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 L E ADE R

THE LUXURY OF CHOICE

B
ack in the ’80s, tastes in music were narrow. years it was a pretty irrevocable decision. You either
We were passionate about music, but we were bought an Atari and learned MIDI sequencing that way,
wedded to our chosen scenes. The idea that or you went down the hardware route with grid-based
Sam Inglis
Editor In Chief
a thrash metal fan might also enjoy the Smiths was grooveboxes. The path you chose profoundly shaped
utterly alien. The only thing that bound us all together the music that came out at the end.
was a shared revolt against the music of the ’70s! That chasm was then bridged by products like
The Internet seems to have swept all that away. Ableton’s Push, Akai’s MPC Live and the original NI
Today’s teenagers see nothing odd about playlisting Maschine, which successfully combined the hands-on “We’re no longer
the Beatles and Sinatra cheek by jowl with trap-metal charms of grid-based sequencing with the open-ended in a position where
and drill. Music of the past is seen as a canon to be power of mainstream computing. But in doing so, they
added to, not an embarrassment to be left behind. This lost the self-contained, go-anywhere freedom that we have to commit
seems to me a very positive change, and I wonder if it’s characterised the original MPC and related designs. to only one way of
being reflected in the ways people make music. That freedom is now returning, and in the current
Back in the ’70s, liner notes famously announced generation of music technology, we may be seeing making music, or
that no synthesizers were used in the making of
Queen albums. What young band today would see
a reaction against the idea of using one super-powerful
tool to do everything.
using a single tool to
that as something to boast about? Today’s musicians That’s not to say that Akai’s MPC Live, Elektron’s do everything.”
are happy to use whatever will get the job done in the Octatrack or NI’s new Maschine+ aren’t powerful. They
quickest and most effective way. No-one thinks it’s are, hugely so. But the emphasis is no longer on power
somehow cheating to use the ‘wrong’ piece of kit to alone, or on limitless possibility. It’s on immediacy and
create a sound or express a musical idea. And whilst accessibility. Manufacturers are acknowledging that
I harbour reservations about AI-based tools for mixing every tool has its own strengths, and that it’s best to
and mastering, I suspect that’s just me. I’m sure most play to those strengths. We’re no longer in a position
people are just getting on with making music and using where we have to commit to only one way of making
these tools on a ‘whatever works’ basis. music, or using a single tool to do everything. And
What makes this all possible is choice. And when whilst buying more kit can never replace good ideas,
it comes to music production, the most fundamental it has to be a positive that musicians can afford to own
choice is whether or not to use a computer. That multiple tools and use each one where it seems most
choice has been around for a long time, but for many appropriate. Choice is, indeed, a luxury!

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INTHISISSUE www.soundonsound.com

January 2021 / issue 3 / volume 36

WIN
FEATURES AUSTRIAN AUDIO
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112 Success In The Studio Business
A Grammy-winning engineer shares his secrets. WORTH $2199

114 LCR Panning: A Mixing State Of Mind

LCR panning isn’t so much a technique as a mindset that can
lead you to more satisfying mixes.

120 Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff!

We explore 12 common worries that could compromise your mix.

136 Talkback: Jay Watson PAGE 34

Australian producer and musician Jay Watson tells us of his love
for “fun junk”.

160 Inside Track: Bruce Springsteen

138 New Year, New Studio Bruce Springsteen’s latest album Letter To You was mixed on a
21 ways you could improve your studio in 2021. 26-year-old console. Legendary engineer Bob Clearmountain
explains why software still can’t touch his SSL...

146 You Me At Six: Recording Suckapunch

172 Q&A
Six weeks at a residential studio in Thailand gave You Me At Six
and producer Dan Austin the time and freedom to create a Your studio and recording questions answered.
unique sonic identity for their seventh album.

178 Why I Love... Electronic Open

154 Anna Meredith: Producing FIBS Mic Nights
Few artists straddle the line between classical and electronic Open-mic nights are usually pretty traditional, but a few people
music with as much success as Anna Meredith. We talk to her are pushing the boundaries by setting up events designed to
about the creation of her recent Mercury-nominated album. meet the needs of a new type of performer.
 100 CUBASE 11

ON TEST
C OV E R

10 Korneff Audio Pawn 46 Native Instruments Maschine+ 92 Leapwing RootOne

Groove Workstation
Shop Comp 2.0 Bass-enhancement Plug-in
FET Compressor Plug-in
54 Arturia KeyStep 37 94 Native Instruments
Controller Keyboard
12 Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Stradivari Violin
Orchestra Discover 56 Ocean Way HR5 Virtual Instrument
Sample Library Active Monitor Speakers
98 Felt Instruments
16 Eventide Blackhole Pedal 62 MOD Devices MOD Duo X Blisko Collection
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18 Focusrite Red 8Line 66 Teenage Engineering Pocket 100 Steinberg Cubase 11

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20 Novation AFX Station 170 Sample Libraries
Analogue Synthesizer 72 Access Analog Orchestral Tools Modus Jeff Russo
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24 Griffon Microphones 78 Korg Volca Sample 2
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80 Zoom LiveTrak L-8
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126 Pro Tools
28 OWC Docks & Storage 86 Nugen Audio Paragon
Computer Peripherals Resynthesizing Convolution Reverb 130 Studio One
Avantone Planar 132 Reason
38 Zivix Jamstik Studio 90
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 ON TE S T

Korneff Audio
M AT T H O U G H TO N

B
ack in SOS August 2020 I reviewed Korneff’s
Talkback Limiter (www.soundonsound.com/

Pawn Shop
reviews/korneff-audio-talkback-limiter), which
was a wonderfully warm and teasingly tweakable
model of SSL’s Listen Mic Compressor. Korneff have
taken a similar ‘tweaker’s delight’ approach to their new

Comp 2.0
Pawn Shop Comp 2.0, and while this a very different
compressor — this time it’s a virtual FET compressor
with tube amplification stages — the interface will feel
familiar to anyone who has tried the Talkback Limiter.
You’re first presented with a GUI (below) that offers
only the few controls you’d usually need to get the
compressor doing its thing. Namely, there are Attack,
Compressor Plug-in
Release, Threshold and Ratio knobs. There’s also an We check out Korneff’s vibey take on a tube-laden
on/off button (to switch the compression in and out,
but with the signal always passing through the virtual FET compressor.
analogue circuitry) and an Auto make-up gain button.
A gain-reduction meter tells you what’s going on.
That the initial preset had the threshold pegged
anti-clockwise for maximum compression was
indication enough that this device is intended as much
for audio abuse as control, but it’s obvious to your ears
too when you run pretty much any source through at
the default settings. That said, while this thing will never
sound ‘clean’ exactly, there’s plenty of control on offer,
and you can dial in much more subtlety if required.
But I’ve so far only told you the boring half of the
story. As with the Talkback Limiter, click on the Korneff
logo and you’re teleported to a tweaker’s paradise: a
skeuomorphic second ‘page’ loosely resembling the
innards of a hardware compressor. Here, you have
input and output trim knobs, oversampling selectors, a
wet/dry mixer, and a range of parameters to fiddle with
in search of different sonic characters. You can also set
the GUI to a range of sizes up to 200 percent (which what these do on a technical adds a lovely warm-sounding distortion
was big enough to spill outside my 2018 MacBook Pro level, but the whole point here that I thought perfect for rock and hip-hop
Retina screen) so hi-DPI fans should be happy. is that the user doesn’t really vocals, and for electric and bass guitar
At the top, the virtual preamp valves can be need to understand all of more generally. There’s plenty of scope
swapped for other types, with 12AX7, ECC83 and 5751 that: there’s always pleasing to make drums push, pull and crunch,
models to choose from. Three output transformers have character on offer and, once while subtler settings might offer interest
been modelled too, the options being Nickel, Iron and you’ve chosen suitable on a group or master bus. But for me, it
Steel. The lower half presents Preamp (gain) and Bias compression settings for the really shines as a parallel vocal ‘crusher’,
knobs, Weight (63 or 171 Hz) and Focus (1.6 and 2.4 kHz) source, your job is simply to cranking up the attitude and helping a part
controls and Operating Level pot and a wet/dry blend tweak the second-screen cut through a dense mix. With a slowish
knob. You can also opt for different types of resistor and knobs and switches, select attack, medium-slow release, and highish
transistor. The manual does a good job of explaining substitute components, and ratio (by normal standards; this one can go
keep listening until your ears up to 50:1!), 9 or 10 dB of gain reduction will
are greeted with optimum get you in the ballpark. Then use the Bias,
mojo. It never takes long to Weight and Focus controls to do the heavy
find something cool, and while lifting on the second page and back off the
the knobs always change the wet/dry mix to taste. Recommended.
sound more than swapping
components does, the latter is summary
nonetheless always interesting. A nice, vibey compressor plug-in that
So on what should you should please those with a penchant for
use this compressor? Well, tonal tweakery!
anything that demands to
be dirtied up or is crying out $ $99.99.
for more grit and attitude. It W https://korneffaudio.com

10 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Spitfire Audio
JOHN WALDEN

D
ave Stewart was
hugely impressed
when reviewing
Spitfire Audio’s BBC Symphony
Orchestra sample library in
the November 2019 issue of
SOS. While BBC SO offered
BBC Symphony
excellent value, its price made
it a substantial investment so,
in what looks like a sensible
— and shrewd — move,
Orchestra Discover
Spitfire have now rebranded
the original library as the ‘Pro’
Sample Library the strings also include pizzicato (plucked) and tremolo
(with the exception of the double-bass).
version and introduced two Want a full orchestral In terms of what you don’t get, in addition to fewer
additional tiers, Core and instruments and fewer articulations, there are no
Discover, with more streamlined sample library for round-robin samples and only a single dynamic layer;
feature sets and more free? Spitfire have got volume (via velocity or mod wheel) has to be used to
accessible prices. provide the bulk of the playing dynamics for individual
Core is still superbly
you covered... instruments. Discover also excludes true legato samples
specified, but the subject of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. The and solo players. The other limitation compared to Pro
this review is the entry-level brass section includes horns, trumpets, is that you only get a single mic position, although this
Discover edition and, while tenor trombones, bass trombones and tuba. has been very well chosen (not too ambient) and there is
there is undoubtedly some Finally, the percussion section provides always reverb if you want more room.
very significant streamlining harp, celeste, timpani, marimba, xylophone,
going on, it still provides glockenspiel, tubular bells and a range
Minimal UI
what is essentially a full suite of untuned percussion. In terms of the Discover’s UI is very straightforward. You get an info
of orchestral instruments articulations, all instruments include long line across the top, while the upper half of the display
covering all orchestral sections. notes (sustained with a touch of vibrato) and provides you with two routes to select a patch; either
However, what’s perhaps short notes (spiccato/staccatissimo), while via the drop-down browser or simply by clicking on
most remarkable about BBC
Symphony Orchestra Discover
is that (a) it is potentially
available for free (or $49
depending upon your level
of patience) and (b) the entire
sample library occupies only
200MB (no, that’s not a typo).
How much orchestra can
you actually get into a free
library of 200MB? It’s time to
(BBC SO) Discover...

What You Get & What

You Don’t
Crammed into that miniscule
200MB are 33 instruments
and a total of 47 articulations
(playing techniques). In contrast,
the numbers are 23GB and
600GB, 42 instruments and 46
instruments, and 305 and 435
articulations respectively for the
Core and Pro editions. What
you do get in Discover though is
a broad palette of instruments.
In the strings, this includes first
violins, second violins, violas,
celli and double-basses. For the
woodwinds, we have piccolo,

12 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T
SPITFIRE AUDIO BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DISCOVER

the colourful orchestral floorplan. The lower half of the

display provides controls to adjust volume and the
level of the internal reverb. Buttons are provided to
switch between the available playing articulations and
keyswitches are also available starting around the C-2
region of the MIDI keyboard.
Discover’s RAM requirements are obviously light and,
in testing on my own (modest by today’s standards) iMac,
I was able to run a session with every articulation (47
instances of the plug-in) playing at the same time without
my system making a murmur. The UI’s CPU and disk
meters are useful in this context, but I would imagine you
could have this full orchestral setup running on a pretty
basic host computer without too many issues.
Despite the modest size, you get a broad suite of orchestral instruments to work with.
It’s also worth noting that Spitfire’s website has
pre-configured downloadable template files for each
BBC SO edition available for most of the major DAWs.
I downloaded the two available for Cubase and they are
a useful starting point for new users.

Sound For Pound

While you obviously can’t conjure the finesse from
Discover’s sounds that you would from Core or Pro
(or any other more deeply sampled orchestral library),
in use, Discover manages to sound way better than
a 200MB footprint suggests it has any right to. It
obviously helps that the underlying samples are very
good indeed. The combination of long and shorts notes
for every string, brass and woodwind instrument is both
an obvious and sensible choice and it allows you to write Articulations can be switched within the plug-in or using keyswitches (shown in green on
the mini keyboard graphic).
slow sustained parts or more up-tempo melodic runs.
While all the sustained instruments must feature some wish to buy. One other clever technical stages of writing, there is
sample looping, it would appear to have been beautifully feature in this regard is what Spitfire call something very liberating
done and the results are very smooth. All the short Mode Switching. This allows projects about working with a limited
articulations have a nice crisp attack to them and, if you created using one edition to be opened palette of sounds and not
want to add a little extra edge to your sustained notes, with another while the plug-in intelligently having to concern yourself with
the long and short notes can easily be layered if you run substitutes instruments depending upon stressing your host system;
each articulation in a separate instance of the plug-in. which editions you are moving between. Discover is ideal for this.
The additional string articulations are also very welcome, Without access to Core or Pro, I didn’t Spitfire Audio have knocked
and all the pizzicato instruments are very useable. You do get the opportunity to test this, but it’s it out of the park with BBC SO
have to make good use of the mod wheel and velocity to a cool feature. Discover; it’s free, it’s compact
provide as much by way of dynamics as you can. and sounds remarkable given
The only other comment I would make is that the
Win, Win its incredibly small size. If you
string presets do include some noticeable low-end bow Discover is undoubtedly a ‘win’ for Spitfire look, there are other low-cost
noise. I guess this adds to the realism but, if you want to Audio on a number of levels, one of which and free orchestral sounds
keep the bottom-end of your mix tidy, a little low-cut EQ is as an accessible entry point into the out there but Discover sets an
on the required tracks is an easy solution. BBC SO ecosystem for budding orchestral incredibly high bar. Absolutely
composers. It’s also a ‘win’ for potential a no-brainer and ideal for
Moving On Up users. It’s difficult not to be impressed with anyone wanting to explore
As mentioned earlier, you can obtain Discover for free how it manages to combine a tiny footprint the world of composing for
or you can pay $49. The free route requires you to and modest computer requirements a full orchestra.
complete a questionnaire for Spitfire and then wait with a sound that punches well above its
approximately two weeks for your request to be dealt weight. No, you probably wouldn’t use summary
with. If you chose the paid route, Discover is available Discover to score a mainstream TV or film
Spitfire Audio have created
for immediate download and, as Spitfire Audio rather project, but students might have enough
a brilliant entry-level orchestral
wonderfully pay royalties to their performing musicians, here to do their mate’s film school short. In library for any budding
you can feel good that you are contributing to addition, for working composers, sketching composer as well as a genuinely
that process. an idea via Discover on a compact laptop useful compact scoring tool.
Discover is also a route to either Core or Pro and system, before Mode Switching the project
upgrade pricing means anything you have already over to Core or Pro for completion is an $ $49/free.
paid is discounted on the price of the next tier you attractive idea. Indeed, when in the early W www.spitfireaudio.com

14 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON TE S T

EventideBlackholePedal Stompbox Effect

Eventide have put their out-there reverb effect
into a compact pedal.
A single Aux switch in the to provide various lengths of normal
EXP plus Aux mode enables reverb in one direction and reverse
you to control tap tempo, reverb in the other. The five secondary
while in Triple Aux mode you (‘shifted’) functions, accessed using an
can bank up and down and LED-button, gives access to (pre-) Delay
load presets. Used with an up to 2000ms, Q, Depth, Rate and Out
expression pedal, the high Lvl. The modulation is applied within the
and low range of each control algorithm, not simply before or after it, so
can be set independently, so it doesn’t sound too obvious.
that the pedal works similarly With all the controls set centrally,
to the ribbon controller in the result is a large but more or less
the H9-based software, conventional-sounding reverb, but it
morphing between two sets doesn’t take long to find settings that
of control settings. produce near infinite washes that still allow
One of two footswitches the dry sound to stay intact. Other settings
works as a bypass and the can sound reversed or produce repeating
other as a Freeze effect, delays washed over by reverb; perfect for
in which the reverb tail is ambient and cinematic composers. There
PAUL WHITE
held indefinitely. The Freeze are no shimmer settings and no choices
footswitch can also be used of acoustic environment, so the Blackhole

O
ne of Eventide’s most popular algorithms, to access presets. There are pedal isn’t an ‘all bases covered’ reverb
Blackhole, has been included in several of actually two types of Freeze but, rather, a practical means of putting
the company’s products now, including their here: Infinite continuously one of Eventide’s best-loved reverb
H9 pedal, the H9000 rackmount effects unit and their layers new sound on top of algorithms into an accessible stompbox
Space Reverb pedal, as well as being available as the initial reverb; and Freeze format. So why yet another version of the
a software plug-in. It’s an effect that takes reverb beyond holds the reverb tail without Blackhole? Well, it’s less costly than the
the more familiar halls and plates to create something adding to it, allowing you to Space and H9 pedals, more compact than
much larger — though it can be dialled right back to play over it. An LED-button the Space, and boasts more user controls
a small, resonant metal tank if you need it. above the Active switch flips than the H9. All of which makes it an
In its latest incarnation, the Blackhole algorithm’s that switch from latching to attractive proposition if you want a device
host is a sensibly compact stompbox controlled by momentary action, while dedicated to this effect alone.
six knobs and three illuminated buttons. Five of the the one above the Freeze
The single TRS input jack can be configured for
knobs have a secondary ‘shift’ function, so these few switch is used when saving or use with mono or stereo sources.
controls can access all the functionality of the original incrementing presets.
algorithm. Five presets can be called up directly from The five preset LEDs also
the pedal, though you can also control it via MIDI (by display statuses in setup mode,
plugging a MIDI to TRS cable into the EXP port), which for example to show the MIDI
expands this to 127 presets. Those 127 presets are channel. As you’d expect,
also accessible using the free the Eventide Device Setup and preset management
Manager software when a computer is connected is handled most easily using
using the micro USB port. Power comes from the the Device Manager app, but it
included 9V adaptor, or a standard pedalboard supply. can still be achieved using the
The pedal has a TRS input jack, which is switchable hardware alone.
for mono or stereo sources, and two TS jacks for In the default (‘unshifted’)
stereo or parallel-mono outs. It is switchable guitar mode, the knobs control Mix, summary
or line-level operation, so you can use it as a DAW Gravity, Feedback, Size, Lo Eventide’s most affordable and compact
insert or send effect if you have sufficient I/O, without EQ and Hi EQ. Feedback hardware version yet of their popular
needing a reamp box, and it could hold a lot of appeal sends the reverb output Blackhole reverb.
for modular synth fans too. The EXP jack can be back into the pre-delay input,
configured to accept Expression, Expression plus and the Gravity control can $ $279.
Aux, Triple Aux, a MIDI Box, or a MIDI TRS Cable. go positive or negative, W www.eventideaudio.com

16 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Focusrite Red 8Line Thunderbolt Audio Interface

The spearhead of Focusrite Pro’s Red range enjoys some light refreshment.
SAM INGLIS
Focusrite have called it the Red 8Line, read this, it should be compatible with
since it does at least muster the same Windows as well as Mac OS.

B
ack in 2016, Focusrite’s Pro quotient of line-level inputs and outputs.
division entered the market for In most respects, the new 8Line is
Changes
high-end audio interfaces with identical to the older 4Pre. The front Operationally, the 8Line is very similar
the Red 4Pre. Not just a good-sounding panel differs only cosmetically, and to the 4Pre, so I’ll refer readers who
Thunderbolt interface, the 4Pre was the rear panel still sports two DB25 want a full description to my review of
also a gateway to the wonderful world connectors for the titular line-level I/O, that unit in SOS May 2016. However,
of audio over IP, there are a few
providing both ‘under the hood’
native systems and improvements
Pro Tools HDX rigs
“The similarity of the new Red 8Line to the original that are worth
with the means to Red 4Pre really reflects how right Focusrite got mentioning. The
access up to 32 line-level inputs and
I/O streams from things the first time around.” outputs can now be
a Dante network. aligned individually
Focusrite swiftly for +18 or +24 dBu
followed up with 8Pre and 16Line variants, two pairs of optical sockets that can operation, which will especially benefit
which retained the Dante connectivity carry up to 16 channels of ADAT-format those who want to use them to integrate
whilst offering different complements of digital I/O, and a coaxial S/PDIF input and outboard gear as DAW inserts. And the
local I/O. output, plus mini-Digilink connectors for 8Line addresses a potential shortcoming
Four and a half years on, the original HDX, a pair of Ethernet sockets for Dante of the 4Pre by allowing the local inputs to
4Pre has hung up its spurs, to be action and BNCs for word clock and be delayed by up to 253 samples in order
replaced by a new junior member of the Loop Sync. The 8Line’s two Thunderbolt to time-align them with audio arriving
range. This new interface is so similar to sockets use the newer Type-C connector, over Dante.
its predecessor that it could have been and Focusrite swim against the tide by One thing that has changed since the
christened the 4Pre MkII, were it not for actually providing a cable, which is very 4Pre was introduced is that these settings
one thing: it has lost two of the four mic welcome. The 8Line’s audio specifications are no longer made using Focusrite
preamps that gave the Red 4Pre its name. are also unchanged compared with Control. That utility is now associated
So, making a virtue out of necessity, its predecessor, and by the time you only with the company’s project-studio

18 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Red 8Line settings
are now made within the
RedNet Control app.

interfaces, and local

settings for Red
interfaces are handled
within the RedNet
Control program that
is used to configure
Focusrite’s other
networked audio
products. The Red
8Line control tab
within this utility
offers much the same
functionality, and lets
you configure up to
eight low-latency cue
mixes. Each can draw
on up to 30 sources,
meaning DAW
playback channels
and analogue,
digital and network inputs. There is, inputs and outputs to DAW inputs and converters and preamps, or with
however, no change to the rather basic outputs in any paired combination. a console. Two mic preamps is plenty for
monitor control features, so if you want those occasional control-room overdubs.
speaker switching, talkback, mono and
Conclusion Red Evolution, in fact, pretty much sums
so on, you’ll have to buy an additional It’s an example of the way in which the up the Red 8Line, and with networked
monitor controller. already impressive Red interface concept audio becoming ever more important, I’m
A limitation of the 4Pre at time of has matured since 2016, and the similarity sure it will continue to evolve.
launch was that although it presented of the new Red 8Line to the original Red
a total of 56 inputs, these couldn’t be 4Pre really reflects how right Focusrite summary
reordered, so if you were using a DAW got things the first time around. It’s
Focusrite have brought the Red 4Pre
that only supported 32 inputs (ie. the a shame to lose two of the rather nice Red up to date with Thunderbolt 3 ports and
native version of Pro Tools), much of the Evolution mic preamps, but as I said four +24dBu alignment.
Dante I/O was inaccessible. That has long years ago, this interface is primarily a hub
since been rectified, and RedNet Control for expansion, and in most real-world $ $2599.99
permits you to freely assign physical installations, it’ll be paired with additional W www.focusrite.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 19
 ON TE S T

Novation AFX Station Analogue Synthesizer

Novation have injected the Bass Station II with
a healthy dose of Aphex acid.

RORY DOW
Bass Station II with all its new features, All of this remains exactly the same
still competes in 2020. on the AFX Station, as does the layout

A
nything sporting the name of IDM of the knobs and switches. The main
superstar Richard D James, aka
Non-identical Twins differences between the Bass Station II
Aphex Twin, aka AFX, is likely If you’re unfamiliar with the Bass and the AFX Station are purely cosmetic,
to get a lot of attention in synth circles. Station II, I will refer you back to Paul’s although it does come with a new preset
Novation got quite the scoop back in original review for the gritty details (go bank from some fairly high-profile sound
2019 when they updated the original to www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ designers, although sadly none from Mr
Bass Station II synth with ‘AFX Mode’ as novation-bass-station-2). In a nutshell, James himself.
a free software update for all users. They it’s a two-oscillator analogue monosynth. The original blue and black colour
also added a slew of other new features The audio signal path is all analogue, scheme is replaced by purple and black,
since the Bass Station II’s original release but the modulators are digital. There are some font changes and new knob-caps.
back in 2013. two filters, two LFOs, two envelopes, an Before you run off to the classifieds to
This new limited edition AFX Station is arpeggiator, a sequencer and 127 preset find a pre-loved Bass Station II, however,
in reality a Bass Station II with the same slots. Round the back you find: MIDI In/ bear in mind one important thing: added
AFX software update plus a new look, but Out on 5-pin DIN, a sustain pedal input, to the AFX Station front panel are labels
as we haven’t covered the Bass Station an external audio input, a mono line for 10 shortcuts, all new features added
II since Paul Nagle’s original review back output and a headphone output. Lastly, since the Bass Station II’s first release.
in September 2013, we thought we’d see there’s a USB type-B socket for USB For example, entering the synth into ‘AFX
if the AFX Station, or indeed the original MIDI and software editor support. Mode’ requires pressing the Function

20 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 “The TF-5 is designed to
be no-compromise… Very
clean, very musical.”
6QP[ (CWNMPGT

4´&'6(
PREMIUM MATCHED PAIR
CONDENSER CARDIOID

PREMIUM MATCHED PAIR CONDENSER CARDIOID

6JG4´&'6(KUCRTGOKWOUOCNNFKCRJTCIOECTFKQKFEQPFGPUGTOKETQRJQPG
FGUKIPGFKPEQNNCDQTCVKQPYKVJNGIGPFCT[ENCUUKECNTGEQTFKPIGPIKPGGTCPF
RTQFWEGT6QP[(CWNMPGT*CTPGUUKPIPGYECRUWNGVGEJPQNQI[RTGEKUKQP
GPIKPGGTGFCV4´&'oUUVCVGQHVJGCTVHCEKNKV[KVFGNKXGTUCPCVWTCNƂPGN[FGVCKNGF
CWFKQKOCIGUWKVCDNGHQTVJGOQUVFGOCPFKPITGEQTFKPICRRNKECVKQPU

6JG %JQKEEG QH 6QF

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ode
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 ON TE S T
NOVATION A F X S TATION

key and the second F# key twice. These

features are clearly marked on the AFX Novation Components
Station, but Bass Station II owners will
have to memorise them. Components is Novation’s web-based editor edit AFX mode directly from your computer.
interface for all their hardware products. Along Components also easily manages software
Updates Updates… with the release of the AFX Station comes an updates plus backing up of patches, overlays
update to Components which allows you to and tuning tables.
Since its release, the Bass Station II, and by
extension the AFX Station, have received
a number of excellent new features.
‘Oscillator error’ introduces variable
randomness into the oscillator pitch, to
simulate the instabilities of old analogue
VCOs. Paraphonic mode allows for playing
two pitches simultaneously by tracking
oscillators 1 and 2 independently. Envelope
looping has also been added, with either
or both envelopes capable of looping
between 1 and 16 times. ‘Fixsus’ turns the
envelopes into ASR envelopes and the
Decay controls how long the sustain is.
These envelopes always complete their
full run when triggered, so are great for
making drum sounds (ideal for AFX mode). different sound on every key. There are clear advantage: the shortcuts to all the
The original Bass Station II had fixed just eight preset slots for overlays, and new features added since the original
filter tracking but that was improved too, each of the 127 patches can reference one release are printed on the front panel
with eight selectable steps between 0-100 overlay. This means that if you change right above the relevant key. If, like me,
percent. Glide Divergence is another an overlay that is used in more than one your memory is not what it used to be
unique feature which alters the amount patch, it will change for all patches. (too many late nights listening to Aphex
of glide time offset for each oscillator. What I love about this feature is that Twin albums in the 1990s, I suspect), this
This sounds great when used with ring it forces you to think about modulation is a bonus well worth having.
mod or hard-sync patches. Microtuning in a new way. Remember that this is still Taken as a whole, the AFX Station
has also been added, with eight preset a monophonic synth, the overlays are offers incredible value for money. Not
tuning tables and the ability to create simply changing lots of parameters every only does it give you a great-sounding
your own. And, as if two-oscillator
there weren’t enough monosynth, but
for the aspiring mad “There are enough experimental features to keep there are enough
sound professor, experimental
you can even morph
even the most diehard synthesist happy.” features to keep
between tuning even the most
tables whilst playing. Lastly we have time you press a key. It’s an ingenious diehard synthesist happy. Enabling AFX
independent sub-oscillator tuning, which idea. I found there were two main mode over a paraphonic microtonal patch
means the sub-oscillator can be tuned just approaches to using them. You can treat that morphs from one tuning table to
like a regular oscillator, opening up those each key as a separate sound and create another can make you feel like a synth
lovely triad chord-stabs normally reserved lots of individual noises — this creates god (although making it sound good is
for three-oscillator synths. great drum kits. Otherwise, more subtle the real celestial challenge). Novation
overlays can be used to create variations have done an amazing job keeping the
So What Is AFX Mode? on a melodic sound by tweaking the Bass Station II feeling fresh with feature-
In short, AFX Mode allows you to make sound for individual keys. I found that packed updates, and the AFX Station is
changes to a sound for every key on programming a bass or lead line, and then in some ways the natural end point. It is a
the keyboard. This works by enabling using an overlay to inject some variation limited edition though, so grab one while
an ‘overlay’ on any patch. Overlays are into one or two notes was very pleasing. you can.
a modulation source which remembers
knob and switch positions for 25 different
Conclusion summary
keys (the length of the AFX Station’s The AFX Station is not a new product,
keyboard). Outside of these 25 keys, the but rather a refresh of an old one. To be The AFX Station is a fresh coat of paint on the
Bass Station II, a synth which has, thanks to
patch on top of which the overlay sits will clear, if you own a Bass Station II, you continual development and free updates, and
play as normal. can enjoy all these features now for free much like Aphex Twin’s music, managed to
Because every key in the overlay can by simply downloading the update from stay relevant, enticing and just a little bit mad.
hold a different value for every knob or the Novation website. If you’ve been
switch, you can go from subtle per-key considering the purchase of a Bass $ $439.99
variations of a patch, to an entirely Station II, the AFX Station has one very W www.novationmusic.com

22 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Griffon Fuzzyphone Dialling up the distortion effect

is where it gets fun. One thing to
watch out for is that, on the review
Dynamic Microphone model at least, the knob worked
backwards, with fully clockwise
Griffon’s new Fuzzyphone is part mic, part fuzzbox! being clean and fully anticlockwise
dishing out the most distortion. This
impedance is a nominal 250Ω. It relies on phantom power is quite intuitive if you’re turning the
CHRIS KORFF
to operate, and its output is on XLR. knob while singing into the mic, but

F
rench company Griffon Aesthetically, there’s something quite charmingly not so much when facing the back.
Microphones make homespun about the Fuzzyphone, which sits just on On vocals, the effect ranges
a range of small- and the right side of shoddy in terms of build. Perhaps from clean, via mildly crackly and
large-diaphragm mics, some appropriately, it looks a little like a boutique overdrive lo-fi (a little like an old AM radio),
based on vintage German pedal, and it’s made rather like one too, with all the all the way up to Deftones-esque
and Austrian models, and ingredients housed in an unfinished aluminium case, screaming, and producing quite
some of their own design. and a big red knob protruding from the rear, below the guitar-like tones at max. It’s also
The Fuzzyphone they sent Fuzzyphone label and above the XLR output. The front is very level dependent, and therefore
me for review, however, is where the sound goes in, and you can see the moving-coil varies quite a lot with distance.
a little unusual, in that unlike capsule through a red grille. In fact, you can see it On acoustic guitar and with the
the rest of their range, it’s extremely well, because it’s pushed right up against said mic a foot or so away, the effect
intentionally designed to grille — which makes it easy to overload the capsule, as tops out at something like a mild
be bandwidth-limited, and I discovered when plugging it in... overdrive — which actually sounded
it incorporates a variable very pleasing and bluesy. On
distortion effect.
Hot Fuzz a guitar amp, you can coax wilder
The idea of lo-fi Perhaps because I expected it to have a low output, tones out of it by either moving
microphones isn’t new and maybe also partly because of its shape, I first the mic closer to the grille, or just
— people have been tested it by speaking straight into it like a walkie-talkie. turning the amp up. Sadly, I didn’t
modifying old telephones Unsurprisingly, given how close I was to the mic’s have a drum kit handy to try it out
and CB radio mics for diaphragm, it immediately overloaded even with the on, but I can well imagine it being
years — but in the last few distortion knob turned all the way down. With a little useful in the role of a compressed
years, a few companies more distance, though, I was able to get a surprisingly ‘grot mic’, and likewise as
have started offering their clean sound out of it — not quite SM7B or Heil PR40 a secondary mic on a bass cabinet.
own off-the-peg takes on levels of broadcast-friendly smoothness, but not Adding distortion to sounds
the idea, notably Placid a million miles away from an SM57 in terms of clarity and other than guitar is one of the
Audio with their beautiful HF extension. worst-kept secrets in pro audio,
handmade copper mics, and and there are a million and one
Wasaphone, who make a few plug-ins around that are designed
steampunk-inspired options, for the purpose. But the experience
as well as a pre-modded of recording with it ‘baked in’ is
telephone handset with a different one, and can yield very
XLR output. different performances compared
Those mics mostly rely with adding distortion after the fact,
on outmoded capsule especially on vocals. The Griffon
technology to provide their Fuzzyphone is cheap and its build
crunchy, gritty, vintage-style quality is pretty agricultural, but
sounds, but the Fuzzyphone’s its funky looks and ability to get
capsule is a pretty standard a unique sound out of pretty much
cardioid moving-coil affair. anything could add just the bit
Its frequency response is of spark that a flagging session
quoted at 140Hz-10kHz (with needs. In short, it’s a fun mic to
no qualifications, not that it have around!
matters much in a mic that
isn’t exactly designed summary
for faithful
The Fuzzyphone has lo-fi on tap, but
capture), and
can also be coaxed into producing
its output some pretty wild distortion effects.
It’s affordable, and every bit as fun as
it looks.
$ €120 excluding shipping.
W griffon-microphones.jimdofree.com

24 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Toontrack
JOHN WALDEN

H
aving impressed
on launch, it’s no
surprise to anyone
that Toontrack are now
rolling out expansion packs
for EZbass. The first of these
— Classic Rock EBX — is
a companion to the Legacy of
Classic Rock EBX
Expansion For EZbass
Rock SDX and Classic Rock
EZX for Superior Drummer Toontrack’s debut EZbass Expansion hits all the right notes.
and EZdrummer respectively
and is obviously intended
to deliver that classic ’60s
and ’70s rock sound and
performance style.

Classy Classic
The instrument sampled
here is a 1963 Fender
Precision Bass and, while
the core EZbass library
includes an excellent Vintage
Bass instrument (based
upon a Fender Jazz Bass),
sonically, the Classic Rock
EBX does sit in a somewhat
different space. It’s warm
and present and, alongside
some supremely solid DI
sounds, the presets favour
a more rock-orientated set
of amp tones with some
very musical overdrive that percussive hits, tapping, up and down slides and some appropriate Superior Drummer or
responds beautifully to harmonics. All of these can be easily added within EZdrummer content, and you have an
playing dynamics. the EZbass Grid Editor for extra performance realism. instant(ish) dollop of high-class rhythm
There is also a somewhat section ready to inspire your song writing.
different approach to the
You Gotta Groove It’s a heck of a workflow.
presets reflecting the single As with expansions for Toontrack’s drum products,
pickup configuration so, as the MIDI grooves might only account for a few MB
Please Sir, Can I Have More?
well as a set of finger-played of the overall content, but don’t underestimate their As with SD3, EZbass ships with plenty of
presets, you also get separate value. For the Classic Rock EBX, these come in sound and groove content to keep you
sets for the pick based upon a good range of tempos with a variety of straight, inspired for many a project. However,
striking positions either swung and shuffle options. Most are in 4/4 but the Classic Rock EBX is a very tempting
close to the neck or close there are also some 3/4 grooves present. They also addition for any EZbass users who have
to the bridge. And while this span playing intensities, from sparse to busy, and musical roots in this classic rock era
is ’60s/’70s-inspired classic complexity, from simple root-note patterns through to (that’s me then). The Classic Rock EBX is
rock in terms of tones, you do more riff-like or chord arpeggio-based grooves. Many a great debut and, personally, I can’t wait
get one welcome nod to the of the grooves include chord progressions but, of to see what Toontrack might have lined
more modern bass-playing course, they will all follow whatever chord sequence up next for the EZbass line.
world; in its virtual form, this you specify within the Song Track.
1963 Precision comes with The MIDI grooves are very inspiring to work with
five strings. and, while they perfectly fit a broad palette of classic
summary
As with the EXbass rock styles from the ’60s and ’70s, they could easily For non-bass players, EZbass is a brilliant
core libraries, you also be dialled in to more contemporary musical contexts option and, as the first expansion, the Classic
get an impressive array of whose roots might lie in that classic era. Many of Rock EBX is well worth adding.
performance articulations the grooves have suitable articulation options and
including up and down chord transitions built into them; simply drag and $ $79
strokes, ghost notes, drop a few to build a song structure, tie them in with W www.toontrack.com

26 January 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
products that will bring their classic sound to your modern Dante® audio network.

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 TE S T

OWCDocks & Storage Computer Peripherals

OWC make high-quality computer accessories with musicians in mind.

SAM INGLIS
and used on Windows machines, and number of sockets, and Apple have
SoftRAID, a cross-platform package which phased out USB Type-A connectors,

O
ther World Computing are amalgamates separate drives into a RAID preferring to provide Type-C sockets
a long-established supplier of 0, 1, 4, 5 or 1+0 array at the software that can host either Thunderbolt 3 or
storage and expansion solutions level, either for faster data streaming, USB devices. As they’ve also dumped
for computers. One of the things that redundancy or both. the old and rather wonderful Magsafe
sets them apart is that many OWC The hardware division of the company, power connector, this leaves some laptop
products are designed to meet the needs meanwhile, offers a huge variety of users with only a single Thunderbolt
of professionals working in audio and storage options, including internal and socket available for connecting all their
video. This, in turn, means the company external SSDs, network-attached storage interfaces, drives, dongles, external
have much more of a focus on the Mac and hardware disk arrays. Another strong displays and what have you.
platform than most manufacturers in focus is expansion, with half a dozen The Thunderbolt 3 Dock goes a very
their field. On the software side, they are Thunderbolt and USB 3 docks to choose long way towards righting this wrong.
responsible for the MacDrive utility, which from, alongside the Mercury range of It’s a chunky piece of kit about half the
allows disks formatted using Apple’s PCIe expansion chassis and the Akitio size of a Mac Mini, and requires an
APFS and HFS+ systems to be mounted Node Titan external GPU system. Other equally hefty line-lump external power
hardware in OWC’s line-up includes supply. Audio interface manufacturers
a comprehensive selection of cables and would do well to note that OWC provide
OWC Docks & Storage adaptors as well as niche products such Thunderbolt 3 cables with all products
as Mac-compatible RAM and the clever that need them, though the one included
PROS
Data Doubler, which replaces the optical here is only just over a foot in length.
• A comprehensive range of storage
and expansion products, many drive in older Mac laptops with a second This connects to one of the Dock’s two
designed specifically with video and SSD for additional storage. Type-C connectors; the other can be
audio applications in mind. used to daisy-chain further Thunderbolt
• Mac users are fully catered for. Sitting On The Dock... peripherals or displays, and there’s also
• Thunderbolt cables supplied.
It would be impractical to review a mini-Display Port socket (which, alas,
CONS everything in OWC’s line-up, so as does not act as a Thunderbolt 2 adaptor).
• The short maximum length of a representative sample, I chose to look One of the Thunderbolt 3 sockets is
Thunderbolt 3 cables means that if at three of their products: the Thunderbolt intended to supply power to an attached
the Thunderbay’s fan noise bothers
you, there are limited options for
3 Dock, the Envoy Pro EX external SSD, Mac laptop, meaning you’ll only need the
doing anything about it. and the Thunderbay 4 RAID system. Thunderbolt Dock’s PSU connected and
The first of these is very much not the laptop’s.
SUMMARY targeted at Mac users who have been This is all well and good, but the real
OWC’s product range has been
developed with the needs of Mac users
short-changed on expansion options value for many Mac users will be found
and audio professionals at the top of by Apple. For a couple of years now, in the extensive USB socketry. On one
the agenda, and it shows. Mac laptops have sported only a limited side of the unit you’ll find four USB

28 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
beautifully honest

“Amphion Two18 tells me truth”

Rob Kinelski
Billie Eilish, ALMA, Big Sean

“I can’t work without them!”

Jacquire King
Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, James Bay

“They always give me the information I need”

Dave Pensado
Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera

“Even at a low level you can hear so much”

Lu Diaz
DJ Khaled, Beyoncé, Jay Z

“I mix twice as fast, I hear things I never

heard before”
Fabian Marasciullo
Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T-Pain

CORJKQPſ
 ON TE S T
OWC DOCKS & STORAGE

Type-A sockets, all supporting the USB 3.1

protocol and thus backward-compatible
to all previous versions. A fifth
Type-A socket appears on the reverse
side and is specifically badged as
a ‘high-powered’ port, which should make
it perfect for bus-powered interfaces.
There’s also a USB-only Type-C port, SD
and microSD card slots, and an RJ45
Ethernet port.
In short, then, connecting the
Thunderbolt 3 Dock to something like
a MacBook Air transforms a machine
that is dubiously usable for serious
music-making into something that can
rival any Windows laptop for connectivity.
The chief cost in doing so is that you
become dependent on a mains power
supply, but then serious music-making
rarely takes place without one. As long
as you can find space in your laptop bag
for it, the Dock is a comprehensive and Thunderbay 4 is not a low
very well thought-out solution to a whole point in a series of hit ’80s action
bunch of eternal Mac problems. movies, but a RAID system.

...Of The Bay containing four hard drives, but the fan and some of the most important numbers
OWC’s Thunderbay 4 RAID system is is clearly audible even when no drive still favour hard drives and RAID arrays.
available either as an empty housing, activity is taking place, and seems to Per terabyte, SSDs currently cost a little
ready for your own drives to be added, or run at a constant speed regardless of more or less than four times as much as
in a number of pre-stuffed configurations. the internal temperature. If you wanted 3.5-inch internal hard drives, depending
The chassis itself is a pretty substantial to banish the Thunderbay to a machine on whether you get SATA or NVMe
piece of kit, weighing in at almost 4kg room without also exiling your computer, variants; and whereas individual SSDs
without drives. As the name suggests, the only obvious way to do so would of greater than 2TB capacity are still
it can house up to four 2.5- or 3.5-inch be using a Thunderbolt 2 optical cable relatively rare, you can buy single hard
SATA 6Gb/s drives, and if you order it and adaptor. drives offering 16GB or more of storage.
with disks pre-fitted, everything should Once you’ve installed OWC’s SoftRAID So, although the review configuration
be pretty much plug and play. Once XT, a version of which is supplied with the could be matched using SSDs, 8TB
again, the Thunderbay is supplied with Thunderbay, the drives in the Thunderbay is a pretty conservative spec for the
a Thunderbolt cable, slightly more show up as a single volume within your Thunderbay, and the largest supported
generous in length than that included operating system, and can be treated as configuration offers a colossal 64TB
with the Thunderbolt Dock. a conventional drive. The review system of storage. You’d need a fast Internet
The drives themselves are held was preconfigured to use RAID 5 across connection and a lot of cloud capacity to
in place by a thumbwheel of the sort four 2TB Toshiba drives. In effect, the use back that up online!
that was sometimes used to fix mixer of parity data in RAID 5 means that the According to the specifications, the
modules into large-format consoles, price of redundancy is the capacity of Thunderbay 4 can support data transfer
with a lockable door at the front. On one drive, so the total capacity as seen speeds of up to 1.5GB per second. What’s
the rear panel you’ll find an IEC power by Mac OS is 6TB. That sacrifice buys you actually achieved in practice will depend
inlet, two Thunderbolt 3 connections (a the security of knowing that your data will on the speeds of the drives that are
Thunderbolt 2 variant is also available), survive the loss of one of the four drives fitted, other traffic on the Thunderbolt/
a security port and an HDMI connector. in the array. PCI bus, and the type of data that is being
The Thunderbay can thus be used to transferred. To get a real-world idea of the
daisy-chain further Thunderbolt devices
Array Of Sunshine performance of the review configuration,
as well as a display. Some would argue that the main benefits I ran Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test, which
Also visible on the rear panel is the of RAID arrays have been matched is intended to estimate performance
grille for a cooling fan, which OWC by other technologies in recent years. as it pertains to the streaming of large
call “whisper-quiet”. It’s good that they Modern solid-state drives are faster media files. This reported write speeds of
are aware of the problem of fan noise and more reliable than spinning-plate around 160MB/s and read performance
in creative contexts, but in the review hard disks, whilst cloud-based backup of around 580MB/s: marginal for some
system, I have to say this description strategies offer a level of robustness that forms of uncompressed high-quality
seemed a little optimistic. It would not is hard to match with physical drives. video, but easily enough for any
be realistic to expect silence from a box Nevertheless, storage is a numbers game, multitrack audio project, and much better

30 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T
OWC DOCKS & STORAGE

than you’d get from a typical portable The Envoy Pro EX is

hard drive, especially on the read side. a portable solid-state drive.
Orchestral composers would also have
to be streaming an enormous number of
samples before drive bandwidth became products. It is a portable, bus-powered bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3, makes it
an issue. If it does, you could always device that connects to the host much faster than most conventional
choose a Thunderbay configuration that computer using a captive Thunderbolt 3 portable drives: the specs quote
uses SSDs. As only the SATA standard cable (USB variants are also available), maximum read speeds of up to 2.5GB/s
is supported, this still won’t quite give and contains a single solid-state drive. and write speeds of 800MB/s. Oddly,
you the same performance as, say, the The case itself is made of rigid aluminium Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test actually
internal NVMe SSD in my newish Mac and is protected by a chunky rubberised reported higher write speeds even than
Mini, which measured a blistering 2.7GB/s sleeve. Between them, these are said to this, and suggested that streaming almost
for both read and write, but I can’t provide drop protection that meets the any form of raw video data to or from the
imagine many real-world situations in US military MIL-STD-810G standard. Envoy Pro EX should be feasible. It’s not
which it would prove a bottleneck. The Envoy Pro EX is available in hard to see how a portable drive that’s
various different capacities. Importantly, silent, rugged and extremely fast can be
Bus Travel the internal drive interfaces using the of use to audio producers too, especially
From the user’s point of view, the Envoy newer NVMe standard rather than those with large sample collections or
Pro EX is the simplest of the three review SATA. This, in conjunction with the high project libraries that regularly need to be
moved from machine to machine. The
Envoy Pro EX is certainly much, much
An Introduction To RAID more than a convenient backup option!

