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Patrick Gleeson
Pioneer of electronic music ASTON
Korg Nautilus ELEMENT
“It’s great to play and it sounds superb.” MICROPHONES
‘Drivers License’ WORTH $1590
Mixing Olivia Rodrigo’s record-breaking hit
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 LE A DER

RIGHTS & WRONGS

We owe the famous saying “If it sounds right, it is right” people start comparing notes as to which version of
to Joe Meek. It sounds like a truism — but only if you Waves’ L2 delivers the most edgy treble when you
overlook what’s involved in deciding that something crank up the gain reduction?
Sam Inglis
Editor In Chief
sounds right. Current industry trends offer us another example
Meek himself practically invented modern of something that eventually, in the face of stiff
recording technique, where instruments are miked opposition, will probably come to be appreciated as
close up and liberally processed to tape. Doing sounding ‘right’: AI-based processing. Some engineers
so brought him into constant conflict with more love to point out the failings of cloud-based mastering “Many things we
conservative elements at IBC Studios. When your services, or ‘intelligent’ plug-ins meant to help novices now think of as
colleagues are looking at you like you’re mad, and equalise and balance sources in a mix. Others fear that
technicians are muttering about the possibility of these will put human beings out of a job. But the most sounding ‘right’
destroying expensive equipment, it takes courage to creative, forward-looking producers will notice that came about because
say ‘Actually, I like the way this sounds.’ AI-based processing too has a sound of its own, and
Nowadays, we like to think we’re all open to sonic will take music forward by exploiting that sound. people used
innovation. But is that really true, or is it just that Many things we now think of as sounding ‘right’
the frontiers have moved? I was talking recently to came about because people used equipment in the
equipment in the
a couple of people whose formative years coincided ‘wrong’ way, and this month’s cover feature highlights ‘wrong’ way.”
with the ‘loudness wars’. The music they grew up with a case in point. History does not record the name of
was thin, harsh and devoid of dynamics. It was crushed the first engineer to plug a fuzzbox into a studio mixing
by brickwall limiting and forced into hard digital console, but you can bet that it raised some eyebrows
clipping, and by the time anyone listened to it, it was at the time. Today, we’d all agree that it’s a valid
bristling with MP3 artifacts. And they loved it. creative choice, and it’s not so much moral objections
Are non-harmonic distortion, layer upon layer that stop us from hooking up our pedalboards to
of compression and codec chirps fatiguing and our DAWs as the practicalities of cabling and level
unpleasant? Or are they just part of the sound of raw management. As Simon Small’s excellent article
rock & roll excitement? We already have plug-ins that explains, though, these are easily overcome. A world
recreate vinyl noise and tape hiss to add ’70s nostalgia of creative sound-mangling awaits!
to our productions. How long before the production Just remember, next time you hear something truly
tools of 20 years ago get the same treatment, and horrible, that to someone it sounds right.

EDIT ORIAL ADMINI S TRATI ON ADVER TISING

sos.feedback@soundonsound.com admin@soundonsound.com paul.dacruz@soundonsound.com
SOUND ON SOUND NORTH AMERICA Tel: 707-569-6021
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1083 VINE STREET #727 Editorial Director Dave Lockwood Advertising Manager Paul DaCruz
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w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 3
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IN THIS ISSUE www.soundonsound.com

April 2021 / issue 6 / volume 36

FEATURES
WIN
102 Mixing With Pedals
R
E
O V

Why let guitarists have all the fun? Stompboxes can be

inspirational mixing tools.
C

110 Perfect Pads

Pads are the glue that holds entire genres of music together.
We look at how you can improve yours.

114 Mixing A Lockdown Project

ASTON
Bands are still recording music even though they can’t use
professional studios or play together — and this means new
ELEMENT
challenges for mix engineers. MICROPHONES
120 Binaural Recording WORTH $1590
Binaural recording offers an easy and effective way to capture PAGE 32
immersive audio.

138 Patrick Gleeson

Patrick Gleeson has probably done more than anyone else to 154 Inside Track: Mitch McCarthy
introduce synthesizers to popular music. Olivia Rodrigo stormed the charts earlier this year with her
breakthrough single ‘Drivers License’. LA’s rising star Mitch
144 Talkback McCarthy talks us through the mix.

166 Q&A
Niko Moon’s genre-bending music blends country and hip-hop.

146 Lostboy Your studio and recording questions answered.

170 Why I Love... Modern Instruments

The way pop music is made and consumed has changed
radically in the last few years. Pete Rycroft, aka Lostboy, has
adapted better than most. Kate Isaac weighs up the pros and cons of buying new.
 52 FLOCK AUDIO PATCH

ON TEST
10 zPlane PEEL 52 Flock Audio Patch 98 Delta Sound Labs Fold
Spatial Spectral Isolator EQ Plug-in Software-controlled Analogue Distortion Plug-in
Patchbay
12 Sony ECM-100U & ECM-100N 98 Electro-Harmonix Eddy
Small-diaphragm Capacitor 56 Modartt Pianoteq 7 Analogue Vibrato & Chorus Pedal
Microphones Modelled Virtual Piano
99 Krackle Killers
16 Template Mixing And Mastering 62 Black Lion Audio Revolution 2x2 Socket Cleaners
Book Review USB Audio Interface
99 Utility Design Vidami
20 Sugar Bytes DrumComputer 64 Fredenstein Artistic Plus Video Looper Pedal
Drum Machine App For iPad 500-series Modules
68 Orchestral Tools Berlin 100 Waves Abbey Road RS124
22 Powerwerks PW3X6BT Compressor Plug-in
Symphonic Strings
& PW110 Sample Library 162 Sample Libraries
Active PA System
74 Strymon NightSky Toontrack Electronic Edge EZX
24 Luftrum Bioscape Reverb Pedal Cymatic Form Acousmatic Engine
Sample Library Sudden Audio RAW Strings
78 2Box Speedlight
28 AVP Synth Ritmobox Electronic Drum Kit Soniccouture Celeste
Analogue Drum Machine
84 MiniDSP ambiMIK-1
34 Tasty Chips GR-1
Granular Synthesizer
Ambisonic Microphone WORKSHOPS
88 M-Audio Solo & Duo
40 McDSP Royal Mu, Royal Q USB Audio Interfaces
124 Digital Performer
& MC-3 90 UJAM Striiiings
APB Plug-ins Virtual Instrument
126 Studio One
Korg Nautilus 128 Live
44 94 Vox Valvenergy
Workstation Keyboard Amp-emulation Pedals 130 Pro Tools
50 Tierra Audio Gravity 96 Telefunken TF11 FET 134 Logic
Stereo VCA Compressor Cardioid Capacitor Microphone 136 Cubase
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 ON T E S T

zplane
PEEL
Spatial Spectral
Isolator EQ Plug-in
Ever wished you could pick
individual sounds out of
a stereo signal in real time?
JOHN WALDEN

W
hen I reviewed zplane’s
deCoda (SOS November
2020), I speculated whether
the company might further exploit the
potential of its Focus Mode options,
and their latest release, PEEL, which is
available for Mac and Windows in the
usual formats, does just that.
Before you even use it to isolate
any sounds, PEEL is a very useful
audio visualizer. Used as an insert on
any audio channel, the main display or otherwise of most DAWs is listed on Equally, if in addition to the mute and
maps in real-time the energy in the zplane’s website). But if yours doesn’t solo toggle for the defined rectangle, you
audio signal on spatial (horizontal) and support it, the workaround is simple: just could also adjust the gain up/down, this
frequency (vertical) axes. It’s similar to the duplicate your audio track once your would make it a doddle to tweak a vocal
Multipanorama option in Cubase’s new stereo/frequency range is defined and level by a dB or two in an existing mix.
Supervision audio analysis plug-in, but then toggle the two instances of PEEL to Oh, and it would be cool if you could
I found PEEL’s display easier to interpret. opposite mute/solo states. define your chosen stereo/frequency
You can instantiate multiple instances in It’s not difficult to see PEEL’s potential; space more precisely with a freehand
your project and colour-code the display there are lots of creative ways it could drawing tool too! Maybe those things will
of each, so you could use it for exploring be used in mixes, remixes and even, come in time but PEEL v.1 is already a very
masking or to visualise the differences in conceivably, live performances. The cool utility plug-in.
an audio signal before/after a processing rectangular selection range means that While PEEL doesn’t offer the
signal-chain. isolation is rarely perfect; sounds in sophistication of dedicated stem
But PEEL is capable of far more than a mixed signal usually have overlapping separation processors (as in the latest
metering alone. You can draw (and then elements in terms both of frequency versions of iZotope RX and Steinberg
resize or move) a rectangular box on the and stereo spread. But used with care SpectraLayers), it’s less expensive,
X-Y stereo-frequency display and then you can, for example, still tweak a vocal operates on real-time signals, and is
toggle of the box’s contents between level within a full mix without lots of nasty super-easy to use. The trial version allows
solo and mute. This has all sorts of side effects, and the isolation is certainly you to try before you buy, but it’s very
applications, from focusing your listening good enough that you can use PEEL to accessibly priced anyway, and I suspect
on a particular part of the audio to separate out a vocal or, say, a snare drum, PEEL will hold appeal for many.
attempting to isolate a musical element. to feed effects like reverb or delay.
You can also route the audio within There’s also some scope for zplane summary
the defined stereo/frequency range to to build further on PEEL in the future. A wonderfully easy-to-grasp way of
another audio track, which allows you to For example, the options to send separating sounds from mixed stereo signals
use your DAW to process the soloed and audio from multiple audio tracks into in real time.
muted parts of the signal separately. This a single instance, with each displayed
split audio routing isn’t fully supported in a different colour, would make this $ $51.54.
by all DAWs at present (the compatibility a wonderful tool for visualising masking. W https://products.zplane.de/peel

10 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Remote Controlled Microphone Preamplifier / ADC

This is simply the finest sounding, most capable mic preamplifier we have ever “It has a beautifully airy and detailed top end,
created. With 8 channels of beautifully transparent, musical preamplifier and A/D complemented by a solid, extended low end, and it all
conversion, it delivers unrivaled sonic performance with amazing flexibility. sounds completely effortless and transparent. Stereo
pairs delivered a very spacious and stable image and
Ethernet connectivity allows for remote control with our standalone computer the superb analogue headroom margin combined with
app or built-in web browser control from any computer or mobile device. MIDI high-resolution converters really delivered the goods.”
and serial ports provide control from Protools™ or existing m802 hardware remotes. —Hugh Robjohns, SOS January 2017
Front panel control is made simple by the bright OLED display GUI combined with
dedicated hardware switches and rotary encoders. “It was no surprise that the m108 sounded
phenomenal, as that is what we have come to expect
With incredible reliability and stunning audio performance, the m108 is the
from Grace Design. This being my first experience with
ultimate input solution for any modern recording setup.
the company’s A/D converters, I was optimistic, but they
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for low-latency monitoring • Optional Control Room stereo balanced out • 10 channel —Brandon Hickey, MIX Magazine
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 ON T E S T

Sony ECM-100
Small-diaphragm Capacitor Microphones
We put Sony’s classy ‘hi-res’ instrument mics to the test.

PAUL WHITE
took a dual-capsule approach to do so. fitted with the familiar balanced XLR
The capsule used in these ECM-100 connector. Both mics feature a low-cut

S
ony have an enviable reputation mics is in fact the same as that used filter switch and a -10dB pad switch
for producing high-end to capture the ultrasonics in the C100, to provide additional headroom when
microphones, and their range but is implemented here as a full-range working with very loud sound sources.
has recently been augmented by two capsule. This is rather smaller than that of Overall mic dimensions are 19 x 130 mm,
‘pencil mic’ models: the ECM-100U many other ‘stick’ mics, which probably with a weight of 130g. The standard of
unidirectional microphone and its accounts for both its extended frequency construction is all that we’d expect from
ECM-100N omnidirectional counterpart. response and its noise performance, Sony, with the entire mic being finished
Both use electret capacitor capsules, which I’ll comment on shortly. in black, which helps the mic ‘disappear’
which puts them alongside the likes There’s more engineering here than when used as part of a video broadcast
of DPA and Earthworks. Both models just the capsule design though, as the
are designed with a view to instrument microphone bodies utilise what Sony
recording in the studio, as well as having describe as a “two-part metallic structure”,
a frequency response intended to make originally employed in their seriously
the most of high-sample-rate recording. esoteric C800G microphone, to avoid
The ECM-100 microphone capsule acoustic vibration. This body houses
is designed with a flat response and the transformerless electronics and is
covers frequencies from 20Hz up to an
astonishing 50kHz. This isn’t the first
Sony mic to reach such highs — their
previous C100, reviewed in February
2018 (see http://sosm.ag/sony-c100), had
a similarly extended frequency response,
but was even more unusual in that it

12 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T
S O N Y EC M - 10 0

performance. Each is supplied in a case resonances have also been pushed way
with a mic holder, windscreen and a stand beyond the audio range, which perhaps
screw adaptor (W3/8 to NS5/8). accounts for the natural, focussed sound
Looking at the specs for the of these microphones and may be
ECM-100U, only the inherent noise more relevant than their ability to pick
figure of 21dB (0dB SPL = 20μPa) causes up frequencies that only your pet bat
a raised eyebrow. While not excessively might appreciate.
high by any means, one might have I tried both mics on a range of
expected a microphone that reaches instruments including acoustic guitar,
such technical heights in other areas tin whistle and a tongue drum, the
to have been a little quieter. It is of latter to check out their credentials
course normal that smaller-diaphragm on harmonically complex, percussive
microphones have a higher noise sounds. In all cases I got back an
floor than large-diaphragm models (it’s extremely faithful rendition of the
all tied to the physics), but there are sound source with very natural,
quieter competitors including some of un-hyped-sounding highs. This aspect
the Earthworks models. The maximum of their performance could prove a real
SPL handling is 142dB, which yields benefit when recording violins and other
a dynamic range of around 121dB and bowed instruments, which produce
a signal-to-noise ratio of better than a lot of high-frequency information.

“I tried both mics on a range of instruments...

In all cases I got back an extremely faithful
rendition of the sound source with very natural,
un-hyped-sounding highs.”
73dB A-weighted (1kHz 1Pa). Sensitivity is Sonically, the two models correlate
specified as -41dB, where 0dB = 1V/Pa at very well, though differences are to
1kHz. While many electret microphones be expected based on the recording
run happily at a reduced phantom power environment as the omni model naturally
voltage, these mics require standard picks up more room ambience. Used in
phantom power in the 44 to 52 V range. stereo configurations, the mics deliver
The ECM-100N omnidirectional model very predictable results, and their
boasts similar specifications and external specifications are tight enough that you
styling, other than of course the polar don’t need to seek out matched pairs.
pattern, and the lack of side vents around Going back to that noise figure, at no
the capsule that give the ECM-100U point during my testing did microphone
its directivity. noise become an issue, and I’m sure
this would be the case for any number
Natural Highs of studio recording situations using
While you’d need to be running at a high familiar instruments. I’m a great believer
sample rate to take full advantage of in assessing what a product is good for
the extended frequency response of rather than picking away at shortcomings
these microphones, their overall quality that have little or no impact in normal
is still very apparent at 44.1 or 48 kHz. At use, and I have to say that these two
higher sample rates a spectrum analyser microphones produce natural-sounding
shows that frequencies an octave or results pretty much regardless of what
more beyond the human hearing range you point them at. It may be that their Both mics feature pad and filter switches; the
are still being picked up, and while strengths would be best appreciated by cardioid ECM-100U is visually identifiable by the
slotted ports underneath the capsule.
there are arguments as to whether this those recording classical instruments, but
high-frequency content really makes they also deliver reliable and musically
a practical difference or not, there are satisfying results on instruments summary
other benefits in extending the audio more commonly found in pop music These are excellent all-round instrument
range. While most capacitor microphones productions. Given that the street mics that you can rely on to deliver first-class
run into resonances at the very top of price often offers a significant saving results in the majority of studio applications.
their frequency range, the extended on the RRP, they’re also very sensibly
responses of these two microphones priced for microphones that set such $ ECM-100U $899, ECM-100N $999
would suggest that any untoward a high bar. W https://pro.sony

14 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
The Gold Standard for Professional Audio.
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Nuendo 11 is the gold standard for professional audio production.

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All specifications are subject to change without notice. Copyright © 2020 Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All rights reserved.
 ON T E S T

Template Mixing
PAUL TINGEN

I
n our January 2018 Inside
Track feature (http://sosm.

And Mastering
ag/inside-track-0118), Billy
Decker explained that he
could mix hit songs in 45
minutes. He wasn’t joking. But
while he explained a lot about
how his DAW template and
being based in Nashville (his Book Review
main focus is country music)
helped him mix so quickly, he Can you mix a hit record in 45 minutes? Billy
left many of us scratching our Decker can, and in this book he tells you how!
heads. Was it really possible?
And if so, how?
Nearly three years later,
Decker has teamed up with
journalist Simon Taylor to In the chapters Drums and Instruments,
release a book, Template Decker goes through his settings for
Mixing and Mastering: The drums (he always replaces the kick with
Ultimate Guide to Achieving a three samples, and explains exactly how),
Professional Sound (Crowood bass, acoustic guitar left, acoustic guitar
Press, ISBN: 9781785007491), right, electric guitar left and right, steel
and in its easy-to-read, nicely guitar, piano, organ, and synthesizer 1 and
illustrated 128 pages he gives 2. The heavy focus on these instruments
us much more detail. Decker immediately points to one of the possible
explains that he started looking limitations of the template described in
for a faster approach to mixing the book: it’s tailored to live instruments
because he wanted to be able and country. Decker recognises this, and
to spend more time with his suggests that his template “contains all the
family, and in general enjoy common elements found in popular music
a life outside the studio — a and can be used for anything from pop to
desire with which most of metal”. But the fact that only half a page of
us can probably identify! He 10 in the Instrument chapter is dedicated
reiterates the claim that he can to synths shows that electronic sounds
now mix songs in 45 minutes simply are not a priority in his world — a
to an hour, but adds that he pop mixer will still find inspiration, but will
mixes a mind-boggling 1000 certainly want to adapt the template.
songs a year. These aren’t just This book is accessible and engaging,
minor projects: Decker has with plenty of pithy one-liners that make
mixed 16 number-one hit songs serious and thought-provoking points. For
and his mixes have sold 25 example: “View the mute button as your
million records! Importing Audio and Gain Staging, Decker and friend and the solo button as your enemy,
Despite the Taylor take the reader through every detail required to be avoided at all costs,” and, “We are
attention-grabbing 45-minute to duplicate Decker’s template exactly — or to not trying to put men or women on the
claim, Decker’s approach Deckerate, as they call it. moon, we are just trying to put them on
to professional mixing is Decker stresses that to mix efficiently you should the radio.” Even if you don’t go wholesale
serious, and not aimed purely have a thorough knowledge of your DAW software for “the Deckerway,” there’s much to
at speed but also achieving and that you must “learn how to play your DAW learn from the methods, observations and
high-quality and consistent like an instrument.” To that end, he insists that you opinions in this book, and it should be
results as efficiently as should read your DAW’s manual cover to cover essential reading for anyone interested
possible. It took him close before looking for information on the Internet. He in improving their mixing skills, and
to 20 years to fine-tune the uses Pro Tools as an example, but makes it clear that streamlining their working methods.
mixing template that he takes “it’s the ear, not the gear” and that the specific DAW
the reader through here in or plug-ins you use don’t really matter. Interestingly,
summary
painstaking detail, including he also discourages focusing on “time-consuming An essential read for anyone who wants to
each plug-in setting for each tasks such as colouring tracks for specific instrument improve their mixing or mix more efficiently.
instrument. With chapter titles groups, renaming tracks or using complicated bus
like Building Your Template, routing,” which interviews suggest many other $ Paperback $22.03. Kindle $11.80.
The Master Channel, and big-name mixers find essential. W www.crowood.com

16 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON T E S T

JOHN WALDEN

S
ugar Bytes’ impressive
virtual instrument
product line — whether
on desktop or iOS — never
fails to combine the deep,
powerful and creative with
just a touch of madness.
As such, they might not be
to everyone’s taste but, if
experimental electronic music
making is what you do, then
a dollop of Sugar Bytes might
well be in order.

Feature Rich
DrumComputer for iPad is
a full port of the desktop
instrument. That means you
get an eight-channel drum
synthesizer (eight separate
engines layering resonator,
wavetable/analogue oscillator
and resynth/sampler sound
sources with an impressive

Sugar Bytes
collection of presets), choke
group configuration, powerful
modulation options, filter,
compressor, overdrive,

DrumComputer
reverb and mastering effects,
a 16-step pattern sequencer
with multiple controller lanes
for each of the eight drum
channels, humanise and
swing, comprehensive sound
and pattern randomisation,
Drum Machine App For iPad
fill generation, and MIDI Sugar Bytes bring their powerful drum machine to iPad.
and audio export. For this
iPad version, the app can the Sequencer page and (via the ‘stripy downward just slightly mad, it’s enormously fun to
run standalone or as an arrow’ button) the pattern and sound mapping use. For EDM, any form of electronica, or
AUv3 plug-in and includes controls for triggering via MIDI. There is a heck of modern film and TV soundtracks, it would
Ableton Link support as a lot to get your head around; this is a deep and make a great addition to any producer’s
well as MIDI Learn and powerful instrument. toolkit. It will not be for every iOS music
host-based automation. However, before you get intimidated by what is maker but, as it’s a free download (with
If that already sounds undoubtedly a steep learning curve, exploring the an IAP to unlock the full feature), at least
like a lot of features, then presets without touching anything else will quickly everyone could give it a try. This is as
the somewhat ‘busy’ nature convince you that this is a seriously capable drum much fun as I can ever recall having with
of the interface will come synth. However, given the comprehensive set of full a drum synth. DrumComputer for iPad is
as no surprise; minimalist it kit (with patterns) and sound presets, if you start by fabulous stuff... indeed, so good that I’m
is not. You can access the just exploring the hugely creative, and often inspiring, now off to buy the desktop version.
different areas of functionality range of randomisation options — for full kits,
via the tab buttons that run individual sounds, patterns and modulation — you summary
across the screen just below might never need to do more than fine tune a few
its centre. This includes the parameters to taste. DrumComputer for iPad is typically Sugar
Bytes; powerful, hugely creative and with
detailed synthesis engine more than a hint of madness. There is
controls for each of the eight
Conclusion
undoubtedly a learning curve but EDM music
channels of sound synthesis, DrumComputer for iPad captures everything that makers will find lots to love.
a ‘kit’ overview with some is so characteristic of a Sugar Bytes product. It’s
sound macro controls (and head-scathingly deep, amazingly powerful, sonically $ Full version $26.99.
sound randomisation options), impressive and massively creative. And, despite being W www.sugar-bytes.de

20 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

Powerwerks Active PA System

PW3X6BT & PW110
PAUL WHITE If you’re looking for a compact, scalable system for outdoor events,
this affordable rig may be just the ticket.

M
ost of us are
lamenting the between a conventional box and The PW3X6BT has an integrated mixer section,
scarcity of gigs at the a line array. Its cabinet appears to which can accommodate two mic/line sources plus
a stereo backing-track feed, via either Bluetooth or
moment, but the prospect of be made of 18mm wood-composite
mini-jack.
some smaller-scale outdoor material and is covered in textured
events in pub gardens and vinyl, with a perforated metal grill full 48V to operate. There’s a master volume
the like is inching closer, and protecting the entire front. A side control, a high-pass-filtered output to feed
that’s a scenario for which the strap handle is fitted for carrying a sub, a TRS balanced monitor output and
Powerwerks PW3X6BT is well and the overall build feels solid a pair of in and out Link XLRs, which create
suited. It can be used on its and reassuring. a bus between two columns so that both
own for a solo performer/duo Its three six-inch drivers sit mixers feed both speakers. When a jack is
working with backing tracks; it below a one-inch neodymium inserted into the sub output, a high-pass filter
can be used in pairs for stereo compression driver feeding into (variable between 20 and 150 Hz) is activated
operation; or, where more a flared horn, a combination which to reduce the amount of low-frequency energy
low end is needed, it can be allows the system to cover 65Hz reaching the speakers in the column, which
teamed up with one or two of to 20kHz in a fairly compact (240 helps it achieve maximum clean SPL.
Powerwerks’ matching 10-inch x 205 x 730 mm) and portable The Class-D amplifier delivers 300W
or 12-inch subwoofers. (13.15kg) format. Standard (peak) and the maximum SPL is specified at
One interesting thing about pole mounts are fitted to the 125dB. The documentation tells us that the
the PW3X6BT is its column cabinet bases. system equalisation is “inspired by the natural
format, which falls somewhere response of studio monitors”, and tailored to
In The Box be pleasing to the ears over hours of listening.
As with many modern PA speakers Certainly the tonal quality sounds more hi-fi
aimed at gigging musicians, this one is than most typical ‘one-driver-plus-tweeter’ PA boxes,
active and includes a digital mixer with especially in the critical midrange.
reverb, plus the ability to stream music
via Bluetooth (Bluetooth 3 compliant),
PW110
the latter feature being handy for playing Finished in the same tidy vinyl as the column and
back interlude music or backing tracks. sporting a similar metal grille to the PW3X6BT, the
There’s even a pair of USB power outputs PW110 subwoofer features a pole-mount socket on its
for charging your phones or powering top and a side-mounted strap handle. It is a low, squat
your tablet. affair measuring 453 x 332 x 567 mm, and it weighs
All the mixer controls are on the rear a manageable 22.5kg. Looking through the grille, the
panel, where you’ll find two mic/line front-facing woofer and two ports are visible.
channels and one aux channel that can The sub includes the necessary low-pass filtering
be fed either from a stereo mini-jack or via to cross over correctly with the tops. Power comes
Bluetooth. All three channels have Hi, Low from a 200W Class-D amplifier, and the response (after
and Volume controls, and there’s a choice the internal filtering) is 35 to 150 Hz. There are no
of four onboard effects that can be added controls other than a level control and a power switch.
to channels one and two via rotary effects Power comes in via an IEC connector and audio via
sends. The effects options are Room a quarter-inch jack, which is wired in parallel with a link
Reverb, Hall Reverb, Chorus+Reverb and jack for feeding the signal to further subs. There is
Delay+Reverb. a larger PW112 sub available, which comes equipped
Channels 1 and 2 can be fed from either with a 12-inch driver, but according to the spec sheet,
XLRs (mic) or quarter-inch jacks (line). There that covers the same frequency range and has the same
is a phantom power option for the mic amplifier power.
inputs, though this only provides 15V, so
you may find that only back-electret-type
In Use
capacitor mics work correctly as many My first test was to use a single PW3X6BT without the
conventional capacitor mics require the sub, for a Halloween event under a canvas shelter

22 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 perhaps just a little harshness when heard either need two subs or accept that the bass
close up. These tests were done with the contribution will only come from one side of
EQ set flat using commercial backing tracks, the stereo mix. This won’t be a big problem
so there’s always the option to tweak the with most material as bass and drum sounds
EQ to suit specific situations. I did find that tend to be panned to the centre, but if using
one of my iOS devices, when connected to it as a DJ system, you might come across
one of the USB charging sockets, produced some material that was mixed oddly, with
a noticeable level of background noise, so the result that the bass balance might be
I switched to battery power for the actual a bit off for some tracks.
performance. To sum up, the portability, clarity and
The matching PW110 sub is based around
a 10-inch bass driver, and can handle crossover Adding the sub filled out the low end pricing of these components make it
duties when paired with a PW3X6BT top. in a pleasing way, providing around one possible to configure a system to suit
more octave of bass without sounding your needs for relatively little outlay. The
outside a local pub, using the system for overbearing, while at the same time build quality is also impressive for the
backing tracks plus a Line 6 HX Stomp lightening the load on the columns. I found price, so my only reservation is the 15V
guitar pedal. A couple of my musician friends that I needed the volume control on the phantom power.  
attended and commented that the sound sub to be around three quarters of the
quality was impressively clear and also way up to give the most natural sound. summary
adequately loud. Certainly I was impressed Use both columns and you have a neat
A practical and affordable range of
by the general clarity and musicality of these and affordable PA system well-suited to
components that can be configured for solo
speakers, especially given their extremely applications where a healthy sound level acts, duos, DJs or bands.
modest cost. The claim that they sound is needed. Note however that, unlike most
more like studio monitors than typical PA systems where the sub takes a stereo
$ PW3X6BT $399.99, PW110 $319.99.
speakers is not unjustified, though to my feed and then handles crossover duties,
Prices are per speaker.
ears they have a bit more presence at the including feeding a suitably filtered signal T Powerwerks +1 866 817 3822
high end. This actually helps the sound to the tops, these subs work from a single E cs@powerwerks.com
remain clear at a distance, at the expense of input, so if you want to work in stereo you W www.powerwerks.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 23
 ON T E S T

Luftrum Bioscape
JOHN WALDEN

A
imed primarily at media composers,
there are now a good number of
Kontakt-based virtual instruments
that are built upon the concept of blending Sample Library
multiple samples. Luftrum’s Lunaris
(reviewed in the November 2017 issue of
Luftrum offer some found sounds as a cure for lost inspiration.
SOS) is one such example, allowing the user
to blend up to four sample-based sound
sources to create some fabulous evolving
pad-style sounds. With composers always
looking for fresh sonic inspiration, Luftrum’s
latest offering in this field, Bioscape, may
well appeal.

Bioscape Bio
Bioscape combines a 4.5GB sample library
and a Kontakt front end that allows you to
blend up to four of the underlying sounds
(the sound slots are labelled A to D and
arranged as two pairs), while also applying
powerful sound-shaping and modulation
options. Interestingly, Bioscape’s underlying
sample base is built almost entirely from
field recordings and ‘found sound’. So, if you
like the idea of building musical sounds from
cactus needles played with a bow, fluttering
bird’s wings, radio static, ice melting in
a bottle, waterfalls, cityscapes, steampunk
equipment or wind vibrating anything from
leaves to wind harps, then Bioscape might
well appeal.
The UI feels pretty sleek and (mostly!)
intuitive. Indeed, while it shares some
underlying features with Lunaris, I think
Bioscape’s take of the front-end is a cleaner
and clearer one. The core controls are split
across three main screens — Modulation, Modulation page offers four sequencers, itself. It’s also worth noting that, if importing
Main and Effects — and you can switch three LFOs and both Mod Wheel and rhythmic samples (such as percussion
between these using the tab buttons Aftertouch options, that can be used to loops), Bioscape doesn’t automatically
located towards the base of the UI. I’ll come bring movement to your sounds and are tempo-match samples to your project so
back to the Main screen in a minute, but the very easy to use. The Effects options include you would need to do that yourself before
chorus, phaser, distortion, EQ, delay and importing. Still, I’ll happily take what I can
Luftrum Bioscape a ‘timestop’ effect (sets the speed of sample get; sample drag and drop opens up all
playback within each sample slot), all of sorts of sound design possibilities using the
$159 which can have separate configurations for Bioscape engine.
PROS sound slots pairs AB and CD. There is also
• Interesting collection of underlying a global reverb.
In The Blender
‘found sound’ samples. Once you have exhausted the The Main page is where the samples within
• Well-featured and flexible front-end.
• Ability to drag and drop your own
possibilities of the underlying sample the four sound slots can be blended. The
source samples. base (which will take some time), rather upper half of the display can be toggled
wonderfully, you can also drag and drop between showing controls for either
CONS your own samples into any of Bioscape’s sounds slots A and B or C and D. You get
• None.
sound slots. This capitalises on new independent ADSR sets for the amplitude
SUMMARY elements of the Kontakt 6.2 (and higher) and filter envelopes for each sound slot as
Bioscape combines a novel set of specification but it’s a significant inclusion. In well as pan, tuning, velocity and keytracking
underlying sample sources with use, dragging and dropping samples from options in each case. In the mini-waveform
a well-designed front end and powerful
sound design features. Well worth
my desktop file browser worked a treat but, displays you can choose between different
exploring by media composers looking on my Cubase Pro/OS X system at least, playback options (normal, reverse, looped,
for some fresh sonic inspiration. I couldn’t drop samples from within Cubase etc) and also define the playback starting

24 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Not all controllers are equal.

UF8 is the culmination of SSL’s 40+ year legacy of mastering

production workflows and studio ergonomics, built into
generations of classic SSL consoles.

Designed for modern production workflows and ultra-fast

turnaround times, UF8 advanced DAW controller connects
engineers, producers and artists directly to their creative process.

#WhatWillYouCreate
www.solidstatelogic.com/UF8
 ON T E S T
LUF TRUM BIOSCAPE

The Modulation options are both easy to use and

very creative.
point and loop region. This was perhaps
the only bit of the UI I found initially a bit
confusing and the PDF manual could
perhaps do with a more comprehensive
explanation of these particular functions.
There are some cool features here.
Bottom centre of the screen is the XY pad
and, as in similar ‘sound blending’ virtual
instruments, this allows you to change
the blend between the four sound slots.
This can be done under manual control
but also by recording (automating) the
‘motion’ of the cursor. This allows you add
lots of extended evolution to things like
pad or texture sounds. However, as well
as recording the motion within the XY
pad, you can also record motion for the
three ‘Quick Modulation’ and three ‘Quick
Effects’ controls located either side of the
XY pad. The targets of the motion are user
configurable and this element of the UI is
super-easy to use when you want to add
some further motion to your sounds.
Immediately above the XY pad is the
Mutate panel. Luftrum refer to this as ‘DNA
mutation’ and you can pick two different
types of mutation that will essentially
transform the existing preset to create
a variant of it. While the labels are quite
fun — add a little Dark Carbon or Frozen
Lifeform to your sound — it is essentially
a means to subtly randomise the properties
of your patch. No, not all mutation
experiments will be successful but, when
you are simply looking for sonic inspiration,
it’s nice to have the option. And, providing
you save your patch as a Kontakt Snapshot
first, you can undo your mutations by
emptying the two slots.

The Sound Of The Bioscape

So how does Bioscape sound? Well,
really very good indeed. The impressive
300+ presets (with more on the way in
Bioscape offers separate effects processing for the two sound slot pairs as well as a global reverb.
a forthcoming update apparently, along with
the ability to re-size the UI) have plenty to from soothing and subtle to downright dark Whether the novelty of the field
offer. Using the Kontakt Snapshot system, and scary so you could use the instrument recordings as a sample base is enough to
they are divided into themed categories in a wide range of musical contexts. suck you in, given the design of the UI and
including Dronescapes, Effects, Pads, It’s not all pads, though;the Playables the sound design features on offer, Bioscape
Pulses, Textures, Playables and an ASMR category also shows that Bioscape is is more than capable of holding its own
(autonomous sensory meridian response) perfectly capable of providing melodic against some of the obvious (and pricier)
section that will appeal to those creating elements to your compositions. The Pulses competition. It sounds great, it’s easy to use
relaxation and/or meditation soundscapes. category Snapshots make good use of the and it’s also very competitively priced. It
For more conventional composing tasks, modulation options (especially the step perhaps won’t appeal to every music maker,
there are some beautiful — and very organic sequencer) so that you can add rhythmic but for those involved in scoring to picture,
sounding — pads, textures and drones. elements that sync to your project. Finally, Bioscape is well worth auditioning.
This kind of extended, evolving, sound is the Effects category gets you into sound
definitely one of Bioscape’s strong suits. effects design territory and has some great $ $159
That said, the presets in these categories go sounds for your next sci-fi or horror score. W www.luftrum.com

26 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 beautifully honest

“For me, the best

speakers have to
sound great without
hiding a thing.
Amphions do
exactly that.”

Finneas O’Connell

One12 One15 One18 Two15 Two18

Amphion Loudspeakers Ltd. | Kuopio, Finland | Tel: +358 17 2882 100 | @AmphionLoudspeakers | info@amphion.fi | amphion.fi
 ON T E S T

RORY DOW

B
ack in the July 2020 issue of SOS,
I reviewed the ADS Synths ADS-7
MkII, a no-nonsense Russian
analogue drum machine which won me
over with its raw sounds and old-school
approach. The Ritmobox is a slimmer
version of the ADS-7 MkII. A few nips
and tucks have been made, but the basic
premise remains the same — rough and
rugged analogue drums, a simple but
effective sequencer, individual outputs
and rock-solid build quality.
The Ritmobox’s front panel layout is
simple. There is one knob per function,
plus a series of buttons for programming
the sequencer. There are five voices
comprising three flexible ‘generators’
plus open and closed hi-hats. Round the
back are MIDI In and Out on five-pin DIN
connectors, 12V AC power supply socket,
(mono) mix and headphone outputs on
quarter-inch sockets, and five individual
3.5mm audio outputs.

Fire Up The Generator

AVP Synth
The main synthesis voice available is
the Generator. There are three to play
with and each has nine parameters plus
a level control. The circuit has two parts,

Ritmobox
an oscillator and a noise generator, which
can be mixed together. The oscillator is
a fixed waveform which is somewhere
between a sawtooth and a triangle. It
can be tuned from sub-sonic frequencies
through to around 650Hz and you can
sweep the pitch of the oscillator for Analogue Drum Machine
classic kick drum pitch drops. For extra
tonal variation, there is also basic FM,
The Ritmobox is a no-nonsense drum machine
with a second lower-frequency oscillator with a solid analogue sound.
acting as the modulator. Most of the
range of this second oscillator is low to the attack of any sound and can even can’t remove enough harmonics for
frequency, so lots of wibbles and wobbles be used by itself by tuning the oscillator smooth 808-style room-shakers because
emerge, but it does go up into audio so low that it’s no longer audible. the oscillator always has those sawtooth
frequencies, which makes for some nice In order to help with tonal shaping of harmonics poking through. However, they
FM kicks, lasers and techno percussion. the final sound there is a filter, but it only do pack a lot of raw analogue punch and
The noise section offers a white noise has two settings. Effectively this is a tone are capable of producing everything from
generator through a bandpass filter. The control with high and low settings. The kick drums, snares, noise blasts, hi-hats,
filter frequency is adjustable, allowing low setting can be used to roll off some of cymbals, laser sweeps and analogue
frequency ranges that will cover snares, the high-end frequencies caused by the effects. And whilst they aren’t quite as
claps and hi-hats. It doesn’t go low oscillator, FM and noise. It feels of limited flexible as the ADS-7 MkII’s Generators,
enough for any cinematic explosions or use, and although I would rather have it which have 12 parameters compared to
deep rumbles, which seems a shame, than not, I feel like a sweepable low-pass nine here, the FM capability is something
but as a layering element, with low filter on the synth section would have that the ADS-7 MkII didn’t have and so
frequencies provided by the oscillator, helped a lot. adds something a little unique.
there is plenty of scope. Overall, the Generators are very
For extra transients on kick drums and flexible analogue drum circuits. They
Doff Your Hi-hat
percussion, a short pulse can be mixed have a ‘synthy’ sound to them, which The remaining two voices are dedicated
in with the oscillator and noise elements. I attribute to the sawtooth-like oscillator to open and closed hi-hats. They are
This helps greatly with adding extra punch waveform. Without a proper filter, you identical except that the open circuit has

28 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T
AV P S Y N T H RITMOBOX

Currently available in black or a militaristic green, the Ritmobox’s back

panel features MIDI I/O ports, headphone and audio outs on quarter-inch
jacks, and individual audio outputs on 3.5mm sockets.

a longer decay range. As far as I can

tell, these are the same circuits
used by the ADS-7 MkII. Like
the Generators, there
is a tonal and noise
element that can
be mixed. The tonal
element is fixed
pitch and sounds
a little like a metallic
CR-78 hi-hat. The noise
element is a soft pure noise with
band-pass filtering, allowing you to go
from chunky to anaemic.
Interestingly, the closed hat does not
choke the open hat. This was a switchable
option on the ADS-7 MkII, but it seems
that the designers at ADS Synth decided
to leave that off the Ritmobox and remove the five voices or mute instruments presence to the sounds that is difficult
chocking altogether. I’m not sure how whilst your pattern plays back. There to recreate on a drum machine with
I feel about that decision, but I suppose are 16 save slots for sequences and a more modern design. The individual
plenty of ’70s analogue drum machines these can be loaded, edited and saved outputs also means there’s a lot of scope
did fine without it. all whilst the sequencer is playing. for blending the sounds afterwards. Pair
Whilst 16 sequences might be enough the Ritmobox with some good effects,
The Sequencer for a song or two, you’re unlikely to be maybe a distortion pedal, an analogue
The only digital part of the Ritmobox is doing an entire gig with it unless you’re delay, or a side-chain compressor and
its sequencer. It has 16 steps, although it improvising a lot. With a bit of practice I guarantee you a sound you won’t find
is programmed in two eight-step ‘halves’. you can program, edit and perform easily in-the-box.
Depending on your preference, a single live, and although the sequencer only At the same time, the scaled down
sequence can contain two eight-step provides triggers, there is much fun nature of the Ritmobox, when compared
sequences or one 16-step sequence. to be had programming and tweaking with the ADS-7 MkII, leaves us with fewer
If you decide the former, you can use sounds live. This is about as simple as options. I miss the dedicated kick drum
a button to switch between the two a drum machine sequencer can get channel of the ADS-7 MkII. The clap was
eight-step sequences at any time, which is — no velocity, no parameter automation, killer too. And the sequencer, which was
useful for fill patterns thrown in on the fly. no track lengths or even pattern length not complex to start with, now seems so
The eight step keys, as well beyond eight or 16. And, unlike the simplistic that I wonder if it was worth
as providing X0X-style pattern ADS-7 MkII, there appears to be no way including at all.
programming, can also be used to trigger to back up sequences via SysEx. If you already have a good
If this seems too simplistic, the complement of drum machines in your
Ritmobox can be sequenced externally. arsenal, I think the Ritmobox will fit right
AVP Synth Ritmobox MIDI input allows for triggering the five in. As a second or third machine, it will
€550 voices. Just like the internal sequencer, add a chunky analogue percussion
PROS however, there is no velocity or parameter flavour to any song, but it doesn’t feel like
• Great analogue sounds. automation. But at least you’ll be able to it can stand on its own like the ADS-7 MkII
• Individual outputs for each voice. sequence patterns longer than 16 steps. does. There isn’t enough in the way of
• Tough-as-nails build quality. The sequencer will also automatically voices, variety or sequencing options for
CONS sync to MIDI clock if detected at the MIDI it to play a main role.
• Very simplistic sequencer. input. If you want CV trigger inputs, you’ll If this makes me sound like I don’t like
need to upgrade to the ADS-7 MkII. it, banish that thought. I like the Ritmobox
SUMMARY
a lot. The raw sound, the individual
The Ritmobox retains a lot of the Conclusion outputs, the one-knob-per-function
rugged, no-nonsense, analogue charm
of its bigger brother, the ADS-7 MkII. It The Ritmobox could easily be dismissed and the feeling that you’ve bought an
is unashamedly inspired by ’70s drum for its simplicity. In fact, it is difficult not instrument that will still be working in 30
machines so don’t expect complex to focus on the lack of velocity support, years are all worth the asking price.
sequencing or deep MIDI integration.
or accent, or any kind of parameter
However, if you have a penchant for
solid, synth-style, analogue percussion, automation beyond grabbing a knob $ €550
it will certainly deliver. and turning it. But there is a robust, solid W www.avpsynth.com

30 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 C OM PE T I T ION

Win!

Aston Element
Microphones
Worth $1590
B
ritish microphone brand Aston were only
founded in 2015, but in that short space
of time they’ve shown themselves to be
a highly innovative company. Their debut mic, the
Origin, pioneered a spring-like basket construction,
designed to minimise HF resonances and provide
shock protection to the capsule, while their Starlight
small-diaphragm model was the first-ever microphone
to be fitted with a laser, for quick and repeatable
microphone positioning.
More recently, Aston have branched out into
dynamic designs, with the remarkably versatile Stealth
(which featured a range of different voicing options)
and their new Element, which was created with the
help of a hugely ambitious multi-stage blind listening
test, in which thousands of members of the public took
part. Essentially, Aston put a prototype of the Element
up against a number of market-leading microphones,
and then asked the public which mic sounded best,
across a range of sources. This process was repeated
several times, with Aston refining the mic’s frequency
response with each iteration, before finally settling on
a design that outperformed all of the competition.
The results were impressive, as we discovered
in our review of the Element in November last year
(see https://sosm.ag/aston-element). SOS Executive
Editor Paul White found it did a fantastic job on
everything he put it up against, and also that the
Element’s unusually extended HF meant it provided
a similar ‘airy’ quality to his go-to capacitor mics,
but without the brittle harshness that SDCs often
exhibit. That it comes with an integrated pop filter and
shockmount is just the icing on the cake!
For this month’s competition, Aston are kindly
giving away not just one, but a whopping eight Aston
Element microphones, to eight lucky readers. All
you have to do to enter is follow the link shown, and
answer the questions there, by Friday 7th May 2021.
To enter, please visit: Good luck!  

https://sosm.ag/astoncompapr21 Prizes kindly donated by Yorkville

W www.yorkville.com
W www.astonmics.com

32 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

Tasty Chips GR-1

Granular Synthesizer things down. The most recent models ship
with 20GB of internal flash storage for
The Tasty Chips GR-1 makes granular synthesis samples and patches, but USB sticks can
more approachable than ever. handle much more.
Although I suggested the term ‘granular
PAUL NAGLE
headphone jack (with volume control), synthesizer’ carries an air of mystery,
along with MIDI In and Thru sockets, once you get beyond grain creation, the

F
oremost in my memories of an Ethernet port, (currently only used architecture becomes fairly standard;
Synthfest 2017 was the Tasty Chips for firmware updates) and a quartet of it includes a multimode filter, envelope
GR-1 granular synthesizer. It looked USB connections. shaping, LFOs and even a modulation
striking, took an alternative approach to Perhaps the biggest advantage matrix. There are limited effects too
sound generation and I made a mental in catching up with the GR-1 today, — delay, reverb and so on — but only a pair
note to get my hands on one. Age and rather than when it was released, is of assignable knobs with which to address
decrepitude stretched this resolution the inclusion of sampling. But without the filter, effects or sub oscillator.
to near-farcical levels, but my dithering an audio input, how can this be? The Whether sampling or importing, the
has racked up one bonus. Thanks to answer is that the Raspberry Pi3 living GR-1 can only deal with mono samples,
a series of updates, the GR-1 has matured in the box is capable of addressing USB which are subject to a maximum length of
considerably since its first appearance. audio devices. If you add one of these, 10MB — around two minutes. This rules out
Without further ado, let’s... sampling becomes possible. working with gratuitously long recordings
Making use of existing technology as on, say, the Bastl Microgranny or the
Grab A Grainy seems like a smart move. The Raspberry 1010music BlackBox. However, the Tasty
The panel’s ‘granular synthesizer’ Pi is a powerful, generally known and Chips take on granular is a world away
proclamation is exciting and maybe slightly serviceable piece of hardware. More from either of those.
mysterious. The granular process breaks importantly, its presence means the Tasty The GR-1 can be played and sequenced
audio into small pieces — grains — before Chips team are free to concentrate on like any MIDI synth and I’m pleased
familiar shaping and processing techniques the fun stuff — coding. However, it does to report all important parameters are
can be applied. The GR-1 puts the size, impose certain restrictions, eg. the choice accessible via MIDI CCs, with clock
shape and number of grains where they of screen colours and the behaviour of synchronisation added where it makes
can be easily controlled, using knobs, the USB audio drivers. sense to do so. Joining the traditional 5-pin
sliders and buttons. The emphasis is on Most of the computery stuff is variety is USB MIDI and should you require
tweakability and instant feedback. quite unobtrusive. There’s an internal higher than 7-bit resolution, NRPNs are
Taking pride of place on the white, fan which, so far, I’ve only heard at supported, as is CV.
slightly inclined aluminium box is a sharp power-on. Apparently at high ambient The two Eurorack-sized (3.5mm) inputs
7-inch colour display. The hardware temperatures, or when you’re taxing the are practically begging to be plumbed into
also sports a stereo output and a mini processor, it could be called upon to cool your favourite analogue sources, while the

34 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
Gate output could, for example, gate an manually every session or regularly copy all envelope. Ditto the pitch knob, which
external envelope. Here I should say that your patches to performance1. sweeps smoothly with a range of an octave
the onboard digital filter operates rather like either way. Naturally you can transpose
the reverb and other effects, ie. it’s a ‘patch
My Grains much further via MIDI. If shift is engaged,
blanket’ rather than operating per voice. Courtesy of the Size knob, grains can the envelope sliders vary the pitch of the
Therefore, in most cases, you won’t lose range from 5 to 5000 ms (5s) in length, manually triggered voices, over just an
anything by drafting in an external filter. with those extended times lifting the GR-1 octave at present. To muddy the waters
past typical granular textures and into slightly, the same sliders can optionally
Getting Started audio looping territory. The second main serve as level controls for the voices or
At each power-up the contents of folder control is Density; this governs the rate multitimbral parts.
performance1 are automatically loaded. As at which grains are generated — from Understanding that the conventional
shipped this contains example patches/ between 0.1 and 1,000 per second — up to polyphony is 11 voices and with up to 128
presets, with the term preset referring a ‘polyphony’ limit of 128 grains per voice. grains spawned for each voice, there’s
to a stored patch (a rather nebulous Regular polyphony is a healthy 11 notes. potentially a lot of audio hurtling around.
distinction). It’s well worth auditioning Visually, you’re presented with lonely It should come as no surprise that you
a few of these to demo the type of sounds chunks drifting by on screen, becoming can therefore overwork the processor,
granular excels at — and to get a feel a bustling storm as you crank up the especially if you set the density high and
for the controls. Not all operations are density. With larger grain sizes, more of play multiple long-release notes. A blue bar
immediately intuitive, perhaps because the audio’s identity becomes clear. There’s on the display gives an impression of how
there have never been enough knobby hours of fun to be had from chopping and hard the internal fruit is being squeezed,
granular synths to cement expectations. slicing favourite samples and tossing the turning red when it’s becoming stressed.
When starting off, the knobs feel pieces around. Fortunately, this isn’t generally a problem
good, the buttons are OK but the cap Grain shape is defined by the three and the manual offers a number of tips for
on the large horizontal slider draws your sliders adjacent to the screen: Sides, Tilt optimising resources.
attention — it wobbles. In practice, this and Curve. By adjusting these, you can
seems more related to the cap being shift continuously between fat, square
Modulation & FX
a poor fit than any indication of underlying chunks of sound, fast-decaying chunks, For modulation of all these new and
quality issues. Its primary function is to slow-attacks, rounded lumps or thin, exciting parameters, you’re provided with
whizz about in samples but it also comes sucked-in spikes. At all times the current a pair of LFOs, which share controls with
into play within menus. shape is represented graphically. the CV inputs. The LFOs’ speeds stretch
Although the GR-1 is a MIDI synth, Ordinarily, the Scan knob sets the from hours right up to 100Hz. Yes, you read
it’s equally at home as a self-contained rate of progression through the sample that correctly! Just above ‘stopped’, you’ll
instrument, for drones, ambient textures, (backwards or forwards). Its speed is find the glacial rate of 27.5 hours. I’m pretty
weird loops and so on. To this end, you can limited to +/- 2x, but don’t worry, there sure I wept with joy when I noticed that!
trigger up to four voices via buttons in the are several ways to push this to crazy Incidentally, LFO rate is one of several
bottom right-hand corner. You need to be extremes. At any time you can take over parameters that benefit from finer control
careful with these at first, though, because manually with the slider and zip to a new
they have another role depending on the position, which soon becomes a treasured
status of the Play button. When Play is not performance technique. Tasty Chips GR-1
active, they select a new patch immediately. Another key parameter is Spray, $1099
This happens with no consideration for the represented as a blue area around the
PROS
time and effort you may have spent setting playback position. Since grain selection • Granular synthesis made fast, fun
up the old one! After swearing so loudly is always random, widening this area will and freaky.
at this that our elderly pooch woke up, increase the diversity of grains. The related • Can generate new textures from
I downloaded the manual and memorised parameter Pan Spray is another distinctive old material.
• Now includes sampling
the ‘Quick Performance Save’ key contributor. As you’ll recall, the samples
and mulitimbrality.
combination. I now perform this regularly, used are always mono; Pan Spray flings • Modulation sources include MIDI, CV
and doggy dream time is restored! grains further and further from the centre, and those glacial LFOs.
Now seems an opportune moment to producing a unique stereo effect. • Refreshingly different.
consider the GR-1’s structure. A complete For more variation, you can set the CONS
set of 32 presets/patches, along with probability that grains will be played • Not cheap.
global settings and MIDI channels is called forwards or backwards. Having some that • Cannot handle stereo samples.
a performance. It’s arranged as four banks run in the opposite direction becomes really • Some screen colours not ideal, some
of eight patches. interesting when larger grain sizes are of the multifunctionality is awkward.
• Sampling requires additional
The onboard flash storage comes involved. Working with chunks of several hardware and lacks basic editing.
preloaded with a number of presets and seconds, the granular process offers a new
folders whose names are fixed. You’re free way to mash and reassemble musical SUMMARY
to address more meaningful names on phrases, speech, drum loops etc. With its hands-on approach, the GR-1
scratches a granular itch you might not
a USB memory stick, but since the GR-1 At least some of the controls are
even be aware of. Powerful, versatile,
retains no memory of the folder you last obvious. Four sliders set the attack, fascinating — and a pleasure to
worked on, you’ll need to either switch decay, sustain and release of the voice perform with.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 35
 ON T E S T
TA S TY C HIP S GR- 1

The GR-1’s rear panel is home to MIDI In and Thru sockets, an Ethernet port, four USB ports, 3.5mm Gate Out
and CV In sockets, a pair of quarter-inch audio outputs and a 3.5mm headphone socket with volume control.

than the knobs readily provide. In such Next, the two ‘FX’ knobs require a quick FX knobs, not everything is directly
cases, the data encoder can take over and explanation because they can perform accessible. Sooner or later you’ll need to
supply greater precision. Modulation of various tasks. In many example patches, dive into the menu system, using our old
parameters such as position, grain shape they control the cutoff frequency and friend Shift and either the Sample, Patch
and spray generate real-time graphical resonance of a serviceable 12dB multimode or Performance buttons.
updates, which is a helpful touch. filter, but in some they are assigned to effect Probably the first port of call will be
Each LFO has sine, saw, square and parameters. The FX choices are limited to the Perf menu where you set the MIDI
random shapes, or you might opt for the Delay, Distortion, Bit Reduction and Reverb. channels and knob ‘pass-thru’ mode.
Aux waveform, which is hand-drawn with In general, they are fairly basic but could You can address up to four separate
the position slider. This is a superb way be of value in a minimal live rig. Actually, patches on their own channels for
of creating a curve for a specific task, eg. revisiting them just now, the short and playing, layering or sequencing. The
moving between exact positions within boingy reverb is not without a certain charm. implementation is simple, the main rule
a sample. Aux recording time is around 70 There’s one final candidate for the being that no patch can appear twice in
seconds. FX knobs — a sine wave sub oscillator. It the multitimbral list. I must confess that
In their shifted roles, the LFO knobs and could provide a solid fundamental to the prior to starting this review I’d mostly
buttons handle incoming CV, from whatever — sometimes fuzzy — granular clouds. Its ignored multitimbrality, which I now
sources you wish to involve. I usually range goes to -2 octaves and, oddly, it’s realise was foolish. Having chosen
keep a Korg SQ1 sequencer nearby, but positioned before the filter. the patches to use, you whizz through
any source (of up to 5V) is fair game. For the parts with the Select encoder. The
LFOs and CV, the ability to quickly select
What Lies Beneath controls take over smoothly if pass-thru
destinations and amounts should satisfy The top-level controls are well thought-out is engaged.
most live tweaking needs. but, as we saw with the battle for those By far the longest list of extras is
found in the Patch menu. It includes
the modulation matrix, loop behaviour,
Get Some In synchronising of elements to MIDI
Any typical sample collection should provide I drafted in my Zoom R24 recorder and fed it clock and more. Unfortunately, the fixed
more than enough material for the GR-1 to some random modular bleeps, dropping in and colours of white, grey and sky blue aren’t
sink its teeth into. All expected audio formats out of record whenever something interesting ideal for reading the small text. Some
are supported (eg. .WAV, .AIFF, .FLAC, .OGG) occurred. By ticking ‘looping record’, it was squinting may be necessary until you
and the input is rendered to 44.1kHz, mono possible to perform continuous sampling and
learn your way around.
on import. The import process is fairly real-time processing. It all worked seamlessly,
unsophisticated though, with no means of although I would have liked more control With many parameters to try out, I’ll
grabbing a section from a long sample or over the gain. After a while, the notion of pick just a handful to give you a flavour.
trimming whatever is imported. conventional sampling is discarded and you First up, there are a couple of alternative
For a little more control, you might prefer to simply concentrate on gathering material for the playback modes that don’t engage the
sample directly, after first connecting one of the granular process. The odd glitch or noise as you granular engine. Audition mode switches
recommended USB audio interfaces. Assuming drop in and out of sampling can even be useful. to regular sample playback, while Tape
your device is suitable, sampling is pretty Finally, as with sample import, there’s no
mode offers pitch to playback speed
painless, even if it lacks the bells and whistles post-record edit functionality. Should you wish
of a regular sampler. The main stipulation is to normalise or trim away some of the audio effects comparable to using tape. The
that you must specify sampling time in advance you’ve captured, the only practical way is to latter can be a welcome alternative to
— up to 112 seconds max. save then process it offline. granular mayhem, although it does make
me pine for stereo playback even more.

