SUI OM CO MEMRAM MSS NE MMe CCN Ra ae TEL aE g Ptr ILl SeretlG Beyoncé, Rihanna, Ne-Yo: US Ce ey - Harrison Mixbus OPM ce nT software turns pro Masterclass: padsounds , aC = BURG ENaC aulhg " : MIS A yin aa Coy : * Introduction to video ener s ( ay : * Top five Best Buys the top of the charts a AN CC) Mito Latest B Ces ee Mec rea as € Pe eSB S Bowe une ed aN ATSC Roun Lau ciaS Series Synthesizers Ready for Ree ee iiatsy al stage. With a massive 456MB of waveROM, including @ stunning collectionaf samples taken from Yamah’s world-renowmed $8 concert prand piano, the new S Series SO eo ue cy Se eee a ee eS Se eras Senate etre See ree) Breet eee eee ae) Se eee ee ae Fen ae a ne PER oad Een necThe Legend Continues SYSTEM 6000 System 8000 launched than a decode has establ for stereo ard mult tical acclaim in 2000, and in tess ed itso as the industry standrd reverb and signal processing, Te Electronic introduce Systern 6000 MKIl Better faster, stronger. A classic is retooled to meet the challenges of ‘madern audio production, al while maintaining the legendary sound quality of the original Owners of exsting System 6000 may take advantage of an exciting uporade programm: wan telectroni for details. WE dete ri evcte ann tc electroniceditor's comment Visual Basics en Sud On Sound was ts fed cold be ged main thee vm nets bray eed mets ofr put of alee audide exec Popes hve eran ayers Cone same nian as mh omae Dipelonbe afpejea heece thr expen vate eof YouTie ad nese Hone, he gh we ela ‘inven ten be mb oa oe sleds tobe pope eed ade ae Secale se qual omy sara te wat wath Tits wy we ten thecson wad eed vo sen to Sand On Sond Unie cone maine eg wh “oul cqupment s pode mse Mito Anda yl dene nol Sagem equpen yur mala sto Mime dtecnmresen isd it theese rte te eer ining usd topic te gal ete Corithat ou tae nee fost nes poi Mw Soundrede Te ecoloy Wendy nice ta Duct ery ie ci alice ‘an how to use It effectively, especially in the Context of producing music videos. You only have to look atthe diferent video-recording ormats to see a clase paralle! with aud: you record to flash memory, harddrive or tape, and then you edit the end result on your Mac or PC. But don't worry if you're nat interested in video: we've increased the size of the magazine to accommodate the video section, so there wil be Just as much audio content as ever How our video section develops is up to you and the feedback you provide, but as ‘newcomer to video myself, can't wait to have my basic questions answered, What type (of camera do | need? Do I need to shoot with ‘wo cameras, or can | get away with one? How do | eit chi all together, and how do | get good-quality audio when most cameras seem to treat audio as an afterthought? Can | do a fourcamera shoot using iPhones? What Js the best editing sofware, and do | need to buy adeltional computer hardware? What editing and filming techniques are needed to ensure that the end result looks and sounds lke a polished production? Fortunately, we ‘now have a team of video experts on-board, hheaded up by Julian Harding, who will be presiding over the video section and who will deliver the answers in Sound On Sound ‘tye, One thing Is for certain: video and audio are now inextricably linked, so whether you are working on music as a hobby or as an avenue to a career, a basic knowledge of video capture and editing could be essential Paul White Editor n Chief (SOUND DN OUND Media House, Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge (B23 85, UK +44 (0)1984 160888, KE +44 co;1984 To0895. Eh eos scendocseund.com Ed vere sseninsousicom “eal te ats Feros ttre ie ees Eerie Podcna bPoee ‘Yaron edhe TE sssstesosovnsonscund com ip Ste Manager Feat sited sales anager Sey Eh conics esoomdonsoend.com Daan dy el Nowa Macau oy KEW erecting escuntonsouns.com arog Menage fy Beste: [Eh oerineseuntorsoans.com mai Bide i Pier cna Fanaa Ween ‘niente Ce siverbetsoudensun.com vw sconanscn.con/sbs revi Mase ‘lan Akt Poe wees Eaope (EU) £0 Eaope (on L) €75 est Of wor £75 Saba ssues Ea, Sub less 5 sy sues £9 ert ntact ining Wires ands Nevete ten Wares cu aur Lincoln Es Ph UK, SSM ogss6as6eM sass) ea ee a CMe aa Oe A Masterpiece CMa EUecr emer) DN ecco ee cor a rr 3 Gee en i! SLE Setein this www.soundonsound.com techniques Studio SOS David Balen had tackled his acoustis, but was weighed down by 2 confusion of excess hardware, The SOS team get him back on rack Pad Behaviour ‘th, the Bo. Fuorescent sacks, marble