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive the disks in the array, thus offering maximum Other Worldly
Disks (or Independent Disks, depending on who redundancy with no performance benefit. For
you ask), and the basic idea is to distribute data many applications, a good compromise is found This review represents a representative
across multiple physical drives in a way that in RAID 5. This requires at least three drives sampling from a very comprehensive
is invisible to the user. Depending on how it’s to implement, but, in effect, ‘stripes’ your data product range, and has left me very
configured, this can have two main benefits. One across as many disks as possible whilst retaining impressed. From the packaging to the
is speed: by writing alternate sections of a file some redundancy through the use of a system construction to the simple installation
simultaneously to two drives, a RAID array can called parity. process for SoftRAID XT, everything
halve the time it takes to write the entire file. The job of distributing data across multiple
about these products exudes quality, and
Double the number of drives again and you have, disks, and presenting them to the OS as
at least in theory, quadrupled the data rate of the a single entity, is handled by something called they’re backed by a three-year guarantee
individual disks, assuming they’re all the same a RAID controller, which can be implemented and 24-hour support. Some of their
to start with. in hardware or software. An array that uses offerings are niche products that will be
The second benefit is redundancy. If, a hardware RAID controller should, in theory, invaluable to Mac users; others, like the
rather than writing alternate sections of a file be indistinguishable from a conventional drive Thunderbay and Envoy Pro EX, are more
to separate drives, we write the entire file as far as the computer is concerned; you can
universal in application, but benefit from
simultaneously to both, it consequently exists plug it into any machine and it’ll immediately
in two places; so, if one of those drives fails, be recognised as a single volume. A software a genuine consideration of the needs of
the data is not lost. This is not in itself a robust RAID array requires the relevant software to be audio and video professionals. Choosing
backup strategy, since it is still vulnerable to installed on every machine that wants access to the right computer peripherals will never
fire, theft and other calamities, but it covers you the drive. be as much fun as buying a new synth or
against one of the main causes of data loss. Both Mac OS and Windows actually include plug-in, but it could turn out to be a lot
There are a number of different RAID built-in software RAID controllers, but the Mac
more important in the long run.
standards, which balance out these two benefits OS implementation only supports the basic RAID
in different proportions. RAID 0 maximises read/ 0 and 1 standards. For this and for a number of
write speeds by ‘striping’ data across all the other reasons, more sophisticated third-party $ Thunderbolt 3 Dock $249, Thunderbay 4
disks in the array, but offers no redundancy software RAID packages are widely used, and (without drives) $389, Envoy Pro EX 1TB
at all, whereas RAID 1 ‘mirrors’ all data to all OWC’s SoftRAID is a good example. $299.75.
W www.owcdigital.com

32 January 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!
Austrian Audio
OC818 Dual Set Plus
Worth $2199
A
ustrian Audio are a relatively
young company, but the
people behind it have some
serious form when it comes to making
microphones. The brand was founded
by a group of AKG engineers who, in
their spare time, had set themselves
the challenge of creating a microphone
capsule that had all the magic of the
venerable brass-ring CK12 — as found
in AKG’s classic C12, the original C414,
and Telefunken’s ELA M 251 — but that
could be manufactured consistently and
cost-effectively (a perennial problem with
the original design).
The fruit of their labours
was the CKR12. Handmade in
Vienna, it’s this large-diaphragm,
Braunmühl-Weber capsule that lies
at the heart of their flagship OC818
multi-pattern microphone.
When SOS Editor In Chief Sam
Inglis reviewed the OC818 last
year, he was hugely impressed
by its performance, describing
it as “beautifully clean, with
a supremely balanced sound”.
But it wasn’t just the sound that
set it apart: the OC818 has the unusual
feature of a secondary mini-XLR output,
tapped from its rear-facing diaphragm. newly announced Dual Set Plus, a stereo for their OC-series mics. You also get
By recording both diaphragm outputs kit that comprises two of their premium a pair of mini-XLR adaptor cables, so
separately, you can change the resulting OC818 mics plus a host of accessories, you can easily take full advantage of
polar pattern after the fact in your DAW, all shipped in a rugged aluminium case. that secondary output, as well as an
using AA’s PolarDesigner plug-in. A pair of windshields is provided, as are adjustable stereo mounting bar.
For this month’s competition, Austrian two standard mic clips plus two of AA’s To be in with a chance of winning
Audio are giving one lucky reader their own shockmounts, designed specifically this fantastic prize, all you have to do is
follow the URL shown, and answer the
To enter, please visit: questions there, by Friday 5th February.

https://sosm.ag/aacompjan20 Good luck!

Prizes kindly donated by Austrian Audio
W austrian.audio

34 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Zivix Jamstik Studio MIDI Guitar

Some of the performance issues associated with
guitar-to-MIDI systems may not be insurmountable after all!
DAV E LO C K WO O D
Pitch-to-MIDI conversion — reading new approaches to MIDI conversion, from
the vibration of strings on a real guitar and the wired frets of the Zeta Mirror 6, the Sonar

M
inneapolis-based Zivix build endeavouring to convert the pitch and detection of the Yamaha G10, through to
innovative electronic instruments amplitude information to MIDI data — has instruments like the Synthaxe, the Starr Ztar
and related software, including been at the heart of most MIDI guitar and You Rock Guitar. Some of the latter group
the Jamstik range of ‘guitar-like’ designs, systems that have made it to market in actually work quite well as MIDI controllers,
created with an emphasis on portability and significant numbers. Roland especially mainly because they are not guitars at all, but
learning. The latest model in the Jamstik deserve an honourable mention simply for really ‘keyboards’ whose notes are arranged
range, though, the Jamstik Studio, is very sticking at it for decades, and there have in a guitar-like pattern, albeit with the
much a real guitar, utilising a Chinese-made, been incremental improvements over the complication of the involvement of secondary
compact body, headless design from ALP years, notably from Axon and latterly the triggering with the picking hand.
Guitars, and incorporating within it one of Fishman TriplePlay system.
the best pitch-to-MIDI-based systems yet The inherent limitations of pitch-to-MIDI,
Two Tribes
made. Yes, you read it right: it’s pitch-to-MIDI namely pitch-variable latency and It seems to me that two distinct groups of
and it’s really rather good! mis-tracking, have spawned a number of people take an interest in MIDI guitars. The

38 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 techniques they normally rely on. In reality, on a 24-fret, bolt-on neck that is a familiar
guitar-to-MIDI systems don’t actually serve 42mm wide at the nut. A pair of covered
these people particularly well either, and it’s humbuckers, three-way selector switch
not surprised me to see a growing trend in and volume control with ‘pull coil-tap’ allow
recent years to bypass MIDI altogether and it to function as a conventional electric
use digital oscillators and filters acting upon guitar too. It performs that job adequately, if
the signal taken directly from the strings; unspectacularly, and that’s not intended as
this makes for very playable synthesized any kind of slur: highly characterful electric
sounds, with good tracking and no latency. guitars don’t make the best MIDI platforms,
But it doesn’t get you MIDI and all the in my experience. A conventional hex
advantages it brings in terms of the range pickup sits behind the bridge humbucker.
and quality of sounds available and the Strings are inserted at the nut end
deep editing available in DAW software. of the fingerboard, leading down to the
bridge: it’s a slightly odd affair, comprising
Remarkable roller saddles, normally associated with
Just when we all thought pitch-to-MIDI had a floating trem bridge, and what looks like
nothing substantially new to offer, the MIDI thumbwheels for fine-tuning. I find them
guitar world was shaken up by the arrival a bit too stiff and close together for finger
of the Jam Origin MIDI Guitar app. This operation, and I guess you are primarily
remarkable piece of software utilised the meant to operate them with the mini
DSP of its computer host to analyse the hex wrench that’s conveniently attached
output from a normal electric guitar signal magnetically to the body of the bridge, so
with all the strings combined into a single you won’t lose it easily.
audio stream. It wasn’t significantly faster Given how important accurate tuning is
than other pitch-to-MIDI systems, in my to the performance of MIDI guitar systems,
experience, but it was reasonably clean experienced users tend to do rather a lot
and accurate, although to many people, of it, and whilst every attempt has been
still the most remarkable thing was that made to minimise the potential for slack
it worked at all. and slippage in the basic design, the
It did set my mind to wondering, greatest variable of all is temperature. The
however: if today’s DSP could now extract pitch of steel strings moves over time as
MIDI out of the combined waveform of they warm up. Just playing the instrument
a polyphonic guitar signal, what might it warms them up, so accurate tuning is not
be able to achieve with a hex pickup that a set-and-forget activity. The thumbwheel
gave it each string as a separate signal? tuners’ gearing is also a bit on the coarse
Well, that’s rather what I think is going on side, I find, so adjusting them with the
first comprises guitar players who simply here in the Jamstik Studio. In this case, the supplied 20mm right-angle hex key can
want to be able to play keyboard sounds DSP is on board the guitar and because the be a bit hit and miss. I used a longer key to
from the familiar interface of a guitar. The system is integral, rather than a retro-fit, the give me better control, but if there is ever
second consists of those who want to bring designers benefit from the elimination of
some of the expressiveness of their chosen a number of possible variables: the exact
instrument to the world of keyboards, and relationship between the pickup and the Zivix Jamstik Studio
especially to synths, where you may not strings is known, as are the bridge type, $799
be trying to replicate traditional keyboard the scale length and the resonance of the
sounds and playing styles. The two interests body. Having to allow for variation in all of
PROS
• Fast, ‘clean’ MIDI output.
are quite distinct, almost to the point of these factors in retro-fit systems makes • Familiar, real-guitar format.
being in conflict. a difference to how hard the software has • Outputs MIDI directly.
The former camp, in which I count to work just to do the basics, and if it has an • Jamstik Creator soft-synth makes
myself, want the kind of ‘clean MIDI’ that easier time doing that, it can devote more good use of MPE mode.
• Works in standalone mode.
you get from a keyboard, and for which the power to trying to interpret your playing in
‘language’ itself was invented. Note-On, meaningful ways. The curious thing about CONS
Note-Off, Velocity value and a bit of sustain the Jamstik Studio compared with other • Tuning via hex wrench is a bit
pedal gets you 90 percent of the way systems is that there is nothing to adjust of a pain.
• Important control parameters exist
there, with a data density that any DAW in terms of playability parameters — it
only in software.
can handle and any voice module or virtual just works!
instrument can understand. SUMMARY
Those in the latter group, however,
Setting Up Combining pitch-to-MIDI with
powerful onboard DSP has resulted
require something a lot more guitar-like, The Jamstik Studio guitar has a ‘headless’
in a worthwhile step forward in
with proper strings to bend and apply configuration with a scaled-down mahogany performance. This iteration may not be
vibrato to, and to damp with the right body, somewhat like a travel guitar, but it perfect, but I’d still have to rate it as
hand, using all the instinctive ‘guitaristic’ sensibly retains a full 25.5-inch scale-length a strong contender for ‘best in class’.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 39
 ON TE S T
ZIVIX JAMSTIK STUDIO

Having the pitch-to-MIDI processing in

the guitar, rather than running on a separate immediately obvious — there are two hex eight hours unconnected playing time, but
computer, means you can control standalone screws in each saddle, like a Strat, but one if you are connected via a powered USB
synths directly using MIDI. does the height and the other locks the port, you’ll be charging as needed anyway.
position after adjustment. I must just add, having poked around under
a Mark II of the Jamstik Studio, I hope it has The setup wasn’t ‘wrong’ as supplied, the hood, ultimate kudos to Zivix for what
some easier-to-use tuners. but a bit of basic ‘fettling’, certainly made looks like a user-replaceable battery. No
As supplied, the guitar was adequately it more playable in a clean, MIDI-friendly rechargeable device should be able to be
set up, if a little on the conservative side. way. If you make significant changes to the sold without this possibility, in my opinion.
MIDI guitar setup is a delicate balance of action, you may well find you need to reset The USB-C and mini-TRS, along with an
playability versus clean notes for good the intonation. The saddles are locked in activation switch/indicator, appear on a small
pitch detection. A higher action will give place by a hex bolt that sits directly under mounting plate on the lower bout. When
you a cleaner note with less fret choking, the string, which has to be slackened playing the guitar seated, as I and I suspect
but is more difficult to play, resulting in off to access it. Though not ideal, you many others tend to do when recording MIDI
more ‘release’ noises as you move about should only have to do it once unless you into a DAW, this places the USB-C connector
the fingerboard, all of which are usually change string gauge. directly sticking into my right thigh, and I’m
translated as spurious short MIDI notes. sure sustained usage would damage the
The truss rod already had the ideal
Making Connections connector over time. A right-angle USB-C
amount of relief for the supplied .010-.046 Digital connectivity comprises a USB-C adapter made it both more comfortable and,
gauge strings, but as the nut is height port, used for both MIDI and charging the I suspect, in the long term more reliable.
adjustable, I found it could be lowered onboard battery, with the alternative of Notably absent from the Jamstik Studio,
a useful amount to achieve a much better a 3.5mm TRS ‘conventional’ MIDI output. is the 13-pin, multichannel analogue output
playing experience without causing any There’s also the option of wireless MIDI traditionally associated with hex pickups.
triggering problems. connectivity using the BLE (Bluetooth Low It is entirely logical, given that the Jamstik
Any adjustments at the bridge need Energy) protocol. This will add a little more Studio is processing the hex pickup signal
to take into account the fixed curvature of latency to an already very latency-sensitive on board to output MIDI directly, but it
the hex pickup. The latter has height and activity, so a wired connection is always does mean you can’t take full advantage
tilt adjustment via a screw at each end, preferable, but Bluetooth BLE is certainly of ‘guitar-synth’ products that can use the
and would, ideally, be positioned with its a convenient option for using Jamstik Studio string output directly for modelling and
six pole-pieces at an identical distance with iOS and other mobile devices. harmonic synthesis, like the Roland VG
from each string. There are sensitivity Operation via the USB-C connector and SY units.
settings in the Jamstik Creator software requires a data-enabled USB-C to USB-A If you are wondering where you set up
app, but I find it always helps to start cable: a ‘USB-C to C’ charging cable will not things like the basic modes of operation
from as even a response as possible in transfer MIDI data. The onboard Lithium-ion (single channel versus multichannel;
the basic setup. Bridge adjustment is not rechargeable battery will give in excess of pitchbend on or off etc.), that’s all in the

40 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON TE S T
ZIVIX JAMSTIK STUDIO

Jamstik Creator Mac/Windows plug-in.

That’s also where you can adjust individual
string sensitivity, MIDI tunings/transpositions
and check tuning. It’s also a VST instrument
that makes good use of Jamstik Studio’s
MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) mode,
which is now part of the MIDI spec.
MIDI guitar players have been using
a sort of version of MPE for years, with each
string on its own channel so that individual
pitchbend messages to be transmitted, but
the full MPE spec allows for other per-string
real-time control data, too. When the Jamstik
Studio is set to MPE mode, MIDI CC11
data is generated from string amplitude,
tracking the envelope of the notes and
then mapping that data to the synth
voices in the plug-in. It makes for a very
natural ‘guitaristic’ playing experience,
The outputs include a USB-C port for connection
as instinctive things like left-hand lift-off to a computer, a TRS minijack for MIDI, and
damping and right-hand palm muting have a quarter-inch output for the conventional guitar
a useful effect on the output. Of course, the signal. There’s also Bluetooth connectivity. engage MPE mode for “best performance”.
receiving instrument has to know how to do That would certainly be the case for live
something useful with CC11 data, so you’ll mode once you realise that only the top-E use, where the possibility of greater physical
not find it particularly effective just firing display works for all the strings. Logically, interaction with the sounds certainly gives
a torrent of MPE data at any of your DAW’s the sensitivity monitor display works in an increased sense of control. I wonder,
virtual instruments that aren’t set up for it. the same way — one for every string in however, if the biggest potential user group
multichannel mode, or all strings in the for Jamstik Studio may actually be people
Standalone top-E window in single-channel mode. who just want better, cleaner MIDI for
Because it has its own DSP on board, Less logical, to me, is the sensitivity-adjust playing keyboard parts in their DAW, and
outputting MIDI directly, the Jamstik sliders being in a different window to the they will neither want nor need to be in MPE
Studio is capable of standalone operation sensitivity display. There’s one for each mode most of the time. For those people,
connecting to any MIDI device without string and a master slider, and at present, a simpler control app without the synth
a computer or tablet in between. The adjusting the master resets all the individual would be a more useful thing, addressing
makers Zivix call it “the first contained MIDI sliders to match. A more logical behaviour mode selection, pitchbend range, tuning
guitar solution available for a mass-market would be that, having set your individual and sensitivity setup.
audience”, although I have a Casio MG510 string sensitivities, you could then adjust the
sitting here as I write that also outputs MIDI overall sensitivity up or down just to match
Simply The Best?
directly. I do think Jamstik Studio would be the requirements of the synth voice you Basic audio-to-MIDI conversion in software
more effective in standalone mode if it had were addressing, without losing the offsets. is now a well-established process
just a little more control of basic functionality Some synth voices benefit from a bit more that works very effectively. ‘Real-time’
on board, specifically a ‘multi/single-channel’ push, others a bit less, while the individual pitch-to-MIDI, however, is a considerably
switch, and pitchbend On/Off. As it is, you’ll sensitivities are about string-to-string greater challenge, and deriving ‘real-time’
still have to dip into the plug-in for those balance, which, once set, you wouldn’t want MIDI from guitar playing is another layer of
— personally I’d happily dump the coil-tap to change. complexity beyond. Leaving aside the fact
switching in favour of MIDI pitchbend On/ Currently, there is no facility for changing that what we call ‘real-time’ here can never
Off. The Casio had all of that on board the preset pitchbend range parameter in actually be real-time — at least some of the
in 1988, and a tuner, too. The Jamstik’s the control software settings, although note has to be in the past before you can
standalone tuning can be taken care of with I understand that is about to be addressed begin working out what it was — guitars
a clip-on (most will fit and function perfectly with an update and may well be in place have the complication that notes can be
well on the vestigial headstock), or using the by the time you are reading this. Of course, initiated in two different places, and in fact
guitar quarter-inch output jack connected to you can change the setting in the receiving usually are. When you move from one
a normal electronic tuner. instruments, but they may be already fretted note to another and pick the string
When you are using the plug-in for set how you want them to work with to sound it, you will have ‘pre-fretted’ the
tuning, you will have to remember to have existing sources. new note before your picking hand goes
pitchbend activated as the software will be The guitar has no onboard sound into action. It’s something we all learn very
reading the MIDI output for this function. creation of its own, but the free Jamstik early on as players and never have to think
It has to, of course, because there is no Creator plug-in does offer up some about again. Potentially, that pre-fretting
analogue output from the hex pickup as beautiful synth sounds that really show off results in a low-velocity MIDI note just
there is with the 13-pin protocol. You can still the potential benefits of MPE mode. When before the wanted picked note. Of course,
use the software to tune in single-channel you launch the plug-in it suggests that you that ‘unwanted’ note could potentially be

42 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T
ZIVIX JAMSTIK STUDIO

excluded by applying a tiny amount of

time-windowing to see if a low-velocity note
is followed immediately by a picked note
of the same pitch, but now we are adding
a fraction more time to the conversion
process over and above just working out
the pitch. And some pre-fretted notes are
actually wanted hammer-on notes that
would never be picked anyway… and is
that a hammer-on modulation of an existing
note with pitchbend or an entirely new
note? As you can see, it’s complicated, and
I have to express my admiration for people
who continue to push boundaries in this
comparatively narrow field.
There may be a few things about it that
I would prefer to have seen addressed in
a different way, but Jamstik Studio is still
one of the best guitar-to-MIDI instruments
I have used. It offers fast, accurate MIDI, with
less spurious MIDI ‘chaff’ in the output than
most other pitch-to-MIDI-based systems on The free Jamstik Creator app is used to change hardware settings and doubles up as a playable instrument.
the market today. Oddly, it ‘feels’ faster than
it measures, although perceived MIDI-guitar
latency is substantially determined by buffer
size and the attack characteristics of the
actual synth voice you are addressing. My
measured times from pick transient to the
start of the converted MIDI note have the
top-E at a rapid 5-6 ms, with low-E at around
25-30 ms. The vagueness in the numbers
stems from the fact that my measured
times weren’t always consistent, There
is perhaps some contextual interpretive
‘intelligence’ in play. The developers are,
perhaps understandably, unwilling to
reveal anything about their conversion
algorithm other than to say that it is new
and developed entirely in-house. Whatever
they’ve done, it works, and means that you
seem to get more of what you intended and
less of what you didn’t, like open strings
ringing, lift-off re-triggering and the rest of
the rubbish that MIDI guitarists have just
become used to hunting down and deleting
in their piano-roll editors.
Even for the most experienced MIDI
guitarist, the activity has always been
a mixture of delight and frustration. Whilst
there is still room for improvement, the
Jamstik Studio certainly brings me more of
the former than the latter, and represents
a very worthwhile advance in its field.
A full-size MIDI guitar has apparently
“always been a dream of the team of
developers at Jamstik. The product we’ve
wanted to launch since the beginning”, and
I’m delighted they stuck at it!

$ $799.
W www.jamstik.com

44 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T

Native Instruments
Maschine+ Groove Workstation
Is the Maschine+ the standalone music-making
box you’ve always dreamed of?

46 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 The eight touch-sensitive encoders have had
SIMON SHERBOURNE
an upgrade. They are now larger, all metal and

T
he arms race of beat production have a damped action that doesn’t suffer from the
workstations has come full circle. In 2009 variance I’ve noticed on my MkIII and Komplete
the first Maschine took cues from Akai Kontrol keyboard. They really add to the overall
Pro’s MPCs, but by moving all the hard work to luxury feel. The displays are the same (there’s
an attached computer NI opened up the scope no touch upgrade), and you get the same wide,
of what was possible. Maschine had access to super-sensitive pads.
processing power and plug-ins, and could slot into Most of the rear panel is unchanged, housing
the DAWs that had become the primary workspace all connections to the outside world including
for many producers. the line and headphone outs, and the mic/line
Akai found themselves on the back foot, and ins, all of which have a tiny gain knob. However,
the previous year’s Renaissance was to be the the power button has moved to the front, and in
last of the classic standalone MPCs. The next its place is a pair of USB A ports for connecting
MPCs followed Maschine down the hybrid route, devices when running standalone.
with a range of hardware controllers acting
as front-ends to a Mac/PC-based MPC app
Firing Up The Maschine
and plug-in. My virgin Maschine+ booted to a welcome
In 2017 Akai re-took the initiative and screen and asked for a Wi-Fi connection. A nifty
capitalised on the trend for computer-free QR scanning process connected the unit to my
composing and performing. The MPC Live and Native Instruments account and I was then able
X saw the MPC software ported back to the to install the core plug-ins and factory libraries,
hardware, using System-on-a-Chip technology to plus the five included Expansion packs. Updates
combine some of the best aspects of a computer were delivered over the air, and the additional
and a standalone groovebox. Maschine+ follows Expansion Packs I bought on the NI website
suit, and is Native Instruments’ first non-native immediately appeared for direct download on
instrument. So what is gained and lost in the move the Maschine+. The core package comprising
to mobile, and who is this for? Let’s find out... OS, plug-ins and sound library all live on hidden
internal storage, while Expansions install to the
Overview removable SD card.
Maschine+ is a reworked version of the Maschine As a Maschine MkIII user who tends to stay
MkIII hardware that can detach from your focused on the controller I had a head start.
computer and run standalone. It has an embedded Using the Maschine+ proved practically identical
processor running the Maschine software, to this apart from having an additional Settings
with on-board storage and an SD slot for user page for managing preferences, connections and
content. Standalone operation is the same as installations. If you’re used to doing some tasks
using a regular Maschine controller, without the like note editing on the computer you’ll need to
computer-based UI. learn the hardware equivalents. With practice
Rumours had suggested a standalone these operations can become fast and precise,
Maschine would be based around the MkIII, using and quite a satisfying way of working. The UI is
its on-board audio and MIDI interfaces. I’d guessed
it would have Maschine’s internal suite of effects
and its sound sources: namely sample-based
Native Instruments
kits, sample-mapped instruments, the drum synth Maschine+
engines, and the Bassline monosynth. I’d have $1399
been happy with that as an initial feature-set, but PROS
there are some exciting surprises. NI have ported • The full sampling, performing and composing
several engines from their VST plug-ins, giving you experience of Maschine, without the computer.
access to NKS-format sound and effect patches. • Incredible sonic arsenal.
And they’ve enabled expandable connectivity, with • Solid build.
• Support for USB audio and MIDI interfaces.
USB MIDI hosting and support for external MIDI
and audio interfaces. CONS
• Sharing projects and content with desktop
Metal Maschine Musik is clunky.
• Plug-in control via pre-mapped macros.
The extra brains crammed inside the Maschine+ • No CV.
only make it about 10 percent heavier than the • No internal power source.
MkIII controller, but it feels significantly more • New Clips functionality adds complexity.
substantial because the front and rear panels have
SUMMARY
been replaced with gorgeous anodised aluminium. With desktop-class plug-ins and expandable
It has that smooth gunmetal finish that you find on I/O, Maschine+ pushes the boundaries of what
high-end hi-fi gear. you’d expect from a standalone workstation.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 47
 ON TE S T
N ATI V E INS T RU M E N T S M A S C HIN E +

On the back panel we find stereo audio I/O, controls for headphone volume, line out volume
and input gain, a pair of full-size MIDI ports, and three USB ports.

mostly smooth, and the pad response is having some useful amp and cabinet in the desktop Maschine software, and this
super snappy. The audio settings screen effects if you plug in a guitar. carried through to the standalone so I could
reports a combined processing and output Both the Reaktor and Kontakt installs filter by sound type.
latency of under 6ms, and throughput come with quite a limited subset of their Your own Maschine and Komplete
monitory delay of 8.7ms. To match that factory instruments, but the key thing Sounds and Projects can be moved
on my Mac I’d need to be running around is that they’re the engines for other across, again by observing correct folder
a 64-sample buffer or smaller. packages. Retro Machines, for example, is placement. NI’s software suite uses
Maschine has a working structure that a Kontakt-powered instrument, and Monark centralised locations for storing factory
I really like. Tracks (‘Groups’) are selected and Prism are Reaktor-based. and user patches/projects. This hierarchy
from the eight backlit pads on the left, This all adds up to a huge palette of is maintained on the Maschine+ SD
and each have 16 individual polyphonic sound and synth engines compared to card. Moving content between the two
sequencing lanes and audio paths. Drum any similar workstation. There is a notable environments is a manual drag-and-drop
Kits populate a whole Group with 16 limitation though. Maschine+ has the same process. A better way to manage or
sounds, and can mix sampled and synth control and display access as the controller synchronise your stuff is top of my wish list.
sources. The kits that come with the in a regular Maschine setup, so can’t access Once you figure out how the library
Maschine Library and Expansions are things that rely on the computer screen. is structured a couple of sneaky (and
beautifully crafted and never fail to inspire. This includes plug-in UIs and automation unsupported) possibilities present
The individual Sound lanes in a Group data. You can only control (and automate) themselves: bringing in Kontakt libraries
can also host key-mapped instruments or the parameters pre-mapped to encoders and Reaktor patches. The former is
plug-ins. Maschine users will be familiar with in the NKS patches. What you have then only possible with unencrypted Kontakt
the six multi-mode Drum Synth modules is essentially a sophisticated preset and presets; most commercial libraries
that come as standard, as well as the macro synth, similar to NI’s long-gone secure the sample media in an archive
internal Bass Synth. Like the internal effects Kore or Arturia’s Analog Lab. It’s brilliant that the Maschine+ can’t access. Kontakt
modules, these are native to Maschine for tweaking and modulating existing libraries that do work get the benefit of
and have no graphical interface. Modules sounds, but deeper programming or control disk streaming. Most hardware samplers,
and device chains are represented as mapping needs to be pre-configured on including the MPCs, always load samples
thumbnails, and parameters are mapped in your computer. into RAM, so are limited by the on-board
pages across the eight encoders. memory. Kontakt (but not Maschine’s native
User Content sample engine) is able to work directly from
Sounds Though there’s a lot built in, you’ll want the SD card so can open large patches.
The beating heart of the Maschine and to get your own sounds on board. This If you have a license for the full
Komplete platforms is the sound browser, can be in the shape of pure sample version of Reaktor on your NI account,
which collates your sound sources into content, or your own NKS-format patches. instruments (‘Ensembles’) can be copied
a tagged patch library with audio previews Sample-wise, the 64GB SD card should go on to the SD card and show up in the
and controller assignments. The desktop a long way, but if you need more space it’s Browser with their embedded patch
Maschine can run all of NI’s plug-in not expensive to upgrade. The Maschine+ states. This is brilliant news if you build
instruments and effects, each of which has a dedicated storage mode which stuff in Reaktor, but I was also able to
has its patches in the Maschine library’s mounts the SD card if the unit is connected bring in a number of the instruments from
NKS format. A number of third-parties like to your computer. (It doesn’t do this in the Reaktor Factory Library, including
Arturia, Softube and Waves also support Controller Mode but we’ll come back to some all-time favourites like Subharmonic
the NKS patch format. that.) More conveniently, you can pop out and Steampipe. Reaktor Blocks content
Unsurprisingly, Maschine+ doesn’t the SD card, which I found you can do even does not work. My excitement was
have general plug-in support, but it does while a standalone project is open. dampened when I encountered some
come with a handful of NI instruments You can dump raw samples and loops issues: the ensembles I smuggled in could
and effects over and above Maschine’s onto the SD card, as long as you put them stop responding after a while, and did not
internal modules. On the instrument side in a pre-defined User Content folder. The work after re-opening a project. Still, it
you get FM8, Monark, Kontakt, Massive, Maschine+ currently has no generic file and shows the potential of this platform.
Prism, Reaktor and Retro Machines. directory manager. However, in Maschine’s
Premium effects are the reverb Raum, and Browser, your folders show up as Banks in
Performance
phaser Phasis. Reaktor, Prism and FM8 the user One-Shots and Loops categories. Like a computer-based DAW, Maschine+
can also be used for effects, the latter I’d previously tagged most of my samples will let you keep adding tracks, instruments

48 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
and effects until you run out of processing
or memory resources. The point at which Power Points
audio rendering starts to glitch out depends
largely on which plug-ins you use. Projects The Maschine MkIII runs happily on USB power: It’s a shame the Maschine+ doesn’t have its
mostly built with Maschine’s traditional the screens are bright enough on USB-power own battery, but you can run from external power
alone that the PSU isn’t worth the trouble. The packs which have a 15V DC supply. I tried two
sample-based kits and instruments can same goes for the Maschine+ in controller mode, different battery packs designed for laptops and
comfortably grow large. When using the but standalone operation requires you to plug in. both worked well. I settled on a standard Sony
premium instrument plug-ins or a few The power port has an unusual locking connector camera battery with a 15V DC output that happily
complex effects chains, I found I could max that twists into place. On the face of it this is powered the Maschine+ all day. On a whim I tried
out the CPU pretty quickly. a great idea. Without a battery, it’s game over the small 12V bank I use for Elektron devices and
A typical project for me might include should your cable get yanked out on stage. For even that worked. The Maschine+ has clearly
studio use I’d rather cables detached gracefully been engineered to tolerate a range of power,
a drum kit, a couple of tracks with chopped
without pulling my device off the desk. You don’t and in typical operation uses a lot less than its
samples or loops, three or four synths have to engage the lock though, so it’s up to you. official rating.
and a couple more tracks sequencing
external gear with effects on the channels.
I always add some Performance FX on the Rather than ARM though, the CPU is taken it can run reasonably complex projects with
Groups as well. These kinds of projects, from the Intel Atom range of embedded low latency.
typically around eight Groups wide, proved mobile processors. This might not have
generally within the Maschine+’s scope, much raw grunt, but makes sense. Last
Clips
although sometimes only just. I found high year I tried to make a DIY standalone The established workflow in Maschine
polyphony on the fancy synths like Massive Maschine by pairing a MkIII controller with is based around Patterns, which are
or Prism, or recalling Lock snapshots my Microsoft Surface Pro. This had plenty Group-level sequence chunks. Patterns are
(especially with Morphing enabled), were of power, but the fan noise and audio organised into combinations called Scenes in
the fastest way to spike the processor and latency were horrible. The Maschine+ the Ideas workspace, where you can perform
get crackles. processor is modest by comparison, but impromptu arrangements. Maschine projects
Spec-wise, the Maschine+ has 4GB of it doesn’t need a fan, and as its custom also have a linear timeline where Scenes can
RAM, double that of the Akai workstations. Linux OS is entirely dedicated to Maschine be arranged as Sections.
 ON TE S T
N ATI V E INS T RU M E N T S M A S C HIN E +

The Maschine+ measures 322 x 301 x 51 mm

and weighs in at 2.5kg. Many of us will have owned The Clips implementation affects the only way back is a second-layer softkey
laptops heavier than that. Maschine’s operation at a fairly fundamental function in the timeline display view.
level. This is reflected in some naming Although I was sceptical about the
Back when we reviewed Maschine changes on the mode buttons: Arranger is conceptual implementation of Clips, they
Jam, NI announced that they were now Ideas/Song; and Pattern is now Pattern/ are really useful. It’s refreshing to be able to
working on a Song Layer that would Clip. By default, projects act as they did record MIDI directly into the timeline as an
allow free recording or placement of previously: The Pattern button brings up the alternative to building from loops. It’s similar
content into the timeline, breaking pattern pool for the focused track, and the to the common MPC approach of working
out of the grid structure. This never Ideas button displays the Scene manager. in a single long sequence, scooting around
materialised as a Jam-powered feature, Shift-push Ideas and you’ll switch to the the timeline with the main encoder. I even
but has been resurrected as Clips in the timeline Song view, which now has mode ended up making a completely off-grid
Maschine+ software release. Clips can buttons for shifting the whole workstation ambient piece with no Patterns at all.
be recorded directly into the timeline, between Section and Clip focus. The main idea is that you’ll use the
or you can convert Patterns to Clips. I found the change frustrating at times, Ideas and Sections concept to sketch an
Clips and Pattens can exist on the same particularly the fact that the Ideas/Song arrangement, then use Clips to add linear
track, but where they overlap the Clips button doesn’t toggle you between the sections, fills and transitions. It doesn’t
take precedence. modes. Once you’ve moved to Song mode, particularly work for overdubbing fills

50 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 though, as Clips always mask whatever is its MIDI tracks. This simply loops one clip supports MIDI interfaces: I connected
underneath them. You can Duplicate the per Sound lane, and gives you the option to a Retrokits RK-006 and gained 10 extra
track, but this is wasteful of resources and gate and pitch the audio via MIDI. output ports! NI’s keyboards work as
splits your mix. Converting Patterns to Clips This is OK for dropping in loops, but is generic MIDI controllers, and the MkII
doesn’t help as the whole section (every super fiddly for actually recording audio into S-Series, A-Series and M32 will eventually
track) get converted and you get separate a Song. There’s no equivalent to the audio get extended support. This will bring the
Clips either side of the grid boundary. tracks in a DAW (or MPC), where you can same browsing, control mapping and smart
What’s still missing is the ability to simply record into the timeline. Clips does play features as with the Komplete Kontrol
capture an overall performance into the give you an approximation: you can arm the and Maschine desktop apps.
Arranger. You can’t lay down a Scene Sampler in Sync record mode, create a clip External MIDI synths can be sequenced
arrangement in real time, you can only in the Arranger and record into it. But each over USB or standard MIDI ports, and
record one track at a time, and you can’t new recording requires you first to switch clock can be received or sent over either.
record automation or Lock snapshots across to a new sound slot in the track and load MIDI CC control is somewhat problematic
the timeline. Akai have this nailed in their an audio device onto it. It’s confusing and from a standalone point of view because
latest Force update, so the challenge is set! frustrating. you can’t create the necessary macro
Maschine Jam had a built-in workflow controls directly on the hardware. You
Audio Unit that pulled the functionality together in need a Sound preset to have been created
The other thing you’re inevitably going a usable way, letting you quickly grab in the desktop app. Native Instruments
to want to do is record audio as Clips. audio into Pattern slots like a looper or have included templates for some popular
Audio recording in Maschine is done in its Octatrack. This is not present on the devices with extensive, labelled controls.
dedicated Sampler mode, which captures Maschine+ and frankly Maschine now really I was particularly interested in whether
one external or internal audio source needs a straightforward way to record and I could connect my Maschine Jam. Jam’s
at a time. This is fine for editing, slicing, manipulate audio in the timeline. easy Pattern, Scene and Lock access,
layering and key-mapping samples for and mixer and effect controls, save you
use in the Sampler instrument plug-in. For
Peripheral Vision a lot of mode switching, and are great for
straightforward playback of loops or linear Like the MPCs, the Maschine+ hosts MIDI live work and improvised arrangement.
audio, Maschine uses an Audio plug-in in devices directly over USB, and even However, Jam has recently been

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 ON TE S T
N ATI V E INS T RU M E N T S M A S C HIN E +

the hardware with Maschine

desktop/plug-in. Maschine’s
on-board audio interface
becomes available to your
computer, as do the traditional
MIDI ports, but USB connections
do not. If you had any synths or
interfaces connected via USB
that you want to continue to
access, you’ll need to reconnect
them to your computer.
The MPCs show how this can
be handled much better. When
you switch an MPC to controller
mode its storage mounts on
your computer, so you can
simply load your project directly
without moving it or collecting
assets. What’s more, the MPC
Clips as seen in the Maschine software. acts like a MIDI hub so the
However, one thing missing compared to devices you had connected can be used
discontinued, and NI have not committed some rivals is CV. If you want to hook up without reconnecting.
to making it work with the Maschine+. to your Eurorack, you’re going to need
It’s not just USB MIDI that’s supported a MIDI/CV converter.
Conclusion
on the Maschine+. You can switch to an If, like me, you love the way Maschine works,
external USB audio interface. Right now
The Big Picture the idea of having it as a self-contained
this is only officially supported with the You could use Maschine+ in place of workstation can’t fail to appeal. Maschine+
NI Komplete Audio interfaces. These top a computer, and produce and perform goes way further than I’d imagined, with
out at six channels (four analogue), but music without ever docking with desktop-class plug-ins and expandable I/O.
provide a way to connect mics that require a computer. However, I imagine most But do you need it? The regular Maschine
phantom power. users will want to move projects one way gives you all this and more for half the price
NI have not blocked you from trying or the other. I typically use Maschine to (assuming you have a computer). But there’s
other class-compliant USB interfaces. My play around with new ideas and jam with obviously a case for live performance. If
portable Zoom U-44 showed up as both hardware synths. Then I’ll open the project I was setting up a live show this is what
an audio and MIDI interface. But the real in the plug-in version to progress the idea I’d base it around. And then there’s the
stunner for me was that my Zoom L-12 in my DAW. Others may go the other way, draw of simply having a unit that you can
mixer/interface — which is the hub for perhaps to pull apart finished tracks and move around, or simply use without the
all my synths — worked perfectly! This prep them for live performance. faff of your laptop. It’s a luxury item, but
gave me 12 inputs and two stereo output On the regular, computer-based priced comparably to Elektron’s flagship
streams back from the Maschine. I could Maschine the workflow is trivial: you’ve grooveboxes and the premium MPCs.
swap from a computer/DAW-centric setup got one library and one set of connections Though the feature set exceeded my
to standalone simply by unplugging that you can access whether you’re expectations, I’ve not fully fallen in love with
my USB hub from the computer and using Maschine as a separate app or as the Plus yet. There are things that could
connecting to the back of Maschine+. a plug-in. Moving between the untethered do with refinement. Old frustrations like
So Maschine+ is well connected; it Maschine+ and your computer-based setup the inability to capture Scene or Snapshot
even supports Ableton Link over Wi-Fi. is not as straightforward as it could be. triggers into the timeline are joined by new
To take an idea from standalone to ones, like the audio recording limitations
Maschine to your computer, you need to and pitfalls when moving a project to your
ALTERNATIVES
copy across the Project (either via Storage computer. I hadn’t expected the amazing
Direct competition comes from Akai’s
standalone MPCs: the One, Live II and mode or popping the SD card), and make synth portfolio, but having got it I soon
X. The One is strong on price, the Live sure any referenced assets are available. wanted more access to them beyond the
is a great sofa surfer with its battery Anything you sampled will be in your preset macros. But it’s early days, and while
and speakers, and the X is a good hub Projects folder or the global Recordings there’s plenty of room for improvement, the
with on-board I/O and encoder count.
folder, but anything else you use from your Maschine+ is already incredibly powerful
But it will likely come down to whether
you prefer the MPC or Maschine way library or user files won’t, and there’s no as both a beat workstation and a DAW-free
of working. Akai’s Force has a more equivalent to the software version’s ‘Save synth hub. And that rich sound palette and
modern workflow, and is the only option Project with Samples’ command. I got fast and fluid workflow always keeps me
with realtime arrangement capture. Other pretty used to seeing the Missing Samples coming back to Maschine.
options for serious consideration are
Elektron’s Analog RYTM MkII, the 1010 dialogue pop up.
Blackbox and Roland’s MC-707. Having moved your files, you need to $ $1399
switch to controller mode to continue using W www.native-instruments.com

52 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON TE S T

Arturia KeyStep 37
Controller Keyboard any regular portable charger or add the
optional mains PSU. If you’re plugged
Arturia’s popular KeyStep controller goes up a gear. into a computer, MIDI notes sent to the
KeyStep 37 via USB goes to all outputs,
SIMON SHERBOURNE
because it is. On the rear panel, the so it can work like a single-channel
connectivity is the same except that the MIDI/CV interface.

T
hink of the KeyStep 37 as USB connection has been upgraded to
a MkII deluxe version of the a full-sized port, and there’s now a power
Arping On
classic KeyStep. (The original switch. As well as USB there’s regular Many controllers and synths feature
32-key model is still around, providing 5-pin DIN MIDI In and Out, a modular arpeggiators, but the KeyStep 37’s is
a lower-priced, more backpackable voice set of Pitch, Gate and Mod, a little bit special. It goes further than
option). Like its smaller sibling, the 37 is analogue clock in and out, and a sustain the usual modes and controls you’d
a MIDI keyboard with an arpeggiator and pedal input. The 37 retains the pair of expect, with niceties like exclusive and
step sequencer. Added to the mix are dip-switches for clock settings, making inclusive up/down mode, variable gate
an extra five keys, MIDI CC controls and a refreshing change from menu-diving. length and swing.
advanced chord and scale functions. Up top, the extended keyboard now Joining the modes from the original
Most of the multitude of compact has key lights, and there’s a new section 32-key model and KeyStep Pro is
MIDI keyboards on the market focus on with four knobs and a button. All the Pattern mode, which was an innovation
controlling DAWs and apps. on the MicroFreak synth.
They typically provide a mix This creates a random
of controls for software “The KeyStep 37 goes to places most note pattern that repeats
mapping, and sometimes instead of randomising
add some smart integration
MIDI controllers fear to step...” each cycle, and has
with particular software. a specific length that you
Nearly all are USB-only. The KeySteps other controls carry over from the 32, can set up to 64 notes. You can add
take a unique approach that’s more about including the Sequencer/Arp slider switch more notes to alter the pattern, and
playing and generating musical ideas. and eight-way selector knobs which have change the length on the fly. It’s a really
The KeyStep Pro is a central sequencing a satisfyingly old-school synth feel. great way to generate semi-random
hub for a hybrid setup, while the 32 and I spent much of the review with the sequences within parameters you can
37 are ideal as companions to synths or KeyStep plugged directly into an MPC control. The only thing you can’t do
other sequencing environments. Live via USB. This was able to power (which you can on the MicroFreak)
the keyboard as well as host it as is capture the result to a slot in the
First Steps a class-compliant MIDI device. If you want Sequencer.
The KeyStep 37 looks like a slightly to run standalone but use the MIDI or CV The Arp and Sequencer both benefit
elongated version of the KeyStep, outputs, you can juice the device from from a new scale option, which contains

54 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 In Control
When not controlling chords, the four new to avoid jumps when changing banks. For CV
knobs on the KeyStep 37’s panel generate MIDI Mod control you can choose the Mod touchstrip,
CCs, and the Chord button serves a secondary velocity, or aftertouch as your source.
duty of cycling through four control banks. The The MCC app also reveals some advanced
assignments can be edited directly on the unit, features that really impressed me. For example,
but you have more straightforward and detailed you can set a port and channel for transposing
control of this from Arturia’s standard MIDI the sequencer from an external source. And
Control Center software. you can choose whether sequence changes are
The knobs can have independent MIDI queued, instant and reset, or instant from the
channels or follow the User channel, and you can same step position. Arturia are always strong
set ranges. There’s even a knob-scaling option on details like this.

notes to a chosen mode and key. Other

than Chromatic, there are only three
preset scales to choose from (Major,
Minor and Blues), but you can very
quickly define a User scale by holding the
notes that you want to include.