36 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T
TA S TY C HIP S GR- 1

Arranged around a crisp 800 x 480 pixel display, the GR-1’s front panel measures 320 x 210 mm.

Next, you can instruct the granular Found in this menu are a raft of options by sequencer. In multitimbral mode, it’s
engine how to generate new grains, to boost the LFOs’ capabilities, such as MIDI a great partner for my Elektron Digitone,
the options ranging from subtle to clock synchronisation, key-synchronisation, whose MIDI tracks send notes and MIDI
experimental. The most radical of these mod wheel influence, cross-modulation and CCs to four different GR-1 patches. The only
re-uses old grains, leading to potential quantisation. Enough to keep you occupied downside of multitimbral use is the lack of
surprises such as a high-pitched grain for quite a while! individual outputs.
surfacing in response to a low note. I’ll end this rapid tour with a brief glance at Granular synthesis won’t appeal to
Enabling anti-aliasing can, depending the (9x11) modulation matrix. It hosts almost everyone. There is a recognisable character
on the material, be quite a drastic calming everything you’d wish to modulate using to many of its sounds and the mono
measure. Often my preference is to live LFOs, CV, velocity and aftertouch, among sources and ‘pan spray’ effects are quite
with the aliasing, or tame it with an external others. Parameters can be modulated by distinctive. If the GR-1 had been designed
analogue filter. multiple sources, although some options are from the ground up with custom hardware,
Granular Glide is an innocent-looking currently greyed out — eg. pitch to filter cutoff there would surely be audio inputs, clearer
but important switch. When off, the pitch frequency. Several MPE sources are included text boxes and a few other refinements, but
remains as it was at grain generation time. but polyphonic aftertouch is not. it would probably cost a lot more.
Turn glide on and there will be movement None of my criticisms detract from
towards any new pitch. In conjunction with
Conclusion the GR-1’s magic. Not since the Roland
keyboard performance or pitch modulation, The GR-1 puts granular synthesis squarely V-Synth have I enjoyed messing around
this can produce ethereal shifts, rich chorus on the desktop with a direct, tactile interface. with samples quite so much. For months
effects or freaked-out slides. Its pin-sharp display with an ever-present I’ve been captivated by ambient washes,
Grain synchronisation, either by note view of waveform, grain and envelope, sliced-up vocals, shifting orchestral clouds
or MIDI clock, can be your gateway to is a delight. Pretty soon you might be and skittering space hornets. If I ever feel
rhythmic delights. Activate clock sync and identifying patches by shape alone. I’m overdosing on granular, I increase
the density knob will set the divisions at Prior to the GR-1’s arrival, I wondered those grain times and turn the GR-1 into an
which grains appear. If you’ve ever longed whether just 32 patches would be enough. ethereal looper instead. If you have ever
to pluck dancing high hats from speech But after a while I ceased to think of felt there are no new paths to explore, the
samples or recordings of lapping lochs, this regular synth patches and treated each GR-1 might change your mind.
is your chance! MIDI clock can also drive as an immersive sonic playground. It’s
the scan process, so you can link progress versatile enough to play in several different $ $1099
through a sample to tempo. ways; standalone, via MIDI keyboard or W www.tastychips.nl

38 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON T E S T

McDSP RoyalMu,
band offers the usual Threshold, Attack,
Ratio and Release controls, plus its own
Saturation dial. Bands can be soloed and
muted, and an external side-chain input is

RoyalQ & MC-3

freely selectable by any band if required.
Each band also has its own ladder-style
gain-reduction meter in addition to the
global VU meters.
As McDSP’s documentation points out,
APB Plug-ins true analogue multiband compressors are
rare beasts, and command eye-watering
McDSP’s unique analogue plug-in platform continues prices. By contrast, there are many purely
to grow, with three impressive new processors digital plug-in multiband compressors,
joining the collection. but these are mostly designed to be
transparent rather than colourful. I’m
SAM INGLIS
includes three new plug-ins which bring sure I’m not alone in that I usually reach
the total number available to 10. for multiband compression when there’s

H
ybrid is hot right now, and lots of a problem to be solved, not when I want
people are finding novel ways to
Rebel MC to add character and grit to a source.
integrate analogue processing As already mentioned, the APB’s All of which makes MC-3 refreshingly
into computer-based mixing. The most analogue circuitry is designed for gain different. Its retro ’70s interface chimes
radical and, to my mind, the most control and saturation rather than well with the sound, which employs
successful is McDSP’s Analog Processing frequency-based processing. This has fairly aggressive and ‘grabby’ FET-style
Box or APB platform. To the user, APB always seemed a sensible decision to me,
processors look and behave almost since compression and ‘analogue warmth’ McDSP Royal Mu,
exactly like conventional plug-ins. Behind are widely felt to be areas where digital Royal Q & MC-3
the scenes, however, these plug-ins are plug-ins struggle to compete. However,
sending your audio down a Thunderbolt one of the clever things about the APB PROS
cable to be manipulated by a highly format is that the plug-ins can also • Great-sounding processors that really
sophisticated, configurable array of incorporate host-based digital processing, demonstrate the versatility of the
APB platform.
analogue gain and saturation processors. not only at the start and end of the signal • Royal Mu and Royal Q will be very
Two APB units are currently available, path but also in control signals such as tempting for mastering engineers as
respectively supporting eight or 16 mono compressor side-chain feeds. well as for mixers.
channels of processing. These represent The fruits of this flexibility are obvious
CONS
a significant investment, but unlike UA’s in the MC-3 multiband compressor, • A stereo instance of MC-3 uses six
UAD2 and other digital co-processing which uses digital filtering to divide the APB processing channels.
systems, there’s no additional charge for input signal into three frequency bands.
plug-ins. In other words, all APB plug-ins These are then sent to separate channels
SUMMARY
If we needed additional proof of
are free to all users. That includes the of analogue APB processing to be McDSP’s Analog Processing Box
superb Moo X valve-style mixer that was compressed and saturated, before being concept, these new plug-ins provide it
added to the range last year, and it now recombined on re-entry to ‘the box’. Each in spades.

40 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
compression. Unlike
some of the APB plug-ins,
the saturation here is not
especially subtle, and by
cranking up both the Gain
and Saturation knobs
you can drive a band
into really blown-out
grunge. It’s brilliant
for adding attitude to
underwhelming drum
loops, DI’d bass guitar,
rock & roll vocals and
more. And, of course,
there’s nothing to stop you using it in sources, this Royal duo are most at home for stereo), even though it implements
more conservative ways on the master on the master bus. several stages of analogue processing.
bus or for more subtle tone-shaping. The As the name implies, Royal Mu is As well as a compressor with the usual
only thing that stopped me using it more inspired by classic vari-mu compressors. Threshold, Ratio and time-constant
was that a stereo instance takes up six These, of course, operate on the principle controls, Royal Mu also has a peak limiter
APB processing channels, and I wanted whereby a control voltage is used to and an output saturation circuit. Stereo
to use them for other things! adjust the gain of a remote-cutoff valve. instances can operate in dual-mono,
There are no valves in the APB, so in left/right or mid/sides modes, but
Royal Icing effect, solid-state analogue circuitry is possibly the most interesting feature
Hot off the presses at the time of writing being used to emulate valve behaviour. is the Bias control. This is perhaps
are a rhyming pair of new plug-ins called Unlike the MC-3 plug-in, Royal Mu a confusing name, since it has nothing to
Royal Mu and Royal Q. Whereas MC-3 uses only one APB channel per audio do with the bias of any emulated valves;
is perhaps happiest titillating individual channel (so one channel for mono or two rather, it shapes the frequency response

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 41
 ON T E S T
MC D S P R O YA L M U, R O YA L Q & MC -3

of the compressor,
in a subtle but
noticeable way.
Positive bias values
tend to allow more
low-frequency
content through,
while negative
values emphasise
the upper midrange.
Conceptually, it’s
a little like the
Thrust control
found in some
API compressors.
There’s also a gentle
high-frequency
shelving EQ with a fixed cutoff and slope; from the valves and transformers used say is that Royal Q does exactly what
this is hard-wired before the compressor in that gain stage. You could think of I’d expect and want a processor of this
and can be useful to counteract the Royal Q as applying the same concept, type to do. Of particular note is the upper
tendency of some compression settings except that here the analogue gain and band, which offers frequency settings that
to dull the top end. saturation follows a digital EQ algorithm. go right up to 25kHz. That, of course, is
Royal Mu is one of those processors An unusual feature of Royal Q is its outside the range of human hearing, but
that sounds great immediately, but also ‘double shelving’ architecture. Each the effects of a wide-band boost centred
offers a wider range of sounds than of its four bands can operate in fully on 25kHz certainly aren’t, and they sound
you realise at first. People often talk parametric mode, with continuously glorious on the right material. The effects
about a good bus compressor having variable control over frequency, gain of ‘double shelving’, meanwhile, are
the ability to ‘glue’ the mix together, and bandwidth; but each can also be particularly apparent at the other end of
but in my experience, they seem to switched to shelving mode, so if you the frequency spectrum, where a shelving
mean different things by this; at any like, you can have one high shelving cut at 250Hz combined with a boost at
rate, the ‘glueing’ action of an SSL-style band turning over in the midrange and 80Hz or so can be magic.
compressor is rather different from a second adding high-frequency air,
that of a Manley Variable Mu! As you’d or a low-frequency shelf adjusting the
Full Steam Ahead
expect, Royal Mu falls more into the latter ‘upper bass’ while another controls the There’s no denying that McDSP’s APB
category. Even if you push it into obvious low end proper. units are costly investments. However, as
compression, it still sounds smooth and Once again, the analogue saturation I pointed out in my original review of the
rich, and although you can use the EQ that is applied to the equalised signal APB16, the perception of value depends
and the saturation stage to make the mix is subtle, but it’s definitely there! You what you compare them to. High-end
significantly brighter, it never gets harsh. can easily confirm this by setting both analogue gear never comes cheap, and
There’s a lot of sonic territory to explore channels identically and switching from it would be a rich studio indeed that
in the interaction of the Gain and Peak left/right to mid/sides mode; there’s could contemplate buying eight or 16
(limiting) controls. It would be nice if the often a noticeable change in the tonality channels of outboard compression as an
meters could be made to display gain or the stereo image as saturation is alternative. Even if you did, it wouldn’t be
reduction from the limiter as well as the applied separately to the sum and configurable, and couldn’t offer the same
compressor, but that’s a minor criticism, difference signals rather than to the left level of DAW integration, recallability and
and certainly doesn’t stand in the way and right channels. There’s no control support for automation.
of Royal Mu being my new favourite over the degree of saturation, but to my These new plug-ins make the case
mix compressor. mind it’s perfectly judged, adding just for the APB even stronger, offering
that hint of warmth that you only notice something genuinely different from the
Join The Q when it’s not there. existing plug-ins whilst maintaining the
As I mentioned earlier, one of the clever Many of McDSP’s plug-ins are same very high quality level. Royal Mu
things about the APB system is that inspired by classic hardware, but and Royal Q, in particular, will put the
it allows analogue compression and they don’t seek to emulate specific APB system onto the radar of mastering
saturation to be combined with digital processors. In the case of Royal Q, there engineers, potentially opening up a new
equalisation and other processes. In are obvious similarities with the Manley market. And with every new APB plug-in
the Royal Q plug-in, it’s the digital EQ Massive Passive, which also implements being free to existing owners, the benefits
that takes centre stage. Classic passive the ‘double shelving’ approach. It’d be of buying into this platform will only grow
equaliser designs such as the Pultec interesting to do a direct comparison, over time.
EQP-1A use an active gain stage to make but the Massive Passive retails for well
up the level lost in the EQ circuitry, and over £5k, and the SOS review budget $ Free to existing APB owners.
some of their distinctive character comes doesn’t quite stretch that far! What I can W www.mcdsp.com

42 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

Korg Nautilus
Korg Nautilus
From $1999
PROS
• It has all of the Kronos’ sound engines so,
by default, it sounds superb.
• With the Kronos’ sampling and
sequencing engines surviving largely
Workstation Keyboard
unmolested it’s also immensely flexible. Korg’s Nautilus puts much of the functionality of the
Kronos into a far more affordable instrument.
• It’s significantly more affordable than
a Kronos.
• Some players will prefer its arpeggiator to
the discarded KARMA...
GORDON REID
of making things lighter and more
CONS affordable but, since the launch of the

H
• ...whereas others will not. ave you noticed how little the Kronos in 2011, progress has slowed to
• In a flagrant breach of Gordon’s Law, keyboard workstation has a crawl. I’m not saying that there have
aftertouch has gone AWOL.
evolved in the past decade? After been no great synths released in the
• Fewer physical controls make it less
immediate and restrict performance when the Korg M1 introduced the underlying past few years — in my view, the Waldorf
compared with a Kronos. architecture in 1988 there was an arms Quantum and the Yamaha Montage
race between the major manufacturers, have both advanced the cause of the
SUMMARY
with Korg again taking the lead in 1995 keyboard synthesizer — but as yet
The Nautilus is not a successor to the
Kronos; it’s a cut-down version for when the Trinity introduced multitimbral there’s no sign of a new workstation
a significantly lower price. If the things effects, and yet again in 2005 when that takes us to the next level in the
that have gone missing don’t concern the OASYS stuck its expensive fingers ways that the M1, Trinity and OASYS
you, it’s a cracking package that offers an up at the competition by introducing did. You might think that I’m giving the
immense amount of music creation and
multiple synthesizer models and making manufacturers a bit of a kicking here but,
performance. If they do, you’ll have to stick
with the Kronos or look forward to what everything, well... beautiful. After that, on the contrary, I have great sympathy
Korg do next. there was the not-so-simple matter for them. The keyboard workstation as

44 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
currently constructed just... works. The keyboard in the 61, and the RH3 hammer structure. Secondly, there’s no vector
sound quality keeps getting better, it’s action keyboard in the 88. The one that’s joystick, the number of knobs and
easy to understand, and it provides the different is the 73. The Nautilus uses the switches is greatly reduced, and there
features that composers and players Natural Touch keyboard, whereas the are none of the multi-purpose faders that
need. While manufacturers continue to Kronos has a shorter RH3. I think that helped to make the Kronos so immediate
tweak a bit of this and add a bit of that, this is a point in the Nautilus’ favour; in use. The difference is most stark to
I can’t help feeling that adding a fifth leg I much prefer semi-weighted keyboards the right of the screen where, amongst
and covering it with a nicer tablecloth on 73- and 76-note synths and other omissions, you’ll find no numeric
doesn’t redefine the concept of a table, workstations, and the adoption of this keypad and no physical controls for the
so where do Korg go from here? on the Nautilus 73 makes it considerably sequencer. There’s an on-screen numeric
lighter and more manageable than its pad so you won’t find yourself endlessly
Introducing The Nautilus Kronos counterpart. scrolling but, clearly, the Nautilus is gong
After the Kronos, the Kronos X, the Other significant differences are to to feel rather different in use. Oh yes,
Kronos 2 and the Kronos LS, the latest be found on their control panels. Firstly, and there’s no ribbon controller in the
variant of the Kronos is the first that the Nautilus’ touch-sensitive display is performance panel either.
doesn’t bear its name. It’s called the smaller than that of the Kronos, although Internally, there’s less that’s obviously
Nautilus, and I’m not sure whether that’s I didn’t find this to be a problem because different. All nine of the Kronos’
in honour of the crustacean or Captain the page layouts have been intelligently synthesizer engines — PCM, virtual
Nemo’s submarine, the latter of which redrawn. (If you’re accustomed to the analogue, organs, plucked strings, FM,
was a century ahead of its time but Kronos, you might find the changes to be acoustic and electric pianos as well
ultimately doomed. Hopefully neither. a bit frustrating at first, but it won’t take as the virtual MS20 and Polysix — are
Like the Kronos, it comes in three you long to get used to them.) In truth, retained and with the same maximum
configurations: 61, 73 and 88 note. Two a 7-inch screen is a bit parsimonious polyphonies. I can see some people
of these are similar in size and weight by modern workstation standards, but complaining that these have now been
to the equivalent Kronos and they I think it’s obvious that Korg couldn’t around for many years, but some of them
share the same high-quality keyboards, exceed the Kronos’ specification without have improved in that time — indeed,
with the Natural Touch semi-weighted causing problems within their pricing I found that the EP-1 engine features

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 45
 ON T E S T
KORG NAUTILUS

The Rear Panel

It may not be a top-end workstation, but the use menu options to determine whether these The Nautilus cuts down on the Kronos’s
Nautilus’ rear panel still has a fair amount going expect mic or line level signals, and at what gain. front panel controls but keeps the same
on. Starting on the right you’ll find the master There are no dedicated digital audio inputs or high-quality keyboard.
(quarter-inch TRS balanced) L/R audio outputs and outputs, although you can transfer audio to and
a headphone output that carries the same signals. from the Nautilus via USB. Three pedal sockets are socket for connecting to a Mac or PC. Furthest left
Alongside these there are four further quarter-inch provided (damper with half-damping capability, (as you look at it) lies an IEC mains socket for the
outputs, and you can freely route almost anything switch, and expression) and these lie alongside internal power supply. Interestingly, the power
to these. Next come the balanced analogue 5-pin DIN sockets for MIDI In, Out and Thru. The consumption appears to be 20W less than that
audio inputs, which again use quarter-inch TRS final I/O is provided by a USB-A socket for external of a Kronos, perhaps as a consequence of newer
sockets. Unlike those on the Kronos, you have to USB 2 storage and MIDI controllers, and a USB-B technology within.

a new model in the Nautilus (the Kronos’ into (almost) non-existence. But despite patterns plus one drum pattern or
Tine EP1 has been expanded into Tine my epiphany, I can’t see the omission of two arpeggio patterns plus one step
EP Early and Tine EP Late) — but there’s KARMA greatly affecting the desirability sequence. You can select the MIDI
a strong argument for ‘if it ain’t broke, of the Nautilus, especially since it has channel on which each arpeggio pattern
don’t fix it’. Likewise, the available been replaced by a powerful polyphonic outputs its data, and this can be different
PCM RAM remains 2GB, the Kronos’ arpeggiator that does far more than for each Scene. You can also assign the
24-bit 48kHz sampler is retained and generate the simple patterns that we MIDI channel for the drum pattern or
the effects structure step sequence. While
remains unchanged the results don’t have
with per-timbre EQs,
12 Insert effects, two
“Thanks to Korg’s high-quality keybeds, it’s the complexity or
human feel of KARMA,
Master effects, two great to play and, of course, it sounds superb.” this still allows you to
Total effects, 197 effect develop quite complex
types, 783 presets and ideas, and I can see
what appear to be the same modulation used and loved in the ’70s and ’80s. It some players being attracted to its
and control busses. Sure, there are works like this... simpler approach. If you like what you’re
a few other small differences — for Each Program contains four Scenes getting, you can record the arpeggiator’s
example, the Nautilus has gained the that can hold either one arpeggio output into the Nautilus’s main audio/
Quick Layer/Quick Split function from the pattern plus one drum pattern or MIDI sequencer to further expand it and,
Kross — but these are small beer; the one arpeggio pattern plus one step of course, you can write the patterns you
Nautilus is pretty much a Kronos as far sequence. You can select which create to the workstation’s capacious
as the underlying sound generation and arpeggio pattern is placed within each memory.
programming is concerned. Scene, and edit it using a small range
The biggest internal difference of parameters that you can also tweak
In Use
between the two marques is therefore using the top panel knobs while the Despite being a physical wreck hobbled
the removal of KARMA, but this may be arpeggio is playing. Patterns need not by an orthopaedic boot when it arrived,
an irrelevance for many users because be simple; notes can have different I found even the Nautilus 88 to be
it failed to catch on to the degree that durations and velocities, thus enabling manageable: not too deep, and not too
I suspect that Korg and Stephen Kay had quite sophisticated accompaniments and heavy. If there was one thing that I didn’t
hoped. I’m not entirely surprised. Having strums. If you select a drum pattern for like about it (actually, there were two,
reviewed it a few weeks before, I bought each Scene an unusual Snare parameter but we’ll come to other in a moment)
a Korg Karma workstation in 2001 but, allows you to select the instrument it was the length of time that it took to
despite my initial excitement, it became played on the snare steps but, if you boot up — just shy of three minutes! This
one of the least used keyboards in the prefer, you can replace any or all of can be a bit frustrating in the studio, but
working end of my studio. It wasn’t until the drum patterns in the Scenes with it would be a nightmare on stage were
I started to mess around with KARMA an (up to) 64-step drum sequence that there to be a power glitch. A long delay
on the OASYS some years later that the accesses 12 percussion sounds from the while initialising a modern workstation
penny dropped, and it has since helped current kit. is far from unique to the Nautilus, but
me to compose several tracks in which Each Combi and Sequence also it’s one reason why I prefer to use other
the boundaries between human and contains an arpeggio with four Scenes, technologies when playing live. Many
machine performance have been blurred but these can now hold two arpeggio are the times that I’ve reached around

46 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T
KORG NAUTILUS

the back of a misbehaving digital synth suggested that I adjust User Knobs 1 and instruments and forms the basis of the
or older workstation and flicked it off and 2 to balance the near-field and ambient Grand Unified Theory of synthesis and
then on again to continue playing before sounds to taste. Having done so to my performance. In short, if I press a key just
the audience had time to notice that there satisfaction, I then found the evening a teensie weensie bit harder, it should
was a problem. But nearly three minutes? slipping away and everything was going affect everyone in the audience. On my
That’s almost as long as a Pink Floyd intro! swimmingly until I moved away from 25-year-old XP80 (and many others) it
Once the Nautilus had booted, it acoustic and electric pianos and started does. On the Nautilus, it doesn’t. But
took me to Program A000: Nautilus Dry/ to test the CX3 organ. The sound quality what if you don’t subscribe to Gordon’s
Ambient piano. I started to play, and remains as excellent as ever, but the Law? Obviously, you should be locked
was a bit nonplussed — compared with loss of the assignable faders on the up but, that aside, the Nautilus starts
my OASYS or the Kronos it didn’t sound top panel meant that I had no ‘live’ to look rather attractive because the
quite good enough. But pianos are very control over its drawbars. This will be an loss of a pressure-sensitive keybed is
personal instruments, so I was just about irrelevance if you don’t like to ride the a significant factor in a price reduction
to dive headlong into the menus when drawbars while playing but, if you do, of more than $1000 when you compare
I noticed the on-screen instructions that it’s a serious shortcoming. But the real each model with the equivalent Kronos.
shock to my system came when I turned
to orchestral sounds, pads and lead
Conclusions
I Remember Things Differently! synths. The sound quality and flexibility There has been no point reviewing
remained everything that you would the Nautilus’ sound engines, sampling
The Nautilus has an internal SSD offering expect, but this was when the Nautilus’ and sequencing because these have
53GB of storage, 27GB of which was free most significant shortcoming made itself been covered in depth in the past when
on the review unit. This is tiny by today’s
felt: no aftertouch. discussing the Kronos, and because
multi-Terabyte standards but, despite the loss
of the Kronos’ second internal drive bay, you If you’ve read my reviews before, there’s a wealth of online information
can add up to eight external storage devices you’ll know that I’m unapologetic about about all of them. So let’s summarise.
via USB. Given the increasing capacities of having ‘a thing’ regarding aftertouch. The Nautilus is, in essence, a Kronos that
USB sticks and external drives this should It’s not just that I was brought up on has gained a polyphonic arpeggiator but
be adequate for all but the most monstrous an ARP ProSoloist, it’s a genuine and has lost KARMA, aftertouch, a wealth
sample library requirements. Of the 26GB
permanent need. I often use both of top panel controls and about a third
of SSD space occupied when the Nautilus
arrived, much was used by the 14 expansion hands and both feet (bass pedals to of the price. Although it looks a bit
libraries installed as standard. This is an the left, swell pedals, switches and Spartan, it clearly sits between the top
increase of three libraries when compared sustain pedals to the right) to play on end of the Krome range and the Kronos
with even the latest Kronoses (Kronosi? stage the keyboard parts of tracks that itself, although much closer to the latter.
Kronosen?) and Korg promises that there are have been overdubbed many times Thanks to Korg’s high-quality keybeds,
more to come.
in the studio so, unless we get a bit it’s great to play and, of course, it sounds
The Nautilus also features a different
set of factory do-dads when compared rude, I have nothing left with which superb. If the discarded facilities are
with the Kronos, with more preloaded to control wheels, joysticks, ribbons, unnecessary for what you want to do,
Programs, Drum Kits and Wave Sequences, or anything else that requires five it starts to look like very good value. If
but fewer preloaded Combis. Then there appendages. Consequently, I need you need them, you’ll have to stump up
are the Nautilus’ 2176 arpeggiator patterns, aftertouch to introduce modulation, to the extra for the Kronos itself or wait
1593 of which are preloaded, and its 1272 create pitch bends and filter sweeps, to see where Korg take their top-end
drum patterns in addition to 1000 slots for
and to increase and decrease the workstations in the future.
user drum patterns. If you prefer to use
or tweak existing sounds rather than start speeds of my Leslie effects. I would
from scratch, the Nautilus will still keep you therefore like to introduce Gordon’s Law
occupied for a very long time. Of Universal Aftertouch, which applies $ Nautilus 88 $2699, 73 $2399, 61 $1999.
to all high-quality electronic keyboard W www.korg.com

48 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
Softube & Empirical Labs.
A partnership made in analog
heaven.
 ON T E S T

Tierra Audio
Gravity
M AT T H O U G H TO N

T
ierra Audio are based in Madrid,
where they manufacture all their
gear. The company are keen
to stress their eco-friendly credentials
and, to that end, their range of 19-inch
rackmounting products have a front
panel made of sustainably sourced cherry ry
wood, with the control legends burned
(laser-engraved) into the surface. As welll
Stereo VCA Compressor
as the Gravity VCA compressor reviewed d If you’re into analogue processing but worried about your
here, Tierra offer a FET compressor,
a four-band EQ, a couple of mic preamps
carbon footprint, Tierra have you covered!
and a summing mixer in this range. Each name, a down-to-earth implementation of access and their settings easy to glean
unit ships in a handsome Paulownia wood the classic SSL bus compressor design, by at a glance. That said, Tierra tell me that
box, which is strong and rigid. Tierra say which I mean that the Gravity’s designers the Gravity will be joined later this year by
this is sustainably sourced also and that, have deliberately chosen to keep the ‘bells a (presumably higher-priced) version, which
as it is very light, it helps to keep shipping and whistles’ to a minimum. For example, not only adds the sort of features found
emissions low. They also promise to plant there’s no external side-chain input, the in competing products, such as wet/dry
a tree for each unit purchased. switchable high-pass filter for the internal blend and stereo side-chain insert, but also
side-chain is a fixed-frequency one, and some digital control functionality. So their
Down To Earth there are no wet/dry blend control or customers will be able to choose simplicity
These devices all look very striking and, if additional ratio settings, as have been or sophistication, as they prefer.
the Gravity is typical, they’re even more so added by some of the Gravity’s competitors.
‘in the flesh’ than when viewed on a web Neither have Tierra opted to include any
Controls & Construction
page: they’d definitely catch the eye in any fancy character-inducing devices, such as So far, I’ve written more about what the
studio’s rack. But as nice as the appearance input or output transformers or harmonic Gravity doesn’t do than what it does, which
and eco ethos are, the Gravity is first and distortion generators. Instead, they’ve is hardly fair! So what exactly do we have
foremost intended as a professional audio focused mainly on high-quality delivery of here? Well, it’s a true stereo compressor, in
processor, so in this review I’ll consider the traditional SSL functionality. that it reacts to a single internal side-chain
what it has to offer on that front. No doubt some potential users will signal and one set of knobs and switches
In most respects, other than the lament the lack of additional facilities but controls both channels. The same THAT
aesthetics, this is, rather fittingly given its others might not miss them, preferring Corporation VCA chips as are used in most
a spacious front panel and ease of use. other SSL-inspired compressors take care
Tierra Audio Gravity For example, I have in my studio a Serpent of the gain reduction.
$1838 Audio SB4001, a 500-series SSL-ish
VCA compressor, and I love it. It sounds
PROS ALTERNATIVES
good and has lots of additional features
• High-quality take on the classic SSL There are lots of SSL-inspired stereo VCA
that make it a really versatile device. But compressors in rackmount and 500-series
bus compressor.
• Switchable HPF.
I must confess that I don’t use many of its form, with most based on the THAT 2180 or
• Commendable company ethos. features most of the time — it typically sits 2181 chips as the gain reduction element.
• Decent value for money. on my master stereo bus, set to a 2:1 ratio, Some offer more functionality, but the build
quality and specs of the Tierra unit justify
quietly doing its thing, tickling the meters
CONS the price. At the more affordable end of
• Some might prefer more features.
as it glues the mix together. So when the market, you’ll find the Warm Audio Bus
I sometimes do look for a different setting, Comp-2 and Chameleon Labs’ 7721. The
SUMMARY its dense forest of knobs and switches can TK Audio BC1 THD is well worth checking
This is a well-built, nice-sounding take be a distraction. In other words, if you don’t out, as is the Serpent Audio SB4001,
on the SSL stereo bus compressor which, once you factor in a two-slot
need all that functionality, there’s a lot to be 500-series chassis, is similar in price to the
concept. The Gravity will undoubtedly
also win admirers for its uniquely said for Tierra’s keep-it-simple approach, Gravity but offers more features.
stylish appearance. which leaves the key controls easy to

50 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 On the inside, the layout is neat and with a choice of 0.18, 0.62, 1.7, 5.3 and 12 allowing me to do anything from dialling
tidy. The mains voltage is stepped down ms. It’s all good in practice: there’s plenty in a bit of subtle glue, to grabbing and
using a toroidal transformer, and there of range from fast to slow, and if I turned smashing down the peaks and making
are separate PCBs for the internal power and listened I always found it easy to dial in the material pump with the kick. In short, it
supply, the audio processing circuitry and a setting that worked. was everything I expected. I couldn’t find
the main front-panel controls, the last The five-position Release switch mention of the high-pass filter frequency
of these mounted vertically behind the comes next, again with a hare and tortoise in the literature but it worked as desired,
panel. On the audio and control PCBs, all suggesting which way to turn the knob for reducing the Gravity’s sensitivity to
the components seem to be through-hole a faster or slower preset release (0.186, low-frequency peaks, allowing me to use
types, whereas SMDs are used in the 284 and 540 ms, and 1s). To the left of the more assertive ratios and thresholds before
internal power circuit. The technical tortoise is an Auto release option. unwanted pumping became evident.
specifications are decent for a compressor The final knob is a Makeup gain control, Despite their reputation, these SSL-ish
of this type, and go some way to justifying with which the user can apply up to 15dB VCA ‘bus’ compressors do have plenty
its price tag: it costs less than SSL’s G-series of gain to optimise the output level for of applications beyond bus compression,
Stereo Compressor but it is quieter than, the next device in the signal chain. This and during the review period I also put it to
for example, Warm Audio’s more affordable is joined by three buttons: bypass, HPF work on drums, piano, backing vocals and
Bus-Comp (which boasts more features). SC (side-chain filter) and on-off. There’s doubled guitars, amongst other sources,
Whatever the figures say, it certainly sounds also a SIFAM gain-reduction meter and in all cases it did what I asked of it.
clean and quiet when you want it to. with Tierra’s logo.
On the front panel are five rotary Around the back are four gold-plated
The Bottom Line
controls, whose knurled edges make Neutrik XLR connectors for the inputs and Some might think that Tierra could have
them easy to turn. The leftmost is outputs and an IEC power inlet with voltage added more functionality but, as I discussed
a ±15dB Threshold knob, to set the level selector switch, as well as external access above, they do have plans for another
at which gain reduction kicks in. Next to the fuse holder. product that should satisfy those who
is a three-position ratio switch (2, 4 and like to tweak. Meanwhile, the Gravity
10:1). A six-position Attack time knob
Wooden It Be Nice both looks and sounds good. It does
is turned clockwise for a faster attack, I used the Gravity in my studio for a couple that ‘glue thing’ very well and because
with tortoise and hare icons making that of months and tried it out on a few mixes, of its relative simplicity it always remains
obvious. There’s no indication on the unit taking the time to compare its performance very easy to use. Tierra have recently
of how fast the attack is at each setting with that of my Serpent SB4001 and a TK signed a deal with the mixanalog.com
but according to the published spec these Audio unit I had in for review. It performed remote-hardware service too, so you’ll
differ from the conventional SSL options, well in both drum- and mix-bus roles, soon be able to hear it for yourself. The
bottom line is that Tierra Audio’s Gravity
is an elegant and appealing stereo VCA
compressor: assuming its feature set meets
your needs, it won’t disappoint.

$ $1838.
T Front End Audio +1 803 748 0914
E info@frontendaudio.com
On
O the
h rear panel,l Tierra
Ti proudly
dl di
display
l their
h i sustainable
i bl promise
i off planting
l i a tree ffor eachh W www.frontendaudio.com
compressor purchased. W https://tierra.audio

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 51
 ON T E S T

Flock Audio Patch

Software-controlled Analogue Patchbay
Never has working with a hybrid analogue/in-the-box setup been so easy.
M AT T H O U G H TO N
‘patch’ an analogue audio signal from any front-panel I/O are always assigned
one of its 32 inputs to one or more of its to channels 31 and 32, which are also

C
anadian company Flock Audio 32 outputs. It can handle instrument, line accessible using the rear-panel connectors;
grabbed my attention when they and mic-level signals and can even supply you choose which are active using the
announced their digitally controlled phantom power. The routing and control app. On the rear, all 32 analogue I/O are
patchbay back in 2017. Named simply Patch, side of things is managed using a Mac/ on four pairs of AES59 (Tascam-format)
the system has matured a little since then Windows app, which leaves the front panel DB25 connectors. There’s also an inlet for
and Flock have added the Patch LT and mercifully uncluttered. In fact, there are no the external switch mode PSU’s connector
Patch XT to their range — less and more physical user controls to concern yourself
expensive versions, respectively, which with other than the on/off rocker switch, Flock Audio Patch
cater for different channel counts. The which has a blue status LED. There are,
$2599
XT also adds an Ethernet control option, though, three more LEDs, labelled Host
allowing it to be placed further from your Signal, 48V Phantom Power, and External PROS
computer than the other two, but in other 48V Warning. The first lights blue to • Elegant, hassle-free analogue
respects they’re the largely the same indicate a good connection with the control routing system.
product. Having recently gone through software. The second lights blue when • Signal paths and patchbay setups can
be saved/recalled.
the, how shall I put this — trauma? — of Patch inputs are supplied 48V phantom • Supports mics and phantom power.
planning and installing a traditional bantam power (there are plenty of safeguards), • Three options to meet different
patchbay recently, I was keen to see if the and the third lights red to alert if you’ve user needs.
Patch offered a better way, and Flock kindly inadvertently engaged phantom power on
CONS
loaned me one of their standard 1U 32x32 a preamp that’s connected to the Patch. • None.
models for review. The only other features of note on the
front are one pair of XLR outputs and one SUMMARY
Hardware of Combo (TRS jack/XLR) inputs. These An elegant and effective digitally
controlled patchbay system that could
Essentially, Patch is a digitally controlled allow you to hook up mics, instruments oil the wheels of any studio using
analogue routing matrix (there’s no A-D/D-A or processors quickly, without having to analogue outboard gear alongside
conversion involved) that can be used to get around the back of your rack. Those a DAW.

52 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
(with locking sleeve), and a USB-B socket essential). The Patch supplies the phantom
for USB 2.0 communication with the app. power, and routes the mic/DI signal to Test Spec
With the right cables, then, connecting a connected mic preamp, so you’d have the MacBook Pro Retina 2018. Mac OS Mojave (10.14.1).
your hardware to the Patch a simple matter preamp’s own phantom power switched
of hooking up eight multicore cables. off. Some people are a little nervous about
Install the app, connect the Patch to your letting ‘spook juice’ flow through a patchbay, does that make it easy to reconfigure signal
computer using the USB cable and you can but the risk is largely down to the use of paths for, say, recording and mixing sessions
get started. TRS plugs/sockets; as you insert a jack, but, since you don’t have to have the Patch
The beauty of this system is that the wrong parts of the plug and socket connected for the app to work, you can do
you don’t have to be so careful with the temporarily make contact. Here, there are all your housekeeping and session prep
planning of your patchbay as usual: you can no such connections to cause problems. from another computer, without tying up the
reconfigure your routing using the app at Still, some gear and vintage ribbon mics unit/computer in the studio.
any time, and that makes the whole concept won’t enjoy having 48V put across their
of ‘normalling’ almost redundant. That said, outputs, and the Patch system has a couple
Drag Race
you can, of course, specify a default routing of safety features to prevent that happening Once you’ve labelled the gear, everything
on startup! by mistake. is single-click, drag-and-drop simple.
First, phantom power is switched off for Your gear is listed on the left (helpfully,
Soft Centre all I/O by default. To switch it on, you must particularly for XT users, it’s searchable)
The Patch app automatically recognises first flip a global 48V Master safety toggle and to the right is a horizontally scrollable
which model of Patch you have connected, at the bottom of the setup screen. With this grid with 32 vertical signal Paths. Grab
and if there’s more than one it offers set to On, you can toggle each individual your gear and drag it into one of the 10
facilities for configuring and colour coding channel’s 48V Safeguard control. Any gear cells of each Path (you can add more)
them. At the time of writing, the Patch for which you’ve activated phantom power to create a basic signal chain: drag one
app was a standalone application only, remains clearly labelled in all views and item into the first cell and another into
and I almost immediately found myself when you first fire up the app it will also the second, and the outputs of the first
wishing for a plug-in version, so that the warn you if phantom is engaged. Drag the are automatically routed to the inputs
settings could be stored and recalled gear in that slot elsewhere and the 48V is of the second. Any devices that you’ve
automatically with each DAW session. turned off automatically. There’s also that designated as stereo will occupy cells on
Happily, when I enquired about that, Flock’s warning light on the front panel. So the risk the same row of two adjacent paths. And
CEO and founder Darren Nakonechny of sending phantom power where it’s not dragging on to a populated cell instantly
confirmed that they plan to release just wanted is about as low as possible. substitutes the gear that’s there. Clicking
such a thing very soon. Really helpful is that you can import and on the gear in a cell toggles the bypass for
Setting things up in the app is all very export different lists of hardware. Not only that input/output between on and off, with
intuitive and unless you’re trying to do
something ambitious you’ll barely need
to refer to what is a clear and detailed
manual. You first specify which gear
you’ve connected to which physical I/O
by typing the name of the hardware (or The demo review system,
with the 1U hardware
an abbreviation) into a text box for each
mounted in a rack case, and
input. You can choose with a click of the the pop-up hardware setup
padlock icon whether the corresponding screen displayed over the
output should automatically be labelled the main GUI.
same. That’s a helpful time-saving touch
and ensures consistency, though note that
if you click the lock for an already differently
configured pair it will overwrite the output
label. And you can also choose whether to
have the channel numbers displayed, or
only the gear names. Finally, a single click
is also enough to pair adjacent input/output
boxes for any stereo equipment.
One of the most interesting things
about the Patch is that it caters not only
for your outboard effects and processors,
but also mic preamps and devices such
as mics and DI boxes which require 48V
phantom power (Flock recommend using
an inline booster preamp for mics, since the
Patch is designed to operate at +4dBu line
level, though in practice it wasn’t always

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 53
 ON T E S T
FLO CK AU DIO PATC H

ALTERNATIVES
There aren’t many similar analogue
audio routers on the market. The obvious
competitor is UK-based CB Electronics,
whose X-Patch range is capable of much
the same thing and has some other
features the Patch doesn’t, but it lacks
the mic and phantom power support. SSL
also had an X-patch with fewer channels,
but that is now discontinued. And if your
channel-count needs are more modest,
Tegeler Audio’s Konnektor is worth a look.

routing possibilities I explored using the

Patch, but it wouldn’t be very relevant.
Really, the point is that you can route
any analogue source to any analogue
destination at any time, and save and
recall signal chains and whole patchbay
setups pretty much instantly. It’s perfect
for switching between regularly used
The app’s main GUI, where you drag and drop gear to establish different signal paths. The green P logs recording and mixing configurations, for
denote the main signal path, while the yellow M indicates a mult to the next Path. example (though obviously you have to
bypass being indicated by the cell turning outputs in the top row and all its inputs in recall your gear settings separately). It’s
darker blue. This allows the signal to flow the bottom row, and analogue signal chains also perhaps worth pointing out that you
direct to the next device in the chain. of different lengths set up in between. It also can do all of this in the same place you do
A neon-like green P icon confirms that means that you can make better use of the everything else now — at your computer,
the signal is flowing along the vertical Mult facility, as you can tap the signal from sitting in the listening sweet spot — and
Path but that’s not the only possible any point in a Path and insert it at any point it all sounds clean and quiet. In short,
routing. An M icon mults (duplicates) the in the adjacent one. I found that it saved me way more time
device cell’s output signal to the input of The presence of phantom power and created way more ‘thinking space’
the device in the adjacent path (the cell is indicated in the main GUI screen by than I’d imagined a patchbay could.
to the right), lighting bright yellow when a ‘blue-neon’ 48V label beneath the cell; Obviously, it can’t do everything. For
engaged. That’s a more powerful tool it’s greyed out when not enabled, and instance, there’s no option for routing
than it sounds, enabling you to create and if you click on it when in that condition digital audio signals or MIDI, which might
easily keep track of some pretty complex you’re warned that you’re about to engage make integration of some devices easier.
parallel processing chains, or to capture phantom power. One benefit of the I’m sure people could suggest ways to
alternative processing paths after a single phantom being supplied by the Patch is that build on the concept further too, and
mic and preamp. you can easily drag and drop to audition Flock have a Feature Request form on
Also worth noting is that you can leave different mic and preamp combinations; their site. But as a direct replacement
gaps between gear cells; the signal will I had fun comparing different mics I’d set up for patchbays that handle mic, line and
still flow to the next unit. This is helpful in on a guitar cab, for example. instrument sources, the Patch already
a couple of ways. First, it allows you to keep excels and my only real misgiving would
your interface tidy when working with Paths
Easy Does It? be the channel count: I shudder to
of different lengths. For example, in a mixing I could probably go on for quite a while, think how much it would cost to build
setup you might have all your interface enthusiastically describing the different a Patch system to replace my full bantam
patchbay setup! That said, if you have the
money, you can build it, and if not then
the Patch could still find a home alongside
existing bays.
Importantly, neither the app nor the
hardware crashed or glitched once
during the lengthy test period, and the
whole system always seemed rock-solid,
reliable and intuitive. It’s a great concept,
executed beautifully.

$ Patch $2599. Flock LT $1650. Flock XT

$9,999.
On the rear, all the gear connects via AES59 DB25 connectors. W www.flockaudio.com/patch

54 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

Modartt Pianoteq 7
ROBIN BIGWOOD

I
t’s been fascinating to follow the
progress of Pianoteq, by French
company Modartt, since its debut
in 2006. In case you haven’t heard Modelled Virtual Piano
of it already, it’s a virtual instrument
specialising in acoustic and electric Pianoteq 7 introduces new morphing features and an even
pianos, mallet instruments, harps and more realistic modelling engine.
harpsichords that’s based on principles of
acoustic modelling, as opposed to sample
replay. That makes it computationally
intensive, potentially, but also laughably
small in its installation footprint on your
computer: still only around the 50MB
mark (which by my calculations makes it
about 0.0007 the size of something like
Synthogy’s Ivory II) and requiring only
256MB RAM.
This latest version, Pianoteq 7, adds
two new features. The first is a morphing
and layering engine. Morphs allow you to
create hybrid instruments that don’t exist
in reality by blending aspects of two or
more donors. Layering is a simpler and
more familiar concept, but can make for
a different kind of sophistication. The
second headline addition is a new piano,
a brand spanking American Steinway

Modartt Pianoteq 7
From $149
PROS
• Notably improved sound
quality:Modartt’s claims of
three-dimensionality and increased
complexity are completely justified.
• The line-up of instruments (and
official endorsements from their
original manufacturers!) is even more
formidable than before.
• Morphs and Layers open up
user-friendly (and unexpectedly
Pianoteq 7 loaded up with its new New York
effective) pathways for sound design. and supports acoustic piano bass notes
Steinway D. Users of previous versions will feel right
• Offers flexibility that most sample that can sustain as long as a couple
libraries could only dream of, despite at home: all the important changes are under the
a delightfully tiny installation size. largely unchanged surface. of minutes.