wah jeans, and natf-zounding synth pac! You might nat want to returect the first two, but subtle Use of pads can improve even contemporary ses. Mix Rescue We mica track tice, seeing the right fel apoly £0 for cary and sheen; and complete the picture with stereo width enhancement. Creating Filter Effects With Cubase 5 Sweeps and thythmic iter effects are akey element in dance music and theyre easy to create with Cubase 3 bundled plug-ins More Max For Live MexMSP need’ be as scary as you might think, ase demonsirate ‘with some basc Max For Live programming, Stereo Effects In Reason & Record We show you how common devices can be manipulated to create stare effects in Reason and Recor, features Hardware In The Software Studio ‘Most studio tools have their strenaths, but how best do you combine hardware and software in 2 modern projet studio? Ray Davies Legendary songwriter and Kink frontman Ray Daves go hi fst tase of recording in 1954, and he's never looked back Inside Track: Justin Gerrish & Rostam Batmanglij In Contra, Vampire Weekend have made one ofthe more unlikely US hit albums of recent years. Guar Rostam Batmangh) and engine Instn Gerrh explain how I happened Dave Stewart: Time Trial For Dave teva’ test project he faced the challenge of binging his ‘old muliracs and MID sequences int the computer age. Classic Tracks: Bob Dylan 'Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands’ It took a while for Bob Dylan to hit is stride on hie seventh studio ‘album, but once he did there vias no stopping him. Mikkel Eriksen: The Stargate Writing & Production Team From humble beginnings in provincial Norway the Stargate team have gare on to become one of Americas leading hit factories. regulars What's New Classified Ads Sounding Off 6 www.soundonsound.com+may 2048 ffecmaraoco ee may 2010 Sree issue 7 volume 25 BI odorenThe 22 Sette Se Customising Your Arpeggiator In Logic 9 Everyone loves an arpeggiato, and building one in Logic helps you hone your Environment sls Taking A Fresh Look At Sonar’s AudioSnap “Ths feature always had potential, but never quite ullled ts promise However those taking » second ook wil Ike hat they se Unlinking Timelines In Pro Tools The point of Pro Tools’ option to unlink timeline and edit selections inrt obvious, but there are situations in which it canbe a lifesaver, QaA Your studio-elated questions answered by the SOS crew. ? Notes From The Deadline Is wonderful tobe able to give something back to young people \who are eager to lear about life in the studio. Playback: Readers’ Music Reviewed The S05 toupe take tne ou oftheir frenetic schedules to review some ofthe many demos tat come tough the door Apple Notes Just hw hard ist to create your very own Pad and iPhone apps? We took at an interesting approach PC Notes High capacity memory ticks now theoretically offer a totally portable studio solution, We examine the sues (onpetton ya abe od NL aaproduct tests ‘Akai Miniak Virtual Analogue Synthesizer Angular Momentum KickLab XXL Drum Synth Plug-in Cinematic Strings Sample Library Eigenlabs Eigenharp Pico Controler Instrument Expert Sleepers Silent Way Control-voltage Generating Plug-ins Graphtech ResoMax NVS Bridge For Gibson Guitars Harrison Mixbus Digital Audio Workstation Software For Mac OS 160 lan Boddy Beatalogue Sample Library Kenton USB Solo USB MIDL-CV Converter Mackie Onyx 1640i Firewire Mixer io Oxygen 49 USB MIDI Controller Keyboard Mokafix Modelled Guitar MA tion Plug-ins Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4 Guitar Amp & Effects Modelling Software Peluso 22 251 Valve Microphone Presonus Firestudio Mobile Firewire Audio Interface Sample Logic Morphestra Sample Library Sample Magic Sunrise Sessions Sample Library Softube Trident A-Range £9 Plugcin Sonadyne SM SOAK Two-way Nearfeld Active Monitors SPL MicroPlugs Plug-in Processors Thermionic Culture Pullet Mid-range Passive EQ Vir2 Instruments Elite Orchestral Percussion Sample Library Zeto-G Dark Skies: Cinematic Ambiences Sample Library Making Movies: A Musician's Guide To Video Video News ‘Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Five Of The Best H may 2et0-wrw.soundonsound.com 7Subscribe to sound On sound — 12 issues ONLY £48 SOUND ON SOUND DB ocse cetacean Senor eae DOr an cn} Cee ee ee cca pre sd ay Cue ee ete eae cit Re ere esc enc Dr eur cae wena ed Ce penton eae React Di Grtenegen ote eee pec nree rece terranes ™ Since 1985 Sound On Sound has remained Coco ga