Striking A Chord
The original KeyStep 32 has a basic
chords feature where you can capture
a chord shape that you’re holding, then
play it with single keys. The 37 can do
this and a lot more besides, being able
to auto-generate chords of various Advanced settings, back-up and control assignments are available in the MIDI Control Center,
types, choose the number of notes, and and it even has a piano-roll sequencer editor.
transpose in key within a selected scale.
These chords can be combined with
the Arpeggiator. The KeyStep 37’s sequencer is last is particularly fun, throwing off your
But the most striking and addictive fundamentally the same as on the classic loop length in unpredictable, polymetric
feature of the KeyStep 37 is the Strum 32, but it is elevated by the new scales ways. The enhanced chords functions,
function. I’ve used the strum option on and chord features. including Strum, can also be triggered
Native Instruments’ Maschine controllers, The sequencer primarily uses by the current sequence.
where you manually strum a held chord step-entry mode, although there is a live
via a touchstrip. The KeyStep 37’s strum record/replace mode which quantises
Conclusion
works differently: it plays chords as to the nearest step. In the classic SH-101 The KeyStep 37 goes to places most
a sequence of notes in ascending or style, you enter note and rests with the MIDI controllers fear to step, with full
descending order, like strumming a guitar transport stopped, and the sequence standalone capability and both MIDI
chord. The right-most of the new knobs length is simply determined by the and CV connectivity as well as the usual
sets the speed and direction. At the far number of entries. At any time, however, USB. But more than that it’s an inspiring
end of the knob’s range are sync’ed you can adjust to a specific loop length. musical companion and idea generator
strum speeds, providing an alternative Eight sequence memory slots are for any synth, sequencing workstation
take on arpeggiation. available from the first dial. or DAW.
An added expressive feature is being What makes the KeyStep quite magical
able to tie the number of notes in the chord is interacting with sequences in real time. summary
to velocity. Play softly for smaller chords, You can transpose the sequence with A great step up from the original KeyStep,
and strike the keys for up to 16 notes. the keyboard and flip between scales. with absorbingly fun sequencing and
You can overdub or replace notes in performance features.
In Sequence real time within the current loop, or use
The KeyStep is probably best known for the Append mode to keep adding extra $ $169
its classic step-sequencing functionality. notes to the end of the sequence. This W www.arturia.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 55
 ON TE S T

Ocean Way HR5

PHIL WARD

W
ho says all nearfield monitors
are the same? The subject of
this review is the Ocean Way
HR5 active nearfield monitor and it’s very
much not run-of-the-mill, either in terms of
Active Monitors
its appearance or electro-acoustic design. Ocean Way’s newest studio speakers bring the sound of
It’s an unusual one there is no doubt.
’70s horn-loaded mains to the nearfield monitor format.
Before I get on to why the HR5 looks the
way it does, and what that means, perhaps high-end complexes (Hollywood, Sherman are an 18cm bass/mid driver and a 25mm
a little Ocean Way background would Oaks, St Barths and Nashville), for which soft-dome tweeter. Substantially obscured
be appropriate. Sides designed all the main monitoring, as they are, it’s not easy to discern much
The Ocean Way name has been around before it was sold in 2013. Sides’ Ocean concerning the drivers’ construction.
in pro audio since the mid-1970s, when Way business now manufactures a range Around the back of the cabinet is an
teenage musician and audio enthusiast of both pro-audio monitors and high-end amplifier heatsink and connection panel,
Allen Sides began building speakers and hi-fi speakers. and an unflared circular reflex port. The
recording bands in a rented garage in Los The HR5 is the latest and the most choice of an unflared port will lower the
Angeles. Sides named his business Ocean compact in the Ocean Way range to volume level at which the airflow will
Way after the street in which the garage employ the same horn-loading techniques become turbulent, with port compression
was located. Outgrowing the garage, as the company’s main monitors. It’s also and distortion effects becoming apparent
Sides rented space at the United Western the only fully horn-loaded monitor of at lower volume levels than they
Recorders studio on Sunset Boulevard, nearfield proportions that I’m aware of otherwise would.
where his recording and speaker-building (although at 31 x 45 x 37 cm and weighing The HR5 amplification offers balanced
business then grew to such an extent just over 17kg, it’s a relatively big and XLR analogue and AES3 digital inputs, an
that in 1988 he was able to buy the entire heavy nearfield monitor). AES3 output, input sensitivity adjustment
studio, and rename it Ocean Way. The Within the cabinet, all but hidden and four configuration LEDs that
Ocean Way studio group grew to four behind its complex, multi-profile horns, illuminate in conjunction with a pinhole

56 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
button. Pressing this button cycles possible the public address systems in anomalies that are often responsible for
through configuration options for input movie theatres and live music venues, and horn-loaded speakers having a reputation
selection, digital input left or right channel the high volume levels required of main for a characteristic subjective quality.
assignment, and an 85Hz roll-off option monitors in recording studios. It was only The shape of the horn as it expands
for use when the HR5 is partnered with the arrival of transistor power that began away from the throat is also critical,
a subwoofer (the Ocean Way S10A is to make horns unnecessary. and while the simplest geometry (a
advertised as a suitable option). Different But how, I hear you ask, does straight-sided cone) can work, the
LEDs illuminate depending on the a horn increase efficiency? It’s all about efficiency gain it provides is minimal
configuration selected. In terms of power radiation impedance. When a naked at lower frequencies. Exponentially
ratings, the HR5’s ICEpower Class-D driver diaphragm moves in a fluid (air, for expanding horns can provide suitably
amplification offers a reasonably generous instance), the power it transfers depends increased efficiency gain at lower
125 Watts for the bass/mid driver and 90 on the fluid’s density. A big difference frequencies, but also demonstrate
Watts for the tweeter. a ‘cliff-edge’
So, behind the plane “The HR5 can claim a direct lineage back low-frequency-cutoff.
of the drivers, the HR5 To these complications
is actually a relatively to West Coast rock & roll history... even of horn length, mouth
conventional two-way size, flare rate and
compact ported speaker.
I couldn’t resist playing ‘Hotel California’ for flare shape, you can
The compression the first time in many decades.” also add the potential
horns located in front extra efficiency gains
of the drivers obviously mark it out as between the density of the diaphragm provided by a ‘compression’ design,
a little different, however, so I’ll spend and the density of the fluid is equivalent where the cross-sectional area of the
a paragraph or two attempting to get our to an impedance mismatch in an electrical throat is significantly smaller than that of
collective heads around fundamentals of circuit. Imagine trying to power yourself the driver diaphragm. Non-symmetrical
horn-loaded speakers. along by doing a front crawl swimming arrangements, of the type employed
stroke in air rather than in water. It doesn’t by the HR5, where dissimilar lateral
Sounding The Horn work in air because air is very much less and vertical flare and length are also an
Back in the days before transistors, dense than water. The higher density of option. Clearly, when you decide to design
and certainly before Class-D amplifiers water stops the molecules from moving a horn-loaded speaker, there’s an awful lot
made high audio power levels so easily sideways to get out of the way of your of parameters to juggle.
accessible, relatively low-power valve gracefully sweeping hands. Fish can move If that were not enough, along with
amplifiers were the only option and, as rapidly in the water with small fins, while the efficiency gain that results from horn
a result, speaker efficiency (electrical birds need big wings to stay in the air, all loading, you also get some control of
power in against acoustic power out) for the same reason. dispersion. With a naked driver, dispersion
was at a premium. Even now, typical Adding a horn to the front of a speaker is fundamentally defined by the size of
‘naked’ bass/mid drivers struggle to works because, down at the business the diaphragm, but with a horn, dispersion
achieve single-figure efficiency. And end, otherwise known as the throat, the is defined by the size of the mouth and
that’s where horn loading initially came horn essentially stops the air moving the angle of flare. Ocean Way, in their
in. By increasing the effective efficiency sideways and getting out of the way of marketing material, advertise that the
of moving-coil drivers, horn loading made the diaphragm. The length and flare of HR5 horizontal dispersion extends to
the horn then progressively blend the ±50 degrees, a number that roughly
radiation impedance at the throat into that approximates the average horizontal
Ocean Way HR5 of free air. The principle is pretty simple, flare angle of its horns. Now, ±50
$3286 however, as with many simple principles, if degrees is quite an ambitious claim, but
you dig a little deeper it gets complicated. no limits were provided, so we don’t
PROS
The complications arise mostly because know if that’s -0dB, -3dB or -XdB of the
• Dynamic, horn-loaded character.
• Neutral tonal balance across a wide we live in a universe in which the laws of axial frequency response, or over what
horizontal angle. physics dictate that the most effective way bandwidth. It’ll be interesting to take some
• Plays loud without complaint. of transitioning from the throat to an exit FuzzMeasure data and see. As far as
CONS in the listening space requires horns many vertical dispersion is concerned, Ocean
• Amplification a little noisy. metres long (and consequently many Way claim ±20 degrees, but again, this is
• A little short on reproducing explicit metres in height and width). Usable horns without the benefit of any limits.
mix detail. have to end at some practical length, Returning to the horn-loading efficiency
• Restricted vertical dispersion. however, and that both puts a limit on the gain for a moment, the reason that it is
SUMMARY lowest frequency at which they will work, potentially of benefit in a nearfield monitor
The HR5 measures up to its and results in resonant standing waves is that it means the drivers have to work
unusual looks with an unusual being set up along their length. Above far less hard to generate the necessary
performance, especially in terms of the cutoff frequency, a series of peaks volume levels than they would in a direct
its wide horizontal but narrow vertical
and troughs in the frequency response radiating design. All other things being
dispersion. Perhaps not suited to all
genres, the things it does well, it does arise as a consequence of the standing equal (warning: all other things are rarely
very well indeed. waves. It’s these resonant response equal!), this should result in lower levels of

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 57
 ON TE S T
O C E A N WAY H R 5

distortion and thermal compression, and

an ability to play louder. There is one fly
in that ointment, however: thanks to the
HR5’s bass/mid horn being relatively small,
its cutoff is around 150 to 200 Hz, and
below that frequency the system will tend
to behave more like a conventional direct
radiator. This means that it’s potentially
the low-mid/bass band, rather than the
higher-frequency horn-assisted band, that
will define the HR5’s maximum volume
limits and distortion behaviour.
Diagram 1: The orange and green traces show the frequency response matching between two HR5
Measuring Up speakers. Matching is better than ±1dB across their entire bandwidth.
So, to some Fuzzmeasure data. Diagram
1 shows an axial frequency response
of the HR5 from 300Hz to 20kHz. The
measuring mic was 60cm distant and
aligned vertically with the lip between
the HR5’s two horns. The first thing to
note is that actually there are two curves
in Diagram 1, one for each of the pair of
monitors. Ocean Way claim in the HR5
marketing material to achieve better than
±1dB left/right pair matching, but based
on Diagram 1 they actually do rather
Diagram 2: The response of the HR5, on-axis (green) and 50 degrees horizontally off-axis (blue).
better than that, which is admirable. The
second thing to note is the gentle ‘dipped’ look significant but I’d expect them to be Diagram 3 illustrates what I measured.
character of the response shape, with relatively benign in practical terms. At 20 degrees upwards, the HR5 again
the minimum centred at just above 5kHz. The Ocean Way argument in favour of shows well-managed dispersion that’s
This measured response shape confirms wide horizontal dispersion is that it helps generally within about 4dB of the
some comments Ocean Way made to me ensure multiple listeners hear the same reference axial response. However, 20
about how the HR5’s frequency response tonal balance, and that the stereo ‘sweet degrees below shows a significant dip
is voiced for the most useful real-world spot’ is expanded. I’m personally not around 1.5kHz (the output above about
balance. The last thing to note about the entirely convinced by these arguments. 5kHz is also attenuated slightly but that’s
HR5’s axial response is that, although the Firstly, nearfield monitoring tends to be, partly a result of the increased distance
average trend is admirably flat (intentional almost by definition, a one-person job, between tweeter and measuring mic). The
balance tweaks aside), it’s relatively and secondly there’s a psycho-acoustic dip is almost certainly a result of phase
uneven. This suggests there’s multiple argument that, especially when speakers cancellation between the two drivers in
minor diffraction and standing-wave are used in smaller rooms, directing the crossover region, where their outputs
phenomena at play throughout significant wide-bandwidth audio out overlap. A phase cancellation dip in one
the bandwidth. sideways to reflect from the side walls vertical off-axis direction is very common
Diagram 2 shows a repeat of the does no favours. It will drive the room in multiway speakers, so the HR5 is
axial response of Diagram 1 overlaid with acoustics harder and bring the reverberant by no means alone in displaying such
a response taken at 50 degrees off-axis field closer to the nearfield. The extended a phenomenon, however the relatively low
horizontally. From 300Hz to 12kHz the stereo sweet spot argument is also, to crossover frequency of the HR5 puts the
HR5 is around -6dB at 50 degrees. Below my mind, a little superficial because dip at a sensitive point in the bandwidth
300Hz, as is the case with most similarly the perception of stereo is dominated and I’d expect the dip to be audible.
sized monitors, the HR5’s dispersion tends by inter-aural arrival times and not by Having said that though, I guess listening
towards omnidirectional, and above 12kHz differences in volume level. Certainly, to the HR5 from a below-axis position
some horn standing wave or diffraction wider horizontal dispersion will mean is unlikely.
effects impose a couple of sharp response that multiple listeners are more likely to Diagram 4, the last FuzzMeasure curve
anomalies. In the grand scheme of things perceive a similar tonal balance, but I’m before I get to describing my subjective
however, the HR5’s horizontal off-axis not convinced it can significantly improve feelings about the HR5, shows a frequency
response is impressive. There are few stereo imaging (other than by making response obtained by placing the
conventional, direct-radiating monitors it less explicit through placing listeners measuring mic on the central axis about
that achieve anything like linear and well in the reverberant field) at a non-central halfway ‘down’ the HR5’s low/mid driver
controlled dispersion, especially through listening position. horn. There’s no particularly definitive data
the midrange, right out to 50 degrees. Moving on to vertical dispersion, the to be gleaned from Diagram 4, however
Finally on horizontal dispersion, the HR5 Ocean Way claim is ±20 degrees, although I’ve included it for interest because its
response anomalies above 12kHz may again that’s without any defining limits. uneven nature perhaps illustrates the horn

58 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
It all
started here.
 ON TE S T
O C E A N WAY H R 5

standing wave phenomena I mentioned

earlier and how they introduce resonant
dips and bumps. For example, I wonder
if the sharp feature just below 200Hz
is evidence of the horn cutoff? In any
event, a naked driver in a baffle measured
with a microphone at a similar distance
would almost certainly display far greater
evenness of frequency response.

Listening In
I listened to the HR5 in my usual setup
with the monitors around 1.5m apart, Diagram 3: The HR5’s vertical dispersion characteristics. The red, green and blue traces show,
respectively, the on-axis, 20 degrees above, and 20 degrees below-axis responses.
mounted at seated head height on
extremely rigid wall brackets. As usual,
the diet was a variety of Pro Tools mix
sessions and well-known tracks ripped
from CD. The first thing to note was
a slightly disappointing audible level of
hum and hiss. We give active nearfield
monitors a very hard time in terms of
amplifier noise through listening so close,
and the HR5’s noise isn’t a deal breaker
(and it’s by no means the worst I’ve heard)
because it becomes effectively inaudible
once music is playing. However, it is
Diagram 4: The HR5’s LF response, measured at the lower horn.
audible in the gaps and slightly distracting
when nothing is playing. bandwidth as its 45Hz specification would traditional, horn-loaded American studio
Moving on to playing some music, suggest, and I suspect a good closed-box monitoring, and it undoubtedly looks
The HR5’s fundamental tonal balance monitor would offer more in the way of very cool, but more than that, the HR5
immediately sounded well judged and low-frequency detail, pitch security and can claim a direct lineage back to West
to my ears right on the money. I’d have timing, but the HR5 bass was relatively Coast rock & roll history. I can absolutely
few worries making mix or mastering free of ported speaker flaws and the see that for some users this will all be
judgements on overall balance and overall bass level was well judged. enough, and even I couldn’t resist playing
I’d expect mixes to translate well in Almost all monitors are of course ‘Hotel California’ for the first time in many
those terms. a mixed bag, and along with its positives decades (and, for the record, I don’t
The second characteristic of the HR5 the HR5 displays a couple of subjective mind admitting I loved it). To my mind,
that I established pretty quickly is that, negatives for me: the way it presents mix while the HR5 is perhaps not an ideal
while it demonstrates good subjective detail, and some coloration on voices. In monitor for acoustic folk, jazz or traditional
tonal consistency horizontally, it’s not the first case, I never quite got the feeling classical genres, if I were working in
so strong vertically. The 1.5kHz dip at that I was able to hear really deeply into EDM, guitar-based indie or commercial
20 degrees below axis was audible and a mix. Some mix elements appeared pop production, for example, its wide
I had to be careful with my posture while a little veiled: plug-in effects, for example, bandwidth, dynamic nature, well-judged
listening. If I slouched and let my head sometimes seemed a harder to judge than tonal balance and ability to play loud
drop too far there was a noticeable tonal I’d like. Stereo image focus and depth also without changing character or showing
change; voices in particular became appeared less explicit than I’d expected, any signs of strain might well be exactly
somewhat recessed and dull. Vertical and the sense that some monitors provide, what’s needed.
dispersion upwards however was far more of all the components of a mix individually Monitoring is of course a personal
consistent and reliable. laid out for inspection, wasn’t quite there decision and my opinion just one among
So the HR5 scores well subjectively for me with the HR5. And in the second many. That the HR5 didn’t entirely deliver
in terms of overall balance and case, I often use simple voice recordings for me doesn’t mean it won’t for you.
horizontal dispersion, and it displays the when appraising monitors and with the If I were in the monitor market at the
dynamic, explicit character I’d expect of HR5 I felt the balance between vowel and HR5’s price and wanted to try something
a horn-loaded monitor, with apparently consonant elements was slightly awry, a bit leftfield as a contrast to all those
no practical limit on loudness (I gave up with the former suppressed and the latter, conventional active two-way boxes, the
before it did). If you regularly monitor at especially sibilance, exaggerated. Female HR5 would be a perfect fit.  
high levels, the HR5 will be of interest. voices in particular also occasionally took
Similarly, despite its unflared port design, on a mild nasal character, and cymbals
$ $3286 per pair.
I didn’t have many issues with the way sometimes sounded a little thick. T Ocean Way Audio +1 818 847 8757
the HR5 plays bass. Subjectively, it didn’t Despite all that, the HR5 has much E info@oceanwayaudio.com
seem quite as extended in terms of to recommend it: its roots are firmly in W www.oceanwayaudio.com

60 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
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 ON TE S T

MOD Devices MOD Duo X

Hardware Plug-in Host & Controller Like its predecessor, the MOD Duo X is
a stereo/dual-mono device that can host
Now you can rock the MOD on your desktop! open-source Linux LV2 plug-ins. Editing
is done via a web browser, with the MOD
RORY DOW
Over the product’s lifetime, the folks at Duo X connected to your computer. The
MOD Devices noticed that more and editor gives you a sandbox playground

B
ack in November 2017, Paul more people were using the MOD Duo as for creating modular pedalboards, as well
White reviewed the MOD Duo, a desktop device, creating not just guitar as assigning the MOD Duo X’s physical
a guitar stompbox that hosts effects but also synths, MIDI processors buttons and knobs to various parameters.
software plug-ins that you can arrange as and even CV processors. So they decided There are hundreds of plug-ins to choose
virtual ‘pedalboards’. A key feature is the to make another version of the MOD Duo, from and there’s also a large library of
open platform, which allows third-party this time aimed at those desktop musicians. user-made pedalboards. Once you’re
developers to release compatible plug-ins. The result is the MOD Duo X. done editing, your virtual pedalboards are

62 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
available on the device itself, to be used layout on the screens matches the physical
completely standalone. layout, so it’s all very intuitive. There are two Fun with CV
large clickable, endless, rotary encoders,
Hardware Mods eight potentiometers and four backlit on/ If you want to get the Mod Duo X involved
The unit measures 18 x 16 x 4.5 cm and off buttons, all of which can be assigned to with a modular synthesizer or other
CV-hungry device, the expression pedal
it feels very solid. There are twin mono multiple parameters with variable ranges. input and headphone output ports will
quarter-inch audio inputs and outputs handle a pair of CVs when used with a stereo
(with true bypass circuit) on the right and
Software Mods splitter cable. CV inputs can be used to
left sides, along with a headphone output Whilst the MOD Duo X comes installed with control any parameter via the modulation
and expression pedal CV input. The rear a variety of ‘pedalboards’ to get you started, system, but the plug-in library also contains
is home to a 12V power input, Control I imagine most users will be keen to roll up a good number of plug-ins that will generate
or process CVs including clock generators,
Chain Ethernet port, USB type-B socket for their sleeves and build their own. Connect
switches, MIDI-to-CV converters, audio-to-CV
connecting to your computer, a USB type-A to your computer via USB or Bluetooth converters, envelopes, LFOs and more.
port, which allows for hosting USB-MIDI and enter the device’s IP number into your
peripherals, MIDI In and Out DIN connectors browser, and you’re presented with the
and an S/PDIF digital output on eight-inch pedalboard editor. All hardware inputs are assigned a knob or button to a parameter
jack, which mirrors the analogue outputs. on the left and all outputs on the right; these it is greyed out and unavailable to assign
The Ethernet socket is a proprietary include all audio, MIDI and CV connections. elsewhere. It’s also possible to create macro
connection for MOD Devices’ Control Chain Then, it’s as easy as adding a few plug-ins assignments by enabling the output of a
protocol. You can use it to connect their and connecting them together using virtual ‘MOD Control to CV’ plug-in as a mapping
MOD Footswitch device, which gives you cables. Each plug-in has its own graphical source; a single CV signal can be mapped
four footswitches that can be configured to interface and the whole system looks great to as many parameters as desired.
do anything. The Footswitch has two LCD and feels very slick. Pedalboard sizes are only restricted by
screens which show customisable labels Every plug-in has an info page with CPU and RAM and there are live meters for
for each switch. Control Chain devices can details about its author and its features, both at the bottom of the screen, so you can
be daisy-chained so you can add multiple and you can even see what pedalboards it always see where you’re up to. The MOD
Footswitches or other compatible devices. has been used in. Plug-ins are categorised, Duo X is based around a beefy ARM Cortex
The software and hardware for the MOD which helps greatly when there are so 64-bit Hex-core processor, so there should
Footswitch and the Control Chain protocol many. Not all plug-ins are installed on be plenty of power for most projects.
are, of course, open source — so DIYers or the unit by default. The review model we As soon as a pedalboard is saved,
other manufacturers can make their own received had around 80 plug-ins already it is stored on the unit along with any
compatible devices. installed, but following the link to the plug-in plug-ins needed, and can then be used
The Duo X’s two monochrome, backlit store revealed more than 200 more which completely standalone. If you choose to
LCD screens on the front panel are placed could be installed and used. load pedalboards from other users, any
neatly above two groups of knobs and One of the most important aspects of plug-ins not already present will be installed.
buttons. Because they are LCD and not building your own pedalboard is assigning Pedalboards are organised in banks to help
OLED, they can be a little difficult to see the physical controls. Although the MOD keep things organised and you can browse
unless you’re directly above them, but Duo X has 10 knobs and four buttons, there banks and load pedalboards directly from
they do the job. Their main function is to are actually three pages which can be the unit. You can also use MIDI Program
show you what parameters the knobs are assigned, giving you up to 42 assignable Change or an attached Control Chain
assigned to and their current value. The controls per pedalboard — and that’s Footswitch to switch pedalboards.
before you add MIDI, CV or Control Chain At any point whilst performing with
MOD Devices assignments (see the Control Chain box). a pedalboard, you can save a snapshot.
MOD Duo X Once you assign more than one page of There are two dedicated snapshot
controls, a single button on the front panel is buttons on the front panel and you simply
$749 used to advance to the next page, and the long-press so save a snapshot, and
PROS displays update accordingly. short-press to reload it. This can be really
• Very well built and reliable. Assigning controls to parameters within handy during a performance, as it allows
• Mature and stable software. the pedalboard is easy. You choose which you to return to a specific state quickly.
• Open-source platform. plug-in to work with and click the settings Being a plug-in host, the MOD Duo X
• Hundreds of plug-ins to play with.
cog just above it. This opens up a modal must also deal with tempo and it does so
CONS dialogue box in which you can assign rather well. You can choose between setting
• None of significance. any physical device control, MIDI control an internal tempo, or sync’ing to MIDI clock
SUMMARY change, CV input or attached Control Chain or Ableton Link. Tempo (internal), time
The Mod Devices open-source device to control that parameter. You can signature and transport controls can all be
platform gains a new desktop flagship also give the parameter a name which assigned to front-panel controls.
hosting device, capable of running will appear on the LCD screen and select
hundreds of Linux LV2 plug-ins and a value range. Additionally, each plug-in can
Make Your Own Plug-ins
arranging them in modular-style virtual
pedalboards for standalone use. It
have presets, and you can assign a control For those that code, one of the MOD Duo
should appeal to anyone who likes to to scroll through those, which is a good way X’s biggest selling points will be the ability
‘roll their own’. to make more drastic changes. Once you’ve to make your own plug-ins. Max/MSP

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 63
 ON TE S T
MOD DEVICES MOD DUO X

The pedalboard editor makes connecting Pure Data, Faust, C or C++ can also be used this is a very well-built device and I have no
plug-ins easy with drag-and-drop virtual cabling. to create LV2 plug-ins. The MOD Devices doubt that it would survive the punishments
website, wiki and forums have plenty of of being gigged.
integration is probably the easiest route information and tutorials on how to go about Then there is the computer side of
in. MOD Devices have worked with Max/ creating your own plug-ins. things. MOD Devices have put years of
MSP’s creators Cycling ‘74 to make a Max work into their pedalboard editor, platform
package that can take code exported with
Conclusion and plug-in library, and it shows. The editor
Max/MSP’s gen~ object and compile it to There are several aspects of the MOD Duo is simplicity itself to use. Any reservations
an LV2 plug-in, ready for use in the MOD X to consider. Firstly, the unit itself is solidly I had about working in a browser were
Duo X. Several of the library’s plug-ins were built and even comes in its own carry case. quickly batted away by the slick and
created this way. The knobs feel sturdy, the buttons are nice,
Pedalboards are not just for guitar
Of course, Max/MSP isn’t the only way to and the audio and MIDI connections are
effects. Here’s a drum machine taken from the
code plug-ins. Higher-level languages like all on grown-up, full-size sockets. Overall, pedalboards library.

64 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 The rear panel includes MIDI
I/O, coaxial S/PDIF out and USB
connectivity, as well as an Ethernet
socket for MOD’s optional Footswitch.
very good-looking modular
playground; it was a pleasure
to use. I never experienced
any disconnections, glitches or
difficulties — another thumbs up.
Thirdly, there is the
standalone operation. Once
again, the unit is simple to
use and works as intended.
All the pedalboards I tried worked great your needs. Some plug-ins are based on range. It’s hard not to be impressed! While
in standalone mode, the system seems quite old open-source code, like the MDA hosting software plug-ins in a hardware
rock solid and stable. Being able to decide plug-ins which have been around for nearly box won’t be something that everybody
exactly how the hardware responds to two decades. But there are plenty of new has a need for, for those who do, and
knob-tweaks means you can build effects additions to the library from well-respected particularly for those who create their
and generators that suit your live needs developers, and the list is constantly own plug-ins or can take advantage
exactly. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in growing. The fact that you can code your of the project’s open-source status,
a live situation. own plug-ins will be a major drawing point the MOD Duo X should prove a very
Finally, there is sound quality. This is for some, and there is an active community compelling package indeed.
much harder to analyse, mainly because on the MOD Devices forums to help you
it’s so dependant on the plug-ins you with such endeavours.
$ $749.
use, and there are hundreds of them. The The MOD Devices platform is both T MOD Devices +49 (0)30 9451 2477.
sheer number available means you can impressive and stable, and the MOD Duo E sales@moddevices.com
almost always find something that suits X really is a worthy flagship device in their W www.moddevices.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 65
 ON TE S T

Modular Synthesizers & Sequencer

True to form, Teenage Engineering’s approach to modular
synthesis is about as idiosyncratic as it gets.
ROBIN VINCENT
had a few course corrections in the latest probably be the mostt eye-catching thing
production run and they are now available in your room. Some people
p have worried

T
he Pocket Operator Modular range through regular distribution channels. about the stability when patching, which
was first introduced to the world So, I thought it would be the right time I haven’t found to be a problem, but I’ve also
around the time of NAMM 2019. to dig under the surface of these design seen that a few people have mounted it
They were bold, striking, unexpected statements of music, metal and plastic and upside down and laid it flat to give it more of
and slightly odd. With everyone around see how engaging they could be. a console feel.
them going mad for Eurorack, Teenage Both synths have a small speaker
Engineering seemed to offer a more unique
Meet The Family built in and can run onn batteries for
approach with these stunning objects of There are three products within the perfect portability. Or you can add an
sound and colour. It’s an approach that Pocket Operator Modular or ‘POM’ range. optional DC power su upply for a more
seems to divide opinion and generates We have the 16 sequencer, the red 170 permanent installation n.
strong discussions about the relative merits single oscillator modular synth and the The physical prese ence of these two
of design, aesthetics and functionality. three-oscillator expanded 400 modular objects is quite remarrkable. None of the
However, there were some issues synth. Just to be clear the 170 and 400 are photos prepared me for how fantastic they
highlighted by early reviewers in the first modular synths in the sense that they are are in the flesh. They are beautiful works of
run of the POM 400 (the big yellow one), made up of individual synthesizer modules electronic art that wouuld look outstanding
and the POM 170 (the red one) ran into that have to be physically patched together. on your sideboard or coffee table. The
some production problems causing very However, as the front panels are fixed the bouncy, rubberised patch cable es cont
n ribute
long delays. Eighteen months after their actual modules are not interchangeable so to that and they don’t eve en have to make
initial release the dust has settled, they’ve you can’t really call it fully modular because any noise; you just wa ant to touch them.
you can’t change the architecture of the
Teenage Engineering synth. So could they be described as fixed
D
DIY
Pocket Operator Modular synthesizers with modular articulation? The synthesizers come fl -packed and
16, 170 & 400 Possibly, but there does tend to be a bit part of the deal is that have to put
$239, $479 & $599 of confusion around the way Teenage them together yourself. T is plays into the
Engineering labels and defines things. idea that these are a b bit to
oy-
y like, which
PROS The best way to describe the 170 is is a very common com mment I hear when
• Beautiful electronic objects.
as a modular TB-303 with a massively talking about them online and i usu s ally
• Genuinely modular music-making.
• CV and socket compatible overspec’ed sequencer. In its rather meant dismissively. They do hav f vour
with Eurorack. gorgeous red console-like form the top of Meccano and Lego about them and
• 400 is fantastic value. half has a single square-wave oscillator, I believe that’s deliberate simply because
• 16 sequencer is immensely powerful. a filter, ADSR envelope, VCA and an LFO. it’s fun and playful. Th
he knobss are, in fact,
• Completely portable.
• First run issues with build and tuning The bottom half integrates the sequencer compatible with Lego o Technic pieces, which
have been solved. and touch keyboard from the 16 which is very handy for reasons I’ll come on to. It
is capable of sequencing and gating comes with a brilliantly illustrated Lego-style
CONS three more channels of CV than the manual to guide you tthrough the building
• Can be odd.
• CV range can be limited. 170 possesses. process. I built them wwith my kids, aged 8, 10
• Those knobs. The 400 appears to be designed much and 13, who had no problem following the
• Might be too quirky for some. more like the ARP 2600, which is the sort instructions for the most part.
• Challenging for a beginner. of comparison that I’m sure many people Here it comes a little unstuck because
SUMMARY would object to, but this realisation made the manual can be confusing in places.
The startlingly designed Pocket a lot of sense to me in trying to articulate The manual contains the instructions for all
Operator Modular synthesizers from what this synth is all about. It has three three products and appears to be in three
Teenage Engineering offer a quirky oscillators, a mixer, two envelops and VCAs, separate sections. We built the 170 first and
dose of colour and playfulness with
a filter, a noise generator, a sample and hold, found that a lot of details were missing and
a sometimes challenging modular
workflow and imperfect architecture. an LFO and a much simpler sequencer. It had to search around online to find some
That sequencer, though. stands up with a near-vertical rake and will answers. We ended up having to take the

66 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Pocket Operator Modular 400 synthesizer.

first thing you try, but wheels are just too

big. After experimenting with a few options
I settled on what is called Lego Technic
‘Bushings’ (part #3713 / 6590). They come
in a range of colours, cost 2p each and are
about 7mm tall and wide and fit over the
knobs perfectly. Use a permanent marker to
indicate the position on them. This makes
the knobs a great deal more comfortable
and easier to see.

The Background
When it comes to the sound and
architecture of the synthesizers they find
themselves both beautiful and wayward,
powerful and limited, simplistic and yet
complex. They are not one thing or the
other, which makes them troublesome to
pigeonhole. The 170 makes for a great
bassline synth but it’s also terrific at FM
and Ring Modulation-type sounds and
that sequencer can run a whole army of
synths. The 400, with its dual envelopes
and VCAs, can pull off two synths with
detuning, complex modulations and FM
all over the place, driven by a weird
little sequencer and a frantic heartbeat.
The synthesizer modules were
designed by Jon Nensén, also known
as The Human Comparator. If you
check out his other work you’ll find
things
h g likike
e the Two Thousand Six
Hundred ARP P 2600
00 clone, some
interesting Buchla mod dules
l s and
the forthcoming two osciillllat
a or
Recursive Machine synthesi r.
only point is that this is not
a designer of entry-level synths
for beginners. He’s managed to
thing apart multiple times and struggled sturdy as any of the smaller knobs you squeeze a tremendous amount of tone an nd
endlessly with getting theh ribbon n cable find in Eurorack. There are two different complex possibilities out of an inevitably
from the touch-keyboard in place. When we types for no real reason other than to compromised budget modular system.
came to build the 400 we discovered to our look interesting and either can fit into the As with any modular system itt takes tim
a no nce th hat all th missi
si g 170 dete ai
al same pot. The larg ger knobss are gre
r at with and pap titen nce to p ll sou
ound
nds fr
f om it, unlike
was right there in 4 sec ectition
on. omet ingg like
k a ll pad
addl
dle
e ic
icki
king
ng out
ut, the
th e se
selflf-pla
playi
yin
ng semi-modulars that they
One of the criticisms I’ve read of the which makes it easier to turn and usefully are often compared to. And so while the
build was that the standoffs were not indicates the position. The smaller knobs, price makes it attractive to beginners the
threaded, and so to screw the modules in I confess, I’ve come to loathe over my time workflow can be quite challenging.
you had to exert an impressive amount of with them. To begin with, you put up with The price is very important to keep in
force onto the tiny screw going into a tiny them and blame the modules for being mind. The 400 is only $599 for a 13-module
object with a tiny screwdriver. This is one of inaccurate or your fingers for being too fat. modular system in a battery-powered case
the improvements they’ve made with the They do have a tiny indent to show position with its own speaker. Building something
production run and I am happy to report but I can never see it. After working with similar with basic Doepfer modules comes
that they all now have screw-threads. All these synths for a couple of months I can in at over a grand and you haven’t bought
except one. We had one module that had confidently say that they are the most fiddly the case and power supply yet. A better
the old-style standoffs and I can see how it and uncomfortable knobs I’ve ever had comparison is with AE Modular where their
could make people angry. to play with. However, there’s a solution Starter Rack 2 would have a similar range of
The final act of the build is to place the — Lego. They are like the axle parts of Lego modules for a similar price. AE Modular has
knobs. Once pushed in they are easily as Technic that go into the wheels, which is the the advantage of being fully modular but is

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 67
 ON TE S T
T E E N A G E E N G I N E E R I N G P O C K E T O P E R A T O R M O D U L A R 1 6 , 17 0 & 4 0 0

Pocket Operator
Modular 170 synthesizer.

t mechhan
anical
a ly n t to open the filter
atible witith
h ll Oncce an
lly. a envelope
ack,, wh
w er
e ea as th
he POM rang ge was eng ged d then the filte
ter
can
ca n tch h straight in.n The $47
4 9 price on the r ed
e perfectly normally.y act
c
170 e s expens n ive wh
when com mpa areed to
o there ar
th a e two cutoff con nputs
the 400 0b t s b auses it has the $239 3 osciillattor, which
o s hic
i h le
et yo
y u cre te som me in
intere
r stt ng
g
16
6 seq quenc
n er
e buiiltt I thiss is the
h caua se
s o b h h filter offsets and modulations. As with
of some consumer confusion as the po powerr slightly
slight
h ly odd Pul
Pulse-width
lse
s wid
idth
h Modulation.
Modul
ulat
a io
i n The the oscillators
oscillators, there are three outputs on
of the sequencer is under-appreciated waveform modulates from square wave to the filter which gives you all sorts of audio
but could also be seen as unnecessary in pulse from the seven o’clock to 12 o’clock processing possibilities if you were patching
a single-oscillator synth. If it was $250 with position and then vanishes beyond that. out to a larger system.
a much simpler sequencer, like in the 400, Teenage Engineering say this is by design To complete, the overall oddness of
I think they’d be far fewer objections. so that you can throw in some alternative the 400 16-step Sequencer is also slightly
rhythmic gating by pushing a high voltage strange. Before adding the Bushings and
The Synths into that input. That does work quite permanent pen it’s annoying and tricky,
When working with the synths you do find nicely, actually. but once that’s sorted out it’s actually quite
character defects that are perhaps implicit The LFO offers triangle and square clever. Each knob sets an unquantised
in the price but you also discover multiple waveforms, two of each on a single rate CV value that can be patched to all three
personalities and surprises that push you knob. The range of the rate knob is again oscillators simultaneously. The tempo runs
into rethinking your approach. quite odd in that you only get a small turn from ‘fast’ to ‘really fast’ unless you patch
The oscillators generate a single before it’s up into audio rate. There’s no something more sedate into the Clock In.
waveform, which is a limitation, but they CV control on the rate/pitch of the LFO There’s no gate output, but you can use
all have three outputs which can make for but you could easily add it in as a drone or the Clock output to trigger your envelopes
an overload of rather delicious audio-rate use it for some extra bags of that chaotic for every step, or there’s a ‘PO’ Pocket
modulation. The tuning troubles of the first audio-rate modulation. Operator output which runs at a quarter
batch are gone and I can track seven to There’s also something odd about the speed and is intended to sync-up one of
eight octaves without any difficulty. The filter. The cutoff knob doesn’t open the filter their little drum machines. Turning a step’s
tuning knobs are not great and require very far. The 170 and 400 have the same knob all the way clockwise will reset the
a fine touch to bring the three together. filter module, but I found that you could sequence back to the first step, which is
Adding bigger Lego pieces helps with this hardly hear anything of the 170’s oscillator an interesting way of setting the sequence
enormously. The Sine and Saw oscillators through the filter whereas it appeared to length, although until you read about that
both have attenuatable FM inputs which open further on the 400. In either case in the manual it’s awfully mysterious. You
are a load of fun for clangy, spacey and you needed to add an envelope or other can change direction with a gate input
radiophonic-type sounds. The Square modulator, or CV source to the cutoff’s CV and there are also inputs for resetting the

68 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 THE EZBASS FAMILY IS GROWING.
Since EZbass was released in May, we’ve already had the pleasure of introducing two EBX
expansions and two MIDI packs to the family. Welcome to the ever-growing world of EZbass.
Audio demos, videos and more on www.toontrack.com.

WWW.TOONTRACK.COM
 ON TE S T
T E E N A G E E N G I N E E R I N G P O C K E T O P E R A T O R M O D U L A R 1 6 , 17 0 & 4 0 0

Pocket Operator Modular 16 sequencer.

sequence, and four others which will send for instant recall. Did I mention that it will do character defects and some personality
the sequence to step 2, 4, 8 or 12. There’s all of that over MIDI as well with each track flaws that occasionally let them down, but
nothing in the 400 itself that can really on a separate MIDI channel? considering what’s on offer these quirks are
utilise these sequence mangling inputs. The only glitch in this otherwise fruity easily forgiven. With the 400 you’re getting
However, once you’ve slowed it down from matrix of sequencing heaven is the an entirely modular synthesizer experience
an external clock and brought some gates touch-keyboard interface. You have to lean for under $600. A modular system needs
and triggers in from outside then it can get into it quite hard to get it to work to the to be learnt and discovered and the 400
rather interesting. point that after a while your fingers start to is no different. It’s playful and portable and
The other modules act largely as hurt. This is compounded by the fact that begging to be used outside and in unusual
expected. Features like dual outputs on you often have to hold a button down while places. I’m currently testing the battery
the envelopes are well thought out and the pressing other buttons and you find it’s life and have it running a sequence on
‘Saw’ output on the Noise generator makes not working because you’re not pressing the other side of the room and that little
for a decent source for the ‘Rand’ sample & down hard enough. However, once you’ve speaker isn’t half bad. It can find a whole
hold module. Just don’t ask it to sample & got the hang of it the fun and depth of this other life when it gets its hooks into other
hold a tune — it’s not terribly stable. sequencer overrides the interface irritations. bits of modular and runs through a decent
I’d love to be able to plug in a MIDI sound system. The battery life of the 400,
The Sequencer keyboard, though. by the way, was around four hours on eight
Finally, we need to look at the 16 Sequencer, The row of 16 knobs seems mysterious AA batteries.
which forms half of the 170 and is also at first. You assume that they set the pitch The 170 does seem expensive for
available as a standalone, battery-powered, of your first 16 steps, when in fact these a single-oscillator mini-synth, but it has
pocket-sized, desktop four-channel CV and knobs tie in directly to the 16 notes on the a very under-appreciated sequencer
MIDI sequencer. keyboard. You could enter all 16 notes which makes up half the price. I think a 170
Following the overall theme of the in a row and then the knobs do indeed ‘lite’ with maybe just a touchstrip and
Pocket Operator Modular series the 16 control the pitch of each note in turn. Maybe arpeggiator for around $250 would fly off
is both brilliant and slightly awkward. that’s what they are intended for. The the shelves. However, that sequencer is
The feature set is pretty fabulous. Four manual seems to suggest that they are CV a really interesting little box with four tracks
independent tracks of up to 64 steps of generators to be used to set up modulation of CV/MIDI and a ton of possibilities.
sequencing with rests, ties and individual tracks rather than notes, but either case can There’s no denying the toy-like qualities,
pattern lengths. Step time or real-time work. You can reset the notes by selecting and it does seem slightly ridiculous
note entry quantised to one of four scales one of the inbuilt scales and then you’ll have that they are improved with some Lego
or completely custom pitches. Individual to turn the knobs through the current value modifications, but a bit of colour and fun
tempo divisions per track, four swing to capture control again. A bushing and are worthwhile attributes these days.
modes, 16 arpeggiator patterns, muting a pen mark dramatically improve the use of While the design and limitations won’t
and soloing tracks. There are performance the knobs. please everyone there’s a lot to like and
effects that mess about with gate lengths enjoy in these quirky bits of electronic
or drop in glide and legato notes. Track 4
Conclusions playfulness.
even has three CV and Gate outputs to use I’ve had these machines a couple of
with multiple oscillators or to route out as months now and I find them thoroughly $ POM 16 $239, 170 $479, 400 $599.
modulations. Save the lot into 1 of 16 slots entertaining. Sure, they have some W teenage.engineering

70 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 PODCASTS
RECORDING PEOPLE &
& MIXING MUSIC INDUSTRY

Mat Gendreau ADAM Audio - Behind The Brand

5 Top Tips for Parallel Processing 20 Years Of Innovation
In this episode, Canadian Producer and Educator After a crisis year in 2015, ADAM Audio have come
Mat Gendreau shares his 5 top tips for using back bigger, better and stronger, with a new US
parallel processing techniques on voice, bass
ss business model and three compelling ranges of
and drums to help you get a professional polish
p studio monitors. Adam Sheppard of ADAM chats to
and more energy in your overall mix. Sam Inglis about the distinctive technology at the
heart of ADAM’s loudspeakers.

ELECTRONIC
PEOPLE &
MUSIC MUSIC INDUSTRY

100 Years Of The Theremin Dean James Barratt

Pioneering instrument Mix Engineer
reborn for the 21st Century Dean James Barratt is a sought-after Mix Engineer
A special podcast in honour of the 100th birthday. based out of The Dairy Studios in London. His recent
We speak to Cyril Lance (Chief Engineer,Moog), credits include Shy FX, Joy Crookes, Ray Black,
Dorit Chrysler (composer/New York Theremin James Vickery, Rag n Bone Man, Craig David and
Society), Bruce Woolley (songwriter/Radio Jess Glynne. Dean talks to Sam Inglis about his
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Check out our website page for further details

www.soundonsound.com/podcasts
 ON TE S T

Access AnalogRemote Outboard Processing

Love the sound of high-end analogue kit, but don’t have
the space or the money to buy it? No problem...

SAM INGLIS
hardware both recallable and automatable. equipment in different physical locations.
Together, they allow studio gear in another Access Analog also refer to these locations

A
ccess Analog is both a business location to be accessed directly from your as servers, and each instance of the
name and a mission statement. The DAW’s insert points. If you know you’re Analog Matrix plug-in can talk to one server
goal is simple: to make high-end going to need a particular piece of gear at once. At launch there was only a single
studio equipment available to everyone at a particular time, you can book it in server available, but more are in the works,
who would like to use it. Perhaps you’d advance in half-hour slots; alternatively, and I was able to preview a mouthwatering
love to mix through analogue outboard, you can simply buy Access Analog credits selection of gear that’s about to come
but can’t afford it. Maybe you work on the and use them when inspiration strikes, as online in the new Nashville server.
road and you can’t always be where your long as someone else hasn’t booked out Mouse over an item in the list and you’ll
hardware is. Or possibly you’ve reluctantly the gear you need. see a helpful tooltip telling you when it’s
given up on outboard because of the recall reserved, and how much time one Access
issues. Either way, Access Analog seems to
Enter The Matrix Analog credit will buy you on that item.
have something to offer. The plug-in is called Analog Matrix This varies from about 4.5 up to 8 minutes
The service is enabled by two and, operationally, it’s not unlike using per credit, and only kicks in after 45
technological innovations. One is a free, a conventional plug-in ‘chainer’. On the left seconds, giving you the chance to quickly
cross-platform plug-in that sends audio is a graphical menu showing the available audition things without cost. The core
from your DAW to a remote server for equipment. This reflects the selection server also offers a couple of Warm Audio
processing. The other is a system of you make in the Rack pop-up, where you processors that are permanently free, so
robotics, which makes analogue studio can choose from different collections of you needn’t waste paid-for time learning

72 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Hands up who’s ever used
a pair of Neve 1064s before…
no-one?

how it all works. In addition,

Credits are sold in packages
from 15 to 400; there is
a discount for buying in bulk,
so although the 15- and
50-credit packages cost
$15 and $50 respectively,
the 400-credit package
is only $320.
To use these tasty bits of
hardware, you simply drag
them onto an empty slot
in the upper section of the
main window. The plug-in
itself is available in mono,
stereo and mono-to-stereo
versions, but always shows
a stereo signal path here
to reflect the fact that some
of the gear is inherently
stereo. Some of the mono
processors are also available in multiples, also not possible to move the plug-in from settings as you want them, you can upload
and if for example you use two Pultec EQs one channel to another without losing your the uncompressed audio and have it
or UA 1176 compressors, you can click settings, and settings are not remembered processed offline (albeit, obviously, not
a chain icon to link their controls. However, when you save and reload a DAW project. faster than real time), before downloading
side-chain linking is not currently available Some way of recalling chains of processors the results. This can be done either by
in this scenario. is on the company’s road map for hitting Play on your DAW and capturing
There are five slots in total, and future development. audio into a buffer, or by simply pointing
equipment can be reordered simply by the plug-in at an audio file on your drive.
dragging and dropping. Each slot that you
Return To Sender The latter option is faster and supports the
use introduces a stage of A-D and D-A If you have a super-fast broadband
conversion — there’s no way to route the connection, you can send uncompressed
output of one unit into the input of the next 24-bit audio directly to the server in real
Access Analog
in the analogue domain — but the rack time. You may then be able to use Analog PROS
uses high-quality converters from Antelope Matrix ‘live’ at the mix, exactly as you would • Offers universal, easy access to the
Audio and I never noticed any degradation a hardware insert within your DAW. That, kind of high-end outboard most of us
in sound quality, even when chaining three however, depends on your DAW being will never own.
• Well thought-out and intuitive
or four processors. Each slot has its own able to compensate for the delay that user interface.
±12dB gain trim control, as well as a Mix Analog Matrix introduces into the signal • Massive potential for development.
control for parallel processing. path. By default, this is 1800ms, which is • Usable even with a mediocre
The piece of gear currently selected way higher than Pro Tools can manage, but Internet connection.
• Free to try and can be tailored to
for editing is highlighted with a green other DAWs are more accommodating. Pro
any budget.
rectangle, and the actual editing is carried Tools users can work around this to some
out through a (somewhat) photo-realistic extent by routing everything that’s not CONS
representation of the front panel. It’s being processed by Analog Matrix to an • It’s only possible to store and recall
presets for individual processors, not
little different from working with a plug-in aux and using another instance in bypass
the entire plug-in.
emulation of the same piece of kit, except on that bus, but it’s a bit of a kludge. • Introduces more delay than some
that there is a lag between making an Those of us who live too far from the DAWs can compensate for.
adjustment and hearing the results. information superhighway will need to use • One or two stability issues in the
There are one or two operational quirks Analog Matrix in data-compressed mode. review system.
associated with Analog Matrix, though you This allows you to use a variety of lossless SUMMARY
get accustomed to them soon enough. and lossy streaming options to audition Access Analog does exactly what it
One is that although there are factory and the settings you’ve made on the remote says on the tin, providing an easy,
user presets associated with individual gear, but obviously you don’t want to pay affordable way to work with high-end
outboard from the comfort of your
pieces of equipment, it’s currently not to use high-end analogue equipment own studio. You might be surprised at
possible to store and recall entire chains. only to have the signal compromised by how much difference it can make to
This wouldn’t be an issue except that it’s a lossy codec. So, once you’ve got the your mixes!

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 73
 ON TE S T
ACCESS ANALOG

It’s analogue, Jim, but not as

we know it: Access Analog’s main
server in Colorado is stuffed with
classic gear under robot control!

upload of multiple files for

batch processing, which
is perfect if, for example,
you have a ton of stacked
backing vocals that you
want to process in one go.

What’s In The Box?

