Music Tech July 2013

The World’s Greatest Synths
The actual birth date of the synthesizer is hard to pin-point as so many technological developments were made in the early 1900s, but the building blocks for subtractive synthesis as we know it appeared around the 30s and 40s. Fast-forward to 1960 – when Harald Bode created the first modular synthesizer – and you’ve got the template for subsequent designs by Donald Buchla and Bob Moog. These early modulars were so large they filled a room and resembled some sort of space-craft launch console, which by today’s standards seems rather excessive as you can get the same sound-design capabilities from something that fits in your pocket!

In this feature Alex Holmes explores the history and power of the synthesiser and just what it is that makes us love it so?

Create Unique and Cutting-Edge Synth Sounds
Getting a decent sound from a soft synth doesn’t exactly take a lot of work. A tweak or two here, a few nudges to the LFO there, a little messing around with the filters and… boom! You’ve got a workable sound. It’s almost too easy, in all honesty. And thanks to the sheer number of synths available these days, you’re never more than a minute or two away from some wonderful, inspirational noises. Rob Boffard shows you how to generate your own sounds that you can call your own!

Bass Station II
We take a trip to Novation’s HQ to get hands-on with the much anticipated Bass Station II - a synth that has been turning heads and making headlines since its announcement at Frankfurt Musikmesse in April. The synth, designed by veteran synth pioneer Chris Huggett (also responsible for the OSCar and Wasp synths), is a follow-up, albeit a rather slow one, to 1993’s original Bass Station, a synth that answered the demands of the acid house scene of the time. Check out our exclusive hand-on preview.

Our Industry Guru this month is the one and only Mr Rob Papen – There can be few computer-based musicians, composers or producers who haven’t heard of Rob Papen. Widely regarded as something of a visionary in the worlds of sound design and software synthesis, his products have become staple tools in countless home and commercial studios thanks both to their unique, inspirational sounds as well as the successful marriage of innovative approaches to workflow and more traditional methodology. We catch up with Rob to give him the MusicTech grilling!

This month’s Landmark Production takes a look at The Human League’s classic ‘Reproduction’ – We recently caught up with Martyn Ware himself to discuss the HL’s magnificent synth opus.

Reviews of all the latest hardware and software, this month we take a look at Moog’s Sub Phatty. The latest in Moog’s synth arsenal is monophonic, has just 16 presets, and no screen. What’s not to like, asks Andy Jones… also reviewed this month isZynaptiq’s UNFILTER – With a proven track record to date, can Zynaptiq work its voodoo magic again with this latest release? Liam O’Mullane tries it out. Also reviewed this month is the discoDSP Discovery Pro, 8DIO’s 8Dioboe, sE Electronics Magneto, Adam’s F5, Sound Radix Pi Phase Interactions Mixer and much more!

This Month’s Tutorials

This month we’ve got tutorials for all the major DAWs
Cubase is blessed with all the necessary talents for generating convincing harmony parts – even if you aren’t. Tim Hallas shows you how in this months’ Harmonies in Cubase Tutorial

Operator offers a great deal more than just FM leads and pads. Liam O’Mullane has the low-down in this month’s Live Tutorial: Bass Design with Operator

Logic’s signal-processing tools can transform an average drum recording into a powerful, polished kit sound. Mark Cousins shows you how in the new Mixing Drums in Logic tutorial

Want to augment Pro Tools plug-in arsenal but not sure where to start? Mike Hillier is your guide in this months Free Plug-ins for Pro Tools guide

Reason 7 can send MIDI to the outside world, opening up a wealth of creative possibilities in your studio. Hollin Jones sends the signals in Adding MIDI Hardware tutorial

Plus much much more!