Innholdsfortegnelse for Autumn 2019 i Computer Music

01 Register your FileSilo account and log in. Even if you have a subscriber ID, you’ll still have to unlock each mag separately or migrate your old Vault account (see step 3) 02 Head back to the Computer Musicpage (filesilo.co.uk/computermusic) and choose an issue to unlock. You’ll need to answer one question to prove you’ve purchased the issue 03 You can migrate your old Vault account over to FileSilo to retain the issues you’ve added – head to filesilo.co.uk/vault and enter your Vault email address. Reset your password via the email you receive, and log in…

APPLE LOGIC PRO X “I’ve been using this program for about 18 years… since version 4, I think. To be honest, I couldn’t imagine using anything else as my main DAW. Yes, I occasionally use Ableton Live – it’s great for throwing ideas together and getting results quickly – but Logic is much more capable when it comes to arrangement and automation. Of course, it helps having used a program for so long – to switch over to something else now would seriously impede my workflow! I’ve started to use more outboard gear over the last few years, but for a long time, I did pretty much everything inside the computer. Logic can handle that all day, every day. It’s an extremely solid platform. Admittedly, I have had the occasional…

Loop recording We’ve already used Tracktion Waveform Free’s Loop button to repeat a defined section of our project in one of the preceding tutorials. However, you can also record with the Loop activated, and each pass will be stored as a distinct take. Once you’ve recorded a bunch of takes, you can access them by clicking the + in the lower-right corner of the clip. You can also unpack the takes to separate tracks if you like. Comping Comping is a recording technique whereby the best bits of multiple recordings are selected and arranged to form one flawless ‘compiled’ track. Waveform Free makes it easy to create a comped track from multiple takes. There’s even a Comp Group function that facilitates creating the ultimate take by clicking and swiping across…

PERFORMERS The synth’s powerful Performers, colour-coded yellow, are the most flexible and malleable modulation signals on offer, allowing you to draw and paint uber-complex shapes that can be used to sweep one or more of Massive X’s parameters over time. ENVELOPES Coloured blue, Massive X’s envelopes come in three flavours: the Amplitude Envelope governs level, and is hard-wired to the E1 slot; the Modulation Envelope is a complex envelope suitable for most mod tasks; and the Exciter Envelope is more of a ‘short term’ modulator for creating one-off spikes, bumps and shapes. LFOs The synth’s two types of low-frequency oscillators (green) are more traditional cyclical modulators. Switcher LFO serves up a bank of 16 preset waveshapes that can be jumped between for stepping effects, while the Random LFO is on…

The official definition of enharmonic modulation goes something like this: a modulation in which a chord resolves according to the function of its harmonic equivalent. Let’s try and translate this into something more digestible that you just might be able to use in the real world… First off, the term ‘modulation’ is just music theory-speak for ‘key change’, so all this really means is that the sense of home shifts from one key to another, often using a ‘pivot’ chord that’s common to both keys. A key change usually shows a shift in emotion: for example, raising your outro section a semitone for an uplifting feel. But what about that enharmonic bit? Well, enharmonic chords are chords that use the same notes spelled differently using either sharps or flats, usually…

When revered analogue modelling specialists Softube unveiled their first synth, Parallels (8/10, 270), earlier this year, we were surprised to learn that it was built on a library of samples, rather than heralding the expected debut of a potentially benchmark-setting virtual analogue oscillator design. Well, we can’t deny a tinge of disappointment at that architectural situation remaining unchanged for the follow-up, Monoment Bass (VST/AU/AAX), a monosynth dedicated to dance music bass sound creation, powered by a 2GB sample library. Parallels won us over with its character, colour and brilliant modulation system, though, so we’ll judge its new stablemate equally on its own merits here. Sources direct “Softube’s filters are always sure to impress, and Monoment Bass’s low-pass model is right up there” Monoment Bass mixes three stereo sample layers together…

B.I.T. makes a great deal of hardwired oscillator and filter modulation available directly from the main interface, but also, of course, includes a flexible modulation routing system. Presented as an eight-slot mod matrix, this is as rudimentary as they get: choose a Source, select a Destination, set the modulation depth. Sources include the Advanced envelopes and LFOs (including various multiplication options), the Pitch LFO, and a fourth unassigned Free LFO; both filter envelopes; the Arpeggiator; the individual and combined outputs of the oscillators and filters, as well as the noise generator and amp; and a good number of MIDI CCs and streams. The Destinations takes in every meaningful parameter from across the instrument, including all FX controls, and even the tuning, volume, pan and filtering of individual unison voices. Eight…