At the time of writing, the
original Access Analog
server offers a total of 20
processing devices. These
include studio staples such
as the aforementioned pairs
of 1176s and Pultecs, an SSL
bus compressor, a pair of
Empirical Labs Distressors,
an LA2A, a Manley Variable
Mu, a Neve 33609N and
an API 5500 equaliser,
but there are also some
more modern and unusual
processors, notably an SSL
Fusion, Black Box HG2,
Louder Than Liftoff Silver
Bullet, Iron Age Audioworks
LH95, a pair of Daking
compressors and, my
personal favourites, a pair
of Highland Dynamics BG2
compressors. It’s probably
fair to say that if you can’t
make something sound
good with that lot, it’ll
never sound good. However, it’s also fair And that won’t just bring online more compressors, the highlights include pairs
to point out that there are relatively few 1176s and Pultecs: there’s no reason in of super-rare Neve 1057, 1058, 2057
EQ options in the collection as it stands. It principle why the system shouldn’t be and 1064 equalisers and a pair of Pye
would be nice to have a few more really applied to reverb plates, effects units compressor/limiters. Reid’s website at
high-quality equalisers such as the classic and even miked-up guitar amps, as well www.robotlemon.com is well worth a look,
Neve and SSL designs. Also missing from as rare custom outboard that simply if only to gawp at the astonishing full list of
the line-up as it stands are effects devices isn’t available to buy. And one of the kit in his studio!
and, especially, reverbs. Even studios that reasons why we see quite a bit of modern
already have a decent selection of high-end high-end outboard in the launch rack is
In Use
outboard might see value in accessing that it’s an effective showcase for makers. Some products are a lot simpler to use
a really good plate or chamber online! If you’re a boutique manufacturer who than they sound, and Access Analog
However, the original server only produces a few tens of units a year, the is a prime example. The Analog Matrix
represents the first step in an ambitious advantages of making your equipment plug-in window might look intimidating
plan. High-end outboard represents available to try online are obvious. at first glance, but it really isn’t. If you’re
a massive investment, but at any given A taste of the treats to come can be accustomed to working with plug-ins, you’ll
time, most of the processors in most of found in the new Nashville server, which be up and running in no time, and the
the world’s studios probably aren’t being is about to come online as I write, and fact that your audio is being sent halfway
used. Having demonstrated that their which introduces a spectacular selection round the world to be processed is quickly
system works, Access Analog are hoping of mainly vintage gear from the collection forgotten. Apart from the lag, it really is
that other studios will be interested in of Grammy-winning engineer, mixer and just like working with software-controlled
setting up servers of their own in order to producer F. Reid Shippen. As well as hardware in a local rack. Analog Matrix
make more of a return on this investment. pairs of Chandler LTD-2 and Altec RS124 also adds parallel processing capability

74 January 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 TE S T
ACCESS ANALOG

ALTERNATIVES
I’m not aware of any direct alternatives,
but if you’re ready to make a serious
investment in analogue equipment that
can be integrated into a DAW, there are
other options available. Manufacturers
such as Bettermaker and Wes Audio
make high-end analogue processors
that can be controlled from plug-in
front ends, while McDSP’s innovative
APB system takes the integration even
further, in effect creating an analogue
plug-in co-processor.

to everything, which opens up some

interesting possibilities.
If you’re coming from an in-the-box
background, you might also be surprised
by how some of this equipment sounds.
The LA-2A compressor is a prime
example: there are plug-in emulations
that I like, including UA’s own, but none
of them sounds quite as righteous on
a bass guitar as the real thing in AA’s
rack. I’ve not come across any plug-in
versions of the early Neve equipment
in the Nashville server, all of which has
a very distinctive and likeable sound
character, while the Pye limiter will bring
a smile to the face of even the dourest
mix engineer. I thoroughly enjoyed using
some of the other equipment in the racks,
too, especially the Manley and Highland
Dynamics compressors. It’s fair to say that
a few days spent using Access Analog
has lengthened my personal wishlist to an
alarming degree!
However, it also reminded me why
buying esoteric outboard is not for the
faint-hearted. There were clearly still one
or two technical gremlins in the Nashville The new Nashville server draws equipment
Neves, which I hope will be ironed out about it and go off and do something from the selection of F. Reid Shippen, including
by the time you read this; and with some else, you can easily burn up credits to a wealth of vintage Neve modules.
of the vintage and valve gear, you can’t no purpose. Equally, if you are focused
always rely on perfect gain matching when and disciplined, it’s possible to get impressive is how user-friendly it is.
two mono units are used on a stereo track. a surprising amount done with relatively Arguably, in fact, they’ve made it easier
It might be nice if the trim fader could few credits. My broadband wasn’t up to to use an 1176 on the other side of the
be adjusted separately for left and right using the system in real time, so I typically globe than to patch one in at home.
channels. I also experienced one or two concentrated on the main mix sources in It already offers real value for almost any
crashes relating to the plug-in, including turn, rendering the processed audio when mix engineer, and the potential for future
a repeatable one when recalling presets I was happy with my settings. Working development is obvious. Much more than
for linked mono processors. However, I’d this way I got through an average of just a way of introducing some analogue
emphasise that none of this really had perhaps 20 credits per hour, but this was class into your mixes, it’s a shop front for
much impact on the real-world usability very variable. Overall, I’d say it compares boutique manufacturers, a way to audition
of the system, and it never wasted a favourably from both a financial and new gear and a playground in which you
significant amount of AA credit. a mental health point of view with the can have endless fun. If AA ever decide to
How much will it cost you to do alternative of hiring in a load of outboard, add an extra A, it should probably stand
a mix with Access Analog? That’s quite wiring it up to your studio and not for ‘addictive’…
a difficult question to answer, because it sleeping for a few days!
will depend a lot on how you like to work. Access Analog’s technology is $ From $15
If you load some gear into a rack, forget extremely clever, but what’s equally W www.accessanalog.com

76 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 THE NEXT STEP

H9000 v1.3 Now Available

Featuring Pro Tools HDX/HD Native support

The Eventide H9000 is the perfect platform for sound design, featuring up to 128 channels
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 ON TE S T

Korg Volca Sample 2

Digital Sample Sequencer about a lack of Korg USB Driver and
then times-out during transfer. Once I’d
found the driver on the website, installed,
Korg rework their popular has a 10-track sequencer of 16-steps and restarted and retried, the Volca Sample 2
Volca Sample with some a ‘Motion Sequencer’ where individual had disappeared altogether. With the help
welcome additions. parameters like sample length, speed, of Google and a video by Tim Shoebridge
level, pan and envelope can be recorded it all worked out in the end, and I can
ROBIN VINCENT
for each step of each track or smoothly now experience the “instantaneous and
automated across the pattern. It has pain-free process” as my Mac OS-based

I
n his review of the original Korg Volca an ‘Analogue Isolator’ built in, which is colleagues are undoubtedly already doing.
Sample in February 2015’s edition of essentially a low- and high-pass filter
Sound On Sound, Paul Nagle believed masquerading as Bass and Treble controls
Librarian
it to be “the most versatile Volca yet,” and plus a rather funky reverb. It’s fast, fruity, The USB port enables the use of the
he’s not wrong. With the aptly named full of life and character. It doesn’t do Volca Sample Librarian software on
successor, the Volca Sample 2, it retains any sampling itself but with the new USB a suitable computer. It sucks in all the
everything Paul liked about it and all port, transferring samples over should be patterns and samples from the Volca and
the things he didn’t because it is almost a piece of cake. displays them in a list where you can
entirely the same machine. The only rearrange them, audition samples and
noticeable changes to the exterior are
USB Port load or save new ones.
a USB port that has been added in such The biggest new feature is all about the On the Patterns side you can save,
a way as to make you believe it was always USB port. No longer do you have to patch load and rearrange the order of the 16
there, and the case is now a more subdued the audio output of your computer to the internal patterns. It comes with 12 quite
and groovy dark grey as opposed to the Sync In of the Volca Sample to attempt an stunning ones and so you might want to
somewhat medicinal white of the former. often hit-and-miss transfer of sample banks save them just in case you mess them up.
All the other changes are under the hood, as data across an audio cable. With the You do have four blank patterns to play
so let’s pop it open and have a look. dedicated Volca Sample Librarian software with, though.
“sending your samples and patterns back On the Samples side it comes with 150
Recap and forth is now an instantaneous and brand-new samples. It’s a quite brilliant
If you’re not familiar with the Volca Sample pain-free process”. Sadly, it wasn’t for me. selection of energy-infused urban and
then let me tell you that it’s a fun little When attempting to pull over the samples lo-fi hip-hop sounds which, along with the
digital sample-playing beat machine. It and patterns from the Volca it complains patterns, gives you the sense that you are

78 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
never going to come up with anything as
good or exciting as this. But in case you
want to try there are 50 slots free to fill with
your own library before overwriting the
factory ones.
Importing a sample is simply a matter
of selecting a slot and importing from the
menu. The Librarian will downsample any
audio file to 31.25kHz to give it that Volca
Sample 2 crunchiness. You can keep
adding samples until the memory is full
or you reach 200. The factory bank takes
up about 81 percent of the memory and
most of them are under a second long.
The memory, by the way is double that of
the original at 8MB, which amounts to 130
seconds of sample time.
Once you are happy with the order
of things you can punt it all across to the
machine for playing. It takes moments
to send over a sample or two and about
a minute for a full dump depending on The Librarian software makes importing and managing samples a lot easier.
the size of your samples. I can certainly
confirm that the process is pain-free and were a collection of patterns that you had the context of the pattern rather than as
often instantaneous. arranged to play back in order and Chain a disruption to it. The only snag is that it’s
Function seems to have replaced it. a global mode choice and so requires you
Chain Function I can’t quite decide whether the removal to turn the box off and on again to swap
The most significant workflow of Song Mode in favour of extending the between them.
development comes in the form of pattern sequence count from 10 to 16 is a good
chaining. Instead of loading a single or a bad thing. The versatility of Song
Start Delay Function
pattern sequence to play with, you can Mode was that you could arrange the The Volca Sample 2 has a decent Swing
now chain up as many as you want to 10 sequences quickly and easily on the engine for dialling in some feel and groove
play one after the other which potentially device itself. The Chain Function benefits to the playback. However, with the Start
transforms Sample 2 into a 256-note from access to 16 sequences, but the order Delay function you can craft in a bit more
sequencer. Although isn’t that what Song can only be changed in the Librarian. Also, nuance. Start Delay simply delays the start
Mode was on the original Volca Sample? with Song Mode you can save six songs of the sample by a small amount from 0-66,
The sequence steps are labelled M1-M16, with their arrangement of patterns whereas which appears to be an arbitrary fraction
which refers to the 16 memory slots for you don’t save the Chain Function, you just of a step.
patterns. On the original they were labelled turn it on and select a series of sequences. You can apply this along with any of
M1-M10 for the 10 memory slots and then It would be nice to have both 16 the Step Programmable Parameters to any
S1-S6, which were for saving songs. Songs sequences and a Song Mode but Korg step of any part by being in Step Mode
must have had to make a judgement on with the Record button on and holding
what customers were asking for and what the sequence step while turning the
Korg Volca Sample 2 could be achieved in the context of the appropriate knobs.
$149 little box.
Conclusion
PROS Step Jump
• Two hundred sample slots. Version 2 of the Volca Sample builds on
• Sixteen patterns. Korg has added another option to Step what was already a killer little box. Without
• Increased memory. Jump Mode. This is a finger-tastic mode question the USB port and Librarian
• Easy sample management. where the sequence will jump to whatever makes the samples and patterns easier
• Direct MIDI control over USB.
• Enormously fun.
step you tap and stay there on repeat if to manage and can turn it into a sound
you hold your finger down. You can do this source that’s uniquely you. New users are
CONS with multiple fingers and it will jump around not going to miss the Song Mode and we
• Doesn’t sample. between them in a thoroughly entertaining all benefit from the increased memory
• Volcas are a bit small and fiddly.
• No Song Mode.
way. The original mode had the playback and 16 sequences. It’s versatile, fun,
move on from the last released step and the quality of the new factory bank
SUMMARY whereas now you can opt for the steps to is superb — it’s a cracking little sample
One of the best Volcas just got more continue and pick up in the appropriate production machine.
memory, a fat new factory bank
and a Librarian for easy sample
place when you release your finger. This
management. It’s an awesome brings a lot more flow to the mode and $ $149.99
pocket-sized sample production station. makes it feel more like remixing within W www.korg.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 79
 ON TE S T

Zoom
LiveTrak L-8

Mixer, Multitrack
Recorder & USB
Audio Interface

Could this be the perfect portable package for

podcasters and musicians alike?
functionality, ease-of-use and price. So
M AT T H O U G H TO N
let’s take a closer look at what this thing

Z
oom’s LiveTrak L-8 (I’ll call it the can do — and what it cannot — starting
L-8 for short) is aimed at a very with its role as a digital mixer, before moving
broad audience with a range of on to the USB interfacing and standalone
different workflows but, while an affordable recording side of things. permanently routed to the master stereo
hybrid product like this will inevitably bus. There are no subgroup busses or, other
lack some features for some users,
Ins, Outs & Mixing than one that goes directly to the internal
I reckon Zoom have managed to strike As a digital mixer, the LiveTrak L-8 is fairly effects engine, aux sends. That effects send
a great balance between sonic quality, simple, in that all the input channels are is available to all channels except, obviously,

80 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 pad. 48V phantom power is switchable
globally for the six mic inputs; there’s no Effects
LED indicator but a message flashes on the
screen when phantom is engaged, or if it There are six effect types available, though
is engaged when you switch the unit on. you can have only one active at once. The
top four function buttons give you Hall 1, Hall
Finally, channels 7 and 8 cater for a number
2, Room and Plate reverbs. The bottom row
of different sources: each can receive offers Delay, Chorus, Vocal 1 and Vocal 2,
mono line-level sources (TS jack), a stereo the latter pair being a combination of reverb
USB out from a connected computer, or and delay. Pressing the relevant button
samples triggered by the six Sound Pads allows you to edit two parameters for the
(see box). These two channels can also, effect: Tone and Decay for the reverbs, Time
and Feedback for the delay, Tone and Rate
when used in combination, receive a stereo
for the Chorus, and Time and Decay for the
analogue line signal on a TRRS mini-jack, two Vocal effects. It’s not a lot of control,
with a ‘mix minus’ monitoring function admittedly, but between the channel send
to prevent feedback, providing a way to level, these parameters and the EFX RTN
connect smartphones for podcasts, video channel fader, I found it sufficient.
conferencing and so on.
The main stereo mix comes out on
two balanced XLRs, and that signal is and they light in combinations you’re
duplicated on the first headphone output. treated to a finer level of indication than
It’s also available on three more headphone first sight suggests. A very minor gripe is
outputs, each of which, like the first, has that the height of the knobs means they
a dedicated level control. These three obscure some LEDs’ default positions
can be switched to monitor one of three (eg. centre pan) when you’re seated, with
secondary mixes, Mix A, Mix B and Mix the L-8 on your desktop. The encoders
C, of which more below. The headphone control panning, the effects send level and
amps sound clean and clear and do the a three-band EQ, comprising high (10kHz)
job well for most headphones, though and low (100Hz) shelves and a peaking mid
with high-impedance models I found there band (2.5kHz). Each band can boost up to
wasn’t lots of gain in reserve — occasionally ±15dB, again in fine enough steps that you
frustrating when I was miking quiet sources, have plenty of control.
but it won’t be an issue for most users. Despite this being a digital desk
Each of the eight input channels has its (meaning no physical routing limitations in
own fader, mute (but not solo) and Select between the converters) you can’t apply EQ
buttons, and when a channel is selected to the effects return or master mix; I can’t
you can tweak further parameters in say I missed that ability but some might.
the Channel Strip section. This has five Naturally, you can’t apply reverb to the main
continuous rotary encoders and a (12dB/ mix, since there’s only one effects engine
octave 75Hz) high-pass filter button. and its signal already flows to the mix bus.
Each encoder is circled by 13 LEDs, but A feature I wish had been included but
as each LED has five levels of brightness is lacking is a polarity inverter for at least
one or two channels. A compressor or two
would also have been welcome at times
Zoom LiveTrak L-8 when using this as a standalone device.
$399 Perhaps such things could be implemented
PROS. in a firmware revision, by giving some
• Lightweight and will run off batteries, hardware controls a secondary function?
USB bus power or AC supply.
the effects’ stereo return channel and the • Sounds clean and pretty quiet, even Making A Scene
stereo master mix channel. However, some at high gains. As mentioned in passing, you can create
• Useful reverb options.
behind-the-scenes digital sophistication • Four headphone outputs.
up to four different post-fader mix balances
means that it is still perfectly possible to • The price is right. — the main mix, Mix A, Mix B and Mix
create and distribute different cue mixes, or C — and each can be sent to its own
send signals to external processors/effects.
CONS headphone output if desired. So it’s possible
• Can’t access USB, phone and Sound
In addition to the master stereo channel to use these to create artist monitor mixes
Pads simultaneously.
and the stereo EFX RTN, the mixer has • Cannot EQ the main mix. or to feed external processors/effects
eight input channels. The first two accept • Support for 96kHz is limited. (you’d have to return them on spare mixer
mic, line or instrument sources, the last channels). You can copy and paste from one
SUMMARY
selected using a Hi-Z button above the mix to another, making it quick and easy to
The LiveTrak L-8 strikes a great
gain pot. The next four can be used with balance between quality, versatility set up personalised cue mixes. The faders
mic or line sources and feature a -26dB and ease of use. aren’t motorised, but switch between mixes

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 81
 ON TE S T
Z O O M L I V E T R A K L- 8

The SDHC/SDXC card for the multitrack recorder is inserted in a compartment at the rear, where you’ll also find the on-off switch.

and the level meter LEDs will helpfully light Strip settings; the selected effect patch and L-8 is in Mixer mode, then press function
to indicate the ‘virtual fader position’ for parameters; and the input source selection button 8, labelled Audio I/F, and you’re
each channel, and turn off when the fader is for channels 7+8. good to go.
at the correct position. As this device costs Hit the big Scene button at the bottom Your computer is presented with 12
less than many eight-fader control surfaces, right, and the eight multi-function buttons inputs. The eight input channels’ signals (7
I reckon that’s a the perfect balance of beneath the screen give you direct access and 8 each have left and right channels) are
cost and convenience. to seven separate scenes which can be taken directly after the preamp, before the
It’s important to understand that the stored and recalled. Press a button and you Channel Strip and fader, while the stereo
Mixes store only the fader settings: the Gain, have the option to save/overwrite or recall mix is captured post-fader. So you can
Pad/Hi-Z, Select, Channel Strip and Mute the Scene or cancel to take you out of the record the clean input signals and tweak
status aren’t recalled. But more settings can menu. The eighth button allows you to reset settings on playback, but can also capture
be stored in what Zoom call Scenes. Several the selected Scene. It’s a very helpful facility the live stereo mix, with all your EQ, effects
settings are stored in each Scene: the fader and really intuitive. It might have been and fader moves applied. This way, it makes
positions (for every channel, including EFX nice to be able to recall the channel Select good sense for recording projects, for live
RTN and Master); Mute status; all Channel status too, and the Rec/Play status for the streaming, and recording live performances
multitrack recorder (discussed below), but while also delivering monitor and PA mixes.
those aren’t mission-critical omissions. The L-8 can receive two stereo feeds from
Sound Pads the computer, one on channel 7 and the
USB other on channel 8. Note that selecting the
The six Sound Pads are essentially sample
triggers, three playing back on channel 7 Many potential purchasers will be primarily USB return on either channel will limit your
and three on channel 8. The default sounds interested in the L-8’s recording capabilities. access to other sources (eg. Sound Pads)
are the sort of effect typically used in radio It can be used either as a USB 2.0 audio that are exclusive to those channels.
shows and podcasts (applause, laughter,
interface or as a standalone multitracker,
cash register, drum roll, sad trombone,
recording directly to class-10 or higher
On The Record
scratched record) but there are others to
choose from (in Mixer mode press the Sound SDHC (up to 32GB) or SDXC (up top 512GB) While USB recording is handy, the
Pad function key) and you can import or cards. You can record at 24-bit 44.1, 48 or 96 standalone recorder side of things
record your own samples too; it’s a feature kHz to a card, though 96kHz isn’t supported really won me over. It’s just so quick and
that will appeal to many podcasters. Note, over USB. Neither can you use the Sound convenient — a joy to use. It’s the default
though, that when monitoring other sources
Pads, send effects, EQ or the multitracker’s mode at startup, but you can access it at any
(eg. USB or a TRRS phone source) on
channels 7 or 8, you can access either no Overdub mode, at 96kHz. There’s time by pressing the big Recorder button.
Pads or only half of them, and you can’t use a class-compliant USB driver for iOS, and for In this mode the function buttons serve as
the Sound Pads in 96kHz mode either. Mac/Windows you download a driver from transport and tempo controls, and access
Zoom’s website. Once installed, ensure the a Setting menu.

82 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ON TE S T
Z O O M L I V E T R A K L- 8

Initial recording tests are intuitive. You determines if recording will be overdubbed
record-arm the desired tracks using their in the current project or a fresh project
Rec/Play button (which cycles through three will be created for the recording. Note
states: record-arm, multitrack playback, that this mode doesn’t support 96kHz
and off, whereby the input source is routed recording; I don’t know why that is. It does
to the mix bus during recording/playback. include latency compensation, though, so
Hit the Record button followed by the you can monitor your performance and
Play button: a new project will be created the backing in perfect sync, and things will
automatically as recording commences. line up perfectly on playback.
Change the track state to Playback and Punching in/out is as easy as could be.
hit the Rwd button, and you can audition You navigate to the section where you
what you recorded and adjust the want the performer to start singing/playing,
channel settings to taste. record-arm the tracks on which you wish
You can also navigate the project to punch in, and start playback. Hit the
timeline by turning the Select Wheel main record button to punch in, and hit
(a rotary encoder with integral push it again to punch out. You can punch
button) and press it offline or during in/out up to 10 times during each playback
playback/record to insert up to 99 markers pass. Between this and the marker
per project; the Fwd and Rwd buttons take system, dropping in corrections becomes
you to the next marker in either direction. second nature very quickly.
It’s a great way to mark unhelpful noises or Playback or recording is not possible
fluffed lines that need attention. It’s worth while you’re in the Setting menu, and having
noting, though, that pressing the button to exit the menus before hitting record/play The USB 2.0 port, tucked beneath the L-8,
produces a small acoustic click, so if using sometimes made me pause for thought. has a good strain-relief system,and can be used
this while recording you’ll want to keep your Similarly, once playing back or if you have for communication with and bus powering by
a computer, or to hook up to the supplied mains
mics at a safe distance. the record button engaged, ready to
power adapter or a USB battery. Alternatively, four
Hitting Setting (function 4) accesses record, you cannot change the recording/ AA batteries can power the L-8.
the menu. It’s easy to follow but anything playback status of individual tracks. When
you don’t understand will be clearly first using the L-8 I often hit Record and gain for dynamic mics (a Shure SM57 and
explained in the manual. Here, you can then realised I needed to change the status Heil Sound PR40) there was pleasingly little
create, delete and rename projects, of one or two tracks. These are both very hiss. The neutral-sounding broad-brush EQ
assign recorded or imported sounds to minor frustrations, though, and I’m sure is exactly what’s required here, and I found
different tracks, scroll through a list of with more ‘miles on the clock’ any sense of a handful of the effects (mainly the reverbs)
markers and jump to any one. You can also annoyance would evaporate. very usable, even if I always wanted to
specify the recording format, and engage As with USB recording, each of the eight tweak the default settings to something that
auto (threshold-triggered) record and/or input channels can be recorded pre- the sounded less obvious.
2-second pre-record modes. And you can Channel Strip and fader, and the post-fader Operation generally is super easy: the
set different playback modes, so playback master mix signal can be captured. Again, manual, though helpful, isn’t essential to
stops at the end of a project or at the end of the only channel that can’t be recorded is get started, and the on-screen menus are
all projects, or loops around one or all. the effects return; I’m not entirely sure why mercifully shallow. When switching between
The metronome is a welcome feature that is but it’s not a particularly important modes there are no pops, pauses or
for those laying down music projects one omission. It’s also worth noting that the glitches. There are enough headphone outs
track at a time. You’re offered control over L-8 can record via USB to your DAW and for serious projects. My list of gripes is very
the sound (Bell, Click, Stick, Cowbell or direct to the SD card simultaneously, and short, the most notable being the lack of
Hi-Q), the pattern and most basic time that a card reader allows your computer to EQ for the main mix, and the source-routing
signatures. The time-signature options access recordings made to the SD card, limitations for channels 7+8. And they’re
are adequate but not extensive; there’s or to deposit sounds there for import to more than offset by the L-8’s convenience,
no 9/8, for example. A Tempo button recorder tracks, or to the Sound Pads. versatility and portability.
provides a tap-tempo facility and allows It’s really very hard to make something
you to use the Selector Wheel to set
Lasting Impressions as complicated as this seem so effortless.
the tempo between 40 and 250 bpm with As I hinted at the outset, I love the Zoom And better still, it’s a lightweight (a shade
a resolution of 0.1bpm. LiveTrak L-8. It offers so much convenience over 1.5kg) portable package with a small
There are more menu functions than and versatility for so little money, and it footprint, yet gives spacious access to
I’ve described here, all of which are fully sounds decent too. The mic preamps, controls. The fact that it can run off batteries,
detailed in the manual, but you get the which have a gain range of +10 to +54 dB, USB power blocks, or bus power just
idea: if your needs are conventional, Zoom are never going to be world-beaters on makes it better still. So I take my hat off to
have you covered; if they’re more esoteric this sort of device, but they are competent: the designers, and will file the LiveTrak L-8
I’d suggest that you consult the manual to clean and quiet and as good as any in under ‘bloody impressive for the price’.
ensure they’re fully catered for. their class. I was happy using them for
Another function button (8) puts the exposed sources like spoken word (eg. $ $399.
recorder into Overdub mode, which podcasting) and when applying plenty of W https://zoomcorp.com

84 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Only pros.
No cons.
Visit dynaudio.com/core

Core is the most revealing reference monitor in

Dynaudio history: breathtaking accuracy for when
you absolutely must hear every single detail. Core 59 Core 7

Core series
Professional reference monitor
 ON TE S T

Nugen AudioParagon
Convolution Reverb
Have you ever wished
convolution reverbs could
be a little more malleable?
HUGH ROBJOHNS

I
f the name Paragon sounds familiar,
it might be because you read Sam
Inglis’ article in SOS November 2020
(https://sosm.ag/Paragon) about the
genesis of this Nugen Audio plug-in.
And if you haven’t read that article yet,
I’d urge you to do so before reading this
review, as Paragon is no ‘ordinary’ reverb
plug-in and Sam’s article provides helpful
background to its development and
underlying technology.

Acting On Impulse
As many other reverbs are now, this
one is based on convolution. But, while
practical convolution reverbs have been
around for over 20 years now, Paragon
is no ordinary convolution reverb either.
Based on groundbreaking research and
three years of intensive development by
Dr Jez Wells of the University of York and
Nugen’s own software geniuses, Paragon
employs additive resynthesized impulse
responses. This is a highly innovative time-stretching techniques. recalculation delays to be insignificant,
technology which Sam explains well in You’ll probably have noticed that I said and certainly no impediment while
his article, but the brief version is that ‘almost’ real time. Parameter adjustments fine-tuning a reverb.
impulse responses captured in real do inherently require a brand-new
spaces are analysed to create a model impulse response to be calculated (the
Making Spaces
which can be modified through a process resynthesis part) before it can be used Like any convolution-based reverb, the
of resynthesis. in the convolution process, and that key to Paragon’s sound quality lies in the
This intriguing technology enables recalculation obviously takes a finite time. underlying impulse responses. It currently
complex reverberation fields to Nugen’s Paragon plug-in very cleverly ships with 49 unique IRs, captured in a wide
be generated which combine the subdivides this resynthesizing workload variety of acoustic spaces, and the Nugen
exceptional sonic accuracy and realism of into separate calculations for different team have analysed these source IRs to
convolution reverbs, but with the ability frequency bands, and for early reflections create the models which allow the IRs to be
to be tweaked and modified in the same separately from decay tails, too. All of this customised through additive resynthesis to
way as traditional algorithmic reverbs. So dramatically simplifies and speeds up the suit any desired requirements. Of course,
fundamental parameters that shape the resynthesis of new impulse responses. this analysis stage of the technology means,
character of a reverb, such as decay time, When a reverb parameter is changed, sadly, that Paragon can’t run any old IR
room size, and HF and LF damping, can the Nugen badge at the top right of the — you can’t import your own.
all be adjusted on the fly, almost in real plug-in window spins around while the These factory preset IRs cover the usual
time. Because the reverberation field is number-crunching is being done, but even bases of halls, chambers, churches, rooms
produced by individually resynthesized on my ancient Windows 7/64 computer and so on, and there are bright, dark, large,
impulse responses, changing parameters it’s usually a case of ‘blink and you miss medium, and small alternatives, too. Slightly
doesn’t result in the processing artefacts it’: typically it only takes a few tens of oddly, there is no Plate reverb IR here, but
that blight systems that modify impulse milliseconds to recalculate and implement there is an interesting range of unusual
responses through, for example, the IR updates, and in practice I found acoustic spaces including car and van

86 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 Both the amplitude (left) and decay (right) can
shown as a percentage in the GUI, five times the IR’s original values, and
be adjusted differently at different frequencies.
and it is an interesting and unusual all parameter values can be typed in, if
interiors, a library, a hotel corridor, the room facility with which to experiment. preferred. Across the top of the window
next door (very handy for anyone involved a horizontal slider sets high- and low-pass
in radio drama production!), stone and
The Main Page filter frequencies while another alters the
tiled rooms, a stairwell, a telephone and The plug-in’s GUI has four pages, but the amount of inter-channel Crosstalk, with
many more besides. The first three preset most used controls are found on the main buttons to select the relevant channels and
options are also unusual in that they ‘Add page. A second page shows the specific directions, when appropriate.
Presence, Warmth or Width’. See the box impulse response characteristics and Below the Scope section, and present
for a complete listing. offers controls to change the frequency across all menu screens, another pair
Apparently, Paragon’s IRs were all response and frequency-dependent of sliders adjust the wet/dry mix and the
captured as Ambisonic recordings because decay rates. The third page deals with output Trim level, with bar-graph meters
the B-format signals can be processed to the I/O configuration, and a fourth covers for each channel’s output level. At the very
generate any number of output channels, the various user-setup options. The top of the GUI are all the usual Bypass,
arranged in any layout. Consequently, idea is to give you plenty of control, but undo/redo, and A/B memory comparison
Paragon can accommodate anything that once you’ve configured the plug-in buttons, along with a preset selection
from single mono to 7.1.2 channels (the appropriately for a project, most of your
latter suiting Dolby Atmos sound beds, for reverb selection and tweaking can be Nugen Audio Paragon
example), all from the same core IRs. done directly from the main display $599
Another unusual aspect of Paragon page. It works well.
PROS
is a parameter called Crosstalk. With Despite the sophistication and versatility • Innovative technology takes
the Crosstalk control dialled down to of Paragon’s IR engine, this main screen convolution reverb to a new level.
zero, the convolution reverb engine is feels pretty familiar and intuitive. The • Very varied collection
essentially multi-mono, meaning that window is dominated by a large circular of superb-sounding IR
acoustic environments.
an input signal only generates reverb ‘Reverb Surround Scope’ with adjacent
• Support for a vast array of
for its corresponding output. So a left ‘node’ buttons acting as either Solo or multichannel formats.
channel input only creates reverb on the Mute buttons for each output channel. • Largely familiar controls for
left channel output. That isn’t exactly the The Scope display illustrates how the parameter adjustments.
normal arrangement (although it could reverberation spreads to the output • Comprehensive global and
channel-based reverb parameters
be a useful effect in some situations), channels, with its brightness indicating
but as the Crosstalk control is increased volume and colour differentiating the CONS
each input signal is allowed to bleed wet and dry elements. It’s an unusual • Some minor grumbles about the GUI.
into its adjacent channel(s) to generate way to view reverberation, but I can see • Can’t use with personal IR files.
reverberation from those outputs too. So why Nugen adopted it: with experience it SUMMARY
in a stereo configuration with a sensible becomes rather informative. Paragon is the result of advanced
crosstalk level, the left input generates Pairs of vertical sliders either side of technology combining additive
reverb spreading across both the left the Scope adjust the core parameters re-synthesis with convolution reverb to
bestow the sound quality and accuracy
and right outputs in the usual way. The of Pre-delay and Decay times, room
of a multichannel convolution reverb
precise amount of crosstalk being sent Size and Brightness. The Decay and with the custom tweakability of an
from, and arriving in, each channel is Size parameters can be scaled up to algorithmic reverb.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 87
 ON TE S T
NUGEN AUDIO PARAGON

dropdown. The Nugen logo here converts

to a spinning wheel when IR recalculations Factory Presets
are being performed.
1-3 Add Presence/Warmth/Width 29-30 Office 1/2
Diving Deeper 4 Air Room 31 Public Library
5-7 Bright Chamber/Church/Room 32-33 Room Ambience/Next door
For most, the second GUI page will feel
8 Car Interior 34-35 Slapback Long/Short
the least familiar. It is dominated by two 9 Clear Vocal Hall 36-43 Small Chamber/Church/Club/Room 1/
views of the selected impulse response: the 10 -13Dark Chamber/Church/Hall/Room Room 2/Stone Room/Theatre/Tiled Room
upper one displays the IR as a spectrogram, 14-18 Hotel Corridor 1/Corridor 2/Lobby/ 44 Stairwell
plotting frequency versus time, while the Room 1/Room 2 45 Sustain Hall
lower one is a conventional frequency 19-23 Large Bright Hall/Chamber/Church/ 46 Telephone
Club/Theatre 47 Van interior
response showing frequency versus
24-28 Medium Bright Hall/Chamber/Church/ 48 Warm Chamber
amplitude. These are used to illustrate Stone Room/Tiled Room 49 Zeppelin Drums
the selected IR’s characteristics and any
changes to its frequency response and/or
frequency-dependent decay times.
As the parameter controls are shared,
buttons to the right of the plots select
whether they are applied to the amplitude
or decay time, while more buttons below
select which channel(s) are affected.
Parameter adjustments are made either
by manipulating the EQ curve shown
in the lower chart, much like most EQ
plug-ins, or by entering numerical values
in the relevant parameter display boxes
below. There are options here to change
the shape of the EQ curve (bell, or high/
low shelves), frequency, Q (bandwidth),
and value, this last being either the gain
amount for frequency response changes
or a time multiplier for decay-time
adjustments. Up to four EQ bands can be
implemented either by double-clicking on
the EQ curve or by using the add/remove/
select buttons at the bottom left of the
lower plot.
A Complexity slider effectively adjusts
the density of the resynthesized IR, with
higher values noticeably increasing
recalculation times. And a Reset button
removes all current user adjustments to
restore the original IR preset.
Usefully, five ‘test sounds’ are also As well as covering most expected environments, the user library includes a number of quirkier
included on this IR page as an aid when settings that should prove useful in radio drama and sound for picture, such as the ‘Room Next Door’
fine-tuning reverb settings. The options preset pictured here.
are acoustic guitar, kick drum, harmonica
and both short and long vocals. When meter adjust the input and output levels, Useful and powerful though these
selected, these loopable samples replace although the attenuation/gain setting is individual channel parameter adjustments
any audio playing from the DAW. shown right at the bottom of the window; are, I think there’s a potential trap here:
The I/O page displays various something I found frustrating as it’s settings are not reflected or even warned
parameters for the individual audio nowhere near the pointer being moved! about on the Main GUI page, and I caught
channels in the current configuration, There’s also no capability of typing in myself out once, wondering why it
and these parameter adjustments act a specific gain value. Other per-channel sounded like there was pre-delay when
in addition to those dialled up on the parameters comprise a slider to adjust the global slider was set at zero! I’m sure
main page. The channels are arrayed the high- and low-pass filters, and some means of warning that individual
horizontally, starting with a Solo/mute numerical boxes for pre-delay, decay-time channel parameters differ from the global
button and a coloured bar-graph meter multiplier, and crosstalk levels into and settings could be easily implemented
(with a peak-level readout) which is from the channel. There’s also a button — perhaps by altering the parameter
switchable between input and output to toggle the wet signal on and off for label colours on the relevant sliders,
levels. White arrows above/below each each channel. for example.

88 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 and excellent-sounding reverberation
processor. It is obviously an excellent
choice for music mixing projects, but the
Add Warmth, Presence and Width options
make it useful for mastering effects as well,
and the impressive range of presets will
also make Paragon a very powerful tool for
other audio applications, such as film and
TV post-production, and radio drama.
This really is a very impressive
technology that takes convolution reverbs
The IO window usefully offers the ability to specify crosstalk between channels.
to a new level, and I heartily recommend
The final GUI page, selected with The GUI might benefit from some small checking out the free trial!
the cog icon, configures input and improvements, described above, but this is
output channel routing (defaulting to not a major criticism, and I’m sure this side
$ $599.
an automatic mode), determines if the of things will evolve.
T Nugen Audio +1(0) 888 382 8188.
node buttons act to solo or mute the In summary, then, I’m impressed: E sales@nugenaudio.com
respective channels, select whether Paragon is a genuinely innovative W https://nugenaudio.com
pre-delay times are shown in ms or
samples, alter the replay volume of the
test samples, and allow the GUI colour
scheme to be changed. I felt a couple
of things here could be improved. First,
although customisable colours are
available for different meter regions,
this only affects the meters on the I/O
page; those at the bottom of the main
page remain resolutely monochrome.
Second, changes to the GUI colour
schemes only remain for the current
session, and must be saved with
individual presets to persist.

Verdict
The final arbiter of any reverb is, of
course, the quality of its reverberation
and I can’t overstate how impressed I am
with what Paragon can do. The source
IRs are well chosen and of high quality,
making the acoustic environments
that can be created both convincing
and natural. That’s true of some other
convolution reverbs, but Paragon
adds almost limitless customisation
with just a few parameter tweaks.
The quality persists across different
output formats too: I experimented
with 2, 4 and 5.1 configurations,
all of which produced delightfully
immersive acoustic environments.
Importantly, Paragon is remarkably
straightforward to use, simply because
its operating paradigm is so similar
to a traditional algorithmic reverb.
Manipulating the decay times at different
frequencies is novel for a convolution
reverb, but the visually interactive
approach is very effective and informative.
The provision of musical samples is
also handy in providing a consistent
reference to judge reverb parameters.

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 ON TE S T

Avantone Planar Planar Magnetic Headphones

If you crave the refined sound of large planar magnetic cans
but are put off by the price, Avantone’s newest headphones
could well be the answer.

SAM INGLIS
brought about renewed interest in planar interesting products in their existing
magnetic headphones, thanks mainly to catalogue are the MP1 ‘Mixphones’;

T
he headphone market shows the efforts of Dr Drag Colich at Audeze. these are closed-back phones that use
no sign of ceasing to boom. It’s For a full explanation of how a planar conventional moving-coil dynamic drivers,
still dominated by traditional magnetic driver works, go to www. but they incorporate a mono switch and
moving-coil designs, but alternative soundonsound.com/reviews/audeze-lcd-x- a voicing option that cuts out the extreme
technologies are gaining traction too. el8 where you’ll find our detailed review high and low frequencies so you can
Already this year I’ve been very impressed of Audeze’s flagship LCD-X. pretend you’re mixing on an Auratone.
by HEDD Audio’s HEDDphones, the The latest manufacturers to embrace The Mixphones have now been joined
first headphones to use an Air Motion this technology are Avantone, US-based in Avantone’s line-up by a second pair
Transformer as a driver. Elsewhere, makers of mics, loudspeakers and other of headphones which, as the name
breakthroughs in magnet technology have studio equipment. One of the more suggests, use planar magnetic drivers

90 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
rather than moving-coil transducers. a challenge. Avantone boast a frequency
Like most planar designs, the Planars response of 30Hz-30kHz for the Planars,
Avantone Planar
are open-backed headphones designed but in the absence of any tolerance, this $399
primarily for mixing and hi-fi listening. isn’t really a meaningful claim. PROS
When I reviewed Avantone’s • High-quality planar magnetic design
Planning A Head Mixphones, back in 2016, they seemed that delivers a more speaker-like
Available in red or black, the Planars are unusually sensitive to differences between sound than most headphones.
• Much more affordable than other
shipped in an imposing cardboard box. headphone amps and, in particular, could
models with similar sonic qualities.
The included “eco-friendly carrying bag not reproduce low bass properly when • Comfortable to wear and
with cable pouch” proves to be a simple driven from a low-power source. In theory, non-fatiguing to listen to.
canvas bag that offers relatively little planar magnetic headphones ought to be
CONS
protection, and is no substitute for a rigid easy for any amp to drive, but in practice
• The ‘upper bass’ region can feel
case. On the plus side, though, you I experienced much the same effect with a bit over-prominent.
get two cables, both screened with an the Planars. Connected to the built-in • Need a good headphone amp to
attractive and robust braid. The shorter headphone amp on a laptop or phone, deliver their best.
of the two has a mini-jack at either end they sounded brash in the upper midrange, • Large and heavy.
• No rigid carry case.
and can be plugged into either of the whilst missing an octave or two in the
two earcups; the longer is a Y-cable that low frequencies. Even the headphone SUMMARY
attaches to both earcups, and always amp on a cheap mains-powered audio The Planars offer many of the
delivers the correct channel to each side interface didn’t do them justice, and it was strengths of high-end planar
magnetic headphones, at a very
regardless of which way around you only when I plumbed them into my DACS
competitive price.
connect it. Headlite that I heard what they are really
Planar magnetic phones are usually capable of. similarity there in terms of sound or
on the large side, and none more so than physical design. The Planars are bulky
the Planars. The rectangular earcups
Making Planars For Nigel and heavy, with a classic planar sound
are about 11 x 7 cm in diameter and fully What they are capable of, it turns out, that foregrounds the upper bass and the
5cm deep with their removable earpads, is quite impressive, and although there midrange; the LCD-1s are lightweight,
while the total mass of the headphones is a sonic differential between the small and portable, and their tonality
is almost half a kilo. Despite this, they Planars and flagship Audeze models, is quite a bit more crisp. In fact, the
are perfectly comfortable for extended it’s a lot narrower than the difference in LCD-1s sound a lot more like standard
use. The metal band that bridges the their respective costs. The same basic moving-coil headphones in comparison,
two earcups is augmented by a soft, strengths are certainly apparent: they and I personally preferred the relaxed,
broad headband, and it’s this that rests produce a clear, natural, open sound that, open feel of the Planars.
on top of your head, spreading the load. like all good monitor systems, makes I strongly suspect this is down
The earcups are hinged and rotate you feel you’re listening to the music to a key feature that they have in
freely in two axes; however, there’s no rather than the headphones. In a direct common with the larger LCDs and the
way to adjust their height relative to the comparison with Audeze’s LCD-MX4s, HEDDphones: earcups that are not
headband, and they sat a touch lower on the stereo image on the Planars perhaps only large, but also very deep. This
my ears than I’d have wanted. even felt a touch wider, and although they positions the driver further away from
don’t present drums with quite the same the ear and, in my experience, delivers
Strong Points thrilling punch as the LCDs, they still a more speaker-like experience. Until
Historically, one of the drawbacks of outperform most moving-coil headphones now, I’ve only encountered this style
planar magnetic headphones has been in this regard. of earcup design on models costing
low sensitivity. Thanks to the use of rare When connected to an amp with north of $1000, so it’s fantastic to see it
earth magnets and improvements in fluxor serious welly, the Planars have plenty brought to market at a much lower price.
design, that’s no longer an issue, and the of bass extension, but there is still In these days when headphone mixing
Planars offer a more-than-respectable a tendency for the very low frequencies to is becoming ever more important, many
sensitivity of 104dB/mW. They present be overshadowed by a hump somewhere of us aspire to own high-end planar
a nominal impedance of 32Ω, and like in the 100Hz region. They are also a touch magnetic phones, but haven’t been able
most planar designs, claim a very low less smooth in the upper midrange than to justify the cost. Whilst the Avantone
distortion figure, with THD measuring less really state-of-the-art models like the Planars are still a significant investment,
than 0.1 percent at 100dB. LCDs, occasionally coming across as they offer a much more affordable way
From a sonic point of view, planar slightly gritty. But they are as close to to experience ‘that sound’ — and if you
designs also have historic strengths subjectively ‘flat’ as most headphones in try them, you’ll understand why so many
and weaknesses. They can put across their own price range, and for myself, I find mixing engineers think so highly of planar
low frequencies in a way that most a midrange emphasis much more useful magnetic headphones.
moving-coil phones struggle to match, for mixing than the ‘scooped’ tonality
and the presentation of musical dynamics beloved of many headphone designers.
$ $399
in a good pair of planar phones is hard Price-wise, in fact, the Planars go head T Avantone +1 845 378 1190
to beat; but achieving a high-frequency to head with Audeze’s more affordable E info@avantonepro.com
response that’s flat to 20kHz is LCD-1 model, but there’s actually less W www.avantonepro.com

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Leapwing RootOne
Bass-enhancement Plug-in
RootOne refreshes the for Mac and Windows in VST, VST3, AU to 196Hz (their default positions are 34, 72
(Mac-only) and native AAX formats, I was and 112 Hz, respectively). All three bands
parts most other enhancers excited, and couldn’t wait to try it out. The have identical controls: the fader sets the
cannot reach. world isn’t exactly short of bass enhancers amount of added subharmonics; the Drive
and sub synths (check out the Alternatives parameter sends the subharmonics to
FREDERICK NORÉN box for some examples) but, as I’ll explain, a separate saturation process; Dynamics
RootOne does things a little differently, and controls the dynamic range of the

I
was a little late in discovering Leapwing the results are impressive. subharmonics; and Decay can prolong
Audio, but when I eventually stumbled their decay.
upon their DynOne plug-in a couple
Down & Dirty The Harmonics section is a saturation
of years ago I loved it. I have been an RootOne’s processing is divided into two processor, which adds harmonics (based
avid user of their plug-ins ever since, and sections: Subharmonics and Harmonics, on the subharmonics) to enhance the
I particularly like that they invent new types and the Subharmonics are divided into character of the processed sound.
and implementations of audio processing, three frequency bands called Sub, Thump The Drive setting adjusts the amount
rather than delivering yet more analogue and Punch. These three bands have of generated distortion, Color sets the
emulations. So when I read about their adjustable crossover frequencies: Sub up degree of symmetry (or asymmetry!)
new RootOne, a bass-enhancement plug-in to 56Hz, Thump up to 104Hz and Punch up of the distortion, and Low Pass applies

92 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
a low-pass filter, whose turnover frequency of the Harmonics section also made me
can be set anywhere between 100Hz realise that they all interact with each other ALTERNATIVES
and 1kHz. The contribution of each — that’s probably a reason why this plug-in The most obvious alternatives are Waves
frequency band can be heard in solo, as seems to perform so well. Incidentally, LoAir, MaxxBass, and Brainworks bx_
well as visually confirmed by looking at while experimenting, I also tried sending subsynth. All three are useful, especially
the level meters, and given how potent pink noise into RootOne and, without for their distinctive sound, but they are
not as flexible or ‘intelligent’ as RootOne,
the process is, I strongly recommend that playing back the noise itself, RootOne
and don’t provide phase-aligned
you do spend time listening in solo while produces a low-end rumble that would be subharmonics and harmonics.
tweaking each band. perfect as a spaceship background noise
So far, it sounds useful if perhaps also in a science-fiction movie!
rather conventional, but there’s rather Test tones can only tell you so much, bass line and the kick drum and the result
more to Leapwing’s process, which took though, and I’m sure you want to know wasn’t perfect, it definitely sounded better
them two years to develop. RootOne how it performs on ‘real-world’ sources. than the thin-sounding original master.
continuously analyses the source material During the review period, I used RootOne So both the capability and the sound
to determine the frequency, phase and on a variety of different sound sources, of this plug-in are good — and having
level of the root tones used RootOne for some
(fundamental bass time now, I reckon the
notes). The Sub, Thump “RootOne seemed able to do something control set is too. The
and Punch frequency GUI is clean and easy to
bands react to these root interesting for pretty much any sound source and read, and the controls
tones roughly an octave instrument that I was processing.” are easy to use and
above and, together, the intuitive: lowering the
bands generate a couple Dynamics parameter
of subharmonics that are perfectly in ranging from kick drums and bass lines, to makes the added subharmonics more
phase with the root tone. tiger roars and a thin-sounding rock track even in level, and adding Decay makes
Where a source lacks low end, instead from the early ’90s. It was very effective in them more prominent.
of adding subharmonics it’s sometimes adding weight and punch to both electronic
useful to add ‘body’ higher up in the bass and acoustic kick drums, and with the latter
Low Ending
region. RootOne’s saturation process is it pretty much gave me the sensation of Processing low-end is tricky because
great for that: it adds harmonics based raising the fader of a pressure-zone mic the sensation of an increased low-end
on the new subharmonics, and the cool positioned inside the drum, but without is seductive, especially in the lowest
thing is that you don’t have to add the the spill sound from the snare drum. octave. The TAD speakers and Velodyne
subharmonics themselves; you just set the Perfect! With an electronic kick that lacks subwoofer in my control room are
crossover frequencies accordingly. low-end, the remedy has often been to phase-calibrated by a Trinnov processor
layer it with another, more sub-heavy kick. and have a linear frequency response
Performance It’s an intricate process that can change down to 20Hz. This system very accurately
Running some test tones through RootOne the overall ‘sound’ of the kick drum, responded to the subharmonics generated
made it easy to see how RootOne adds and it has the potential to create thorny by RootOne, in an inspiring way, so I was
both subharmonics and harmonics. phase-cancellation problems in the low-end able to tailor the bass response to taste.
Tweaking the individual Drive parameters too. Using RootOne instead, I was able to If listening over a less accurate system,
along with the Drive and Color parameters add phase-coherent subharmonics not only though, or one with more limited low-end
to electronic kick drums but also to two club capabilities, you should make an extra
mixes, making them sound more interesting effort to monitor the result of RootOne
Leapwing RootOne and ‘alive’ — a result that had me dancing very closely, preferably on several sound
$199 around in the control room! systems and on headphones too. Raising
PROS In fact, RootOne seemed able to do the Sub fader means adding a sub synth
• Easy to use. something interesting for pretty much playing bass tones in the 15 to 40 Hz
• Intelligent sub-harmonics generation. any sound source and instrument that area, and that might not be audible on
• In phase with the source audio. I was processing: bass lines, synths, snare a pair of small nearfield monitors or in
• Can ‘inflate’ the sound. drums, percussion, voice-overs... The list a poorly treated space, and it’s easy
CONS goes on. For example, I mocked up an to overdo the effect.
• So seductive that’s it’s easy to intro track for the local ice hockey team RootOne is a new landmark when it
overuse it! and it was great fun hearing the tiger comes to bass enhancement and sets
SUMMARY roars thunder in the PA-system, thanks a high bar for the competition. I highly
Combining phase-aligned to their guttural low-end. Even my efforts recommend downloading the 30-day
subharmonics and harmonics in with challenging sources met with some demo version of the plug-in — just be
a very musical and intelligent way, success: tackling a thin-sounding rock prepared to part with some money when
Leapwing RootOne sets new standards track is always tricky, especially when you fall in love with it!
in bass enhancement. No matter
there is nothing more than a stereo track
how thin-sounding the source is, the
chances are that this plug-in will make to work on but, while RootOne had to $ $199.
something interesting out of it. work hard to find the root tone of both the W www.leapwingaudio.com