CONS Model D ‘SPIRIO|r’. That’s an update of

Morph The Cat
• Instrument pack bundling can look the already no-expense-spared 8’11” I was excited to try the new morphing
a bit miserly, given the riches on offer,
and purchasing many more soon model D, and it adds motorised-key features in the Pro version I had on test,
adds significantly to the initial outlay. replay facilities. The real thing would cost and I must say they did not disappoint:
you over $200,000 to buy new. they enable a new kind of sound design.
SUMMARY Perhaps just as important, though, is Working in a dedicated (and
Another important stride forward for
this fine modeller of acoustic and yet another refinement of the underlying detachable) panel you load presets for
electric pianos, clavinets, harpsichords, modelling engine, which promises to
mallet instruments and harps. improve the sound of the entire existing
Pianoteq 7 retains brilliant playability instrument line-up. ‘Double polarisation’ Test Spec
and responsiveness, but takes the Pianoteq 7.0.3.
takes account of string vibrations that
fundamental sonic complexity of Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch with 2.4GHz 8-core Intel
its entire range of instruments, and can emanate in any direction into the
Core i9 and 32GB RAM.
the potential for sound design, to soundboard, and is said to provide more Mac OS 10.15.7.
new heights. complexity, a three-dimensional character,

56 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
Unleash your
creativity

Introducing GLM 4 loudspeaker manager software

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 ON T E S T
MODARRT PIANOTEQ 7

any of your instruments into slots that

have accompanying mute and solo
buttons, and which have a horizontal
travel fader that controls the intensity of
that ‘ingredient’ (Modartt’s terminology,
suitably culinary perhaps). There will
also be a vertical crossfader between
the slots, which acts as a macro for the
slot faders, and determines the relative
dominance of each preset in the morph.
It’s not especially pretty but it could
hardly be quicker or more intuitive.
Morphing between presets then proves
to be a fascinating thing. I liked taking The new morphing feature is like some kind of sonic DNA splicing, letting you create entirely new
one of the pristine grands, for example, instruments by melding together existing ones, in different proportions. Here, a bizarre mix of grand piano,
and morphing it with a rough, inharmonic hand pan, and Hohner Electra-Piano. The user interface takes on styling that’s appropriate to the most
dominant ‘ingredient’.
Hand Pan or Steel Drum. Strange and
wonderful chimeras would emerge: mathematical engine room, and the there’s a ‘Smooth x2’ option to run two
pianos with bizarre overtone structures results can end up far removed from any Pianoteq engines in parallel, which
or muted decay phases. Everything is up of the starting-point ingredients. Excitingly doubles CPU use but achieves entirely
for grabs: Wurlitzer/xylophone clashes, or so, I thought, and yet still musically smooth morphs even if there are
tubular bell/virginal mash-ups. And if that persuasive and inspiring, as opposed to parameter step-changes, via crossfading.
weren’t enough, you can add up to eight weird or ugly. In comparison to morphing, Layering
ingredients in a morph, for really strange, There are some really useful might seem a less interesting proposition,
genetically scrambled hybrids with lots of supporting features. A Random button but that’s not necessarily the case. Up to
mothers and fathers. can give pleasant surprises, whilst Flatten three presets can be involved in a layer,
Aside from being fundamentally makes any given morph into a new preset and as well as useful orchestral-leaning
a very intuitive way of deriving new in its own right, with the potential to combos (harp+celeste for example) you
sounds, morphs must surely be one become an ingredient in a new morph. can take identical pianos, say, and set
of the most creatively fruitful. Tweaks There’s also a ‘Freeze’ feature which lets up octave stacks (nice for some Latin
of voicing or design parameters for you select parameters to be excluded styles, and useful for the opening of the
individual instrument’s could already from a morph: that helps overcome Liszt first concerto), phasey detunes, or
yield interesting distortions of them. difficulties with switch- or toggle-type combos of compressed dry sounds and
However, with morphing you’re messing parameters (like Effects enables) that spacey reverberant backdrops. And with
about apparently much deeper in the can’t be smoothly transitioned. Finally Pianoteq Standard or Pro it’s possible to

Packed & Ready

One really crucial difference from many one manufacturer or instrument type, so there
sample-based competitors is the somewhat are separate packs for the Steinway model
flexible nature of actually buying Pianoteq. It’s Ds and model B, Bechstein D 282, Petrof 275,
changed a bit over the years, and this is the Steingraeber E-272, Blüthner Model 1 and so
current scheme. on. Sometimes they’re more of a ‘bundle’, like
To begin with, there’s a choice over the three Electric Pianos (encompassing two Rhodes and
available versions. Stage ($149) is the simplest, a Wurlitzer), the Hohner Collection (Clavinet D6,
which exposes relatively few sound design Electra-piano, Pianet N and Pianet T), or the two
parameters, and does not support the new morph/ Historical Pianos collections. There are some
layer feature. Standard ($299) does, and further free add-ons too, incidentally, including a good
lets you tweak all aspects of the modelling engine, CP-80 electro-acoustic, some early grand pianos,
gives per-note adjustment of volume, detune and a cimbalom and tubular bells.
attack, and adds advanced tuning, 3D multichannel Selecting from such an extensive menu may
mic modelling, and import of external reverb sound daunting, but it’s helped enormously by
impulse responses. Finally, Pro ($449) extends the the fact that every pack is in fact built into every
per-note voicing capabilities to 30 parameters, version of Pianoteq, and you’re only ‘unlocking’
allows manipulation of individual overtones, and the ones you end up choosing. That lets you
adds support for sample rates up 192kHz. play all others in a demo fashion, with various
And then, as if your purchase had got you into pitches missing, but enough remaining to form
to some kind of swanky virtual piano restaurant, a meaningful impression. You’re at liberty to buy
you have to choose what sounds you want. more packs at any time too, at $59 each. For
These are offered as ‘packs’, and for the Stage those with deep pockets that just want everything,
version you get to choose any 2, for Standard, a $899 ‘Studio’ bundle gives you Pro, all currently The array of sounds available within
3, and for Pro a total of 4, from the 21 that are available packs, and any new packs released within Pianoteq is quite astonishing: a veritable virtual
currently available. Generally a pack covers a year of purchase. museum’s-worth of desirable instruments.

58 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 THE CLASSIC ISA
SOUND: NOW OVER IP
Focusrite have proudly expanded their heritage ISA range with three new
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ISA 828 MkII still relies on the same ISA ADN8 is an optional A-D card for ISA ADN2 is an optional two-channel
Lundahl input transformer on each the ISA 428 MkII and ISA 828 MkII. It A-D card that provides high-quality
channel as its predecessor and gives provides ADAT Optical, AES3 and Dante analogue-to-digital conversion for the
you the ability to switch your input connectivity at rates up to 24-bit/192kHz. ISA One mic preamp and DI. The card
impedance, including a setting for The card offers primary and secondary offers primary and secondary Dante
the original ISA 110. New, however, is Dante output ports, along with an output ports, along with AES3, ADAT
compatibility with Dante Audio-over-IP AES59-configured DB25 connector optical and S/PDIF outputs.
networks, facilitated by the optional ISA for AES3 output, and a pair of ADAT
ADN8 A-D card. optical outputs. Bring Focusrite’s classic sound
to your audio network today.

pro.focusrite.com/isa
 ON T E S T
MODARRT PIANOTEQ 7

use the Note Edit feature to dovetail the

output levels of two instrument layers
across a pitch region, to have one sound
in the bass crossfading to a different one
in the treble, for example.

So, Spirio
As for the new Steinway, yes, it’s very
nice. Complex and commanding, and
with a typically 21st-century bright and
shiny character, in contrast to the more
‘woody’ European D. Perhaps not the
most immediately attractive piano I’ve
ever heard, but then real Steinway Ds
often aren’t either. As with most Pianoteq
pianos it comes in more than a couple of
dozen preset alternatives.
And I’m wondering, actually, if
I shouldn’t have written this next finding
as the very first thing in this review:
Pianoteq 7 does sound better than
previous versions, by quite a long chalk.
It’s really good.
There has sometimes been a certain
character associated with modelling
Taking the place of typical sample library mic
systems like Pianoteq, where all the (which has proper rocker-switch perspectives is a multichannel virtual miking model
wonderful stuff could be tempered by interface and note-off twangs), pretty which lets the user design their own captures, or fall
a note of artificiality or sterility, like an much all the mallet instruments and the back on a range of established starting points such
aural equivalent of not-quite-convincing metal pans. That was already true of as AB and ORTF.
movie CGI. In version 7 that seems earlier versions. The more recent Hans
to have gone for good. The acoustic Ruckers II harpsichord is energetic, strengths, and is a pleasure to work with.
pianos (and actually it was only ever playable and useful, at least as good Even if the idea of modelling doesn’t
the acoustics that were affected, which as most sampled alternatives, and the quite appeal, or you were not convinced
no doubt points to what a hellishly various historical pianos are charming, by older versions, a demo of Pianoteq
complicated business it is to model them) evocative and seriously enlightening for 7 will be worth a try. For acoustic piano
now sound entirely convincing to me. On appropriate repertoire. duties it’s now virtually impossible
the odd occasion I thought they were still It helps with these and all other to distinguish it in quality from huge
a bit too squeaky clean the Condition sounds that the on-board effects quality single-piano sample libraries, and the
parameter was on hand to loosen things is high: there are three slots you can load degree of sound design flexibility the
up and add the modelling version of up with three-band EQs, choruses, delays, modelling approach allows can easily
an analogue synth’s ‘slop’. I’ll also take amp simulators and more, and a final make them look like dinosaurs. It’s also
this opportunity to put in a word for the convolution reverb. What seems to be so much more than a piano: indeed,
less well-known Steingraeber, Grotrian a master-level EQ is more sophisticated you can legitimately use it for a wide
and Bluthner pianos — these sound than that, working directly on the physical gamut of sounds that doesn’t include
particularly fine in version 7. model. I’ll also praise the simple but piano at all. That’s to say nothing of all
Other standout instruments include devastatingly effective Dynamics slider, the other benefits, including top-class
the electro-acoustics and Clavinet which controls the difference in audible support of MIDI pedal inputs and no
level from the extremes of MIDI velocity. less than 10 types of piano/harpsichord/
Natural-sounding presets often have it harp pedal behaviours, polyphonic
ALTERNATIVES set around 36dB, but at lower values aftertouch support for clavichord sounds,
4Front’s TruePianos has sometimes pianissimo playing ends up far closer the best sympathetic resonance in
been hailed as a Pianoteq alternative, to fortissimo in level, so you get a kind the business, velocity calibration for
but whilst it seems to utilise modelling of ‘pronounced hush’, a special kind of controller keyboards, Native Instruments
technology, has a similarly small
compression that can be a real boon in NKS compatibility and support for Linux
installation size, and is pleasantly
affordable, it offers nothing like a busy mix. as well as Mac OS and Windows. It’s not
the same scope or refinement. even especially CPU-intensive, by today’s
Alternative modelling systems can be Teq The High Road standards. A great update to an already
found in hardware, such as Roland’s Pianoteq 7 ultimately presents an excellent software instrument.
SuperNatural-based instruments,
but otherwise the main competitors easy task to a reviewer: it’s a brilliantly
are sampled. refined virtual instrument that builds in $ See ‘Packed & Ready’ box.
meaningful ways on already formidable W www.modartt.com

60 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
_KeyStep Pro

Universal
sequencing
mastermind.

Silky-smooth synth keys,

the most addictive sequencer
around, 4 polyphonic tracks,
and unmatched connectivity.

There’s simply nothing

like KeyStep Pro when it
comes to getting everything
playing together.

Sequence all your synths,

modular, and software.
 ON T E S T

Black Lion Audio

Revolution 2x2
USB Audio Interface and D-A converter chips. Depending on
the product, it can also mean replacing
it somewhere in the middle to hear
a sensible balance of the two, and engage
With their debut audio the system clock and substituting the Mono button if you want to hear the
components such as capacitors with individual sources panned centrally rather
interface, Black Lion say premium alternatives. than as an L-R stereo signal. Metering
they’re putting quality first. In recent years, the company have is fairly generous on the output side,
also introduced a number of their courtesy of a pair of eight-segment LED
SAM INGLIS own products, including mic preamps, ladders, but restricted to a single signal
compressors, power conditioners and present/clip LED for each of the inputs.

B
lack Lion Audio have built up word clocks. Until now, however, it’s not The Revolution is a USB 2 device,
a loyal following for their audio been possible to buy an ‘off the shelf’ but has the latest Type C connector on
interface ‘mods’. You send them audio interface that incorporates all of the rear panel, with good-quality cables
your interface, and they’ll perform Black Lion’s modifications as standard. supplied to cater for computers with
open heart surgery, upgrading various Type C or Type A sockets. Black Lion’s
components that can have an influence
Vive La Revolution promotional material describes this as
on the sound quality. Typically, this The Revolution 2x2 is a bus-powered a ‘low latency’ connection, but of course
involves replacing op-amps, modifying the USB audio interface that occupies a 1U, latency is mostly dependent on your
filtering on power rails, and introducing half-rack shell. Its feature set is familiar computer and the drivers. On Mac OS, the
their own decoupling circuitry around A-D from many other such interfaces. Two Revolution uses Apple’s Core Audio driver
combi sockets can accept either XLR-M for class-compliant devices and thus offers
Black Lion Audio or quarter-inch jack plugs, and can be the same driver performance as most
Revolution 2x2 individually switched to high-impedance other small USB interfaces. I don’t have
$399 mode for DI’ing electric guitars. Phantom a Windows test machine, but Black Lion
power is also available for mics, and is told me that the Revolution uses a custom
PROS switched globally. A single pair of outputs Windows ASIO driver commissioned from
• Extremely well built. is served up on balanced quarter-inch Thesycon. Like many audio interfaces,
• Very good subjective sound quality.
• Easy to use.
jacks, as an S/PDIF digital signal and the Revolution also ships with a very
on a front-panel headphone socket. worthwhile software bundle, in this case
CONS A coaxial digital input is also offered as an comprising PreSonus’s Studio One Artist,
• Not everyone will feel that the alternative to the analogue ins. iZotope’s Elements Suite, Brainworx’s
difference in sound quality justifies
the additional cost compared to
Direct monitoring of input signals is bx_digital and the Lindell 6X500 plug-in.
rival products. handled using a simple balance control.
With this control fully counter-clockwise
Revolution In The Head
SUMMARY you hear only the input; at the other First impressions are very positive. In
Black Lion have put a lot of thought
into creating the best-sounding
extreme, you hear only the signal being terms of build quality, the Revolution
portable, bus-powered interface they output by the DAW. For low-latency 2x2 is some way ahead of any other
possibly can. monitoring while recording, you’d set comparable interface I’ve seen in the

62 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 As an exclusively bus-powered device, the
be considered a rival to the Revolution. Having a hi-fi audio interface may be of
Revolution 2x2’s back panel features just a pair
of quarter-inch audio outputs, coaxial S/PDIF I/O However, switching between two audio limited value if you’re working on a tour
sockets and a USB Type-C port. interfaces is never instant, and it’s not bus, in a hotel room or in an untreated
obvious how to connect both to the same bedroom studio.
same sort of price bracket. Its metal playback system without passing through
chassis feels tank-proof, and it uses a mixer or other device that could colour
The Audio Went In 2x2
premium parts such as Amphenol the sound. On the input side, Black Lion rightly point
connectors and good-quality Eventually, I managed to route both out that some conventional preamp
potentiometers which are beautifully interfaces directly to the same pair of specifications, especially Equivalent
weighted. Internally, it incorporates Black active speakers without putting anything Input Noise, assume that the preamp is
Lion technologies such as ‘Macro MMC’ else in the way. Once this arrangement independent of the A-D converter, which
clocking and ‘PG-i’ power filtering. was set up and level-matched, I found is rarely true in an audio interface. Their
In terms of functionality, though, the that if I turned my attention to something specs thus quote some of these figures
Revolution’s feature set pits it against else, I quickly forgot which interface was in an unconventional format, but they say
rivals such as SSL’s 2, MOTU’s M2 and active, and simply enjoyed listening to that EIN would be a very decent -127dBu if
Focusrite’s Clarett 2Pre USB, all of music on either — they both sounded very measured in the normal way. A 55dB gain
which are more affordable and have good. When I did rapid A/B comparisons, range is available for microphones, which
additional features that are not available though, I sometimes convinced myself is broadly comparable to most competing
on the Revolution. So the case for buying I could hear a difference. On some products. Like most interface preamps,
a Revolution 2x2 rests on Black Lion’s material the Revolution was a hint fuller these are transformerless and thus offer
claims about its quality. Does it sound in the low midrange, and there were a clean rather than a characterful sound.
good enough to justify the price premium? occasions when it seemed marginally However, preamps are also the strong suit
In answering this question, it’s smoother in the treble. However, such of the SSL 2+, which has an extra 7dB gain
important to bear in mind Black Lion’s differences as I could perceive were range available. In a direct comparison,
ethos. The brochure that describes this is extremely subtle, and I doubt they’d affect it’s clear that the respective alignment of
overcooked in places (it makes a selling any decisions I would make when mixing. the A-D converters means this comes at
point out of the fact that their “high-end To put it in perspective, any difference the top end of the scale, making it slightly
S/PDIF” has an embedded clock signal) in what comes out of the line outputs easier to work with quiet sources such as
but the core message is consistent. They is orders of magnitude less than the spoken word on the SSL.
say their aim was to produce the interface difference between two sets of monitor As I’ve already suggested, anyone
that sounded best to their ears, not the speakers. Having said that, I make no creating an ‘audiophile’ bus-powered USB
one that performed best on the test claim to have golden ears, so this is really interface is working within self-imposed
bench, and insist that subjective sound a test you should try to arrange yourself if limitations. No such device will deliver
quality cannot be reduced to objective you’re interested in the Revolution. the full +20 or +24 dBu output level that’s
measurement. All the significant decisions Differences were, however, much more expected by most professional studio
they made in designing the Revolution apparent when I switched to headphones. equipment, for example — but then, in
2x2 were therefore decided on the basis The Revolution’s headphone amp has practice, how often is something like the
of listening rather than numbers. Naturally, a lot more welly than those in the 2+, Revolution 2x2 ever going to be used
they publish specifications, and these are and sounds very good. I’d go so far as within that sort of environment? It’s a fact
mostly very good, but achieving good to say that I’ve not heard a better one of life that people are recording and
specifications was never an end in itself. in any USB bus-powered interface. mixing music every day in circumstances
However, I’d also point out that that is where mains power is inconvenient
Plus Points not a trivial qualification. I can see why or not available, so why not make the
The idea that differences can be Black Lion have chosen to adopt this best-sounding bus-powered device
“instantly apparent to the listener” approach, because it’s the nearest thing possible? That’s what Black Lion have set
even though they don’t show up in we have to a universal interface format, out to do with the Revolution 2x2, and
conventional measurements is one that but the limited power available inevitably they’ve done a great job.
will divide equipment designers, and it’s introduces design compromises. By its
not entirely straightforward to test. As nature, a portable USB interface is also
luck would have it, I had access to an likely to be used in circumstances where $ $399
SSL 2+, one of the products that might other factors can affect audio quality. W www.blacklionaudio.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 63
 ON T E S T

Fredenstein Artistic Plus

HUGH ROBJOHNS
500-series Modules
This refreshed range boasts new features and improved
F
redenstein have developed
a good reputation for affordable, specs — but the same great value for money.
high-quality products, particularly
through their Artistic line of 500-series simple monitoring facilities, which I’ll directly to the adjacent module’s input
modules. I reviewed the original Artist Pre return to shortly. Extensive magnetic (simultaneously disabling its input
and Artist Compressor modules around shielding is employed around the XLR). Further switches connect the
five years ago, but they’ve subsequently mains transformer in the PSU section to side-chain terminals of adjacent modules,
both been updated and enhanced, as minimise the risk of mains hum induction allowing dynamics processors to be
denoted by the new ‘Plus’ suffix. To into nearby modules, and I couldn’t linked in up to four separate stereo
assist in my review, I was also supplied detect any difference in the hum or noise pairs, or larger multichannel groups (of
with pairs of the Artistic EQ and Artistic floor whether I inserted preamp modules contiguous modules).
Leveller modules, effectively combining in slot 1 or slot 8, which is good news. I mentioned in passing the monitoring
to create a stereo ‘producer channel’, and Unusually, the rack ears have four bolt facility, which comprises a pair of
it was all housed in the company’s latest holes, instead of the standard two, and it’s rotary switches to select the modules
Bento 8 Pro rack. is a welcome feature given that the rack feeding the left and right channels of
weighs 6kg when empty. The rear panel a quarter-inch stereo headphone socket,
Bento carries the usual IEC mains inlet with an as well as a pair of round VU meters. In
The Bento 8 Pro rack is a solidly integrated on-off switch and fuse-holder, this way, the outputs of selected modules
engineered 3U rack with eight module but the unit only accepts a single can be monitored individually or in
slots. It features an internal linear power (factory-set) mains voltage. A ground-lift stereo pairs, which is particularly useful
supply which is capable of delivering switch is provided to separate the audio for checking the quality signal through
a pretty generous 500mA per slot, and ground from the chassis/mains earth. a chain of modules.
the PSU’s front panel includes a trio of All audio connections are via XLRs, However, this particular Fredenstein
LEDs to indicate the presence of the ±16 but ‘daisy-chain’ toggle switches are rack lacks a bespoke feature that’s
and +48 V rails. There are also some provided to link each module’s output included in some other Bento racks, and

64 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 high (+4dBu) and low (-2dBu) balanced level-dependent harmonic distortion
inputs and outputs for each module, associated with valve saturation. The
Fredenstein’s implementation repurposes rotary control adjusts the effect’s intensity
the low-level I/O as Auxiliary module from fully disabled to very obvious
inputs and outputs, generally adding extra distortion, and an adjacent LED shows
XLR connectors for them on the rear of when the feature is active and how
some of its racks. This Aux Input feature hard it’s working. With the control fully
can be used by some of Fredenstein’s anti-clockwise the MicPre Plus is both
dynamics processors to provide an clean and quiet: I measured THD around
external side-chain input connection 0.02 percent for a +4dBu output, and an
— but unfortunately this functionality EIN figure approaching -127dB. (Winding
can’t be accessed in the Bento 8 Pro up the Color control increases the amount
rack, which lacks the requisite rear-panel of harmonic distortion progressively into
Aux connections. several integer percentage points!)

Artistic MicPre Plus Artistic Comp Plus

The Artistic MicPre Plus module is an It took me a little while to spot the
evolution of the original (which remains difference between the new Comp
available). It adds the Color feature of Plus module and the original: an extra
the company’s discontinued Magic Pre. miniature switch on the left-hand side
To make room for a rotary Color strength between the Ratio and Release controls.
control at the top of the panel, the original Operating this toggles the side-chain
module’s bar-graph metering has given source between the internal signal and
way, and there’s now just a pair of LEDs an external input — but only if loaded
indicating Signal present (above -30dBu) into a Bento 6 or Bento 10 rack; as I said
and Peak (+20dBu). This module draws earlier this isn’t available on the Bento
only 50mA from the rack’s power rails. 8 I had in for review. There are other
Everything else is much the same differences behind the panel, though,
as the standard Artistic MicPre, though, since the circuitry has apparently been
with illuminated buttons to invert the improved for greater stability. The same
output polarity, engage a 20dB pad, fast-acting FET is used for the attenuation
select a low-impedance mode (300Ω element in Fredenstein’s Reverse-Mancini
instead of 1.5kΩ), and to provide FET Architecture, which is supposed
phantom power. A TRS socket at the to minimise FET distortion. Make-up
this omission limits its flexibility with some bottom of the panel accepts unbalanced gain is again provided by Fredenstein’s
Fredenstein modules. The company have instrument or balanced line
customised API’s original 500-series inputs (presenting a high 2MΩ
module connector pin-outs slightly, impedance) and I’m pleased to
reallocating typically unused terminals report that the maximum input
to add more useful facilities. Whereas level is now +18dBu. That’s a huge
the original API spec provided both improvement over the original’s
limited instrument/line input
Fredenstein Artistic Plus headroom. The maximum input
level via the rear panel XLR is
PROS +24dBu (with the pad engaged).
• Worthwhile updates to Plus versions
The rotary gain control’s range
of preamp and compressor.
• Good musical and technical has also been altered slightly, now
performances throughout. spanning +20 to +65 dB, still with
• Solid build quality. very little gain-bunching, but the
• Tweaking opportunities by internal circuitry still comprises
swapping DOA gain blocks with
commercial alternatives. Fredenstein’s proprietary OPA2
• Superbly cost-effective. discrete op-amp (pin-compatible
with popular OPA modules) and
CONS a steel-cored output transformer to
• Though side-chain inputs are
welcome, they’re only available when impart a hint of vintage character.
used with compatible racks. The maximum output level is
a strong +26dBu.
SUMMARY Naturally, the MicPre Plus
The Fredenstein modules and rack are The Artistic MicPre Plus
competitively priced, well-built, have
module’s main advantage over combines the features of the
nicely judged facilities and features, the standard model is the Color Fredenstein’s original MicPre and
and perform remarkably well. feature, which emulates the their discontinued Magic Pre.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 65
 ON T E S T
FREDENSTEIN ARTISTIC PLUS

OPA2 discrete opto compressor as being somewhat

op-amp coupled languid, the Artistic Leveler can actually
to a steel-cored be persuaded to react quite briskly,
output if required. But its real strengths
transformer, and undoubtedly lie in gentle bus or vocal
the module draws compression work, using small ratios.
around 75mA
from each of the
Artistic EQ
rack’s power rails. The final module supplied for this review
As with the is a fairly straightforward three-band
original, the top equaliser, based once again around
rotary control a single OPA2 gain block driving the usual
adjusts the input steel-cored output transformer. All three
level over a range EQ sections have rotary controls for cut/
of -10 to +20 dB, boost (±14dB range) although, sadly, there
and this sets are no centre detents to aid locating the
the amount of flat position. Additional rotary controls
squash as the adjust the centre/corner frequencies
compression for each band. The high section spans
threshold is 2 to 20 kHz, the low section 30 to 300
fixed internally Hz, and the mid-section 300 Hz to 3
— higher gain The two dynamics kHz. High and low sections can also be
gives more processing modules share switched individually between shelf and
the same livery and control
squash! Other bell responses, but there is no provision
set — making them look
knobs adjust the incredibly similar in the rack! to adjust the filter Qs (bandwidths), and
Ratio (2:1 to 20:1), the actual Q values vary with the selected
Release time (70ms to 2.5 seconds), offers a good range of controllability. One operating frequencies.
Make-up gain (0 to +20 dB), and the Mix of its great strengths is the Mix control, LEDs at the top of the module indicate
(blending the direct and compressed which makes parallel compression the presence of power (the module draws
paths for parallel compression). An LED trivially simple to achieve. The side-chain 70mA from the rack’s power rails), and
gain reduction meter covers a 16dB high-pass filters are also useful in warn of impending clipping (lighting at
range in 1dB steps up to 8dB, with 2dB determining how the compressor +24dBu which is 2dB below the actual
steps the rest of the way. A Clip LED responds to kick drum and bass content clip level). An illuminated button at the
above the meter lights when the output in a mix. In an ideal world, there might bottom of the panel provides a hard
reaches +24dBu (actually 2dB below have been an automatic recovery-time
hard clipping). mode, and perhaps a gentler ratio than
Four of the miniature toggle switches 2:1 for subtle bus compression, but as
are the same as on the original module. a general-purpose tracking compressor
These introduce a high-pass filter into the module the Comp Plus has a lot going
side-chain (with turnover frequencies of for it — especially if you have a rack that
either 150 or 300 Hz), adjust the attack allows you to use it’s auto-ducker feature.
time (0.5, 5.0, or 25ms), activate a hard
(relay) bypass, and enable side-chain
Artistic Leveler
linking to one or more other compressor Some of my Comp Plus wish-list entries
modules, assuming the rack is configured are satisfied by the Artistic Leveler
appropriately. These last two switches module, which is equipped with an almost
also have status LEDs. There’s no status identical set of controls (to the point that
LED for the new side-chain toggle switch, distinguishing the two modules is not
though, which is a shame, since the simple). The main difference between
compressor won’t work if accidentally the Leveler and the Comp Plus is that
set to Ext without an external input its attenuation element is an opto cell
connected! I spent quite a few moments instead of a FET, so it inherently has
trying to figure out why one review unit a gentler and smoother response. The
appeared not to function at all when its Ratio control also has a slightly different
sibling was working normally. A status range, from 1.5:1 up to 7.5:1, but everything
LED would have made that user error else, including the external side-chain
instantly obvious. access, side-chain filters, and all the other
Nevertheless, the Comp Plus, like its control parameters, is identical. Make-up
predecessor, is an effective, versatile gain is provided by the same OPA2 and The Artistic EQ
and pleasingly transparent compressor transformer combo, too. includes a switchable
that responds quickly and cleanly and While it’s tempting to think of an Color distortion circuit.

66 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 The rear of the Bento 8 Pro Rack: the rack works
well, but unlike on some other Fredenstein racks, and sounds pleasingly musical in use. me! The other modules in the range are
there are no auxiliary inputs, via which you can feed Although the band ranges don’t overlap equally well-designed and effective,
a signal the compressors’ external side-chain inputs. much, they do cover the whole spectrum and I remain impressed with the quality
sensibly and serve well for general and versatility of Fredenstein’s Artistic
(relay) bypass, and an extra toggle in tonal shaping. series of 500-series modules, which offer
the panel centre selects a Color mode. The two enhanced Artistic MicPre impressive value for money.
As with the MixPre Plus, this introduces Plus and Comp Plus modules present
level-dependent harmonic distortion, genuinely useful updates, while the
$ Bento 8 Pro rack $429. Artistic
with higher input signals generating Bento 8 Pro rack is a solid performer with
MicPre Plus $249. Artistic Compressor
stronger effects. useful facilities — although quite why Plus $249. Artistic Leveler $299. Artistic
This EQ module is simple and the company would choose to omit their Equaliser $249.
straightforward, easy to configure, bespoke Aux I/O functionality eludes W www.fredenstein.com

thank you
for voting!

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 67
 ON T E S T

Orchestral Tools
Berlin Symphonic Strings
Sample Library
Orchestral Tools beef up their Berlin orchestra with a
full-size symphonic string instrument.
DAV E ST E WA RT
with expansion sets, there remained from multiple mic positions in the Teldex
a conspicuous gap:in contrast to the Scoring Stage. According to OT, the

O
rchestral Tools first made their symphonic scale of the other titles, library was planned a long time ago:
mark in 2011 with Orchestral Berlin Strings seems (on paper at least) “The Berlin Series is about providing
String Runs, featuring string comparatively modest, featuring only a comprehensive orchestra that’s all
players from the Belarus Philharmonic 28 players in an 8/6/5/5/4 configuration. recorded in the same space, so while
performing a huge collection of fast Though the sections’ real life sound is we were capturing the medium-sized
runs and figures devised by OT founder bigger than the bare numbers suggest, the ensemble, we were already thinking
Hendrik Schwarzer. Under the leadership head count falls well short of the 60+ string about what we could do with really big
of its young MD, the company then players you’d hear in a classical recital, section sizes. We were very happy with
wowed orchestral sample users with film score session or major artist recording Berlin Strings, and it’s great for most
the impressive Berlin Woodwinds library date. (More notes on section sizes below). uses, even symphonic music. But there
before forging ahead with Berlin Strings, To pump their Berlin orchestra up to are some situations where you need
Berlin Brass and Berlin Percussion. full heavyweight status, Orchestral Tools the big soaring violin section or a huge
While most parts of this critically have released Berlin Symphonic Strings, low end with a lot of cellos and basses.
acclaimed series have been enlarged featuring 68 string players recorded We wanted to add large ensembles and

68 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Orchestral Tools Berlin
Symphonic Strings
€659
PROS
• Full-sized symphonic string sections
make a glorious sound in the Teldex
Scoring Stage.
• The 12-player cello section’s
spiccatos are bang on the money.
• The articulation menu and miking
scheme is consistent from section
to section.
• Advanced interval-based legato
scripting ensures fluency of melody
lines, fast runs and ostinato patterns.

CONS
• No ‘full strings’ patches.
• No portamento articulation.
• It’s expensive — but it sounds
that way.

SUMMARY
If you’re selling orchestral sample Berlin Symphonic Strings violin sections’ articulations.
products to cinematic-minded buyers,
it helps to have symphonic-sized sessions. This makes all the Berlin titles triggering system (wherein held notes
sections in your catalogue. Orchestral acoustically compatible, and means they are automatically re-sounded when
Tools’ Berlin-series woodwinds, brass can be treated as components of a full, a superimposed note is released) also
and percussion already boasted a full unified symphonic sound picture. All mirrors that of VSL, and makes it easy to
symphonic instrumentation — the
excellent Berlin Strings now measures samples were captured at four dynamics program realistic trills and grace notes.
up with a new symphonic string (pp, mp, f and ff). I find this particular approach gives
orchestra of 68 players, featuring To ensure melodic fluency, OT’s consistently excellent musical results,
separate first and second violins, ‘Adaptive Legato’ technology tracks your so I’m glad to see it implemented again
violas, cellos and double basses
playing speed and automatically selects in BSS.
recorded from seven mic positions
in a great-sounding scoring stage. the right kind of legato note transition The library offers a choice of three
Top stuff. for each interval. Based on the legato legato styles: ‘Melodic’ legato (the default
concept originally developed by Vienna ‘sustains + legato’ patch) is optimised for
musically, we wanted to capture that big, Symphonic Library, this joins up notes, soaring expressive themes and intimate,
opulent, dramatic sound and make it smoothes over the cracks and gives emotional melodies, while ‘Rapid’ legato
available to everyone.” great realism to melody lines. OT’s legato (which uses the players’ staccato samples
Berlin Symphonic Strings (BSS for
short) works exclusively with Orchestral
Tools’ Sine player, which runs standalone
and as a plug-in on Mac and Windows
systems. You need the latest version of
Sine, which is available free online from
the Orchestral Tools website. The full
library is 74.64GB installed, but you don’t
have to buy the whole thing: individual
sections can be bought separately at
prices starting from €126, after which
you can download any or all of their
mic positions as and when you need
them. A great, flexible system which
points the way forward for the industry.
Crossgrade prices are also available for
Berlin Strings owners.

Overview
Recording sessions for BSS took place
over a two-week period using a traditional
orchestral seating arrangement and
an expanded version of the standard
mic positions used in all of OT’s Teldex Seven microphone positions are available for each section.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 69
 ON T E S T
ORCHESTRAL TOOLS BERLIN SYMPHONIC STRINGS

accompanying rhythm patterns sound up the rhythm by shortening the release

more convincing. All of the three styles’ time in the envelope window. The
transition samples were also recorded designated staccato style is also a good
at four dynamics, so you can freely add resource for rhythm work, and can be
expressive dynamic movements to your interspersed with short and long marcato
legato lines with the mod wheel. notes to great effect.
As we’ve all come to know, the
BSS Violins spiccato delivery is the one media
Numbering 18 and 16 players respectively, composers crave for its brisk, propulsive
When preparing to download the individual mic
BSS’s first and second violin sections play effect. The first violins’ version nails the
positions you can select ‘Basic Kit’ to download the
Spot 1 and Decca Tree positions, or make your own over the instrument’s full range of G3-D#7. taut, tense driving style which has become
selection from the ‘Pro Select’ list. The two sections are nicely balanced, a standard articulation in string libraries.
perfectly in tune and seamlessly looped. The seconds’ spiccato bow attacks may
as a basis) is best suited to fast runs, When starting an arrangement the first be fractionally less tight, but you have
flourishes and ornaments. Positioned violins’ straight sustains are a good way to strain to hear the difference; both
somewhere in between is the new to go, providing a broad, rich tone and sections perform excellent and compelling
‘Pattern’ legato, which uses an alternative steady delivery which sounds sweet and examples of this essential cinematic style.
set of sustains and three round-robin singing in the quieter notes and strong When it comes to emotive melodies
takes of the legato transitions to make and stately at loud dynamics. and heroic themes, the violin’s main
ostinatos, arpeggios and long-note There’s certainly nothing second class sustain-legato patches are among
about the second violins: their long notes the elite of their kind. Note transitions
sound a touch more transparent than are perfectly captured across the
Microphone Positions the firsts, with a sweet, open and clean instruments’ full range, and though
top register which sounds very nice in there’s no dedicated portamento style,
All samples in Berlin Symphonic Strings were
recorded simultaneously from seven mic high-pitched chords. In certain deliveries the occasional quick, subtle swoop
positions. the seconds play with slightly
more attack, but overall I’d
• Spot 1:A mix of condenser spot mics for recommend using the larger
each section, typically one microphone group for your main violin parts
per two desks.
in the safe knowledge that
• Spot 2:A pair of vintage ribbon mics
above each section, providing an the second violins will provide
alternative softer, old-school string a classy accompaniment.
sound. The violins’ soft sustains
• Decca Tree:A trio of three Neumann are great for tender emotional
M50s in the time-honoured Decca Tree passages. Accented sustains
configuration, the main miking in most
played with a strong downstroke
orchestral scoring stages.
• A-B:A stereo pair of omni-directional work well for rhythmic chordal
DPA 4006 mics above the Decca Tree, passages, and you can tighten
which can be blended with the tree for
additional warmth and ambience. Orchestral Tools’ Sine player mixer,
• Leader:A single spot mic in front of each showing the first violins’ master fader
section leader. and seven mic positions.
• Outrigger:Supporting mics placed far
apart in front of the orchestra which can
be blended with the Tree to add stereo
width.
• Surround:The most distant mic position,
a pair of Neumann M50s placed high
and wide.

The possibilities are endless, but if you start

out with the Decca Tree and blend in Spot 1,
you’ll immediately enjoy a classic orchestral
sound without overburdening your system.
Multiple microphone set ups take a long
time to load and gobble up RAM, but there is
a workaround:if you create a multi-mic mix
you particularly like, you can use Sine’s ‘mic
merge’ feature to bounce it down to a new
single mic position which will be saved on
your hard drive. Thereafter, your mix will
appear with its own dedicated channel
inside the Sine mixer.
The Sine player mixer, this time showing all channels for the first violins and cellos.

70 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Thinking Big
Bigger is not always best. Does a drum kit your arrangement? was like watching a speeded-up Big Brother final,
with seven toms does automatically outclass As intimated earlier, a full 16/14/12/10/8 but it was interesting to hear the group’s lush
a standard three-tom kit? Is an 88-note master symphonic strings section collectively produces sound steadily dwindle to the point where it was
keyboard a better instrument than a five-octave the big, rich, expansive, opulent sound we’re used possible to make out the individual players — for
61-note workstation merely because it has 27 to hearing in symphonic concert halls, on film the song in question, a triumph of intimacy and
more keys? You have to use your ears as well as soundtracks and in lavishly-produced pop ballads personal connection over grandeur.
your eyes. by the likes of Adele. However, further down the Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put
This maxim also holds true for string section pop ladder, many artists favour the more intimate you off buying Berlin Symphonic Strings — I am
sizes. There are a few sample libraries on the sound of a chamber group (typically 6/5/4/4/2), simply pointing out that you have to scale your
market that boast sections numbering hundreds and often omit basses into the bargain. section numbers to the job in hand. For the epic
of players, reminding me of the old Charles Atlas In one memorable strings session I produced, trailer music community, a big symphonic sound
bodybuilding advertisements of the 1940s, where the songwriter asked for the initial 8/6/6/6 line-up is a prerequisite, and there’s nothing wrong with
a humiliated ‘97-pound weakling’ transforms (with no basses) to be halved to 4/3/3/3, and then that. But if you need to use orchestral samples in
himself into a conquering hero by dint of his big further scaled it down to 2/2/2/2 after hearing a wider range of music, it’s as well to bear in mind
muscles — the stats may look impressive, but do the results. Watching the unneeded players put that ‘small is beautiful’ sometimes beats ‘bigger
you really need that massively beefed-up sound in on their coats and leave as the sections shrank is better’!

between pitches reminds you that these sound. It’s a pity Sine doesn’t have any My Country’ and must confess it felt good.
are real played intervals. Play slowly, built-in effects, because adding a big Designed for inner parts, the Pattern
and you’ll hear measured, graceful Lexicon-style reverb to these strings legato style works very well for joining up
transitions; play quick darting runs, and would be the icing on the cake. Oh well, viola ostinato long-note figures — it’s easy
the Rapid legato samples automatically I guess you can’t have everything. to imagine them singing out in a John
kick in to track your speedy movements. Moving on, the violas’ legato sustains Williams score.
For virtuosic ‘Flight Of The Bumblebee’ are superb for uplifting anthemic and
cadenzas, the dedicated short-note superhero themes. Though I don’t
BSS Cellos
Rapid legato patch does an unbelievably consider myself to be unduly patriotic, ‘Dramatic’ is the word that springs to
good job of rendering speed-of-light I found my fingers picking out the mind here. This 12-piece cello section got
scales into a convincing, fluid stream of opening notes to Holst’s ‘I Vow To Thee my pulse racing, and made it immediately
notes, and the Pattern legato style is
equally good at joining up the notes of
your melodic ostinato figures. All in all,
these legatos are second to none, and
a joy to play.

BSS Violas
In days of old, viola players had
a reputation for musical timidity, the

Get the skills

docile sheep of the string orchestra. Not
these guys. The library’s 14 viola payers

to produce
make a fabulous big, confident and
lavish sound which dispels any notions of
wimpiness. Played over a C3-D6 range,

serious results.
the section’s sonorous, dignified and
serious tone is especially telling in the
low octave below Middle C, the zone
where the viola really makes its mark in
a string orchestra.
The viola players’ vibrato is more
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though this sounds natural enough, the
amount of expressive vibrato used in
the ff dynamic is a little strong for my Online Degree Programs 12-Week Online Courses
taste, and left me wishing I could hear Master of Music
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Bachelor of Professional Studies A la Carte Graduate Courses
with a little less baked-in espressivo (I’m
English, dammit — we don’t hold with
displays of emotion). Another advantage
of the violas’ long notes is that layering Learn more at online.berklee.edu 1-866-BERKLEE
them with the first violins’ sustains
creates a delightfully lush, big sheer

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 71
 ON T E S T
ORCHESTRAL TOOLS BERLIN SYMPHONIC STRINGS

clear that its spiccatos will do a great violins or basses. Quiet chords sound players? A semitone” certainly doesn’t
job of powering an arrangement. The elegantly serene and plaintive, while apply to this group. As well as playing
spiccato bowing is tight, attacking the passionate vibrato of the louder beautifully in tune over their C1-C4
and perfectly executed across the dynamics tugs at the heart strings. The range, the eight basses sound absolutely
four dynamics. As a test, I recorded legato sustains are another triumph: stentorian in their low register, and
a rhythmic eighth-note passage at notes ebb, flow and fold into each other although I assume their samples haven’t
a medium dynamic level, then adjusted in an unbroken flow, with lovely, small been EQ’d, the amount of low end is
its global velocity on playback — controlled glides occasionally evident staggering, but that’s to be expected
whether set to very loud or very quiet, on wider intervals. If you need a cello with such an unusually large section.
the samples rocketed along with section to carry an emotional, soaring The basses’ three-octave range means
great propulsion and forward motion. theme in your arrangement, look no you can write chordal passages of
The cellos’ cleanly played pizzicatos further. The players’ rapid legato style great emotional resonance, though to
also motor along nicely, and their also copes admirably with very fast runs, avoid muddiness you have to take care
attractive plump, resonant timbre is so although there are no octave scale to play open voicings pitched high in
a delight. If you want more aggression, runs in this collection, you can easily the instruments’ register. Slow-moving
simple dial up the accented sustains program your own — just make sure melodic legato passages are equally
and loud staccato and marcato short your notes overlap slightly to trigger the effective, with note transitions once again
notes, which sound hugely powerful legato transitions! beautifully captured.
playing fifths in the bottom octave. The The welcome absence of flams means
whole-tone trills are great too — get
BSS Double Basses you can write mobile walking bass
your stirring nautical themes ready! Call me a cynic, but it’s a surprise to pizzicato lines. The players’ spiccatos
The cellos’ sustains and legatos hear eight double basses performing also zip along nicely, though you may
also hit the spot. The long notes’ wide together with such precise intonation. have to drag them back a little on the
C2-G5 range means you can program The old jazzers’ joke “What do get when timeline to sync with the click. Staccato
full string chords without involving you write a unison note for two bass and marcato short notes are played with

72 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 THE MIDI
SPECIALISTS
KEEP ALL YOUR SYNTHS, SEQUENCERS
AND CONTROLLERS TALKING WITH
KENTON MIDI PRODUCTS

Got USB but

need MIDI?

MIDI USB Host mkII

kII
USB Host to MIDI Converter
Using a USB device with a MIDI USB Host removes the need for
a computer. MIDI In & Out are provided for USB MIDI keyboards
and controllers.

Need to split
your MIDI into
identical copies?

Thru-5
MIDI thru box
One MIDI in and 5 MIDI Thrus.
Thru-12 and Thru-25 also available

Need to
combine your
MIDI sources?
wonderful precision, confirming this bass section’s place in the
top echelon of orchestral string samples.
Merge-4
Conclusion MIDI Merge Box
Merges the data from up to four separate MIDI sources (e.g. Master
A few general points: an on-screen ‘variation slider’ in the keyboards or controllers) into a single MIDI data stream which
Sine player allows you to switch between a light, subtle (often appears at both of the MIDI out sockets.
barely discernible) vibrato and a more pronounced expressive Merge-8 also available
vibrato on most long notes. There’s nothing in between the
two styles, and you can’t cross-fade them. You can also use the
Want to control
slider (which defaults to MIDI CC4 control) to switch between
your vintage CV
semitone and whole-tone trills. Articulations can be selected
synths using MIDI?
on the fly with keyswitches, the pitches of which can be
repositioned to suit your orchestral template.
I found the articulations to be very consistent and well Pro-Solo mk3
balanced between sections, so you can reassign (say) MIDI-CV Converter
a violins part to violas without disrupting a mix. The only thing High-spec, single synth MIDI to CV converter.
Modular Solo also available
I missed in this admirable collection is a set of ‘full strings’
patches for composing purposes, perhaps Orchestral Tools
will supply them at some point? In any case, the Sine player
lets you edit instrument note ranges and build your own Find out more at kentonuk.com
multis, so I’m sure I’ll have fun creating my own!

$ Berlin Symphonic Strings €658.80,

individual sections from €126.
W www.orchestraltools.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 73
 ON T E S T

Strymon NightSky
Reverb Pedal
With patch-morphing and a built-in step sequencer,
the NightSky is no ordinary reverb.

SIMON SMALL
even these, which are found on all On the rear panel, you’ll find generous
Strymon’s pedals, are only a couple of connectivity. The NightSky has a switch

S
trymon have dubbed their new button presses away. for selecting between the high-impedance
NightSky the ‘Reverberant instrument and line-level input modes.
Synthesis Machine’ and it’s easy
Overview Line mode adds 10dB of headroom, and
to both see and hear why. With three The high build quality of the hardware it’s a great addition on a high-quality digital
distinct reverb processing cores, real-time is what we’ve come to expect of pedal like this, as both keyboard players
processing of pitch, harmonics, shimmer, Strymon. It takes the form of a sturdy, and mix engineers will find at least as
modulation, overdrive, a synth-like dark blue, anodised aluminium chassis, much to love here as guitarists. The pair of
resonance filter and a sequencer, this sporting three multi-use footswitches, low-noise JFET preamp inputs (use the Left
is a pedal that’s packed full of features. 16 buttons and 10 knobs. Inside, the only for mono) and low-impedance stereo
Mercifully, then, operating the most processing is unashamedly digital, with outputs are on TS jacks. The analogue I/O
commonly used functions doesn’t involve 24-bit, 96kHz A-D/D-A conversion and are joined by an expression pedal jack
any menu diving. In fact, almost every high-performance SHARC-based DSP. input, which allows control of any knob’s
parameter can be tweaked from the The dry signal has a fully analogue path, function with a standard expression pedal,
top-panel controls, which are a joy to though, so there’s true zero latency, and but you can also execute MIDI program
operate and are spaced adequately for you have the option of using True Bypass changes and select presets. Maybe more
larger hands. That said, it’s well worth (electromechanical relay switching) interesting is the ability to bypass the Mod,
consulting the manual to discover the or the transparent-sounding Analog Tone or Voice sections of the pedal using
less obvious secondary functions. But Buffered Bypass. a Strymon MultiSwitch Plus controller.