Focusrite SC (Studio Console) (VST/AU/AAX) is the latest console channel strip plugin from Brainworx. Designed in collaboration with Focusrite using specially selected modules and the original circuit schematics, the plugin emulates the channel strip from the eponymous late 1980s analogue mixing desk. With only ten of them ever made, the Studio Console was an attempt to streamline the custom Forte desks that had been built for Master Rock and Electric Lady Studios. Renowned for its physical scale, ongoing maintenance issues and the heat it produced, it wasn’t the easiest of desks to accommodate, but the single audio path architecture and established circuit designs delivered awesome audio fidelity and – 30 years later – make it an ideal candidate for software emulation. Lunar modules “Much like the original hardware, bx_console Focusrite…

B-Dos Abstract Trap Subscription This awesome little library kicks off with 24 fascinating drum loops (and 27 accompanying tops), presenting a genuinely unique angle on trap through the use of space, dryness and various surprising but effective ‘extra” elements – some of the best beats we’ve heard all year, in fact. The 54 loops in the Melodic folder are similarly imaginative and envelope-pushing, from swooping lead lines and skittish chord progressions to rubbery basses and spiky incidentals, and a solid showing of FX and one-shots provides the icing on the delicious cake. noiiz.com 10/100 Looptone Lack Of Afro Presents Organic Soul 2 £25 The latest from acclaimed UK producer Adam Gibbons is seven original retro funk and soul tracks played live by a crack squad of session musicians, including…

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 KV331AudioSynthMasterCM Dual wavescanning oscillators Multimode filter and built-in effects FM/AM synthesis modes Based on SynthMaster 2.5 AU/VST, 32-/64-bit Synapse Audio Dune CM VA and wavetable oscillators Powerful per-voice modulation 12-slot modulation matrix Based on the full version of Dune AU/VST/RTAS, 32-/64-bit u-he Bazille CM Patchable modular synthesiser Sequencer and Mapping Generator Audio-rate modulation, Fractalizer Huge how-to guide in 232 AU/VST 32-/64-bit Dmitry Sches Thorn CM Dual spectral oscillators Analogue and Harmonic Filters Spectral and real-time effects Glitch Sequencer and Arpeggiator…

Yamaha QY10 If you’ve been to an electronic music gig in the past ten years, there’s every chance it was performed on a handful of portable, battery-powered boxes atop a folding table. A clear reaction to the ubiquitous onstage laptop, tabletop synths, grooveboxes and samplers are the tools of choice for the so-called ‘DAW-less’ musician. From battered and beaten Electribes to the lusty OP-1, desktop devices offer oodles of music-making power, and can easily be shoved into a backpack for the bike ride home. Arguably, such devices evolved from the all-in-one sampling drum machines lurking in the corners of many a studio in the mid-1980s. Instruments such as the Linn 9000 and Sequential Studio 440 were intended as beatmaking workstations, but these machines were not only breathtakingly expensive, but unsuitable…

KORG GADGET 2 Today, there are loads of hardware gizmos that look like they could be direct descendants of the QY10, though it’s harder to name a software heir – unless, that is, we take the portability of iOS devices into account. If so, Korg’s music production app is a shoe-in – particularly if we were to plug in one of Korg’s ‘nano’ keyboard controllers. korg.com SONIC CAT RAVITY We haul this ancient Windows chestnut out every time we discuss a Yamaha ROMPler, and the QY10 – as limited as its sonic palette may be – is no exception. Intentional or not, Sonic Cat’s mini-ROMpler sounds very much like one of Yamaha’s AWM-powered machines. Pair it with a basic sampler and you’ve got yourself a QY10 on steroids. sonic-cat.com PROPELLERHEADS…