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Native Instruments
StradivariViolin
Virtual Instrument
NI’s new instrument
makes owning and playing
a Stradivarius easier than
ever before.
ROBIN BIGWOOD

P
layable, expressive solo violins
are one of the holy grails of the
sampling world. It’s a similar
problem to producing a convincing solo
sax or electric guitar: how the heck to
cover the sheer range of articulation and
tone colours a good player continually
utilises, along with the subtle but crucial
transitions between the notes. And
then to make it all available in a DAW,
most likely driven from a standard MIDI
master keyboard.
Stradivari Violin is Native Instruments’
response to the challenge, developed
in conjunction with Hamburg-based
e-instruments. They’ve recorded a single
violin, the silvery-sounding 1727 ‘Vesuvius’
made towards the end of Stradivari’s
life, which is currently in the collection of
the Museo del Violino in Cremona, Italy.
The capture took place in the auditorium
there, apparently involving no fewer than
32 microphones, multiple virtuosi sharing
the playing duties, and security guards
manning the exits (I’m not kidding). content) that gives you two NKI patches: unlike a real violin there’s a very shallow
It’s worth noting too that Stradivari Violin a 17GB multi-mic version (occupying learning curve.
is also a component of a larger library, towards 4GB of RAM, with typical disk
Cremona Quartet, that adds a Guarneri streaming settings), and a resource-saving
First Position
violin, an Amati viola and a Stradivari cello, fixed-mix alternative using 6GB of Putting Stradivari Violin to use immediately
all enjoying most of the same sampling samples and just over 1GB of RAM. NKS reveals that NI’s approach has not been
features. The entire quartet library is controller integration extends to the to reinvent the wheel, but — like so many
twice the cost of the solo violin reviewed usual coloured keyrange prompts and premium-quality libraries these days — just
here, and there’s an upgrade path for various control mappings, but the library to make a very fully featured wheel.
violin owners who’d like to explore some works well with standard five-octave MIDI There are no fewer than 20 articulations
four-way action later on down the line. controllers too. Either way, all the important on offer, all covering a G2 to F6 pitch range,
parameters have MIDI CCs ready-mapped, beginning with a broad range of long and
Tuning Up with straightforward facilities to both short bow strokes that will probably see
First, a quick rundown of the basics. learn new CC mappings and also to the most use, for many projects. These are
Stradivari Violin runs in NI’s Kontakt or the reconfigure the keys used for selecting supplemented with a fine pizzicato, tremolos
free Kontakt Player, on version 6.2.2 or different articulations. I found all aspects and trills (with variable speed), combination/
higher. It’s a 23.5GB download (equating of presentation, technically speaking, repetition strokes (again variable in speed,
to about 39GB of uncompressed sample to be completely intuitive and helpful: and tempo-sync’able), along with some

94 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 The Sound Of Silence
The multi-mic version of Stradivari Violin contains an intriguing Room
Noise slider in its mixer view, which adds in the background ambience
of the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi where the sampling sessions
took place. Native Instruments suggest this adds an extra sense of
realism which can glue together a solo performance that includes
periods of silence. In principle I would not disagree, but even at full
whack the added low-end rumble, 200Hz hum bump and 14k Hz shelf
never come above about -85dB, so I doubt there are many listening
scenarios in which the effect could ever, practically, be heard. Still, in
the rarefied world of old Italian violins little things can mean a lot, and
it’s there if you need it.

nice and occasionally ghostly Special effects including Col Legno,

where the wood of the bow makes contact with the string, rather
than the hair. The interface lets you load any combination of eight
of these articulations at a time, and a Con Sordino (bridge mute)
option can be enabled per-articulation rather than globally. The
mute effect is applied using a DSP filter rather than by accessing -VY3,+ZWV[SPNO[Z
alternative sample sets, and although subtle (compared to VYMVYZWLHRLYZ
some violinists’ mutes I’ve heard over the years, when they’ve +PZ[HUJLYVKJHUIL
WSHJLKPUKPќLYLU[
remembered to bring them on stage...) it’s plausible enough. positions on the
It’s possible that some users may never get round to IHZLWSH[L

exploring all the articulations, though, because by default

both NKIs load up using an adaptive articulation scheme
called Virtuoso. This selects either a sustain or marcato bow
stroke depending on key velocity, while a push or pull of
your pitch-bend wheel immediately accesses the short, agile
spiccatissimo and staccato. That’s not all: legato pitch transitions
change with velocity, with a more impassioned portamento
swooping in (by default) when you play harder. And the volume
of the whole lot of it is subject to the position of your mod wheel.
An awful lot can be achieved with Virtuoso which, if you don’t
require any really unusual techniques, and for a lot of ‘normal’
musical material, can sound realistic and expressive to the point
 -VY3,+ZWV[SPNO[ZVYMVYZWLHRLYZ
where I think the vast majority of listeners would think they were
 +PZ[HUJLYVKJHUILWSHJLKPU
hearing a real violinist. This is quite an achievement, already.
KPќLYLU[WVZP[PVUZVU[OLIHZLWSH[L
The basic tone of the Vesuvius and character of the playing
is extremely likeable: it’s light, bright, airy, somewhat genteel
and has a nice acoustic ‘bloom’ to it, and plenty of naturalistic

Native Instruments Stradivari Violin The new modular

$199
PROS stand system
• A super quality capture that blends accuracy with
plenty of naturalistic warmth and movement, across all *YLH[L`V\YKLZPYLKZWLHRLYVYSPNO[PUNZ[HUKZ`Z[LT^P[OÅL_PISL
20 articulations. JVTWVULU[Z;OLSHYNLOLH]`Z[LLSIHZLWYV]PKLZHÄYT
• Effective, musical results, requiring only a basic MIDI footing while the integrated three threads allow distance rods to
controller. ILTV\U[LKH[]HYPV\ZWVZP[PVUZ;OLUL^L_[LUZPVUYVK
• Simple and straightforward user interface and control
YPZLZ[VHTH_PT\TOLPNO[VM ¸(UPU[LNYH[LKIHZLOHUKSL
schemes.
• Ready-mixed and multi-mic implementations give options for JVU]LUPLU[JHISLTHUHNLTLU[HUKMV\YMLS[JV]LYLKMLL[M\Y[OLY
sound and CPU. LUOHUJL[OLZ[HUKZ`Z[LT(UHKKP[PVUHS^LPNO[ MVY[OL
IHZLWYV]PKLZMVYTVYLZ[HIPSP[`HUKÅL_PIPSP[`
CONS
• Limited coverage of loud dynamic levels or aggressive
playing styles.
• No support for double stops. Made in Germany `LHY^HYYHU[` RTHTLYPJHJVT

SUMMARY
An often surprisingly convincing, extensively sampled solo violin,
of world-class provenance, that gives fine results in no time at all.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 95
 ON TE S T
N ATI V E INS T RU M E N T S S T R A DI VA RI V IOLIN

If the automatic, adaptive Virtuoso mode doesn’t

give you what you need then 20 separate articulations
are on hand to fulfil almost all musical requirements.

you’ll also find a CC11-driven Expression

slider that will control overall playback level
independently of any localised shaping
you’ve recorded with the mod wheel.
Vibrato, meanwhile, is subtly
sophisticated. Instead of trying to juggle
lots of different sample sets with varying
amounts of vibrato, Stradivari Violin
applies artificial but very natural-sounding
undulations to otherwise clean, non-vibrato
sample sets. I say ‘undulations’ advisedly
too, because a periodic intensifying of
tone seems to happen alongside the more
obvious variation of pitch. The waveform
movement and tone development through non-sustaining articulations, when you is apparently derived from analysis of real
the sustained articulations. select them manually, are controlled by key players’ vibrato characteristics too, so
velocity instead. That default behaviour can a simple sine or triangle LFO this ain’t. Both
Technical Studies be changed in the Performance pane, and rate and amplitude are continuously variable
Digging further into the library reveals more
interesting features. Aside from the eight
articulation keyswitches there’s one for
changing bow direction for a held, sustained
note. It’s a nice option to have for several
playing styles where simply restriking a note
(especially if you do so repeatedly) can
sound unnatural. Otherwise, bow direction
alternates automatically for held notes when
the virtual violinist runs out of bow in each
direction, mostly after about four seconds.
Actually, you can hear alternating strokes
occurring when you restrike notes generally,
with some limited use of round-robin
alternation over and above this. All good of
course, and crucial for authentic mimicking
of a real violin. However, there’s no way to
override the scripting and force a particular Dynamics and vibrato characteristics can be set up with the mouse in the Performance section, but for
bow direction, to allow for a characteristic better momentary control they all also respond to MIDI CC messages.
repeated down-bow technique, for example,
or to simply start a phrase on one direction
or another.
Another keyswitch (momentary in
action) forces the use of the more plaintive
and vibrato-free open strings instead of
fingered/stopped equivalents: a fine feature
to have on hand. It’s actually but one part of
a sophisticated fingering position scheme
with its own dedicated part of the GUI.
There, and via MIDI CCs, you can force
the use of warmer fingerings higher up the
neck, or brighter ones low down, or simply
let Kontakt figure it out in context.
Discussion of tone quality leads us
nicely to the Performance pane, which
handles aspects of dynamics and
vibrato. As I mentioned before, the mod On a real violin it makes a big difference to any individual note’s sound quality whether it’s produced by
wheel is mapped to dynamics/volume stopping low down or high up on the neck, on different strings: the Position controls let you influence that in
in the Virtuoso articulation. In fact, most Stradivari Violin as required.

96 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
 ALTERNATIVES
Spitfire Solo Violin is amongst the fiercest competition currently,
THE MID
with a really ballsy and classy character, more extensive
round-robin sampling, and lower asking price. However, it
doesn’t allow the user to select individual articulations: it makes
all the decisions contextually, and there’s no pizzicato nor most
of the Expressive, Dynamic or Special techniques. Embertone’s
SPECIA
Joshua Bell Violin is capable of equally remarkable results, and
for an entirely different approach try Audio Modeling’s 15MB
(yes, megabyte!) SWAM Violin.
Got USB but
need MIDI?
in real time, and there are six styles on offer.
Finally, we come to the various legato options, of which there
are quite a few. For the ‘Long’ articulations Sustain and Marcato
no less than four types of legato transition are available: Fingered,
MIDI USB Host mk
kII
Bowed, Runs and Porta[mento]. Fingered changes pitch without USB Host to MIDI Converter
Using a USB device with a MIDI USB Host removes the need for
changing bow; Bowed does change bow for each new note a computer. MIDI In & Out are provided for USB MIDI keyboards
but still sounds different to detached playing; Runs makes for andd controllers.
t ll
faster-speaking and cleaner transitions between rapid pitch
changes within a single bow; and Porta makes scooped, swoopy
position changes audible between notes. It takes very little Need to split
effort to explore the effects of all these different legatos, and to your MIDI into
zone into what works best for your material. The only weakness identical copies?
I encountered was some short-lived phasing and doubling (which
instantly shouts ‘sampled!’) when rapidly alternating certain pairs Thru-5
of notes — not much rhyme or reason which, incidentally — and MIDI thru box
when using Portamento transitions for intervals of a sixth, seventh One MIDI in and 5 MIDI Thrus.
Thru-12 and Thru-25 also available
or octave. Not all are edge-cases it must be said, but neither is
any of it so serious as to mar the overall performance.

Command Performance Need to

combine your
I’ll admit a certain trepidation in taking on this review: before I’d
MIDI sources?
tried Stradivari Violin my heart sank at the thought of grappling
with yet another new, fiendish, fiddly articulation control scheme.
It turns out I shouldn’t have worried, because while there Merge-4
certainly are bells and whistles aplenty they’re extremely easy MIDI Merge Box
to master and to employ to musical ends. What’s more, this is Merges the data from up to four separate MIDI sources (e.g. Master
keyboards or controllers) into a single MIDI data stream which
a library that can give remarkably good results from the very appears at both of the MIDI out sockets.
first time of asking, that responds intuitively to playing at least Merge-8 also available
as much as to ‘programming’, and yet will sound better still with
some effort mastering its features.
My concerns are relatively few. Maximum sampled dynamic Want to control
level seems to be a fairly sedate forte, not more, and a really your vintage CV
impassioned, unbridled, hair-breaking sound is not part of its synths using MIDI?
repertoire. There’s no support for double-stopping: playback
is strictly monophonic. And the built-in MIDI learn facilities are Pro-Solo mk3
strictly for MIDI CCs only, so you can’t easily assign vibrato
MIDI-CV Converter
amplitude (for example) to respond to aftertouch, which seems High-spec, single synth MIDI to CV converter.
such an obvious tie-up. Modular Solo also available
In the final judgement, and assessing the extent to which
the library sounds ‘real’ and convincing, a little perspective is
needed. Attempts to pull off the solo part of the Brahms concerto KEEP ALL YOUR SYNTHS, SEQUENCERS
will probably get sniffed out by many listeners. However, the AND CONTROLLERS TALKING WITH
KENTON MIDI PRODUCTS
results can still be incredibly good, and for a broad range of
other material, not least orchestral solo spots with a touch of the
Schindler’s List spun-out melody, or more active writing akin to Find out more at kentonuk.com
a Danse Macabre (minus the tritone double-stops of course),
Stradivari Violin will do it, and can sound excellent. Short of
employing a session player,
$ $199 it’s one of the best options out
W www.native-instruments.com there, currently.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 97
 ON TE S T

Felt Instruments
Blisko Collection
MARK NOWAKOWSKI
Sample Libraries effort is the Blisko series, comprised of
a violin, viola and cello (available separately
Felt Instruments’ Blisko

T
here is a particularly austere or as a suite). The Polish word Blisko
and engaging aesthetic to Felt Collection offers a unique actually means ‘close’, and the intense
Instruments products, which blend of sound and motion. nearness of these particular instruments
seemingly emerges straight from the soil is effectively presented by expressive
of Polish culture. Trapped for years behind computer science. In recent years her musicality and captured through the
the Iron Curtain, the country managed to growing international creative profile has palpable warmth of vintage analogue gear
maintain a unique cultural and international given rise to a revolution in video game to create a truly original effort. Curious
profile instead of just melting into a larger making (such as the iconic Witcher series) composers should also check out Felt
Soviet soup. Despite strict censorship (or as well as popular forays into streaming Instrument’s encapsulation of the Hohner
perhaps in spite of it), great composers services such as Netflix. It was only Guitaret, Jasno, which means ‘bright’,
emerged and with them entirely new ways a matter of time, therefore, before she gave and super-soft upright piano, Lekko,
of creating music. The film scores of Kilar us something of real consequence in the which literally means ‘light’. Also fun is the
and Preisner, the sonoristic experiments of realm of virtual instruments. free Wolno (slowly) library of half-speed
Penderecki, and the new tonality of Henryk Enter Felt Instruments, founded by piano samples.
Gorecki are good examples. Through composer and engineer Tomek Ślesicki
this time and into the new independence in collaboration with the sensational
Shapes & Moments
beginning in the 1990’s, Poland had robust genre-bending multi-instrumentalist Marta What quickly becomes apparent is that
community music programs as well as Zalewska (seriously, look up her YouTube Felt Instruments are not a Polish IKEA of
excellent education in maths and later videos). Their latest and most ambitious samples with minimalist design and clever
ethnic names; rather they offer expressive
instruments with warm, sometimes gritty,
and often evocative characteristics. The
library is organised into two collections: the
Shapes section contains sustained notes,
col legno, unmeasured ricochet, and swells.
The Moments section consists of varying
textures with a strong sense of motion.
All the instruments in the series sit in an
attractive custom player whose interface

Felt Instruments
Blisko Collection
£219
PROS
• Warm and characterful close-miked
performances.
• Numerous shifting and aleatoric
techniques which never sound like
they are repeating.
• Simple and aesthetically pleasing
custom-built interface.

CONS
• Lack of a dedicated sustain/legato
instrument.

SUMMARY
A beautiful series of aleatoric and
sound design tools for solo, duo and
trio violin, viola and cello, allowing
composers to create constantly shifting
A Violin combo patch, allow the user to transition between harmonic sustains and harmonic trills. and morphing textures.

98 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
is certainly minimalist in inspiration and
design. (The instrument is not standalone,
however, and must sit within a DAW.)
Practically, this tends to translate
to quick results in the creative realm.
Upon loading your instrument, you can
immediately affect the envelope, tape
delay, reverb and mic blend (with two dry
room and two close signals which can
be blended) for each instrument while
receiving attractive visual feedback. You
can stretch and spread each instrument
from a texture which covers between one
and three players, effectively triggering the
overdubs which provide for more variance
in performed textures and also greater
thickness. If you click on the ‘Tweaks’ tab
at the bottom, you access a more detailed
pane where echo and reverb types, the
panning and volume of the individual
players can be set, and a ‘Cascade’
option to delay the onset of the players is
available: this is sometimes the secret to
creating both great infinite sustains and
more musical aleatoric performances. Also
highly useful is the divisi switch. The EQ
pane is similarly minimalistic and designed
to resemble one of Tomek’s Austrian EQ’s.
The three dials are joined by a Preamp
button which further colours the sound. spread to three players, change the value A Blisko Viola combo patch allows users
to transition between Sul Tasto sustains and
of the cascade setting, and turn up your
Sound & Motion a pulsing figuration.
reverb while changing to the third type: the
As Ślesicki makes clear, his intent was Col Legno then takes on a very different of repeat or re-bow setting would add
not to create a one-stop comprehensive characteristic due to how its short sustain even deeper functionality to an already
string library, but rather a unique tool interacts with the new reverberant settings; useful product. As Ślesicki has updated the
for composers to add to their existing the ricochet setting works similarly. instrument numerous times even during
collections. Practically, this instrument Beginning with Sul Tasto Pulse, the the writing of this article, there is no reason
is capable of adding additional life and second line of available presets contains to believe that this labour of love will not
motion to pad and aleatoric sequences the ‘Eternal’ sustains, and often lets the continue to grow along with his company’s
while providing compelling new techniques user crossfade between two and three other efforts.
and performances for existing string performance settings by using the mod The website samples of this instrument
templates; I found it a particularly valuable wheel. Users will notice that three small are entirely representative of its
addition to both my sketching and my string squares have appeared near the top of capabilities, so interested composers and
quartet templates. The dry nature of the the interface: this allows you to toggle sound designers can confidently audition
recordings also makes it easy to match between a single articulation type, a mod capabilities there.
into existing ensemble string libraries. It’s wheel crossfade between two types
particularly fun to blend the performances of articulations selectable by the user,
Conclusion
and patches, spread to three players in and a crossfade between three chosen Felt Instruments punch well above their
the settings, into larger string sections, articulations. This is where the real magic weight with this useful tool. Yet perhaps
mixing esoteric techniques into a larger of this clever little collection takes place. the most telling aspect of whether a VST
ensemble patchwork. As always, the divisi switches allows you to transcends function and enters into the
The first four patches in the library offer have individual players play the techniques, realm of art is whether or not it is capable of
short performances. Ark offers a grainy, or groups of three (to quickly bring you inspiring new music in its own right. For my
moody medium-length sustain with plenty to a larger section density). The third and money, the Blisko collection is a goldmine
of delicious bow noise, which retains its final line of sounds are more pointillistic in of moody inspiration and pathos-driven
character even when the reverb setting nature though also sustained indefinitely. performance, and one which certainly will
is way up. Rise offers a short and more If there is one complaint to level against enrich the creative pallet and digital arsenal
aggressive articulation, while Col Legno Blisko, it is that the sounds are so very of many composers.
does exactly what you would expect at first nice that the user naturally desires a few
glance, though some tweaking leads to more articulations. One or two more $ £219 or £79 each.
more interesting results. Try, for instance, to standard sustain patches or some manner W www.feltinstruments.com

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 99
 ON TE S T

Steinberg
Cubase 11
Digital Audio Workstation Software
Steinberg turn the dial up existing users to upgrade, or tempt
potential new users to take the plunge?
to 11 with a stonking new
version of Cubase. On The Shoulders Of Giants
The current DAW/sequencer marketplace
JOHN WALDEN includes many excellent choices, and
Cubase is undoubtedly one of the

W
hile death and taxes may still ‘giants’ amongst this product group,
be the trump cards in the game with a long history, a large user base,
of certainty, the inevitability and a comprehensive feature set. While
of a tempting upgrade to your favourite v11 brings all sorts of worthwhile new
music production software can’t come far developments, if you are part of that
behind. For many years, Steinberg have large user-base and Cubase helps put
been very consistent on this front, with food on your table, you can breathe
annual upgrades to Cubase released easy; moving from any recent (10 or
towards the year end. Cubase 11 — in Pro, 10.5, for example) version to Cubase 11 is
Artist and Elements versions — is therefore a smooth and painless transition.
now with us. That said, on paper, for users of the Pro
These regular annual upgrade cycles version, the list of ‘new and improved’ in
bring out different responses in users. this upgrade is impressive. And while not
Those happy with their current version all of these new features trickle down to
can, of course, choose to stick but, when the Artist and Elements versions, in both
presented with a long list of improvements cases, there are some nice surprises.
and new features, the temptation to twist For example, Elements now includes fall into a number of categories: Signal,
can be high. So, just what are Steinberg side-chaining options and Artist now Spectral Domain, Phase, Spatial Domain,
adding in Cubase 11 that might entice includes support for VariAudio 3, ARA2 Waveform and Other. Many of these are
and unlimited audio, MIDI or instrument relatively straightforward, such as the
tracks. So, what’s new? Let’s dig in... Level module within the Signal category,
Steinberg Cubase 11 or the Spectrum Bar (a frequency-based
$552 My Superpower Is... histogram) within the Spectral Domain
While there is truth in the old adage category. However, the range of options is
PROS
that if it sounds right, it is right, a visual impressive and a few of the modules are
• Frequency 2 and SuperVision justify
the cost of the upgrade on their own. representation of your audio can offer worth further comment.
• An extensive selection of new and all sorts of helpful insights. Acquiring For example, the Signal category
enhanced features that will have very top-notch audio visualisation skills includes a well-featured Loudness
broad appeal. might, therefore, come a close second module that follows the EBU R128
• Impressive new audio export options.
• Scale Assistant is an absolute boon
to ‘golden ears’ on your list of desirable reference. The module displays true peak,
for non-keyboard players. superpowers as a budding mixing or integrated loudness, short-term loudness,
mastering superhero. Cubase 11’s new momentary maximum and loudness
CONS SuperVision plug-in provides an excellent range and, amongst other configurable
• No new virtual instruments to get
excited about.
starting point in that regard. options, is switchable between LU or
• Er... nope, can’t think of anything else. SuperVision is a single plug-in, which LUFS units. In the post-loudness-wars
can be placed as an insert anywhere world of streaming, whatever your specific
SUMMARY it’s required to visualise your audio loudness target, SuperVision’s Loudness
Cubase Pro 11 delivers an impressive
signals, but is actually an assemblage module will assist you in hitting it.
array of new and enhanced features
that will have a very broad appeal. of modules that the user can configure Alongside the very useful, but fairly
Tremendous value for those upgrading. and customise. The 18 available modules conventional, Spectrum Curve (which,

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

interestingly, does offer a masking feature With the ability to fully customise and Elements is Squasher, a three-band
that can compare a main signal with that the choice, position and size of up to dynamics processor that combines both
of a side-chain input) and Spectrum Bar, nine modules within a single instance downwards compression of peaks and
the Spectral Domain modules also include of SuperVision, and to save your own upwards compression of quieter parts of
Spectrum Intensity, Spectrogram and layout presets, this is a powerful and your signal.
Chromograph options. The latter provides flexible visualisation system. While they Frequency 2 adds dynamic EQ
an intriguing display which shows the do differ in many details, an obvious capability to an already powerful feature
energy of your audio based upon the 12 comparison would be with iZotope’s set and also provides support for multiple
half-steps of the equal-tempered scale. powerful Insight 2, which also provides side-chain inputs (a capability that’s part
The Phase modules provide various a modular visualisation system. of the VST3 specification). For any of the
ways to visualise the correlation between Purchased individually, Insight is priced eight bands set to low shelf, high shelf
the left and right sides of a stereo at $199. SuperVision now provides a very or peak filter types, dynamic mode can
signal. The Phasescope, Panorama and credible alternative for Cubase Pro and be engaged, with a full suite of controls
Correlation modules are familiar, but Artist users, who’ll get it with the Cubase to configure how the EQ band responds
I particularly liked the Multipanorama 11 upgrade. to the dynamics of the audio input within
module. This is frequency-based and that frequency range. The dynamic EQ
particularly useful for checking out just
Squeeze, Spread, Squash options are available whether an EQ
how ‘stereo’ your low end is. It could Cubase 11 delivers three notable plug-in band is in standard stereo mode or being
make a good companion to the new developments. For Pro users only, used in Mid/Sides or left/right modes,
spatial imaging plug-in described below. Frequency, the most powerful of the in which case you get separate sets of
The Spatial Domain modules — Surround stock EQ plug-ins, has been enhanced controls for both channels.
and Ambisonics — offer useful level and to Frequency 2. New to both Pro and The new multi-side-chain support
channel correlation visualisation for those Artist is Imager, a multiband stereo opens up all sorts of interesting
working in multichannel formats also. imaging plug-in. And new to Pro, Artist possibilities. For example, if you have

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 101

 ON TE S T
S T E IN BE R G C U B A S E 11

SuperVision provides
a powerful and flexible
suite of visualisation
modules including
Loudness (top left),
Chromograph (top right)
and Multipanorama
(bottom left) amongst
many others.

Steinberg suggest
Squasher is aimed
primarily at EDM
producers and, with
each bands each
having variable drive
and a side-chain
input, it’s easy to
see how you could
push a contemporary
electronic dance
mix to within an inch
a group track acting as a bus for all differences, Frequency 2 provides much of its dynamic life should you so wish.
your guitars or synths, you could duck of the same functionality and workflow for However, I think that might undersell its
the low frequencies of this from a bass Cubase Pro users. utility. For example, used in single-band
or kick-drum side-chain input, while Squasher provides up to three configuration, the combination of upward
simultaneously ducking a dB or three bands of dynamic control, offering both and downward compression is similar in
somewhere in the midrange based conventional downwards compression principle to the MV2 plug-in from Waves.
upon a side-chain from your vocals. If (to control loud signal levels above This is a great tool for quickly evening
side-chaining is part of your toolset to a threshold) and upwards compression out the dynamics of a vocal or bass and
ensure key rhythmic or melodic elements (to increase the volume of quieter portions Squasher can now fulfil the same role for
remain present and intelligible within of the audio signal below a second users of all Cubase versions.
a busy mix, Frequency 2 will be a powerful threshold). Allowing you to control the It also works well to bring out
addition. An obvious point of comparison amount of compression in both directions, lower-level details in a sound such as
is FabFilter’s highly regarded Pro-Q3 this is a very flexible tool for managing the ghost notes on a snare mic or rhythmical
plug-in, and while the two do have their dynamics of any audio signal. muted strums within a guitar part. In
short, this is a very useful addition to the
Cubase plug-in suite, but I’d qualify that
with a warning that you can just as easily
destroy a mix as enhance it; use with
suitable restraint!

Unmixing Magic
Steinberg have recently released a major
upgrade to SpectraLayers Pro (a full
review of SLP7 will appear in SOS soon)
but, for Pro and Artist users, Cubase 11
bundles SpectraLayers One, a compact
version of the powerful spectral editor.
And thanks to the ARA2 Extension system,
these spectral audio editing capabilities
can be opened for a selected audio clip
available directly within the lower zone of
the Cubase Project window.
SL One offers a more modest feature
set than the SL Pro and SL Elements

Test Spec
Cubase Pro 11.0.0
Apple iMac running OS 10.15.7, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7,
32GB RAM.
Frequency 2 adds dynamic EQ and multiple side-chain support to Cubase Pro’s flagship EQ plug-in.

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

 versions. However, perhaps the most to extract a vocal from a full mix by any AudioWarp and Slice. AudioWarp works as
eye-catching SLP7 feature included in SL other means, you will appreciate just how before, allowing you to maintain a playback
One is a streamlined version of the almost good a job SpectraLayers is doing. And speed while shifting the pitch of the sample
magical AI-based stem unmixing. As in if you do need to clean things up further, playback across the MIDI note range.
SL Elements, One is limited to the Unmix significantly, SL One includes the new Cut However, the new Normal sub-panel now
Vocal option, taking a fully mixed audio To Layer Below option so, as you refine the allows you to select between different
track and separating it into two layers: separation by cutting unwanted elements playback qualities, depending upon
‘vocal’ and ‘everything else’. But for those from the vocal layer, they can automatically just how pristine you want your sample
looking to do remixes or mashups, that’s be preserved on a further layer (or layers) playback to be. This includes a cool
exactly what’s needed. It requires just to ensure the process remains fully Vintage option to simulate old-school
a couple of mouse clicks to work its magic non-destructive. sampler technology by reducing the
and the results are, well, remarkable. bit depth or the turntable speed.
When played back together, the two layers
A Slice Of Something Nice As might be expected, Slice mode
sum to the original audio, but you can also Available in all Cubase editions, Sample divides your sample into slices using
choose to solo or mute one to get either Track 2 retains the easy-to-use workflow automatic transient detection, manual
just the vocal or just the instrumental bed. of the original but adds some creative slicing, slice to a grid or some combination
The latter pretty much always sounds new features. The highlight amongst of these. The slices are mapped across
very (very!) good, and if you need to these are the slicing options; although the MIDI keyboard. Using the small MIDI
simply rebalance the vocal against the loop-slicing is a well-trodden path in most connector icon, you can drag into the
instrumental bed by a dB or two, SL One mainstream DAWs, having the capability Sample Track a MIDI clip that will replay
will do that in a very transparent fashion. embedded directly within the Sample the sample slices in sequence to recreate
The quality of the soloed vocal will vary Track provides a very welcome creative the original loop. This can, of course,
depending upon factors such as how busy and workflow boost. then be edited to create variations of the
the original mix is, the amount of reverb/ Rather than just allowing you to toggle original loop or entirely new loops. Like all
delay applied to the original vocal and the AudioWarp mode on or off, the Playback loop-slicing tools, the process is designed
presence of prominent backing/harmony panel (now with a blue header strip) with drum loops in mind but it works well
vocals. However, if you have ever tried now includes three sub-panels: Normal, with any material that contains obvious

YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET

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Independent Audio, Portland, Maine. T (207) 723 2424 E dennis@independentaudio.com W www.independentaudio.com

 ON TE S T
S T E IN BE R G C U B A S E 11

some combination of the

scale and associated Chord
Track. And, when you edit
MIDI data, it can snap to
notes within the scale or
chord. In short, no more
duff notes!
At a practical level, it is
worth noting that the Scale
Assistant is only active
within the Key Editor. You
therefore have to have
an existing MIDI clip (with
notes you already recorded
or an empty clip you have
created) selected and
open within the Key Editor
Frequency 2 includes a single-band view
Assistant within the MIDI Key Editor window. From here, you can then open
for more detailed control and access to the
side-chain options. — present in Pro, Artist and Elements the new Scale Assistant tab in the Key
— may well be the absolute highlight of Editor’s Inspector panel. When using the
transients; classic EDM vocal chops, for the v11 release. The concept is simple: if Scale Assistant, it is also useful to select
example, are a breeze. you ask nicely, Cubase will pitch-correct the Scale/Chords option from the Event
The Sampler Track functionality now your MIDI note data to fit the chosen Colours entry on the Key Editor’s toolbar.
also includes two LFOs. These can be key/scale combination of your project. Notes will then be colour-coded to
used to modulate key parameters in Pitch, It can do this to existing MIDI parts or to indicate whether they lie in or out of the
Filter and Amp panels, while clicking on ‘live’ MIDI input. It can follow a scale or chosen key/scale.
the Mod button for any of these panels to
open its envelope editing also displays
the various LFO controls. While it’s
perhaps not a match for the modulation
options found in many of Cubase’s virtual
instruments, it does provide some very
creative sound-shifting possibilities.
The Mono button on the Sample Track’s
toolbar strip — which forces sample
playback to one note at a time — now
has its own dedicated Legato button.
Once engaged, if you play a second note
while holding the first, the pitch alters but
sample and envelope playback continue
without retriggering. You can combine this
with the Glide option and the new Fing
button (short for Finger, this forces a pitch
glide only when you play legato) in the
Pitch panel. You can create some very
cool retro synth-bass or melody lines with
suitable sample starting points.
Oh, and if you want some fresh audio
ammunition to explore the new Sample
Track 2 features, Cubase 11 also offers six
new sound sets: Bloom, Noir, Night Call
Synthwave, Hard Knocks, Lofi Dreams
and Dance Floor Tech House. These are
included for all Cubase versions.

Theoretical Advice
There is lots to be excited about in the
new features already described but, if
your piano keyboard skills are modest
(like mine), or you have yet to pass Music Squasher provides both downwards and upwards compression across three frequency bands and with
Theory 101 (cough!), then the new Scale support for multiple side-chain inputs.

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

 ON TE S T
S T E IN BE R G C U B A S E 11

SpectraLayers One adds the magic of vocal unmixing for Pro and Artist users.
not, this will be an absolute boon when
The Scale Assistant panel includes do note that as the Scale Assistant is a Key creating harmony lines for things like
a number of options. You can choose Editor process only, you need to engage string parts.
to use either the scale specified within the Record In Editor button (far left of the
the panel or any scale specified in the Key Editor toolbar) to make this active.
Round The Bend
Chord Track (sensibly, this is an either/or Finally, Quantize Pitches can be used to While on the subject of the Key Editor,
selection). If you opt for Use Editor Scale, correct any notes that lie outside the key/ Cubase’s MIDI editing gets further
you can then select a key/scale scale in existing MIDI. refinements with new CC drawing options
combination from a well-populated menu, I can see this new feature finding added. As has been the case for some
with the option to add your own. If you a lot of friends amongst non-keyboard time with automation data on audio tracks,
have an existing set of notes within the players, although it perhaps takes you now have options for creating smooth
clip, but are unsure of the key/scale a little experimentation to find your ideal curves between two MIDI CC data nodes.
combination, the Scale Assistant can also workflow. In my own experimentation, This works with any MIDI CC lane within
offer you some suggestions based on entering chords from the Chord the standard MIDI editors. One further
all the notes or just a selection, although Pads and then applying some Scale nice touch is that, when editing pitch-bend
if your notes just happen to be an Assistant-based editing of the MIDI data data, you also get the option to snap the
assemblage of randomness, it is possible made it very easy to explore different data to a semitone-based grid. While some
to get ‘zero’ suggestions. chord voicings or note tensions, while might argue this feature is a long-overdue
The three tick boxes define the level keeping everything in key. Used for addition, it’s great to see and it’s available
of music theory support then offered. melodic or bass lines, however, the Scale in Pro, Artist and Elements.
Show Scale Note Guides adjusts the Assistant is impressive on its own; simply
pattern of light and dark grey horizontal record a suitable take (with or without live
Export Ecstasy
bands that run across the MIDI note area pitch-correction) and then cycle playback Whether for personal archive needs,
from the default white-note/black-note while you fine-tune the melody with Snap to send to a mix engineer, or to give
pattern to an in-key/out-of-key pattern to Pitch Editing activated. a client maximum flexibility down the line,
provide a visual guide for note selection. Finally, it’s worth noting that if you exporting more than just a final stereo
Snap Pitch Editing takes the help a step select a melodic line and shift a copy of mix from a project is often a necessity.
further so that, when you edit MIDI notes, it by a specific musical interval using the However, when that might consist of
they snap to pitches within the correct first note of the melody as a guide, with bus-based stems and full suites of audio
key/scale. Finally — and this is the best bit Snap Pitch Editing engaged, the notes and instrument tracks (both with and
for those with limited keyboard skills — move intelligently rather than all just without any included channel-based
Snap Live Input will pitch-correct your MIDI moving the same interval (for example, effects), it can also be a chore that
note entry as you play. This works well, but three semitones). Music theory skills or requires patience and concentration.

106 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 ON TE S T
S T E IN BE R G C U B A S E 11

The display of Global tracks within the Key

Editor will be very helpful for composers when Selection To Channel/Track Selection This is both a powerful and flexible
synchronising musical content to specific visual button. Engage this, and tracks selected system. Separate jobs can focus on
events in their film or TV project. within the Project window will be different elements, so you might create
automatically selected for audio export a job to export just the main stereo output
For Cubase Pro users, this is already when the Export Audio Mixdown dialogue (your final mix), a job for an MP3 version
made somewhat easier by the more is opened. Second, multiple different of the same mix, a job containing all your
comprehensive Export Audio Mixdown export jobs can now be queued so that group tracks (submix busses) and a job
dialogue in the Pro version. It remains, they are automatically carried out one after that exports all the individual audio and
however, a somewhat tedious task, and the other. Once one selection has been instrument tracks as audio (perhaps for an
mistakes can easily be made. made and added to the new Export Queue external mix engineer or as a future-proof
However, Cubase Pro 11 introduces list, you can then make further selections backup). What’s more, each track
further key additions to the Export Audio and create additional jobs as required. You selection can be configured with different
Mixdown dialogue that can make the can also open an existing job within the elements of their respective processing
process considerably easier to manage, queue and update its contents by adding chain included. So, if you want to export
no matter how complex the export more selected tracks or deleting some that all your audio tracks both with, and then
specifications. First, there’s a new Sync are already included. without, their channel and insert effects
processing, for example,
that’s easy to configure into
two separate jobs.
Queuing jobs in this way
allows you to check you
have everything organised
before starting to actually
export the required files.
Usefully, the jobs queue is
saved with your project so
you can build the list of jobs
over multiple sessions if
needed. Once your jobs are
ready, you simply press the

The Score Editor has a new

context-sensitive Properties panel
and a new note-editing overlay.

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

Start Queue Export button and, if there addition at some stage. Even so, job-based Second, Steinberg have also made
is a lot of stuff in the queue, you then let batch export is a great addition for Pro some refinements within the Score
Cubase do its thing while you make a hot users with complex export requirements. Editor for Pro users. For example, as
beverage of your choice... although the the Score Editor now supports the
first few times you use the queue feature,
Compose Yourself SMuFL font format, some of the more
it’s simply a joy to watch while wearing The new export options will undoubtedly attractive fonts available in Dorico (such
a big smile. Oh, and if you still discover appeal to media composers required to as Bravura) are now available in Cubase.
that you have missed something, you deliver multiple stems for a film or TV To speed workflow, there is now also
can simply make the necessary changes project, and there are a couple of other a new Properties tab (available in the left
or additions to the jobs within the queue ‘new in 11’ options that will also particularly panel of the Score Editor) that is context-
and execute the process again. appeal to that part of the Cubase user sensitive; you get appropriate options
A further useful detail is that all base. First, if you regularly float the Key displayed within the tab as you select
exported files can be placed within Editor to make it larger than the lower particular elements within the score.
a dedicated Mixdown folder within zone might allow, you now have the option Finally, there is now a new note-editing
the Project folder rather than the to toggle on/off the display of key global overlay panel that can be toggled on or
Project’s Audio folder. This is a sensible tracks within your project — Markers, off and allows you to refine your editing
option, keeping your exported audio Chord Track, Ruler, Arranger and (yay!) choices within the actual score. You can,
separate from the project’s original Video — at the top of the Key Editor. of course, edit note length, velocities
audio recordings, and makes managing This can be done from the new Global and pitch here, and the changes are
your various audio media much more Tracks tab that appears in the Key Editor’s automatically applied to the underlying
straightforward. However, it would be Inspector panel when it is floated. The MIDI data. However, if you wish simply
even better if you had the option to put system is simple to use and very effective. to improve the intelligibility of the score
exported files into their own sub-folder The ability to see markers (showing musical for sight reading, you can adjust note
within this Mixdown folder based upon the hitpoints), timecode and a video thumbnail lengths within the score but without
job number. You could do this manually while undertaking precise MIDI editing will changing the MIDI note length. These
when configuring each job, but an be a big help to anyone synchronising their changes are obviously useful for those
automatic option would be a further nice musical compositions to picture. who need to generate printed scores for

soothe harshness
so your EQ
doesn’t have to

36

read more at
oeksound.com

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

 ON TE S T
S T E IN BE R G C U B A S E 11

musicians, and might mean that some

smaller scoring jobs can be done within
Cubase itself, with no need to resort
to a full-blown scoring package such
as Dorico.

In Heaven With Eleven?

Given just how mature the DAW/
sequencer marketplace now is,
it’s difficult to see how any major
DAW update might be thought of as
revolutionary rather than evolutionary.
Indeed, for loyal users of a particular
DAW/sequencer, the ideal combination
might be a new feature or two that give
a nod to revolution, mixed with a good
dollop of smooth evolution. Existing
users get to keep their well-established
workflows intact (with some useful
new possibilities) and the expanded
feature base, with a few highlights, can
tempt potential new users. So, does
the Cubase Pro 11 update achieve that
ideal balance of mini-revolution and
solid evolution? And does the upgrade
price for existing Pro users deliver value
for money?
Let’s start with the second of these
questions. The new features add up to
a serious collection of additions and
significant refinements, and I think it’s
difficult not to be impressed by the value
for money on offer. Even if you consider
just the combination of SuperVision,
Imager, Frequency 2 and Squasher,
there is plenty of value in these new Synchronisation of track selections between the Project window and the Export Audio Mixdown, and the
or revised plug-ins to more than justify new Export Queue system, make organising complex export tasks much easier in Cubase Pro 11.
the price of the upgrade. You are, as
I mentioned earlier, getting functionality visual analysis and loudness monitoring, Cubase Pro 10.5 was already
that compares with premium third-party Cubase Pro 11 has a very powerful set a massively powerful and feature-rich
plug-ins such as iZotope’s Insight 2 and of tools for audio mastering. Yes, if I’m musical production environment; it
Imager, FabFilter’s Q3 and Waves’ MV2; doing DIY mastering on a collection of therefore provided some pretty broad
and these are, of course, only part of tracks, I’d prefer the Audio Montage shoulders upon which the new features
what you get when moving up to Pro 11. environment offered by Wavelab but, if of version 11 can stand. However, as
With the possible exception of the Score you are mastering a track or two for your a long-standing Cubase Pro user — and
Editor improvements, I think the majority latest single before it hits all the streaming one who has followed many iterations of
of the new and enhanced features services, Cubase Pro 11 has all the tools the annual upgrade cycle — I think this
fall into the mainstream, and a large you need, provided you have the skills to upgrade is one of the most impressive
proportion of the user base is likely to use them. I’ve seen. It delivers a broad sweep of
see a benefit. I’d suggest this is a very There is a similar ‘workflow revolution’ genuinely useful new and enhanced
impressive deal for existing users. for media composers in terms of the new features that will appeal to a large
Is there anything revolutionary? Well, job-queuing feature within the Export number of existing users and, along the
there are elements that revolutionise the Audio Mixdown dialogue and the Global way, delivers some very appealing mini
way particular tasks can be approached. Track display within the MIDI editors. These revolutions to workflow in specific areas.
For example, with Frequency 2, Imager are evolutionary changes that have the This is a truly polished upgrade that
and Squasher now added to the existing potential to revolutionise the workflow for delivers exceptional value for money.
multiband processing options provided these specific tasks. Equally, if your piano
by the Multiband Compressor, Multiband keyboard skills suck, the evolution of the
$ Cubase Pro 11 $552; upgrades from
EnvelopeShaper, Multiband Expander Key Editor with the new Scale Assistant $99.99; Artist 11 $302; Elements 11
and Quadrafuzz 2, and with the new may well revolutionise your ability to create $99.99.
SuperVision providing sophisticated harmonically correct MIDI parts. W www.steinberg.net

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

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 T E CH NI Q U E

Success
In The
Studio
Business
Three Tips For Getting Ahead
A Grammy-winning engineer shares his secrets.
DOM MORLEY
an assistant who was starting to get
engineering gigs to a big London studio

F
irstly, I feel I should apologise where I was at the back of a daunting
for the clickbait headline, but queue of experienced assistants
I promise this is more than an and engineers. My own engineering
attempt at ‘attention engineering’! Whilst opportunities disappeared over the
everyone’s route to success in the studio horizon! So, I got to work doing the tasks
world is different, there are a few tactics that I was given really well. If all I was
that I’ve used, and which I’ve seen other doing was making drinks, then I would
people use, to get ahead. These tips are remember people’s orders so when they
definitely ‘tried and tested’, but I’ll stop turned up next time their favourite style of
short of ‘guaranteed’ for legal reasons. coffee would be waiting for them. Being
a specialist in making hot chocolate and
Be Thorough ice tea also made me very popular! Slowly
The first obstacle that’s rarely talked this attention to detail gets you noticed,
about is the surprising lack of transferable and when it’s time to trust someone with
skills between the jobs of assistant, a more important task, you’re the one
engineer and producer. There are a few who is trusted.
things that you carry with you, but This applies to engineering and
knowing the details of what’s in the mic production too. The engineer who always
cupboard won’t teach you how to mix, delivers a great recording is likely to be
and being a good mixer won’t teach you asked to mix a track when the budget
how to coax a great performance from doesn’t stretch to fit in the usual Big
a fragile singer having a bad day. One Budget mix engineer. And the mixer who
thing that is consistently transferable goes the extra mile to really get the best
though, is being thorough. out of a track might be asked to produce
This advice was given to me early in the next record. It all comes down to your
my career and I’ve always found it to be enthusiasm to get the task done as well
useful. Whatever the task in front of you, as possible. When that shines through, it
approach it with the mindset of being becomes infectious and attracts bigger
thorough and you will do the job with and better things.
professionalism, and do it well. These
things get noticed, and when you are
Keep Learning
getting noticed then you start moving Studio work is obviously as technical as it
ahead. Early in my own career I moved is creative, so it should go without saying
from a small regional studio where I was that you never stop learning — both your

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

 The Author
Producer, mixer and recording engineer Dom Morley has multiple Grammy
awards under his belt. Among his credits are Amy Winehouse’s Back To
Black and Mark Ronson’s Version, plus singles by Adele and Morrissey,
Sting’s 5.1 surround release Live At Durham Cathedral, and many more. Dom
recently appeared on the SOS ‘Recording & Mixing Vocals’ podcast, which
you can hear at https://sosm.ag/vocals-podcast.

craft and the new technologies associated with it. Being at the
forefront of new technologies can be a big help in moving forward
as well. If you are the person who knows how to make a certain bit
of software or hardware work when no-one else does, then you
can become in demand very quickly. This is often a small window
of time as the rest of the studio community catches up, but it can
be enough to push your career forward, especially if you’re also
demonstrating everything in the ‘Be Thorough’ paragraph above,
as well as the paragraph below...