74 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
There are also five-pin MIDI DIN In and reverb core. A Shimmer knob controls the the delay lines within the reverb, Pitch
Out connectors and a USB port, which is amount of this effect; when set to minimum modulates the Size/Pitch control and
used both for MIDI control and for firmware (fully anti-clockwise) the effect is off. Filter modulates the High Cut knob in
updates. A centre-negative power 9V DC Glimmer enhances the input signal’s the Tone section.
inlet completes the I/O. harmonics, and enhancement can be based While you may be familiar with the
on low or high frequencies. I found that classic waveforms, the Envelope option is
Knob Twiddling the latter option opened up the top end a bit different. When selected, this responds
The control knobs are divided into five nicely, without killing the dynamics and, with to playing dynamics, with the input
sections: Mod, Decay, Tone, Voice and Mix. Glimmer’s gain turned up, the low-frequency sensitivity being set by the Depth knob. With
Beneath these sit eight buttons and three option added a wonderful resonance to the the Depth knob set left of the 12 o’clock
footswitches. The first, welcome, thing that reverb. The level of the Glimmer effect can position, the envelope starts at a higher
I noticed about the controls was that there be adjusted by holding the Glimmer button value and is triggered to go to a lower value
are separate level knobs for the wet and down and turning the Reverb knob. with an input signal. With Depth set past 12
dry signal paths; I often become frustrated The manual describes the Drive knob as o’clock, the envelope starts at a lower value
by the limitations of the classic wet/dry controlling “saturated overdriven harmonics and goes to a higher value when triggered
control on pedals, and it’s great to be able with a soft clipping characteristic”. Pre and by an input signal. In between these settings
to keep the dry sound at a consistent level Post switches determine whether the effect (ie. with Depth at the 12 o’clock position)
and balance the wet level to taste, rather is applied before or after the reverb core, the modulation is turned off. Thus, you have
like you’d do when using an aux send for different results. Post-reverb Drive allows access to positive and negative modulation.
in the studio. you to create a wonderfully saturated reverb I particularly enjoyed the natural sense
In the Decay section, you’ll find three tail, which I think the shoegaze crowd will of movement that followed my playing
types of reverb, each of which has different really enjoy! As with Glimmer, you can adjust dynamics when modulating the filter section.
characteristics: Sparse has a very granular the Drive gain by holding down the Drive For the waveform options other than
sound; Dense has a plate characteristic, button and twisting the Reverb knob. the Envelope, the Depth knob adjusts the
with a fast response and dense reflections; The Tone section is used to apply waveform depth: the higher you set Depth,
and Diffuse is a slow-building, atmospheric filtering to the reverb. The Low Cut knob the deeper your waveform will be, and
wash. You can adjust the pre-delay time by removes low-end information from both the more dramatic the modulation of the
holding the Texture button and turning the the output and the regenerating core target parameter; when fully anti-clockwise
Reverb control (anti-clockwise for shorter, of the reverb, while High Cut removes the effect is bypassed. The Speed control
clockwise for longer). The Length knob high-frequency content from the reverb. adjusts the rate of modulation from 0.06Hz
dictates the decay time, which ranges Between them, a Filter switch allows you to to 12Hz (roughly 16 to 0.08 second sweeps).
from less than a second to almost infinite change how the latter filter is applied: the
sustain. The Size/Pitch knob increases the Regen option filters out high end from the
Step To It|!
size of the reverb core, to create a larger reverb’s decay, creating a decay that gets The three multi-use footswitches’ primary
‘space’ and if there’s already audio in the darker over time, while Low Pass applies functions are labelled above in capitals.
reverb core, it also controls the pitch of the a high-frequency roll-off to the reverb’s The On switch on the left of the pedal is
reverb. Three Quantize settings determine output. You can also adjust the resonance used to activate/bypass the pedal, and has
the response and range of the Size/Pitch of the Low Pass Filter, by holding the two secondary functions. Holding it down
control: Smooth sets a continuous range Filter button and turning the Reverb knob. triggers a Morph feature, which sweeps
over 2.5 octaves; Half Step quantises This is a lot of fun to play with — with the between the current and another stored
the audio to half-step intervals over resonance level raised, the filter can sound setup — setting these up is easy enough,
a two-octave range; and Scale quantises very synth-like — and the ability to route but you’ll want to consult the manual, in
the audio to a selectable scale over two a MIDI or expression pedal to the High Cut
octaves. To select different scale options in control means there’s great potential here
this mode, you can hold the Quantize button for live performance. Despite the features
Strymon NightSky
and select one of the eight preset buttons in of this section all being useful, I can’t $429
the sections below. help feeling that an additional band-pass PROS
The Voice section houses three option would have been a valuable asset, • Out-of-this-world reverb sounds!
elements, called Shimmer, Glimmer and especially given the modulation options • Modulation and sequencing options
Drive, that Strymon say are designed to that are available... mean lots of creative potential.
• Fully MIDI controllable.
“enhance the aural spectrum of the reverb”. That brings me neatly on to one of • Line/Instrument switch: it’s not just
Shimmer is one of Strymon’s best-loved my favourite features of the NightSky: its for guitar!
algorithms — pretty much all Big Sky Mod section. This really encourages you
owners will have enjoyed experimenting to explore the use of movement into your
CONS
• Not a traditional reverb pedal, and
with it — and the NightSky’s implementation patches. Your choice from six waveform the particular flavour might not be to
allows you to add an adjustable ±1 octave shapes (triangle, square, ramp, saw, random everyone’s taste.
pitch-shift to the reverb using the Interval and envelope) can modulate one of three
knob, with detune up and down being target areas (Verb, Pitch and Filter), and
SUMMARY
The NightSky reverb is built well and
available around the 12 o’clock position. there are rotary controls for Speed and
sounds great. Strymon have done well
This can be applied to the reverb core only Depth. The modulation targets are selected to make such a complex effect pedal
(Regen) or to the input source before the using the Target button: Verb modulates so simple to use.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 75
 ON T E S T
STRYMON NIGHTSKY

The NightSky provides MIDI support for program changes (up to 300 presets), CC messages to control the pedal’s
knobs, switches, buttons and live-edit functions, and clocking to sync the sequencer tempo with an external clock source.

which the necessary steps are laid out pressing the corresponding one of the eight combine to create a supremely tweakable
clearly. It performs a different purpose when preset buttons. An activated step is lit, an palette of reverb sounds, and it really shines
the pedal is in Sequencer mode, of which unlit button is skipped (rather than denoting as a more complex effect.
more below. The Favorite switch is used to a rest), and the current step’s button will I own several high-quality reverb pedals,
toggle between an active preset and the be lit red. including a Strymon Big Sky, an Eventide H9
current settings of the knobs on the front You can quantise (ie. pitch-snap) the and Earthquaker Devices’ Afterneath, and
panel, with a green LED indicating whether steps to half-step increments (the nearest use them all regularly;I felt that I had my
you’re using a preset. semitone) or to the nearest note in one of reverb bases fairly well covered and wasn’t
Stepping on the Infinite switch is more eight musical scales (see box). A variable sure what more I could discover. But I have
interesting:in the default mode, this freezes glide time can also be applied, which is akin to admit that from the first time I plugged the
the input to the reverb core, while also to a portamento effect for the Size/Pitch. NightSky in, I knew I had to own it! I adore
letting you perform new audio (that can Alternatively, you can tune the sequencer the modulation options:not only do they
be processed by the reverb on top of the freely, with no quantisation applied at all. sound good, but I find myself needing to
frozen audio). I love this feature, which When in Sequencer mode, you can tweak them only minimally before I land
enables you to create a mesmerizing choose to have the Sequencer play back at exactly where I want to be. The different
ambient wash and play a melody right over a tempo that you tap in, using the Favourite flavours of reverb that are covered in the
the top, in the same reverberated ‘space’. footswitch, or to manually step through Decay section cover various bases and are
But holding the Infinite switch down longer the sequence using the On footswitch. If all highly usable, too.
activates the Sequencer, which is a step the sequence is already running, the latter I spent a lot of time when evaluating
sequencer that can create rhythmic interest switch will reset the sequence to step one. the NightSky running my guitar through it
by adjusting the Size/Pitch settings. You can also sync the Sequencer to an straight into a Fender Bassman amp. But
Each step is associated with a preset external MIDI source such as a DAW. I also love that it can be set to line input
button, so you can have up to eight steps. The sequencer is such a welcome mode, and I experimented with using it as
To set up a sequence, you press a preset feature in the NightSky pedal. It’s so easy to a send effect hooked up to our Looptrotter
button and then adjust the Size/Pitch setting set up and operate, yet opens up so many console. Sending a string pad sound from
to taste. Then repeat for each step. You can sonic possibilities. Whether tapping a tempo a Prophet 6 to the pedal on a bus was
activate/deactivate each step individually by in to create movement in my sustained a joy:dialling in an ethereal ambience with
note trails or manually stepping through a slow-moving modulation on the filter
the settings, I found it inspirational. When it was very satisfying and sat in my mixes
Sequencer Scale Options comes to guitar, it will hold some appeal for
the more adventurous players out there, but
perfectly.
So it sounds good. It can do simple
1. Minor pentatonic I imagine synthesists and sound designers and complex effects, without ever making
2. Major pentatonic will have a field day with it. it a hassle for the user. And the line input
3. Major mode and MIDI functionality make it really
4. Dorian Lasting Impressions versatile too. What’s not to like?
5. Minor blues
6. Harmonic minor The Nightsky is a very accessible pedal, in
7. Whole tone that if you jump right in you can create some
8. Diminished simple and beautiful ‘standard’ reverbs. But $ $429
the modulation and sequencing options W www.strymon.net

76 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON T E S T

2Box
Speedlight
Electronic Drum Kit
2Box’s Speedlight kit takes
an unconventional but flexible
approach to electronic percussion.
MARK GORDON

M
y first (and only) review of an
electronic kit from Swedish
company 2Box was for Sound
On Sound back in February 2011, when
I checked out the company’s first foray
into the world of electronic percussion:
the DrumItFive. It was certainly a quirky kit,
with its bright orange pads and functional,
utilitarian design.
Since then, 2Box have focused more
on their Open Sound Architecture modules
than full kits, with a redesigned DrumItFive
MkII and the more recent DrumItThree
module. The Speedlight kit is a return to
the past and combines pads, cymbals, rack
and hardware with a DrumItThree module in
a mid-priced package.
Fighting for attention in an already
crowded sector of the market, the
Speedlight kit boasts the world’s first drum
module with an Open Sound Architecture
and a Universal Trigger Interface. But is that
enough to set it apart from the pack... and
what does it even mean?

Stand Easy?
As its name suggests, the 2Box kit arrives a fair amount of force to locate the poles. with the kit. Completing the kit is
in — you’ve guessed it — two boxes! The Small aluminium arms connect the snare the DrumItThree module, which
first box contains the bulk of the hardware and toms to the rack and allow for just ships with a mounting spigot that
and the second contains the pads. This enough adjustment to position everything enables it to fit neatly on its own rack arm,
makes constructing the kit a little easier, comfortably in place. Two cymbal stands close to the hi-hat.
as you only need to deal with one box at locate securely into the top of the two main
a time, but I have to say that building the uprights of the rack. These are very solid
Black Is The New Orange
kit wasn’t the simplest of tasks. The manual chrome affairs, but the boom arm is quite The original 2Box DrumItFive I reviewed
looks like something from Ikea, and the way short, and there is no additional adjustment back in 2011 was definitely a striking-looking
in which some elements fit together is also at the top of the boom to angle the cymbal. kit, with its uniquely designed bright orange
reminiscent of the modernist Scandinavian Setting it apart from its direct pads. While they certainly worked perfectly
retailer. Having said that, when constructed competitors, and putting it in line with more well, I was pleased to see that the pads
the rack is very solid, stable and fit for high-end electronic kits, the Speedlight on the new Speedlight kit have a more
purpose. The poles are an all-metal ships with an optical hi-hat rather than the conservative black and chrome design.
construction and fit together using familiar fixed pad and wired pedal typically found on The kit comprises three 8-inch tom pads
clamps. However, I found that some of the kits in this price range. The hi-hat fits onto plus a 10-inch snare pad, all identically
fittings were a little tight, and it did require a regular hi-hat stand which is also included constructed using a familiar black plastic

78 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
tray to which the trigger is mounted. The
single-ply 2Box-branded mesh head is held
in place by a standard drum hoop, enclosed
by a protective rubber surround. All the
pads are dual zone, meaning that you can
trigger different sounds by hitting the head
or the rim.
The kick-drum pad is a more basic
affair, featuring a solid rubber pad mounted
on a metal stand. Spikes are provided to
secure the drum to a carpeted surface, but
any drum of this size and weight is prone
to movement and the Speedlight kick is
no exception. It’s not a criticism, more an
acknowledgement of physics! I would
have expected a mesh kick-drum pad on
a kit in this price range, as they
offer a more natural playing
experience, as well as creating
less physical noise, but the
The DrumItThree module may have a fairly austere front panel...
Speedlight kick performs
perfectly well. functional-looking piece of hardware, data-entry buttons, while Channel Up,
A 12-inch crash cymbal, 14-inch although it perhaps doesn’t exhibit the Channel Down and Trig buttons enable you
ride cymbal and 13-inch hi-hat sophisticated design aesthetics we have to select which of the connected pads you
(all good sizes) are provided as grown used to from other manufacturers. are editing, and audition it.
part of the package. The crash is The rear panel sports a host of jack A single level knob controls the overall
a single-zone unit and is chokeable sockets including 14 inputs, far more than output volume which, unfortunately, means
— ie. it allows you to mute the is required for the supplied pads and that there isn’t independent access to
cymbal by grabbing the edge. The cymbals — but for very good reason. In the headphone volume from the front
14-inch ride provides three zones addition to working with the 2Box pads, the panel, although you can configure a mode
— bell, bow and edge — and is also DrumItThree module theoretically supports whereby all output levels are fixed and
chokeable. A three-zone ride is pads and triggers from any third-party the level knob exclusively controls the
a nice addition, adding to the realism manufacturer. We’ll get into the details of headphone volume.
and playability of the kit and, like the that later when we dig deeper into the
optical hi-hat, isn’t often featured on module, but for now it explains why I’m
Ready Player One
kits in this price range. Both cymbals presented with three CYMB A/B sockets The Speedlight comes equipped with
are constructed of a hard shiny plastic, with and a Hi-hat control input in addition to 90 preset kits and further 10 blank user
half of the playing surface covered in a more the Kick, Snare and Tom inputs. To the
‘playable’ rubber coating. left of the rear panel are four quarter-inch 2Box Speedlight
The hi-hat is fully encased in rubber and, mono outputs, plus a quarter-inch stereo $1099
as I mentioned earlier, works as an optical headphone socket which can be configured
PROS
trigger, as opposed to the more typical fixed as two additional outputs via the routing • Support for third-party pads
cymbal with a separate electronic pedal options, giving a potential total of six and triggers.
to control the open and closed element. discrete outputs. • Multiple outputs.
What this means in practical terms is that The complement of jack sockets is • Excellent sounds.
• Open sound architecture.
the hi-hat mounts onto a regular stand and completed by a quarter-inch Line Input for
• Optical hi-hat.
looks, feels and plays like a real hi-hat, monitoring external audio sources, such as • Three-zone ride cymbal.
using a mechanism placed under the an MP3 player for playing along or an in-ear
cymbal to detect positional information monitor mix. Remaining I/O comprises MIDI CONS
• Not the easiest OS to navigate.
from the hi-hat pedal. In and Out sockets, a 12V DC input and
• No onboard effects.
Pads and cymbals all connect to the a USB socket that connects the module to • Rubber kick pad.
module via independent numbered stereo the free Mac or PC editing software.
jack cables. Although perhaps not as neat The front panel is a far less populated SUMMARY
The Speedlight kit is definitely
and tidy as a loom, this does allow for space, clean and simple in design, with only
quirky, particularly when it comes to
cables to be exchanged should one fail, or a few knobs and buttons. A fairly small LCD the DrumItThree module. It doesn’t
for longer cables to be used if positioning of is framed by three soft keys above it and quite have the physical finesse of its
the pads dictates. a data-entry knob below. Two buttons either contemporaries, or the impressive
side select the Unit or Kit modes, and there GUI, but if you’re looking for
It’s All About The Box are Page up and down buttons.
something that offers flexibility and
usability, that can grow with you and
At the heart of the Speedlight kit is the A More button towards the centre of has its own unique sound, this kit is
DrumItThree module, a rugged and the unit extends the functionality of the well worth checking out.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 79
 ON T E S T
2BOX SPEEDLIGHT

Close To The Edit

A downloadable Mac/Windows editor is available
for the DrumIt module. Connect the module to
your computer via USB, turn on while holding
down one of the parameter keys and the module
appears on the desktop. It’s possible to simply
open the module as if it were a regular USB drive
and interrogate the contents. A PDF version of
the manual and quick-start guides are stored on
the ‘drive’ alongside the kit files and folders of
samples. This makes the process of dragging and
dropping a backing track WAV file to the module
very simple, as is renaming or restructuring the
sample folder hierarchy.
On opening the editor, you’ll see
a single-window graphical interface with two
modes;Kit and Sound. The Kit window is where
you can configure drum kits by dragging and
dropping samples onto the appropriate pad. The
left-hand side of the screen displays the folders
containing the samples, which are stored in The Kit window of the DrumIt editor software.
a proprietary .dsnd format in the module. The Sound window is where you can create
The .dsnd files include the multiple velocity your own multilayered samples and loops, and this and folders on your Mac or PC, and a simple
layers that make up each sound, along with zone is one of the features that gives the DrumItThree drag-and-drop method is employed to place up to
allocation — so dragging a cymbal file onto the its unique edge. 128 individual WAV files onto a pad. The WAV files
ride pad places the appropriate samples onto the A new sound can be created on one of are distributed dynamically, so the more samples
bell, bow and edge zone. A tom or snare sample four different pad types;kick (also suitable for you have, the more realistic the result will be.
will automatically have samples assigned to the percussion sounds or loops), which features Once created, the new .dsnd file with all its
head and rim, but you can easily drag a different a single zone, a snare or tom pad, which has two component parts can be saved into the appropriate
sound or loop to the rim of a pad, should you zones (plus a third cross stick zone for snares) folder in the module and assigned to a pad in a kit
want to. Kits can then be saved to the module a three-zone cymbal or a three-zone hi-hat, which or saved onto your internal hard drive. If you aren’t
individually or as a whole bank of 100 presets. also includes several degrees of ‘opening’ to in a position to create your own samples, 2Box
You can save as many banks as the 4GB onboard further add to the realism. provide a library of almost 700 free sounds on their
memory will allow, and select which you want to The left side of the window now becomes website, formatted as .dsnd, ready to drag and
use when you boot the module. a file browser that can access all the drives, files drop into the module — which is quite a bonus.

kit locations, but any of the presets can style, and trigger equally well at any tension. the knob. Across the top of the screen are
be overwritten. The cymbals are fairly rigid beneath the the Save, Stop and Play functions that are
Scrolling through the preset kits, what rubber coating and certainly don’t give very actioned from the three soft keys above the
immediately strikes you is the emphasis much when struck, but they do trigger very display. Save is fairly self-explanatory, while
on realistic and natural-sounding drums, accurately. The three-zone bell, bow and Play and Stop control the metronome or
which particularly appeals to me. A number edge ride cymbal works particularly well. associated backing track.
of the kits are named after artists, such as The DrumItThree module has two modes The Page up/down buttons to the left of
the ‘Randy_Black_Kit’, ‘Simon_Phillips’ and — Kit and Unit — directly accessed by the the display access the various pages in the
‘Minneman_Kit’ — which I assume are kits two buttons on the front panel. The former Kit mode; Drum, ENV, CFUNC, KFNC, VOL,
sampled from these particular drummers, deals with editing individual kits, while the EQ and ACMP. The limited LCD display does
rather than homages or soundalikes. There Unit mode covers global module settings. give rise to some fairly cryptic names.
a fair few of those too, with easily decrypted The LCD display is divided into two sections:
names like ‘Invisible Touch’, ‘Bloody Sunday’ one large area that displays parameters and • Drum is where you can adjust which
and ‘Dreadlock’. Of course, this invites you a smaller section to the left that tells you sample is assigned to the pad and set its
to instantly play the ‘riff’ associated with what page you’re currently on. Anyone who pitch and volume.
the track! Many of the drum and cymbal is used to large LCD displays with animated • ENV allows you to adjust Attack, Hold
samples use up to 128 velocity layers, which graphics and even full colour may need to and Decay, specify how samples
gives them their realism and wide dynamic take a few moments to get used to the more and loops will play back (mono or
range. A number of electronic kits are basic approach of the DrumItThree. polyphonically, fixed volume, and so
included, along with some interesting Latin In Kit mode, the left-hand side of the on) and also which zones of the pad
and percussion ensembles. The ability to display initially shows ‘Prog’, indicating the or cymbal you want to use. There’s
trigger different sounds from the head or rim Program page. Across the bottom of the a neat feature buried in this page that
of the drum allows a few presets to include screen is the kit number, metronome meter relates to the playback of loops, namely
loops assigned to the tom rims. and tempo. Each of these parameters is Loop Groups. They are a little like mute
Overall, triggering is very accurate. The accessed by repeatedly pressing the data groups, where striking one pad instantly
mesh heads, although only single ply, can knob, which scrolls through them in turn. mutes the sound of another. Assigning
be tuned high or low to suit your playing Their values are then adjusted by turning a pad to one of three Loop Groups

80 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON T E S T
2BOX SPEEDLIGHT

automatically stops one loop from

playing when another is triggered, which
is a pretty useful feature for triggering
loops live.
• Similarly handy for the live performer, the
CFUNC page enables a control function
to be assigned to a pad alongside its
sound. Functions include Metronome
Start/Stop, Next Kit/Previous Kit and
Tap Tempo, so hitting a pad could start
playback of the metronome or backing
track, or select the next available kit.
• The VOL and EQ pages are where you
can set pad volume and pan position,
in addition to whether a specific pad is
routed through the onboard EQ or not.
The EQ page itself offers 80Hz Low shelf,
12kHz High shelf and a semi-parametric
Mid band with variable frequencies
from 100Hz to 10kHz and 12dB boost or
cut. Surprisingly, EQ is the only signal ... but it’s a different story round the back,
processing available. While I find the their respective modes. This is where where the panel is stuffed with extra connections.
majority of the multi-effects bells and the additional inputs on the rear of the
whistles of many electronic kits surplus module come into play, supporting pads operating system works, it’s not difficult to
to requirements (I rarely flange my toms!), from different manufacturers that use dual navigate the DrumItThree with relative ease
a reverb would be a welcome addition. cables or hi-hat control pedals. This is and access some well thought-out and very
• Finally, the ACMP page is where you can a fantastic feature and really emphasises practical features.
assign a backing track or metronome the open-architecture ethos of 2Box. You The onboard samples are excellent and
to a specific kit and adjust parameters are free to expand your kit with any pad or instantly give the Speedlight kit a sound
such as playback level and tempo. The trigger you like. of its own. The ability to import your own
metronome offers time signatures from The INTF page is where you can assign multilayered sounds only adds to the
1/4 to 12/8, and most reasonable points a MIDI note and channel to each drum, and uniqueness of the proposition, and having
in between, and has a tempo range of also an audio bus output. In conjunction free access to a library of 700 samples is
30-280 bpm. Backing tracks in the form with the Out page, this enables you to set a resource many other companies would
of WAV files can be copied to the module up a wide range of output configurations charge for. Complex as it is, I was very
via the USB connection and assigned to to deal with almost any scenario. With impressed with the flexibility of the routing.
each individual kit. A useful ‘Split Wave some work (and a few references to the Having six individual outputs is a real plus
Mode’ is available which automatically manual), I was able to route kick and snare point for live playing, multitrack recording
routes the left and right side of the file to to individual outputs, toms and cymbals or external processing of sounds. The
separate outputs, so one channel can be to another pair of outs, and backing track idea of using different manufacturers’
‘track’ and the other ‘click’. and metronome to the headphones. It’s pads and triggers with any drum module is
also possible to include the line input in a compatibility minefield, but 2Box support
The module’s Unit mode enjoys a slightly the routing matrix, to use it as an external for almost any third-party pads and triggers
less cryptic set of page names and includes monitor source. leaves you open to change and expand
a level mixer for each kit element, trigger your kit as your mood, or budget, takes you.
and pad settings, hi-hat calibration, MIDI
Dare To Be Different This, along with the ability to import your
and Audio configuration, output routing and If you’re looking for a mid-priced electronic own multilayered samples means that you
an overview of the available memory and kit, it would be easy to opt for one of the have a kit that is able to grow with you and
current software version. big three, and for many people that would adapt to your requirements.
Of particular interest is the Trig page be the right choice. While on the surface So in answer to my question — does
where, as you’d expect, you can configure the Speedlight doesn’t offer quite the the open architecture and universal trigger
the pads to suit your playing style, via same ‘kerbside appeal’, it may well give support set this kit apart from the pack?
a range of familiar parameters such as you everything you need — and a little bit — I’d have to say yes. It may not be the
Velocity Curve, Threshold and Crosstalk. more. A very broad parallel may be that slickest-looking kit or have all the usual bells
The Trig page also brings us back to of the old Mac versus PC argument, with and whistles, but it does have a lot of well
that unique feature I mentioned earlier the DrumItThree module taking the place thought-out and practical features that might
— the DrumItThree module’s support for of the Windows machine with its more be exactly what you need.
pretty much any third-party pad or trigger. open architecture and compatibility with
The manual includes a comprehensive third-party components, yet arguably less
chart that details all the different trigger intuitive operating system. Once you get $ $1099
and pad types that can be used, and used to where things are and how the W www.2box-drums.com

82 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
THE
ULTIMATE
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p r e s e n c e o f a c o u s t i c d r u m s w i t h Ro R o l a n d ’s w o r l d - l e a d i n g d i g i t a l p e r c u s s i o n t e c h n o l o g y.
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w w w. r o l a n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

MiniDSP
PHIL WARD

T
he Hong Kong-based company
MiniDSP initially blipped

ambiMIK-1
on my radar in early 2020,
when I reviewed the Dirac Live room
optimisation system. The measuring
microphone supplied to use with Dirac
Live was a MiniDSP UMIK-1, and doing
a bit of background research brought the

Ambisonic Microphone
rest of the extensive MiniDSP product
range into view. There’s a whole bunch of
MiniDSP products available, quite a few of
which would, I suspect, be of interest to This USB microphone provides an affordable entry
the average Sound On Sound reader, and point into the world of Ambisonic recording.
here’s one of them: the ambiMIK-1
There are a few examples of Ambisonic The ambiMIK-1’s capsule array is driver will be required and is available
mic arrays out there and some of them mounted on the end of a slim, pencil-style for download from the miniDSP website.
have already made it into the review body that fits in a standard mic holder The ambiMIK-1, by the way, can operate
pages of the magazine — the Rode NT-SF1 and is protected by a plastic cage that at sample rates from 44.1kHz all the way
in December 2018 and the Voyage Audio proved to be somewhat fragile (don’t ask). to 192kHz.
Spatial Mic in July 2020, for example. A USB mini B-type socket on the back My usual DAW of choice is Pro Tools
The ambiMIK-1 combines a couple of end of the mic provides the necessary but I moved to Reaper to experiment with
significant features of both of those two connection facilities. The ambiMIK-1 ships the ambiMIK-1 for a couple of reasons.
products, in that it comprises a ‘first with a table stand, a 3m USB cable and Firstly, the miniDSP ambiMIK-1 binaural
order’ mic array similar to the Rode, and a fluffy wind screen, and requires a few and B-format processing plug-in is VST
connects via USB like the Voyage Audio. downloads from the miniDSP website: format only, and while I could have used
It differs from both, however, in that it is the miniDSP-MIK mic gain setting utility, the plug-in in Pro Tools within a wrapper,
significantly less expensive. the ambiMIK-1 VST binaural and B-Format that would have added an unnecessary
As a ‘first order’ Ambisonic processing plug-in and, of course, the layer of complexity. Secondly, as has been
microphone, the ambiMIK-1 incorporates ambiMIK-1 user manual (it’s actually pretty mentioned a few times within these pages,
four capsules mounted in a tetrahedral useful, so do yourself a favour and read it). Reaper is highly configurable in terms of
array (a second order array would carry Using the ambiMIK-1 is almost as simple track format and routing, so it suits the
eight mics), all 14mm pre-polarised as connecting it to an appropriate USB kind of multichannel setup necessary for
cardioid condenser types. Now, if the interface socket and launching a DAW, Ambisonic work.
phrases ‘first order’ and ‘tetrahedral array’ however there are two complications. So connecting the ambiMIK-1 and
immediately have you head scratching, The first is that, depending on the volume having it record four channels of audio
I can very much recommend the level of the source you’re recording and is pretty straightforward. The question,
explanation that Sam Inglis included in his how far away it is, you may well need then, is: what do you do with those
review of the Rode NT-SF1. You can find it more mic gain. That issue can be fixed by four channels? I’ll begin to answer that
here: www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ installing and launching the miniDSP-MIK by explaining a little about the audio
rode-nt-sf1. utility app. I’ve illustrated this in the data that tetrahedral mic arrays capture
screenshot. Once the adjustment is made, and what might be possible with it, but
the utility can be closed and the ambiMIK-1 again, for more detail see the Rode
MiniDSP ambiMIK-1 will remember its new gain setting. The NT-SF1 review, and also perhaps have
$349 second complication is that, because the a look at the ‘Ambisonics’ section of
PROS ambiMIK-1 is an input-only device, a DAW Hugh Robjohns’s extensive primer on
• Inexpensive entry point to Ambisonic session will require an ‘aggregate’ in/out
and binaural recording. virtual device to be created so that inputs
• Easy to use. from the mic can be output appropriately.
• Neutral mic tonality.
On my Mac Mini desktop and MacBook
CONS Pro laptop, both running Catalina and
• Plug-in VST only. Reaper, this all worked without trouble.
• Slightly noisy. The only snag I initially encountered was
SUMMARY that the AmbiMIK-1 wasn’t happy being
I don’t think there can be many more connected via a USB hub, but then neither
inexpensive ways of introducing is my Focusrite interface, so this may well
a whole new recording technique be a hub issue rather than an ambiMIK-1
to your repertoire. The ambiMIK-1 is
a simple and effective introduction
issue. I checked that the ambiMIK-1 was Screen 1: The utility app lets you adjust the
to Ambisonic and binaural happy with a USB extension cable, and mic gain. The ambiMIK-1 remembers the gain when
recording techniques. it was. For Windows users, an ASIO the app is closed or the mic is disconnected.

84 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 85
 ON T E S T
MINIDSP AMBIMIK-1

multichannel audio from way back in 2001:

www.soundonsound.com/techniques/
surround-sound-explained-part-3.
The four audio channels output
by tetrahedral arrays such as the
ambiMIK-1 comprise Left-Front-Up (LFU),
Right-Front-Down (RFD), Left-Back Down
(LBD) and Right-Back-Up (RBU). In this
raw form, known as A-Format, those
channels aren’t really much use, partly
because A-Format data doesn’t really
correspond to soundfield information
that’s usable in real-world mix situations,
and partly because it lacks compensation
for the timing and amplitude errors that Screen 2: The ambiMIK-1 VST plug-in lets you
decode the mic’s output into either B-Format or
arise thanks to the specific frequency space as illustrated by the Yaw, Pitch and
binaural audio.
response and physical spacing of the four Roll controls in the plug-in. B-Format is the
mic capsules. So the first thing that has most common Ambisonic format and the greater. That being the case, mic gain is
to happen with an A-Format four-channel one typically required for VR, gaming and likely to be higher and any noise more
stream is that it needs to be rendered object-oriented audio applications. apparent. One factor that I’d wondered
in a usable format, and that’s where the Flick the ambiMIK-1 plug-in output about before recording was potential
ambiMIK-1 plug-in comes in. Developed format switch to Binaural and a whole latency issues with the ambiMIK-1 plug-in.
by Dirac (of room correction fame), this different set of processing maths kicks I needn’t have worried, because according
takes the raw, A-Format audio channels in to render the four A-Format channels to miniDSP the plug-in latency is 2ms in
and renders them to either interlinked to stereo binaural. This is not only B-Format mode and 2.3ms in binaural
binaural stereo, or B-Format four-channel conceptually more difficult than rendering mode. Furthermore, it ought to be possible
Ambisonics. The screenshot shows the to B-Format in terms of the maths, it’s also, to set up a pre-plug-in mono monitor send
plug-in configured in binaural mode. thanks to the nature of binaural audio by summing the four mic channels.
In the case of the B-Format, the (which attempts to reproduce exactly what Tonally, I felt the ambiMIK-1 was slightly
processing maths required to do the a pair of ears hears), more approximate. warm in overall balance but with generally
rendering job is conceptually relatively Truly convincing binaural audio requires a satisfyingly natural and believable
straightforward and has some ideas not only two omni microphones placed character. Everything I recorded sounded
in common with the way a Mid-Sides a head width apart, but also for the convincing, with no sense that the mic
recording can be rendered to microphone output signal to be modulated character was dominating tonally. And
conventional stereo. B-Format comprises by some kind of a Head Related Transfer as far as the Ambisonic and binaural
one omnidirectional channel called ‘W’ Function. An HRTF can either be elements are concerned, well, I’m already
(equivalent to the Mid in Mid-Sides) which provided by the physical presence of a fan of binaural audio so the ambiMIK-1
is created simply through the addition a dummy head, complete with detailed is somewhat preaching to the converted.
of LFU + RFD + LBD + RBU, and three ear mouldings, or it can be approximated The opportunities binaural provides to
figure-of-8 channels called ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’, in software, and it’s the latter that the manipulate the apparent location of audio
which represent front/back, left/right and ambiMIK-1 plug-in in Binaural mode sources within acoustic spaces, or to rotate
up/down respectively. The maths used to attempts to do. the listening perspective, add a whole new
render these channels is as follows: So what happens when you record creative element to recording and mixing.
using the ambiMIK-1? I experimented with And with so much listening done on
• X = LFU + RFD - LBD - RBU some double bass, acoustic guitar, ukulele headphones these days, it seems crazy to
• Y = LFU + LBD - RFD - RBU and spoken voice, with the ambiMIK me not to take creative advantage.
• Z = LFU + RBU - RFD - LBD plug-in set to binaural mode so that I was I had no traditional binaural head/
able to listen to the results of my efforts mic unit available to compare with the
With the four-channel mic data now in on familiar headphones. My first thought ambiMIK-1 plug-in processed binaural,
B-Format, relative level and pan control was that the ambiMIK-1 seemed slightly and I suspect something along the lines
of the individual signals enables recorded noisy, although not to a really concerning of the classic Neumann KU100 might
audio to be positioned in a spherical or deal-breaking extent (indeed, the reveal some limitations in the ambiMIK-1
ambiMIK-1 boasts a self-noise spec 1dB — however, the KU100 is very much more
better than the Rode NT-SF1). There’s than 10 times the price of the ambiMIK-1
ALTERNATIVES two factors at play: firstly, a mic with four and it doesn’t output B-Format audio.
I’ve already mentioned the Rode NT-SF1 capsules is always going to be noisier than As an introduction to Ambisonic and
and Voyage Audio Spatial Mic, but a conventional single- or dual-capsule mic. binaural recording the ambiMIK-1 is a really
the Zoom H3-VR, which combines strong proposition.
Secondly, the very nature of recording
a tetrahedral mic array with a portable
standalone recorder, is also perhaps with the intent to include a sense of
worth investigating. acoustic space around the source means $ $349 excluding shipping.
that mic-to-source distance is likely to be W www.minidsp.com

86 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON T E S T

M-Audio Solo & Duo

ROBIN VINCENT
USB Audio Interfaces
H Can you really buy a useful audio interface for $49?
ere we go, another pair of budget-
end audio interfaces that look
as familiar as nearly all audio and, in my experience, you usually need The outputs on the back and headphones
interfaces do. My first impression is one of to spend about $150 to get something have been upgraded to quarter-inch
incredible lightness; these hardly weigh decent. By ‘decent’ I mean survivable build jack, and it has a separate headphone
anything. I frown a little at these lightweight quality, solid connections, useful controls and monitor volume control; the Solo just
plastic boxes and then check the press and usable low-latency performance. has a single output level control. Both
release for the pricing. Right, $49 for The entry-level interfaces from Native have phantom power, switchable direct
the Solo and $69 for the Duo; that puts Instruments and PreSonus have crept monitoring and are powered by a very
a rather different perspective on things. down to around the $100 mark and still weedy USB cable.
These remarkably priced audio tick all the boxes, but these M-Audio Neither has any LED indication that
interfaces are unsurprisingly made of ones are half that price. And while I’m they are on. However, you do get a signal/
plastic. Although they are very light in not particularly eager to focus too much clip LED on both channels and a phantom
comparison to more expensive interfaces on price when doing a review I think it’s power indicator.
of similar function, they’re not flimsy and inevitable in this case. The knobs are on the top, which is
they have reasonably sticky feet to help where I like them to be with a desktop
keep them on the desk when being pulled
First The Specs audio interface. They are recessed slightly,
about by cables. The build quality is not The Solo and Duo are 16-bit audio which might give them some protection
fabulous, but at these prices you think, interfaces that can run up to 48kHz. They from accidental damage and while the
yep, they’re OK. However, with an XLR offer a frequency response of 20Hz to turning is nice and firm there’s a lot of
cable and guitar cable plugged into the 20kHz with a signal-to-noise ratio of sideways movement in them.
front and trailing onto the floor they do 109dB. The gain range on the microphone
lift the back two feet off the desk. So, input is 0 to 54 dB and -10 dB to 44dB on
What A Performance
can these very affordable interfaces offer the line and instrument input. The thing that tends to be most lacking in
decent enough home recording quality or The Solo has two inputs: mic/line and cut-price audio interfaces is the drivers.
are they too cheap and too compromised? instrument/line, mini-jack headphones and Class-compliant drivers are fine for general
I’ve been handling, installing and RCA outputs. The Duo also has two inputs, sounds and music on Windows and
comparing audio interfaces for many years but both can be mic, line or instrument. great for Apple products. However, to hit

88 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 With
inputs on the
front panels,
the Solo and
Duo’s back
panels are
simple affairs,
with just the
audio outputs
and USB ports.

a playable latency level for monitoring delays and reverbs. They’ve also
and the live playing of VST instruments thrown in the guitar amp plug-in Eleven
Windows needs proper ASIO drivers. Lite. For virtual instrument sounds you
I wasn’t expecting much from the get the AIR Xpand! 2 workstation, which
M-Audio boxes, and I was pleasantly looks a bit dated but does come with
surprised that they came with ASIO an extensive range of useful sounds.
drivers, and good ones at that.
When running plug-in load tests at
What’s The Catch?
various latencies against the recently There’s no catch, no deficiency or
reviewed MOTU M2, the Solo and gaping hole to draw attention to.
Duo’s performance were more than I can list things that they don’t have
a match. Although I’m slightly sceptical like a MIDI interface, multiple outputs,
of the reported 16-samples buffer size mixer application, loopback function
the output latency could get down to and power light, but for the price what
2.8ms with a round-trip of just under they do have is perfectly adequate for
6ms. The best balanced performance budget home recording. They are only
could be found at around the 128 16-bit and 48kHz, but who cares about
samples mark, giving 5.4ms output and that at this level?
just under 9ms round-trip. That’s very The sound quality is fine, the driver
respectable and unnoticeably playable performance is really quite good, and
to my ears. while they are lightweight, they are
Recording and monitoring were not particularly breakable. Besides,
also good at 128 samples. M-Audio at this price you could get another as
highlights the use of Crystal preamps a spare. Spend more and you will get
on the microphone inputs and they better hardware, features and sound
sound OK to me. Comparing them quality, but I’d have no reservations
to the MOTU the difference was in recommending the Solo or Duo
small particularly on vocals where to anyone stepping into the world
the Crystal preamp was doing a fine of recording for the first time. Match
job. Using the second input for guitar it up with M-Audio’s Keystation
there was a noticeable difference in Mini 32 controller keyboard, and
sparkle and range, but at no point did it you’ve got a recording studio for just
sound inadequate. over $100.

Software Bundle summary

Within the asking price you get
The Solo and Duo are ridiculously cheap
a decent bundle of software that’s audio interfaces for the home studio
probably worth more than the price of that are easy to use and do the job of
the box itself. You get Pro Tools First interfaces twice the price.
and MPC Beats, which can undoubtedly
get you recording, plus 20 effects $ Solo $49, Duo $69.
for Pro Tools including guitar effects, W www.m-audio.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 89
 ON T E S T

UJAM Striiiings
Virtual Instrument way to add high-quality modern string three zones mapped out across a virtual
arrangements to your musical projects, is MIDI keyboard, select phrases from the
UJAM and Hans Zimmer Striiiings the thing? current performance style (on the left),
attempt to make creating Engine Matters
trigger chords within the Play Range (on
professional string parts At the heart of all UJAM’s virtual
possible for everyone musicians lies a combination of UJAM Striiiings
with Striiiings. a sample set, a large collection of preset $169
performance patterns, some cool effects
options and a very clever UI that brings all PROS
JOHN WALDEN
• Convincing string arrangements
these elements together in a deliberately

U
whatever your orchestration skills.
JAM have a well-established compact control set. Striiiings will • Sounds great for both conventional
catalogue of virtual drummer, undoubtedly have many elements that or sound-designed strings.
guitarist and bassist instruments appear familiar to the UJAM user base. • Super-slick UI and easy workflow.
with a design ethos that combines quality Top menu bar aside (where you can CONS
sounds with very user-friendly UIs and access the global preset system), the • You are constrained to working within
workflow. However, their latest release is screen is divided into two horizontal the supplied performance patterns;
Striiiings (just hold on to all those letter ‘i’s sections. In the upper portion, you can there is no ‘instrument’ mode or MIDI
and pronounce the name with a dramatic customise the sound of the string section drag and drop.
flourish!) and this represents something itself, with separate controls and effects SUMMARY
of a bold departure. That said, with for the low strings (basses/celli) and UJAM have adapted their user-friendly
Hans Zimmer as a co-founder of UJAM, high strings (violas/violins) plus a central pattern-based performance engine with
and his own archive of string ensemble panel of global processing options. The great effect for Striiiings. Yes, you must
work within the confines of the supplied
recordings being used for the underlying lower portion contains the performance patterns, but it can deliver high-quality
samples, expectations might well be controls, allowing you to select from the string arrangements for anyone,
high. So, if you are looking for an easy 60 available performance styles and, with regardless of your orchestral skills.

90 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Striiiings ships with some Troops or Glorious Day) while other by
well-organised style presets technique (eg. Heavy Bass Ostinato
covering a broad range of or High Spiccatos). While more would
performance styles.
always be better (and I suspect UJAM
will add further styles in future updates),
increasing gusto. there is plenty to get your teeth into.
Given that Striiiings Combine a few instances of Striiiings
doesn’t offer an within a project and you can create some
‘instrument’ mode very believable musical performances.
where you can just play One further feature that helps in this
the underlying string regard are the four Additions triggers
library freehand, it is within the Phrase range. Many of these
obviously important that add a second, complementary, violin/
the supplied pattern viola line on top of the current phrase.
presets have plenty to They are really very effective, and my
offer. Thankfully, the only minor quibble is that it might have
60 performance styles been useful to have independent control
included cater for a wide of their volume.
range of typical string
ensemble performance
Do The Splits
types. These are As is obvious from the main screenshot,
divided into six groups the UI includes some new options
— Arpeggios, Dramatic, specific to Striiiings. This includes the
Epic, Friendly, Riffs and ability to process the low and high string
Sustains — with multiple elements separately and, whether via
individual Styles presets the Crossfade slider, or in real time
within each group. Some using the pitch-bend wheel, to adjust
are named by musical the balance between the low and high
mood (eg. Gather The string components. In addition, with the

the right) and specify alternate bass

notes if required (in the centre). This
panel also allows you to specify the Key
(which then automatically weeds out
any duff chords), the sync mode, timing
(for example, swing) and set Striiiigs to
‘latch’ mode. ROYER
AXEMOUNT
In many respects, the combination of
selecting/tweaking the underlying sound,

ULTIMATE
and then triggering preset performance
patterns that follow the sequence of
chords you play is identical to UJAM’s
FOR
various virtual guitarist instruments. In ELECTRIC GUITARS
use, it’s a deliberate design choice to
simplify the process of getting a great
performance, while keeping the control The R-121/SM57 mic
set streamlined and focussed. combo is legendary for
Sound Performance recording electric guitars.
Striiiings’ more conventional presets The AxeMount dual mic
(that is, without any of the available clip makes it easy.
creative processing options applied)
ably demonstrate that the underlying
strings sounds are very good indeed.
The mod wheel can be used to control
the playing dynamics or add crescendo/
diminuendo. Within an individual style

royerlabs.com
preset, you get six core phrases mapped
on keys C1 to A1, with the performance Follow us on
phrasing gradually getting both more
complex and being delivered with

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 91
 ON T E S T
UJAM STRIIIINGS

Bass Notes trigger section,

while this doesn’t let you play
bass/cello lines manually,
you can control the pitch
of the low notes within the
currently selected pattern/
chord combination to create
‘slash’ chords. Both of these
elements are a doddle to
use and provide additional
performance choices.

Classical Design
As mentioned earlier,
Striiiings does ‘well-balanced
conventional orchestral
string section’ with ease,
but ‘classical’ is far from all
that’s available. A number of
categories within the 200+
supplied global presets
Separate effects can be applied to both the low
demonstrate Striiiings’ sound-design While you can combine patterns or layer/
and high sections with the Finisher offering some
possibilities. These make good use of sequence multiple instances of Striiiings intriguing global treatments.
the various effects options available to create performance variations, there
within the upper panel, where you get an is no ‘instrument’ mode (as, for example, using a conventional ‘playable’ string
individual Character FX and Motion FX there now is within the UJAM virtual sample library. However, there is an
for each of the low and high strings as bassist titles) where you can just play the obvious comparison to a product such as
well as plenty of creative options within string sounds as a conventional sample Sonuscore’s The Orchestra. This can also
the global Finisher slot. Whether you library. Nor is there drag and drop of do some of the orchestral arranging for
just want something lightly processed the phrase MIDI for editing within your you with lots of style-based presets, but
for pop flavours or full-on sound-design DAW (this would, of course, require the it can also be ‘played’ as a conventional
for more experimental (almost synth-like) pattern MIDI to be sent to separate MIDI multi-articulation library, and covers
electronic textures, Striiiings can do it. tracks for basses, celli, violas and violins). the full orchestral palette. However, it
Whatever performances you create, you doesn’t offer the sound design options
You Can Do It have to do it within the pattern options of Striiiings, has a deeper (and therefore,
The Striiiings playing experience is a lot provided by those 60 style sets. That more complex) UI, and comes in at
of fun. The user picks a Style, triggers said, even in this first release, that’s still a higher price. While there are concepts
the required chords (mostly with one a heck of a lot of creative possibilities. that overlap, it’s pretty obvious that, with
finger), adds the performance variations The workflow is obviously very the very deliberate design of Striiiings,
through pattern switching and dynamics, different from orchestrating by hand UJAM are pitching it to a somewhat
and then Striiiings’ different (if perhaps overlapping?)
very clever pattern audience to Sonuscore’s product.
technology delivers While I suspect Striiiings will hold most
a thoroughly appeal to those without an Orchestration
convincing 101 qualification, I’m sure it is a tool that
performance. even more experienced writers of string
Whether you have arrangements could appreciate; that
an orchestration ‘quick and easy’ workflow most certainly
background or not, doesn’t mean Striiiings can’t deliver
this is about as great results in the right musical context;
easy as it gets. it most certainly can. So, is Striiiings for
Of course, there you? Well, as UJAM offer a free, 30-day,
is an obvious catch. trial version for download via their
website, it’s easy to find out. If you want
The global presets great-sounding string arrangements
combine a style with a minimum of fuss, Striiiings is
selection with sound a very attractive option with an equally
processing options and
attractive price.
span conventional string
sounds through to some
impressive sound- $ $169
design treatments. W www.ujam.com

92 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 STUDIO MONITOR SYSTEMS

The Beginning of a New Era in Monitoring

JOINTLY DEVELOPED BY NEUMANN AND FRAUNHOFER IIS

MA 1 – Neumann’s first Automatic Monitor Alignment

◻ Professional room calibration – made easy with MA 1 measurement microphone

◻ Ensures best possible monitoring quality in any environment – from acoustically untreated
home studios to professional control rooms

◻ For stereo setups with Neumann DSP monitors and all pairs of analog Neumann monitors
using a DSP subwoofer

www.neumann.com App for Mac and PC

 ON T E S T

Vox Valvenergy Amp-emulation Pedals

Four pedals that emulate classic amplifier types.

is buffered, to side-step the issue of

PAUL WHITE
tone loss in complicated pedalboard
Vox Valvenergy Pedals

T
he guitar pedal market is awash layouts or when driving long cables. $180 each
with overdrives and there’s no Battery power is possible but these PROS
shortage of preamp devices that pedals also have a standard 9V input • Compact and solidly built.
purport to emulate specific amps either, socket and consume 95mA. As with • Excellent emulations of the selected
but for their new range of Valvenergy many current Vox guitar products, each amplifier types.
• Touch-responsive dynamics.
pedals Vox have tweaked the recipe. This one of these pedals employs a Nutube
• Innovative system for linking
series of compact overdrives emulate the valve in the signal path. These miniature Valvenergy pedals.
tonal characteristics of specific amplifier triode valves were developed by Korg • I love the little oscilloscope display.
types, and have switchable modes to allow Corporation in conjunction with Noritake
CONS
them to be used in one of three ways: Itron Corporation, and are a spin-off from
• Without adjusting the EQ, the speaker
as drive pedals, as preamps feeding into vacuum fluorescent display technology. emulation lacks a little punch for
a power amp/loop return, or as DI solutions Here, they’re used to accurately convey my taste.
complete with speaker emulation. the response and harmonic distortion of
a valve amplifier.
SUMMARY
Driving Range In the middle of the top panel of
An impressive set of amplifier-voiced
drive pedals that cover plenty of
The whole signal path is analogue each pedal, a small display shows the ground, from the almost clean to the
and in bypass mode the pedal output current mode setting whenever the seriously dirty.

