SOUND ON SOUND
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The latest in Emu's range of style-specific sound modules is bright purple, stuffed with 32Mb of 'street' sounds, and bristling with urban attitude. Paul Farrer takes a closer look.
In recent years, Dublin has become one of Europe's hottest centres for pop production, and Biffco Productions are one of the top hitmaking teams who've made their home there.
What exactly is a modular synth? How slow is a slow release? How can I wire my 32:8:2 analogue desk to a 16-track recorder? How can I compensate for a lack of phase-reversal and EQ bypass controls on my mixer? Why do some bass notes have more 'punch' than others? Is there a problem with inputs on the Roland VS2480? Should I buy a DI box or a channel strip? Should EQ or compression be applied first? What is the advantage of recording with a higher resolution, as opposed to a higher sampling rate? Can I run V-Producer via OMS?
Following our success at synthesizing the sound of analogue string machines, we hone our techniques with a view to recreating the sound of the real thing...
Paul White packs away the keyboard and plugs Roland's new guitar-MIDI interface into his sequencer.
If you are tempted to go and make a cup of tea in the gap between pressing a note on your keyboard and hearing it play on your soft synth, you need help! Read on...
Few recent software products have stirred as much interest as Melodyne - a program offering unique pitch, time and formant-processing features, which was created not by one of the major music developers but by a maverick Bavarian musician and his software-designer friend.
In the penultimate part of his series on synthesizer technology, Paul Wiffen turns his attention to the problem of emulating acoustic instruments in which the sound is produced by a string or reed, and amplified and modified by the body of the instrument.
It was 1973 and everyone was playing Minimoogs, and ARP Odysseys. So why did the Keio ORGan company produce a little synthesizer with the most unorthodox controls imaginable, call it the MiniKORG 700, and try to convince the keyboard cognoscenti that it was worth buying? Gordon Reid explains...
Sound On Sound caught up with M People's Paul Heard, before the band headed off on their European tour. Christopher Holder puts aside his preconceptions to learn about songwriting, production, musicianship and family sedans.
Viewed by many musicians as the modern standard in computer-based score-writing software, Sibelius has an impressive pedigree and reputation. Following the success of three releases on the Mac and Windows platform, can it maintain its simple user interface as the powerful feature-set continues to expand?
Producer Stuart Epps began his music business career in 1967 at Dick James Music before going on to work with Gus Dudgeon, Elton John, Jimmy Page, Chris Rea and other top names. He now runs his own commercial studio, situated in the old Mill Studio complex, and is working on a number of projects, including one with Bill Wyman. Here he explains why he preferes 'live' music to almost anything else...
Richard Buskin talks with two of Sweden's hottest writer-producers about their ongoing work as part of the Murlyn Music Group, including recent hit recordings by Jennifer Lopez, Samantha Mumba and Jessica Simpson.
2002 saw the release of the Evolver, a quirky hybrid analogue/digital synth and sequencer from Sequential synth pioneer Dave Smith. Now he continues his renaissance with a four-voice polyphonic version that integrates neatly with the original.
RME's Fireface 800 brings together all of the company's expertise in developing audio hardware for computers, mic preamps and converters into one highly desirable unit. But can you really fit so much functionality into one interface without cutting corners?
Nicholas Rowland tries out the new features in MOTU's ever-evolving flagship Macintosh sequencing package.
The latest in Roland's line of MC-series workstations is their best (and most expensive) yet, incorporating synthesis, sequencing, real-time control, and sampling. But in an increasingly software-driven world, can a Groovebox still cut it?
Since UK garage emerged from the underground last year, record companies have been scrambling to sign up the stars of the latest Big Thing. Foremost among these is Mark Hill, who, as well as being one half of Artful Dodger, has also produced Craig David's hit single and debut album Born To Do It.
Roland's Jupiter family yielded one or two shining examples of what an analogue polysynth should be.
Software samplers are not new, but until now they have only existed as stand-alone applications or sequencer-specific plug-ins. Paul Sellars investigates Steinberg's HALion, which offers close integration with Cubase VST, but can also be used as a VST-format plug-in from other sequencers.