Be A ‘Cool Hang’
I guess I need to apologise again for that heading, but a ‘cool hang’
is how it was explained to me, it sums it up well, and I’m guessing
you know what I mean. Studio sessions can be long, often running
for many days in a row, and they can get quite intense. Bear in
mind that people hire the best person for a job that they enjoy
working with, so making the effort to be a really nice person to
hang around with is really going to be critical to your career. This
gets into the area of ‘vibe’ — something undefined that we are all
somehow supposed to understand — but I’ll give a few examples
of what works.
Consider things from the artist’s point of view. It’s stressful
for an artist to be finally recording and/or mixing tracks that they
have been working on for a very long time and those stresses can
play out in different ways depending on the person. Start with an
assumption that that’s what is happening.
‘Diva’ attitudes are born from insecurity. It’s the job of every
person in the studio to make the artist feel secure and comfortable,
so if you’re getting some of this stress then think what you can do
to make the artist feel more confident and supported.
Never take diva behaviour personally, because it really isn’t
personal — and keep doing your job with enthusiasm. Eventually
the tension decreases, and life gets much easier for everyone.
It’s really that word ‘enthusiasm’ that’s the big one here. If you
can make sure you are always injecting that into your work, then
all of the above advice should fall into place without a great deal of
extra thought. Best of luck!  

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

 T E CH NI Q U E

A Mixing State Of Mind

LCR panning isn’t so much a technique as a mindset
that can lead you to more satisfying mixes.
help you to really focus on what matters those sources might lock together to create
M AT T H O U G H TO N
in an arrangement and a mix. an impressive wall of sound, but often it just

T
here can be a huge gulf between ends up sounding like a directionless mess.
what trained and untrained ears
Discipline Technically, a mono mix is an LCR mix,
hear when they listen to a track. The idea is simple: don’t use intermediate and in many ways LCR can be considered
Your average listener isn’t thinking “That pan positions. Any given mono source can an extension of the idea of mixing in mono:
guitar’s a bit edgy,” or “Isn’t the conga be panned hard left, hard right or straight it’s almost like treating the left speaker,
fighting a bit with the floor tom?” Their down the middle. Nowhere else. Of course, the right speaker and the phantom centre
reactions are much more instinctual at one time, engineers had no other option: as three semi-independent mono mixes.
and basic. Music either provokes an early stereo consoles had three-position Mixing in mono forces you to make
emotional response in people, or it switches to route signals to the left channel, a decision as to which of the sources you
doesn’t. It’s all too easy to lose sight of the right channel or both channels of the think are really important, simply because
that basic fact when you’re mixing. Yes, master stereo bus. there is no way that all of them can be
a focus on detail can be important, but But today, pretty much anyone using equally prominent in a mono mix. It forces
if you focus on the wrong details you’ll a mixer or DAW software has access to you to treat those key sources in such
end up making the track sound fussy and continuous pan controls. If you have a lot a way that they fit around each other,
confused, rather than clear and powerful. of sources and you mix in stereo, then, whether that’s through fader moves to
LCR panning can help you avoid falling there can be a strong temptation to use bring them in and out, arrangement tweaks,
into that trap. It isn’t a recipe that you can intermediate pan positions to make them dynamic variation or ensuring that they all
follow to make any track sound good, all audible. Yet, a likely consequence of occupy different frequency ranges.
or a tool that you can use to correct doing that is that you end up overloading Although mixing in mono is a fantastic
problems. Rather, it’s a discipline that can the listener’s perception. On a good day, all discipline, few of us would actually

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

want to submit mono masters unless
specifically requested by the artist or label.
Mono-compatibility remains important,
but most people are listening in stereo,
so naturally we want to take advantage of
the additional possibilities offered by two
speakers. LCR panning is a way of doing this
whilst still adhering to the core disciplines
associated with mixing in mono.
LCR panning is sometimes called
‘cardinal points panning’, the inference
being that the extremes and the centre of
the mix are the points that really matter.
Rather than thinking of the stereo field as
a huge playground in which your sources
can frolic at will, the idea is that if you get
the balance right at those three points,
the spaces in between them should take
care of themselves.
Is it easier to mix in LCR? Not necessarily.
The same limitations and the same Producer Terry Manning proposed the ‘cardinal points law’ technique for panning as a means of
ensuring that the stereo mix doesn’t become too congested.
considerations apply as usual, and the
whole mix still needs to work when it’s Before you fire up your DAW and the magic lies precisely in those moments
auditioned in mono. In fact, when you get going, though, it’s worth running when sounds combine to create an
first try it, it can seem harder. But in my through some issues that might lead to intriguing texture that the listener can’t
experience that’s generally because LCR confusion or, potentially, disappointment pinpoint. But, typically, in every mix we
is an excellent tool for revealing more for people mixing in LCR for the first time. want to prevent certain sounds obscuring
fundamental problems on the project: if Happily, they’re not so much problems as or changing the tonality of others.
a track is difficult to mix in LCR, that’s very characteristics: the idea of exploring them One charge sometimes laid against
often because the underlying arrangement here is that if you encounter them you’ll LCR panning is that the hard panning
or tracking is flawed in some way. Perhaps know what’s going on and be able to make creates a false sense of separation that
the greatest strength of LCR panning is the appropriate decisions. can cause problems when you hear the
that it guides you to make the kinds of mix in mono. But while there can be
decisions that matter to untrained ears —
Separation Anxiety no doubt that LCR panning contributes
to your audience, in other words. Thus, I don’t want to give you the impression to a sense of spaciousness in a stereo
it can increase your chances of crafting that all sounds in a mix inherently need to mix — there is literally more space in the
a successful and satisfying mix. be perceived as separate — sometimes phantom centre, and the width of the mix

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 T E CH NI Q U E
LCR PANNING

Early stereo mixing

consoles such as Bill
Putnam’s Universal Audio
610, pictured here at
Valentine studios, didn’t offer
continuous pan controls,
just a switch to route signals
to the left, right or both
channels of the stereo bus.

when you switch to

listening in mono.
Especially where you
have very few elements
in a production, there’s
a risk with purist LCR
panning decisions that
the mix can feel a little
off-balance at times.
Personally, I quite like
bold stereo moves,
where one part comes

Photo: Hannes Bieger

in very obviously on one
side and another might
join in on the opposite
‘wing’ a few bars later.
emphasises that even more — it’s a false intermittently, which can serve to make the But it doesn’t always work, and you’ll
charge, since it assumes that the whole bass level appear inconsistent. rarely want the overall left-right balance to
point of LCR panning is that it creates To avoid falling into this trap when be skewed for the full duration of a song,
separation through panning. That’s not the you adopt an LCR approach to panning, so sometimes when LCR panning you’ll
aim, and neither would it be a good tactic. you just need to resist the temptation want to find a way to counterbalance
Here’s a common example that explains to use panning for separation. Check a hard-panned part.
why: the big, wide wall of distorted guitars mono playback from time to time, and When you want to put a part on one
you hear in so many modern rock and listen to how the sources panned to side but doing so creates a sense of
metal tracks. It can sound truly impressive the edges relate to each other and imbalance that you find annoying, you’d
when monitoring in stereo if you simply to those in the middle. Separation, usually pan something else opposite to
bring up the faders and opposition-pan where desired, might best be achieved counterbalance it. In that situation, if there
(hard-left and hard-right) your double- or using EQ, or perhaps ducking, sample are no other parts available then it’s really
quad-tracked guitar parts, and leave replacement, level automation, mutes or an arrangement issue: you could probably
the electric bass in the centre. But even rewriting some parts. Just not by solve it by writing a new part for the other
the wide-panned guitars and centrally panning. Attending to such issues in this side or perhaps having a new instrument
panned bass will always have overlapping way won’t rob the stereo mix of impact double the existing part there. But,
frequencies, and if you listen in mono at all, and that sense of width inherent in assuming that’s not an option, there are
you’ll almost certainly find that you want to LCR panning will remain, but it will improve also viable mixing techniques.
high-pass filter the guitar parts to prevent the mono listening experience. For example, you could try creating
their low end from smearing the bass (it a fake double-track and use that on the
needn’t be aggressive: a 12dB per octave
Balancing Act #1 other side; you’ll lose the sense of the
filter at around 140-150 Hz usually works We should also consider the idea of part being panned one side or the other
fine). You might also want to investigate ‘balance’, in a couple of senses of the that way, but you’ll still retain the sense
higher up the spectrum, to see if the word: the balance between the left and of width and space around the centrally
guitars compromise the note definition right stereo channels, and a change in the panned sounds. Often better, if you want
in the bass part, particularly if they do so overall mix balance that always occurs to retain the sense of the sound being on
one side, is to send the sound to a mono
When a stereo mix is
summed to mono, there’s reverb or delay effect, whose return
always a change in level channel is panned opposite: you’ll still
of panned signals relative perceive the sound as emanating from the
to those in the centre. A lot point at which you hear it first, but the dry
of people seem to think source will seem less like a sore thumb.
that this can be corrected
by changing the project’s Balancing Act #2
stereo pan law — but that
actually has no bearing on Whenever you sum a stereo mix to mono,
this balance change! even if you’ve created perfect separation

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

 T E CH NI Q U E
LCR PANNING

Stereo Sources
It’s often pointed out by critics of LCR that
any instrument that’s been recorded using
a stereo mic technique, or the output of
a genuinely stereo effect, can’t possibly
conform to LCR ‘rules’: unless everything’s
in the centre then whatever your pan pots
are doing the source will appear somewhere
between the speakers. Well, that might
be true in theory, but it’s not a problem in
practice. You just need to decide whether
these parts should be treated as stereo
(pan the channels left and right) or mono
(pan both channels to the same point
or, depending on the source, ditch one
channel). In the former case, where you
LCR-pan everything else, there’ll be more
space in the stereo mix to accommodate
these parts. In the latter, you still gain the
benefit of fast decision making.

between the various sources, the overall

mix balance changes. Specifically, when
you switch from stereo to mono, sounds
panned to one side or the other become
quieter relative to those in the centre. It’s
a phenomenon that affects every stereo
mix, but can be more noticeable in LCR
mixes because the harder sounds are
panned the greater the difference in level.
Why? Well, the centrally panned sounds Why not have a listen to some of your favourite records and see if you can pick out some LCR-panned
are contained equally in both the left mixes? Here’s a rather random selection of very different-sounding but successful records that appear to have
been mixed this way, and you might be surprised by how many you find.
and right channels, by definition. So the
summing process doesn’t simply combine but for fixed pan placements you’ll significantly. But, given the smaller mix real
the hard-left and hard-right elements; inherently compensate for any change estate in mono, that can often be helpful.
it adds two lots of the centrally panned in level due to the pan law when you’re Another thing I commonly observe is
sounds too. Consequently, anything in setting the channel faders. that wide opposition-panned distorted
the centre will be doubled in level (+6dB) guitars can seem to sound that bit
compared with anything hard-panned
Central Perk duller in mono. While that’s partly due
to one side or the other. Put another So what are the implications of this balance to the drop in level, where it’s too much
way, anything panned hard-left or change? First notice that I described it I usually take that as a sign that I’ve not
hard-right in a stereo mix will measure earlier as a ‘phenomenon’, not a ‘problem’. got their relationship with the bass quite
6dB lower in the mono sum, relative to There’s nothing wrong with the mono mix right, or that perhaps I should have had
sounds panned to the centre. And a 6dB sounding different from the stereo one. another guitar double in the centre. In this
amplitude difference is audible not just As long as they both work, that’s fine, and scenario, you might consider a touch of
to golden-eared professionals but pretty I would always urge you to focus primarily parallel distortion on the centrally panned
much every listener... on making a great stereo mix. bass, to inject useful energy in the centre
“Can I counter that by using a different Happily, the change in mix balance will to compensate for the drop in energy of
stereo pan law?” I hear you ask. No, it’s usually work in your favour, because it the guitars (you also might revisit your
purely a result of the maths of summing will slightly emphasise the vocals and any guitar EQ settings in light of that). Or
a stereo mix to mono: the stereo pan other mission-critical sounds, such as lead perhaps you could route your guitars to
law makes absolutely no difference in instruments, the bass, kick and snare. So a stereo group bus and use mid-sides EQ
this context. The pan law is just about everything you need to get the listener to shift some of their energy to the centre,
compensating for the change in the tapping their feet, nodding to the beat without compromising their sense of width.
perceived level if you move a sound and singing along should still work well. You should also pay close attention in
source across the panorama, by That said, there are a few things mono to the levels of differently panned
introducing a level drop in the centre to to listen out for, especially if you’re sounds that have an important relationship.
compensate for the electrical or acoustical inexperienced at mixing. First, note that For instance, if you have two fairly exposed
boost when the sound appears in both stereo reverb or room ambience tends to acoustic guitar parts playing picked
channels. It’s relevant if automating pan dry up noticeably in mono, and that can counterpoint, panning them hard-left and
positions or using an autopanner plug-in, often change the character of a mix quite hard-right would probably work well: there’d

118 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

be no change in their level relative to each the part’s level drop relative to the centre. adding more reverb in the centre, you
other, even though they’d be quieter relative I’d urge caution, though: if you were to go might also try narrowing some stereo
to the lead vocal. Panning one to the centre through your mix and revise all the parts’ reverb channels a bit, or panning some
and the other hard-left, on the other hand, pan positions in this manner, there’d have mono ones in a touch. You might also
would result in a 6dB change in the level been little point treading the LCR path in experiment with your reverb decisions
of one part’s notes relative to those of the the first place, so don’t sacrifice the impact more generally: maybe move a part to
other, and that might (it’s not guaranteed of your stereo mix if your mono mix works. the centre but send it to a wider-panned
to) have an audible effect on any rhythmic Rather, I have in mind that sometimes mono reverb or delay, or to another
interplay between them. Similarly, if you this is the easiest way to tackle specific stereo effect such as a harmoniser. Or
pan multiple percussion or rhythmic parts balance problems: listen first, and take vice-versa: leave the mono part out wide,
to different places, you’ll want to listen for action only if necessary. but send it to an ambience reverb patch,
changes to accents in the overall rhythm. It might be, for example, that panning and pan the reverb return somewhere
If you notice any such issues and feel an offending part to 75 or 50 percent in the natural ‘pockets’ between the
they constitute a genuine problem in instead of 100 will solve the problem LCR panning points.
a mix when heard in mono, you should acceptably in mono without reducing
start to counter that by changing your the overall impact of the stereo mix.
Summing Up
panning decisions: opposition-pan those If you have quad-tracked guitars or I love LCR panning in many ways and
two guitars, rather than placing one backing vocals, you might try bringing would encourage everyone to try it at
in the centre, for example. two doubles closer to the centre while least a couple of times. As I said at the
leaving the other pair panned wide, outset, it doesn’t always make mixing
Departing From LCR? and then experiment with the balance easier, but I reckon it does encourage you
Another option I’d like to suggest, which between the two pairs using their faders to make better mixing decisions and often
risks offending LCR purists, is to consider and maybe EQ. Again, if such moves do to make them more quickly too. Some will
straying in a controlled way from your the trick and don’t have a negative impact find that they like working this way, while
LCR principles as you near the end of the in stereo, you’re good. others might not — but even if you don’t
mix, because bringing a hard-panned part If the mono mix sounds unacceptably I’m willing to bet that the experience will
closer to the centre will obviously reduce dry, then while you could obviously try help you get better at mixing.
 T E CH NI Q U E

Photo: skynesher

12 Things People Worry About Too Much When Mixing

M AT T H O U G H TO N

T
he only universally applicable rule
of mixing is that stimulating an
emotional response in the listener
trumps all other aims. While it’s obviously
a great idea to seek tips, tricks and
guidance when you’re learning how to
mix, and to consider how you might apply
that advice, you also have to be careful
that in the process of applying it you don’t
lose sight of the big picture. With that
thought in mind, here, in no particular
order, are 12 things that I reckon many

Pitch-correction processors grow ever more

capable, but use them to iron out every vocal
imperfection and you risk losing all the character too.

120 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 Timing correction tools can be handy, but try
not to line everything up on autopilot: you only need
to correct what sounds wrong!

people often worry about a bit too much

when they’re mixing.

Vocal Tuning: We all now have access to

pitch-correction software like Auto-Tune
and Melodyne and can, if we wish, make
a recorded vocal sound pitch-perfect.
But great vocal performances have
imperfections, and if you focus too hard
on ironing out every one you’ll often
be left with a part that lacks soul and
emotion. What’s more, as our ears are
particularly well tuned to vocals we
notice processing artefacts in them much
more than in other sounds. Judging by
the reader demos I’ve heard over the
years, many people would be better off
paying far more attention to the tuning
of instruments, and allow the main event about your mix by checking what it attitude, feel the groove and pick up on
a bit more wiggle room! sounds like during mono playback. But any important melodies, that’s arguably
in mono your mix needn’t sound perfect good enough.
Timing Correction: It’s a similar story and it will never sound as impressive as
with timing correction. It can be a drag on a good stereo mix; it just needs to work. Nixing Noise: From hiss and buzz to
two fronts: if you spend ages quantising If it sounds great in stereo, and in mono breaths and sibilance, fret noise and
or minutely nudging individual notes you can still hear the lyrics and the vocal finger squeaks to traffic noise and barking
to a grid or groove template, only to
discover that you’ve sucked away any
sense of groove or human feel, you’ll
have wasted time and lost perspective.
If that sounds like you, try backing off
a little: fix what needs fixing, and ignore
what doesn’t.

Mono Compatibility: Yes, every mix

must work when summed to mono and
you can glean very useful information

Yes, your mix must work in mono — but it

needn’t be perfect.

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

 T E CH NI Q U E
12 T H I N G S P E O P L E W O R R Y A B O U T T O O M U C H W H E N M I X I N G

Sophisticated noise-removal
tools such as iZotope RX 8 can be
really helpful at times, but focus
on using them only when needed
or you risk burning time and
energy, and losing your focus.

dogs, it’s amazing what can

grab your ear’s attention
when you’re mixing. And
sometimes that razor-like
focus on small details
can be an asset. But do
you really need to spend
time obsessing about the
removal of such noises? If
you can only hear it in solo,
forget about it. Keep that
focus on the big picture,
and you’d be surprised
what you can get away with
on individual tracks. And
even when everything else is playing, for artists to lay down more ideas than texture. In dense mixes, you can often
consider whether it’s really a problem, a song needs, and if you feel a part simply use automation to draw the ear’s
or if you really need to be distracted doesn’t serve the song, the vocal or guitar attention to a part when it comes in,
by fixing it now. doesn’t need to sound double-tracked, sneakily bring it down again to make
or that extra kick mic channel isn’t adding space for the next detail, and nudge it
Using Every Source: If you’re given anything, you should feel free to can it. up later to remind the listener it’s there.
a busy project to mix, it can be tempting You might even find that a lot of parts can
to think that you have to use each and Hearing Everything All The Time: There’s be edited very assertively too: does that
every part that you’re given: that you no golden rule that says every part you pad or guitar really need to play right on
have to include all the mic signals, include in the mix must be heard all of through every verse and chorus?
squeeze in every overdub and double, the time — so if you’ve been fighting to
and accommodate each musical idea. achieve that aim, ask if you really need Masking: This is the phenomenon
While you must obviously respect the to spend your time and energy on the whereby when two sounds have content
artist’s creative vision and you’d hardly ‘problem’. Some of my favourite tracks in the same frequency range and play at
choose to nix the lead vocal, you don’t have sounds that weave in and out the same time, the louder sound obscures
have to use a part just because it is sitting of each other, sometimes individually or ‘masks’ those parts of the other. The
there in your project. In fact, it’s common identifiable, and sometimes blending effect is real, and it will sometimes require
to create a completely different sonic your attention. But your ears should tell

Don’t be scared to use your DAW’s mute tools to free up some space or introduce some variation.

Just because you have four kick signals it

doesn’t mean you have to find a space for them all!

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

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 T E CH NI Q U E
12 T H I N G S P E O P L E W O R R Y A B O U T T O O M U C H W H E N M I X I N G

If you hear masking problems, plug-in

analysers such as Voxengo’s SPAN Plus can help you channel you can pretty much ignore them
pinpoint where they are: but try not to go searching as long as you’ve left a little headroom
for problems you can’t hear. when setting levels. So yes, learn to Do you really need to spend time contemplating
interpret what your meters are telling how to pan the drum kit? Probably not...
you when that’s the case — you shouldn’t you and feel free to use them when the
need to go hunting in your meters to need arises — but don’t let them slow you — the contrast tends to make guitars
find such problems. Happily, the most down or hold you back. and synths sound wider!
important sounds are usually mixed
louder, making many such overlaps less Drum-kit Panning: Should you pan it Sweeping For Resonances: A tip I’ve often
problematic. Where it is problematic, from the audience perspective or the seen doing the rounds is to sweep EQ
a simple bit of fader riding can often player’s perspective? Do you even know boosts around in search of undesirable
provide a swift solution. if the drummer’s right or left handed? resonances and, when you find one, turn
Quite frankly, who cares? Maybe the that boost into a dip. While this can work,
Meters & Analysers: Level meters, stereo drummer does, but if it sounds good few to an extent, it can also waste a lot of time,
correlation meters, frequency analysers... others will. In fact, most of the time I find as you end up attending to problems you
They all have a place, and can be great that keeping an acoustic drum kit very can’t hear. Worse still, you’ll often find
learning aids. But don’t get too hung up narrow in the mix works better anyway that you’re not really focusing on the big
on what you see: the
bottom line is that
what matters is how
things sound, not what
they look like. If you
can’t hear a resonance
there’s no need to pull
it down. If something’s
out of phase, that
only matters if the
mix sounds wrong
on mono playback.
You don’t need to
think about loudness
while you’re mixing,
and if your DAW has
peak meters on every

Metering plug-ins have

a use — but can also be
unhelpfully distracting!

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

 Why spend ages sweeping big
EQ boosts in search of unwanted
resonances? There’s a risk that it will
lead you to focus on things that aren’t
causing problems. And if you can hear
specific problems, modern EQ plug-ins
can often help you pinpoint the problem
area much more quickly.

picture while you perform the

sweep. If you really need to dip
a resonance you can’t pinpoint
by ear, a good frequency
analyser will probably be a much
quicker, more accurate way of
identifying it.

Translation & Referencing:

I see lots of pictures of home
studios with several sets of
relatively inexpensive monitor
speakers, and often different headphones system that money might have bought! A cares how closely it matches whichever
and various ‘grot boxes’ too. The mind secondary monitoring system can certainly big-name artist’s track you had in mind?
boggles: imagine the quality of a listening be helpful — but only if you know what it’s
telling you. You need one good system What Other People Think: If you ask
you can trust, and anything else should people for an opinion on your mix, they’ll
tell you something specific. For example, feel obliged to come up with something
can I still hear the kick bass on a small to say. That means they won’t listen to
speaker? Or does the mix still work in true it in the same way they’d normally listen
mono? There’s no point checking a mix on to music, and their feedback might not
a million different systems and trying to reflect their instinctive reaction to the
get it to sound perfect on all of them; you’ll music. Ask five people for opinions and
end up doubting your ears, chasing your you risk getting five sets of contradictory
tail and losing perspective. The same goes feedback. Consider feedback, by all
for reference tracks: they should tell you means, but make your own judgments:
Secondary monitors can certainly play a useful something specific, not be a target to aim you can’t mix by committee! Ultimately, if
role in your studio — but only if you understand for and obsess over. If your mix sounds you’re happy and the artist is happy, that’s
what they’re telling you! great and you’re tapping your feet, who what matters.
 T E CH NI Q U E
Pro Tools
JULIAN RODGERS New features in the 2020.9 update.

R
eleased in September, Pro Tools buttons in Pro Tools. To understand the
2020.9 coincided with a new significance of this it’s worth talking
version of EuCon, and brought about the record arm button’s old
proper support for Folder Tracks in the behaviour, and the issues this updated
Avid Control app. This, for me, has been behaviour seeks to solve.
the most significant new feature, though Under the hood, recording MIDI and
version 2020.9 also made some changes recording audio are quite different things,
to the way Pro Tools works with Cloud and Pro Tools makes this difference
services, as well as adding a couple of apparent in a few places. Retrospective
exciting new features and incorporating Clicking the new Link button will enable Ableton MIDI record is one such example. First
Link, which you can use to sync Pro Tools with
the usual bug fixes. introduced in Pro Tools 2018, this allows
a number of third-party apps and hardware.
Ableton Link support is the first of you to add the MIDI you just played even
these new features and is the easiest The most important control is the Link if you weren’t in record. Just hit Shift+C
to appreciate, as it brings this simple button underneath the Link parameter and MIDI data played during playback
but addictive feature (already in use by display area. Once Link is enabled and will be added to your session. Something
Ableton, Reason, Bitwig and many more that button is blue, not much will happen similar is possible with audio but for
desktop apps) to the rather longer-in-the until another Link-enabled device or that you have to be in one of the punch
tooth Pro Tools. The idea behind Ableton application is detected. In my case record modes.
Link is simple: it’s a way for devices to this will be the free Launchpad app on Another way in which recording
share a common time reference across my iPhone. Whatever it might be, the MIDI and audio differ can be found in
a local network. By ‘time’ I mean in the procedure is similar in that you have to the default behaviour of the record
sense of tempo; arm buttons. Prior
this isn’t to do to 2020.9, track
with sample clock. “The performance-based focus of Ableton Link record arm buttons
Because the “beat were latched by
clock” is shared doesn’t stop at impromptu iPhone jams, though default for audio
across a network
it can be shared
I can confirm that these are great fun.” tracks, but with
the option in the
wirelessly, and it is in Operation tab of
this guise, as a way to keep iOS devices locate and enable Ableton Link in the the Pro Tools Preferences to switch the
playing together in time, that it is best settings of the compatible app or device. audio track behaviour to non-latching,
known, but there are many products, When that is done the sync bar at the where clicking a new record arm button
including some hardware, which are bottom of the Link window will start to on a different audio track cancels the
Link enabled. cycle from left to right and the number of previous record enable — something
connected hosts will be displayed, in this referred to by those old enough to
Ableton Link case just the one. remember the old-fashioned mechanical
The performance-based focus of Ableton If your connected Apps support it Pro buttons on car radios as ‘radio
Link doesn’t stop at impromptu iPhone Tools can transmit Start/Stop messages to button’ behaviour.
jams, though I can confirm that these start and stop connected apps remotely. The issue was that MIDI and
are great fun. The possibility to sync VJ The Quantize value might confuse as Instrument tracks were unaffected by
applications and lighting equipment, it controls the timing interval in which this preference and always remained
hardware such as the Akai MPCs, as Pro Tools responds (on the beat, on in ‘radio button’ mode. The divide
well as more open-ended software the bar etc), not when connected apps between what happened to audio tracks
like Max and Supercollider, means that respond. Obvious when you understand and what happened to MIDI tracks
Pro Tools can now join this Link-based what it is, but worth noting all the same. always remained.
creative party. Using Ableton Link with Although in this case I’m discussing
the ELK music operating system is very connecting a single Link-enabled app to
welcome as I’ve been keeping an eye on Pro Tools, Ableton Link has the potential
this particular technology. If you haven’t to get very complex indeed. There is no
heard of ELK check it out, the potential is predetermined limit to how many devices
very interesting but beyond the scope of can be connected, and I’d imagine that
this article. your desire to connect new apps and
To set up Ableton Link you first need devices would run out before you ran out
to show the new Ableton Link controls, of network capacity.
which can be displayed in the Transport
Open Arms Once Link is set up, the green bar will ping from
Bar or in the Toolbar. Simply right-click on left to right to show that everything is in sync, and
the Toolbar or click the drop-down menu The second new feature introduced the number above the Quantize settings shows you
on the right of the Transport window. is a new behaviour of the record arm how many Link devices are connected.

126 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 T E CH NI Q U E
N E W FE AT U R E S IN 2020 . 9 Pro Tools
In earlier versions of Pro Tools, MIDI
and Instrument tracks were unaffected
by the Latch Record Enable Buttons
option, which made it all too easy to
accidentally overwrite a take.

The irritation felt by some

with this is that if you had
an audio track record armed
and you record armed a MIDI
track (or vice versa), the audio
track’s record arm status
wouldn’t be automatically
cancelled by record arming
the MIDI track. Many
accidental overwrites have
happened this way.
In 2020.9, there is now
a drop-down menu in the
Preferences window which
offers three alternatives:
Latch Audio Tracks, Cancel
Previous On Audio Tracks potential to cause confusion so, to be clear, what is situation at present is that Pro Tools
and Cancel Previous On All being referred to here is Pro Tools, as opposed to Standard 2020.9.1 (the updated release)
Tracks. The first two options Pro Tools Ultimate or Pro Tools First. offers 256 voices, and software-only (ie.
replicate the pre-2020.9 The issue was that the voice count of Pro Tools non-HDX) Pro Tools Ultimate allows for
behaviours of latching or Standard had accidentally been halved from 256 384 voices. If you are running stereo
non-latching audio tracks, but to 128. This halving was unintentional and was tracks this number would be halved,
with the operation of MIDI addressed quickly by Avid, who released an updated and if you were running at 96kHz the
tracks remaining non-latching version (2020.9.1) within days, but it is worth being count would be halved again, and then
and separate from the status aware that this issue exists and that there is a fix halved again at 192kHz. It’s easy to
of audio tracks. The third already in place. see how the additional voice packs
option, Cancel Previous On Where restrictions exist, most DAWs refer to Avid started offering in 2019 for Pro
All Tracks, gives the missing track counts, but the way Pro Tools deals with Tools Ultimate software-only users can
option of record arming tracks is closer to the way that keyboards deal with become necessary. Immersive formats
an audio track cancelling polyphony, which is understandable considering like Dolby Atmos eat through those
a MIDI track or a MIDI track Pro Tools’ heritage as a hardware system. The voices fast!
cancelling an audio track.

Find Your Voice

Although it was quickly
resolved there was, on
release, an unintended issue
with the Standard version of
Pro Tools 2020.9, involving
voices. This is an area which
has caused issues in the
recent past as there was
an issue in 2019 with the
increase in voices for Pro
Tools Ultimate and Pro Tools
HDX. Whereas the issue
in 2019 affected Pro Tools
Ultimate users using HDX
hardware, this issue affected
users of Pro Tools Standard
software. Ever since there
has been more than one
version, the naming of Pro The new Cancel Previous On All Tracks option lets you apply the same record arm latching behaviour to both audio and
Tools software has had the MIDI/Instrument tracks.

128 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

Monitor, Mix, Master
M-Series Professional Monitor Headphones

audio-technica.com
 T E CH NI Q U E
Studio One
ROBIN VINCENT New features in the Score Editor. instance, a brass instrument like a trumpet
or trombone will sound a Bb when it plays

O
ne of the brand-new a written C. As you’ve probably written
features of Studio the part using a keyboard then it won’t be
One 5 was the Score in the right key if someone plays it on the
Editor. Composers and the actual instrument. Transposition will change
musically adept could now view the score to the right key for that instrument
their music in a more traditional and show the correct notes it should play.
form. This has been possible It does all this without changing the notes
in other DAWs, but it was being played back through your MIDI sound
brilliant to see it implemented source or virtual instrument, as this is only
here, and it looked great and for the benefit of the print. You can check
seemed to work well albeit back in the piano roll editor and see that
with a somewhat limited set the notes are unchanged.
of editing tools. There were
a number of things missing but
 Presets
probably the most obvious was To make it all easier there’s a whole bunch
the ability to print. This seemed of presets you can apply from a drop-down
remarkably odd to me, and so menu, which cover pretty much every
I moaned about it in my review instrument. It’ll drop in the staff type,
of Studio One 5. Now, I’m not clef, transposition and common name
saying that PreSonus were so and abbreviations; it makes swapping
profoundly challenged by my Metadata such as title, artist and composer that you enter instruments about and printing new parts
remarks that I spurred them into the Song Setup window will be displayed on the score. a real doddle.
into action, but it’s interesting Although there are presets for guitar
to note that just a couple of picture). You can’t move the text around or anything, but and other fretted instruments, there’s
months later, version 5.1 drops it’s all sensibly placed, you can change fonts and size, no tablature or option for adding chord
and it happens to include and it looks perfect for a printout. symbols. There is an option for a drum or
score printing and a few more The third new button is the Print Score button: percussion staff and presets associated
things besides. hooray! You can print out your individual part or the with it, but the note heads remain as regular
So, with that omission full score simply and easily onto a sheet of paper or to notes. To change the note heads to reflect
rectified let’s get into the a PDF. Now that our score printing fantasies have been percussion notation you’ll have to select the
scoring side of Studio One and fulfilled let’s look a bit closer at what you can do in the notes and use the Notehead Symbol tool to
see if we can produce a page Score Editor. change them by hand.
or two of decent looking The other tab is called Layout, and
sheet music.
Basic Editing this acts on the whole score. You can
As I noted in my review, the editing tools are pretty choose between a continuous or paged
What’s New basic and very few action commands have been carried score, whether to include tempo marks,
The Score Editor has a couple over from the piano roll editor. You can add notes and whether transposition is shown. If
of lovely new buttons. One by selecting the length value from the toolbar and in Page view then you can select the
gives you all your tracks laid dropping it in with the pen tool. You can also edit the page size, orientation, margin size, note
out as beautiful pages of music, pitch of notes very easily by grabbing the appropriate size and spacing, and what font you’re
and another shows you just the one and moving it up and down. Dealing with time is using. There’s enough here to shape up
part you’re working on. It’s all a different thing. You can’t scatter notes about like you a convincing-looking sheet of music. You
labelled up with the name of can in the piano roll — they have to make sense and can also enable and disable transposition
the project and your name, and be placed correctly or Studio One won’t play ball, but globally here in case you want to work on
it makes you wonder where that’s precisely how it should be when writing a score. the score in the same key and re-enable
that information came from. You Once you tune into the sense that when placing notes the transposition before printing.
can change the text by clicking on a staff you have to do it properly and in a musical Multi-measure rests are available when
on it, and it will throw up the context, then it’s rather easy. you opt to view a single part by selecting
Song Setup window which Over on the left of the Score Editor we have two the ‘single track view’. These pull together
contains all the metadata about new tabs that give us Track (part or staff) information all the consecutive empty bars into a single
your song like title, artist or, in and Layout information. Click in a staff to select it and multi-measure bar with the number of bars
our case, composer. I swear then you can do notational things like define how it refers to displayed above the line.
I’ve never seen that window the staff is named and what abbreviation is used on Studio One 5.1 introduces a Key
before — which goes to show subsequent pages. The staff type can be chosen here Signature track to let you enter and keep
that you can learn something too, and you can now opt for Grand Staff for a piano on top of key changes and time signatures
new every day. Add your track (which has moved from the right-click menu in the within your project. This is available below
details, maybe an inspirational previous version). the timeline in the main arranger window
picture, and it’s reflected in the Lastly, there’s Transposition, which allows you to along with other utility tracks such as
score (the text, that is, not the change the key for a transposing instrument. So, for Chord, Marker and Tempo. While the

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

 are more updates to the score to come,
which is very intriguing and I wonder how
far the integration of Notion will go. For me,
I’d like to see the chord track reflected in
the score to give guitarists an easier way
to follow along. Then perhaps lyrics would
be the next step, which, along with the
chords, would let us produce a complete
song sheet.
There are some new track visibility
features that have not made it to the editors
which might be useful. The Track Filter can
be enormously powerful when dealing
with the large track counts you would have
when working with an orchestra. You can
filter down what tracks are visible by name,
selection, loop range and solo, and one
particularly useful one which is ‘Show tracks
with events under cursor’. This means you
can put the time cursor anywhere in your
project, and you’ll only see tracks that
The new score page view and layout options.
an additional cost, although if you’ve opted have an event at that moment. It would be
Signature track is not present in the Score to become a PreSonus Sphere subscriber brilliant if that filtering was reflected in the
Editor, any changes you make to the key or then Notion is already included. Score Editor. As it is, in either the piano roll
time signature are immediately reflected in or Score Editor you have the standard track
the score.
Onwards & Upwards list where you can manually turn tracks on
There’s enough I think in the 5.1 update and off, but no filtering. And while we’re
Notion Way to satisfy most people’s needs for some thinking about filtering, the ability to show
Further editing and many more advanced rudimentary score editing and printout. Had only certain orchestra groups would also
features are to be found in PreSonus’ these features been present in the original be useful — so strings or brass instruments,
Notion scoring software. There’s release then I wouldn’t have had anything etc. I imagine this is the sort of thing that
a dedicated button under the Song menu to complain about. PreSonus say that there Notion would sort out for you, though, so if
where you can send selected parts directly you work with scores a lot, Notion would be
to Notion for editing. Notion 6 is available at The Signature track, showing time and key well worth considering. 
signature changes reflected in the Score Editor.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 131

 T E CH NI Q U E
Reason
Adding analogue warmth with the Reason Mixer. where you can drop the actual effects
devices. Incidentally, you can connect
could add to your final mix to add some cables to the Insert jacks from devices
SIMON SHERBOURNE
warmth or grunge. Many Reason users that aren’t in the Mix Rack container, but

I
’ve been thinking about how many routinely use the MClass processors on you won’t be able to map their controls to
people like to bring a little analogue their final mix, of which the Maximiser the Mix channel encoders (more on that
warmth to their in-the-box mixes, and has a Soft Clip function. However, if in a moment).
whether this was something you could you’re shooting for the classic analogue This is a lot of preamble to establish
do with just Reason’s stock toolkit. This studio sound, the trick is to treat the the concept, but it’s actually quite simple
is also a good excuse to revisit one of individual tracks of your mix individually. to use. The main mixer view provides
the underused features in the standalone In the real thing, your channels would quick access to insert effects from
Reason app: the Mixer’s Inserts section. all be interacting differently with their a dedicated Inserts section on each
Some DAWs have analogue console own particular console and/or tape channel (screen 1). This area provides
or tape emulation built into their mixer, path, depending on each source’s a number of controls but let’s start with
like the HEAT feature in Pro dynamic characteristics. the Edit Inserts button at the bottom.
Tools. There are also many Clicking this will jump you to that Mix
plug-ins that add console
Insert Here channel in the Rack view and flash the
or tape character, such as Managing effects and plug-ins inside the device to make it easy to spot. If there are
the excellent Brainworx_bx mixer is handled differently in Reason already insert devices in the channel, they
series. Some mixers like compared to any other DAW. There’s no will be immediately available to adjust,
to use analogue hardware familiar column of slots for inserting and much like opening a plug-in in other
summing mixers on their selecting plug-ins. Plug-ins in fact are DAWs. If not, you can drop effects devices
stems, which itself can completely independent of the mixer. into the Insert container and they’ll get
be emulated with Waves’ Reason’s emulation of a hardware studio auto-cabled into the signal path.
NLS plug-in. extends to the console: there’s a single
insert point where you can patch in an
Multitrack Tape
Bus V Source effects device (or chain of effects) from Let’s get back to our mixing example.
Reason’s main mixer the Rack. Reason has some built-in devices that
is a tribute to a classic As we’ve explored in the past, the you can try for some harmonic analogue
large-format SSL console. conduit between the mixer and the Rack character or tape saturations. Let’s start
Its EQ and Dynamics is the Mix Channel device. Every channel with Audiomatic (screen 2) using its Tape
channel processing is in the mixer has a corresponding Mix setting. This device is quite simple: the
based on this. However, the unit in the Rack. Audio tracks always Transform knob adjusts the tone, and Dry/
actual signal path through have a Mix channel and Rack object (with Wet lets you adjust the amount. We’re
the mixer does not alter no physical inputs). New instruments looking for subtle here, because you’re
the sound character; it get a mixer rack by default (but it’s not adding this to multiple channels and the
doesn’t attempt to emulate compulsory), and if you create a mix effect is cumulative.
the colour imparted by the channel directly in the Mixer it will also Reason doesn’t have a quick way
analogue circuitry and amps have a corresponding Mix Rack device. to duplicate the same effect to each
in the original hardware. The Mix Rack devices represent the track. If you copy the device in the Rack
It does, however, have audio connections into and out of each the cabling does not get connected
a master compressor, mixer channel, and this includes an Insert automatically, and it would be time
which operates on the point. The Mix Rack devices have a ‘Show consuming to do this manually. However,
final mix bus, and this does Insert FX’ button on both the front and the Inserts section of the mixer has
provide some of the magic rear views. Clicking this reveals the insert
character of the classic connection points, and a container area 2. Audiomatic’s Tape mode can be effective if
‘bus compressor’. This used subtly.
is usually described
as ‘gluing’ the mix
together, making
all the tracks sound
like they are pulling
together and adding
some overall oomph.
There are plenty
of other effects you

1. The Inserts Section

of each Reason Mixer
channel links to a dedicated
device area in the Rack.

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

 3. Mapping controls in the Insert
FX Programmer.

a preset-loading system.
Once you’ve set up your
effect on one channel, you
can save it as a patch, then
load it into all the other tracks
in the mixer.
Each channel also has
an Inserts Bypass button, so
you can quickly hear how the
mix is being affected by all
this analogueness. Chances
are you’ll want to make
some adjustments. As we’ve
seen, you can jump to the
mix effects on any channel
by clicking the Edit Inserts
button. However, we can do
better than this by using the
custom controls on Reason’s
mixer, and make it seem
like the effect is built into
the console... in screen 4. I can now tweak my tape effect quickly getting sounds to sit back into the mix.
across the mix, and experiment without having to A little dose of Squash adds some punch.
Control keep opening up individual devices. If you wanted to keep your options
The Inserts area of each Mix open, you could have both the
channel is like a specialised
More Devices Audiomatic and Pulveriser devices
version of Reason’s Once you’ve got the basic idea you can experiment chained in your Inserts, and map the
Combinator device. As well with other devices for adding harmonics, saturation, channel strip controls to both of them
as being a container that can drive and warmth of various flavours. An old favourite for easy bypassing and adjustment.
hold a chain of effects, it has for any of these is Scream. For this application, This configuration can then be saved as
a Programmer where you can I’d recommend turning off the Body and EQ Cut a patch, or even saved into a template
assign four knobs and four sections of Scream, and concentrating on the Tube song with mixer channels already in
buttons to parameters on the and Tape modes. You probably want these close to place. You could even build a mixer
enclosed devices. In screen 3, their ‘cleanest’ settings, which means putting the template that emulates a summing
I’ve opened the Programmer Tube mode’s Contour and Bias to maximum, or the mixer approach, using a small number
view on one of the Mix Tape mode’s Compression to minimum and Speed of mix subgroups containing your
channels with my Audiomatic to maximum. You can then use the Damage control favourite effects.
tape effect. After selecting to set how much
the Audiomatic in the grunge is applied.
Programmer’s device list, I can Pulveriser is
map the knobs and buttons to Reason’s more
Audiomatic’s controls. modern audio
I’ve put the Dry/Wet degrader. In this
mix amount on Knob 1, the context you’ll
Transform parameter on Knob probably want to
2, and mapped the Bypass keep the Filter set
switch to Button 1. I can set to Bypass and the
ranges, so by setting Button modulation sections
1’s Min amount to ‘Bypass’ inactive. Gentle use
and Max amount to ‘On’, I’ve of the Dirt effect
created an ‘In’ control for works rather nicely,
the effect. Avoid mapping and subtly darkens
the Off position for this sounds which can
parameter, as this stops audio be very effective for
passing altogether.
Again, this setup can be 4. My customised
saved as a patch and loaded mixer with Tape saturation
into all the mixer channels, as controls per channel.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 133

 T E CH NI Q U E
Logic
STEPHEN BENNETT Incorporating external hardware.

A
lmost as soon as music began to be recorded use external hardware when
digitally, engineers felt they were losing mixing, you’ll need more
a certain ‘something’ from not driving the inputs and outputs. If you get
audio through tubes, transistors and transformers. hooked, you’ll need a lot of
As the emulation of analogue electronics has inputs and outputs!
improved, many have moved completely ‘in the box’ If you look at the Input
for convenience and recall. It’s perfectly possible to menu in a Logic Pro X Track,
create fine recordings using computer-generated you’ll see the number of ins
audio alone, as many a number-one hit record will and outs that your interface’s
testify, but many of us still feel the loss of that ‘mojo’ driver is reporting to the
that, we believe, analogue hardware can provide. DAW. The first thing to do
The cost of adding this hardware to our studios has is give these useful names
fallen dramatically in the last few years, with clones using the I/O Labels item in
of classic gear and the 500-series format providing the Mix Menu (Screen 1). If
entry-level hardware that can be bought for very little. you are going to use specific
So, if you’ve ever wondered what adding analogue ins and outs for specific
hardware would bring to your recording and mixing, hardware, here’s the place to Screen 2: Logic Pro’s I/O plug-in.
there’s never been a better time to find out! make sure you always know
There are several ways you can use hardware where you’re sending and might have a stereo compressor and EQ
with Logic Pro X: recording vocals or instruments, receiving your audio. across the drum bus, a compressor and
mixing, and mastering. If you treat these as three EQ on the bass and individual drums,
separate processes, a little hardware, re-used,
Mixing a compressor and EQ on the vocals and
can go a long way. It’s not always obvious in Logic Mixing is where I think the another compressor (and perhaps other
Pro X how to go about incorporating hardware ‘mojo’ is most obvious when processing too) on the mix bus. To send
into your workflow and much of the process will using hardware. I personally audio to and from Logic Pro X to these
depend on your audio interface. Many interfaces find that mixing into hardware devices, you’ll mostly need
have quite complex routing software, so a good a hardware bus compressor, to use Logic Pro’s I/O plug-in, shown in
peruse of the manual is recommended. If all you with other devices strapped Screen 2.
want to do is add a little compression or EQ on the across various separate tracks If you insert this on, say, a drum bus,
way in, a basic 2-in/2-out interface will suffice, but in a mix, really helps me find you can set the input and outputs of the
you will need to have an insert point between the the ‘right’ sound much more physical interfaces that you’ve plugged
preamp and the analog-to-digital converter, or an quickly than using plug-ins your bus compressor into. Send and
external preamplifier, to achieve this. If you want to alone. So, a basic mix session return levels enable you to adjust the
amount of gain, which is especially useful
when you’re trying to hit a transformer
input hard for some ‘colour’, and to adjust
the level returned to the track. A nice
feature is the Dry/Wet control. If you have
a compressor on the vocals, say, and
want to try parallel processing, you can
adjust the blend between compressed
and dry signal here. You will also need
to hit the latency detection Ping button
before playback begins. This sends an
audio ‘blip’ through your hardware and
back to Logic Pro to gauge the time
the signal takes to pass through the
interface and hardware and back. If you
add another processor to the chain you’ll
need to do a Ping again. Even if the
latency detection is a few milliseconds
out, it can play havoc with phase.
If you add a plug-in before the send
to the I/O plug-in on a track, a thus
processed sound will be sent to your
external hardware. However, if you want
to process the audio after it’s travelled
through the hardware, you’ll need to don
Screen 1: Setting up your ins and outs. a monk’s habit and enter that arcane

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

 transformer-based summing boxes and inexpensive
high-quality mixing desks available new and used,
you don’t need to spend a lot to see if summing will
be right for you. Obviously, if you’re using all your
inputs and outputs for mixing, you’re not going to be
able to use these for summing as well. The obvious
solution would be to buy extra inputs and outputs
(ADAT expanders are one possibility), but there are
other ways to get around this issue without spending
more moolah.
Let’s assume you have eight channels of I/O
available and an 8:2 summing device. Once you are
happy with your mix, you’ll need to bounce down the
hardware-processed tracks and busses to audio files
by soloing them and using the Edit / Bounce menu.
Although Logic Pro has a ‘bounce in place’ feature,
this won’t work with hardware, so you’ll need to
render audio in ‘real time’. If you are using hardware
across a bus, just solo this and bounce it down. Now
Screen 3: Routing in Logic Pro X’s Environment. re-import the audio back into Logic Pro — I like to
record it into a new Project Alternative (which you
place called Logic Pro X’s track type to Input Track, set its inputs to can create in the File menu). Once you have your
MIDI Environment... the ones you’ve plugged your hardware bounced tracks as audio, you can then re-patch the
First, send the audio from return into, pull down its fader and physical outputs into your summing device.
the track you want to process leave it as ‘No output’. Back in the Mixer, You’re unlikely to have enough outputs, or
to the physical output your you’ll now see audio running from your summing device inputs, for all of your tracks, so
hardware is connected to, recorded tracks, into your hardware, you’re also going to have to submix some of your
using the I/O plug-in but with back through the input track you created tracks to busses. For example, if you have eight
its input set to off (the ‘---’ in and then out through the stereo master, outputs available, you could assign these thus: two
the drop-down menu). Create as in Screen 3. Adding plug-ins to this to a stereo drum bus, one for vocals and effects, one
an audio track (stereo for new input track will allow you to process for basses, two for guitars and two for keyboards. To
a two-channel processor, of the audio after it has passed through route tracks to a bus, select them, then select a bus
course) and give it a useful the hardware. from the Output menu and rename the automatically
name. Keep that track created bus to something useful.
selected, and click Window
Summing To send the audio from your busses to the
/ Open MIDI Environment. Now, summing is quite a controversial hardware, select the relevant outputs in the bus’s
Find the Mixer layer and the process, with some saying it’s a complete Track Output box. To return the mix from your
selected audio track and waste of time, and others claiming you summing device, patch its outputs into two inputs
then, from the Inspector’s need dozens of outputs to make it on your interface, load an I/O plug-in on your Stereo
Channel menu, change the worthwhile. But with low-cost 500-series Master track and set its input to these physical inputs,
and mute the output (Screen 4). You can also insert
effects after the I/O plug-in to further process the
summed return. If you want to add plug-ins before the
return to the Stereo Master, you’ll need to create an
Input object in the Environment, as before. You can
also, of course, add more hardware on the outputs of
your summing device for extra processing.