TRACKTION WAVEFORM FREE: The cm Guide Follow along with our videos and break apart your fab DAW freebie Read the full article on p22 5 Getting familiar with the MIDI Clip Pattern Generator 6 Building a bass patch with 4OSC 8 Frequency modulation synthesis with FM Synth 11 Exploring modular patching with Racks 2.0 12 Resequencing a loop with Step Clips 13 Recording an audio clip 14 Fixing out-of time audio with Warp Time 15 Adding effects with Modifiers 18 Using Waveform Free’s automation features cm Producer Masterclass CRAZY P The UK funksters get down to the brass tacks of their track Step Into the Light Note: this video is only available using the link on page 45 Read the full article on p44 MASTER BUS FX Get creative with…

cm Tell us the concept behind Massive X. Why was it positioned as a separate instrument to Massive, not an update? JH “Massive is now 13 years old. We wanted to really up the game in terms of audio quality. To have backwards compatibility with Massive v1 presets, we’d have had to support the same sound engine and a new engine with increased quality, so we kept the original Massive in the market, as well as this new instrument. They both have their own sound, and users can choose which to use.” cm Why did it take so long to finish? JH “The simple answer is that it’s a beast of a product. Almost all of it was developed from scratch. The oscillators alone are a work of art: the…

Socalabs SFX8 Plink, plonk, pow! If you want a soundtrack for zapping space invaders, SFX8 is the plugin for you If, in the unlikely chance you’re the last remaining chiptune fan that hasn’t got a gritty 8-bit SID-alike synth in your plugins folder, you’ll be thrilled by this new Socalabs outing. Actually, even if you plugins folder is stuffed with 8-bit options, you might still find much to love about SFX8, thanks to a nearly infinitely malleable set of simple synth sounds. A dead-on simulation of the old NES audio engine, you’ll find nine rudimentary waveforms – square, saw, sine, noise, triangle, pink, tan, whistle, and breaker – with which to play. These serve as the basis for familiar tones such as coin, laser, explosions, power-up, jump, and various hits.…

Psychic Modulation EchoMelt VHS-ise and ‘melt’ your tracks with this degrading effect – a synthwave dream psychicmodulation.com Softube OTO Biscuit A modelled bitcrusher that will leave its crusty audio crumbs all over your channels softube.com AudioThing VinylStrip Channel strip effect with reorderable Comp, Dist, Reverb, EQ, Vinyl and Sampler modules audiothing.net iZotope Vinyl A classic free effect for virtually vinylising your signals, and comes with loads of controls izotope.com Initial Audio Analog Pro Emulates tape, vinyl and valves with a control for degradation amount initialaudio.com XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color Noise, Wobble, Distort, Digital, Space and Magnetic modules to emulate vinyl, tubes, bitcrushing, tape and more – plus a Flux setting to add worn-out instability xlnaudio.com Klevgrand DAW Cassette The little reel-to-reel is made a little bit realer. Also available…

MPE has become something of a buzzword of late, with all manner of hardware and software products touting its inclusion. A newcomer to the ageing MIDI spec, MPE aims to extend the existing capabilities of MIDI to include a relatively new class of instruments and hardware controllers. MPE stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression, a name that only vaguely hints at what it’s all about – after all, we’ve been expressing ourselves with polyphonic MIDI instruments for nearly 40 years! Perhaps it should have been called multidimensional polyphonic expression, because that’s precisely what MPE was designed for. You see, over the past few years, there has been a growing interest among electronic musicians in alternative MIDI controllers – controllers that allow for more expression than a piano-style keyboard. The desire to…

TAKE IT OUTSIDE In our tutorials on Tracktion Waveform Free’s included 4OSC polysynth, we showed you how to use the various available parameters to craft your own patch using the synth’s envelopes and LFOs. The most intuitive way to add interest is, of course, to grab a knob and twist it. Thanks to its extensive MIDI routing capabilities, 4OSC allows you to do just that, using the external MIDI controller of your choice. If you’re not assigning hardware widgets to 4OSC’s various parameters, you’re missing out on the fun! BUILD A BEATBOX We’ve already shown you how you can use multiple instances of Sampler to build a complex and capable sample-based drum kit, complete with lofty features such as built-in effects and multiple outputs. We also showed you how to…

New order It’s no secret that the order of your plugins will massively affect how the effects interact, and will dramatically influence the resulting sound. One example is combining reverb with distortion: place the ’verb plugin pre-distortion to drive the dry signal and the ambience together, which can be a brutal effect if you’re producing tougher styles such as hip-hop, metal or grime; or pop the distortion plugin first in the chain to slather your crushed tone with some crystal-clear room or hall ambience. Furthermore, it’s always worth experimenting with the placement of rhythmically modulated filters in the chain, particularly if they’re especially resonant-sounding. Position a sweeping filter pre-distortion, and any large level sweeps will interact with the drive across different frequencies, levelling out the effect and creating some awesome…