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 Although all four of the pedals have
similar control layouts, they’re not
identical. For example, rather than offer
just drive, volume and tone, the Mystic
Edge, of which more later, actually has
a more comprehensive EQ section than
the Vox AC30 amp that it sets out to
emulate, with separate Bass and Treble
controls plus a Tone Cut knob that
interacts with the treble control to shave
off the high end. The layout for the other
pedals in the series sees the Tone Cut
knob replaced by a mid EQ control. In the
case of the Cutting Edge pedal, the Bright The pedals can operate in one of three modes.
switch is replaced by a knob labelled The Pre mode is intended for patching into an amp’s
Tight, which is designed to shape the effect loop return, while Cab applies a cabinet/
low end, adding depth when it is turned speaker emulation to the output.
anti-clockwise or slimming out the bass
when it’s turned clockwise. settings without losing note definition;
you can go from fairly clean to a rock-out
Impressions overdrive just by varying your picking
First out of the box was the Mystic Edge, strength and/or using your guitar volume
which fittingly enough recreates the control. The Pre mode works well for
classic Vox AC30 sound. Its drive range feeding the pedal into an amplifier’s
goes from an almost clean jangle to rock, loop return point, while, should you
and the Bright switch delivers more edge, want to go direct, the Cab mode adds
rather like an AC30 top boost model. a speaker emulator. To my ears, the
Fed into the clean channel of my Roland speaker emulation sounded a little thin
Blues Cube amplifier, the result was very at the low end, but further adjustment
convincing, with plenty of drive in hand of the EQ controls improved that and it
when needed and a distinctively Vox-like
rude edge to the sound. Play a couple of
early Kinks riffs and you’ll recognise the “I’m not usually a fan
sound immediately.
The Cutting Edge is designed to of DI’ing driven guitar
recreate “high-gain US sounds”, so
probably channels more than a little
sounds, but with these
Mesa Boogie spirit, though it also handles pedals I think I could
cleaner sounds very well, going from
a mild crunch to full-on rock, with that make an exception.”
extra bite that the originals are famed
for. The Copperhead Drive recreates the
pedal is activated; the mode is selected classic British stack amp tone, which is no is certainly very usable. By using these
via a rear-panel slide switch. After a very doubt based on a vintage Marshall setup, pedals in Standard mode and then
brief interval, the screen switches to an and runs from very lightly overdriven adding a Celestion IR-based speaker
oscilloscope view, displaying the waveform sounds to heavy distortion, delivering emulation (via a plug-in), I was able to
of the pedal’s output. This can be disabled that slightly scooped, thick tonality for recreate some extremely believable
if you find it distracting but I thought it was which the original amps are famed. This miked amp tones, with a convincing
rather cute! A red strip along the top of the really nails the essence of the UK rock sense of low-end girth. I’m not usually
display shows when the pedal is active, guitar sound, but it cleans up pretty nicely a fan of DI’ing driven guitar sounds, but
and when you hit the footswitch to bypass too. The Silk Drive aims for a smoother, with these pedals I think I could make an
the pedal the display indicates Bypass for boutique-style vibe, offering less exception. You just need to add a hint of
half a second or so. Another novel feature aggressive drive, a smoother top end and room ambience to complete the illusion.
is the provision of a 3.5mm Link TRS jack good note definition, making it well-suited Given their tonal abilities, these pedals
on the rear panel. The idea is that you can for blues and pop styles. are realistically priced and still pleasingly
link multiple Valvenergy pedals, such that While each pedal has its own compact. The only real problem is likely
you can switch between them with a single character that recalls the spirit of the to be deciding which one to buy!
stomp: whenever one is activated, the amplifier after which it is voiced, the four
others are automatically bypassed. (If you models do have a lot in common, such
need to link more than one extra pedal, as the ability to respond well to picking $ $179.99 each.
a splitter cable is required.) dynamics and to handle higher gain W https://voxamps.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 95
 ON T E S T

Telefunken TF11 FET

Cardioid Capacitor Microphone response is restrained but it was still
possible to manipulate the mic’s proximity
We try out Telefunken’s M60 small-diagram pencil-style mic. effect to get more of a fuller sound. The
affordable take on an The amplifier is coupled with a Carnhill real strength of the mic, though, is in its
transformer (premium components are balanced midrange, and how it can gently
Austrian classic. apparently used throughout), and the flatter any high-frequency information. It
mic is designed and built by hand at their worked superbly in front of a guitar cab
NEIL ROGERS
Connecticut-based factory. for both clean and more distorted parts,

T
elefunken Elektroakustik’s Alchemy and while I would have loved to try it on
range was released in late 2019,
First Impressions a female singer, it was so reminiscent of
and saw the company introduce Being familiar with the rest of the Alchemy the valve TF51 mic that I would be very
a range of affordable large-diaphragm range, the first thing that initially struck me surprised if it didn’t sound great in this role.
tube condenser microphones. I had about the TF11 was its modest size (175 x
the pleasure of reviewing these mics 46 mm). This is not unusual for a FET mic,
Final Thoughts
early last year and was impressed with however, and the TF11 has a solid, compact A quick peek at the TF11’s frequency
a great-sounding and stylish-looking feel that should lend itself to most studio response graph confirmed what I observed
range of mics that offered different audio or live applications. The mic ships with when trying it out in my studio. There’s
flavours inspired by some of the big hitters a simple but sturdy enough case, with a very slight roll-off below 100Hz, followed
from the Telefunken Diamond range two mounting options and a microphone by a flat midrange until you get to 2.5kHz.
(see www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ protection sleeve. Like the rest of the From this point up there’s a gentle boost
telefunken-alchemy-series). For review here Alchemy range, it looks and feels great. centred around 3.5kHz and again at
is the latest addition to the Alchemy series, The first job I had for the TF11 in my around 10kHz. As well as reminding me of
the TF11 FET, which is not only their first studio was capturing a picked acoustic the TF51, I also found its sound reminiscent
non-tube large-diaphragm offering but also guitar. Starting with my default position of the older-style AKG C414, which is not
their most affordable to date. Telefunken of pointing the mic about 6 inches from at all surprising given that the early (and
describe their new release as having the 12th fret, I was impressed with the now eye-wateringly expensive) versions of
an Austrian-style voicing, with a capsule detail and gentle emphasis on the higher these mics combined a CK12 capsule with
inspired by the legendary CK12 — but frequencies. With a tight, restrained FET amplifier technology. Like a good 414,
with modern FET amplifier technology. low-end it reminded me of how much the TF11 is a seriously handy mic to have
The price for the TF11 has seemingly been I enjoyed using the TF51 in my last around, providing detail when needed on
made possible by cherry-picking design Telefunken review. The TF11 was right at guitars and voice as well as being equally
aspects and components from their other home in this application and I liked how at home above a drum kit or piano.
products. The TF11 is cardioid-only and it captured the transients on a strummed The TF11 offers good value compared
uses a single-membrane version of the guitar part: it sounded clean, but not sterile. to the rest of the Telefunken range
capsule featured in the TF51, for example, Next, I wanted to see if the stated — especially if you’re not massively
and the FET microphone amplifier is similar SPL handling of 135dB would enable bothered about not having additional
to the version employed in Telefunken’s it to handle being used outside a kick polar patterns to play with. The designers
drum. Positioned how you might a U47 have done a great job of shaving what
Telefunken TF11 FET FET — ie. close up to the resonant head they could off the price whilst retaining
$895 — it captured a more than respectable the sound quality you would expect. With
PROS ‘thud’ with plenty of usable low-end. With the caveat that I wasn’t able to do my
• Compact, stylish-looking mic. a little cut around the 350Hz region it normal range of voice tests, I was very
• Frequency response worked very sounded even better, and although I could impressed with this stylish little mic. If
well on acoustic instruments and hear a very slight saturated edge to the you’re looking for an all-round studio tool
guitar amps. sound on the louder hits, this was quite and it fits your budget, then the TF11 is
• Versatile, with high SPL ability and
fast transient response.
complimentary. It also fared well on drums a great choice.
• Good value. as a mono overhead and as a room mic,
with the cymbals being fully represented
CONS
• None.
but without getting harsh. Listen Online
Ideally, I would have tested the TF11 on
SUMMARY a few different singers during the review Visit https://sosm.ag/telefunken-tf11-media to
Telefunken’s most affordable addition
hear the TF11 in action on a range of sources.
period but it was difficult during the current
to their Alchemy range is a compact, lockdown here in the UK. I did my utmost
stylish large-diaphragm condenser mic
that performed well on a number of
to put it through its paces, however, and
sources and would make a great studio I liked how it sounded on my voice in $ $895
all-rounder. a voice-over setting. The low-frequency W www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

96 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 97
 ON T E S T

Delta Sound Labs Fold

Distortion Plug-in
There are many types of distortion that
can be pressed into service in the name
of musical creativity, ranging from soft
saturation and analogue overdrive to
digital bit-crushing and wave reshaping.
Delta Sound Labs’ Fold gives us a taste of
each of them, along with some resonant
filtering, and it’s simple and intuitive.
The input is processed by a variable
high-pass filter with adjustable resonance,
after which the signal encounters three
distortion sections and one filtering
section. A mastering control sets the
effect depth. This isn’t simply a wet/dry
mix control, though, but rather a master
effect-intensity control. The two display
sections show the processed waveform
on the left and its spectrum on the right.
For each of the four sections Fold
provides an LFO modulation sub-section
offering manual or tempo-sync LFO high-frequency excesses of the distortion if you want a wet/dry mix, you’ll need to
rates, a choice of sine, square or ramp stages if need be. feed the plug-in from an aux send or use
waveforms a depth slider and an LFO Fold is very easy to use and is a DAW which has a wet/dry control for
on button. There’s also a button with certainly capable of bending a signal insert slots. On balance though, Fold’s
which you can reset the phase of the well out of shape, as well as bringing design aim has been well-realised: it
LFOs. These modulate the amount of LFO-controlled modulations to the provides the user with an intuitive set
processing taking place, and when proceedings. I was rather baffled by of tools for combining and separately
tempo-sync’ed some useful rhythmic the lack of a wet/dry mix control, as this modulating three types of distortion and
effects can be created. Section one seemed like an obvious thing to include, resonant filtering. Paul White
provides a range of analogue-style drive, and I’d have liked an envelope-follow $ $49.
controlled by a rotary Drive control and option for the filter, and these strike me as W www.ilio.com
a horizontal slider that goes from soft to possibilities for a future update. Currently, W www.deltasoundlabs.com
hard distortion.
Next is Fold, a type of waveform
reshaping that inverts the peaks of
the waveform to make them fold back
Electro-Harmonix Eddy Analogue Vibrato & Chorus Pedal
on themselves. It’s a process that can The familiar chorus effect is or downwards, by the input signal’s
generate a lot of harmonics and under created by adding the dry signal to envelope. Another nicety is a Shape
normal situations it would invite aliasing a pitch-modulated version of the input, control for the LFO that has sine wave
distortion, but the user can select up to 16x using a short delay and LFO-driven time in the centre but sawtooth waves of
oversampling to ensure that the distortion modulation. It was originally generated opposite polarity at the two extremes.
being generated is as pristine as possible. using charge-coupled analogue delay In all, there are six controls, which
The most aggressive distortion lines. Remove the dry signal, and you’re govern Volume, Shape, Rate, Tone,
comes courtesy of Crush, which uses left with pitch modulation or vibrato Envelope and Depth, with a flashing
a bit-reduction algorithm to generate — and that’s exactly what you get with LED showing the mod rate and
a lot of new frequencies that are often EHX’s Eddy pedal when you flip the another showing that the pedal is
harmonically unrelated to the input. Used left-hand toggle switch to Vibrato instead active. Additionally there’s a TRS
sparingly, this can add brightness to some of Chorus. EXP input that allows an expression
instruments and you can push it further to The old-school bucket-brigade pedal to control the rate or depth as
crunch up limp snares, percussion loops analogue delay line gives this pedal an alternative to the envelope. Power
and suchlike. (Pushing it too far soon puts a classic chorus sound that’s reminiscent comes from the included 9V PSU; there’s
you in ‘snails in a blender’ territory!). of the early company’s Clone Theory no battery option.
Last is the resonant low-pass filter pedals (that played an important part in Internally, most of the space is taken
stage, in which the LFO controls the my live rig back in the day). However, up by two neatly built PCBs populated
filter frequency and the horizontal slider EHX have added another switch and by a mix of surface-mount and discrete
the resonance. Not only does this allow a centre-detented Envelope control components. Sonically, there’s a little
for synth-like resonant filtering, but that allows the Rate or Depth of the background hiss, as you’d expect from an
it also provides a means to tame the effect to be influenced, either upwards analogue delay circuit, but as long as the

98 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
pedal is placed after any drive or
compressor pedals, it shouldn’t
Krackle Killers Socket Cleaners
be a problem. Anyone who has pushed a quarter-inch plug into
The chorus sound certainly a socket has, at one time or another, heard the
has a classic fluidity to it and all-too-familiar crackling and signal break-ups
being able to fade in the associated with a dirty or tarnished connection.
modulation depth (or change the Many of us have developed an automatic
rate) via a pedal is welcome. In wrist-twist action to try and help wipe away the
Vibrato mode the pedal is again grime, but this is not always successful.
useful for adding your own delay So it often becomes necessary to clean Killer to be ideal for the purpose, easy to use,
vibrato to a note. I found that quarter-inch sockets on guitars, effects and highly effective… and if you use them
the Envelope feature worked pedals, amps and so on, and there are several a few times a year they won’t break the bank,
fine with my Les Paul guitar but socket-cleaning sprays for this purpose. Good either. Hugh Robjohns
that it could have used more though these contact-cleaning solutions are, it’s $ $9.95 AUD (about $8 USD) plus shipping
sensitivity when teamed with an not unusual to need some physical agitation in for a pack of five.
instrument that has single-coil addition to the spray itself. Physical ‘burnishers’ W https://kracklekillers.com
pickups. If you have a guitar — dummy plugs which act as mildly abrasive
with weak pickups, then, you contact cleaners — are available, but most are
might want to put a booster or
compressor pedal before the
intended for professional long-form B-type sockets
rather than typical semi-pro A-types, and can do
Utility Design Vidami
Eddy for the best results. more harm than good if used in the wrong socket! Video Looper Pedal
To sum up, then, the extra Thankfully, then, a new option has come One of the greatest benefits of YouTube to
features usefully extend the onto the market. Developed by David Benham musicians is the availability of a seemingly
basic effects on offer here. Other in Australia, and made in (and currently shipped never-ending stream of free, high-quality,
than the Envelope sensitivity direct from) China, Krackle Killers are sold in instrumental and vocal tuition videos,
issue (which means it might not packets of five for the princely sum of $9.95. covering a variety of styles, genres and
react properly to guitars that They’re made of a hard and stiff, but quite instruments. To help musicians learn, YouTube
have weaker pickups) the Eddy absorbent, plastic foam, shaped in the form of has implemented keyboard shortcuts that
scores very highly for musicality dummy plug, complete with a quarter-inch shaft allow you to slow down a video by up to 75
and value, especially if used in and a slightly fatter body to serve as a handle. percent without changing pitch, and to skip
conjunction with an expression Using the Krackle Killer simply involves backwards and forwards along a timeline in
pedal. EHX have once again applying a suitable contact cleaning solution onto single-frame, 5s and 10s increments. Helpful as
produced a well-engineered the slightly absorbent shaft, and then inserting and that is, having to move at least one hand from
pedal that reaches out beyond removing the plug (without rotation) a few times instrument to computer in order to control the
the ordinary but they’ve into a dirty socket to clean its internal contacts. video can still interrupt the flow of the learning
made it available for a very The foam material is slightly rough to the touch, so process. In addition, YouTube’s lack of the
ordinary price. Paul White inherently acts as a very gentle abrasive to help facility to loop a user-specified section of video
$ $99. remove stubborn deposits, and the material feels remains a big omission — from any learning
W www.ehx.com pretty robust. It would take an act of oafishness to musician’s perspective, at least.
snap one inside a socket, but it’s possible — so it First introduced in 2020, the Vidami online
would be wise to avoid applying any lateral force video loop pedal is manufactured in the US by
to the plug body, and rotating a Krackle Killer the family-owned company Utility Design, and
inside a socket could potentially also damage the was designed as the one-box solution to those
contacts, so don’t do that either! two problems. An update of the company’s
I found Krackle Killers very easy to use and original Rep pedal (which was created
very effective in cleaning the few sockets I have and developed by the family’s youngest
on vintage gear that are less than perfect. A single son), the Vidami is a patented five-button
Krackle Killer can be used to clean several sockets, USB footswitch that, when combined with
and since the foam is a light colour any rust or dirt its bespoke Chrome and Safari browser
removed from the socket is very obvious. Also, extension for Mac and Windows computers,
since the contact cleaner sits on the foam plug delivers not only floor-based foot transport
I found that I used a lot less than I would have control of videos on YouTube and a growing
when spraying cleaner blindly into a socket, and number of other online platforms, but also the
the wiping action during insertion and removal ability to set loops between any two points on
improves the cleaning efficacy considerably. the timelines of those videos.
Of course, the Krackle Killer can’t help with The Vidami’s front row of three momentary
dirty switching or normalling contacts in a socket footswitches provide transport control, the
(such as a console insert, for example, and it can’t centre switch allowing you to play or pause
help if the reasons for an intermittent connection is the video, and the outer two skipping playback
because the contact springs are bent out of shape. forwards or backwards in 5s increments. Of
But for general routine cleaning I found the Krackle the two switches on the rear row, successive

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 99
 ON T E S T

presses of the one on the left steps the popular guitar-focused tutorial sites.
video playback speed from 100, through Simplicity itself to use, the Vidami
75, 50, 35, 25 and back to 100 percent. pedal functions exactly as its designer
Similarly, a single press on the rear-right intended. Personally speaking, using
switch sets the loop’s start point, a second the Vidami pedal — in conjunction with
press sets its end point and a third press other useful keyboard shortcuts (eg.
clears it. single-frame advance and reverse) — has
The browser extensions are free transformed my video-learning experience,
downloads from the Chrome and Safari exactly as I’d hoped it would when I bought transcription processes.
stores. Once the extension is installed, it. Being able to navigate quickly to the Whilst the Vidami pedal’s price
you simply plug in the Vidami pedal, desired point in a video using a mouse and/ means it arguably isn’t an impulse purchase,
open a compatible video platform and or keyboard shortcuts, and then using the it’s been a more than worthwhile investment
you’re good to go. In addition to YouTube, Vidami pedal to define, loop and change in my future learning — and in my view, that
Vidami-compatible major online video sites the playback speed of a section as required, makes it a bargain. Bob Thomas
include LinkedIn Learning, Truefire and gave me a powerful suite of tools that have $ $149.99 plus shipping.
Vimeo, as well as a growing number of markedly accelerated my learning and W https://vidami.com

Waves Abbey Road RS124 by the moving-coil-style meter, which can

also be switched to show In or Out levels,
Compressor Plug-in For Mac & Windows and a variable output attenuator adjusts the
Abbey Road Studio’s tech team have compressor output level. A simple switch
a long-standing reputation for making selects between Studio and Cutter variants
extensive modifications to off-the-shelf of the compressor.
equipment. This was famously the case In my tests, I found that both incarnations
with the Abbey Road RS124, which was of the compressor worked well to add body
based on a much modified Altec 436B valve and weight to mixes without introducing
compressor, and built back in the days when any obvious pumping effects, with Cutter
studio outboard smelled of toasted Bakelite supports Metal) is based on two distinct mode sounding the most ‘creamy’ and very
and gently cooking transformer windings. RS124 variants of the original hardware: capable of delivering silky-smooth vocal,
These custom RS124 compressors saw the Studio version, serial number 60070B, instrument and mix compression. Studio
extensive use at Abbey Road Studios during which was popular for tracking; and Cutter, mode is great for making drums sound
the 1960s, where Geoff Emerick reportedly which was modified to have slower attack more assertive or for adding energy to
used one for punchy bass sounds while and release times for use in Abbey Road’s instruments or vocals in a very musically
Ken Scott liked their effect on guitars and cutting rooms during the 1960s. This gentler sympathetic way. Indeed these two
Norman Smith favoured them for their variant also works well for bus compression compressors seem to improve the sound of
glue-like mix-bus abilities. But RS124s were and mastering. just about anything you might care to throw
also used on occasions for mastering in Needless to say Waves have introduced their way, though use the Super Fuse mode
Abbey Road’s cutting rooms. Apparently the DAW-friendly niceties such as stereo and with caution as it can make things sound
compressors were used on pretty much all M-S operation, variable 20 to 200 Hz very gnarly and often works best when
the Beatles classics, often by dialling in a lot low-cut side-chain filters and a wet/dry mix mixed with some of the dry signal.
of gain reduction. Though they’re officially option. Also not found on the original is I’ve tried a lot of compressor plug-ins
antiques, Abbey Road still use their RS124s. the Super Fuse mode, which matches the and in most cases they do the job but at
Only around 25 units were ever made, all release time to the attack time, to create the same time you get the feeling that you
hand-built by Abbey Road’s Bill Livy, Len a more brutal compression that can work could switch to a different compressor
Page and Mike Bachelor. Even fewer left particularly well on drums whenever a more plug-in and get much the same result. This
Abbey Road! overt type of compression is needed. In one is a little different: it exudes vintage
The RS124 is what is termed as Super Fuse mode the Recovery time control class and is just as happy being subtle and
a feedback compressor — the output signal is disabled. cuddly as it is putting the boot in. It also
rather than the input is used to control the When used in stereo, the GUI presents manages to sound as though it remains in
gain reduction stage, and as with many the two compressors one above the other full control of the proceedings even when
examples of vintage kit, no two RS124s and, using the drop-down panel below a lot of gain reduction is applied — at such
sound exactly the same. Some even had the two compressors, their operation high gain-reduction settings, many lesser
intentionally different attack/release times, may be linked, set independently or compressors seem to treat your audio as
due to further switching of components, used in M-S mode. There’s no adjustable a punch bag. I can appreciate why the
making them better suited for mastering attack on these compressors, though originals remain so popular and I can see
duties, so no emulation would be complete there is a switchable Auto-Hold (to avoid this plug-in version making a lot of friends.
without representing both types. excessive compression during pauses) and Paul White
To account for differences in the original a six-position recovery speed control that $ $199 (but on sale at $64.99 when going
units, this Waves emulation (a Waves V12 affects the release time. The Input control to press).
plug-in, so requiring a graphics card that sets the amount of compression, shown W www.waves.com

100 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

ONE SYNTH. MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES.

S P E C I A L E D I T I O N

3 ANALOG FILTERS · 2 VCOS + 1 WAVETABLE OSC · 4 CV IN/OUT · 16-TRACK SEQUENCER · DUAL FX

STANDARD EDITION

w w w . s e q u e n t i a l . c o m
 TECH NIQ U E

Mixing
With
Pedals
Why let guitarists have all the fun?
Stompboxes can be inspirational mixing tools.

102 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

SIMON SMALL

O
ver the last few years, despite
having plenty of outboard gear
and plug-ins to choose from,
I’ve increasingly found myself using guitar
pedals while mixing. It started as a way to
access specific effects that I couldn’t find
in software form, but my experiments have
led me to realise just how much potential
my pedalboard has as a mixing toolbox. In
fact, so useful have I found pedals when
mixing that I’ve developed an entirely new
workflow to accommodate them. In this
article, I’ll take you through what you need
to know if you want to use pedals in this
way, explaining how to hook them up and
offering some examples of how I like to use
pedals when mixing.

Tactile Toys
Joe Baresi uses pedals as part of his mixing process.
So what’s the attraction of pedals compared
with plug-ins or rackmount gear? I still use with guitar pedals. That, to me, is definitely avoid overloading most pedals, then, you
both of those, of course, but pedals inject a more performance-oriented way of need a way to turn down that signal.
more excitement into the process because making of music.” Another potential issue is that
they give me immediate hands-on control professional audio interfaces are generally
of all the essential parameters. There’s no
On The Level intended to work with balanced signals,
messing about with a mouse or configuring If you’re new to using pedals in a mixing whereas pedals have unbalanced inputs. In
a MIDI controller and, unlike with rack gear, setup, you probably have questions about practice, most interfaces are happy working
everything can be laid out in front of me. In connecting unbalanced instrument-level with unbalanced gear but it does depend
fact, it’s rather like performing with a synth. pedals to your audio interface. Googling on how their outputs have been designed,
This fun, experimental approach can lead for information might give you an idea, but so it’s a good idea to check the manual, to
you to rewarding results when mixing on there’s plenty of misinformation out there, see if a specific type of cable is required.
your own, but it can also be a great way so I’ll try to set that straight here. If you intend to use pedals a lot,
to involve clients: chain multiple pedals First, note that, as when connecting any I strongly recommend buying a reamp
together, invite the artist (maybe not the outboard gear to an audio interface, your box. These take care of the level drop
bass player!) to take control of one and you interface must have at least three outputs, and the (un)balancing for you, and usually
might just capture something wonderful! since you’ll need two for stereo monitoring. have a transformer inside, which can be
I’m not alone in enjoying this way I can’t think of an interface with three useful in preventing ground loops. I’ve
of working. In fact, some of the world’s outputs so, realistically, a two-in, four-out recommended some reamp options in the
best-known engineers, have been doing interface is the minimum requirement. box elsewhere in this article; they needn’t
it for years. Joe Barresi (Queens of the You can connect the output of the last be expensive, but if you just want to
Stone Age, the Melvins), for example, pedal in your chain to your interface’s experiment, you may be able to get by with
started down this road years ago, as he high-impedance (or ‘Hi-Z’) instrument input, what you already have.
explained in a 2016 interview with pedal just as when recording a guitar/pedal setup If you use a mixer, for example, you
manufacturers EarthQuaker Devices: “Back direct. If your interface doesn’t have such can try hooking the pedal(s) up to the
in my early days it was out of necessity an input, you’ll need a DI box between mixer’s line I/O as a send effect, and use
because you couldn’t afford a $4000 the pedal and the interface’s mic input. a channel’s aux send to control how much
Eventide Harmonizer, or a $6000 reverb, or Level mismatches are more of a problem signal is sent to the pedal. If your audio
whatever, so you bought a $50 guitar pedal at the other end, where the line-level interface has a headphone amp with an
and turned your volume down going into signals from a typical audio interface are independent feed from the main stereo
it. This was before reamps. We didn’t know much higher in level/voltage than the mix, you could try using a Y-lead (ie. TRS to
what reamps were. We just turned the instrument-level signal most pedals are two TS jacks) to split the stereo headphone
signal coming off the tape machine down, designed to receive. Some digital pedals output and feed one channel to your pedal
or fed it off a send on the console.” from manufacturers like Eventide and chain, using the headphone level knob to
But he found more to enjoy than Strymon can be set to operate at line or set the signal level. You could also simply
keeping the costs low: “When you have instrument level, but really, you want the attenuate the signal digitally, inside your
a piece of gear in a rack, it tends to sit in option to use any pedal. Creative distortion DAW or audio interface routing software,
the back of the room on a preset or two, has its place, but feeding a full line-level and just use a standard line output from
but you don’t really tend to play with it as signal into a pedal that expects a much your interface. Alternatively, if you have one
much as you do when you’re reamping lower level will generally just sound bad. To to hand, you can put a passive attenuator,

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 103

 TECH NIQ U E
MIXING WITH PEDALS

such as a cheap monitor controller,

between your interface and the pedal’s
input. A passive DI box used ‘in reverse’
can make a workable substitute for a reamp
box, as can a buffered-bypass pedal with
the bypass engaged. But, as I said earlier, a
proper reamp box is my preferred option:it
guarantees that you can hook up any pedal
quickly and easily, and many also offer
useful facilities like level adjustment.

Signal Flow & Latency

Figure 1 shows a basic interface/pedal
setup. I actually use an SSL 2+ (two in/
four out) interface, which allows me to
create two mono send/return loops or
one stereo/mono-stereo loop, while
leaving a stereo out for monitoring. But
as the SSL’s unbalanced RCA outputs 3+4
aren’t the norm, I’ve shown a more typical
Audient iD14 MkII, with all four outputs on
TRS jacks. In the diagram, the interface’s
outputs 1 and 2 are used for monitoring,
so a line-level signal comes from output 3
to a Radial reamp box, which delivers an
unbalanced instrument-level signal to an 1: A simple and reasonably
EarthQuaker Afterneath reverb pedal. The affordable pedal processing loop,
using a small desktop audio
pedal’s output is connected to the Audient’s
interface and a reamp box.
front-panel high-impedance instrument
input. The complete circuit comprises just
the interface, three cables, a pedal and thus your performance; and second, how specify the latency it declares to the DAW,
a reamp box. the DAW compensates for latency when so that the plug-in delay compensation
You also need to set up the routing in placing the recording on the timeline. If system will take care of things.)
your DAW, and figure 2 shows a simple the former is a problem, you can use the
way to do this. I’ve used Pro Tools 12, but usual latency-busting remedies you’d opt
Pedal-powered Vocals
although the way you configure this side for when recording, such as using your With everything set up, it’s all about having
of things is a little different in every DAW, interface’s direct monitoring or reducing fun and exploring, and there’s really no end
all of them should be capable of this sort the audio buffer size. For the latter, the to the potential for creative sound-shaping.
of routing, whereby the ‘Sarah Vocal’ approach will vary according to your DAW. Increasingly, I find myself reaching for
track is routed to the interface’s output 3, Those ‘external effect’ plug-ins pedals when working on vocals. Many
and the ‘Pedal Return’ track’s input is the I mentioned typically have a ‘ping’ feature, types of pedal can work well for a vocal
interface’s Input 1. Some DAWs, including whereby they send an impulse through — your imagination and pedalboard are
Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic, Live and Studio the (bypassed) chain and measure the the only limits. For instance, although I’ve
One, allow you to set up an ‘external effect’ offset between the sent and received often used reverbs, echoes and pitch-shift
plug-in, which can be a slicker approach: signal. This allows them to declare the effects on vocals, the pedals I instinctively
once configured, you can insert this routing correct latency to your DAW’s automatic reach for most often tend to be overdrives,
plug-in on a track, like any other plug-in latency compensation system, which distortions and fuzz effects. The SansAmp
(though you can only have one instance per will ensure your recordings are correctly Classic, used in parallel, has been
hardware output). aligned. Where your DAW doesn’t have a studio-staple ‘vocal-grit’ effect for years,
With native DAWs, you may encounter such a feature, you may need to measure but you can try any such pedal you have
noticeable latency:the processed signal the delay and compensate for it manually. in this role. There’s something so primal
is delayed as it passes through your To do this, make a recording on a track and aggressive about using a pedal like
interface’s converters, buffers and any adjacent to the source signal, and zoom in this on a voice; it’s always an inspiration to
digital devices in your signal chain. This on the two waveforms. You should be able start twisting the knobs and find something
will be particularly obvious if you have to use your DAW’s timeline and selection exciting. As well as being fun, though,
a relatively high audio interface buffer tools to identify by how many samples the a guitar distortion pedal on a parallel
setting, which many of us do while mixing recording is offset. Then, use a plug-in such track also allows you to dial in a different
because it places less strain on the CPU. as Pro Tools Time Adjuster to correct for it. sound from what you can get with plug-ins
There are two aspects of latency to (A freeware cross-platform option for other or outboard.
consider:first, how it affects what you DAWs is Voxengo’s Latency Delay, which Here’s an example to illustrate that
hear as you tweak the pedal controls and adds no latency itself but allows you to point. When I was mixing London-based

104 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 TECH NIQ U E
MIXING WITH PEDALS

2: A basic send/return setup in Pro Tools

For this sort of experimentation, you analogue saturation effects that it probably
12, with the pedal signal coming back to the
DAW on a separate track. need the routing to be quick and easy. In wouldn’t even occur to you to look for
this case, I sent a signal from Pro Tools when using plug-ins.
metal band Ithaca, I had reached a point out to the pedal using a Radial EXTC 500 For instance, I recently mixed an album
where singer Djamila’s aggressive vocals module that’s permanently plumbed into for a new West End musical. Due to the
were working in the mix, but I wanted to our studio’s Looptrotter 500-series console. UK’s Covid-19 lockdowns everything on this
elevate them somehow. Initially, I reached This meant I could have the pedal up on project was done remotely, so I’d not done
for my Thermionic Culture Vulture, which is the console for easy tweaking while sitting the recordings myself as I usually would.
a wonderful bit of tube-based rack gear that in the monitoring sweet spot. The signal Instead, I received stems that had been
I use often, and which costs many times coming back from the pedal was quite recorded in various locations by several
more than even a pricey pedal. But in this hot, but I didn’t want to change the pedal’s different people, and the recordings were
case it just sounded too ‘pretty’, and my controls. Thankfully, the EXTC 500 has varied in both level and quality. I was also
thoughts turned to pedals. convenient send and return level controls, working on a different system, without
I tried my Electronic Audio Experiments so after a quick tweak I was ready to print access to my console.
Longsword op-amp-based drive pedal the track into Pro Tools. Could I have done On one song, I felt that the Nile
and, with the gain control at about three the same thing in software? Something Rogers-style guitar riff that led the intro
o’clock, I dialled a sound in using the bass similar, perhaps, but not the same — and, section needed work. The fundamental
and treble shelving filters. This enabled importantly, I don’t think I could have got problem was the choice of tone used at
me to get a pleasingly thick low end while anywhere near quite so quickly. Nor would the recording stage, but I’d not been given
also slightly taming the high end. The I have had so much fun while doing it. a DI part so was rather stuck with what I’d
Longsword has a semi-parametric midrange been given. My usual mixing techniques
control, and I used that to apply a generous
Other Sources (automation, compression, EQ, saturation
mid boost. Added as a parallel effect, Pedal processing needn’t be limited to and so on) just couldn’t seem to coax out
this gave the vocal the extra presence vocals, though. In fact, I’ve found drive a sound I liked so, deciding I needed to try
and prominence it needed, providing the pedals to be extremely useful on other something different, I took a few pedals
aggression and force that made it sit nicely elements in the mix, particularly if used in off my shelf and routed the track from an
in a pretty dense mix. moderation: you can achieve some lovely aux send in Pro Tools through my SSL 2+
interface into a Radial ProRMP reamp box.
After testing a couple of different drive
Reamp Recommendations pedals (Hudson Electronics Broadcast,
There are lots of reamp boxes and effects-loop include a dry/wet control, polarity-invert switch Ibanez TS808) I landed on the Electronic
devices to suit all budgets. One I use a lot is the and send and receive level controls. This gives Audio Experiments Halberd. This seemed
Radial Engineering ProRMP (www.radialeng. you tons of control over your signal chain, to elevate the guitar with a sweet, but not
com/product/prormp), available for a shade for example allowing you to push that drive too crunchy, medium-gain transistor sound.
under $100. It’s a simple passive reamp box, pedal input harder or dial back a ferocious fuzz
This vastly improved note clarity and gave
with a ground-lift switch, an output level control, on its way back to your DAW. The EXTC 500,
an XLR input and a quarter-inch jack output. Its which costs just under $300, features Radial’s the low mids a nice push. It totally solved
output level control can be useful if you want to class-A buffer for fantastic audio quality and my bland guitar-riff issue and ensured it
push a drive pedal a bit harder, or ease off the transformer isolation to eliminate buzz or hum. could both settle into the mix and still be
level going into a compressor. Roughly the size It requires a 500-series rack, of course! If you’re heard against the rest of the busy track.
of a typical computer mouse, it’s not obtrusive on a tighter budget, check out the Orchid I DI’d the post-pedal signal using the SSL’s
on a desktop or on top of a rack, and takes Electronics Amp Interface (which is about $78 high-impedance input back into Pro Tools
up little space in your kit bag. I also use the from www.orchid-electronics.co.uk), or if you’re
and replaced the original track.
Radial EXTC 500 (www.radialeng.com/product/ happy using a soldering iron, DIYRE’s Line2Amp
extc), a 500-series module that takes care of kit (www.diyrecordingequipment.com) is said All Together Now
all your I/O needs and doesn’t require you to to take only 30 minutes to complete, and costs
route back to your DAW via a preamp. Features only $50. If you have a setup that makes it easy to
access your pedals, you can put them

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 TECH NIQ U E
MIXING WITH PEDALS

second, this signal didn’t have too much

by way of spill, and certainly there were no
washy cymbals to get in the way.
We tried several pedals, including an
Eventide H9, MXR Analog Chorus and
a Metasonix KV-100 but finally decided
on a Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator. We
found that if we played with the controls
while drummer Joe was playing, it gave us
the weird glitchy sort of sounds we were
searching for. Technically this was very
simple to set up, as the MF-102 is happy
to receive a line-level signal. I was able
to patch this straight from the console
patchbay with no need for a reamp box.
I routed the line-level output back into the
patchbay and into a line amp in the console.
I handed the MF-102 to the band’s
singer, Zygmunt, and let him interpret
the song using the pedal while we were
recording the drums. He had a great time
performing with it, riding the LFO rate
and Frequency controls to create some
The kick drum microphone placement that was
used with the Moog MF-102, as described in the text. would have been an obvious option but, wild glitchy, modulated effects, with a big
before we went down that route, we squelch if pushed to the extreme. The
to work during recording sessions too. If multed the kick channel on the studio’s SSL MF-102 also has a wonderful drive section,
you’ve ever been a band member on a long E-series console and tried patching the mult which we ended up turning up to its
studio session, you’ll know that there can into some pedals. The kick drum, miked maximum position. It sounded great. In fact,
be a lot of waiting around. As the producer, with an Electro-Voice RE20 just inside the the Moog was the star of this show — this
you really need to keep band members’ sound hole and an API 512 preamp, proved channel ended up being an important
interest and energy up, even if they’re not to be a perfect trigger for the pedal effect: part of the band’s drum sound, and when
really involved in what’s currently going on, first, the song’s drum arrangements were they revisited for their next EP we had the
and I’ve found that when the pedals come heavily based around the kick drum; and MF-102 patched in from day one.
out, everyone is interested!
When tracking the drums for London
band Bad Progress’s debut EP, we were
using an acoustic drum kit but decided that
we wanted to create sounds that couldn’t
be achieved acoustically. A drum machine

Is Impedance An Issue?
If you’ve read up on reamping, you’ll
no doubt have come across the issue of
impedance, with some people advising that
certain pedals won’t sound right being fed
from a low-impedance source such as an
audio interface, and that reamp boxes won’t
solve the problem. When reamping a guitar
signal there’s some truth in that, but it’s
not really relevant if you’re just looking to
use your pedals as processors and effects.
In practice, it’s only really a concern if you
want to recreate the sound/feel of plugging
your guitar with passive pickups directly into
an analogue drive pedal, particularly if you
like to ride the guitar’s volume control to hit
a sweet spot. There’s actually one potential
benefit in working with lower-impedance
sources such as an audio interface too, in
that they can generally drive longer cables
before you notice any ‘tone suck’. Two pedals in use during the Bad Progress sessions. There is a line input to an ABY splitter (right, partially
out of shot) which passes a signal into a Radial ProRMP, Boss Harmonist and Moog Ring Modulator.

108 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 On the same project, we also found creativity. It allowed us to react to the music
ourselves using pedals when mixing the and create something unique together Ground Loops & Power Sources
vocals. Notably, we ran Zygmunt’s vocals — a song with a lot of momentum and
through multiple chains to enhance a large an ‘organic’ sort of progression. Had we As when hooking up any analogue gear,
crescendo in the song ‘It Can’t Be Good attempted simply to use plug-ins to shape there’s the potential when working with
multiple pedals to create ground loops
For You’. This included using the classic the sound, these creative moments would
that cause unwanted buzz or hum. Using
Boss DD-3 pedal to create some warped probably never have happened; craning transformer reamp and DI boxes with
delay/pitch effects, by messing with the over a mouse to draw in automation while ground-lift options can help but, as cheap
delay time and feedback controls. We band members stare at you or, worse, multi-pedal power supplies are a common
also used a Boss Harmonist PS-6, creating sit staring at their phones just doesn’t culprit (they share a ground between the
some pitched rising effects by putting the cut it sometimes! pedals), you might want to look at your
pedal power sources. Separate class-2
pedal in its S Bend mode and holding the
switch down at different sections of the
Pedal Power (double-insulated) supplies won’t have
their own mains safety earth, and thus
arrangement. Earthquaker Devices’ Bit Hopefully, I’ve inspired you to consider won’t create ground loops. Alternatively,
Commander was also useful for performing the vast potential of stompboxes in the consider investing in a more expensive
some grainy bit-crushing, and the studio, and helped you figure out how to pedalboard supply — or if it’s an occasional
Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth gave us incorporate them into your own setup. or immediate issue, try using batteries
control over a nice resonant filter. For this There’s so much fun to be had, but they where that’s an option. But do listen out for
changes as batteries start to lose life!
setup, I ran an effects send from Pro Tools, can also take you to places you just
through the patchbay, into a Radial ProRMP wouldn’t go if you were to stay in the box,
box. This went to the pedals and returned or always choose the most expensive to those choices. Try anything, as you never
into the box via the instrument input of an big-name hardware. There are plenty of know quite how it will sound on sources
API 512 preamp. classic options to play with — the SansAmp other than guitar. In fact, that pedal that you
We found that being able to sit next I mentioned earlier, distortion boxes like hated so much on guitar that it’s currently
to each other at the console and control the ProCo RAT used on a snare, and old lying under a layer of dust at the back of
the different parameters of the pedals EHX and Boss pedals such as the CE-2 the cupboard might be just the ticket on
both inspired us and really pushed our chorus, for example. But don’t limit yourself something else!

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 109

 TECH NIQ U E

DALE GALE

W
e all look to established artists
and past masters for inspiration,
but in doing so there is
one musical device that often escapes
attention. The Pad is a term which is often
used to describe brass or string-like synth
textures, frequently employed to bolster
the texture and harmony within a track.
How you approach the use of pads in your
track may well fall to the style of the music
you prefer to compose or produce, so let’s
have a look at some of those concepts.
Programming Pad Sounds
The Basics
From dance tracks and pure pop, the
Pads are the glue that holds entire genres of music
presence of the pad stabilises a song’s together. We look at how you can improve yours.
harmonic stance, providing the perfect
springboard for melody to run wild, but three or more. The most basic of in this regard; if we hark back to the
it’s not just the preserve of commercial musical chords is known as a triad, mid-to-late ’70s, almost all synthesizers
artists; take any well-respected feature which can be transported up and down were monophonic, meaning that playing
film composer, and you’ll find the same the keyboard to other notes, to create chords was out of the question. There
notion littered throughout numerous film a chord progression. Utilising the power were examples of synths such as the
and television scores. Blending acoustic of these three notes polyphonically will Minimoog (equipped with a full three
instrumentation with synthetic-sounding undoubtedly help your cause; it’s a strong oscillators) being tuned in a fashion that
production techniques, the pad has sound, and ripe for pad exploitation. allowed the playing of a triad with a single
become a reliable tactic for engineering finger. Incredibly effective as this was,
builds, swells, excitement or pathos.
Trad Pads there were immediate limitations to the
Creating pads will require the use Many of the early pioneers of electronic degree to which a song’s chordal structure
of at least two notes, and most likely music had a small technical problem could play out. Consequently, some artists

110 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 In my example, I have chosen to work
with the ES-P Polysynth which forms part of
Logic Pro X. Importantly, any simple synth
will serve our purpose. Our initial synth
setup (screen 1) is basic, with a saw wave
source and a wide-open filter. As many of
the original string machines offered the
ability to produce two parts, normally one
octave apart, I have also introduced a hint
of sub-oscillator, in the form of a square
wave. This is not essential, but will act as
musical-cornflour, to thicken the texture.
The most striking element to this initial
sound is that it does not sound terribly
palatable! Early string machines were
heavily reliant on chorus effects, often
more than one, so to aid the process,
I have deployed three chorus effects in
series, but varied the rate of each to further
assist the coloration. This would also
be a good time to adjust the amplitude
envelope setting for our sound source;
most importantly, we need a full sustain,
while a slow attack and release phase will
add subtlety, as we move from one chord
to the next.
Already, our sound is taking shape, but
one large part of the original JMJ vintage
sound was provided by the use of a Small

moved away from synths, engaging

with machines such as electronic
organs or string machines, which could
offer basic polyphonic operation, albeit
with far more basic tonal control. These
machines would mimic the sound of
acoustic strings or brass instruments,
but in most cases fairly unsuccessfully.
A minor detail such as acoustic
authenticity wasn’t going to stand in
the way of artists such as Jean-Michel
Jarre. If we examine his working ethos
from his earlier career, his plan was to
use these thin-sounding textures as
a starting point for exploration, adding
outboard effects to heighten the
pad-potential. It’s also worth mentioning
that his timeless classic Oxygene makes
extensive use of triads, often deployed
in very slow-moving progressions.
Armed with any DAW, recreating
similar and highly effective textures
is not difficult. Beginning with an
appropriate tonal source, you could
just jump straight to a synth or sample
of a string machine, such as the
classic Solina. However, in the spirit
of experimentation, let’s start with
something less obvious. Don’t worry if
the initial tone doesn’t grab you — we’ll
work on that!

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 111

 TECH NIQ U E
PERFECT PADS

Screen 1: A heavily chorussed and

very basic synth, panned hard-left, with
a balancing delay, panned hard-right.

Stone Phaser. This was a guitar

pedal, made by Electro-Harmonix,
providing all sorts of vintage noise
and coloration. It’s important to
note that while this pedal is still
available to purchase today, it has
been revised considerably, and
the original pedals are regarded
by many to be the better-sounding
iterations of the Small Stone, albeit
far noisier!
As we are working in the
software domain, we can use
a Phaser from within our chosen
DAW, which we can now add to the
end of our signal chain. For a true
vintage sound, set the number of
stages to a lower setting; four or
six will do the job nicely, but we will
also need to slow the LFO speed to
a relatively meandering rate. I have
chosen 0.1Hz in my example, while
a healthy amount of Feedback will
also be required, as this will apply
much of the colour to our sound.
The final part of this jigsaw
revolves around the stereo
image. An effective trick, to
provide the illusion of a larger
pad-based canvas, requires
the use of a delay. By panning
our newly created instrumental
source to one side, we can apply
a generous delay to our sound,
which we will pan to the opposite
side of the image. In my case,
I am using a Bus (described as
Auxiliary elsewhere) to send the
signal to my delay. This will create
the ingenious effect of our sound
appearing on one side, only to
feel like it is disappearing into the
distance, on the opposite side.
I personally find it fascinating
that armed with only a phaser and
a delay, the organic and organistic
texture created by JMJ made
Screen 2: Vintage inspiration for a highly
albums such as Oxygene sound so much closely by more affordable models. In contemporary pad effect. Felt Pianos are a current
bigger in production than they actually an effort to produce cheaper machines, go-to for many media-orientated projects.
were. It’s a classic example of working with companies reduced the oscillator count
less, in order to produce more, which is to just one-per-voice, as opposed to Juno 6/60 both employed this concept,
something we often forget in the current the two-per-voice populating the more with both now regarded as vintage classics
age of DAW production. expensive predecessors. To keep the as a consequence.
overall texture lush, chorus was provided During the ’90s, advances in synth-tech
Classics To Modern on board, allowing modulation to be gave rise to the ability to multiply
As the ’80s dawned, expensive polysynths applied to the back-end of the signal chain, oscillators into a detuned swarm, ideal for
had infiltrated music production, followed at source. The Korg Poly 6 and Roland enormous-sounding pads. This gave rise

112 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

to the Super-Saw effect, led by synths dissimilar to our vintage pad, but without automation alongside this padded effect
such as the Roland JP-8000 and Access the heavy use of modulation effects. will prove essential for ultimate musical
Virus product line. The degree to which Adding a generous reverb to the piano control of phrase lengths.
these machines infiltrated the ’90s dance at source will yield a marvellous colour,
scene was swift and ubiquitous. Any however, our example (screen 2) also
Pads, Pads, Pads!
self-respecting house or trance producer utilises a bussed or auxiliary signal to While past-masters have given us
would use detuned, thick pad textures further enhance the effect, with extremities permission to use pads as we see fit, either
in abundance, with a sound that became of left and right, just as before. By adding as the centre of attention or a star-studded
synonymous with European dance music. a further delay to the effect channel, the backdrop, grabbing the baton and taking
reverberation effect can be extended, things in a different direction can yield the
Future Classics creating a beautiful pianistic wash which most endearingly unexpected surprises.
But what’s the next great thing in pads? disappears into the distance. What starts as a padding for the texture
One of my favourite routes to pad Admittedly, this style of pad work of a track can easily transform into the
Nirvana shuns original pad convention won’t be quite so useful for faster-moving central component of a production
altogether, by beginning with a piano. production styles, but it is beautiful for masterpiece, and one that may be made
It’s also perfect for evocative music with creating interesting backdrops, or filling from a considerable sum of pad-inspired
a cinematic leaning. a void that requires minimal musical parts, and who doesn’t enjoy a little
Given how expressive pianos can support. Utilising compression and volume extra padding?
be, it might seem surprising that some
producers yearn for a more muffled
piano sound. Armed with an appropriate
upright acoustic piano, the practice
pedal will do a fine job of providing this.
In many cases, engaging the practice
pedal introduces a layer of felt between
the hammers and the strings, yielding
a softer and quieter texture. This sound
is often described as a Felt Piano,
for fairly obvious reasons. It is also
possible to have ‘felts’ fitted to pianos
after manufacture, performing a similar
function. We’re not all lucky enough to
have a decent piano on hand, but fear
not, as a quick trip to Spitfire Audio’s
website can furnish you with their free
Soft Piano sampled instrument, which
forms part of their Labs series. You could
also EQ a piano sample, in order to
reduce its brightness in the top end.
While Spitfire’s instrument is a great
example of a felt piano, you may well
be wondering what this has to do with
pads? Grab yourself a bright reverb with
capacity for long reverb tails, and just
play a basic triad or chord. The resultant
pad-like texture will be utterly beguiling!
The Spitfire player also offers a relatively
dark reverb on board, which is certainly
useful in some settings, but for our
purposes, we want something capable of
a brighter tone with long decaying tails.
All DAWs will offer some capacity for
this sort of reverb construct, but I have
my own favourite for this sort of work.
Eventide’s Blackhole reverb has become
highly prized by many producers and
media composers. It is very flexible, but
also performs beautifully in a scenario of
this kind.
With a sense of osmosis and
reverence, our signal flow here is not

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 113

 TECH NIQ U E

Making Lockdown Projects Work

Bands are still recording music even though they can’t
use professional studios or play together — and this
means new challenges for mix engineers.