certs c sey prec Ondo i sae gchar esse cit Resa cg www.soundonsound.com/subsCPE tetra cet cs Sound On Sound Ltd, Media House, pect ecra ea crac Werner’ Corre Ont Tel: +44 (0)1984 789888 Serene epee Sea ae atotasc rons Rela OL ND OUND > Rs Sound On Sound subscribers also get FREE access to the digital edition http://digital.soundonsound.com Please print clearly using CAPITALS nal New Subscribers UK ene 2 CEU tee CROW temas (UK ona: CEU wee CROW stm Renewing Subscribers ins: UK wnemt2 CEU ea (UK eu: TEU mame £105 Y se (Al subscrotens nude FREE abort access to scundonscund.com and the data tan) | Lenclose a Cheque / Postal Order payable to: Sound On Sound Ltd. __| Please debit my : Visa / Mastercard / Maestro. Al payments must bein Pounds Str cram on 2 ish bank Ct Card He: Ca Vil From a Expiry Date Issue Wo Crd Security No. (8.0 4g) Sis | would lke to pay by quarterly Direct Debit (UK Only) Mamet) Account Hodes ‘Sank Builing Society 2ecout number Branch Sot Code [ | Ly T ) Mame and ul postal adres of your Banker Bulg Society Peiteentnenenontetil Ui Th Uy ) rsa’ idenitication Number «= f Instn to your Bank Bing Society ‘press ted nd nie Poe "HE OECT eT GUNRANTEE Merny alk a key Ss Ml he arcune ep oe te ee eat ne nae nesoeme sry mon ts eet pe yoWHAT'S NEW Two in one from Audient ASP2802 combines mixer and control surface his year’ Frankfurt Musikmesse show saw the launch Te iw copa const S?2802. hybrid miner/ontol surface, the 2802 features eight analogue channel strips, each with & mic preamp, two aux sends, a cue Send, ale input and a DAW return, aswell as Cu and Solo buttons The channels aso feature balanced insert points, and motorised faders for analogue level automation — but pethaps the consoles biggest draw isthe inclusion of what Auden are cling ‘Dualayer Technolog. This allows the eight faders tobe switched over to contr your DAW using the Mackie HU protocol, which, on the ASF2802, looks ‘ery wel implemented: te comprehensive transport section Includes 2 jog whee for shuttling or scrubbing through your projets, and there are four endless rotary encoders, allowing hands-on adjustment of plugin parameters. The matorised faders can be switched in banks tw allow contol of upto 128 channels in your DAM, ar they are all touch-sensitive, so you can select a chanel in your sequence simply by touching the relevant fader cap. Useflly the meer inthe eight channel trips can be switched to reflect ether the analogue input level or the DAW output level ‘The monitor section look silly well appelrted,ofering, ast des, an alterrative moritor output, Cut and Dim switches with an adjustable amount of attenuation when the Dim switch is engaged), alef-chance Polanty invert switch, a mono button, «separate headphone level contro in ation tothe monitor leveb, anda talkback suitch with builtin mic. There also a 3.5mm Jack socket for connecting a consumer music device, such as an MP3 player Though the desk only features eight channel strips, the total number of inputs available on mixdown is 28, thanks to the eight DAW returns, ‘we stereo effects returns and four stereo summing Inputs. This summing section has a master level contro, balance knob and mono sum button, Finally the ASP2802 has a builtin bus compressor, which, In addition tothe usual contals, features a wet/dry mix knob, allowing for parallel compression. The compressor is also availabe fr use on external sources, with inputs and eutputs — including a side-chain input located on the mixer’ rear pane! ‘The Audient ASP2802 is competitively priced, at £3760 including VAT, and should be available towards the end of Nay. ‘SCV London +44 (0)20 8418 1470 ‘wrm.seviondon.c0.tk ‘wmx.aadent.com Cubuse 5.5 and WaveLab 7 ausio editor now available for OS X! availabilty of WaveLab for Apple’ 05 X operating system, Cubase 5.5 is free to existing v5 users, and features numerous performance and workflow enhancements, both tothe host itself an to Some of the bundled plug-ins. The latest version apparently improves the DAWS resource management when running on multi-core CPUs, which should yield greater efficiency and increased performance. The sequencers included VST Bridge, which allows 32-bit plugins to un on 64-bit operating systems, has aso been updated 12 improve compatiblity, while Cubase handling of video fles has been significantly enhanced, The video engine now offers fll H video support and scaleable performance, while users running Cubase 5.5 