One of the most sampled piece of music of all time, Clyde Stubblefield’s sublime drum break from James Brown’s Funky Drummer has served as the backbone of countless tracks by a parade of top tier artists including Public Enemy, NWA, Madonna and George Michael among others. With its double-time hi-hats, instantly recognisable snare drum sound and irresistible groove, it absolutely deserves its place in musical history. Even if the legend is soured somewhat by the fact that Stubblefield never received a penny for it from anyone. In this tutorial and its accompanying video, I’m going to show you how to program a MIDI loop inspired by the Funky Drummer break. I’m using Toontrack’s Funkmaster Clyde kit, as it seems only fitting, having been sampled by Stubblefield himself, even though it…

Monoment Bass’s Effects section consists of five boiled-down modules, calibrated to best serve the processing of low-end tones, and all of an exceptionally high standard sonically. Drive serves up low-frequency or full-bandwidth distortion, using algorithms lifted from Softube’s acclaimed Harmonics plugin (9/10, 266), while Ambience is an ingenious short reverb with five diverse algorithms and a Bass/Treble Tone control – we’d love to see this one worked up into a plugin in its own right.EQ is a combination of tilt EQ and bipolar cut-only shelving EQ; Multiband is a roundly effective one-knob multiband compressor with helpful metering; and Spatialization is a mid/side processor for monoising low frequencies and widening the highs. Although the effects modules are just as reductive as Monoment Bass’s envelopes and other elements, that overt simplification seems…

Stockholm-based “creative studio and software company” Klevgrand first hit our radar about five years ago with a rapidly expanding line of small, functionally focused and graphically characterful plugin instruments and effects for Mac, PC and iOS, including Enkl, Gaffel and Degrader. Recently, though, they’ve upped their development game somewhat with the deeper, more flexible likes of semimodular amp simulator, Stark, and the even more ‘modular’ subject of this review: Modley. Let’s play Described as a “delay playground with endless capabilities”, Modley is a multieffects plugin (AU/VST/AAX/AUv3) built within and around a feedback delay loop. Each of its three rows of four cells is a series of effect inserts, with the top row – the Pre Rack – processing the input signal before it enters the delay line, the bottom row…

TMT is one of the most intriguing and satisfying aspects of Brainworx’s various console strips, and it’s great to see it incorporated into Focusrite SC. To better emulate analogue circuits, it simulates channel-to-channel variances in electronic components. It has 72 available channels and although it allocates a channel when you load an instance of the plugin, you can change it manually or randomise it (Randomise One). You can also ‘Randomise All’ loaded instances of the plugin to fully recreate an analogue desk scenario. Alternatively, to minimise the channel differences, simply set all instances to the same TMT channel. If you load up a stereo instance, the plugin has two modes – Digital and Analog – and two visible TMT channels. In Digital mode, the TMT channel is the same for…

To help you get the most out of our immense plugin collection, we’ve assembled the Plugins Tutorial Bank, containing over 100 guides and tutorials for our cm Plugins, specially selected from past issues. You’ll find Getting Started PDFs and videos for most of the individual plugins, along with tutorial PDFs and videos on using cm Plugins for sound design, mixing, and even creating entire tracks. You’ll find all of this as a handy download from FileSilo – go grab it now and start getting more out of your plugins! filesilo.co.uk/computermusic…

Though there are a wide variety of DAWs, each with its own unique interface, there are similarities when it comes to loading up and using plugins, and most stick to one of two approaches. The first – as seen in Steinberg’s Cubase, Apple’s Logic, and Cakewalk’s Sonar – involves insert slots on a track or mixer channel. These are used in the same way as an insert effect would be used on a hardware mixer. In other words, the effect is placed ‘in line’ on that mixer or track channel. Plugins might be loaded in by use of a dropdown menu tree or right-clicking in the effects slot. Clicking in the insert or effects slot in some DAWs – Cockos’ Reaper, for instance – will reveal a dedicated browser from…

Plugins Install and use our cm Plugins instruments and effects Samples Download this month’s exclusive packs and power up your tunes Tutorial Videos See and hear exactly how it’s done with our expert video guides Tutorial Files Follow along in your DAW with WAVs, project files, MIDI clips and more Log in at filesilo.co.uk/computermusic Register this issue for instant access to our plugins, samples, videos and files on your desktop computer Free for digital readers, too! Read on your tablet, download on your computer…