SAM INGLIS
From the point of view of the mix solo the edited tracks, zooming right in
engineer — me — that meant a starting in both horizontal and vertical axes, and

T
point rather different from a conventional listen on headphones, you’ll often notice
he Covid crisis has prompted studio-recorded session. Some of the all sorts of issues that aren’t apparent
lots of musicians to get stuck musicians had recorded themselves to at first listen. You need to fix these even
into home recording. As a result, a very high standard. In other cases it had if they don’t generate audible clicks
many mix engineers have been tasked been a struggle to get anything at all on and pops, because the resulting audio
with bringing order to unruly lockdown disk. Quite a few of the drum parts came will usually sound unnatural, if only on
projects! Every mix bring its own in as single tracks, and not always even a subconscious level.
challenges, but current circumstances in stereo. Some parts were ‘mix ready’, One thing that’s often neglected by
often introduce particular issues. In this some were vanishingly low in level, home-studio recordists is fades. Every
article, I’m going to look at some ways while others pushed the endstops. Some single region boundary in a project
of dealing with these, with the help were dry, but many bore the stamp of should be protected by a fade, even
of well-known Cambridge musician various different domestic environments. if this is only a few milliseconds long
Nick Barraclough. And although the piecemeal recording — and that includes all of the new
Nick went into lockdown with process had delivered great individual boundaries that are created by audio
a brand-new copy of Pro Tools, some performances, these didn’t always sum edits and comps.
great songs and a bulging contact into a satisfying whole. Another common problem is gaps.
book. In most cases, he began by In a sense, then, this article will be Anything recorded with a mic, especially
recording his own parts: electric or less about mixing itself, and more about in a home studio, will have ‘room tone’
acoustic guitar, vocals, and sometimes the preparatory work needed to make and reverberation in the background.
double bass. He then sent the skeleton a project like this ready for mixing. I’ll be Our ears quickly get accustomed to that
tracks to collaborators, before stitching illustrating it with examples from Nick’s when it’s consistent, but you don’t want
together everyone’s contributions. songs, which you can hear by going to it cutting in and out wherever an edit
As Nick describes it: “Contributors’ https://sosm.ag/lockdownmixdownaudio. has been made. So check that region
technical abilities ranged from those boundaries have been dragged out to
far more adept than me with studios, to
Editing: Undoing The Damage fill gaps, and that crossfades have been
those whom I had to supply with Most people can spot when a note is used at the joins, rather than fading one
recorder, mics and even headphones! out of time and move it a bit to the left, region out before the next one fades
Some said they missed the buzz of or use their DAW’s comping tools to in. Check also that this process hasn’t
live collaboration. Others said they assemble the best bits from multiple led to note attacks and drum transients
appreciated the opportunity to get their takes. However, inexperienced engineers being duplicated, or note tails cut off
part right, in their own time, without the often don’t make the cleanest job of unnaturally. Something to watch out
presence of others pressurising them.” tidying up after the editing process. If you for on vocal tracks is breaths that have

114 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 The edits in the two guitar tracks at the top of this screen are obvious, but the real problem is with the
been truncated or doubled; it might look double bass in the lower half of the screen. Here an edit has been rendered without fades or backfilling,
as if edits have been made in gaps, but meaning the waveform suddenly cuts off and gives way to digital silence.
these artifacts become obvious when
you start to apply compression and other The ultimate nightmare editing recordings. “I sent the song out with
mix processing. scenario involves edits that span multiple the brief to make the verses bossa
If you’ve received a DAW session to tracks. Novice engineers aren’t always nova and the choruses New Orleans,”
mix, any edits that need checking will be aware of the need to lock different tracks explains Nick, and his contributors had
fairly obvious. But if you’ve just received or regions together so that edits are gone to town on the concept. As well
a bunch of files, or if the DAW session applied identically to all of them. If this as a full drum kit, the Pro Tools session
includes tracks recorded by others, hasn’t been done, it can lead to strange included congas, guiro, go-go bells
they may include edits that have been and subtle problems where the sound and tambourine, plus other instruments
rendered. These such as banjo and
can contain all of piano that added
the problems I’ve
just described, and
“In my experience, home-studio recordings their own rhythmic
contributions.
they’re a lot harder are often miked too close, perhaps in an However, all
to identify and fix. these parts had
Nick’s session for effort to cut out unwanted room sound. This been separately

frequently leads to an excess of scratchy

‘Tell Me What You’re overdubbed, and
Thinking’ had some the result was
audible clicks and
pops on playback, treble or proximity-effect boominess.” a piece of music that
sometimes crossed
even though no the boundary from
edits were visible. relaxed to downright
Zooming in on the double-bass track of an instrument changes as the phase messy. This was especially the case at
revealed waveforms suddenly cut off, relationships between the different mics the verse/chorus interfaces, where the
moments where the natural noise floor are altered. When you’re faced with musicians had to negotiate a jump from
gave way to digital black, and so forth. something like this, especially if those edits straight to swung feel. Nick had done
Fixing these required detailed work have been rendered, it’s almost always a handful of edits to some of the parts,
with the Pro Tools pencil tool to draw in necessary to ask for unedited versions so but I felt that more drastic measures were
missing waveforms, creative copying and that you can do the job properly, rather required before it would be possible to
pasting to fill holes, and the use of the than trying to unpick the mess. do a satisfying mix.
De-click module in iZotope’s RX. I was There are lots of tools and techniques
able to get it sounding OK, though not as
Time Travel available for this sort of work nowadays.
good as the re-recorded version Nick did Nick’s song ‘Wish You Well’ exemplified Sometimes you get lucky and find that
when I complained about it! another common issue with lockdown an algorithm can do the heavy lifting.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 115

 TECH NIQ U E
LOCKDOWN MIXDOWN

This excerpt of the Pro Tools Edit window for ‘Wish You Well’ shows the results of my timing correction.
All the other parts had been overdubbed to the green guitar track in the lower half of the screen, so I began by retaining small-scale feel or groove
creating a tempo map from this; the tempo changes at every bar line are visible in the ruler at the top. I used variations. (Both tools have equivalents in
Beat Detective to nudge the timing of the go-go bells, congas, drum kit and double bass — the edits in these almost every DAW.)
tracks result from this process. With the guiro, however, it was necessary to correct the timing manually
using Elastic Audio. Map Making
Beat Detective conforms things to
Other times you need to spend a few Once you have chosen your timing the Bars & Beats grid in Pro Tools, so
hours dragging regions or warp points reference, it’s worth trying out any if you’re using an audio part as your
around with the mouse. But the most automated options you have available. reference, you’ll need to adapt the grid
important things are to have a clear idea For example, the multitrack version of to reflect the timing of that part. This
of what it is that you’re trying to achieve, Celemony’s Melodyne can sometimes can be done manually, by positioning
and a sufficient level of detachment to be a real ‘get out of jail free’ card. Set the edit cursor at downbeats and using
judge whether you’re achieving it. The the default detection mode to Universal, the Identify Beat command, but Beat
technique that worked very well on the load in the reference part, engage Detective also has a Generate function
last project you did can often turn out Auto-Stretch and then drag in the rest that will derive a tempo map from a clip.
not to work at all on the next one, so of the audio. Surprisingly often, a kind Whichever approach you take, the key
be prepared to try out many different of magic will occur, rendering your point is that you don’t want the tempo
approaches. And when you’re evaluating multitrack free from timing slop whilst map to be too detailed. If you allow Beat
timing correction, be sure to start retaining all its human feel. Detective to detect Beats or Sub-beats
playback a few bars before the section Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those within the audio and transfer those to
you’ve just worked on, so that you hear it times, so I returned to Pro Tools and the ruler, you’ll end up with a map that
properly in context. tried out two options there. For sound incorporates every last nuance of the
quality, I find Beat Detective is pretty part in question. The rest of your audio
Hands On Your Time much unbeatable, because it doesn’t use will sound very odd when corrected to
The first step is to save a copy of your time-stretching; it simply chops audio up a map like this! It’s much better to detect
session so that you can get back to into lots of separate clips and aligns them only Bars, and use a low sensitivity
where you started when things go wrong. with the grid. Elastic Audio, by contrast, setting so that bar divisions are only
The next step is to identify one source can introduce audible artifacts, but unlike detected when they’re very clear. All
that you’re going to use as a timing Beat Detective, isn’t limited to rhythmic we’re looking for here is an outline of the
reference. In some cases that might be material with obvious transients. It also general contours of the reference part.
the DAW’s grid. Often, it’s the drum kit. enables ‘concertina-style’ warping, where It’s tempting to try to use Beat
Sometimes, though, it pays to use one of you set a warp marker at either end of Detective across an entire song, but in
the other rhythm instruments. As a rule the section to be edited, then click and practice, it’s better to work through it in
of thumb, I’d suggest trying first the drag a third warp marker somewhere sections, taking a few bars at a time. That
instrument that was recorded first. In this in the middle. This lets you modify the goes both for the process of creating
case, that was Nick’s acoustic guitar. timing of a part on a large scale while a tempo map, and that of conforming

116 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 THE GREAT
GOSPEL
JOURNEY.

A new EZXX for EZdrummer 2, EBX

X for EZbass, drum MIDI, EZbass MIDI
and EZkeys MIDI – our recent gospel journey covered all the bases.
Stop by www.toontrack.com to listen and watch videos.

WWW.TOONTRACK.COM
 TECH NIQ U E
LOCKDOWN MIXDOWN

When all that the drummer supplies is a single mono file, of questionable provenance, you sometimes
need to do fairly radical things with plug-ins. In the lower screen, I’m using Oeksound’s Soothe and Spiff along Beat Detective had no truck with
with several FabFilter plug-ins to tackle a kit recording that was simultaneously muddy and harsh. In the upper the guiro, so I engaged Elastic Audio
screen, I’ve multed the loud and quiet sections of a drum part onto separate tracks to give me more control. in Rhythmic mode, switched the track
to Warp mode and went at it with the
other parts to it. It’s also vital to use the want to reduce the Conform Strength mouse. By default, Elastic Audio’s analysis
Capture Selection button every time you from its default 100 percent. only identifies potential warping points.
start work on a new section, otherwise Once I’d got an accurate tempo map Unless you actually click some of these to
chaos will ensue with little warning! set up, the drums, double bass, congas turn them into fully fledged warp markers,
Choosing other settings is a matter of and go-go bells in ‘Wish You Well’ all they won’t act as anchors, so it’s vital to
trial and error, so be prepared to hit responded well to Beat Detective. In do this before you start dragging them
Undo a few times before you get it right. this case it was absolutely necessary around. My strategy is to add new warp
Sometimes you’ll want to quantise every to edit the verses and choruses markers at the start and end of the part
last sub-beat, other times only whole bar separately, as the former were straight by Ctrl-clicking, then step through and
or beat chunks. Sometimes you’ll want it and the latter had a triplet feel. It’s look for points that are already in time
to detect eighth or 16th notes, other times also vital to make sure that all the and don’t need editing. Since you don’t
only crotchets. In really difficult cases, elements within a multi-miked kit are want to move these, you can add warp
it can be helpful to divide the region locked together when you apply Beat markers to anchor them before dragging
into largish chunks of four or eight bars’ Detective to them. A Strength setting of any out-of-time points that fall elsewhere.
length, quantise those to the grid, and about 65 percent was sufficient to get The process is easier to do than to
then apply a second round of correction the ‘Wish You Well’ parts into the same describe! By the time I’d finished there
to each. And, almost invariably, you’ll time zone. were probably a couple of hundred warp

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 Levelling Up (Or Down)

The wind and brass parts on ‘Wish You Well’ came in super-hot. Rather than work with faders halfway
One issue I’ve encountered a lot with up their travel, and risk overloading plug-ins, I used Clip Gain to get the levels into the right area.
home-recorded projects is wild variation in
levels. Nick Barraclough’s Pro Tools sessions level mismatches really need to be dealt with gain plug-in as the first insert on each track, or
were a good example. Some of his contributors at source. Working with faders at -30dB is no an offline Normalise function to render the clips
had apparently normalised their parts to 0dBFS, fun, and doesn’t alter the headroom within the at a more appropriate level. What level? Well,
while others had barely managed to get signal channel, so the signal will still be hitting plug-ins a good starting point is to aim for a plausible
into the system at all, and Nick’s own parts uncomfortably hot. rough balance when all the faders are at 0dB, so
were in the ‘normal’ range somewhere in the My usual approach is to use the Clip Gain you’re starting the mix from a level playing field.
middle. For his rough mixes, Nick had dealt function in Pro Tools to adjust the levels of Be guided by how things sound, not by how tall
with this using the faders in the Pro Tools mixer, individual audio regions. If your DAW doesn’t the waveform looks: some sounds cut through
but before you get stuck into a proper mix, have a similar function, you could use a real-time the mix even at modest levels.

markers in place, but it really doesn’t take In my experience, home-studio the top end, and hadn’t prevented the
that long once you get started. All in all, recordings are often miked too close, capture of plenty of highly coloured
I probably spent a couple of hours sorting perhaps in an effort to cut out unwanted living-room ambience. Luckily, we have
out the timing issues, and it made easily room sound. This frequently leads tools today that can address these
as much of a difference to the end result to an excess of scratchy treble or previously intractable problems. In this
as the actual mixing. proximity-effect boominess, and the case, for instance, I used the iZotope’s
same project will often contain some RX De-reverb plug-in to tone down the
Arriving At The Start tracks that are over-bright and others unwanted room tone on the strings,
Once you’ve got levels under control that are muddy. It can take a surprising before coaxing the frequency balance
and sorted out any timing issues, you amount of channel and/or master bus back to something approaching normality
can start to think about doing a mix. I’m EQ to rein in these excesses and give using EQ and FabFilter’s Pro-MB
not going to get into mixing technique the whole thing enough presence in the multiband. Oeksound’s unique Soothe 2
in general in this article, but I’ll finish up midrange. Opinions differ, but personally, plug-in also saw heavy use to try to tackle
with one consideration that is particularly I like to dial in something on the master the scratchiness, and I bussed the key
relevant to this sort of project. bus fairly early in the process so that parts to separate channels on McDSP’s
There are two senses in which a good the all-important tonality of the mix as Moo X mixer plug-in, which is the sonic
mix needs to be balanced. Obviously, the a whole is in the ballpark from the start. equivalent of a bath of golden syrup.
relative levels of each part need to be set Nick’s song ‘Tell Me What You’re If you’ve ever hired professional
so as to produce a pleasing result. Less Thinking’ was a good example. Nick’s decorators, you’ll know that they can
obviously, the timbre or tonality of the final own acoustic guitar was flabby at paint a room incredibly fast. That’s not
mix needs to be balanced. When you’re the bottom end and a bit soft in the because they’re quicker with a roller. It’s
working on a good studio multitrack, that midrange, while the song also featured because they know how to prepare the
tends to happen almost by default. When several solo violin and viola parts. walls so that the paint will go on quickly.
your session has been pieced together These were beautifully played but Time spent stripping the surfaces and
from lots of different home recordings, rather less well recorded: close miking filling in the holes is always time well
you can expect to have to do more work. had made them scratchy and harsh at spent — and so it is with mixing!

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 119

 TECH NIQ U E

An Introduction To
Binaural Recording
Binaural recordings are an easy and
effective way to capture immersive audio.

CHRIS KORFF
earlier than the right, then we know the their Head Related Transfer Function, or

B
sound is coming from the left, and so on. HRTF, and everyone’s HRTF is different.
inaural audio is one of those But the human hearing system is rather People’s outer ears are as unique as their
techniques that the recording more advanced than a simple spaced fingerprints, and of course our heads all
industry seems to rediscover every stereo mic array, not least because it can differ in shape and size. This means that
decade or two. It’s actually as old as the resolve sounds in three dimensions, rather the effectiveness of binaural recordings —
hills (some of the earliest experiments date than just the 2D plane of stereo audio. how precisely we can locate sounds when
back to the 19th Century!), but because One of the ways it does this is using those listening to them — can vary from person
binaural recordings need to be heard on little radar dishes stuck to either side of to person. There are two ways around
headphones to get the full effect, it has our heads. Our outer ears, or pinnae, this, the most established being the use of
had limited applications. However, as ‘funnel’ sound into our ear canals, filtering a ‘dummy head’.
headphones have become the dominant it in complex ways as they do so, and that
consumer listening medium, it’s more filtering changes depending on the angle
Recording For Dummies
relevant now than ever. at which sound arrives. This is one of the The inscrutable chap you see at the top of
ways we can resolve the ambiguity about the article is called the Neumann KU 100,
All Ears whether a sound is arriving from the front and everything about him — his size, shape,
Binaural recordings are stereo recordings or rear, or above or below, even if that ears and chiselled features — has been
that take advantage of the mechanics sound arrives at both of our ears at the mathematically modelled to represent the
of human hearing. Our eardrums work same time. average adult human head. Inside each of
an awful lot like pressure-operated Our heads themselves also have a big his ears lies an omnidirectional microphone,
(ie. omnidirectional) microphones, and effect on how we hear. Our skulls are and the idea is that, by using a head with
since we’ve got one on either side of our relatively large resonant cavities, with attributes that lie in the middle of the range
heads, our hearing is essentially the same more resonant cavities (sinuses, the oral of humans’ (ear height, inter-ear distance,
as a spaced-omni stereo mic array. Now, cavity and so on) inside them. Being quite head density and so on), a recording made
unlike coincident mic arrays such as X-Y or large, they also form ‘acoustic shadows’, using the KU 100 should sound right on the
Mid-Sides, in which sounds always arrive occluding higher frequencies if the head widest range of listeners.
at the two mics at the same time, spaced prevents sounds from reaching either Danish measurement experts Bruel
arrays rely on the possibility of sound ear directly. (This acoustic shadowing & Kjaer take the idea even further with
arriving at the two mics at different times phenomenon, incidentally, also forms the their HATS (Head And Torso Simulation)
in order to convey positional information. basis of the Jecklin disc, which is similar to range. These dummies comprise a similarly
So, if a sound being picked up by a spaced a binaural recording setup except that it’s contrived dummy head plus an artificial
array (or our ears) arrives at both mics (or designed to be heard on speakers as well torso, for even greater realism (the chest
eardrums) simultaneously, then we know it’s as headphones.) and shoulders being two other sources of
coming from directly in front of or behind The combined acoustic effect of resonances, absorptions and reflections,
us. If it arrives at the left mic or ear slightly a person’s head on their hearing is called of course).

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 3Dio’s FS range of binaural mics rely solely
on their prosthetic ears to simulate the human
hearing system.

You don’t need a dummy head to make

binaural recordings: in-ear microphones will
also do the job.

Those two examples represent the experimenting with binaural recording. After ‘pros’ column, a binaural recording made
pinnacle of binaural dummy head design, all, why reinvent the wheel? using your own head will always sound
and they’re also fantastically expensive: right to you when you listen back to it on
either will set you back many thousands
Stand Up For Yourself headphones, because it was subject to
of pounds. Happily, though, there are It’s perfectly possible, and sometimes the same HRTF that you use for listening
some cheaper options available, among even useful, to be your own dummy to sounds every day. It’s also a relatively
them the fairly new 3Dio FS series. These head. If you’ve got a pair of miniature discreet setup: should you want to
are dedicated binaural rigs that do away omnidirectional microphones and can discretely capture a live performance from
with the ‘head’ and comprise just a pair of contrive some way of fitting them in front the audience’s perspective without punters
silicon ears, on a bar that holds them apart of your ear canals, then you’ve already wondering what Kryten is doing at their
at a suitable distance. They’re available got a binaural setup and you’ve saved open-mic night, self-worn mics are the
at a range of prices, from the premium yourself the trouble of having to dig out obvious way forward.
FS Pro II, which uses DPA omni mics and a microphone stand. If not, there are Down sides include the fact that any
has XLR outputs, to the affordable FS, a number of headset kits available that noise you make during the recording will
which uses cheaper electret capsules and include the necessary mics (almost always definitely be picked up (so no sneezing,
connects via mini-jack to your phone or electret mics, since those are the easiest yawning or tooth-grinding during the
tablet. I’ve been playing with the FS Pro II to make small enough) and mounting performance!), and that your legs might get
during lockdown, and my experiments with hardware (ear-hooks, usually, much like tired with all that standing around. You’ll also
it were actually what inspired me to write those used for hearing aids or in-ear need to be very careful about moving your
this article. I’ll be reviewing it properly in an monitors) to get you started. You can pick head during takes, because that motion
upcoming issue of SOS. up a set very cheaply: Hooke Audio’s Verse will be captured in the recording. Perhaps
But you don’t necessarily have to buy system is affordable, and also records via most significantly, though, there’s a chance
a dummy head, or even a creepy-looking Bluetooth straight to your phone, as does that your HRTF is sufficiently different from
pair of prosthetic ears, to start the Sennheiser Ambeo Smart headset, the listener’s that the glorious sense of
though the latter only works three-dimensional space you can hear on
with iOS devices. For a more the recording simply won’t translate. I seem
professional solution, you to have a fairly average head, because
could opt for something like I tend to find binaural recordings made on
DPA’s Binaural Headset, all kinds of setups immersive and effective.
which uses their high-quality One of my colleagues is not so lucky,
4000-series capsules, but though: for him, vertical information and
which would obviously front-back ambiguity are a big issue, and it
require an audio interface or follows that if he were to make a binaural
portable recorder. recording using his own head, there’s a high
Being your own dummy chance it wouldn’t translate very well for
head has advantages other listeners.
and disadvantages. In the
Practical Uses
Binaural recording works
very well for capturing location So now you know how binaural recordings
sound for video. work, and how to make them. But why

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 121

 TECH NIQ U E
BINAURAL RECORDING

Binaural In Software
If you’re a Logic user, you may have noticed of your personal HRTF, as mentioned in the Finally, if you’ve got an Ambisonic
a new binaural panning option appear in the main article. microphone such as Rode’s NT-SF1 or the
mixer a couple of years ago. Binaural processing, Binaural audio is also used in ‘virtual control MiniDSP AbiMIK-1 reviewed elsewhere in this
in essence, ‘converts’ a normal mono or stereo room’ plug-ins such as Waves’ Abbey Road Studio issue, you can convert recordings made with it
recording into a pseudo-binaural one, by applying 3, Embody’s Immerse Virtual Studio, dSONIQ’s into binaural ones. As with a binaural panner,
inter-channel delays and filters to replicate the Realphones and Slate’s VSX. These use impulse this is done by applying filters and delays to
effects of a human head. In the case of Logic (and responses, either captured with a binaural rig or the left and right channels, and while these will
also Sennheiser’s free Ambeo Orbit plug-in, which subsequently processed binaurally, of a high-end only ever approximate the effect of a proper
works in much the same way), this means you can monitor setup in a professional control room. Pipe spaced-mic binaural array (because Ambisonic
pan sounds around, in front of, behind, or even your DAW output through them and listen on a pair mic capsules are coincident), you have the
above or below the listening position. Like a true of headphones, and hey presto! You’re mixing your advantage that you can ‘steer’ the recording
binaural recording, this requires headphones to band’s demo in Abbey Road, or Ocean Way, or even after the fact, essentially changing the direction
work properly, and will be subject to the vagaries (as in Slate’s VSX) through a car sound system. in which the simulated head is facing.

Logic Pro X’s binaural panner. Waves Abbey Road Studio 3.

would you want to? Well, if you subscribe are when you’ve found the best balance of it makes sense for sound effects to be
to the notion that a recording should aim instruments and acoustics. recorded from the same perspective.
to capture as closely as possible the sound In terms of practical applications, audio Finally, while researching this article,
of an event itself, there’s a purist argument for video is high up the list. One of my I found out from our Technical Editor
for only recording concerts and recitals most successful experiments with the Hugh Robjohns that a great many of the
binaurally. But there’s also a very practical 3Dio kit was to rig it up on top of a DSLR BBC’s radio sound effects were recorded
argument to be made, concerning mic camera, and use it to capture sound while binaurally — although not necessarily
placement. In last month’s ‘How To Mic filming. The precise nature of the sound because they were intended to be heard
Anything’ article, Paul White cautioned localisation, combined with the visual on headphones. Many people listen to
against simply putting up microphones reinforcement from the footage, made for the radio in mono, and the relatively close
where the sound in the room is best, a satisfyingly congruent whole, so if you’re nature of the mics in a binaural setup
because “microphones don’t ‘hear’ the trying to capture a natural sound while means that recordings made with them
world in the way we do”. That’s very true shooting a video, I can highly recommend are inherently quite mono-compatible.
if you compare a cardioid microphone to a binaural setup. And when heard on a standard stereo
the human auditory system, but a pair of Foley is another obvious application, speaker setup, although the effect isn’t
omnis in a dummy or human head can as is the recording of sound effects for quite the same as on headphones, binaural
get pretty damned close. When deciding video games. A huge number of games recordings still provide a useful bit of
where to put a binaural array, there is no use a first-person view, and if the player is stereo width. It is, after all, just another
better place for it than wherever your ears visually sited inside the character’s head, stereo mic array!  

122 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 TECH NIQ U E
Digital Performer
MIKE LEVINE Take control of your mixes with VCAs.

I
f you haven’t started using VCA tracks
in DP, you’re missing out on a powerful
way to control the volume, muting,
soloing, record enabling, and input
monitoring for multiple tracks at a time.
For those not familiar, VCA stands
for Voltage Controlled Amplifier. It’s
a technology found in some large-format
analogue consoles, where control voltages
are used to change multiple faders
simultaneously without altering their
relative balance. DP’s VCA tracks offer
a digital emulation of that technology.

Getting Started
In DP, VCAs control Track Groups. If you
already have an existing Track Group of any
type (Edit, Mix, Edit & Mix, Custom) that you
want to control, go to Project/Add Track/
VCA Track. You’ll then see a VCA track
appear on the right-hand side of the mixer.
When it’s unassigned, a VCA track has
Screen 1: The VCA Track and Group command lets you create a VCA, and assign tracks to it, in one go.
only a volume fader and buttons for Solo,
Mute, Rec and Input. When you assign it to several options for where DP will place it would control the overall drum level, but the
a group (by pulling down its Output menu in the session. You can make it go to the drums would also be subject to changes
and selecting a group name), automation right of the last-selected track in the group, when you adjust your instrument VCA.
controls appear on the channel as to the right of the last track in the mixer, or Another example of how you could use
well. The group’s designation in the Track into an existing Track Folder. a VCA is when you’re mixing and get to
Groups window then changes to Custom. a point where you’ve got a good balance,
It still has its original attributes, but now it’s
Follow The Leader but you’re overloading the master bus
also a VCA Group. Once a VCA track has been configured because the individual tracks are overly
DP provides a shortcut if you want to and assigned, it’s immediately active. If loud. In that case, you could assign a VCA
set up both a VCA track and the group it you move its fader, you’ll see all the other to a group consisting of all tracks except
will control. First, select the tracks you want faders in the Group move correspondingly. the master fader. Then you’d only need to
in the Group from the Sequence window A simple example of how you could use move its fader down to lower everything
or Track Editor, then go to Project/Add VCAs in a mix would be to assign one to evenly before it reaches the master bus.
Track/VCA Track and Group (see Screen 1). control all of your instruments and one Also, note that DP’s VCA tracks are not
That creates not only a Track Group from to control all your vocals. Then you can just for audio tracks. You can also assign
your selection, but also a VCA track that’s balance the vocal/instrument levels by them to groups of MIDI tracks, or even
pre-assigned to control it. moving those two faders, without affecting groups that contain both audio and MIDI
Before that track gets created, you the relative levels in either Group. (see Screen 3).
get a dialogue box where you can enter There’s no limit to how many VCAs you
the name of the group and choose from can create, so you can configure setups
VCAs v Subgroups
that are as complex as you want. VCAs aren’t the only way to control the
Any track or Group of tracks can volume of multiple tracks at once. You
be controlled by multiple VCAs. can do that with subgroups, too, but how
Not only that, DP’s VCAs can be they do it is entirely different. Subgroups
nested — that is, a VCA can be are created by routing multiple tracks to
part of the Group for another a common aux track in DP’s mixer. VCAs,
VCA, as in Screen 2.  however, have no impact on routing: all
Building on the previous they do is control volume, mute, solo and
example, let’s say that you had record for a select group of tracks.
multitrack drums within your When you use a subgroup to adjust
instrument group. You could assign the levels of a group of tracks, there’s
a VCA to the drum tracks, which one potential problem. If you’re using
post-fader aux effects on any of the
Screen 2: The highlighted Drum subgroup’s channels, moving the subgroup
VCA track is nested in the larger All fader doesn’t change the level of the
Instruments VCA. effects sends, because the channel faders

124 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 Screen 3: You can use
VCAs to control MIDI tracks
as well as audio ones.

themselves stay put.

Thus, turning down
the subgroup volume
in that situation will
make any track with
an effects send wetter,
and turning it up will
make them dryer.
That’s quite
different from VCAs,
which have nothing
to do with routing
and won’t change
the wet/dry balance
of aux effects. The
advantage to using
a subgroup is that you
can add processing to
it, whereas a VCA track is simply a control that was controlling all the vocal tracks. If the tracks you want to mute in that section
track that has no audio routed to it. you lowered the VCA by -2dB and held it and assigning them to a VCA. Then, all
There’s no reason you can’t use both there throughout the verse, then most of you’d have to do is automate the VCA’s
methods together. Make a subgroup and the verse would be at -6dB. The section mute function to go on at the beginning of
add insert effects to it, and also create where you used standard track automation the breakdown and off at the end.
a VCA track for those same tracks for to bring it down to -7dB would now drop Or, let’s say you were recording an
controlling volume. Yes, it will clutter your to -9dB. In other words, your automation’s overdub session and wanted to be able
mixer up a bit more, but you’ll have much relative shape will not be affected, only the to check the playback of the overdubbed
more control. overall level. track along with specific groups of other
With the vocal track set to show volume tracks. It could be just drums and bass,
Automate It automation, you’d see the original data or everything but the drums, or whatever
VCA tracks support automation for volume in black and the actual level, after the you choose. You could set up VCA faders
and track mutes only. You can use a VCA on impact of the VCA, represented by a thin that would mute all but the desired tracks
a track that’s already got automation; in that green line, as in Screen 4. You can write for several different combinations. Give
case the VCA will change the relative level automation directly to a VCA track as well, them descriptive names and place the VCA
of the automation, but won’t overwrite it. for volume or muting. The process works tracks adjacent to each other in the mixer,
To demonstrate, let’s focus on one the same as with other track automation. and you can quickly set up those custom
verse in a hypothetical vocal track that The advantages of having a VCA for playbacks without having to hunt around
has volume automation. Say you’d written adjusting volume are apparent. But you and individually mute or solo tracks.
automation that kept the vocal at -4dB can do a lot with the other functions they Finally, imagine you’re tracking an
for most of the verse, but you automated control, too. Take mutes, for example. ensemble. A VCA could be set up for
a drop in level to -7dB for one particularly You could easily create an automated a group consisting of all the tracks to be
loud word. Now, let’s say you had a VCA breakdown section in a mix by grouping recorded. Then you could turn the input
monitoring on and off as needed when
you’re getting sounds before you start
recording. You can use a VCA’s ability to
turn on and off the record enable function
to arm specific groups of tracks. You could
even use a VCA as an alternate way to get
in and out of manual punches for specific
track groups (Screen 5).
As you can see, DP’s VCAs give you
a fantastic amount of power, particularly
for mixing. Their flexibility makes them
extremely versatile, and they’re easy to
set up, configure and operate. Once you
start using VCAs, you’ll likely find more and
more ways to incorporate them into your
Screen 4: The horizontal green line represents the VCA’s impact on the automation levels. workflow, both for mixing and tracking.  

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 125

 TECH NIQ U E
Studio One

The Arranger Track can be made visible from the

Structure your music with the Arranger Track. Global Track Visibility menu, at which point it appears
below the timeline.

ROBIN VINCENT
it will act as if everything beneath it new sections, you might start combining
belongs to it. So, if you move a section them into single sections or copy/pasting

T
he Arranger Track helps you in the Arranger Track, Studio One will sections into new places. The Arranger
define and structure your music. cut through all the clips across all the Track nimbly deals with any cutting and
Scratch Pads give you a place tracks and take them with it. And that’s takes up any slack which would normally
to play outside of that structure away the point of the Arranger Track:it allows be generated if I was selecting chunks of
from the arrangement of the track you’re you to move entire sections from all your my project with the mouse and dragging
building so that they don’t interfere or get tracks with a single mouse move. You them about to different places.
confused. In this month’s workshop we’ll can rearrange them or replace one with
look at some rather useful connections another with just a drag and drop, and
Scratch That
and interactions that are unique to Studio Studio One does all the hard work for Which brings us to Scratch Pads. These
One and offer a fast way to edit and you. It can save an enormous amount are like alternative arrange pages that
evolve your music with the minimum of editing and once you get it into your sit as layers behind your main arrange
amount of clicks and mouse travel. workflow you’ll find yourself starting your window. You can use them to store ideas,
projects with the Arranger Track in mind. explore changes, take new directions or
Home On The Arranger You might find yourself defining verse as somewhere to take out a chorus to
You’ll find the Arranger Track in that spaces and chorus spaces before you’ve work on without the rest of the project
collection of utility tracks that appear even written anything, and in fact the getting in the way or being accidentally
under the timeline. You can activate them Arranger Track can be a useful place changed. In any other DAW you’d
by selecting them from the menu that to visually lay out the intentions of your probably do this sort of work later in
appears when you click on the Global project to better organise what you’re the timeline:copy clips and bits over to
Track Visibility button just to the left of the going to do. the far right and fiddle with them there.
big + Add Track icon. This is where you If you’re anything like me then Scratch Pads do that so much better and
can also access the Marker, Chords, Key structure is the last thing you tend to free you up from the clutter and confusion
Signature, Ruler and Tempo Tracks. work on, but that’s another reason why of your project in progress.
Double-click in the Arranger Track the Arranger Track is so useful. Once I’ve Anything you do in a Scratch Pad
and Studio One will stays in the Scratch
automatically add Pad and has no
a bar-sized section “The Arranger Track can be a useful place to impact on your main
and name it ‘Intro’ arrangement. It works
because it believes visually lay out the intentions of your project to in exactly the same
you must surely be better organise what you’re going to do.” way as the main
starting with an intro. window, and while
The initial idea with they are great for
the Arranger Track is to break your song got a load of stuff on the page I like to quick ideas they can also be complete
up into sections and define what they pull out bits that are working and try to songs, alternative arrangements, different
are. You’d commonly define sections make the best of the mess. I would then edits or different versions or progressions
as Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge and so scatter Arranger Track sections around of a song. With Scratch Pads, each Studio
on, although you can break as many working loops of four bars or eight bars, One song can contain an infinite number
conventions as you like — Studio One or longer, and then start bringing them in of arrangement variations.
doesn’t care. and seeing how well they play together. They work brilliantly with the Arranger
You can rename a section to anything As you move the sections around Track because I can pull sections out and
you like, choose a colour and resize it in the Arranger Track it’s impossible to directly plop them onto a Scratch Pad.
to fit around the section you are trying overstate how brilliant it is. Your loops The Arranger Track ripples intelligently
to define. Once a section is created might flourish and evolve into whole to take up any slack, which reminds

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 The Scratch Pad (on the right) provides Song sections
a sandbox for you to experiment in, without in the list or stack them up differently,
can be reordered by
affecting your actual arrangement. and this is immediately reflected in the
clicking and dragging
arrange window. them in the Arranger
me to note that the default setting of As you drag one of the sections it Track’s Inspector.
arranging sections in the Arranger Track will insert it between two other sections,
is movement, but if you drag something or replace one that’s there, depending Track. You can
from the Arranger Track to a Scratch on where you point the mouse. If you create Markers
Pad it’s copied. If you want to leave want to copy rather than move then from the
a copy behind when moving in the hold a modifier key and it will keep its Arrangement
main arrangement then you need to original space and insert or replace with Sections or
hold a modifier key as you drag, but the a new copy. vice versa, so
opposite is true when moving from the Any existing Scratch Pads are also in if you are used
Arrangement to the Scratch Pad. Got it? the Arrangement Editor, and you can drag to dropping
In either case, the mouse pointer will give sections down to them as well if you wish, markers as a way
you a clue. or create new ones. It’s a much more of structuring
There’s an interesting relationship efficient way of moving sections from the your songs you
between the Listen Tool and the Scratch main arrangement to Scratch Pads. can quickly
Pads. When playing back the main If you’re the sort of person who enjoys convert those
arrangement you can use the Listen Tool a good right-click menu then you’ll also into sections.
to click on a clip in a Scratch Pad and find the two options ‘Copy to new Scratch Markers have
it will be temporarily superimposed on Pad’ and ‘Move to new Scratch Pad’ the added ability
the main arrangement at the play head, whenever you right-click on a section. to be navigated via keyboard shortcuts
and play back instead of whatever was There are no options to move or copy to on the numeric pad, so if your markers
there. It’s a great way of auditioning ideas an existing Scratch Pad, which would be and sections match then you can leap
before you decide whether or not to a nice feature to see. around from verse to bridge to chorus at
move them back into the arrangement. the tap of a key.
Sections & Markers While the Arranger Track is useful in
Order, Order You can also use the Arranger Track labelling your song parts and applying
So far, we’ve been doing all the dragging, Inspector list to move about in your a bit of structure it can quickly become
dropping, moving and rearranging of session like you would with a Marker a vital tool in the development of your
sections in the arrange page itself. Well, Track. Click on the left side of the section tracks, and a way of managing whole
there’s another place you can do this in the stack and the playhead will jump sections of music with a few mouse
that requires much less mouse travel. straight to the start of that section. A little clicks. Introduce some Scratch Pads and
If you hit the Inspector (‘i’) button you’ll icon appears on the left of the section your workflow will start to feel so much
find a handy list of all the Arrange Track that’s currently playing that looks a lot like tidier and cleverer that you’ll find yourself
and Scratch Pad sections. If you click a little plectrum. needing to organise the rest of your
and drag you’ll discover that you can There are some advantages to tying studio to match your newfound sense
completely rearrange all the sections the Arrangement Track to the Marker of structure.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 127

 TECH NIQ U E
Live
LEN SASSO We show you a different approach to arranging in Live.

B
uilding a song in Live typically
involves a separate track for
each part with clips on each track
holding variations of its part. You sketch
out a song by triggering combinations
of clips in Session view and organising
the keepers along Arrangement view’s
timeline. This month we’ll look at an
alternative approach when building
a song from audio clips: using a Drum
Rack on a single Live track to hold all the
clips. This allows you to sketch multi-part
song fragments by triggering drum pads
from a MIDI keyboard or button box and
to capture these fragments in MIDI clips.
You can then trigger the MIDI clips in
Session view during a performance or
arrange them along Arrangement view’s
timeline. This does require accurate
realtime triggering (or a bit of after-the-fact
quantising), and it’s a little less flexible
when mixing. But it is a great tool to add
to your playing and arranging toolkit.

Building The Drum Rack

2: Bass, synth and guitar parts (green) are
By default, when you drop an audio clip and move slice markers. Slices will be
overdubbed on four repetitions of the bottom
onto a Drum Rack pad, Live creates triggered or gated by notes starting with drum part from screen 1 (yellow).
a Simpler instrument holding that clip. The C1 (MIDI note 36). You can insert a Pitch
Simpler will be in 1-Shot mode with Trigger effect before the Simpler to move and Control+G), create a new chain to hold
enabled and no filter, LFO or envelope limit the trigger-note range if it conflicts the Slice-mode Simpler and then use
settings on Simpler’s Controls page. That is with occupied pads in the Drum Rack. the Instrument Rack’s Key selector to
a good choice if you want the audio clip to Alternatively, you can Group the Drum separate the two chains. You can save
play once when you trigger the pad. If you Rack in an Instrument Rack (Command+G/ your preferred Simpler or Sampler default
want playback to stop when preset in the Defaults/Dropping Samples/
the pad or key is released, On Drum Rack folder in your Live User
choose Gate instead of Library. See the Simpler Settings box for
Trigger. When you want more details on Simpler’s Classic, 1-Shot
the clip to loop as long as and Slice modes.
the pad or key is held, use In screen 1, I’ve started by dropping
Simpler’s Classic mode. five 128bpm samples from the Build &
Simpler’s Slice mode Drop Pack’s Samples/Loops/Drum Loops/
can also be useful, but Full Loops folder onto Drum Rack pads
you must set the pad’s for an assortment of one-, two- and
In-note to All, and none four-bar drum loops. Because all the
of the Drum Rack pads audio clips are at the same tempo as
will show the slice the Live song, I’ve left Simpler’s warping
assignments. In Slice mode turned off. Simplers holding the kick-drum
you choose a Slice By loops Bonk Loop and Force Loop are
method (Transients, Beats in Classic mode with Loop turned on.
or number of Regions) or That lets the kick pattern run as long as
insert the slice markers the pad note is held. The other Simplers
yourself by selecting hold multiple kit-piece loops and are in
Manual. With any method 1-Shot mode with Gate triggering, which
you can add, delete lets you play initial fragments of the clip.
You’ll find that drum loops playing several
kit pieces often work well together even
1: Drum loops from Simplers
on five Drum Rack pads are when some kit pieces are duplicated.
captured in four MIDI clips of Furthermore, although the original audio
varying complexity. clips are meant to start on the downbeat,

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you can trigger them at other
points, such as off-beat eighths,
16ths or triplets.

Beyond Percussion
Once you’ve laid down some
basic beats, you can add parts
using other audio clips either
by adding pads to the original
Drum Rack or by creating a new
Drum Rack on a separate track.
Here we’ll add them to the
original Drum Rack and play
them from its track, but you
could record and play them from
a separate MIDI track routed to
the Drum Rack Track to more
easily mix and match them with
the drum parts.
In screen 2, I’ve added
bass, guitar and synth clips isolate different segments of 3: Using Drum Rack send effects and grouping drum-loop pads
for processing together by Drum Buss.
from Live’s Chop and Swing Pack to the that clip. Different sections
Drum Rack from screen 1. The resulting of the same guitar clip are lets you assign the pads to Choke groups. In screen
Simplers are set to 1-Shot mode, and also used for the two guitar 2, choke group 1 prevents the synth and guitar parts
Warp is turned on because the clips are pads. For more complex from overlapping and Choke group 2 prevents the
at different tempos. The Simpler holding parts, you’ll have more individual bass parts from overlapping. (The drum
the synth part is in Gate mode to allow flexibility if you use Slice parts have no Choke group assignments.) The bass,
it to be truncated. The five bass pads mode instead of multiple guitar and synth MIDI parts at the top of screen 2
hold the same audio clip, and Simpler’s Simplers in 1-Shot mode. The were added to the fourth drum clip from screen 1 by
Start and End markers are adjusted to last column in the Drum Rack playing along as the drum clip looped. When you
do that, clicking the Capture MIDI button before

Simpler Settings stopping Live’s transport will add each pass to the
drum clip as a separate segment as shown.
Classic mode:triggered one-pass or looped playback.
• Loop Off:play once triggered by incoming note.
Adding Effects
• Loop On:loop until note is released and then until Release time has expired. As with any Live track, you can use insert and send
• Voices:layer playback for chosen number of triggered notes. effects on Drum Rack tracks. In addition, you can
• Retrig:a new note retriggers all voices.
insert effects after the instrument on any Drum
• Start & Length:playback range relative to full sample.
• Loop:loop start relative to Length. Rack pad. Drum Racks can also have their own
• Snap:move start and end to zero-crossings to avoid clicks. post-volume send effects to which you can also
• ADSR:amplitude envelope settings — looping continues during release. point any pad’s output chooser. Alternatively, you
can select all of the chains in the Drum Rack and
1-Shot mode:single-voice,triggered or gated one-pass playback. Group them by right-clicking any selected chain or by
• Trigger:play full sample.
pressing Command+G/Control+G. That creates a new
• Gate:play as long as note is held.
• Fades:fade-in and fade-out relative to start and end markers (instead of ADSR). Drum Rack within the original one, and you can then
• Snap:move start and end to sample zero-crossings to avoid clicks. insert effects after the new Drum Rack to process all
its pads. In screen 3, I’ve used that to apply Live’s
Slice mode:multi-voice,triggered or gated one-pass playback. Drum Buss effect to all the drum pads in the Drum
• Trigger:play full slice. Rack from screen 2. I’ve also inserted a send effect in
• Gate:play slice as long as note is held. the new Drum Rack — Live’s Corpus audio effect — to
• Fades:fade-in and fade-out relative to start and end markers (instead of ADSR).
which the Fill Disco pad is routed. Three send effects
• Snap:move start and end to sample zero-crossings to avoid clicks.
• Voices:layer playback for chosen number of trigger notes. have been added to the Master Drum Rack as well.
• Retrig:a new note retriggers all voices (not very useful in this context). EQ Eight processes all the bass pads, Filter Delay
• Slice By:transient,beat,region or manual slicing. processes the synth pad and Grain Delay processes
• Playback:mono,poly or thru (playback continues to end of sample). the first guitar pad.
You can expand on these examples in several
Controls page for all modes:
ways. You can use Velocity zones to split and layer
• Multimode Filter with ADSR envelope.
• Multishape LFO for volume,pitch,pan and filter. different Simplers on a single Drum Rack pad. You
• ADSR pitch envelope. can use key and Velocity zones in Live’s Sampler
• ADSR amplitude envelope (Classic mode only). as an alternative to a Drum Rack. You can use other
software drum and sample players.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 129

 TECH NIQ U E
Pro Tools
JULIAN RODGERS We explore the new bounce options in 2020.11

P
ro Tools 2020.11 and the release
of Pro Tools | Carbon brought
some exciting new features to
Pro Tools. The production possibilities
of Audio to MIDI, the highly visual
changes of Dark Mode and some rare
new hardware grabbed the headlines
(and were covered in last month’s Pro
Tools workshop). Other new features are
perhaps not as exciting, but have the
potential to really make a difference to
working professionals. A great example
is the Bounce Mix window.
Formerly known as Bounce to Disk,
the new Bounce Mix window may
underwhelm some music users as its
benefits might not immediately be
apparent. As is often the case, many
of the new features have been driven
by the needs of post-production users.
How much a music user can benefit
from the Bounce Mix window might well
be a reflection of how ‘post-like’ your
The old Bounce to Disk window (below, light)
working methods are. and the new Bounce Mix dialogue (above, dark).
The question is to what extent your
working practices are based around the able to create specific deliverables
use of mixing templates, standardised quickly and consistently.
session layouts, collaboration with others The need for different versions in
and the production of multiple versions post is a big subject and beyond the
and deliverables. If you tend to build scope of this article, but the important
sessions as you go on a per-session point about that way of working is that
basis and your deliverables are limited there are well-established conventions
to bouncing a stereo version of your in post-production that don’t quite exist The Location options let you determine where
mix, then the Bounce to Disk window in the same way in music. The more in your session’s folder hierarchy your bounces
probably met your needs already. The standardised your workflow is, and will be saved.
new features address the need to be the more you work in the same way (in
terms of session layout rather as previously. Pad To Frame Boundary
than artistic decisions), the is a welcome addition to those working
more you can exploit the on video projects. On the subject of
principal difference between video, there is a beta version of Bounce
the new Bounce Mix window to QuickTime included, and an option to
and the old Bounce to bounce to MXF, but the headline format
Disk options. for the increasing number of music users
whom it affects is Bounce to Dolby Atmos
Bounce To This ADM files.
Comparing the new and Dolby Atmos is an excellent example of
the old Bounce windows, a workflow which would be unmanageable
you can see that many of if you didn’t use a template. However,
the same fields exist, but templates are equally valuable in all sorts
there has been something of other situations. In particular, using
of a reorganisation. The templates ensures your busses remain
Bounce Mix window is now consistent from project to project, so
divided into distinct areas. even a user who is working in stereo
File naming and the save can use Bounce Mix to create stems and
location of the output files mix-minus versions for collaboration or
are set from here, and the easy exchange between DAWs.
audio properties such as bit Unlimited numbers of Bounce presets
depth and sample rate are can now be stored using the drop-down
available in the same way menu and shared with other users if

130 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 TECH NIQ U E
THE BOUNCE MIX WINDOW Pro Tools
required. Plus, in the same way as you
can with Zoom or Clip Effect presets,
five presets can be stored and recalled
from the press buttons at the top of the
Bounce Mix window. Zoom or Clip Gain
presets can be recalled using the 1-5
keys on the alphanumeric keyboard;
adding Ctrl on a Mac or Start on a PC
recalls the Bounce presets. Storing
the current setting to one of these five
preset slots is the same as storing to the
Zoom presets: Command-click (Ctrl-click
on a PC) on one of the buttons and hold
until it flashes.
While we’re talking key commands,
the shortcut to open Bounce Mix
remains the same as for Bounce to Disk:
Command+Alt+B on a Mac or Ctrl+Alt+B
on a PC.
option is Bounced Files, but if something
Folder & Wiser else is specified it will be automatically
Adding new mix sources is as simple created. Paths can be specified using
as clicking the + next to the existing the appropriate slash for your operating
source. The sources can be outputs system. As these custom destinations The Track Bounce window has also been
or busses, and they can be reordered can be stored with presets, this adds overhauled, and now benefits from the same
using the Move Row buttons, which up to a very useful, automatic system Location options and presets system as Bounce Mix.
appear when two or more sources for keeping your stems and mixes in committing to memory, because Track
are displayed. Confusingly, the blue consistent, organised locations from Bounce has the big advantage that
border which surrounds the source session to session. If you are working on you can bounce all selected tracks in
when grabbed using this button a Collaborative Pro Tools Project then a single operation. This is a case of
doesn’t animate to show the reordering there is no local Session folder and the slowing down (ie. not hitting the familiar
but everything updates when the Documents/Pro Tools/Bounced Files shortcut) to save time (bouncing all your
repositioned row is released. folder is used instead. tracks in one operation)!
File names are automatically Using the new Destination settings,
generated as a combination of the file
Cheaper By The Bounce creating a custom path in your session
name (as displayed at the top of the Most of this new Bounce window is folder, and saving that as a preset is
window) with the mix source as a suffix. replicated in the Track Bounce window. an excellent way to quickly create
The Location options offer a neat way Track Bounce was first introduced track bounces in the same way as
to keep consistent folder structures in 2015 with Pro Tools 12.3, and the you’d create stems in the Bounce
between projects. If you choose contents of the Track Bounce window Mix dialogue. I’ve seen how Cubase
Session Folder instead of specifying mirrored the Bounce to Disk window. handles exports like these and have
a destination manually or letting Pro The presets system is now available in always thought that a similar workflow
Tools prompt you for a location, you Track Bounce too, and while I can see in Pro Tools would be a great thing. It’s
can customise the default location to less use for it compared to Bounce Mix, presented differently, but the new Track
whatever you like as a sub-folder of it is good to remind ourselves of this Bounce dialogue ticks the same boxes
the Session folder. The default for this feature. At the time of its introduction it for me. For the post-production user
was overshadowed by the introduction there is the flexibility and repeatability
of the Commit feature, and when I want that professionals need, and for music
What A Drag to bounce out a single track I usually users, as long as the session structure
consolidate all that track’s clips into one is consistent, a request for stems can be
Since the release of Pro Tools 2020.11
there has been an update. Version 2020.12 continuous clip by right-clicking in the handled quickly and thoroughly, whether
is mostly bug fixes, but one of the more clips list and selecting Export Clips As or not the person asking for them
significant of the limited number of new Files. Or, if I want the audio from the means submixes of related tracks (what
features is the ability to drag audio from track complete with automation and I understand ‘stems’ to mean), or the
an operating system window or from plug-in processing, I’ll usually just solo very common (mis)usage of the term as
a Workspace browser onto a MIDI or an
it and Bounce to Disk. This is lazy, but meaning track bounces. In either case,
Instrument track, and automatically convert
to MIDI — an addition which makes Audio to it’s because the Command+Option+B by pulling up either the Bounce Track
MIDI a bit more complete. Now, if the ability shortcut for Bounce to Disk (now Bounce or Bounce Mix window and selecting
to drag audio clips into Structure Free were Mix) is so completely embedded in my the appropriate preset, what used to be
to return I’d be a very happy man... muscle memory. The Shortcut for Track a laborious process becomes at least
Bounce just adds Shift, and it is worth semi-automated.  