Patch Notes
How you ‘drive’ the inputs of your summing device,
and the specifications of the device itself, is what
will ultimately decide for you if summing is worth
the extra effort involved. Your wallet is your oyster.
For me, using hardware when tracking and mixing
is a no-brainer. It makes it easier to judge the mix,
albeit at a cost of immediacy and, to an extent, recall.
Summing is harder to justify, but if you have a mixer
lying around (I use my SSL X-Panda) it’s definitely
worth a go. But be warned: if you do like what
analogue hardware can do to your sound, you might
Screen 4: Routing for summing in Logic Pro X. need a bigger rack — and a patchbay!

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

 TA LK B A CK

Jay Watson
WILLIAM STOKES
and every time we wanted to do something like, really fancy stuff, but the coolest fancy
‘serious’ it didn’t seem like it fit the band. stuff. Prophet 5s and big old RCA ribbon

W
ith albums by band Pond and We’d slowly worked toward it for years mics… Just the best and coolest stuff from
solo project GUM released in and there’s still ridiculous music on it, but each decade of recording, really. And I feel
2019 and 2020 respectively, I felt like we pushed through and worked like in half of that album, when I listen to it
it’s almost impressive that Perth’s Jay really hard on making it into a big, beautiful now, I can hear the glee in the playing. All
Watson has any time to spare for his piece of art. Something to be proud of, in the toys!
integral role with antipodean psych-titans a serious way. Almost every song on the
Tame Impala. The multi-instrumentalist album, there’s a bit in there that hits a point, The biggest misconception about the
and producer has spent the last few which felt really inspired and meaningful at role of the producer
years ping-ponging between London, the time. We’ve kept that up with stuff we’ve The biggest misconception is that it just
LA and Perth, developing his skills while done since, but that felt like a turning point. means one thing. It’s only recently that
cultivating a keen appreciation of what he We started to sound more like ourselves I’ve become comfortable with writing
lovingly dubs ‘fun junk’. and less like the things we were ripping off! ‘produced by’ on records. Some records
are produced by people who did almost
At the moment I can’t stop listening to The first thing I look for in a studio nothing, and there are other records
Shiny Joe Ryan, who’s my bandmate in It’s quite simple, I think. It’s just stuff that where the producer has co-written all the
Pond: his solo album, which we just got looks fun to make music with. A studio songs and played most of the instruments.
mastered two weeks ago. That album might have the world’s greatest console I think that’s the thing I find frustrating:
is called Shiny’s people can assume
Democracy, which that if I’ve produced
is a fantastic title. Jay Watson: “I’m quite shallow when it someone’s record
As for other music, I’ve done more than
I can’t stop putting on comes to recording gear. I think: the cooler I’ve actually done —
this one Can album
when I do the dishes,
it looks, the more I want to plug it in.” or, if someone else
has produced our
Future Days. I’ve record, that they’ve
been listening to it for a decade or so, but or something, or the world’s greatest done more than they have actually done.
I just find it’s, like, the ultimate cooking collection of Neumann mics, but if there are It’s too wishy-washy! I like ‘engineer’. Or, if
or cleaning album! As you get older and no cool drums or synths or guitars… Not you’ve helped write or helped arrange it,
more boring, like I am, that’s almost the that you need that to have a good studio; then you get credit for that.
main backdrop for listening to music now. but you need gear that elicits inspiration,
There’s a heap of stuff on Future Days hopefully. In our studios, some of it’s My go-to reference track
that I can’t work out how they did, with the expensive and some of it’s junk, but it’s I can’t think about recording bass without
machinery of the time. There’s that weird fun junk. And looking at it, you just want to thinking of the Beatles’ bass sounds. It’s
‘wup wup wup’ sound at the end of the plug it in and have a go. I’m quite shallow so annoying to mention the Beatles, but
first track, and part of me thinks it’s just when it comes to recording gear. I think: the I feel like they hit a bass sound and that’s
a tremolo on an amp and they’re playing cooler it looks, the more I want to plug it in just it. From Revolver all the way to the
along to it, but then it sounds so gridded and the more I want to get out of it. That’s end of the Beatles, it’s there. You need the
and metronomic… I don’t know. There are just me. Music has always been really visual ‘donk’. Whenever I set up my bass in Pond,
bits in there that sound like they’re from for me. So making it with something you I have this preamp on top of my bass cab
the late ’80s, even though it’s from the feel cool about, that can go a long way to that I can dial in the EQ on, so I’ll dial in
early ’70s. It’s quite futuristic for the time. generating cool ideas. the ‘donk’ and play ‘Dig A Pony’ and if it
A friend, Montero, he and I made an sounds right then it’s good to go!
The project I’m most proud of album in London when I lived there, in Mark
I think the Pond album The Weather. Pond Ronson’s studio. He’s a friend and just let My desert island studio item
wasn’t a joke band, but in our heads, we us use it when he was out of town. And It changes all the time, but most recently
just liked things like The Mighty Boosh, I went in and it was like, ‘Holy shit!’ It was I bought a real Roland 808 drum machine.

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

 Photo: Sam Kristofski
I wasn’t trying to buy one, I bought it cheap, simple synth, but it sounds like — stuff that I really love — you can just
because it was a really great price, and a synth that someone has built themselves hear how a lot of it comes from that J Dilla
I thought to myself: it’s a lot of money but in the shed at the back of their house, stuff. I think, as highly rated as he is, I think
it’s an investment! And it’s in really good you know? I would kill to have one of he’s still weirdly underrated. He’s like the
condition. I’m in love with it. I’m amazed those where you could save presets and Jimi Hendrix of hip-hop production.
at how versatile it is. You can use it to we could use it live in Pond, and where it
do that really tinny, like, Suicide drum didn’t go out of tune. But it’s always this The advice I’d give the me of 10
machine sound, and you can make the trade-off with something super modern years ago
most stonking house and hip-hop beats and reliable that just doesn’t sound Not to be so concerned about what
on it. And it never sounds daggy. Do you fucked-up enough. you’ve already done, or to dwell on
guys say ‘daggy’ in England? It’s kind of I think if I had my own audio company the mistakes you’ve made. From an
like… socks and sandals. Dorky. Anyway, it it would aim to make gear that functions engineering standpoint, the biggest thing
never sounds daggy on anything! It’s way perfectly well but sounds sort of broken. I’d tell myself would be: just get yourself
more versatile on any type of music than I like performances and mixes that sound a good interface and maybe one really
I thought it would be. like they’re going to fall apart at any good preamp, and then you can just cruise
second, and I like equipment that sounds around with one guitar lead and an XLR
The piece of gear I’d bring back like it’s going to fall apart at any second. lead and it’ll sound good. The last couple
into production It’s like when the battery is dying in the of GUM records, it’s all this one 500-series
I can’t think of one specific piece of gear, fuzz pedal, and everyone gets all excited BAE Neve clone. I also have this pair
but I do often think a lot of equipment is and you try and get the take down before of these Australian preamps made by
made too well now. It doesn’t fuck up in it actually dies. If you could somehow get Sebatron, which I really like. The guys in
the way that a lot of the old bits of gear that with the mod cons of new equipment, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard got me
I have do. Like, an old mixer; they distort then I would like that. onto them. That BAE thing, it was less than
so easily, and that’s a big part of the sound a grand and I didn’t have anything else, it
and what makes stuff you run through it The producer I’d most like to work with was just in a little lunchbox on its own. But
sound really badass. And the same with I have a lot of respect for J Dilla. I think the records after that sound noticeably
old synthesizers: I’ve got this one called a lot of the music that’s come since him, better than when I just plugged straight
an MG-1 Moog Realistic. It’s a really old, whether it’s Kanye or Jai Paul, or Caribou into an M Box.

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

 F E ATU R E

Acoustic treatment is often the

single most effective way to spend
money on improving your studio.

21 Ways To Improve Your Studio In 2021

THE SOS TEAM

cash, including GIK, Auralex, LA Sound is still worthwhile action you can take.
Panels, Acoustics First, Iso Acoustics and Buy a couple of heavy duvets and hang

W
ith the world still busy fighting Vicoustic. But as a minimum, basic ‘mirror them away from a wall to deaden the
the coronavirus, professionals point’ absorbers are a must, and if you space temporarily, or get your hands on
and hobbyists alike have been have space, proper bass trapping — not a portable vocal screen such as the sE
spending more time in our home studios. just foam — in the corners will tighten Reflexion Filter.
As well as making more music, we’ve had things up.
plenty of time to reflect on what’s working Most home studios are one-room 2. Upgrade your monitoring
well for us, and what’s not. So the SOS affairs, and if you don’t have The world of small-studio monitoring
editorial team shared notes to come up a separate live room, you’ll need to has changed a lot over the last decade,
with 21 ways you can greet 2021 with balance accurate monitoring against and if you haven’t kept up with the pace
a better studio. a good-sounding tracking environment. of development, you could be missing
Especially in a small space, this usually out. You may even be working only with
1. Improve your acoustics means keeping the room fairly dry. Use headphones, in which case the addition
Acoustic treatment is an investment that software reverbs to add depth to your of even a small set of active monitors will
will benefit both your mixes and your tracks, or buy some cheap reflective give you an invaluable new perspective.
raw tracks. Several manufacturers offer material that can be set up temporarily Modern entry-level monitors from
full room kits that are a great way to when tracking. Even if you can’t make manufacturers such as Kali Audio, ADAM,
get in the right ballpark if you have the permanent changes to your room, there Mackie and KRK offer very impressive

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

 Technological give you a useful perspective. Maybe
innovation is driving it’s a mono, sealed-box, single-driver
high-end nearfields speaker like the newly reissued Auratone
like Genelec’s or the Avantone MixCube, which tells
The Ones and the
you instantly what the balance is like in
Jones-Scanlon Baby
Reds (below) to the all-important midrange. And whereas
new heights. once the car radio or a ‘grotbox’ was
an essential aid to mix translation, the
challenge now is to make your material
sound good on modern ‘smart speakers’.
Your audience is listening on Amazon
Alexas, Apple Homepods, Google Home
speakers and Sonos devices. Do you
have something similar to check what
they’re hearing?

4. Always be ready to record, with

Models like Kali Audio’s LP8, above, have made a patchbay or mixer
quality monitoring more affordable than ever. Fighting your way through reams of
tangled cables on your desktop in order
to plug soomething in is a real buzzkill
when you u just want to sit down and
make mussic. A patchbay can really help
to keep th hings tidy, and give you almost
instant access to everything in your
studio. If you
y want to know just what
the humble patchbay could do for you,
check outt Hugh Robjohns’ article in SOS
Decembe er 2020. Basic models from the
likes of ART are super-affordable, while
if you wan nt the ultimate in flexibility, take
a look at recallable,
r remote-controlled
patching systems
s from Flock Audio and
CB Electro onics.
Anothe er option for the small studio is
a compacct analogue mixer with enough
inputs to eave everything permanently
plugged in. If you have a lot of synths,
a rackmou unted line-level mixer such
performance at a modest cost.
p at what theyy do best, and a g
good sub will as Tascam m’s LM-8ST is a particularly
Further up the scale, innovative let you hear what’s going on right down compact and handy option, while SSL’s
driver and tweeter materials, a renewed to the fundamentals. neat SiX will bring a touch of luxury to
interest in coaxial speakers, and new any desktop.
technologies such as built-in DSP are 3. Get a secondary monitor system
redefining what’s possible in a compact Even if you already have a capable set 5. Go portable
monitor. Check out, for instance, SOS of studio monitors, a good secondary Sometimes software gets in the way of
reviews of products like Genelec’s The speaker or set of speakers can often the creative process. A standalone audio
Ones, Jones-Scanlon Baby Reds, Focal
Trio6, Dynaudio Core 7 and Barefoot
Footprint 01.
The bottom end is super-important in
most modern music styles. But if you try
to get huge bass extension from nearfield
monitors, you’ll compromise their
operation throughout the audible range.
So, if you’re confident that your room
acoustics will handle true bass, you may
well find that the best option is to pair
your existing speakers with a subwoofer.
By filtering out the low bass from your Improve your studio by freeing yourself to record outside the studio. Products like Sound Devices’
satellite speakers you allow them to shine Mix Pre range offer studio-quality recording in a portable device.

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

 F E ATU R E
21 S T U D I O I M P R O V E M E N T S F O R 2 0 21

recorder can be really liberating when

you just want to get some ideas down. We live in a golden age for analogue synthesis. If you’re
feeling flush, treat yourself to a flagship instrument like the
And if it’s lightweight and portable, like
Moog One and Arturia Polybrute!
the Zoom L8 reviewed in this issue, it
also means you can capture ideas in high
quality anywhere in your house, without
lugging around your whole system.
Many also double up as mixers and have
onboard effects for cue mixes, while
others such as the Sound Devices Mix Pre
range offer technical quality as good as
any regular interface. So you can either
use one to replace your interface, or just
as another option.

6. Add another mic

Many home recordists have only
one high-quality studio microphone.
If that’s the case, is that limiting the
quality and variety of your recordings?
A large-diaphragm capacitor mic can be
great for vocals, but other sources might
benefit from a moving-coil dynamic,
small-diaphragm capacitor mic or
a ribbon mic. If you only have a cardioid
mic, perhaps consider an omni one, or
something that offers multiple patterns.
And if you record instruments as well as
vocals, think about the possibilities for
stereo recording that open up when you also seen many innovative alternatives places where other large-diaphragm mics
have two mics. reach the market. Townsend Labs’ wouldn’t, and Sennheiser’s Ambeo and
The classic vintage large-diaphragm Sphere and Antelope’s Edge implement Rode’s NTSF1 have made high-quality
sound is more affordable than ever advanced mic modelling and Lauten Ambisonic recording available at a new
thanks to models such as Neumann’s Audio’s LS-208 and LS-308 offer unique price level. Even the humble moving-coil
TLM102 and to manufacturers such directional responses, while companies dynamic has been transformed in recent
as Sontronics, Avantone, Telefunken like Earthworks and Josephson Audio years, through innovations such as the
USA, United Studio Technologies and continue to push the technological active circuitry in Aston’s Stealth and
Mojave, but the last few years have boundaries. Audix
boundaries Audix’ss SCX25A fits into Element, and Shure’s revolutionary
Dualdyne capsule design.

7. Get hands-on with a hardware synth

Just because you can use software
instruments to create almost any sound
doesn’t mean
m you have to do it that way.
There’s ssomething uniquely satisfying
about a hardware
h synth with hands-on
controls, and they’re available to suit
every tasste, space and budget. From
desktop instruments like Roland’s
Boutique series or Modal’s Skulpt and
Craft, right up to desirable polysynths
like the Moog One, Korg Prologue,
No
ord Wave 2, Sequential Pro V and
Arturia Polybrute, there’s nothing
like a real hardware synth to bring
a smile to your face.

8. Lookinng good, feeling good

Enjoy classic-style mics like United’s FET 47 (left)
or embrace innovations like mic modelling (Townsend We’re oftten so focused on the gear and
Labs’ Sphere), affordable Ambisonics (Rode’s NT-SF1) the sound that we forget that a recording
and novel polar patterns (Lauten Audio’s LS-208). studio is supposed to be a creative,

140 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

A Truly New Dimension In Mixing/Dynamics & Imaging

jones scanlon
studio monitors

EDITORS’ PICK
GE AR OF THE YE AR 2019

Big Reds: Drivers 10” / Midrange 6.5” Reds: Driver 10” Baby Reds: Driver 6.5”
2000 Watts / Quad Channel (per box) 650 Watts / Twin Channel (per box) 650 Watts / Twin Channel (per box)
SOS 2021 Awards Nominee


 



 

  !

World leading transient response, allowing hyper accurate compression settings within the mix

• Relentless frequency response at loud and soft levels

• Next level “sensory perception” clarity/punch/tightness with truly intoxicating accuracy!
• Incredible phase & time alignment. Undeniably Accurate
• Faultless Frequency Reproduction, Incredible Depth, Clarity & Dimension

“ I hear the tail on the reverb now… “

~ Percy Bady
(Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Yolanda Adams...)

“ Jones-Scanlon Studio Monitors allow me to hear

the essence of the sound at its truest form without color “
~ Alexis King Faku
(Universal Music studios South Africa)

“ I knew I had to have them, the Jones-Scanlon Studio Monitors

are hands down my new favorite monitors “
~ Krish Sharma
(Rolling Stones’ Recording Engineer)

w w w. jo n e ss c an lo n .co m @ way n e j onesa udio f c y t

 F E ATU R E
21 S T U D I O I M P R O V E M E N T S F O R 2 0 21

inspiring place. A comfortable chair (and

another for your collaborator!), good
lighting, a lick of paint, inspirational
artwork, better storage solutions... all
these things can really help to make your
space promote creativity and productivity.
Carl Tatz Design even make a chair
specially designed for studio use!

9. Percussion
In-the-box grooves can be good, but
the temptation to loop things or just
use what you have available can often
lead to things sounding a little flat. Real
percussion — shakers, hand drums,
tambourines and so on — can be a great
way to inject a little human feel, and
keeping a box or drawer full of such
things needn’t be expensive. Just bang
and shake into the mic, and layer it over
your existing beats where the song needs
a lift. Or if you’re a real skinflint, use finger
clicks and hand claps!

10. Consider correction Soundtoys are one of many plug-in manufacturers who offer tempting bundles across their entire range.
No matter how much you spend on
monitors and acoustic treatment there as Trinnov’s impressive ST2 Pro, are huge fun and are guaranteed to get
will always be limits as to what you can hardware solutions that are independent you thinking in different ways. There
achieve, especially in a domestic space. of your Mac or PC. are all-in-one hardware options such as
Likewise, no pair of headphones is Akai’s MPC range, Elektron’s Digitakt and
perfectly linear out of the box. So why 11. Get out of the box Novation’s Circuit 2, which are perfect for
not use one of the many DSP solutions If you’re stuck in a rut composing with go-anywhere creativity. Hybrid systems
to optimise your monitoring system? a guitar, or with like NI’s Maschine harness the power
Some, like Sonarworks Reference, Dirac DAW software and of your computer behind a hands-on,
Live For Studio and IK Multimedia’s a MIDI keyboard, grid-based controller, and software such
ARC, are software-based solutions try an alternative as Ableton Live and Bitwig Studio is made
designed to be used as plug-ins or approach. Grid-based to be paired with a grid-based controller.
standalone applications on the master devices and hardware
outputs of your interface. Others, such sequencers can be 12. Try some new plug-ins
Still using only the plug-ins that came
with your DAW? There’s a whole world
of amazing third-party processors, and
nearly everything is available to try
without risk, courtesy of time-limited
demo versions. Novel corrective tools
such as Oeksound’s Soothe 2, Sonnox’s
Oxford Drum Gate, SoundTheory’s
Gullfoss and Leapwing’s CenterOne
can make almost any audio recording
easier to mix and master; or, if you’re
struggling to learn how to mix, products
like iZotope’s Neutron and Toontrack’s
EZmix can give you a welcome helping
hand. Manufacturers such as Valhalla,
FabFilter, SoundToys, McDSP and
Speaker and Eventide offer attractive deals that will
room correction give you an entire library of excellent
can be done using
plug-ins at an affordable price. Others,
a hardware system
such as Trinnov’s ST-2, such as Plugin Alliance and Slate Digital,
or in software such as offer subscription models that give you
Sonarworks Reference. access to everything in their catalogue

142 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

NEW RELEASE

One Plugin.
Endless Effects.
The Soundtoys Effect Rack is now available
outside the bundle!

Crystallizer, Decapitator,
Devil-Loc Deluxe, EchoBoy,
EchoBoy Jr., FilterFreak 1 and
FilterFreak 2, MicroShift, PanMan,
PhaseMistress, PrimalTap,
Radiator, Sie-Q, and Tremolator
are built-in to Effect Rack.

Effect Rack is the most powerful plug-in in the Effect Rack’s global controls give you even more power.
Soundtoys arsenal. It’s a single, self-contained plug-in Use the Recycle knob to create instant feedback and the
built around 14 full-featured Soundtoys effects. The result Mix control for easy parallel processing. The extensive
is a multi-effects processor that combines the gorgeous library of presets makes it easy to find new creative
sound of our most-loved and creative effects with a fun, inspiration and to save your own multi-effect masterpieces.
easy-to-use interface.

Free 30-day Trial at soundtoys.com

 F E ATU R E
21 S T U D I O I M P R O V E M E N T S F O R 2 0 21

F
From llearning
i an iinstrument
t t to
t ear
training to advanced mixing technique,
there are resources available online to fill
any gap in your expertise. The renowned
Berklee College have been offering
online programmes since 2002, and offer
a huge range of courses covering every
conceivable aspect of audio production.
Mix With The Masters have recruited an
incredible array of A-list names to put
together their programme of videos,
webinars and seminars, while the Art &
Science of Sound Recording course was
devised by none other than legendary
producer Alan Parsons, and events that
usually take place ‘face to face’, such as
HV-3C will give Music Expo’s Summit seminars, have now
you clean gain for days, moved online. SOS, meanwhile, have
Classic and modern: BAE are one of several ensuring you get the purest possible teamed up with Nonlinear Educators of
companies making excellent preamps inspired capture of quiet sources. Alternatively, Canada to provide our comprehensive
by the Neve 1073 (above), while Audient’s you can get some vintage mojo into your SOS Tutorials series.
ASP800 (top) allows you to record super-clean or
tracks by opting for a classic Neve or
dial in as much colour as you like.
API design. These are still available from 16. Fix those dodgy cables
for an affordable monthly fee. And if the original manufacturers, and have You know — the ones that kinda work
you want the ultimate in plug-in power, also inspired affordable recreations by and kinda don’t! Is there anything more
invest in a hardware co-processor such Warm Audio and Golden Age as well
as Universal Audio’s Satellite or McDSP’s as high-quality homages by the likes
remarkable APB system. of BAE, Aurora Audio, Great River and
Vintech. Universal Audio’s preamps
13. Explore online collaboration and input channels likewise draw on
Covid means we can’t get together in a classic heritage, while ART’s Pro MPA
studios and rehearsal spaces so easily. MkII offers valve warmth on a budget.
But new tools are making it super-easy Look for preamps with an output gain
to make music online. Enjoy real-time control or fader if you want to explore
music-making with friends thanks to the possibilities of driving the input hard
generic tools like Zoom and Google to add pleasing coloration. Cranborne’s
Meets, or the dedicated Jamulus app. EC2, SSL’s Alpha VHD-Pre and Audient’s
Share DAW sessions in the cloud using ASP800 offer the best of both worlds,
Avid’s Cloud Collaboration or a service with the option to introduce colour to an
such as Dropbox. And turn your studio otherwise clean signal.
into a virtual control room to direct Finally, don’t neglect the less
sessions taking place elsewhere with obvious aspects of your input chain.
applications like Steinberg’s VST Connect An expensive mic deserves and needs
and Source Elements’ Source Connect. a professional-quality stand such as
are made by K&M, and you might be
14. Invest in your input chain surprised at the difference a good-quality
You might have a high-quality popshield such as Stedman’s ProScreen
microphone, but does the rest of your range can make.
input path do it justice? If you’re currently
plugging directly into an interface, maybe 15. Invest in yourself!
you should consider getting a high-quality If lockdown means you have more One fader, many possibilities:
outboard mic preamp. A state-of-the-art time on your hands, why not use it PreSonus’s compact Faderport can make
modern preamp such as Millennia’s productively to improve your own skills? a serious difference to your mixing workflow.

144 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

frustrating than plugging in and hearing
intermittent crackles and changes in level?
There’s no sense skimping on these sort of
basics, so either grab yourself a soldering
iron and learn how to fix them, or order
a few spares and move on. Good-quality
cables from the likes of Whirlwind and
Hosa cost very little in the scheme of
things, but are worth their weight in gold.

17. Fade up your mixing skills

Work faster and more effectively by
pairing your computer and DAW with
a control surface. There are serious
efficiency gains to be made by adding
something like PreSonus’s Faderport or
Frontier Designs’ Alphatrack, which give
you a single fader for writing automation EastWest’s Composer Cloud gives you
to key tracks, or a cheap tablet running them at a suitable level and impedance. access to a huge range of orchestral libraries
Avid’s free Avid Control app. Softube’s A passive direct injection box such as for a modest monthly feel.
Console 1 ecosystem offers more than Whirlwind’s IMP2 or Radial’s Pro DI used
just DAW control, replicating not only the ‘backwards’ may well be all you need, but a compelling alternative. And there’s
experience but also the sound of working there are also dedicated interfaces such strong competition from newer names in
on a classic large-format console, while as Audio Simplified’s Pedal Pusher. the field such as Neumann and Focal, as
systems such as the Slate Raven and well as Audix’s excellent A-series models.
Quantica Modula make full use of the 19. Upgrade your headphones If you haven’t shopped for headphones
latest touchscreen technology. If people are listening to your music, for a while, you might be surprised at how
they’re mostly doing it on headphones. good modern cans can sound.
18. Integrate your guitar pedals into The boom in headphone sales has
your mix setup led to plenty of new developments 20. Take control of what you hear
With manufacturers such as in headphone technology, from the Many audio interfaces have basic monitor
Electro-Harmonix and Strymon constantly ‘high-excursion’ drivers used in Austrian control built in, but few offer all the features
introducing new and outlandish Audio’s Hi-X models to the wholly new of a mixing console’s master section.
processors, guitar pedals can be an and very impressive HEDDphones. You might be surprised at how much of
inexpensive and creative source of Established manufacturers such as AKG, a difference a proper monitor controller
effects at mixdown, and it’s often Beyer, Fostex, Sony and Sennheiser can make to your workflow. Calibrate
straightforward to integrate them with continue to improve traditional your monitors to work at a known SPL,
a few tweaks to your setup. They all moving-coil dynamic designs, while enjoy instant speaker switching, and take
accept standard quarter-inch jacks, so the new planar magnetic headphones advantage of features such as mono
main challenge is to present the signal to from Audeze and now Avantone offer summing, left/right mutes and talkback.

21. Hire an orchestra (virtually)

What better way to expand your musical
horizons than to bring in a battalion of
virtuoso string, brass and woodwind
players? Few of us will get to hear our
material played by a real orchestra, but
sampling technology has come a long
way since those ubiquitous ‘piano +
strings’ patches in home keyboards.
There is now a huge range of virtual
instruments that place the world’s
best orchestral players at your beck
and call. Take a look at Dave Stewart’s
comprehensive round-up back in 2015
to get an idea of what’s on offer, then
bring the choices up to date by browsing
the catalogues of manufacturers like
Spitfire Audio, EastWest, VSL, Heavyocity,
New headphone technologies continue to emerge, including HEDD’s novel use of the Air Motion Orchestral Tools, Sonokinetic, NI, Project
Transformer (left) and Austrian Audio’s ‘high excursion’ drivers. SAM and more.

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 145

 IN TE R VIE W

Recording Suckapunch

For their latest album, You Me At Six threw out the

rulebook and spent six weeks at a residential studio in
Thailand. Producer Dan Austin was at the helm.

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

 the production desk for the album. “If
J O E M AT E R A
we’d already done something like use

H
ailing from Surrey, England, a particular drum sound or a particular
five-piece outfit You Me drum technique then it would be, ‘OK
At Six have spent the past what can we do differently on the next
decade and more pushing boundaries song that we’re going to record?’ while
both musically and sonically. Never at the same time keeping everything
a band to rest on their laurels, their sounding as consistent as possible as
ambitious sonic experimentation an album, as a whole. And there was
has seen them successfully fuse a lot of programming going on with
a cocktail of dance, R&B and hip-hop this album. One of the things we did
elements to a pop-rock template. And was to make our own drum samples
they’re not afraid to employ whatever to program with. And I used a lot of
means at their disposal to achieve resampling of sounds to make textures
their forward-thinking musical vision. and synth beds and things like that. It
With six albums already under their was time-consuming but it made things
belt, their seventh and newest album sound different between songs and
Suckapunch saw the band up the made it sound individual to the record
ante in all departments, in the process as well.”
creating one of the most original and “It’s a bit of a creative freedom
fresh-sounding albums of recent times. on this record, where we can be
“Trying to not repeat ourselves and experimental and showcase what we
trying to use different sounds across the can do,” adds You Me At Six guitarist
songs was a big challenge,” explains Max Helyer. “Since we’ve now been
producer Dan Austin, who helmed together for quite a while as a band,

You Me At Six producer Dan Austin. Photos: Ed Whitfield

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

 IN TE R VIE W
YOU M E AT SIX

Band and producer at Karma Studios, Bang Saray, Thailand. Guitarist Max Helyer spent considerable time
experimenting with his guitar tone, making use of
we felt we had established something for hands-on work ethic, Austin was and is plug-ins in addition to his usual pedalboard.
ourselves on the previous records that very much the sixth member of the band.
we’re really proud off. But how do we “I had worked on the band’s previous or just do hi-hats, and create all these
keep it interesting and exciting moving album VI [2018], but with this album they loops from just messing around on the
forward? For example, on ‘Beautiful Way’, really wanted to tear up what they were top of the tracks. Then I’ll cut bits out and
some of the inspiration from that song was doing and try different approaches to Dan Austin and I will sit there for hours,
very much from drum & bass music and recording,” he tells SOS. “So I became just going through it all to find really cool
electronic music, inspired by bands from more than just the producer of the band. parts and then piece them all together. It
Pendulum to the Prodigy and even some I got really involved in every stage of gets really creative and is so much fun,
old-school rock music such as the angst of the songs. We are always trying to push it is my favourite thing about being in
Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Fight Song’.” things outside of what we would have a band, and being in the studio with Dan.
traditionally done before. Trying to not “Once we have the loops, I will also
Due East repeat ourselves has become a big thing. need to figure out how to replicate it in
Both producer and band chose to record And we all get along really well together order to do it live, as well as build a lot of
the album at Karma Sound, a residential as people; that’s been a big part of why tracks for the live show. I have to perform
recording studio in Bang Saray, Thailand, we’ve been able to achieve what we’ve them the best way possible, so that they
during the course of a six-week period been able to achieve on this album.” come across the same live as they do
in October and November of 2019. “We The band took a radical approach with on the studio loops. But doing it this way
looked at various options around the the recording sessions, creating unique makes it so creative and so unique. If we
world,” says Austin. “I always had the idea drum loops which lay the foundations for can build from the ground up, something
that if I was with a band, I always wanted their songwriting. “I have a studio in my that is already interesting from just a drum
to be in a residential studio. I like everyone house and because I’m really into dance beat, then anything else that comes after
being in the same place at the same time music, techno and house and stuff like it will be also interesting and different.”
and without distraction, where you’d be that, I will build a lot of tracks from like
able to work as late as you want and be keyboards, chopped up loops and things
Plug-in Baby
able to roll out of bed in the morning and like that,” explains drummer Dan Flint. In the hands of You Me At Six, the digital
get into the studio. And not have people “A lot of things we demo start off that way. realm presents options that the band
coming in or anyone going off to go get So what we then do is create our own use primarily as creative and inventive
food at different times and stuff, which can loops, where I don’t play any instruments tools rather than enhancements.
become really distracting for the sessions.” or any sort of drum tracks from start to Their approach is evident on the
As well as fulfilling the role of producer finish. I’ll only play kick drums, or snare album’s opening track, the riff-driven,
and directing the sessions with his drums, or kick and snare drums together, groove-oriented, ‘Nice To Me’, which sets

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

 

  


  

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/
 IN TE R VIE W
YOU M E AT SIX

Suckapunch was tracked through Karma

things on this record. Surprisingly this amplifier and pedalboard set up in front of
Studios’ SSL 4056 E Series console.
song was actually one of the last songs you, where you can twist and turn knobs
the mood for the rest of the album and written for the album before we went easily and dial in sounds straight away.
showcases what technology can bring to Thailand, and I did it from my home But I’ve really enjoyed sitting in front of
to the recording process. “On ‘Nice To studio. Having gone more into music a computer, loading in different plug-ins
Me’, I was conscious of trying to push production over the past five years of and trying stuff that you wouldn’t normally
the sound of how guitars are ‘meant’ to my life, it’s allowed me the ability to sit try in order to be a bit more adventurous.
sound,” explains Helyer, “and from that there on my computer and mess about “For example, I’ve got a really cool DI
track on, I think we’ve delivered certain with things. You get so used to having an sound, and this involved me jumping in
and trying lots of different plug-ins. I tried
Bassist Matt Barnes in the to find different sounds that I don’t have
Karma Studios control room. access to from my pedalboard. So for
textures and layers and creating a mood,
it was really great to have this setup in
front of me where there was no time
constraint. When I write a song I will look
at it as soundscaping, where I am trying
to create a vibe. When I was playing the
opening riff on that song, I was thinking
in cinematic terms and how I could create
a mood. I looked at some of my favourite
artists and how they created sounds.
I went back and watched films and
studied how they created a mood and
atmosphere with how they played and the
sounds and effects they were using.”

Slowing Down
Another element in the You Me At Six
toolbox was the use of the varispeed.

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

 For Josh Franceschi’s vocals,
Suckapunch Dan Austin hired a Telefunken U47.
You Me At Six’s seventh studio album,
Suckapunch, is released on January 15th via
Underdog Records/AWAL.

“I used a lot of varispeed on this record,

which I really enjoyed as I hadn’t been to change the speed of the work clock. as if they were sampled. We also did that
able to do it for a while,” affirms Austin. A lot of the drum takes we recorded were with some of the guitar tracks as well.”
“The studio was running Digidesign 192 about two tones down. Dan [Flint] would “We recorded some tracks at variable
A-D/D-A converters with a Digidesign play the drums and we’d record them speed, you know that old-school thing
Sync I/O. A lot of people don’t have slower and then take them back up to that they used to have in all the studios
the Sync I/O anymore, and it enabled me speed. This made the drum tracks sound and which nowadays you don’t find
 IN TE R VIE W
YOU M E AT SIX

Dan Austin made extensive use of the studio’s microphone collection. Here, Dan Flint’s
drum kit is being recorded by a pair of AKG C414s, a Shure SM57 and SM7b, a Yamaha
Subkick, a Coles 4038 and a number of Sennheiser MD421s.

anymore there” concurs Flint. “That was In terms of outboard gear, there were some vocals as well. So there was this big
challenging in the way that you have to [Empirical Labs] Distressors, UREI 1176s... fat distorted room mic that I could blend
work out how to get a unique sound out standard fare really. A lot of stuff was into or against my other microphones on
of it. But with any of these challenges done digitally with plug-ins. I normally any given source.”
we have, they’re always creative. It is record fairly flat and then manipulate For Austin, having a selection of
not something we stress out about, we stuff. I sort of mix as I go along too and mics on offer was integral to capturing
just go with it. A lot of the challenges the band kind of play into mixed sounds the tones he was seeking. “We rented
happen naturally, like spit-balling in the as we go along, so that everyone knows a Telefunken U47 which I took with
studio. We don’t really come across where they’re going to end up. Obviously me because that was the only thing
many challenges in terms of difficulty, it affects your performance playing they didn’t have at the studio and
as we have such a good relationship or singing into a sound that reacts in I needed it,” says Austin. “I’ve always
with Dan that it feels like we’re the same different ways. There’s a huge amount used one on Josh [Franceschi]’s voice
person or like he’s the sixth member of of distortion on the record too, and since we started working together. His
our band. And it flows so well that it is a lot of that is the Soundtoys Devil-Loc vocal chain was a U47, through a Neve
non-stop creativity.” and Digidesign Lo-Fi. There was a Manley 1073 and a Distressor and then into
Pultec clone too which had come from whatever plug-ins I am using in the
The Gear George Michael’s personal studio, which computer that I’m recording him through.
Tracking for the album was done using we nicknamed, ‘The George’. I used it as Other stuff was fairly standard, the
an SSL 4056 E Series desk, which an insert on a mono room mic and I blew band has some Telefunken M81’s which
the studio had recapped just before it up on the desk. I had the mic pre on I absolutely love and use in places where
band and producer arrived to begin full blast and because of the capacitors, I would have normally use an SM57
the sessions. “The guy who recapped it distorted in a particularly pleasant way. historically, like for top and bottom snare
it used non-standard capacitors which Also there was lots of desk EQ added to and on guitar cabs. I love them and they
gave the desk sound a real chunk this signal and then ‘The George’ on the sound fantastic. The studio had AKG
to it,” explains Austin. “It was a very insert enabled me to sculpt the distortion C414s, Neumann KM 84s, Neumann
unique-sounding SSL, so essentially it in a really lovely way. I used this distorted U87s for, like, pianos and overheads and
was modified, but it sounded incredible. mic on loads of sounds and even on room mics. For the guitar cabs, we used

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

a Telefunken M81, a Neumann U87 and a AKG 414. Also on LAR GE DU A L- DIA PH RA G M
the record quite a lot of the guitars were just DI’ed straight CO NDE NS E R M O DE L IN G M ICR O PH O NE
into mic preamps with a Distressor over it. And though that
makes the sounds quite cold and digital, we were aiming
specifically on some sounds to be digital-sounding.”
Helyer also brought along his amp of choice to the studio
with him. “I’ve been using The Little Chopper from a company
EDGE DUO
called Audio Kitchen, which is a boutique amp company in
the UK,” explains Helyer. “And because the amp is so small
that I can fly anywhere around the world with it, I took it with
me to play through in Thailand. The studio had a Fender
Twin Reverb which is also my main other amp that I use in
my live setup. So my main setup for the recording was the
Audio Kitchen and Fender Twin. I’d normally run them both
at the same time. The Little Chopper gave me the low end,
the body and warmth and bassiness of the sound and the
Twin Reverb gave me the high-end treble cut-through. So the
combination of both amps gave me what I wanted. And then
how I stack my pedalboard up by arrangement of pedals on
the floor, also gave me a different clarity from it too.”

Mixing As You Go
Never a band to follow any kind of traditional route, they
also employed a ‘mix as you go’ approach, with the tracks
all very much close to mixed by the time the band left the
studio. “Either for myself or for any other guys that do the final
mix, the method is more about tidying up frequencies and
getting it so that it’s consistent,” Austin tells SOS. “In terms of
creative decisions, they would’ve all been made by then. With
mixing as I go, there are no surprises, or they’re shouldn’t be
when you get a mix back, especially with You Me At Six stuff,
because those decisions have already been made. And all the
processing is printed as well. I give the mixers the options of
stuff without it, but 99 percent of the time they’d be using the
processed version of what I send them.
“And that comes from the fact that, for us, it’s not like, ‘let’s
throw down some guitars or some vocals and then down the
line we will fix stuff. Because it is a creative process while
we’re in the studio, it has to be semi-mixed whilst going
along. We’re creating sounds. We’re creating vibes that
have to be looked at in detail whilst doing it. It’s never an
afterthought. Everything has its specific place and if it has to
be there, it has to have a real reason for being there.”
This approach is integral to the band’s ethos of always 19 microphones in one.
evolving. “We’ve been guilty in the past of making records
where we’ve kept the same guitar sound for each song, kept Dual-channel recording.
the same drum sound and the drum kit didn’t really change,”
says Flint. “With this way of recording and how we do it with Switchable polar patterns.
Dan Austin, everything is set up ahead of time, everything’s
ready to go whenever we want. We might be halfway Learn more about our Microphone Modeling
through some guitar track and we’ll be like, ‘Well actually, Technology at antelopeaudio.com
what about this sort of thing here?’ We will jump from one
thing to another in order to try and enhance the song. It’s
never, ‘OK the guitars are ready to go, let’s do the guitars.’
Sometimes you will end up repeating yourself so much when
you do that. Whereas we really go into details. ‘What are we
trying to create here? What is the vibe of this song? If this
song is alive, what does it want to say and how does it want
to say it?’ We like to look at each song as unique and give it
the best moment in the sun it can have to be as great as it
can be.” 