Loopmasters Loopcloud 5 A new subscription model heralds big things for the audio manager/editor Aggressive development of Loopmasters’ Loopcloud sample management, purchasing and editing application continues apace with the release of version 5, not even six months after the introduction of the hugely impressive v4.0. While that previous update added – amongst other things – the excellent Loop Editor, enabling slicing and rearrangement of loops for auditioning via the Loopcloud plugin and drag-and-drop export, Loopcloud 5 introduces a completely new interface with a compact view (“ideal for split-screen use”), and a number of potentially transformative new features, most of which require one of three tiered subscriptions (€6.99, €10.99 or €19.99/ month) to take full advantage of – or use at all. Perhaps the most immediately impressive improvements are the Sample…

It’s hard to believe that VST instruments have been around for two decades. It was 20 years ago that Steinberg released Cubase VST 3.7 which included the very first VSTi, a humble virtual analogue synth called Neon. More importantly, they made the SDK available so third-party developers could get in on the action, and before long the first free and commercial instrument plugins reached our folders. Muon Software were hot on the scene with the free Atom, a GUIless virtual analogue synth with two oscillators, resonant filter and dual ADSR envelopes. Long since lost to history, you can still find a download link among the reviews on KVR’s product page.…

If you’re a regular reader of , you’ve doubtlessly seen talk of Tracktion’s free DAWs in our monthly Freeware News, not to mention our regular round-ups of the best freeware of each passing year. It’s astonishing, really, that the developers consistently offer once-flagship products as new commercial versions are introduced – and yet again, Tracktion serve up another fully kitted-out DAW with no restrictions and no limitations. This time, however, there’s been a slight modification to the usual plan – instead of simply doling out an already existing iteration of their former ‘T’ series DAW, they’ve provided a new version of their current Waveform 10 music production environment (9/10, 270) that has the power of their previous T7 DAW, with the performance and general UI improvements found in their full…

If you’ve seen the specs for the Pro version of Waveform 10, you’ve probably noticed Collective among the many included instruments. This multi-faceted gem of a synth/ sampler has been designed to take advantage of the many nifty compositional tools and features on offer in Waveform, and as such, we’re sure you’ll want to give it a look. What’s so special about Collective? Well, it comes fully stocked with a whopping 600 presets, ranging from classic to contemporary sounds. You can use samples from the included library or bring your own in, then combine them with Collective’s many onboard synthesis functions. These include four oscillators offering the aforementioned sample playback, as well as traditional analogue subtractive fodder, 4-op FM and ring mod. Dual multimode filters are included, as is a…

The arrival of Native Instruments’ Massive X softsynth has been met with divisive opinions across the board. In our review last month (8/10, 273), we called it “a hugely characterful, immensely powerful synth with a number of issues, some of which feel like the result of a rushed release”. NI themselves have made it clear that those omissions will be addressed with forthcoming updates – see our Get With The Programmers interview on p10 for more on that – but even in its current state, Massive X is still a worthy virtual instrument with unique talents, especially when it comes to creative modulation. When synthesising drums and percussion, for example, you need a synth with envelopes that give you microscopic control over short-term shape. And if you’re producing cutting-edge musical…

Putting powerful and extensive audio editing at our fingertips is very much an expected feature in any modern DAW. However, with so many options available, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, and there’s nothing more tedious than drilling down into the depths of the manual when all you really want to be doing is producing music. With these ten tips, we’re going to unlock a selection of useful and universal audio editing features. They range from the simplest of cursor and keyboard moves to both nondestructive and destructive editing trickery, as well as some of the more complex audio manipulation features available, such as flexible timestretch editing and quantising. By necessity, we’re going to be demonstrating each tip in one of two specific DAWs – Apple Logic Pro X and PreSonus…

TAKE CONTROL Stacking and automating effects on your project’s master output will quickly give you some dramatic edit effects, but you may require a finer degree of control. In this case, the solution is to resample your efforts! Render any crazy master bus stutters, sweeps or glitches to audio, then precisely position the files on a new track in your project for greater predictability. Not only can you level the audio and generally refine things to taste, but you can also twist the clips up even more using more plugins and your DAW’s audio editing. CATCH THE PEAKS Often, excessive drive or filter resonance will cause unpredictable jumps in level, and this is especially so when processing all of your signals collectively. When using these kind of effects on your…