132 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 TECH NIQ U E
Logic
Logic
STEPHEN BENNETT Logic’s drum instruments offer powerful ways

L of laying down percussion and more...

ogic Pro’s Ultrabeat electronic drum plug-in
has been around almost as long as humans
first hit a stretched animal skin across Pro’s secret weapons, allowing you to
a hollowed-out tree. Although powerful, it can be repeat any note played at a variable rate.
confusing at times, so an update was long overdue. You can assign controllers to this rate
What Apple effectively did with the release of Logic parameter, as well as velocity and gate,
10.5 was to split the Ultrabeat’s concept into two while in Key Remote mode, an on-screen
parts:the relatively simple Drum Synth and the more keyboard can be used to manipulate
complex Drum Machine Designer. the various parameters. You might want
to assign the Note Repeat window to
Drum Synth a Key Command as it’s otherwise only
The way to approach Drum Synth is to think of accessible from the Tool Bar window
each instance you load into Logic Pro as a single — a feature I had turned off pretty
drum in itself — a bit like how, in the early days of much as soon as it was introduced into
electronic drums, you could buy a hardware device Screen 2: The Drum Synth kit Logic Pro X!
that only generated claps or snares. You then use piece variants.
several versions of the drum synth to build up your percussion, hats and cymbals,
Drum Machine Designer
kit. To get started, load a Drum synth plug-in onto an to build up full kits. If the beauty of the Drum Synth is its
Instrument Track. To make your kit easy to simplicity, the Drum Machine Designer
You can load in many other drum instrument manage, once you’ve created (hence DMD) is its less-attractive, more
presets from the usual Logic Pro plug-in menu or all your Drum Synth tracks, complex brother. On loading DMD, you
Library, but the Drum Synth is so easy to programme select them in the Arrange are presented with a grid of pads where
that I suspect most of you will want to create your page and create a Summing your individual sounds will be placed
own bespoke ‘kits’. The default percussion instrument Track Stack (from the Track — there are three pages of these, and
is the kick, but if you click under the Kicks button, menu), and give your Stack you use the little dots under the pads to
you’ll see a pull-down menu with some ‘starter’ a useful name. This groups all navigate around windows. Each of these
sounds. Each of these has associated parameters the Tracks together, so that pads can be set to send and respond to
that differ between instruments, with some common you can process not only the a MIDI note (using the Learn function),
ones being shared amongst them. As these individual Tracks but, as the and extra parameters are accessed
parameters are basically the same as Logic’s Smart Track Stack effectively also from the gear icon’s pull-down menu
Controls they can be changed — but more about acts as a bus, the whole ‘kit’ or a right-click on the pad. The easiest
this later. Each drum sound has a pitch and volume as well. It’s also handy to be way to see how DMD works is to load
control, but the other default parameters have been able to mute and solo the in a preset, so open the menu from the
selected to be the most useful for that particular Track Stack, engage overall main plug-in window gear icon and select
sound. So, for example, you can shape the ‘pew’ automation, and export the Open Library. This will present you with
sound, the Decay, Tone and Saturation of the ‘Heavy kits as a stem by selecting a huge choice of preset kits, and when
Kick’, while other types of kicks add Punch and it and then bouncing it you load one of these into DMD, you’ll
Snap to the sonic picnic. Snares have Body and Dirt out from the File menu’s see a lot of effects are already loaded on
parameters, cymbals have Dissonance and Bell, for Export window. the DMD Track itself. If you look at DMD in
example, while cowbells have Harmonic adjustment. Drum Synth works really the Mixer, you’ll notice that there’s a little
There’s quite a lot of variation here, easily enough for well with Logic Pro’s Live arrow under the Mute and Solo buttons,
no two instruments to sound the same. loops (covered in SOS which indicates that it’s effectively
Once you’ve modified your kick, create another October 2020), especially a multi-output instrument residing inside
Track using the Duplicate option (from the Track if you use the Note Repeat a Track Stack. If you click on this arrow,
menu or a Key Command) and edit the new instance function to rapidly build up it will open up all the tracks within the
there. You then follow the same procedure with the looping percussive parts. This DMD instrument, complete with track and
other instruments available, from snares and claps, to little window is one of Logic bus effects. But most of the fun comes
from DMD when we create our own
instruments — ‘kit’ is too small a word for
what this baby can do...
Turn on both Select Pad by Key and
Select Subtrack by Pad from the main
gear menu to keep DMD and Logic
Pro’s Mixer synchronised. Now load up
an instance of DMD on an Instrument
Track and select Clear All Pads from
the main gear menu. The easiest way
to start building a DMD instrument
Screen 1: Drum Synth, with all its kit pieces housed in a Track Stack. is to drag Regions from the Arrange

134 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 where only one note can be played at
a time (such as a hi-hat), you can assign
multiple pads to the same group, again
from the Pad’s gear menu. I find that
placing loops onto pads and playing them
from my Arturia Beatstep Pro is a really
easy way to build up rhythm Tracks — and
it’s a brilliant live tool too.
But DMD is not just about the drums.
If you click on the + that appears when
you hover the mouse over an unused
pad, this will activate it and also create
a corresponding sub-Track in the mixer.
You can then load any instrument plug-in
onto this sub-Track. Which note is played
on this instrument is defined by the
output MIDI note on the Pad itself, or
Screen 3: A Complete Drum
is assigned to, you’ll see that you can open the full you can play the notes Chromatically by
Synth kit packed into a Summing
Track Stack, with the Note Repeat Quicksampler for further mangling. selecting the sub-Track of the instrument
window open. You’ll have noticed that if you select a pad and and recording your MIDI data there. You
the Pad Controls button, you’ll see some knobs have can, of course, also load Drum Synth as
page, one (or many) audio been added to control basic functions. This area is an instrument in DMD. Because DMD
files from the Finder, or the also part of Logic Pro’s Smart Control feature and is actually a Track Stack, it and the
loop browser, straight onto can be modified to taste. For example, you may want individual sub-Tracks can be treated
a pad. Multiple additions will to control the parameters of a distortion plug-in on exactly like other Logic Pro Tracks.
assign Pads automatically. a Pad’s Track. To do this, select the Pad or Track, To save your bespoke kit, open
You can also open DMD add your plug-in and open Smart Controls from the the Library, rename your kit by
directly by dragging audio Window menu. Choose an unmapped Smart Control, double-clicking on ‘Empty Kit’ at the top
to the Track area. The pads click on the ‘i’ button to open the info panel, and go of the window, and save using the button
can then be assigned MIDI to the pull-down menu next to Unmapped. From here at the bottom right of the Library.
input notes (there’s a handy you can assign a parameter to this Smart Control, You could create a whole album’s
GM preset available) for which will then be reflected in the Pad Controls in worth of material using Drum Machine
playback via a hardware DMD. If you click on the bar next to the DMD kit’s Designer alone. Used in conjunction
controller. Once the Pads name, you will see the Pad Controls for the whole kit. with the Step Sequencer or Live Loops,
have samples assigned, To layer the sounds assigned to pads, first make complex percussion tracks can be
select the Q-Sampler Main sure the pads/sounds you want to layer share the quickly built up. But DMD’s ability to
or Detail buttons to further same MIDI input note. Then right-click on one of assign whole instruments to its Pads
edit your audio. DMD uses the pads and select Resample Pad. This effectively takes it into creative areas that are miles
Quicksampler as its sample plays back all the samples assigned to these pads away from the loops and bleeps of
engine (covered in SOS into Quicksampler, and drops the result onto the next dance music.  
January 2018), and if you look available empty pad. If you
at the Mixer Track that the Pad want to emulate instruments

Screen 4: A Drum Machine Designer preset with pad controls. Screen 5: A parameter assigned to a Smart Control will be reflected in Drum
Machine Designer’s pad controls window.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 135

 TECH NIQ U E
Pro Tools
Cubase
JOHN WALDEN Want to try a spot of DIY mastering?

R You can do so in any version of Cubase 11,

ealistically, we can’t all get every track we
write mastered professionally. But we still
want our material to sound ‘finished’ so including Elements.
it’s natural that many of us look to dabble in a little
DIY mastering. Our recent six-part video series on
the subject by mastering engineer Ian Shepherd
(https://sosm.ag/MasteringTechniques1) is a great
introduction to the topic, and I’d encourage you to
watch it. One of the key things Ian explains is that,
for the basics of mastering, his processing chain is
always simple: it consists only of gain adjustment, EQ,
compression and limiting, although he also makes use of
various meters. That got me wondering how someone
might attempt DIY mastering for the first time if using
a relatively basic DAW such as Cubase Elements 11,
perhaps with the help of a few freebie plug-ins.

Seeing Is Believing
Ian discussed how useful he finds it to be able to
visualise both the spectral balance and loudness of
the audio. Cubase Pro 11 has comprehensive loudness
metering, courtesy of its SuperVision plug-in, but users
of Elements or Artist don’t have that and nor does it
provide us with one of Ian’s favourite tools: a virtual
VU meter. Happily, you can add one of those for free
(eg. TBProaudio’s mvMeter and PreSonus’ VU Meter).
Elements and Artist users might also want to investigate
Youlean’s Loudness Meter 2 Free (there’s also a paid
version with more features but the free one should
do just fine). Loudness targets can be a matter of
personal taste, musical genre and where you intend
the final master to be played (vinyl, CD or a streaming
service, for example) but in the audio examples that
Some freeware plug-ins that can enhance your
accompany this article (on the SOS website at https:// The first screen shows DIY mastering experience in Cubase Elements.
sosm.ag/cubase-0421) I’ll not veer too far away from the plug-ins I used in Cubase
Ian’s suggestions of -11dB on my VU meter (by calibrating Elements 11 to recreate Ian’s see any broad ranges where the balance is
the zero point on the meter to -11dB) and -10 LUFS for basic signal chain, and these noticeably different. In this case, that lead
short-term loudness of the loudest part of my mix. For are the settings I used for me to make a broad 2dB gain increase
visualisation that can help you achieve a ‘balanced EQ’ the first audio example. My centred at 5kHz (to add some brightness)
(rather than EQ matching), I’m not sure Cubase (or any first step was to use freebie and a smaller 1dB boost at around 125Hz,
other DAW) really has anything to match something like VU and loudness meters to for just a touch more low-end umph. For
iZotope’s excellent Tonal Balance 2 plug-in, but there are adjust the Pre-Gain in the the sorts of subtle, broad, EQ moves Ian
nonetheless some simple, pragmatic workarounds that Channel Settings dialogue. recommends, StudioEQ’s four bands are
I’ll touch on below. I aimed for something with generally sufficient but you could always
average/peak levels 2-3 dB use a second instance if more complex
Simple Steps below Ian’s suggested final correction is required.
Even though it’s technically possible to mix and master targets, because I knew my EQ, Third, with a gentle 2:1 ratio on Cubase’s
a single track in the same Cubase project, I recommend compression and limiting would Compressor plug-in, I gradually lowered the
handling them as two separate processes — partly for likely add some gain. Threshold until I could see at most around
the clarity of thought this forces upon you, and partly My second step was 3dB of gain reduction, which generally
so that you can master multiple tracks together (eg. for to compare the frequency sounded ‘transparent’. The Compressor
a compilation such as an album or EP). Each track will spectrum displays of plug-in includes a Dry Mix control, so you
still require different mastering treatments, of course, so a reference track (using the can blend the unprocessed and processed
place each finished mix on its own stereo audio track Channel Settings dialogue for signals, and with modest compression like
in a new Cubase project. You can still use the same that track) with my track (using this, that can be a useful way to adjust the
insert plug-in chain for each, but this way you can tailor the StudioEQ plug-in). This way, severity of the compression; I quite liked the
the settings to suit each track. You can also import any the two frequency displays can blend set at 50:50 so left it there.
reference tracks you want to audition, again putting be seen on screen at the same Finally, I used Cubase’s Limiter with the
them on their own stereo track. time, so it’s relatively easy to Output set to -1dB. In this case, I didn’t need

136 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

to adjust the Input level to achieve my fairly
conservative target of 3-4 dB maximum
gain reduction of the peaks. The screenshot
also shows an instance of Brickwall Limiter
inserted after Limiter; I’m not 100-percent
sure why anything above -1dB gets past
the Limiter to reach the Brickwall Limiter
(answers on a postcard please) but as it
does, this additional limiting stage takes care
of any stray ‘overs’.

How High?
Toggling on/off the Insert Rack in the track’s
Mixer channel allows you compare your
original mix with your master-in-progress.
Note, though, that the difference you
perceive will be influenced by any overall
loudness changes (that you can also check
via the VU and loudness meters). You can, if
you wish, add a freeware gain plug-in such
as Blue Cat Audio’s Gain 3, at the end of
the chain to attenuate your master, for more
meaningful loudness-matched comparison
— but you must remember to bypass it
when you bounce your master! For basic DIY mastering, a simple chain of StudioEQ, Compressor and Limiter is a good place to start. (The
For the example, the settings in the main Brickwall Limiter simply acts as a final safety net to prevent clipping.)
screenshot got me pretty much exactly
where I wanted to be in terms of Ian’s with Compressor earlier. The obvious a basic project template for mastering. The
suggested loudness ‘targets’. But being able exceptions are the Down Ratio and Down fully configured processing chain(s) can then
to adjust the gain between StudioEQ and Threshold, which are a little unconventional be quickly reloaded when you need them.
Compressor, or between Compressor and in Squasher. I simply used the mini-graphs You’ll always have to fine-tune the settings
Limiter, can be useful: you can experiment at the top of the display to set the Down for every mix you want to master, but the
with how hard you can drive either the Ratios to find a gentle(ish) compression basic chain will still provide you with a solid
Compressor or the Limiter before the slope (to match the relatively low ratio starting point and save you time.
mastering becomes overcooked. Again, setting used in Compressor), and then Hopefully, the above examples show
a separate gain plug-in can be useful here, adjusted the Thresholds until I could see that it’s possible to attempt some basic DIY
as it allows you to toggle on/off the gain just a few dB of gain reduction in each mastering even with the modestly priced
change without adjusting any parameters band. Note that I also set Squasher’s global Elements version of Cubase 11 and just a few
in the StudioEQ or Compressor plug-ins. Mix control to 50 percent, as I’d done in freeware plug-ins. But if you have Cubase
It’s an interesting experiment and one Compressor, just to back off the overall Pro, you’ll have more sophisticated tools
I’ve included in the audio examples that compression a little. at your disposal, which are capable of
accompany this workshop. Once configured, I could again better results — or, if misused, worse
experiment with my freebie gain plug-ins ones — and we’ll investigate all that in
Easy Squeezy pre- and post-Squasher, to control how hard a future workshop.
One obvious difference so far between the compression or limiting (or
my keep-it-simple Cubase Elements both) were driven. I’ve included
signal-processing chain and Ian’s chain a further set of audio examples so
in Wavelab is that the latter included that you can hear the differences
a three-band compressor. All versions of between the two alternative
Cubase 11 include the new Squasher plug-in, processing chains.
though, so if you’re feeling adventurous you
might use an instance of Squasher in place
Final Thoughts
of Compressor. The final screenshot shows It’s well worth creating presets for
the settings I used to do this. each plug-in that you use, as well
First, I set all Squasher’s upwards as a preset for the full Insert signal
compression features so that they were chain (do this in the MixConsole’s
essentially bypassed, and put all the Insert Rack), and even creating
Drive controls to zero too. I then followed
If you feel brave enough to use
Ian’s advice, configuring each band with multiband compression, you can try
identical settings and, where possible, putting Squasher in place of Compressor
I used similar settings to those I used in your mastering chain.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 137

 INTE R V IE W

TONY BACON

A
round the start of 1972, Herbie
Hancock came to see Patrick
Gleeson at Different Fur, the
studio Patrick was running in San
Francisco. Herbie Hancock, already
a star pianist with a curiosity beyond the
apparent boundaries of jazz, brought with
him some multitracks for Crossings, his
10th album, due for release a little later
that year.
Patrick’s studio partner, John Vieira,
laced up one of Herbie’s tapes, a Bennie
Maupin piece called ‘Quasar’. Different
Fur’s Moog III modular synthesizer was
set up in the studio room, and Patrick
stood ready as the tape rolled. About 20
seconds in, Herbie called out that maybe
something could work right there.
“I had an idea about something
Synth Pioneer
I wanted to hear,” Patrick recalls today, Alongside the people who make them, Patrick Gleeson
nearly 50 years later. “It would be like
a flock of birds rising out of the music,”
has probably done more than anyone else to introduce
he says. He patched up the sound as synthesizers to popular music.
quickly as possible — “I was thinking the
guy’s gonna be so impatient watching this University when a couple of dancers from giving Buchla performances to 500
procedure and I really have to rush”— and Anna Halprin’s Dancer’s Workshop, aware people or more in the Mills College
conjured the flickering birds as the tape of his interest in musique concrète, asked outdoor auditorium.”
played. A happy Herbie said it sounded if he might make some music for one of The model he used was a 100 modular,
great, and then asked if it had been their performances. and while Don Buchla and Robert Moog
recorded. Patrick said, “Oh, I thought He had taken piano lessons from the were developing similar groundbreaking
you’re going to play it. I’m just setting it age of six, and by the third grade had ideas about analogue synthesis on
up.” Herbie replied that Patrick seemed to fallen in love with jazz, which led him opposite coasts, their approaches were,
be doing just fine and should go ahead. to further adventurous forms. Now, he naturally, rather different. “Don was very
“So we worked like that for about 45 set to work making tape loops on an much against conventional keyboards,”
minutes,” Patrick remembers, “and then array of Wollensak recorders borrowed Patrick says, “and he didn’t want to have
Herbie said, ‘You know what, I have some from the uni’s AV department, and the tonal music played on his synthesizer.
things I’ve got to do today, why don’t you performance went ahead at the Halprin He was a cranky guy, and Bob Moog
just keep going, and I’ll come back later?’ studios. “And when I was there,” Patrick was so affable.” Perhaps that’s one of
He didn’t specify what ‘later’ was. I worked says, “I noticed this strange machine in the reasons most people know the name
all night, I worked all the next morning, a little room, all by itself.” Moog today but fewer know the name
and around 1 o’clock the next afternoon, The strange machine turned out to Buchla? “Exactly so. Bob was not the most
about 24 hours later, Herbie comes into be a Buchla synthesizer. Donald Buchla meticulous audio engineer in the world.
the studio. I had overdubbed one half of was an analogue synth pioneer, famously For example, several of the little machines
the whole album. Herbie has told people working with Morton Subotnick, whose he built for me had a noticeable hum. But
that what he heard just blew him away, ‘Silver Apples Of The Moon’ was an early he was a charming guy, so interested in
that he’d never heard anything like it. And sign of the potential for electronic music other people, and all his synths had that
then a little later, he asked me to go on the composition. Patrick followed the so-called ineffable something I’ll call ‘soul’. I think
road with the band.” Buchla Box from Halprin’s to its new home you’ll never hear a negative experience
It was the start of a relatively brief but at the Mills Tape Music Center, aka the San that anyone ever had with Bob.”
important episode that changed Patrick’s Francisco Tape Music Center, another early
musical life, and at the same time steered hotbed of electronic experimentation.
Furry Road
Herbie the jazz pianist to a synthesized “They told me there was nobody to It occurred to Patrick that he couldn’t
course for many years. teach me and no instruction manual, make the music he wanted on the
that I’d have to figure it out myself,” Buchla, so he talked to John Vieira, who
Passing The Buchla he recalls. “And Don’s machines were he knew had a Moog III modular. “We
Patrick had first seen a synthesizer eccentric, anyway. I basically bribed the decided we would start a little studio
around five years earlier, probably early studio manager there to give me one together, so I quit teaching, and with
in 1967. He was teaching 18th Century night a week, and I learned it. By 1967 some money my father gave me we put
English Literature at San Francisco State or so — can you believe this? — I was together Different Fur.” The name came

138 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 Photo: Mark ‘Frosty’ McNeill / dublab
about when Patrick’s friend, the Beat poet area. “I recorded with all the major San utter nonsense. The title? It’s ‘Universal
Michael McClure, took Patrick’s idea to Francisco groups,” Patrick says, “and Copernican Mumble’, but please don’t
call it Really Different and expanded it to they didn’t know much more about music check it out. They asked me for the name
Really Different Fur Trading Company, than I did, so we were all fine together. of the tune and, being a smartass, I just
which gradually was reduced back down Let’s see… the Jefferson Airplane invited made that up.”
to Different Fur. “And most people just call me to come in and do some overdubs
it Fur,” he clarifies. on Sunflower, Paul Kantner and Grace
Jazz Note
The studio was launched because Slick’s duo album. Then the Airplane were Different Fur was a success: everyone
nobody seemed much interested in hiring going back out on the road, and as they’re from Stevie Wonder to Dinah Shore has
Patrick and John to play their synthesizers, leaving, Paul says to me, ‘So why don’t you recorded there. And it continues to be so
so the idea was that if they had their just stay here and keep working?’ I said today, under the current owner, Patrick
own place, they could invite people to well, what am I going to work on? He said Brown. And back in 1972, there was that
join them. The building, on 19th Street at he wasn’t sure but suggested I make up auspicious visit from Herbie Hancock,
Valencia in San Francisco’s Mission district a tune, and then they would play on it.” already a jazz star through his work with
(now an extremely fashionable location, Patrick agreed. This was the ’60s, Miles Davis, notably the album In A Silent
Patrick reports, but certainly not so back after all. “As Paul’s going out the door, Way, and through his own records, such as
in the day) quickly became a musical he says, ‘Ah, we usually record our tunes Maiden Voyage.
commune, with around a dozen fellow in A minor.’ And if you’re a piano player, The connection to Patrick happened
travellers on board. you’ll know that A minor or C major is through David Rubinson, who had
By 1969, Patrick and John were just the white keys, you don’t have to produced Herbie’s previous album,
successful enough to be able to fuck with those darned wiggly black keys Mwandishi, released in 1971. Synthesizers
upgrade Fur to 16-track, with the that get in your way all the time. The had only just begun to creep into the
prime attraction their knowledge and piece of music I recorded was absolutely edges of some rock music, and as for
application of synthesizers, which were deplorable. And of course it came out, and jazz, the few voltage-controlled pioneers
still considered by many musicians as until about three or four years ago I was included the wildly individual Sun Ra with
inhabiting something of a mysterious still receiving royalties. It was just terrible, his early Minimoog, and Joe Zawinul, who

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 139

 INTE R V IE W
PAT RI CK GLE E S ON

had played with Miles for a while alongside

Herbie, and who had now founded his Gleeson and Hancock at the E-mu modular.
own exploratory band, Weather Report.
Patrick played David Rubinson
some of the experiments he’d recorded
improvising on the studio Moog along to
Miles’s Bitches Brew album, and David
mentioned these to Herbie. “Herbie told
me later that David said to him ‘Look,
this guy is not really a musician, but he
does know the synthesizer very well,’”
Patrick remembers. “A little harsh, maybe,
because I could play Tchaikovsky and so
on, and I did think I was a musician. Of
course, relatively speaking, if we’re talking
about Herbie as a musician and me as
a musician, well... no, I’m nowhere near,
and nor will I be.”
Patrick passed Herbie’s audition at
Different Fur and played his parts on
what became the Crossings album. “I saw
what I was doing as a kind of improvised
electronic orchestration,” he says. “I wasn’t
trying to solo, and I wasn’t trying to imitate
conventional instruments. I was trying to
work with the timbres that I could create
and the melodic structures that I could
improvise to provide something that
would be the electronic equivalent of
an orchestra.”

Herbie Rides Again

Then, nothing from Herbie for months. up with an ARP 2600, which had come there with Herbie, I’d made a little stand
Patrick figured it had been an interesting out just about that time. And thank God, with all the patch cords sorted by length
one-off project. Then he got a call. “It’s because it was perfect. So I went on the and colour-coded, thinking I’d be able
Herbie, and he says we’re going to go road with that.” to keep track of things — you know,
out on the road and we’re going to play Patrick says he got to know the 2600 the filters are blue, and so forth. No!
this music that you’ve recorded on. He probably better than any instrument Ridiculous. The music was changing every
says I’d like you to join me. Would you be he’s ever owned, considering it an ideal microsecond and you were just chasing
interested?” Patrick laughs heartily at the combination that was easily managed live, after it. You certainly didn’t have time
memory. “Oh no, not at all, I’m busy that in real time on stage, and yet provided to look to see what colour a patch cord
day. Really, though — of course! And I was many of the possibilities of a full modular. might be. During a single tune, much less
there until that band ended.” He reckons he was able to do almost a set, I would probably change the setting
This was the sextet known as the everything he could do on a Moog of the synthesizer with a half-dozen patch
Mwandishi band, expanded to a septet modular, with the exception of some cords, sometimes even more. In a matter
with Patrick on board, and it lasted about refinements, and for live performance of four or five minutes I would probably
a year, during which time Patrick recorded he encountered few shortcomings. The have 10 or 20 different patches. You
a second album with Herbie, 1973’s live band was recorded at least twice, couldn’t keep playing the same thing,
Sextant. But it was obvious that the Moog in Detroit in February 1973 and notably obviously. The whole thing about what
modular was not a road instrument, so he for radio broadcast the following month, I was doing was to provide this variegated
tried a call to Don Buchla. released in 2015 as Live At The Boston orchestral background.”
“I explained who I was. He was not Jazz Workshop. Patrick also had a little ARP Pro Soloist
entirely impressed with Herbie Hancock Surely it was quite a brave move to sit alongside the 2600 but barely used it. One
or me, but I pressed on and asked if he there driving an ARP 2600 in the midst such occasion was when Fundi the roadie
could design a portable semi-modular of this demanding music? Patrick laughs dropped the 2600 off the back of the van
synthesizer for me. He said, ‘What kind of at the idea of bravery. “Well, I guess. The and broke it. As it was the last date of
keyboard do you want to use? Like, a piano ARP played one note at a time, it wasn’t a tour, Herbie told Patrick he might as well
keyboard?’ I said well yeah, I suppose so, touch sensitive, there was no volume sit this one out. The audience had clearly
and he said, ‘I’m not interested,’ and the control other than what you created with listened to the band’s recent albums,
phone went dead. That was the end of a footpedal, and... it was really pretty however, and were evidently disturbed by
my association with Don Buchla. I ended amazing! When I anticipated going out the lack of synthesizer. When some of them

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 INTE R V IE W
PAT RI CK GLE E S ON

Brian Eno and David Byrne during the production of My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts at Different Fur, 1980.
He’s up there listening to everything that
walked out at the intermission, Herbie music for many years. It was a great way to was said. I remember one programmer
changed his mind, telling Patrick he had to make a good living, but for me it wasn’t that making some caustic remarks about the
get out there for the second set and that interesting musically.” rough cut, and next day he was gone. It
he could use the Pro Soloist. was kind of like getting a job at the Trump
“When we finished,” Patrick remembers,
The Horror administration, in that you had to express
“Herbie looked at me and said, ‘So, Among those projects was Patrick’s your loyalty in order to be hired. And then
what did you think?’ I said, ‘Well, pretty involvement with the music for Apocalypse there were five of us.”
awful.’ He said, ‘I didn’t hear anything Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s epic movie Patrick remembers being named Master
different, sounded pretty much the same.’ about the Vietnam war, released in 1979. Synthesist (“Francis really took to me
I realised then that it’s not really about the The production was infamously plagued personally,”) and that the other four were
instrument, it’s what you’re thinking and by problems (one of the leading actors Bernie Krause, from Beaver & Krause;
how you approach the music.” had a heart attack during shooting, for Don Preston, from Frank Zappa’s Mothers
Paying that many musicians plus example), and from what Patrick recalls, Of Invention; Nyle Steiner, inventor of the
a roadie from the proceeds of mostly making the movie’s music was hardly EVI wind synthesizer; and Shirley Walker,
jazz-club gigs did not make for a financially straightforward. Much of it was created a pianist with the Oakland Symphony. And
successful operation, and inevitably it with synthesizers, and the music producer he identifies the problem with the musical
came to an end, in the summer of 1973. was David Rubinson, who had produced production in the shape of Carmine
Patrick knew it had been a remarkable the Herbie Hancock albums that Patrick Coppola. “Francis wanted his dad to write
experience. He figured it couldn’t get any played on. the music,” Patrick says. “Carmine was
better, and that Herbie’s music would now Francis invited 12 or so synthesists to a wonderful flute player. He was Toscanini’s
become more commercial — which it did, an audition at his striking green-and-white flute player, he was in the NBC Radio
with Head Hunters and some of Herbie’s Sentinel Building in San Francisco, where Orchestra. But he just was not the right
subsequent work. in the basement he ran a rough-cut of composer for an electronic score. He was
“Also, he was becoming interested in the movie for the assembled musicians, classically trained, but he knew nothing
the synthesizer himself, and I knew he Patrick among them. “We didn’t realise about synths.”
ought to learn the synthesizer and do it that when we were watching and Like most movies, there were plenty of
himself,” Patrick says. “As for me, I needed listening to that, Francis was upstairs in other people involved, one of whom was
to move on and figure out what to do. And his penthouse — and this is the guy who the renowned Walter Murch, credited on
I don’t think my decisions were the best, made The Conversation, a definitive Apocalypse Now as the re-recordist and
because I went into film and television movie about electronic eavesdropping. the sound-montage and sound designer.

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“I sent to Walter my ‘Do Lung Bridge’ music a line of progression. The Buchla was says. “I’d never seen anything like that
cue, which I’d made on my E-mu modular, very unstable, the Moog was quite a bit before. I would sit down in the studio and
and he came back and said to send him unstable in certain circumstances — in just absorb what was going on. It was the
the multitrack.” Patrick replied that, no, a warm room, say — and the E-mu was very victory of process over structure. Which
he was sending mixes, but Walter said if stable. And the sequencer was bigger. By is sort of what Brian’s Oblique Strategies
that was the case, this piece would not go the time I got mine, David had developed cards were like.”
in the film. a digital keyboard that had a little Z80, He remembers that the duo would try
“I asked him what the problem was, a very small computer with maybe a 20th something and then put it aside. “And
and he said ‘It’s that flute.’ I explained of the power of your iPhone, but a huge they’d tell Howard [Johnston, engineer]
to him that when I’d completed the cue, advance because it allowed you to store to run off a 2-track of that for them. So
Carmine came in and listened to it, and sequences and play them back.” they would have this whole stack of
loved it — and wanted to replace the Looking back on the trend to 2-tracks of works in progress at various
synthesized instrument with his own flute. synthesize classical music, Patrick stages. Then, when they went back and
Walter said, ‘Well, it just sounds awful.’” says there was only one person who put together the final product, they would
Patrick’s solution was to double the flute mattered, and that was Wendy Carlos, select what they liked: this verse here
with a synthesized version, in the process who set the benchmark with her widely is really great, this verse over there, this
lowering Carmine’s real flute in the mix. popular Switched On Bach album of 1968. chorus here; the whole thing was put
Patrick did not enjoy these Wendy wrote a sleevenote for Patrick’s together that way. Really, Bush Of Ghosts
compromises along the way. Ideally, he Planets record: “Our eight-year wait was a sampled album before there was
says, if he and Don Preston and Nyle for someone else to explore electronic widespread sampling. For me, their
Steiner had been able to work with some music realisation with what we judge to process offered a sense of freedom, and
of the musicians Francis decided not to be appropriate technical standards and in fact that’s my primary way of arriving at
use, it might have been better. “I think musical taste has ended,” she wrote, a composition today.”
we could have done something amazing adding: “In short, one hears the ears
that would have been one for the history of a gifted musician at work, in a field
Virtual Reality
books. We had the equipment, we had where one must exercise unprecedented Patrick is sitting on his studio couch in Los
the knowledge, we had the attitude discipline and self-control.” Angeles lockdown, and he gazes across
toward it. It would have been a matter of Patrick had two cracks at synthesizing at his machine room. Behind him is his
translating what I had done with Herbie to the classics with his largely analogue performance rig. “All virtual these days,”
a film. And I do think Francis was up for it, Planets and then, in 1982, with a Synclavier he says with a nod. “I’m using Ableton Live
because he’d wanted to start an electronic for The Four Seasons. “I listen to this and some special software so that I can
recording studio with me. But when I saw music occasionally and I’m not terribly perform and improvise live with Ableton.
what it was like to be part of Francis’s impressed,” he says. “It was competent Rather than just being a DJ, I can actually
coterie, I realised I needed to be my own and people liked it, and I was Grammy improvise as I’m performing. I do think the
boss, that I didn’t want to be working for nominated for best engineered classical idea of performing just using a laptop is
somebody else. So I turned him down. He recording the year the Planets came out. very dubious, and to me the way a lot of
was really into it, and it could have been I got a little plaque. But that was not what people do it is laughable — raising their
good — but I’m glad I didn’t do it.” I was best at. What I was really best at was fists, pretending to move knobs, and really
what I did with Herbie, and that carries there’s nothing happening, they’re just
The Classical Mode forward to today. The music I’m making playing a WAV file.”
Patrick’s own solo recording career had today I like better than any music I’ve ever Most musicians at 86 years old have
begun a few years earlier with an album for made.” Which is as it should be. wound down or are at the very least
Mercury, Beyond The Sun: An Electronic seriously considering it. Not Patrick. “Not
Portrait Of Holst’s The Planets, credited
Chasing Ghosts yet,” he says with a smile, “though I can
to Patrick Gleeson, E-mu Polyphonic Some of his more recent work reflects hear the wind whistling in the trees.” The
Synthesizer and released in 1976. He Patrick’s twin passions for jazz and for work keeps him going.
says the E-mu was technically a better minimalism, typified by two albums He has a record in process with his trio
synthesizer than a Moog. “David Rossum, released in 2007: Jazz Criminal (with Jim that includes drummer Michael Shrieve
the brains behind E-mu, was very bright, Lang, Benny Maupin, and Wallace Roney) and reeds man Sam Morrison. He has
very familiar with the Moog, and knew what and Slide. He’s worked in the studio a surround project with KamranV and the
the shortcomings were. So his starting with a lot of other artists, too, mostly at Quadraphonic Universally Accessible
point was to solve all these problems, to the Different Fur location, and estimates Resource Kit. “We’re almost finished,”
solve certain anomalies with how things that he must have played on 80 or 90 Patrick says, “and I’m working on the last
are patched together.” albums, all told. tune now. When I heard one of the quad
Patrick points as an example to the One notable set of sessions among the mixes at his place down on the coast,
fact that, at the time, Moog still had two many at Fur were those made in 1980 for I have to tell you I cried. It was so fucking
different sets of patch cords, one for Brian Eno and David Byrne’s My Life In The beautiful, man! For the first time in my life,
voltages, another for switches. “That was Bush Of Ghosts. Patrick was a fascinated I felt as if I really were right in the middle
an unnecessary complication. David, observer and says he learned a lot from of this music. It was the whole world, and
though, would say, ‘Well, can’t we just watching them at work. “Their production I was in it. Just so amazing. I hope you get
agree on one kind of patch cord? It was technique was absolutely original,” he a chance to hear it some day.”

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 TALKB A C K

Niko Moon
WILLIAM STOKES
like old jazz when I’m just in a situation watch it all if you lived a hundred lifetimes.

“I
like that, because as a producer I’m so I still do it. There’s still so much to learn.
love being a part of the analytical about music; I’m constantly But when I was just getting going, I would,
evolution of my world,” reflects thinking, “I wonder what mic that is on like, watch every Pensado’s Place ever.
Georgia-born, Nashville-based that vocal,” or “That’s cool what they did
Niko Moon as he prepares for his first on the drums.” But when I listen to old The biggest misconception about the
performance at Nashville’s legendary jazz, for some reason I don’t think about role of a producer
Grand Ole Opry. His sound is certainly the production at all. I just enjoy it, like That a producer is going to make you
not typical for the Opry, however. Fusing a human being should. a star. I think, sometimes you’ve got these
hip-hop beats and production with artists that will come into a room and say
acoustic instrumentation and familiar The project I’m most proud of “Make me a hit song.” A producer can
country lyrical themes, Moon’s music Well, I haven’t come out with my be capable of making a hit, but he needs
represents a collision of worlds. “I grew full-length yet, I’ve just come out with a hit artist! The producer’s job is to make
up about an hour outside of Atlanta, so my EP. But that’s definitely what I’m most you the most fully you that they can. You
I was in the country. Alan Jackson and proud of. I’ve produced albums for lots are this thing, and their job is to shine
Travis Tritt, all these country legends of other artists, but being able to give a light on you, as brightly as possible.
were literally 10 minutes down the road my life a sound has just been awesome.
from me; but I was also an hour away I feel like I learned so much through the My go-to reference track
from Outkast and Ying Yang [Twins] and process of producing and engineering If I had to pick a song, it would probably
TI and the whole Atlanta vibe, you know? other people’s music. It really honed be ‘Gravity’ from [John Mayer’s]
So that’s why my music is the way it is. my ability to get to the root of who I am, Continuum album. Sonically that album is
I was always really drawn to the drum and production-wise, quicker than I would probably one of my favourites — it’s John
bass production of Atlanta hip-hop, but have without that experience. Mayer’s opus for sure. I just love the way
I really like the organic instrumentation everything sounds on that record. Steve
of country music, and especially the lyric The first thing I look for in a studio Jordan’s drums sound unreal, the guitar
and melody of country music, so for me Mics, man! To me, if you don’t get it good tones sound unreal… I feel like, if I was
to just be myself and do what I feel is at the source, there’s nothing you can do. to go to another room and work with
authentic: it would have to be a meeting You can only polish a turd up so good! another artist and get some sort of vibe
of those two worlds.” For whatever reason, I do really well on for the room, it would be that.
a [Sony] C800. C800s are so weird to me, There’s also this track by Ty Dolla $ign,
At the moment I can’t stop listening to because when they don’t work — which, ‘Dawsin’s Breek’. When I want to make
I’ve really been digging on Chris Stapleton I think, is more often than not — they sure a track is hitting right, I’ll A/B it to
lately. I’ve always been a big fan of him, really don’t work. But when they work, it’s that track. There’s something about it,
but I’ve been going back to some of his like nothing can touch it. I’m just one of the low end… I’m not trying to reference
older stuff, especially the Traveller album those singers that it works on. I’d rather the top end, typically. If that sounds good
— you know, his first breakout album. have an unreal mic going straight into to me I’m happy. But on the low end, to
Vance Powell’s engineering and Dave a [UA Apollo] Twin [interface], than have make sure things are hitting correctly, that
Cobb’s production. I’ve had the chance all the outboard gear in the world and song is just really great.
to be in the room with Dave Cobb a few some giant 4k SSL console.
times, and just really became a fan of his My desert island studio item
production style. Also, Tha Carter V just The person I would consider my mentor My Sony C800 microphone. That’s my
came out: Lil Wayne, he’s probably my To be honest, YouTube is my mentor. I’ve desert island item. I feel like, as long as
favourite rapper. I just love his whole, kind learned more, I think, from YouTube than I’ve got that, I’m good. I used to be really
of stream-of-thought style. So, I’ve been anything else. It’s amazing. Back in the big on plug-ins, but as time has gone on
really getting down on that. I’ve also been day you had to go get an apprenticeship, it’s not nearly as important as I used to
listening to a lot of older jazz like Billie you had to go get under somebody to think it was to get things to sound great.
Holiday and Frank Sinatra while I’ve been really learn what’s up; and now there’s just I’ve seen too many ridiculously good
cooking lately! For some reason I really a world of endless hours… you couldn’t mixers or ridiculous engineers, and I’ll

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 Photo: Matthew Berinato
be like, “Oh, my God, what EQ are you [the Covid-19 crisis] happened we would thought to do that. He would also formant
using?!” and it’s just, like, the stock EQ. fly out and work with each other. Now her vocal; you’ve heard pitched vocals
we’re working remotely: we’re using a million times, but he’d have moments
The one piece of gear I would bring Zoom’s screen-share capabilities so he where her vocal would formant and he’d
back into production can take over my computer. I’ll go in automate the formant while she’s singing.
NS10s. Why, why, is Yamaha not making my vocal booth and track vocals, and That was some out-of-the-box shit — really
NS10s anymore? You can’t count how he’ll be cutting my vocals in LA, in real clever, you know. And they did it in their
many hit records have been made time. It’s a mix between using Zoom and bedroom.
with NS10s. I know Avantone came out Audiomovers, the plug-in. We’re halfway
with their version of them in the last through my second album and we haven’t The advice I’d give myself of 10 years ago
few years… But, Yamaha: y’all gotta seen each other once. Anyways, Josh Stay true to yourself. When I was just
bring back the NS10s! Right now I’ve is the other half of my production team. getting into music, I just wanted to be
got Barefoots that I work on, and they It’s me and him, together. Every single a part of it: I didn’t care how. I didn’t care
have this knob that sits on your desktop thing that I do, he produces it with me. if it was as a songwriter, as a producer, as
that can switch between a bunch of Honestly, he’s my favourite producer out an engineer, as an artist… I just wanted to
different modes. There’s ‘regular mode’ there, and I get to work with him! be involved with the community. I wanted
and there’s ‘old school’ which emulates But outside of him… I think it would to be involved in music that ended up
the NS10s, and then there’s one called be cool to collaborate — me and Josh becoming special, that actually had
‘cube’ which emulates the Avantone little — with Finneas. He might be the most an impact in the world. And, I think for
cube speakers, so you have one set of ahead-of-his-time producer in the game a moment there I was so wanting that
monitors that can become different types right now. I remember the first time I heard that I started emulating my heroes. It was
of speakers. So, I’m constantly putting it Billie [Eilish]’s album, I feel like I’m pretty a little bit of a pitfall for me. I looked up to
in ‘old school’ mode to see what NS10s good at hearing something and going certain artists or producers or mixers or
would be doing, I mean, that’s how ‘That’s cool, I see what you did there.’ But engineers so much that I wanted to be like
impactful that speaker was. on that album there were some things them, instead of just learning from them.
where I was like ‘How did you do that?’ I think it’s important to just be yourself.
The producer I’d most like to work with And that’s a rare thing. Like, he’d do these There’s only one you. If you can be the
I haven’t talked about him yet, but verb throws on [Billie’s] vocal, where it best version of yourself, you’re going to
without him my music wouldn’t be what sounds like he’s printing the verb and then be original because there ain’t nobody
it is. His name is Josh Murty: he’s my chopping it off, so right when she’d come like you! And it took me a long time to
co-producer and one of my best friends. back in the tail would cut off. I just thought figure that out. I wanted to be my heroes,
I’m in Nashville, he’s in LA, and before that was really clever. I would never have instead of just being me.

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 F E AT URE

Producing Pop For The 21st Century

The way pop music is made and consumed
has changed radically in the last few years.
Pete Rycroft, aka Lostboy, has adapted
better than most...

TOM DOYLE
It was about being in bands and trying to subconsciously,” Rycroft says. “For me, the
make them sound less shit [laughs]. vocal and the melody of any production

H
“But slowly in my teens I figured out that is always king and I think that’s probably
aving produced the likes of Little there was this whole world of songwriting, where that comes from.
Mix, the Vamps, Anne-Marie and which was kind of what I was interested in, “He also used to listen to a lot of
Rita Ora, co-written with Lewis just as much as the production. To me, it’s Genesis and Peter Gabriel and Seal
Capaldi and Liam Payne and racked always been a hand-in-hand thing. What I do and that really inspired my production
up hundreds of millions of streams day-to-day is writing-slash-production. So, palette. A lot of my weird gated reverbs
worldwide, Lostboy (aka Pete Rycroft) is I’m kind of just straddling that line of being and strange sort of prominent drums
fast becoming one of the most successful the guy who has their back to the artist and really nod to those Peter Gabriel records
studio names in pop. the person who’s writing the song.” or whatever.”
Still only 26 and currently operating Music was all around the house as Pete After leaving school, Rycroft moved
out of Rollover Studios in West London, Rycroft was growing up, with his father to London and enrolled on a songwriting
Rycroft grew up in Moreton-in-Marsh in the being both a classical singer and a fan of course at university, before quickly
Cotswolds where his interest in recording polished or adventurous ’70s and ’80s rock discovering that he’d much rather be
grew out of being a drummer in bands. and pop. These influences left their mark busy making music than studying it. “I just
“I sort of fell into production,” he says. on his future producer son. started doing writing sessions with all
“There wasn’t much around in terms of “Yeah, my dad was really into his choral sorts of up-and-coming artists in London,”
studios and we wanted to record our stuff. stuff and that must have stuck with me he explains, “and I ended up dropping out

146 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

of uni after a year. My lawyer introduced my first few credits on major label things in his pants eating cereal. I’d be saying,
me to my manager at that point and it really like Anne-Marie.” ‘I’m so sorry, this is not what you’re used
was a case of slowly meeting new people, to, I’m sure.’ I was just panicking because
hustling, and just building a way up.”
Box Room I was like, ‘Oh God, they must be in Abbey
But even before he’d left the Cotswolds By the time Pete Rycroft was living in Road every other day this week and now
for London, Rycroft had already begun a shared flat in West Hampstead in they’re here.’”
making in-roads into the production North-West London, he’d rented a second Initially, his panic extended to the
world. Having produced some demos bedroom in the loft to use as his studio. “At session itself. Through time though, Rycroft
that brought him to the attention of Fraser the top of the house and three foot by two,” decided that communication with an artist
T Smith, he started remote working for he laughs. “It was just a nightmare because is key and began to slow down and get to
Stormzy, Adele and Sam Smith’s producer. it was so hot. I initially just had a computer know them. “When I first started out and
“Basically, doing additional production and some speakers, one keyboard and was sort of freaking out internally when
and little sprinkles on bits and bobs that a microphone.” these people were coming in,” he says,
he was working on,” Rycroft explains. In this environment, Rycroft worked “I would just rush into starting something
“He was in LA at the time and he would with various major label names, including and hope that they were into it.
send stuff over and I’d be sat in my little Gabrielle Aplin. “Artists like Gabrielle who “Eventually I realised that when you’re
bedroom being just like, ‘Wow, this is a real I’d just met would come in and have to with someone you haven’t met before, the
artist and one I’ve heard of... This is a big walk up all the stairs, past my flatmates’ most valuable thing you can get from that
opportunity.’ That was definitely how I got bedrooms and there’d be one of them sat session is the personal connection, and

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 147

 F E AT URE
LOSTBOY

obviously that’ll feed into the song. You’ll straight to Pro Tools before trying out any “In a lot of my productions, it’s all quite
get a song that means more to them and other DAWs. “It seems like a weird choice choppy and dynamic. It’s just the way I work
so it’s likely to make it onto the album or actually,” he says. “But we were trying to do in Pro Tools. There’s a lot of bouncing down
whatever. As opposed to you just panicking things by the book, I think. I’ve got a bit of and then chopping and then bouncing
and making a rubbish beat, just because experience working with Logic. But every again. It’s a little process, for sure.”
you think that’s what your job is. So, year or so I’ll tell myself that I want to just
I normally spend at least an hour, especially challenge myself to learn Ableton. I’ve got
Experimentation
if it’s someone I’ve not met before, just into bits of Ableton but when it comes back Even when Lostboy productions sound
getting the vibe right.” to doing a session and you’ve got to be as polished and pristine, they’re often the
fast and efficient as possible, I’m fastest on result of fairly random experimentation in
Move On Up Pro Tools cause that’s what I stared with.” the early stages. For instance, his 2019
After moving on from his loft at home, Nonetheless, Rycroft’s productions co-production of Zedd and Kehlani’s ‘Good
Rycroft worked for a time at a North-West often sound like they employ Ableton-like Thing’ (125 million streams and counting)
London studio owned by Liam Payne. “It techniques. One notable example is the began life when he was “mucking around”
was a bigger room and a big booth there 2019 cut-up vocal remix of Dua Lipa’s ‘Swan in the studio with his friend and collaborator
and it all just felt a little bit formal, to be Song’ that Rycroft made together with Starsmith (Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne).
honest,” he says. “I really love being in Tom Mann, his partner in his parallel artist “He’s got this really weird upright piano
the same room as singers. And it really is project, AboutAGirl. at his studio,” Rycroft explains, “and it all
such a cliché, but it is that sort of red-light “It’s been quite popular that remix,” started so organically with those chords on
syndrome. As soon as you’re behind that Rycroft says. “I mean, it is literally just the piano and then it just built up and up
glass, it’s like, ‘Oh, things are getting serious cutting stuff up. That’s one of the weird and up. We got [co-writer] Cleo [Tighe] in
now, you better do a good job.’” things is that people are surprised that the next day and for me that’s the perfect
Rycroft has been in his room at Rollover I work in Pro Tools when they hear the kind session. Because I always find it hard to be
Studios since January 2020 and has of music I make. It tends to be electronic boxed in as ‘producer’ or ‘songwriter’ and
maintained the open-plan feel of a home and quite sort of harsh sounds. I think that happens a lot in LA when I’m working
studio when working with singers. “I’ve got people assume it’s Ableton. there. But that was perfect because day
a couple of [Shure] SM7Bs here,” he says. “But for me Pro Tools is perfect for that one I was producer and then day two, it
“There’s one down by the sofa so if there’s because the way I work is so visual. Like, was like, ‘OK, top line,’ and I fully focused
someone on the sofa, they can use that. literally seeing a waveform and knowing on that.
And then there’s one behind my desk which where to cut it without kind of even “But even when we wrote it, we were
I can use. So, I’m just turning to people and needing to listen to it. Or being able to see thinking, ‘Y’know, it’s like a 6/8 kind of
being like, ‘This is how I hear it’. Y’know, the fades and really get into the details. So, waltz, quite slow.’ So, there was no way we
I sing a little bit so I think if you’re trying to the vocals in that remix are a good example could’ve imagined that it was gonna go to
show someone or direct someone, it’s so of me just being able to really get into the this massive DJ [laughs]. We finished the
much easier when you’re in the room.” depth of it with Pro Tools. I’ve tried doing song and thought it definitely felt US, but
Unusually, back in his drumming and that kind of stuff in Logic and I feel like I’m for like Selena [Gomez] or Ariana [Grande]
aspiring producer years, Pete Rycroft went not seeing what I’m hearing. or someone. A powerful pop girl.”