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

 IN TE R VIE W

WILL STOKES

H
ow does a composer with an
open disregard for the fetishism
of synthesizers go about creating
an album that is as dependent on its
hypnotic electronics as it is on classical
instrumentation? For London-born,
Scotland-raised Anna Meredith MBE, the
musical success of Mercury-nominated
second album FIBS was never going to
hinge on a specific choice of sequencer or
the hunting down of any ‘must-have’ legacy
synth. “I am a bodger,” Meredith warns me
with a laugh as we, along with guitarist
and producer Jack Ross, sit in the quad
of London’s Somerset House, which also
happens to be the location of her studio. “I’m
not a compositional bodger, but I am a bodger
with some of this stuff!”
The idea of a ‘second album’ is something
of a misrepresentation of Meredith’s
remarkable career trajectory. Many will
doubtless consider 2016’s Varmints something
of a breakthrough, yet the composer has
been garnering the respect of both sides of
the so-called classical and popular divide for
the best part of two decades; far longer than
such a slim catalogue of original studio albums
might suggest. From 2012’s body-percussion
piece HandsFree, which saw performances at
the BBC Proms, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie
and beyond, to high-profile soundtracks for
such shows as Netflix’s dark comedy starring
Paul Rudd, Living With Yourself; it’s almost
remarkable she has managed to find the time
to work on any self-commissioned studio
records at all.
“I was doing a few little residencies,”
Meredith explains. “Really focused writing of
little ‘nubbins;’ little cells, germs of ideas. Not
too fleshed out, but things I thought had the
potential to become stuff. I brought the whole
band down, five of us, to the Attenborough
Centre for the Creative Arts, and we listened to
a few things and chatted about these ideas.”
It wasn’t long, however, before
a succession of impossible-to-ignore
commissions became incumbent on Meredith
and demanded that the album be temporarily
shelved. Projects like ‘Five Telegrams’,
commissioned for the BBC Proms (complete
with projection mapping onto the exterior of
the Albert Hall), the release of Anno (“Half my
music and half Vivaldi’s Four Seasons,” the
composer says, “kind of half electronics and
half string orchestra”), and the soundtrack
for Bo Burnham’s coming-of-age comedy
Eighth Grade demanded the lion’s share of
the composer’s 2018. “So, I put the album to
one side,” she explains, “and then it was just

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

 a DAW is an unconventional one by
today’s standards of studio recording,
yet nonetheless highly musical and
even traditional. “It’s always in Sibelius,”
she tells me. “It’s always notated. Years
ago, when I started writing straight into
Ableton, everything just became layers.
There was no direction. So I thought,
‘OK, what is my skill set?’ I know how to
notate music, I know how to control bars
and time signatures and pace stuff well,
so I made a decision to go to electronics
Composing & Producing FIBS right at the last minute. It’s not designed
for playback at all, Sibelius. It does it,
Few artists straddle the line between classical and but it uses general MIDI, so it sounds
awful! But I kind of like that, because it
electronic music with as much success as Anna means that if the ingredients are good,
Meredith. We talk to her about the creation of her then I know that when I upgrade it with
recent Mercury-nominated album. real instruments, it’ll be a lot better.
It’s a way to test whether or not things
works compositionally. So, when I go into
like, clear the decks. Stop touring, let’s to creating FIBS was spent without Ableton the hard work is done. I’m not
make some kind of schedule to make it recording a note. relying on synths to provide the character.
happen.” “I don’t think: ‘I’ll make 30 tracks and I’m relying on composition.
pick the best 11,’” She explains. “It’ll be: “In my studio… there’s like, no gear in
London Calling ‘I’m going to make 11 tracks; and they’re it! It’s a little MIDI keyboard, a computer,
From August 2018 to January 2019 going to be fast instrumentals and slow a desk, some manuscript and a piano. It’s
Meredith retreated to her London instrumentals, and there’ll be a vocal not filled with synths or drums machines
studio to begin work on the for me and vocal for the drummer, and — none of the material things. In fact,
album, which stemmed from there’ll be a group vocal...’ I know the the opposite. I’m a little bit daunted by
an almost completely things I want in it, so then I’m trying to some of that stuff and not particularly
abstract place. Testament work out the pie chart — the balance of interested, it doesn’t help me write good
to her exhaustive energies — of the album as a whole, so music. I used to be quite panicked and felt
composition they all balance up. I keep that in check that was what I was meant to be doing.
process, at least before I’ve written a note.” Almost, ‘You’re writing electronic music so
half the overall Indeed, there is a key stage of you should be getting really into this stuff,’
time devoted Meredith’s process that takes place before which is why it’s been great for someone
any writing occurs at all: drawing. ‘I do like Jack [Ross] to be on it. I’m good with
these graphic drawings of the shape of the big brush strokes, but not good with tiny
track, the energy of it. I do this for every brush strokes; so I kind of need someone
kind of music I write. They almost look like to help me do the stuff I’m not very good
rockets! It’s like, a non-musical way to get at, and… slightly struggle to care about,
the pacing right. Initially they’re almost which is sort of embarrassing!”
like mood boards. So, I’ll have an A3 bit of
manuscript with a little squiggly shape and
Instrumentation
a few adjectives, and it’ll have a few bits of When it comes to listing her synthesizers,
notated rhythm. It might say something like Meredith’s vocabulary is refreshingly
‘stabby’ drawn into a shape, or it might say off-kilter and creative. As if barely
‘big bass here?’ and then I might notate concerned with the names of things
underneath a little example of what that beyond their musical value, she recalls:
might be — a few chords or something, “I’ve got a lot of ’90s ravey synths that
or a rhythm. So, it becomes almost like I really like: analogue, kind of chiptune-y.
a schematic. I never think about genre. Because a lot of the music is very fast,
It’s never about a ‘techno track’ or a ‘rock I can’t have too many wet sounds. So, I’m
track’. I only think about the compositional drawn to a lot of beepy, short, percussive,
ingredients. Something that builds up in vintage-y sounds. I’ve got a lot of packs
a particular way.” and plug-ins of vintage sounds and
old computer game sounds, lots of the
The Score Ableton ones, some Roland stuff, some
The route Meredith’s ideas take from Super Nintendo-style ones, some Kontakt
compositional ‘nubbins’ to sounds in stuff... Nothing cool! I guess I just don’t

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

 IN TE R VIE W
ANNA MEREDITH

Anna Meredith’s compositions have an unusual genesis: they all start out as diagrams,
illustrating their eventual structure, before being scored in Sibelius.

let the software daunt me too much, move it around to make it my own thing, the electronics — nobody else wrote the
because it then overwhelms the music. but it’s very simple: ‘fizzy synth A,’ or ‘big electronics or had any input on them
“I think, having a classical background, fat squelchy synth B.’ I’ll have these ones — but Jack produced the recording.
when I’m writing for an orchestra, I know I keep coming back to because I like We’ve really struggled, to be honest, to
every instrument. I know the range of them. It’s about finding a functional sound find the right language. In the classical
what they can play, but I’m not going to and using things I already know, which world, if you’re called the producer of
think ‘What can a violin do that’s never function well.” a string quartet album, in that sense
been done before?’ I’m thinking ‘I’m you’d be the only producer because
writing for a violin.’ So, I think about the
Jack Of All Trades nobody’s composing anything. It’s all
mix of electronics in a similar way. It’s like Guitarist and production aficionado about recording pre-existing material. But,
my old friend... I start with a preset! I’ll Jack Ross has been working with Anna if you’re working in lots of different kinds
for a decade. As the of commercial music... it feels like it could
composer considers her be many things.”
unconventional approach
to electronic instruments
Recording
he interjects, with equal The recording proper started modestly, in
parts gravitas and Meredith’s own space. “Tuba, cello, guitar,
encouragement: “Anna, clarinet, all the voices, some pitched
you’re different to some wine glasses... basically it was all done
people who get buried in one at a time, in a tiny room, layering up,
technology, but you are no editing,” she tells me. “But it was great
slouch with Ableton! You for me, because I find it hard to listen to
know how to move around anything beyond the composition. When
in there and get things that we’re listening back to takes, and Jack is
you like. But it’s your way trying to talk about which one is slightly
round, which is a good better here or there, I’m just thinking,
distinction to make.” ‘What a great line! Smashed that!’ So it’s
The term ‘production so important to have someone who can
aficionado’ may seem listen in that way.’”
somewhat hackneyed, but Laughing, Ross remembers one
as Meredith points out, instance where choosing a take was
Guitarist and “we’ve struggled with the particularly easy. “We’d done one take of
producer Jack word ‘producer,’ because pitched wine glasses, and then went in
Ross records
it seems to be a very to have a listen. We shut the door to the
a guitar for FIBS.
confusing word. I did all vocal booth that all the glasses were in,

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

 Percussionist Sam Wilson recording
at Somerset House. in that specific space.” Enter decorated mics and preamps that he knows just
engineer Shuta Shinoda, at East London’s how to work. Lovely old SSL [4000E]
and the primary glass just fell over and Hackney Road Studios. “I’ve done loads desk, big [ATC 100a SLM] speakers...
smashed. It was like, ‘Yep, guess we got it!’ of stuff with him over the years,” says we had a great time recording in there.
“You get in the zone of listening to Ross. “That guy, in that room... He really In that situation, my role was to keep
EQ or the character of the microphone... knows how to record drums and make track of take sheets, give Sam [Wilson,
and I love being in that rabbit hole. It’s them sound fantastic. He’s got beautiful drummer] feedback about what he was
quite an addictive sensation!” says
Ross. “The studio facility at Somerset
House is fairly rudimentary. It’s got a tiny
space, almost a vocal booth, really,
for separation; a pair of Yamaha HS7s
and a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 705
S2s; a Midas M32R desk; a handful of
microphones... Mic-wise it was, like, three
SM57s and a couple of EV RE20s. Also
a really nice valve mic with a particular
character, an sE Z5600a II. It’s pretty
bright but with plenty of body, and we
used it for all vocals. We used a DPA
4099 on cello and clarinet, because it’s
a great little thing that you can get really
close; very detailed and perfect if you
don’t have a lot of room to play with.
And then I stuck the sE mic in front of
both instruments as an option, a different
character. We also had an Aston Spirit.
Great mic, great company. They’re
really versatile. We used that on guitar
cabs, tuba and cello at different times,
depending on what character we wanted
to capture.
“I’ve always been really interested
in studios and the recording process,”
he reflects. “I agreed to record all of the
acoustic stuff except for drums. I think
you really need to do a good job of
that. You need a studio with someone
who really knows what they’re doing

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

 IN TE R VIE W
ANNA MEREDITH

For the acoustic instruments, Jack Ross

chose to use a DPA 4099, usually supplemented the drum parts together, figuring it instrumental parts need to find their place
with a large-diaphragm mic. out. It was the same with Jack and the and need to support that, and you’ve got
guitar, Maddie [Cutter] on cello and to find where they, kind of, blossom out
doing, think about sounds, talk to Shuta Tom [Kelly] on the tuba. Figuring it out, of that electronic texture and take the
about mics and mic placement.” just in a studio somewhere, away from spotlight, and also where they just sit
Carefully nurturing the project over recording, and then by the recording back to help the trajectory of it. That was
that hard-to-define threshold, from stage things are quite fixed. There isn’t the challenge, really.”
individual composition to instrumentalist too much improvising.” Anna considers: ‘We’re quite internal.
collaboration, Meredith had prepared “It’s about getting good takes,” adds We definitely keep stuff in-house.”
well with her players for this stage of Ross. “Solid takes that are going to work Turning towards Jack once more, she
the recording process. “I would have well with the electronics. It is an album continues, “I was able to talk to you
a few days with each person,” she says, that is driven by the electronic content guys more than with Varmints. When
“so, with Sam, we would have written that Anna has generated. But all of the I was writing, I was thinking, ‘Sam’s got
a great voice, so he’ll sing a track,’ and
then you [Jack], me and Sam can sing
a track because I know our voices work
together… And, I’m also thinking of what
Maddie the cellist can do...”
I suggest to the pair that this approach
almost harks back to a bygone era of
composition; where composers would
be more likely to work with the same
players time and again, as opposed to
the common practice today of working
with by-the-hour freelancers. “We all love
working in that way,” responds Ross.
“There are players who wouldn’t even
consider it, they’d just be like, ‘Get back
to me when you’ve got a playable part!’
So, that back and forth relationship is
really important. Tracking this stuff, we
know what we’re aiming for. We really
know what we want to achieve with it.
We know, ‘That bassline, that’s got to be
a tuba, leading that!’ So we’ve then got
to find a way to get it to punch through,
or to fill a gap in this or that synth sound
so that it suddenly feels huge. You lose
all of the extraneous stuff, that sense of
Anna Meredith (left) with Marta Salogni, who mixed the album. trying to feel your way through things. It

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

 and processing. She’s just a really great
person to work with.”
Needless to say, Salogni was the
right engineer for the job. A resourceful
approach and respect for the finite
elements before her made for an
effortlessly contiguous mixing stage,
demonstrative of the crew’s maxim when
it came to making FIBS. When it came to
mastering, it was down to John Webber
at AIR studios; perhaps best known for
his work on a vast array of iconic jazz
remasters but also, aptly, responsible for
finishing the epic soundtracks of films
like Alien: Covenant and High-Rise.
Looking back on FIBS’s recording
and mixing processes, Ross reflects:
“It was a lesson. Use the stuff you’ve
got really well. Know what you’re trying
to achieve rather than getting a new
plug-in that you think might solve your
problems. It’s the same as with Anna;
she’s in pursuit of the impact of the
sound and the sonic experience, rather
than using gear and plug-ins to inspire
something that might be something. You
want to be thinking: ‘I know what I want
to achieve, so now I’m going to work out
what I need to do.’”
Marta Salogni: “No ego, just skills.”

becomes about direction and capturing

sound in the right way so that it will
translate. It’s like, ‘Let’s figure out how
do it,’ and then you get your head down
and you do it!”

Mixing
When it came to mixing, the crew
enlisted the skills of one Marta Salogni.
“We were all there the whole time,”
Get the skills
Meredith says. “I think she was quite
surprised as normally people just
come in at the end, but we were there
to produce
serious results.
for weeks, all day every day!” Ross
describes Marta as “no ego, just skills.”
He continues: “Her EQ skills were
phenomenal. It’s dense music, so you
have to make space in it. And she’s
Explore Berklee Online’s vast offerings in music production
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I don’t think we’d even gotten onto
conversations about the stereo field
or creating space in other ways until Learn more at online.berklee.edu 1-866-BERKLEE
a bit later on. It just cleared the path for
conversations about creative effects

w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / January 2021 159

 IN SIDE TR AC K

Bob Clearmountain

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

Bruce Springsteen’s latest album was an international
hit last year, but the console it was mixed on was
made a quarter of a century ago. Mixing legend Bob
Clearmountain was at the controls.
PAUL TINGEN
all the things it can do.”

“A
For the legendary Bob Clearmountain,
note to your readers: you listening is everything, and he prides
figure it out! That’s how himself in doing almost everything by ear,
I learned. Nobody told me and being creative. It shows in many of
what delays or reverbs to use. I would his working methods, for example the fact
listen to records, and I’d try to work out that he still mixes on a console, at a time
what they had done, and then I’d try to when the vast majority of his colleagues
recreate that, and come up with my own have gone in the box.
thing. The great part of mixing is figuring “Mixing in the box is like torture to ‘Letter To You’
out for yourself what works for you, and me. I don’t understand how people can Written by Bruce Springsteen
Produced by Ron Aniello
for the music and the song and the lyrics, do that and remain sane. Working with
& Bruce Springsteen
and what doesn’t. Asking me exactly little pop-up menus and windows and so
how I did something is pointless. It on is just not enjoyable to me. But when
really is. I know it is your job to report I’m mixing at my SSL, it’s so much fun, it H3000. I just listen and dial it in. I also do
on this stuff, but dude, it doesn’t work feels like I’m having a day off! I love the this completely by ear. Some things may
this way. process of mixing on a desk, and the not be perfect, and that’s fine, because
“I learned by doing things,” Bob sound also is a big part of that, of course. you don’t want to completely suck the
Clearmountain continues. “When But most of all, it forces me to trust my life out of a voice. Today, the vocalists
I started at Media Sound in the ears, rather than my eyes. It’s about in country music in particular sound like
’70s in New York we mostly did audio. It’s not a visual medium! A few machines. They all sound like the same
jingles, and a lot of the time I was years ago at an AES trade show someone person, with the soul sucked out.”
not watching somebody else, demonstrated some edits in Logic, and
but I had to work out what to then said, ‘Let’s hear what that looks like.’
Star Mixer
do myself. So if you’re sitting I started laughing immediately. I thought it Bob Clearmountain inarguably knows
behind a computer, just try was a hysterical thing to say! a thing or two about mixing records that
stuff. You can do anything you “DAWs have many advantages. It’s have soul and life, and about enhancing
want. But forget about the easy, for example, to align several bass these qualities rather than stifling them. It
presets. Presets are for drums in Pro Tools. We used to do that on was one of the main reasons he managed
dopey people. With any tape: we’d fly stuff out to half-inch tape, to become, in the early ’80s, the world’s
piece of gear, play with and then back in, and we’d use our ears to first star mixer. The unbelievable amount
it and listen and learn get them in time. It was more tedious and of classic records Clearmountain has
we couldn’t be as precise, but it worked. worked on over the decades says it
I don’t use Melodyne or Auto-Tune but all. They include records by the Rolling
tune vocals using the Waves SoundShifter Stones, Hall & Oates, Paul McCartney, the
plug-in. It’s a manual pitch shifter, and Who, David Bowie, Chic, Bryan Adams,
I use it the same way I used the Eventide Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, INXS,
Toto, Bon Jovi, Simple Minds, Sheryl
Crow, Crowded House, Bryan Ferry, and
many more.
Clearly, Clearmountain’s biggest
achievements were, and continue
to be, in the rock arena. And so
one wonders how he survives in
the current music world, which
is dominated by genres like pop,
Photo: Danny Clinch
trap, hip-hop/R&B, that are all
intrinsically linked to DAW-based
working methods, with vocals
and programmed music perfectly
pitched and timed, instant recalls,
and tracks that are compressed and
limited for maximum loudness.
Clearmountain stays well away from
this particular musical maelstrom, and

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

 IN SIDE T R A CK
BOB CLE A R MOU N TA IN • BRUC E S PRINGS T E E N

or massive strings, and I will ask them to

just send me a couple of stems of that.
But I recently received a session for
which they had stemmed the orchestra,
and I asked them for the original
orchestra tracks, which added up to 600
tracks! But I found it easier to work with
that than with the stems, again, because
I like the control.”

Control Room
The above lists most of Clearmountain’s
concessions to the modern era. He’s also
gone as far as digitising his analogue
effects approach in an Apogee plug-in
called Clearmountain’s Domain (about
which more below). For the rest his Mix
This! Studio, located in his home in Los
Angeles, continues to look and function like
it did when he built it back in 1994, centred
around his SSL and tons of outboard.
Before diving into the details of his mix of
Springsteen’s Letter To You, Clearmountain
elaborated on his tools of the trade, and
what they mean to him today.
Bob Clearmountain in the control room at his Mix This! studio. “My SSL is from 1994, and one of the
last they made. It’s a 72-input, 4000+
many of the associated working methods. In the old days, when we were working desk, which has the Bluestone mod, and
He nonetheless remains not only the with 16- or 24-track tape, the drums were I later added my own mods, many to do
most celebrated mixer of all time, but essentially four tracks: bass drum, snare with surround mixing. Surround mixing is
also relevant in 2020, as was illustrated and the entire kit in stereo. All balancing a big thing for me. I have done a surround
by his mix of Bruce Springsteen’s latest was done while recording, and quickly mix for every stereo mix for the last
studio album, Letter To You, which went because you didn’t want to keep the band 15 or more years. Sadly, surround isn’t
to number 2 in the US and number 1 in waiting. Now you can have everything particularly important for modern music
the UK, and in a dozen or more other separate, including ambient tracks, also anymore, so 99 percent of my surround
countries. As Clearmountain-mixed for guitars or vocals, which is great when mixes have never been heard.
music for the umpteenth time tops charts doing surround mixes. You can have “My main monitors are the Dynaudio
around the world, it’s worth finding out endless tracks, and I love the control that BM15A, which I use for 5.1 as well as
how he works today, and to what extent gives you in the mix. stereo, and they’re great. I had Yamaha
he’s adapted to the latest technology. “I will for that reason not mix from NS10s for a long time, but then Apogee
“I was one of the first to use Pro Tools, stems. I’m not interested in that. Once and I were thinking of doing our own
in 1991,” comments Clearmountain, “though in a while there will be something like speakers based on a newer Yamaha
I’m still not very good at working with it. a massive backing vocal arrangement design, which were going to be called
I must admit, as much as some people get
mad at the guys at Pro Tools, this program
is really good. They have come up with
A Star Is Born
some amazing stuff. If you don’t mind the It’s almost a cliché to point out that Bob and I produced maybe three records a year
torture of working purely in Pro Tools, you Clearmountain pioneered the role of the star or something like that, and I mixed nine or 10
can do great things. Especially helpful for mixer, and thereby paved the way for the likes records a year. But I hated producing, actually,
me is the ability it gives you to fix small of Andy Wallace, Chris Lord-Alge and Serban and I did not think that I was all that good at it.
Ghenea. But how did he actually get into that “To me mixing was far more enjoyable, and
things. I do volume automation on my
position? Certainly taking on the last name more and more people were asking me to mix,
desk, but I’ll go into Pro Tools to correct Clearmountain (his actual name is Italian) was even while I was still on staff at The Power
a small detail, like a consonant that jumps a masterstroke of branding. But for the rest, did Station in New York. My manager said: ‘Maybe
too loud or that I’m not hearing. Clip Gain he devise a masterplan, or did it all happen by you should think about going independent, and
is great for fixing things like that, and you accident? I can get you a point, for mixing.’ Nobody had
can also use Clip Effects to add a filter or “I don’t really know how it happened,” ever asked for a point for mixing before. Even
laughs Clearmountain. “It was weird, because band members very often did not get points. My
EQ for a brief moment.
I did not deliberately try to get in that position manager was a brilliant guy called Dan Crewe,
“I use some plug-ins, mainly Altiverb, at all. I realised very early on that mixing was and I thought that what he suggested was crazy,
the Apogee ones, the FabFilter EQ, and my favourite part of working in the studio. I was but sure enough people started paying me
iZotope to fix stuff, but for the most part producing at the time, which was the early ’80s, points! This was around ’83-’84.”
I use Pro Tools still as a tape recorder.

162 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 IN SIDE T R A CK
BOB CLE A R MOU N TA IN • BRUC E S PRINGS T E E N

Bob Clearmountain still uses his SSL 4000

Series console for every mix he does. “As for compressors, I have four Yamaha PCM70s, a Yamaha SPX990,
Empirical Labs Distressors, which is a bunch of Eventides like the H3000
Clearmountain something or other. In probably the best-ever modern compressor. and H3500, though most of them don’t
the process Yamaha lent us these YSP7 They do something wonderful to acoustic work. I still really like the Eventide Ultra
speakers, and I ended up really liking guitars, bringing them upfront and making Harmoniser DSP4000. I also have an SPL
them, so I’ve since been using them them vibrant and useful. I also have three Transient Designer, which I practically
instead of the NS10s. The YSP7s are like UREI 1178s, which are the stereo version of never use, and the old MXR flanger/
the NS10s, but with a smoother top end the 1176. They are fantastic, and I often use doubler, which is really great.”
and the bottom end goes down a bit them on vocals and drums. My Neve 33609 Clearmountain became famous
further, and they’re self-powered. But stereo compressor is mostly used on bass. for his elaborate effect chains, some
they stopped making them, and we never I have an SSL compressor which is the of which he replicated in the Apogee
got round to making the Clearmountain same as I have in the desk, and that I tend Clearmountain’s Domain plug-in, with
speakers! to use on piano. a domain being, as Sam Inglis explains
“I have two Pro Tools rigs at Mix This! “I also have four LA-3A compressors, in his review of the plug-in, “a blend of
One is my multitrack rig, which runs on which are great. The Apogee Opto-3A treated reverb, delay or ambience that
the last 12-core tower Apple made, also compressor plug-in is almost identical, gives each mix its own specific character.”
known as the ‘cheese grater’. It connects so a lot of the time I will simply pop in (See www.soundonsound.com/reviews/
via three Apogee Symphony I/O’s to my a bunch of those on backing vocals. I also apogee-clearmountains-domain.)
SSL. My print rig is a ‘trashcan’ Mac Pro, have a bunch of old dbx 901 de-essers. “Over the years I was always
and has one Symphony 16-in, 16-out I/O. Other effects units include a couple of experimenting with different things with
My print rig is always at 96lHz. Both rigs
are locked together with the Apogee Big
Ben supplying the multitrack with word No Repeats
clock, and the print rig with video sync.” One pivotal record in Clearmountain’s oeuvre I have an interesting story about the Avalon
that really made his name as a mixer was Roxy album. After I finished it, people were just so
Outboard Equipment Music’s 1982 album Avalon, a brilliant-sounding buzzed about how nice it sounded — big and wide
Clearmountain’s outboard includes a lot piece of work, full of sumptuous delays and and luxurious, and so on. The next project I mixed
of classic gear, and he highlights some of reverbs. “People have talked about that record was an album for the Australian band the Divinyls,
his favourites. “I have five Pultec EQP-1A3 more than about anything else I have done,” called Desperate [1983]. I kept the approach of
says Clearmountain, “calling it some sort of Avalon while mixing their album, and it soon
tube EQs, which I love. Two of them are
breakthrough. It was indeed an amazing record. became clear that the guys were not happy. After
the new reissues, which are identical I’d love to take full credit, but I can’t. So much of it mixing two songs they pulled me aside and said:
to the old ones. Apogee did a plug-in was due to the band, the incredible arrangements, ‘Listen, you have to understand, we are not Roxy
emulation of the Pultec, and I cannot tell and Rhett Davies, the producer. The wonderful Music. We are not big, wide and hi-fi, we are like
the difference between the plug-in and arrangements really suited my way of working, so a little nasty gritty spiky ball, an irritating punk
the outboard, which kind of annoyed me, those mixes were quick and not difficult. They took band, so what you are doing isn’t working.’ I had
four hours each, and I did two of them a day. to start all over. It’s often so good to learn from
because I spent a lot of money on these
“I guess I was experimenting in the direction your advice, which would be great advice for
hardware things [laughs]. In addition, the of working extensively with delays and reverbs a certain soon-to-be-ex-president. You cannot
Avalon AD2055 EQ has a really nice, and so on. But also, it suited many of the projects take your approach on one project and apply it to
warm bottom end, and my BSS DPR-901 I was working on at the time. In that context, the next project. Each artist’s music is unique.”
dynamic EQ is great for problem vocals.

164 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 effects and I ended up with signal chains presets or habitual mixing. It therefore “I prefer to start a mix with nothing,
that used my SSL, delays, pitch-shifters, does not come as a surprise that he because I want to hear the original track
our own convolution reverbs, and other wipes the slate clean at Mix This! every sounds before I do anything. I will listen
things,” elaborates Clearmountain. time he starts a new project. “Everything carefully before I add anything. So I’ll
“I always had my echo patches, and on the board gets normalised, just set listen to everything with all the faders up,
I would patch these into delays and to zero. There are a couple of patches and then I’ll go into individual channels.
reverbs and I’d modify them a bit for each that I usually start with, like there’ll I’ll solo each channel to get familiar with
project. It intrigued me, they were like be a parallel snare channel, with the what’s there and what contribution each
fun puzzles, with me finding interesting parallel having one half of an 1178 and an instrument makes and learn about the
ways of getting particular sounds. EQP-1A3, but that’s all. I also have sort of arrangement. Of course I’ll also check
Clearmountain’s Domain is made up of a template at the bottom of my Pro Tools if here are any weird noises or rumbles
these different experiments, which are sessions, with several aux effects tracks, that need taking out.
easily customisable by the user. Most many of which have my Domain plug-in. “The first few passes of the mix is more
of my outboard digital delays have died “People tend to send me Pro Tools of a learning process. After that I usually
now, so it was great to recreate them in sessions to mix. I ask for sessions without start working on the vocals and guitars.
the Domain, and I now use the plug-in in plug-ins or bussing of any kind, or just To me the song is mainly about the vocals
most of my sessions. The presets in the a bunch of files. Sometimes it’s easier to and if there are a bunch of guitars, I want
plug-in were an afterthought. Apogee create a session from files, rather than to know how they balance out and what
asked me to do presets of effects similar convert someone else’s Pro Tools session, the arrangement is. Eventually I’ll get to
to those on classic hits I mixed in the past, and having to work out what I need to get the drums and the percussion, and how
which I for the most part had to recreate rid of and what I want to keep. As I said they relate to each other and the rest of
by ear. So they’re not all that accurate, to earlier, I don’t mix from stems. Of course, the arrangement. I’ll be panning things
be honest.” I listen to the rough mix, to hear what they throughout this process. Stereo and
did and get the vibe and the feeling they’re surround mean a lot to me with regards to
Reset & Forget going for. But I prefer to duplicate what they how everything is arranged.
Because of his motto ‘listen and be have done in my own way, especially with “Once I have a mix that sounds
creative,’ Clearmountain doesn’t like regards to delays and reverbs and so on. good with a basic balance, I’ll get into

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 IN SIDE T R A CK
BOB CLE A R MOU N TA IN • BRUC E S PRINGS T E E N

The session for ‘Letter To You’. As well as the album version, the session also contains the mix used in
the Letter To You documentary, with an uncompressed mix being used to trigger compression on the stems. 1995, all these 2020 systems are just
pathetic. I asked Avid why they don’t
volume automation. Mixing with the do. I don’t understand how anyone gets make it possible to playlist your mixes,
SSL mix automation is by far the best a decent mix in Pro Tools or Logic or any and they said: ‘Do you know how much
way to mix. It’s a natural, wonderful way DAW, because they all suck. Ironically, the information that is?’ I said that all they
of mixing. They had listened to a lot of ancient SSL mix automation is far ahead really had to do is volume — in the SSL
comments from mixers like Frank Filipetti of any of these systems, and it’s fun to most of the rest of the mix is static. But
and I over the years, and by the time of use. they said, ‘it’s either all or nothing.’”
the last software update in 1995, they “To give one example: you can’t
had really nailed it. It’s still on floppy playlist your mixes in any DAW. In the SSL
‘Letter To You’
disks! It’s a shame people don’t know you have an unlimited playlist of mixes, The session for the title track and first
about it, because it is so good, especially and you can edit between them, take the single of Springsteen’s 20th studio
compared to any current DAW or digital chorus from one mix and the middle eight album, Letter To You, contains about 60
mixer. You can grab anything at any from another, and so on. It’s so much active audio tracks, and eight aux effect
time, and it remembers everything you better, it’s mind-boggling. Compared to tracks at the bottom. A small number

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

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 IN SIDE T R A CK
BOB CLE A R MOU N TA IN • BRUC E S PRINGS T E E N

of audio tracks and three aux effect is get rid of the plug-ins. I tell people: ‘If that’s in the session works great. If I add
tracks in the session are de-activated. there’s a specific sound you want, like reverbs, it’ll often be from Altiverb, like
From top to bottom the session contains distorted guitars, then just print it that Berkeley Street (the original name of the
a rough mix and a Comp Trigger track way.’ I will do EQ on the SSL, and the Apogee Studio), or, very rarely, St Joseph
(explained below), drums and percussion compression with my outboard, and many Church, which is too big for drums,
in black, bass and guitars in blue, lead of the other effects with my aux tracks. and better suited to choirs and strings.
vocals in red, more guitars in blue and “The snare drum parallel here indeed Occasionally I use Altiverb’s Castle de
purple, piano and Hammond B3 in has the UREI 1178 and an EQP-1A3 — the Haar. It works well on things you normally
green, saxophones in orange, and the latter is actually broken, but I like it. I boost use a plate reverb on, but I think it sounds
aforementioned aux effect tracks in blue. some 5kHz, really broad, to add overall nicer than plate. It’s warmer sounding and
The aux effect tracks consist of four brightness, and I also push 100 cycles, not quite as splashy. The Chambers auxes
tracks with Altiverb are my live rooms in
(St Joseph, Berkley Mix This! They now
Street, Reverb “Mixing in the box is like torture to me. I don’t are used as storage
and Chambers), spaces, so I have
a Harmonizer track, understand how people can do that and to use the Altiverb
and three tracks with versions.
the Clearmountain’s remain sane.” “With the bass,
Domain plug-in. many people record
“This session was weird,” explains just to warm it up a bit. The main snare the DI and the amp, and the latter will be
Clearmountain, “because there’s also the track will just have EQ on the desk. I also ever so slightly delayed because of the
Letter To You documentary, and some of often add a bass drum sample to give circuitry the sound is going through. So if
the sessions were more for the film mix. some more solidity. The purple track in necessary I’ll align them the waveforms
So there’s a rough mix track at the top, the session is their bass drum sample. In so they’re perfectly in phase. This
and the Comp Trigger track underneath general I will brighten overheads. They had tightens up the bass sound. I usually push
is an uncompressed stereo mix, which pairs of rooms mics like Neumann U87s, both bass channels through the Neve
is there for making stems for the movie. Coles ribbons, and I would have listened to 33609 compressor and the AD2055 for
We used that to trigger the SSL stereo how they sounded, and balanced them and a bit more warmth in the bottom end.
bus compressor, so every stem gets the if necessary added some of my own reverb “I mentioned that I love using
same compression. or ambience. Distressors on acoustic guitars, so
“The greyed-out plug-ins and tracks “The reverbs I use depend on the I also did that here. Many compressors
in the session are all from the Pro Tools song. Ballads tend to have longer reverbs. sound like they fight the particular
session I was sent. The first thing I do Sometimes only using the room track dynamics of many acoustic guitars,
whereas Distressors don’t. I would
also have added some reverb to the
acoustic guitars. In general I try to use
a combination of similar reverbs on many
of the instruments and the vocals. I don’t
like this thing where each instrument has
its own specific reverb, and it sounds like
they’re all in different places. When I hear
a record like that, it really annoys me,
because I wonder: ‘Where is this place?’ It
doesn’t make sense to my brain.
“On electric guitars I will often use
some slap delays from Domain 1, maybe
90ms on one side and 125ms on the
other side, just to give it a bit of aliveness,
and then mix some reverb in with that.
On the Pro Tools inserts of some of the
guitars and keyboards I use the FabFilter
Pro-Q 2 EQ, the Apogee compressor, and
the Soundtoys Tremolator. I don’t really
like to talk about exactly what I do in
specific songs. It totally depends on the
song. I prefer it to remain a mystery. Once
again, listen, and then try things yourself!

Vocals & Mix Bus

Bob Clearmountain’s collection of outboard processors include a number of UREI 1178s, Empirical Labs “With regards to the vocals, I listen to them
Distressors, and various Eventide multi-effects units. and try to get a feeling for what the song is

168 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

 Total Recall
While many mixers would love to still be working on a desk, they don’t for the simple reason
that they need the capacity for instant recall that a DAW provides. Clearmountain, however, says
it’s not an issue for him. “Recalls are simple. Years ago I came out with this thing called Session
Tools, that Apogee used to sell, which includes templates for invoicing and work orders and labels
for tapes and CDs and so on. I have since modified it pretty heavily for my own usage. We have
a whole library of pictures of the outboard gear that appear in a FileMaker layout. I print out the
ones I need, and take a pencil and then mark the settings. It takes a few minutes, but it comes
back perfectly. When possible, outboard gear is set to unity gain and most of the delays and
’verbs are in the box and saved with the session. It takes half-an-hour to set up the desk because
you have to do it manually, but I think of that as a sort of Zen time of contemplation. The computer
remembers every knob, it comes up on a graphic display which is like graphics from the ’70s. It
is one step above the Pong video game, but it works. I do recalls all the time. It’s even easier and
quicker when I have the budget to pay my assistant to help, who works part-time.”

Outboard and console recall sheets from the mix of ‘Letter To You’.

about, and I then try to figure out what basic compression from the SSL desk
the narrative of the song is, what’s in the compressor on the mix. I compress
head of the singer or the main character mixes of live tracks more, because it
in the story, and to put myself in that adds to the excitement. I get within
place. So I try to get the feeling, and a couple of dB of going over, because
I then try a bunch of different effects to you want to use as many bits as
see what works the best. Sometimes possible, but that’s it.
it’s nothing. The vocals in the Crowded “I don’t go along with the whole
House song ‘It’s Only Natural’ are loudness thing at all. Everything
completely dry, because, well, it’s only should have a place in the mix, but
natural! With a dry vocal you feel really your overall mix doesn’t have to be
close to the singer, who is right in your super-loud, because mastering and all
face, and I love that. You can have the streaming services deal with that.
a dry verse and then some space in the My theory is that the whole loudness
chorus to expand and create a contrast. thing came about because at A&R
With Bruce’s voice I tend to go for a little meetings each A&R person wanted
bit of slap delay and some ambience. the tracks they brought in to be as
I think I had the Berkeley Street reverb loud as possible compared to all the
on him.” other stuff. So they’d have an engineer
And finally, while it’s commonplace send a final mix through a Waves L2
for mixers these days to have or something, and boost the level
extensive signal chains on the master beyond comprehension. But it sounds
bus, partly in the service of maximising like crap. It’s distorted and you lose
loudness, it’s another area where all dynamics. I enjoy dynamics in
Clearmountain just absolutely will a record. I don’t care about things
not play ball. “I print my mix straight being very loud. I want my mixes to
from the desk. At most I’ll have a little sound like music!”
 ON TE S T

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Mr Russo has conjured up some unusual, midnight on All Hallows’ Eve.
ear-catching combinations: alto flutes and violas On a more cheery note, you can
(a beautiful, lyrical woodwind/strings texture), now buy each of the 21 ensembles
piano and violas (great for midrange ostinatos), separately for as little as €10, then All four instruments follow the same format
and the sparkling celestial chimes of unison download their individual mic other than showing different coloured squares
vibraphone and glockenspiel, described by positions when you need them. loaded with different samples, and these
Russo as “the sound of Trek”. Ramming the point Hats off to OT for championing this instruments are designated Swell, Resonance,
home, the library also features a Klingon choir inclusive, forward-looking approach. Tape and Glitch. Swell hints at acoustic
intoning guttural syllables in their own language, Dave Stewart instruments in the context of long and evolving
which is frankly what the sample world has been €349 sounds while Resonance leans more towards
waiting for. www.orchestraltools.com vibrating resonant items such as drums, pipe
In addition to these otherworldly timbres are or strings. Tape apparently uses samples that
human male and female 12-piece choirs, large Murst Instruments were processed via a Roland Space Echo while
string, woodwind, trumpet and horns sections Glitch throws away the rule book by mangling
and a low brass combo of bass trombones and
Glass both analogue and digital waveforms to produce
cimbassos, augmented by tuned percussion Kontakt Instrument pulsing soundscapes. Because Glass uses long
ensembles and lush cymbal effects. I enjoyed ++++ looping phrases, the combination of sounds
the low strings’ big, brooding, ominous sound, Glass is an instrument designed to evolves in a very organic kind of way.
the calm, tranquil tone of the six clarinets, the generate long, evolving textures To my ears all four of the instruments are
eight horn players’ broad, warm tone and the combining both pitched and capable of producing wonderfully evocative
choirs’ quiet ‘mms’ and ‘aahs’. Also featured are unpitched looped samples derived evolving pads or underscores that work well
a pair of Japanese shakuhachis (another Trekkie from synths, strings, woodwind, either on their own or layered with other sounds.
sonority) whose breathy legatos add a sinuous field recordings and, in some cases, Though simple in concept, Glass offers a lot
world-music aura. subjected to granular processing. of potential both for creating underscores and
All good stuff, but Modus’s heart really lies Evolving pads is what this synth pads and for layering with more conventional
in its dramatic performance styles. ‘Transitions’ does best and it does it in a very synth sounds. The way in which sounds evolve is
are ready-made note movements with a built-in endearing way via its almost very appealing and because of the independent
articulation change (for example, normal to childishly simple interface. Requiring resonant filters and LFO filter modulation
tremolo, or vice versa) with an initial short swell the full version of Kontakt 6.3.1 or afforded to each of the four layers, it is possible
leading to a held note which then fades down. later, Glass is presented as four to coax much more variety out of this seemingly
You can set the target to one or two semitones different sample-based instruments, simple format than you might think. Paul White
up or down, or leave it at unison. Thus you can and each instrument is made up £79
trigger uplifting melodic and chordal movements of four sound sources created www.murstinstruments.com
played by high strings, low flutes or octave from permutations of 16 samples
bassoons, shuddering low strings descents, per instrument, each source Cinematique Instruments
woodwind and brass flutter-tongue outbursts having individually adjustable AR
and choral intervals shifting from ‘aah’ to ‘ooh’ envelope, level, pan, ambience
Rytmik
vowels, all at the touch of a finger. reverb, filtering, phase effect and Kontakt Instrument
‘Tension performer’ artics introduce a ‘smearing’ control. Kontakt’s +++++
independently played additive harmonies when standard ‘right click to learn’ CC Cinematique Instruments always seem to do
you raise the mod wheel. There are four types: message is supported by Glass something slightly leftfield with their virtual
‘overtones’ correspond to the natural harmonic as well as an MPE engine to take instruments and Rytmik, while ostensibly
series, ‘fifths’ stacks up quiet perfect fifth advantage of controllers such as a sample-based drum and percussion library
intervals, ‘cluster’ adds four or five semitones to the Roli Seaboard aimed at media composers and electronic

170 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

music producers, is no exception. At its heart is that lane. You can trigger playback The UI is classic Cinematique Instruments
a collection of over 200 unique drum, percussion of the whole preset here or via (cool but slightly quirky!) and, while it remains
and effects sounds, delivered as a Kontakt-based the C4 key. Alternatively, you can easy enough to find your way around, there
instrument. The underlying instruments go from trigger the sequencer for were a few graphical tweaks that might
massive kicks and booms all the way to intricate combinations of sounds makes things easier for the user. For
percussion sounds and the quality is uniformly in the notes above C4 or example, in the Mixer, the central circle
high. A collection of 350 presets provide instant play individual sounds in lights up when you trigger the Play
gratification but you can also build your own by real-time via a keyrange button but (for me at least), not when
combining up to 24 of the underlying sounds, below C4. These keys triggering individual loops from my MIDI
sequence each sound with its own 32-step are all colour-coded on keyboard. Equally, in the Blocks page,
sequencer, trigger any or all of the 24 sounds via Kontakt’s virtual MIDI it would be useful if the step sequencer
MIDI, and apply a range of effects and real-time keyboard. There are showed a playhead on individual lanes
sound tweaking via the mod wheel. some cool options here (instead of just when the full pattern is
The main controls are spread across four including shifting beat patterns in playback) so you can more easily see which
tabs: Main, Mixer, Blocks and Shape. Main along a lane and live recording instrument you are triggering.
provides access to the preset browser with of patterns, making this a very These are minor wishlist comments though
filter options to narrow down your search. creative working environment. because, in use, Rytmik sounds excellent.
A well as conventional mixing duties, the Mixer Finally, the Shape page provides It’s an impressive sonic arsenal presented
is where you can browse and load individual options to configure how velocity, in an interesting and creative interface and
sounds. The 24 sound slots feed four group volume, high- and low-pass filters, will undoubtedly appeal to modern media
channels (including the option to load groups of reverb, lo-fi and distortion effects composers or electronic producers. John Walden
instruments) and you also get reverb and delay are modulated by the mod wheel. €170
send effects and a global compressor. This is simple to configure but very www.cinematique-instruments.com
Block provides the step-based sequencer effective in use and a small number
with a velocity lane for each of the 24 instrument of ‘Shape’ presets are instantly
Audio examples of this month’s libraries are
slots. Clicking the small ‘e’ button on the left of available as the base of the page to available at www.soundonsound.com.
any lane expands the editing environment for get you started.

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Q How do I connect mic
preamps to patchbays for
line-level processing?
they’re likely to host any mic preamps,
then I’d suggest connecting the inputs
to the mic patchbay too. Alternatively,
consider a dedicated 500-series chassis
For a guaranteed idiot-proof system,
though, you could install suitably large
DC blocking capacitors or an isolating
transformer in the tie-line wiring between
for line-level processors and another the two patch bays to ensure phantom
I enjoyed Hugh Robjohns’ excellent for mic preamps. power can’t make its way between the
article ‘Patchbays For The Modern However, I’m not a fan of draping long patchbays. The capacitor should be
Studio’ [in SOS December 2020] but one patchcords around the place between chosen for the device with the lowest
point he made left me confused: he said bays, and especially not on a regular output impedance: the lower the output
that you shouldn’t put mic preamp inputs basis. So if patching line sources into impedance, the bigger the capacitor
on the main patchbay but, instead, give preamps is something that’s likely to be needs to be. In practice, a capacitor of
them their own XLR inputs. I get that a common requirement, I prefer to build in 10uF or larger will do the trick.
this removes the risk of phantom power some dedicated tie-lines to go from your
being routed to the wrong place — but
I often use mic preamps as line amps to
add transformer coloration and the mic
and line inputs use the same physical
main line-level patchbay across to the mic
preamp patchbay behind the scenes.
Typically, I’d have a couple of sockets
on the main patchbay labelled ‘Mic
Q What’s causing distortion in
my in-ear monitors?
My church is using Shure SE-215CL in-ear
connector. I also have a 500-series Patch Tie-line 1/2’ or similar, and on the monitoring with PreSonus HP2 personal
rack, and sometimes swap the modules mic patchbay I’d have a corresponding amplifiers, and the sound is distorted at
around so slots might or might not number of male XLRs labelled ‘Main Patch higher volumes. I have checked the gain
host preamps. Tie-line 1/2’. With this arrangement on staging but I’m thinking the headphones
I’d prefer to have access to all these your main patchbay you can patch your and amp aren’t a good combo. Please tell
‘line’ devices from my main patchbay. line output into a tie-line using a standard me if the headphones and amp we have
What approach would you recommend patch cord, and then using an XLR-XLR should work together — and if not what
as the best low-risk strategy? Maybe just patch cable, you can link the tie-line amp or what headphones we should get
have a separate XLR panel and use male output into the preamp input on your to fix the issue. I’ve been trying to figure
and female XLR-to-TRS patch cords to mic patchbay. it out but it’s so confusing!
link to the main panel, so I have to think Obviously, this isn’t a foolproof SOS Forum Post
about it? solution; you could still accidentally leave
Andy Sullivan phantom power on the preamp which Hugh Robjohns:
would find its way back across to the I suspect the problem here is not your
Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns: line-level source. However, I find the act choice of amp and headphones, but
You can certainly use TRS-XLR adapter of patching up tie-lines forces me to think of gain structuring. The specs for the
cables to get line sources into mic about what I’m doing and that reminds HP2 are confusing, in that they use
preamp inputs, and often that’s the most me to check the phantom is off before random amplitude references in quoting
practical option. For 500-series racks, if I complete the patch! a maximum input level of +4dBV and
an input limit of +5dBm. But the bottom
line is that the maximum input level to
the HP2 appears to be around +5dBu,
which isn’t a lot when most consoles will
be able to put out +20dBu or more. So
getting the gain structuring right from
your console will be critically important to
avoid overloading the amp inputs. On an
analogue desk, you’d need to keep the
sends below 0VU, and on a digital desk,
below -20dBFS.
As for IEM/amp compatibility, the
HP2’s output power is quoted as 50mW
per channel with a 20Ω load. That’s fine,
as your Shures are close to that at 17Ω,
which is also comfortably above the 12Ω
minimum impedance specified for the
amp. The sensitivity of the SE-215CL is
pretty high at 107dB/mW, which means
the HP2 amp should be able to generate
around 123dB SPL into the performers’
When working with more than one patchbay, for example one for mic inputs and another for line sources, ears. That ought to be more than loud
it can be a good idea to set up ‘tie-lines’ between them. enough, seeing as it’s the nominal

172 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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 interfaces, the console firmware interacts
directly with the physical hardware, so
data is transferred very quickly. However,
software Dante interfaces have to
negotiate through the host computer’s
operating system, and its own network
handling software, and that all takes
time. Consequently, the typical latency
for Dante Via is around 10-15 ms. In your
case, as you’re running two instances, the
total end-to-end latency is going to be
around 20-30ms — which is exactly what
you’ve found.
If you want the typical low-latency
If the amp for your in-ear monitors is distorting, I cannot be the only person (1-3 ms) that Dante is rightly praised for,
chances are it’s simply that it’s being fed too hot
connecting two rooms with Dante, so is you need to use the dedicated hardware
a level from the mixer!
there a smarter way to use Dante Via for interfaces, I’m afraid. In your case that
threshold of pain! If users are complaining this? Or is there a smarter, better way to would typically be a Dante network card in
that they’re not loud enough, it might be connect these two rooms? the control room PC and a hardware mic
worthwhile checking their earpieces for SOS Forum Post pre with Dante interface in the ‘loud room’.
wax blockages, and to ensure they’re And that won’t be a cheap option!
fitting the earpieces correctly. Hugh Robjohns: However, what would be a cheap
The fundamental problem that you’re option — and still make use of the physical

Q Can I reduce latency when

using Dante Via and Cubase?
My little basement studio consists of
struggling with here is that you
have software Dante interfaces on
both computers. Dante was initially
designed as a hardware interface,
network cabling you’ve already put in
place — would be one of the multichannel
passive analogue interfaces designed
to connect to standard Ethernet cables.
one room for recording loud stuff and and professional Dante-equipped Lots of companies now make hardware
another as my control room, with an 18m consoles, preamps, stageboxes and so boxes for this, and they simply use the
cable run between them. Typically, I use on, for which low latency is absolutely four twisted pairs of a standard Ethernet
up to six microphones in the loud room, critical, use dedicated hardware cable to carry four balanced analogue
and need maybe three cue returns for network interface cards. signals. Obviously, this is a point-to-point
headphones. Analogue multicore wasn’t The Dante software interfaces are analogue connection (you can’t route it via
an option, as the large holes in the designed for use in situations where your Gigabit switch) and you need to use
walls this required weren’t acceptable, latency is not critical, such as a laptop screened Cat-X cables (ideally individually
and neither optical ADAT nor USB eavesdropping on the network and screened Cat-7). But it is relatively cheap,
could cope with the distance. So that recording everything for use afterwards. and you get four completely latency-free
left Ethernet. With the hardware Dante network analogue audio channels per cable.
Consequently, I rigged a system
comprising an RME Babyface interface
with a fast, desktop PC in the recording
room to handle the mics and headphone
feeds. In the control room I had a Gigabit
switch feeding the recording PC with
Cubase 10.5 and an RME UC interface
for monitoring. Dante Via software
connected the two machines, with Dante
Controller for routing. Everything clocked
to 48kHz, and it all works… except that
the latency is killing me! According
to Cubase, it is 30ms, and I have to
manually move the files on the timeline
to sync playback and recording.

Audinate’s Dante Via software does allow you to

send audio over a network between two computers,
but without any Dante hardware the latency involved
will be too much for applications in typical music
recording studios. However, there are affordable
zero-latency analogue options for connecting a live
room to a control room that will make use of the same
Cat-X network cables.

174 January 2021 / w w w. s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m

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SIMON HORROCKS
beatmakers, where do we We are seeing a huge surge Martin Christie continues:
go to perform? Luckily, some of DIY musicians, taking what “Lockdown hasn’t stopped us at

A
s an electronic music innovative new communities they learned on Ableton, then all. Within weeks, collaborators
maker, I’ve felt the heat are emerging for the growing throwing away the laptop and and musicians were setting
when playing at open number of DIY circuit-benders plugging things in. Artists like up virtual EMOM live streams
mic nights where unplugged and modular geeks. Inwards, Kelpe and Nathan which, in turn, created
rock, pop and folk is the Manchester-based musician Fake mainly originate from DJ innovative visual performances,
norm. Firstly, I’ll spend more Martin Christie is responsible for culture, but make live beats, even using VR. During and after
of my allocated slot setting one such platform. Over the last with new sub-genres emerging the streams, performers go
up my synths and cables than few years he has established from ambient, noise, drum & online to share links, tracks, get
performing, and secondly, my a series of live Electronic Music bass, synthpop, experimental feedback or tips on marketing
set leaves the audience clueless Open Mic (EMOM) nights, which and hip-hop, using the or distribution. We were also
as to what I just performed and started off as a showcase for implausible hotchpotch of old some of the first people to put
which bits I did live. his own poetry and electronic and new technologies from ’80s on socially distanced events too,
After I’m done, I get the folk performances, but has grooveboxes to crazy suitcases which has been a real success.”
systematic wry smile and turned into an international, full of wires. Lockdown has had some
a mispronunciation of my name multi-networking, ‘anything Podcasts like Podular positives too. There’s time to do
from the event host. Cajon goes’ forum for electronic Modcasts, Homebrew more purchasing of gear, writing,
chap smiles politely, but I think musicians of all abilities and Electronica, and Not 97 are recording, rehearsing or trying
he’s just relieved to give his genres to share new material. great places to explore these new things, as well as working
hands a rest. Guitar guy is “As much as we love the under-the-radar sounds. on marketing and social media.
oblivious to everything, although diversity of regular open mics, Electronic music-making events But clearly, the desire and
he can’t stop staring at my electronic musicians need have also cropped up over the objective is to get back to the
Big Muff pedal. Perhaps my a space where electronic music last few years, such as SOS’s physical, live performance.
synthwave-cum-chillstep piece is understood, and the setup own SynthFest, Seventh Wave Let’s just hope that when
was just a bit too ‘out there’? times are more sympathetic,” and Machina Bristronica in the things are back to normal, more
So, if these regular open says Martin. “We’ve challenged UK, as well as Synth Expo in venue owners are open to these
mic nights aren’t quite right venues to create a forum the US. But for everything live, new ways of making music,
for the emerging army of for meeting like-minded 2020 has obviously brought and embrace this incredibly
knob-twiddlers, loopers and synth-nerds and audiophiles.” new challenges. important movement. 

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