on «4 PC wil beable to stream video files directly from Firewire devices, Reverence, the package included convolution reverb plugin, and LoopMash, a beating tool also bundled with the DAM, have both been tweaked for greater CPU efficiency, with Looplash also gaining some extra features, It now includes individual track level meters and Volume controls, as well as global Similarity contr, for determining ‘the threshold at which the plugin decides that rw audio slices ae interchangeable (fora more detailed explanation of LoopMash, read the ‘SOS review of Cubase 5 at wwr soundansourd.com/ses /marQ8/articles/ ‘cubase. htm But perhaps the most keenly anticipated announcement from Steinberg i the launch of Wavelab 7 the fist version of their popular aul edting sult to be compatible with OS X. Version 7, which Steinberg say has been completely rewrten, Features a signfcarly revised user interface, several new plugins, and bui-n {CD and DVD‘ burning faites. n addon, the new GUI has apparently § teinberg have announced a major update to Cubase, and the 10 www.soundonsound.com + may 2010 beeen streamlined, to allow “ast and fluid handling of audio material across multiple windows, montages and podcasts", with windows inside the program now scaling and docking intelligently. Arange of restaation plugins graces this latest version of WaveLab, employing Sonnox’s well regarded DeNboiser, DeBuzzer and DeClicker algorithms, Steinberg have also seen fit to include a selection of VST3, plugins previously only available in Nuendo, including the Post Filter, hich is designed for filtering out problem frequencies in dilogue recordings and so should come in handy for editing podcasts. Available from the second quarter ofthis year, Steinberg Wavelab 7 wil set you back around £510. Steinberg +49 40 4223 6115 wr steinberg netWHAT'S NEW. Pee ees Trinity of Korgs och Mush ounch oer tan ee Je erseneins mt nen fstove loge syste seth dso he 20 and Pasty typed dv Hanon ears these fiw ats be EE and een cles no ow tna Saas tbe er. Te sth om ond podn ‘on lope xen edt te The toveL ht ese conlendty aston cols as an thus int eos mens Se ge note an plac mes fea schosvioandgbe As SiS? G35 te Naren mah wee tense stesze aren wall ads peg Bes wl in ese bY tego fran lok rts ug eu pcs Tuneup rd hn the ew Mota wh dered asan tel fist evr ps a mecoe son ay Sow ito lc oe wads wasn ean dened Soh am tht sedinte igen Aud HS sts dt Fn sundry eats no ewe than 40 patch ps2 an ic The MocSaton fetes ys per sae ns anda fh pe ain oto vt cone Too Sado apwetlasend fel anda sere eed Sirus flere hind eb torale te mote ise rey aches conned ane bond seen can Shed gt tn Dede whe Moon erste Focal CMS40 launched permits the sy self 19 be hooked up toa computer and Used a8 a VST, AU of RTAS instrument plugin within your DAW. The MicroStation i set for ‘a Summer appearance, with the US MSRP likely to be $850, Finally Korg describe their new PS6O asa ‘performance syahesizer an instrument wih a greater range of sounds than your typical stone piano, yet likewise optimised fr ‘the unique challenges and immediacy of playing live". The sound library is, again, derived fom the Mseries instruments, and extends to 440 patches, divided into six categories and ‘complemented by a powerful effects processor. Layers and spits across the 61 full-size keys can easily be setup and saved, and if you need extra contol, there’ a joystick to wield, plus two inputs for fotswitches ‘or pedals, Once again, theres editor sofware that allows the instrument tobe used asa plugin on your Mac or PC Pricing and availability Information forte P360 Is yetto be provided, so atch this space for deta Sam Inglis Korg UK +44 (0)1908 857400 ‘akorg.coak Small speakers, big sound! rch pene alas Fol amenneé Pires came treat tS bt ener rouse 26 eh ne enn. of 878, we, Tastee isn a inrdin sen bd and LF drivers are powered by their own 2507 (Class-AB amplifiers. Focal say thatthe CMS40 was designee for use in smaller control rooms, as well sin broadcast ervironments, and that Itis suitable for nearfied listening at distances as small as 40cm, ‘Aderonstration in Frankfurt ofthe ‘new monitors, including AB tests between the CMS40s, CNSGSs and even the larger Focal Twins, showed that they ar indeed ‘apabie of punching well above their weight, without sounding Fabby or strained, even at higher istening levels. Set to etal at £308 per speaker, Including VAT, the Focal Ct¥S40s are expected to be