148 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 F E AT URE
LOSTBOY

Rycroft took the song to LA, got great

reactions to it in meetings with labels, but
still no one picked up the track. Returning
to London, the team gave the chorus lyric
a more positive twist. “It was more negative:
‘I don’t need a good thing.’ And now it’s
like, ‘I am the good thing, everything’s
cool, I’m happy in myself and I’m a strong
independent woman,’ basically.
“So, we just twisted that and then it all
kicked off. It was almost like another excuse
for A&Rs to hear it again. Which is kind of
rare that you get that opportunity. Then
I got an email saying they’d sent it to Zedd
and he was really into it, and they were
scrapping the next single. It was one of the
quickest things to get over the line ever.”

Portable Power
Often, Pete Rycroft’s work takes him to Los
Angeles, where he either works in various
studios or on his own portable rig. “I’ve
got a Mac Pro here,” he points out, “but
I’ve also got a laptop and if I’m in LA, I’ll
take that. But it’s a really basic setup. If I’m
on the move I’ve got a [Universal Audio]
Apollo Arrow, the bus-powered little one,
so it’s easy to plug in and you don’t need
any US adaptors. A pair of headphones and
a couple of hard drives and that’s it.
“But I love that,” he adds. “Sort of Pete Rycroft at his room in
reinventing myself when it’s a really small Rollover Studios, London.
setup and just being like, ‘Oh, OK, it’s got to
work with this.’ There’s something about that while Rycroft was in LA. “We were in this making money off songs. I’m trying to get
pressure creates diamonds as they say.” massive house in the hills,” he says. “But credible cuts and build the portfolio.
Rycroft experienced a trial-by-fire in Los it wasn’t a nice house, it was a bit grimy. “So, we let them have a go and then it
Angeles in 2019 when one of his tracks, There was a dead frog in the pool, that kind just went mad. It’s the highest charting song
‘Unbelievable’, was suddenly picked up by of vibe. I’ve had at US radio. Even more than Zedd
American boy band Why Don’t We. “I wrote “I was just in there with some mates and and Kehlani. None of us were expecting
it with two friends of mine [EMIR and Pablo my manager, who was staying with us, had that at all. It just goes to show you shouldn’t
Bowman]. At the time it was almost a little gone to bed. He always says that he woke write off anything.”
bit of a joke to us because that song is up at, like, 3am and he could hear the riff
so repetitive. The chorus is just the word of ‘100 Ways’ and he thought it was a weird
Back In London
‘unbelievable’, like, 15 times. But there was dream or something. At Rollover Studios in London, Pete Rycroft
something about it that just felt really young “We were just basically messing around likes to keep the sessions flowing by
and sort of fun. over some beers, wrote this kind of weird having everything plugged in and ready
“But I went to LA and Carrie West at house song and we were like, ‘Oh God, to play, using a Flock Audio Patch unit.
Atlantic Records heard it and was like, ‘This it’s gonna be so hard to pitch this, cause “It’s an analogue patch bay but it’s digitally
could be amazing’. I was only there for just it’s a real niche.’ When you’re pitching controlled,” he says. “It’s just changed my
over a week and the rest of the trip was to DJs, it’s very hard if you’ve got a full life. So, in this studio now, I’ve got a piano
spent finishing it. It was quite a stressful vibe. It’s much easier to pitch a piano and and amps and different bits of gear, and
experience to be honest [laughs]. Cause vocal. They want to add their own spin to everything’s patched in. The Patch has
it was suddenly like, ‘We need this now’. it or whatever and we’d kind of made this a plug-in interface on the computer and you
I was in a hotel room and it gave me a lot whole thing.” can just drag sort of piano to Neve [preamp]
of confidence in my portable setup. Now ‘100 Ways’ sat around unused for to SSL compressor in the Apollo and you
that I’ve delivered records on that setup, it’s a while, until it was played to Wang’s label can save those as set channel strips. It’s
kind of like anything’s possible.” 88rising. “A lot of people write off the honestly a game-changer. I don’t know
Similarly, ‘100 Ways’ by Jackson Wang Asian market,” says Rycroft. “We were, to why they’re not in every studio everywhere
— which went on to make Wang the first be honest, a bit sceptical about the whole because you can recall a whole setup.”
Chinese singer to reach the Top 20 at thing because at this point in my career I’m Monitors-wise, Rycroft mainly relies upon
American radio — was written on spec trying to build reputation. It’s not just about his Barefoot MicroMain26s. “The 27s don’t

150 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 F E AT URE
LOSTBOY

Pete is a big fan of using guitar

pedals in his productions, notably
the Strymon TimeLine and Big Sky,
and Dreadbox’s Hypnosis Time
Effects Processor.

have the extra midrange driver that

the 26s have, so the 26s are a little
bit punchier in the midrange, which
is what I like because I think I tend
to mix a little bit too bright anyway.
These kind of compensate for that
midrange brightness.
“The other thing about the
Barefoots is they’ve got this little
switch controller and you can set
them to emulate the little cubes,
like the Auratones, so that’s pretty
useful. It’s obviously just an EQ
curve happening internally but
I think it’s pretty accurate. I’ve
also got some tiny little Genelecs.
They’re amazing. I think a lot of
people use them for travel, cause
they come with a little bag. I just
have them here as a little sort of
A/B thing.” “It’s interesting, but ever since I’ve Any guitar parts that Rycroft records
Having started out as a drummer, beats worked in Pro Tools, I’ve had basically the can be sent to be re-effected through
are a key feature of Rycroft’s productions. same chain at the end of every channel a pedalboard involving, among other
He mainly uses his own library of drum which is D-Verb, the Bomb Factory 1176 and things, Strymon’s TimeLine delay and
samples in NI’s Battery, aided by his recent then just the standard Pro Tools EQ. So, it’s BigSky reverb, and Dreadbox’s Hypnosis
discovery of XLN Audio’s XO. all the very basic standard stuff initially. I still Time Effects Processor. “It’s ’80s kind of
“It scans your hard drive for drum use that every day, just those three. weird delays and reverbs,” Rycroft says of
samples and then creates a 3D map of “I think that’s a key part of my sound,” the latter. “I can basically send anything
these dots, and each dot represents he adds. “A lot of wide-open reverbs through this whole table. That’s what I love
a sample. So, say if you have a kick that going to tight nothing, and basically lots of doing basically is sending and playing with
you like, then the kicks surrounding that automation. There’s other things that follow stuff on loop.”
in the map will be really similar-sounding. the [synth] plug-in that often are doing
Like, a similar transient, a similar sort a lot to the sound. Like, there’ll be a reverb
Vocals
of decay. You can just navigate really followed by an 1176 smashing it, so that it Singers being so important to Lostboy
easily in terms of the sonics as opposed kicks up the reverb tail after the initial pluck. productions, Rycroft likes to keep his
to having to search through a Splice And if you took those away it wouldn’t vocal chain simple but effective. In his API
folder or whatever you’ve got. So that’s sound anything like the Arturia preset or Lunchbox, he mainly uses his Chandler TG
been great.” whatever it is at the front.” 2-500 preamp rooted into IGS Audio’s One
When it comes to synths, Rycroft tends Rycroft’s workhorse hardware synth, LA 500 compressor. “So that’s sort of like
to work, at least initially, with plug-ins. meanwhile, is his Sequential Prophet-6, a TG2 into an LA-2A,” he says. “That’s what
His go-to for bass is Native Instruments’ used in conjunction with a MOTU Micro Lite it sounds like. I’ve got a Manley Reference
Massive, with occasional detours into MIDI interface. “It’s amazing and I do literally mic, a U87 and a couple of the Neumann
Future Audio Workshop’s 808-styled use it as a workhorse,” he says of the pencil mics.”
SubLab. For general synth sounds, he’s Prophet. “It’s my MIDI controller as well. So, For mix bus compression, if he’s at
a big fan of Arturia’s Pigments. most of the time the volume is all the way Rollover Studios, Rycroft generally patches
“That’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s similar down and I’m using it for MIDI. But it’s so in his SSL G Comp. If he’s on the move
to [Xfer Records’] Serum, which I also use versatile as a synth and just so raw or clean. and using his laptop, it’s UAD’s SSL 4000
a lot. It’s quite light and doesn’t use too You’ve got to do things manually and really G Bus compressor. “The real one without
much CPU. It’s very easy to automate, craft the tone of the synth. a doubt has got some magic to it,” he says.
which is a key thing for me. I sort of “Once I’ve worked something out with “I’m not on a mad scientist level enough to
automate everything. Every channel I have MIDI, then I’ll turn the volume up on the know why that is. But it just feels warmer
in Pro Tools has got an EQ with a low-pass, Prophet, send the MIDI to it and start playing and more natural. And that might just be
high-pass and a reverb set up to go with with the cutoff and everything in the context a placebo because I’m looking at the thing,
automation before I’ve even got any of a track, as opposed to trying to dial in thinking, ‘Fuck, I spent a grand and a half on
instruments in there. a synth tone that I don’t really know works.” that [laughs].’

152 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 “But also, the UAD one is great and
that goes into a multiband, like a Waves
C4. Then the secret weapon if it’s quite
a sort of loud pop arrangement is I’ll use
a little bit of [Xfer Records’] OTT multiband
compressor. But I’ll just use a tiny, tiny
little bit of it and it really brightens up the
whole thing. That was something that Max
Martin’s guys told me about. And I was
like, ‘Well if he’s doing it, let’s do it.’
“I have [Okesound’s] Soothe
occasionally, which is great just to make
sure there’s no harsh, disgusting things
going on. Then finally it’ll be [iZotope’s]
Ozone 9 for sort of loudness and limiting
and maybe a few stereo image bits. The
vintage exciter on there I find is really
good for low-end warmth. Just a really
subtle boost.”
Rycroft relies a lot on headphones
— in his case, Beyerdynamic T5ps — for
mixing. “They’re a little bit hype-y,” he
points out. “Like, the low end is quite
powerful, but I’m just used to them now.
I’ll always make sure I’m listening to
stuff on speakers as well and checking
phasing issues, which is probably my
biggest fear and something that I’m
probably bad at.
“But I just thoroughly believe that
everyone listens to music on headphones
nowadays. If you’re not checking it on
headphones, then what’s the point?
That’s the main way people listen to
music, so I make sure I finish stuff in
headphones at least.”

Attention Span
During lockdown, Pete Rycroft managed
to work remotely, producing tracks for
UK guitar pop band the Vamps’ Cherry At the heart of Pete’s studio is a Flock Audio
Blossom album, including standout single so that your brain when you get to the first Patch rack, which connects his synths, outboard
‘Married in Vegas’. Often, he was directing chorus or first post-chorus, you’re like, ‘Oh! preamps and processors.
the band via Zoom as they recorded at I know this. This is my song!’
Metropolis Studios elsewhere in London. “That’s great and it works totally. But of tracks that will work in 15 seconds.
During the same period, he managed to then I found I’m doing it in every song. And “With Little Mix, half the time we’re there
produce ‘Gloves Up’ for Little Mix’s latest because I work with different people every going, ‘OK, but what’s gonna work on
album, Confetti. day, different teams and different artists are TikTok?’ Is there a weird little sound effect
The producer admits that the world like, ‘Yeah, this is great.’ But for me, I’m like, that pops out just before the chorus or
of streaming and Spotify playlists has ‘But I’m doing this in everything.’ Personally, in a drop? Like a doorbell or something,
inevitably affected the way he approaches I get to a point where I’m like, ‘OK, there’s that you can imagine some kids doing on
structure. He’s often looking for different got to be another way of grabbing attention TikTok? [laughs].’”
ways to grab the listener’s attention within straight away.’ In the long-term, given the demand for
the first 10 or 20 seconds of a track. “So, recently I’ve just been trying to Lostboy productions across the Atlantic,
“Yeah, totally. It becomes annoying to play with structures even more. I think can Pete Rycroft imagine a time when he’ll
me, and I’m annoying myself by doing it! that’s kind of a more interesting thing. relocate to the States? “I would love to but
For example, a common technique is to Songs are becoming shorter and shorter I think my mum would kill me,” he laughs.
take a melodic refrain from the chorus or and that’s probably because of the “I mean, the dream situation is to have
post-chorus and whack that in the intro streaming generation.” a place here and a place there and then
and have it filtered out. You’re like, ‘Oh, TikTok has also had an impact, making sort of float between the two. But I think I’ll
what’s that?’ Just a little bit of ear candy pop producers think more about snippets be in London for the foreseeable.”  

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 153

 INS IDE T R A C K

154 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

PAUL TINGEN

I
n early February of this year, after nearly
a decade of hard work, Mitch McCarthy
hit the big time. One of many songs
he had mixed, ‘Drivers License’ by Olivia
Rodrigo, became the biggest hit of 2021 so
far, and broke many records in the process,
including for biggest-ever first-week song
on both Spotify and Amazon Music. The
song went to number one in at least 25
countries, including the US and the UK, and
was, at the time of writing, mid-February, still
dominating the charts everywhere.
In recent years, McCarthy has enjoyed
a number of high-profile credits, including
Bebe Rexha, Melanie Martinez, Carly

Mitch McCarthy
Rae Jepsen, Meghan Trainor and Giorgio
Moroder, but the mega-success of ‘Drivers
License’ is in a different league altogether.
This magazine’s Inside Track series tries to Olivia Rodrigo stormed the charts earlier this year with
cover number one recordings whenever her breakthrough single ‘Drivers License’. LA’s rising star
possible, and so when McCarthy received
the inevitable email with an interview
Mitch McCarthy talks us through the mix.
request, it added to him feeling pretty much regular school band. I was a fan of all music, License’. Although still only 31, McCarthy
on top of the world. from Nirvana to Bill Evans to Eminem. reckons that he is “of the last generation
“Yeah, the success of ‘Drivers License’ is “During high school I wanted to know that actually cares about analogue. I have
crazy,” raved McCarthy, via Skype. “I don’t how to record myself, and discovered always been a gear head, and going to
think any of us expected it to do what it’s Pro Tools. I soon got into making beats college solidified that. I got completely
doing, just the magnitude of it. We’re all and laying guitar riffs over them, and this obsessed! Of course, I grew up in the
really excited and stoked about it! It still transitioned into me falling in love with digital age, and for me working with music
hasn’t really hit me yet, because the last the engineering side. After high school, has always been about Pro Tools. But once
year has been so crazy for everyone, with in 2008, I went to Expression College for you hear analogue and work with it, you
Covid-19. I guess I’m still in a bit of a shock. Digital Arts in Emeryville, now called SAE realise it does something special.
In a good way! And then there’s doing this Expression College, which was fantastic. “I can hear the difference, and even if
interview. I’ve been reading SOS for 15 I worked with large-format consoles, it’s just that extra five percent, things need
years and being in it has been one of my a ton of other analogue gear I never had to sound as good as possible. For instance,
goals for a long time!” access to, and gained a lot of technical when I compare the Dangerous BAX EQ
knowledge. I received my Bachelor’s plug-in with the hardware version, I find that
Salad Days Degree in Sound Arts.” the hardware sounds warmer and more
The ‘we’ that McCarthy refers to means In 2011, McCarthy moved to LA, open than the plug-in. Also, when you work
everyone who worked on the single, but in and further cut his teeth at the two
particular the song’s co-writer and producer, above-mentioned studios, crediting
Daniel Nigro, as well as Ian McEvily, who Marchetti in particular for teaching him a lot
manages both Nigro and McCarthy for about vocal production. “When recording
State of the Art Downtown LA, aka SOTA bands at S1 Studios, more and more people
DTLA (formerly Rebel One). Three years ago started to ask me to mix their records.
McCarthy set up his mix room, where he This was also the case when working for
mixed ‘Drivers License’, in the same building Mario and Marc. I really fell in love with the
where the management company is based. process and technicalities, and after I left
McCarthy started working with SOTA Mario’s studio, I decided to strictly focus
DTLA in 2014, after cutting his teeth on mixing. It’s rare that I do a full recording
with songwriter and producer duo Mario session these days.”
Marchetti and Marc Himmel, and before that
working in an Orange County studio called
Racking Up
S1 Studios (now defunct). “I’m originally from In part because of his experiences in
San Mateo, a suburb of San Francisco,”
elaborates McCarthy on his background.
working with analogue at Expression
College for Digital Arts, McCarthy
‘Drivers License’
Written by Olivia Rodrigo
“I started playing guitar in grade school, incorporates several choice pieces of & Daniel Nigro
which lead to me joining the middle school analogue gear in his studio, some of Produced by Daniel Nigro
jazz band. I also played saxophone in the which were in use for his mix of ‘Drivers

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 155

 INS IDE T R A CK
MITCH MCCARTHY • OLIVIA RODRIGO

with analogue gear, it forces you to listen “I have Amphion Two18 and One18 his process after he receives the files for
with your ears. If you’re sitting in front of monitors in my studio. They are passive, so a mix. “There are only three producers who
a DAW just fixated on a certain plug-in you I use them with the Amphion 500 amplifiers, I work with consistently who use Pro Tools,
tend to be listening with your eyes. But which I have 2 of. Since I got these monitors one being Dan Nigro, another is Leroy
when you’re twisting a physical knob, you’re I have not looked back. They just kill it for Clampitt, aka Big Taste [Madison Beer,
purely focused on your ears and the music.” me. I love them. I also have a set of little Justin Bieber], and also Michael Keenan
Despite his love of analogue, McCarthy Avantones that are super lo-fi and sound [G-Eazy, Melanie Martinez]. The others
has, like many of his colleagues, come to like a radio. I’ve been thinking of getting work on Ableton or Logic, in which case
the conclusion that it’s no longer practical some big main speakers, but clients don’t I get sent stems. I ask to be sent stems
to work purely on analogue. “I don’t want come round very often anymore. We’re with processing on individual tracks but
to spend hours recalling on a desk, so just a block from the new Warner Brother’s without master bus processing, and wet
I am only incorporating analogue pieces building, and while I work with WB quite and dry vocal stems, with separate effect
that fit in my workflow. tracks. Many producers
I have a hybrid setup in spent a lot of time on their
my studio. My ‘All Groups’ vocal effects, and you can’t
in Pro Tools go via my recreate them unless you
Apogee Symphony into the have someone in the room
Dangerous Music 2-Bus+ with you. If they aren’t
summing box, and I have completely set on the way
my Dangerous Music something sounds, I ask
Liaison patched into the them to include a ‘dry’
‘EXT Insert’ on the 2-Bus+. folder with dry stems.
The Liaison is a digital “I import the stems into
patch bay, which allows a Pro Tools session, or
me to quickly audition my start organising the Pro
outboard gear with the Tools session I’ve been
push of a button. The signal sent, so that the session
then goes back into Pro looks the way I like it,
Tools via my Dangerous with my specific routing
Convert AD+ via AES. I love and track layout. This is
Dangerous stuff, because it always called my ‘edit’
is built very well, simple to session. I will fix pops
use, and super transparent and clicks, consolidate
and clean. It works great for similar tracks, tune vocals,
pop music. and colour-coordinate
“My outboard consists tracks. It’s just general
of the Dangerous organisation. Lastly,
Compressor, Dangerous I always request
BAX EQ, SSL Fusion, Warm a reference mix. I normally
Audio Bus Compressor, have the reference at
Manley Nu Mu, and the the top of my session in
Hendy Amps Michelangelo. Pro Tools. It’s crucial to
The latter is one of my hear what the artist, label,
favourite pieces of gear. producer and so on have
It’s a tube-based EQ. been listening to.”
I wanted something that’s McCarthy’s process
really colourful, because all Mitch McCarthy at his studio in LA. is informed by his time
the Dangerous stuff is so at music college and his
transparent. I ended up swapping the stock a lot, an A&R has visited my studio maybe experiences with analogue gear. “You really
tubes it came with for ‘Black Sables,’ on once in the three years I’ve been here. need to understand how analogue gear
the advice of a mastering engineer friend, These day’s I think the A&R folks and works to be able to work with it effectively.
Matt Gray. That change took it over the producers are used to sending notes via With plug-ins you can often get by with trial
top. I can push a source to sound very dirty email rather than coming in for revisions. It’s and error, though it still helps to understand
and saturated. The parameters are simple also rare that I talk to the artist directly, my analogue. For example, to be able to use all
on the Michelangelo: low, mid, high, and main communication is with the producer the UAD emulations effectively, you need to
air buttons, and an Aggressive knob that and label.” know how the analogue versions work.”
allows you to drive the unit. Most of the time
I run the Michelangelo in parallel, something
Great Import Making Gains
the Liaison allows me to do, and I drive it Having set the scene of where and with Another crucial aspect of working in
with extreme settings, which I then blend in what he works, McCarthy moved on to the analogue that transfers to digital is gain
with the master signal. how of his working methods, by describing staging. “It’s important for me when

156 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

organising my mix session that I start and louder, all without destroying the
with all faders at zero. Imported stems original signal.”
are at zero anyway, but if I’ve been sent
a Pro Tools session, I’ll do a Save As,
In The Mix
and then I’ll print all tracks, with effects, Once McCarthy has his mix session laid
that don’t have the faders at zero. So in out and organised the way he wants
a way I create stems inside the session, it, he starts actually mixing. “I take
and to be able to identify them I add anywhere from a couple of hours to
a P to the track name, for ‘print.’ I’ll a couple of days per mix,” explains
then deactivate the original tracks. This McCarthy. “It really depends. Part of my
makes it easier to take the session I’m process is that I am a believer in the
given as a starting point, without always first couple of hours being the most
having to refer back to what the fader important. So I push to make super-quick
positions were in the original session. moves, because your first instincts are
I can always re-activate tracks if I need usually right.
to change something. “I’ve had instances where I’ve done
“Most of the Pro Tools sessions I get a quick mix, and continued working on
sent are slammed and individual tracks that mix, and when I then pulled that first
are clipping,” adds McCarthy. “Once mix up days later, I thought: ‘That was it!’
I have organised my session and have When you keep working on a mix you
all tracks at zero, I import my template, get used to the way things sound, and
which is essential for gain staging. Part then your brain adjusts, and you risk
of my template is a series of group aux destructively tweaking things. Your first

Mitch McCarthy: “I am a believer in the

first couple of hours being the most
important. So I push to make super-quick
moves, because your first instincts are
usually right.”
tracks, like All Lead vocals, All BVG, All instincts are key to creating a good mix.
Drums, All Bass, All Synth and so on. Obviously, mixers are often called in as
These go straight to the outputs of my that extra pair of ears that are still fresh.
Apogee Symphony, and from there to “I always start the mix working on
the inputs of my Dangerous 2-Bus+. I’ll the drums and percussion, and then
bring individual tracks down prior to I bring in the bass, and then the other
these group aux tracks to make sure instruments, and finally the vocals. I’ll
everything hits my analogue chain at the carve out a space for the vocal, and
right level. make sure it sits right on top. In general,
“Another aspect of my template also, I’m a believer in less is more. This
is parallel effect tracks. I’m a big fan means that I don’t often use tons of
of parallel compression, parallel EQ, plug-ins, though it varies very much
parallel everything. You can really do on the song, of course. I have a bunch
some magical stuff with it. For example, of parallel compression tracks in my
I have three different parallel drum bus template, and may use some of the
compressors, one light, one heavy, and plug-ins already there, but if something
one saturated, and I can blend them already sounds good, I don’t touch it.
in, instead of processing directly on Part of your job is to know when not to
the track. The samples that producers touch things. If at all possible, simple is
are using today are often already so always better for me.
compressed and processed, you don’t
want to process them directly. It starts to
Less Is More
make things sound small. This is where ‘Drivers License’ is a great example of
parallel processing is handy, because it the principle that less is more and simple
makes things sound bigger and fatter is better, in terms of the songwriting,

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 157

 INS IDE T R A CK
MITCH MCCARTHY • OLIVIA RODRIGO

the arrangement, the production and

the mix. The song has been hailed as
a return to more traditional songwriting,
at a time when the pop charts in the
US in particular have been dominated
by trap music and TikTok-influenced
brevity, with songs increasingly coming in
under three minutes and pared down to
verse-chorus-verse-chorus. With a track
length of 4:02, ‘Drivers License’ defies
the trend for short songs, and it even has
a middle eight!
McCarthy explains the ins and outs of his
mix. “I normally haven’t heard what Dan’s
been working on when he sends sessions
to me, so they’re new to me. He’ll send me
a reference, and I’ll listen to that once and
make notes. We also often have a phone
call in which he explains what he may be
concerned about and what he wants me to
address. He’s very specific about things, so
if I want to change something, I’ll give him
a call to discuss it.”

Cleaning Up
“This happened with ‘Drivers License,’”,
explains Mitch, “because there was a lot
of mouth noise in the lead vocal in the
first verse and the first chorus. It’s a very
intimate-sounding part of the song, just
piano and vocal, so I asked him whether it
was part of the vibe, but he said, ‘No, no, fix
it!’ So I put these vocals through the iZotope McCarthy is a big fan of analogue processing. Pictured is one of his
RX 8, to clean up some of these pops and outboard racks, housing (from top) a Manley Nu Mu compressor,
clicks and weird noises, and also the esses a Hendy Amps Michelangelo valve EQ, a Dangerous Music BAX EQ,
and a Warm Audio Bus Compressor.
that were still hard, even after the de-esser.
The other issue was that the vocals were
distorted a little in one part. Olivia was world and is all about things sounding with the Neve 33609 and the other with the
happy with Dan’s comp and the emotion dynamic and warm. We really see eye to Chandler Limiter, are also from my template
was there, so the decision was made to eye on that. but inactivated. I also did not use my Drums
stick with the take, and I again used RX to “The entire structure of the track is group track, with the Soundtoys Decapitator
fix the distortion. a build-up to the middle eight, which and Black Box Analogue Design HG-2,
“The song already sounded really good is the biggest part of the song. It’s like, for the same reason. It was too much and
when I received it, and again, part of my job ‘OK, everything leads up to this moment sounded too big!
is not to mess things up. Dan wants things where the middle eight comes in, and “Because Dan’s source material
to sound emotional and then for that extra then it’s like, boom, it hits you.’ I like to sounded great it didn’t need much, but
10 or 20 percent to be added to the sonics. work from top to bottom, which means several of the audio tracks have the DMG
But he does not want me to reinvent the starting with the most important part, and Audio EQuilibrium EQ, which is my go-to
wheel. This is also why this session is so in this case that was the middle eight, EQ. I love it. It’s either that or the FabFilter
minimal insofar as plug-ins are concerned. and because I start with the percussive Pro-Q 3. All the EQ here is subtractive, I’m
Most of the work with plug-ins is on the elements, I started the mix with drums and not a big fan of boosting. One of the claps
vocal chain.” percussion in the middle eight.” also has the Decapitator to darken them
My first instinct when listening to the and give them more body, and some dirt,
song was that it needed to breathe and
Drums and the sticks also have the Soundtoys
sound dynamic, and also, not to make Mitch’s mix template is set up with drum EchoBoy, to give them more movement.
it sound like an in-your-face, bright pop processing ready to go, but for this mix But it’s super subtle.
record. So it was about dynamics and much of it didn’t get used. “I did not use “The panning of the claps came
making it sound warm. There’s not that many of the parallel compression tracks from Dan, and I left it because it’s really
much going on in the track, so what’s there that are in my template, because in this important. It creates movement and
needed to have its place. Dan was in a band track it was not necessary for the drums excitement in the track. For the rest mixing
in the ’00s, he comes from the analogue to slam. The Drums P1 and P2 tracks, one the drums and percussion was about

158 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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behind the scenes on the techniques that they educator Mathieu Gendreau shares his six
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 INS IDE T R A CK
MITCH MCCARTHY • OLIVIA RODRIGO

levels, and again making sure things build

up to that middle eight. All these tracks
go to the All Drums Aux. I have the Slate
Digital Virtual Mix Rack on each of the
group tracks, in general adding some
warmth. I ride the volume on these busses,
and as I mentioned, I use them to adjust the
level before they hit the 2-Bus+ summing
mixer. But in general I prefer to automate
the volume on the individual tracks.”

Instruments
“Again, there are very few treatments
here, the most important being the Waves
RCompressor on the Juno sub, which
I side-chained to the kick. There was some
weird information going on in the low end
in the middle eight, so I put on a pretty
heavy side-chain. For the rest it’s just the
EQuilibrium EQ on the Juno bass and
again the EQuilibrium on the strings, and
then the piano has the Dangerous Music
BAX EQ and the Lo-Fi. The piano was
a real piano recorded in Dan’s studio, and
it sounded a bit dark, so I EQ’d it to add
some presence, and also take out some
low end that was not necessary. The Lo-Fi
DMG Audio’s EQuilibrium equaliser makes numerous appearances in McCarthy’s mix of ‘Drivers License’.
is taking off some airy high end to make Here, it’s filtering some low end and cutting the mids on Olivia Rodrigo’s lead vocal.
the piano sound warmer and more vintage,
and the distortion is adding more body. also a Bridge Lead vocal with only the the Doubler track with the MicroShift,
“That’s it for plug-ins on the individual EQuilibrium, and seven backing vocal adding more of the chorus to make the
tracks. The four bass tracks go to the All tracks, some of which have the MC404 voice bigger, and in the verses where
Bass bus, and some of the synth tracks plug-in inserted. All the backing vocals are the voice needs to sound more personal,
go to a Keys aux bus, and from there to sent to the BG Vox aux at the top. I backed it off and have the vocal more
the All Synth bus, and the other synth McCarthy explains: “This chain is typical dry and in your face. Dan did most of the
tracks go straight to the All Synth bus. for what I do on vocals. The EQuilibrium delays and reverbs on the vocal, so I only
The Keys track has a Keys P parallel, with takes out below 100Hz, and dips at tweaked the settings lightly. All lead vocal
a UAD LA-2A and a Mäag EQ4, which 350Hz and 1000Hz. Then I have some and vocal aux tracks are routed to the All
I am blending in with the main Keys track. compression from the CL-76, with a ratio of Lead aux group track at the top, which
I automated that, so different amounts of 4:1, and a medium attack and a very slow again has the Virtual Mix Rack.”
the parallel are added at different times release. Sometimes I use the Waves RVox
in the song.” or UAD 1176 instead of the CL-76. It really
Summing & Mastering
depends on the singer. I am using some Mitch elaborates on his summing process
Vocals kind of multiband compression on the for ‘Drivers License’: “From the aux groups
There are seven aux effects tracks for vocal, and I have been using the MC404 the signal goes via the Apogee Symphony
the vocals: first a track called Doubler for this for years. It is one of my favourite to the 2-Bus+ for summing to stereo,
with the Soundtoys MicroShift, and then plug-ins. For dynamic singers it provides so and I only have the Dangerous BAX EQ
a track called Parallel Vox with the UAD much control, and it really tames high-mid in the analogue chain, filtering at 36Hz
EL-8 Distressor. Next are tracks called harshness. I use a preset that I made and and at 28kHz. I love using the high-pass
Hall, Plate and Chorus Verb, each with that I always start with, and then I end up and low-pass filters on the BAX, which
the Valhalla Vintage Verb, and two delay tweaking it depending on the singer. makes the mix sound super tight. After
tracks, called 1/4 and 1/8, each with the “The Pro-DS is my de-esser of choice. that the signal returns into Pro Tools, via
Soundtoys EchoBoy. The first of the actual I love that plug-in. The Soothe 2 that my Dangerous AD+, and I then have five
vocal audio tracks is Olivia Rodrigo’s follows it eliminates some annoying plug-ins on the Master track: the Shadow
lead vocal, and this is the only track in harsh resonance in the vocal. I again use Hills Mastering Compressor, going into the
the session with many plug-ins. The a preset I made as a starting point. This Plugin Alliance Mäag Audio EQ4, the UAD
track has six inserts: EQuilibrium, Waves track is sent to the Parallel Vox track, on Precision K-Stereo, the UAD Sonnox Oxford
CL76, McDSP MC404, FabFilter Pro-DS, which I have the Distressor, with Crush Inflator, and the iZotope Ozone 9 Maximizer.
Oeksound Soothe 2, and Valhalla Vintage set to hard. I automated the Parallel Vox I print the mix on the track below this.
Verb. Six effect sends go to all but one of aux track to give some more body and “I apply the Shadow Hills very
the above-mentioned aux tracks. There’s presence when needed. I also automated minimally, because I wanted the song not

160 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 FabFilter’s Pro DS and Oeksound’s Soothe 2
to sound too compressed. I am using plug-ins work in tandem to eliminate sibilance
the Opto setting, with probably just 0.5 and harshness in the vocal recordings.
to 1 dB of gain reduction. The side-chain
option is on so it is letting that low-end an example, in the verses I may have
information through, but again, it’s the Sides at zero, during the pre-chorus
super subtle. The Mäag EQ4 does just I’ll then boost the Sides 1dB, and then
some subtractive EQ, pulling out a little during the chorus I will boost the Sides
bit of sub and dipping at 1dB at 160Hz, 2dB. When the second verse hits I will
because the middle felt a tad too boomy. bring the Sides down to, say, 0.5dB,
This tightens up the low end after the and so on. I really like to play around
compressor. with that, because it creates more width
“The K-Stereo is one of my favourite and emotion throughout the song. After
plug-ins, and I am adding 1dB of gain to the K-Stereo is the Inflator, which adds
the Sides, which adds some space and a little bit of volume, as does the iZotope
width. Sometimes I boost 2.5 or 3 dB to Ozone 9 Maximizer, to get everything
the Sides. I really like to automate Sides; up to volume and make sure I match the
I am a big fan of M-S processing, and as reference mix.”

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / April 2021 161

 ON T E S T

Toontrack
Electronic Edge EZX
ZX
EZ Drummer/Superior
Drummer Expansion

I have to say at the outset that this is Motion adds a modulation effect. Note that ‘Acoustics’. The Acoustics are sampled
a very unusual expansion kit, steering well the ‘Pitch’ knob affects every sound in the from real-world objects, using a variety
clear of the more familiar electronic drum preset differently. of exotic techniques. Every preset loads
sounds in favour of something rather more If you just tap away randomly on the its own unique set of samples which are
experimental. It’s based on sounds gathered sounds, you could be forgiven for thinking never identified by name. You’re not sure
from drum machines, acoustic percussion, that Electronic Edge doesn’t sound very exactly what it is you’re hearing, apart from
melodic instruments and Foley sounds drum-machine-like, but you only need to them having been synthesized, blown,
recorded on location. These sounds were check out some of the preset rhythms bowed or struck. This may account for the
then layered, pitch-shifted, subjected to to be convinced that it is actually a very library’s title — ‘acousmatic’ is a term used
granular processing and sometimes circuit creative instrument. You can set up rhythms to describe sounds with no discernible or
bending was also added into the mix. The that provide the whole backbone of observable source.
result is definitely not another TR808! a composition or combine more melodic/ The heart of Acousmatic Engine is the
Created by sound designer Richard electronic sounds with other EZX sounds Warp Wheel, resembling a Stargate encased
Venstra and based on a library of 370 sound you already have to produce your own in a steampunk-styled housing. Turning the
components with 30 preset kits, Electronic hybrid rhythms. Yes, Electronic Edge does Warp Wheel (by the mouse or CC1) controls
Edge EZX is compatible with both EZ come over as a bit weird and wonderful the movement of six macro knobs, each of
Drummer 2 and Superior Drummer 3. The at first, but the more you explore, the which is assigned to one of 29 parameters,
various sounds are categorised as kicks, more you come to realise that there’s an generating dramatic textural changes.
snares, rims, claps, hats, toms, crashes, enormous amount of potential in there and The Warp Wheel can also control (and be
effects, percussion, melodic, subs, risers that it has the ability to slot into many music controlled by) various other factors, revealed
and atmosphere. The GUI is based on genres from pop and dance to chill-out and in Expert mode. You can also record up to
a number of pad controllers where each ambient. I’m sure I’ll be discovering new 45 seconds of Warp Wheel movements that
kit part can be retuned or changed for one facets of Electronic Edge for weeks to come. reiterate automatically as you play.
of a number of alternatives as required in Paul White Expert mode reveals a masterpiece
the familiar EZX manner. The short melodic $79 of steampunk design, with one of the
sounds make it possible to put together www.toontrack.com most intricate Kontakt GUIs I’ve seen.
loops that combine elements of both rhythm On the Mixer page are eight faders: four
and melody, aptly demonstrated by those Cymatic Form for Electrics and four for Acoustics, each
presets that incorporate a sequence of with mute, solo and bipolar ‘lightbulbs’
chordal jabs layered over the main beat.
Acousmatic Engine for panning. Two toggle switches access
These melodic elements are mapped Kontakt Instrument alternate layers of eight identical faders,
chromatically so that you can set the giving control over 16 layers in total. The
notes in your own MIDI piano roll editor to An intriguing and often unsettling Kontakt faders can also double as sample start
whatever suits your song. library, Acousmatic Engine explores future time offset sliders. Pitch can be adjusted
Richard revealed that some of the retro and Gothic-influenced sound design for each Electrics channel, as can the first,
electronic drum sounds in the Electronic to conjure a world of dank cellars, flickering second and third harmonic resonance of
Edge EZX were sampled from more lightbulbs and leering spectral apparitions. the Acoustics channels. The Grain engine
obscure drum machines while the Foley Brooding atmospheres morph with rhythmic can be activated on individual channels with
recordings involved experimental hitting pulses, granulated textures and melodious controls for speed and time. Settings can be
and scraping of things such as metal fences. elements that are mixed, modulated and stored as variations in the Warp Wheel.
Other sources include modular synths, warped in diverse ways by the Engine. Effects are applied globally, and come
guitars and even a harp. Conceptually based around 500 in three categories: Shape offers tube
Each preset includes three different presets, the library is divided into three or transistor distortion, and bit-rate or
kicks and snares allowing for more rhythmic themed categories: Lovecraftian Horror, sample-rate adjustment. Color provides
variation and the familiar Toontrack mixer Sci-Fi Noir and Steampunk. These are tempo-sync’ed delay, plus rotator, phaser,
is present with a dedicated sub fader each subdivided into Aerophones (things flanger or chorus modulation effects.
for adding in a sub-kick instrument. At that vibrate with sound pressure), Friction Ambience provides eight convolution
the bottom of the mixer is a section that (bowed, scraped, rubbed), Movements impulses, which can also play in reverse.
Toontrack call the Edge Engine, with (arpeggiated, sequenced, warped), Struck The Arpeggiator is a 32-step pattern
automatable controls that can be used to (percussive) and (with the exception of editor with controls for speed, note
add further movement and sonic texture Sci-Fi) Soundscape categories. Acousmatic length, octave range and five playback
to rhythms. The engine has two sections Engine’s structure comprises 16 sample modes. It can optionally be used to
termed Character and Motion. Character layers, eight of which are termed ‘Electrics’ sequence Warp Wheel movements for
utilises various types of distortion while (synthetically generated) and eight far-out rhythmic effects.

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February 2021
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 ON T E S T

Acousmatic Engine will resonate This includes volume, panning, filtering and Soniccouture have given this musical
strongly with sound effects designers of all ADSR envelope control, with the option treasure the five-star treatment it deserves.
persuasions. No doubt we’ll be hearing it in to control elements remotely, allowing for The celeste’s sparkling tone is beautifully
games, sci-fi and horror movies very soon. real-time performance, either while playing captured by a set of four top mics, while
Nick Magnus live or programmed within your DAW. the slightly brighter-sounding rear array
$99 The onboard effects section is equally sounds wonderfully close-up and intimate
www.cymaticform.com comprehensive, with application available on headphones. When combined, the two
at both the sample layer or master mikings perfectly recreate every detail of
Sudden Audio levels. These include EQ, algorithmic Schiedmayer’s superior instrument. An
and convolution reverberation, delay, exhaustive sampling job comprising 32
RAW Strings compression and various additional velocity levels, key-off samples and multiple
Kontakt Instrument modulation effects. Added to which, each round robins completes the picture: this
layer may be triggered via the included deep-sampled, supremely playable celeste
It would be all too easy arpeggiator or sequencer, allowing for the is perfect in every detail, and its dynamic
to overlook RAW Strings, by taking the title programming of both note and control response is outstanding.
of this stylish compendium too literally. In elements, such as volume and panning. I found the close-miked default patch
their own words, Sudden Audio describe RAW Strings provides a unique and ideal for my purposes, but if you want to
this package as ‘strings reimagined’, setting creative palette for production and sound hear the celeste in a concert hall setting,
this sampled-suite apart from the more creation. It offers a contemporary set of there’s a selection of great convolution
usual orchestral or solo string bundles. colours that could easily be exploited for reverb presets which include IRs taken
The curated string samples are dry, cinematic backdrops or in a number of other from All Saints Church, London (recording
full-bodied and very personal, drawn from production and commercial settings. The site of Soniccouture’s popular choir library)
solo violin, viola and cello, with sample interface is incredibly intuitive and easy to and a vintage AMS RMX16 hardware
capture undertaken in relatively close access, inviting experimentation, but for unit. You can also love up the sound
proximity. As a consequence, the untreated immediate gratification, RAW Strings also with internal effects such as delay, a lush
‘Standard’ sample-set is ideal contemporary includes 68 snapshot presets. It is, however, chorus, LFO-driven tremolo, vibrato and
production material. Meanwhile, these same difficult to ignore the immense creative Rhodes-like auto-pan, or mess it up with
samples have also been processed through potential for experimentation and user-patch lo-fi and distortion treatments which include
cassette tape, running at 0.5, 3 and 5 ips creation. Dave Gale a fabulous ring modulator.
(inches per second), providing an unusually $159 A large menu of sound-design ‘snapshot’
appealing graininess. These throw open www.suddenaudio.com presets run the gamut from ethereal pads,
very subtle tonal and pitch modulations from heavenly twinkling bells, African balafon
source, with a sense that they have been Soniccouture and gamelan emulations (the latter given
honed and crafted to provide an excellent extra authenticity by its five-note Javanese
starting point for creative inspiration.
Celeste scale’s alternative tuning) to way-out
The string samples are presented in Kontakt Instrument electronic textures evoking the Doctor
a number of articulations, offering less Who theme and bit-crushed, robotic 1960s
obvious choices, such as flautando, tremolo Though the celeste atonal computer music. I had an indecent
and harmonics. More commonplace (aka celesta) is a keyboard instrument, it’s amount of fun playing with the library’s
sustaining samples are included, with and often considered part of the percussion generative tools: ‘Jammer’ (a longstanding
without vibrato, but the strengths lie firmly family by virtue of the bell-like chime of Soniccouture fixture) generates classic
in the more unusual. That said, there are its struck steel plates. As such, it slots evolving arpeggios, while ‘Weaver’ creates
plenty of other colours, away from strings, neatly into Soniccouture’s illustrious repetitive rhythm patterns from a single
designed to shore up the tonal construct tuned percussion range, taking its place note or chord input, allowing you to set up
of these stringed elements. The Rehearsal alongside the excellent Grand Marimba, delicate rippling octave echoes, grooves,
Keyboard sample, for example, is intended Vibraphone, Morpheus and Balinese pulses and user-defined polyrhythms of up
to be a quick and easy sketching tool, but Gamelan Kontakt libraries. to eight independent parts.
it’s actually a very usable soft piano, which Having long been a fan of the Celeste works with the full version of
can reside perfectly alongside the strings. instrument, I’ve occasionally been Kontakt 6 and the free Kontakt 6 Player,
Other highlights include Singing Bowls, Bow disappointed to find clunky or dead notes version 6.2 or later. As well as being
Clicks and even rustling Foliage, all of which in some sampled versions. That’s not the a source of delicate orchestral magic,
are included in reverse form. case here: putting their money where this gem of an instrument is a blessing
The Kontakt instrument interface offers their mouth is, Soniccouture collaborated for keyboard players, particularly those
a welcoming and intuitive portal, where with German manufacturers Schiedmayer who enjoy working with arpeggiators and
up to four sample layers may be loaded Celesta to procure a new top-of-the-range, step sequencers. Another winner from
simultaneously. The samples themselves five-and-a-half-octave ‘Studio’ model which Soniccouture. Dave Stewart
are selected from the appropriately titled was perfectly tuned and serviced before £114
Sound Book menu, and while the samples shipping to the UK. The result: an utterly www.soniccouture.com
arguably do the heavy lifting, a fairly pristine set of 6352 samples recorded from
comprehensive set of editing options are two microphone positions, occupying 6GB Audio examples of this month’s libraries are
available at www.soundonsound.com.
available, at both partial and global levels. of disk space once installed.

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Q
Top: Electronically balanced inputs are inherently ground-referenced so, although there is no connection
Why do my keyboards sound to the preamp’s cold input (because the ring terminal is not connected at the source end), the signal sent
thin and weedy with some between hot and (grounded) sleeve is still detected. Middle: The cold side of the transformer is not connected
to anything at the source end, and without a complete circuit path no signal is detected by the preamp. In
preamps but not others? practice, capacitive-coupling will pass some high-frequency content, resulting in a low-level signal with
no bass. Bottom: By using a TS (unbalanced) instrument cable, the ring and sleeve terminals are shorted
When I’m recording an old Roland Juno together in the preamp, so the cold side of the input transformer is now ground-referenced and the source
106 synth and I connect it to a UA Apollo signal is detected correctly between the hot and (grounded) cold inputs.
soundcard, it sounds fine. However, I’ve
also tried running it into some other of ‘thin and weedy’ or ‘no low-end So, the signal from the keyboard is
preamps and got some strange results. at all’, which sounds much more like passed as a voltage between the tip (hot)
For example, I plugged it into a pair of a fundamental connection issue. connection and the (grounded) sleeve
Chandler TG 500-series preamps and Given the types of preamps that to the electronically balanced preamp
the sound instantly went thin and weedy. exhibited the problem, the age of the Juno, input. As the electronics are inherently
Switching between mic/line level had no and the type of cables you’re using, I think ground-referenced, the circuitry can detect
effect and neither did toggling the input I can hazard a good guess at what’s actually the signal voltage even though there’s
impedance. The line input of a Neve 1073 going on. The Juno has unbalanced nothing on the cold (ring) terminal.
gave me the same weird, thin sound outputs and, given its age, its quarter-inch In contrast, the input transformers in
with no low-end at all. But I tried a pair of output sockets probably only have tip vintage preamps are normally ‘floating’,
Shadow Hills Gama preamp modules and, and sleeve connections, whereas more meaning that neither the hot nor the
hey presto, up popped the Juno, sounding recent keyboards often use TRS sockets cold sides of the input are connected to
great again! Oddly, when I tried the same and ground the ring along with the sleeve. ground at all. Consequently, while the tip
preamps with the outputs from a Nord Normally you’d hook up a keyboard with connection from the keyboard is routed
Stage 3 everything sounded fine. All the an unbalanced TS instrument cable, which through to the hot side of the preamp’s
plugging to the UA and external preamps would work perfectly well in either type of transformer winding, the cold side is
is via a bantam patchbay and I’m using socket. But, as you’ve used TRS cables, the connected to the ring terminal of the jack
TRS quarter-inch cables. What’s causing ring contact on the plug was probably left plug and that goes nowhere at all. So there
these differences? not connected to anything at all. isn’t a complete circuit path for the signal to
SOS Forum post Meanwhile, at the other end, you were flow around. You effectively had a ‘broken’
connecting to the preamps via a balanced cable, and the resulting quiet signal with no
Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns: patchbay. Some of those preamps had bass was due to some residual capacitive
A common problem with keyboards that direct electronically balanced (and thus coupling along the way! The diagram
have a built-in chorus or stereo effect is ground-referenced) inputs, and some shows simplified circuit schematics of the
that summing to mono will often make had transformer inputs, and it was the two configurations.
them sound rather flat and lifeless, so latter type that didn’t work properly. In the The simple, practical rule of thumb here
I initially wondered if you’d forgotten to pan preamps with electronic inputs, like the UA is always use TS plugs in keyboard output
the outputs of your preamps… However, and the Gama’s dedicated instrument input sockets, unless you know for certain that it
this doesn’t usually attract descriptions — the input circuitry is ground-referenced. is a proper balanced output!

166 April 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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MODERN INSTRUMENTS YouTube. It sounded amazing. to be bothered with an become so accustomed to
K AT E I S A AC
Sadly, when he played it, it uncooperative instrument. thinking that I prefer a certain

S
am Inglis’s leader didn’t. It sounded like a radiator That’s why I love my modern make that the shop staff opened
regarding vintage with a mouthpiece attached. saxes. They work properly. a book on which one I’d choose.
gear (SOS February Now, don’t get me wrong, Springs don’t ping out and Well, all bets were off as I picked
2021) got me thinking about I love the Mark VI. It has spear me in the finger mid-run. out the make which I’d least
similar myths which surround a superb sound when played I don’t have to make running expected. And it was brand new.
vintage saxophones. well. It feels great under the repairs with elastic bands and And so to my point. The best
As every amateur fingers and it has a nice amount ridiculously small screwdrivers. saxophone ever manufactured
saxophonist knows, the of resistance. But it can be I don’t have to employ pitch is the saxophone which suits
purchase of a vintage unwieldy at the bottom end. correction to get the top end you best, whether it’s brand
instrument will automatically It lacks a proper top F-sharp in tune. new and top-of-the-range or
guarantee you’ll sound like mechanism. The octave The age of the Internet has secondhand from the local
your favourite player. Top of changeover between G and brought the opinions of others junk shop. I’m happy to report
your shopping list will probably A is glitchy. Tuning is often raining down upon us. We read that my student bought himself
be the legendary Selmer an issue, especially if you are reviews, which are actually the a sparkly new model made
Mark VI. Henri Selmer founded a student. opinions of the reviewer. With in Taiwan and he’s merrily
his company in 1885, and the A mechanic friend of mine this in mind, I recently visited my playing away with gusto, and
Mark VI was manufactured once told me he only ever local music shop to purchase enjoyment, and sounding less
by Selmer Paris from 1954 bought automatic cars. “Life’s a soprano saxophone, open like my central heating.
to 1981. It is widely reputed too busy to be bothered mind tucked neatly into my In my experience, sax
to be the best saxophone with changing gear,” he handbag. I was determined to doesn’t get better with age.
ever manufactured, and this announced. I feel likewise blind test as many makes of However, if you are in the
misinformation led one of about saxophones. My few saxophone as I could — new market for some vintage love,
my adult students to pay remaining brain cells are far and vintage — although I was and have a leg-wetting amount
leg-wetting amounts of cash for too occupied with creating pretty sure I knew which of loot to spare, the Mark VI is
a Mark VI tenor. He’d heard it on a decent performance manufacturer I’d prefer. I had for sale...  

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