Before sending your latest masterpiece to a mastering engineer, it’s essential that the mixdown is as good as it can be – clear, punchy and evenly balanced in terms of tone and dynamics, helping it stand up against other well-mixed releases in the same genre. This is achieved by processing individual tracks, as well as collective groups of said tracks. When it comes to the final output channel, however, it’s generally recommended to avoid any master processing and leave this free for a mastering pro to do his or her thing. Well, this advice rings true if you don’t know what you’re doing, but with a considered strategy, I believe a final stage of master-bus ‘pre-mastering’ is a good thing. If set up correctly, at the early stages of writing,…

“Show me an interesting take on sequenced gating,” you all screamed. Well, here it is. Kilohearts’ Trance Gate is something of an all-rounder… by which we mean its step sequencer is twisted into a circle, giving you a 360-degree take on rhythmic gating. But enough circling the issue – let’s get down to business! Trance Gate is simple to operate: select the number of steps in your sequence (from two to 64), then light up segments of the circle to denote the gate’s opening (ie, letting the sound through) and closing again. This kind of rhythmic chopping is synonymous with 90s and 00s trance (hence the name, natch), where you’d often hear sustained sounds such as floaty pads or wailing female vocals sliced into regimented 16th-notes to euphoric effect. Trance…

The latest softsynth in Rob Papen’s ever-expanding range is remarkable for being… well, unremarkable – in a conceptual sense, at least. You see, B.I.T. (which stands for ‘Back In Time’) is a straight-up, “pure” virtual analogue modelling synth – something that has never existed in the Papen catalogue until now. All of the great man’s previous synths have been based on ‘digital’ oscillators, and while their extensive sampled waveform libraries invariably include single-cycle analogue shapes, it is nonetheless surprising that it’s taken this long for one of the industry’s most prolific developers to get round to building the kind of back-to-basics synth that the majority of the competition cut their technological teeth on. Analogue throughout “The Feedback control is an unusual inclusion that serves as an inspiring source of raw…

Modley’s 16 effects modules are comprehensive in their coverage, each one featuring a simple, well thought-out array of parameter controls. Filter features HP and LP modes, and roll-off slopes from 12dB to 48dB/ octave, while two styles of EQ – Equalizer and Booster – provide high/ low cut and shelving, and general bass and treble boost. For dynamics shaping, Compressor offers Fast and Slow modes and a single knob for dialling in compression, and Multiband Gate gives four independent (albeit fixed) bands of gating with adjustable Release. And on the sound-mangling front, you get Distortion for tube saturation and soft clipping, and the self-explanatory and rather gorgeous Tape Saturation. Six modulation effects comprise Panner (choose sine or square LFO, synced or not), Chorus (with stereo widening), Flanger (low-pass filtered), Phase…

UNDRGRND Sounds Redlight £80 Web undrgrndsounds.com Format PC/Mac, Kontakt 5/Kontakt Player 5 In just a few short years, UNDRGRND Sounds have become major players in the soundware market with a rapidly expanding catalogue of high-quality sample libraries; and now, with Redlight, they’re making the move into Kontakt instrument development. Running in Kontakt or the free Kontakt Player, Redlight is a dual-layer ‘synthesiser’, drawing on a 3GB bank of more than 60 sampled analogue sounds, divided into Chord, Bass and Synth categories. Each of the two sources is essentially a complete and independent instance of the engine in its own right, with its own sample selection, tuning, ADSR amp envelope, resonant filter (chosen from a massive list of styles and types), effects (Chorus, Delay, Reverb, LoFi, Distort and Portamento/unison), and…

So how does your DAW know where to look for your plugins? Actually, it might not. Mac users have it easy, as there are OS-specified folders into which plugins are installed. These folders can be found by going to your Library folder (if you can’t find it, go to the Finder’s Go menu, hold Alt, and a Library option should appear). Find the Audio directory, and then the Plug-Ins folder within. There you will find more folders still. One will be labelled Components – this is where your AU plugins reside. Other folders will be found alongside it for VST and VST3 plugins. If you’re a Pro Tools user, you’ll find your plugins in an Avid or Digidesign folder. If your installers don’t automatically install the plugins into the proper…