s a polyphonic synthesis module…