available fom the beginning of june ‘SCV London +44 (0;20 #418 0778 rwseviondo.en.k nufcalpofessionacom may 2010 + wwn.soundonsound.com ttWHAT'S NEW Flux and IRCAM join forces elecwe acoustical research institute IRCAM were a the Musikmesse to announce «collaboration, the fruits of which are wo F< software developers Flux and realy rather special plugin processors that will soon be available for bath PC and Mac, in VST, AAU and RTAS formats. The fst ofthese, called Spat, Is « surround saund-capable reverb, but one with a diflrence: rather than simply taking an input nd generating a sense of space by sending algorithmically generated early reflections and reverb tals to the efferent speakers, iallows {for multiple sound sources (upto eich) co each be placed in different areas ofthe same room, with the simulated reverb then being sent xo speaker configurations ranging between stereo and 7.1 6 8.0 surround (up toa maximum of elght outputs) 12 www.soundonsound.com + may 2010 Surround reverb and vocal processor announced But that’s not al. Each sound source can bbe made to face’ in a efferent direction relative to the listening postion, and this remarkably realistic effect is achieved using adjustable high- and lowpass filters for both the directional and omnidirectional dispersion characteristics, a well asa continously varlable aitetionalcispersion ane, Sound On Sounds News Editor was st the 5.1 speaker demonstration in Frankfurt, and was mast impressed by the plugin’ ability to ‘make a guitar track sound as though a guitarist was playing inthe room, but with his back tured tovards you In adation tothe vast numberof tweakable parameters for creating a highly plausible Stati reverb, Spat also synthesizes te Doppler effect and when combined with automation (every one ofthe rever's parameters can be automated, by the way, including sound source location, an extremely realistic sense of movement within a room canbe created, As mith all of Flux’ plug-ins, two entirely Independent arays of settings canbe created within a single instance ofthe plugin, and slider atthe bottom ofthe Ul allows the user to morph seamlessly betwaen them. Flux amieipate that ths wil be useful for television and film post-production, where a dubbing mixer may need to smoothly fade between ‘wo very different reverb types for two diferent scenes The fullversion of Spat should be avallable sometime after May, and will cost 1674 Euros, including tax. f you're not interested inthe localsation, but you still want access to the revero algorithm (which sounded incredibly smooth atthe demonstration), you can et a cut-down version, called Verb, for 856 Euros, Perhaps of greater interest to the composer and project studio owner, however, 's Trax Transformer. This nifty ttle plug-in, which Flux describe asa ‘realtime voice and Sonic-modeling processor recording and change the singers age and gender with remarkable believabilty, ‘even with extreme settings, Again, Flux believe that this will have great value in the post-production world the fantastic example ‘alven was to make Harslson Ford sound 20 years younger Inthe next Indiana Jones fim but the demonstration showed the plugin boeing used to make a mae singer sound uncannily like a woman. Flux rather cruelly sald that ths could render thousands of female session singers redundant, a the voices of hhome- and projec-studio knob twiddlers could soon be instantly transformed to sound lke highhy-pad divas, Se perhaps you could soon be generating your own trio of backing singers (or even an entire choi without leting another soul get anywhere near your microphone collection! The key t0 ths plu ins success is that it processes the pitched elements of speech and vocals independently of transients, so that hard consonants go through the effect unscathed, “The level of wanslert detection can be atered for the best results, and other adjustable parameters include Sinus (the voces nasal ‘quality, FlayExpression (which adjusts the amount of pitch variation, and Breathy, which, as far as we could hea, might ust as well have been caled the ‘Marilyn Monroe’ contral! ‘Also avaliable around the second half ofthis year, Tax Transformer wil el for 478 Euros. ACS Audlo +44 (01814 382500, ww das-asio.cam wm camtools.cem will tke a vocalIBASE* AND MORE eal ON Near) Naat Re Ce een mT. 4] aWHAT'S NEW Roland’s SH revival Two synths launched at Musikmesse dn ancunce wo ne sys Fri Cala ilo anlourdases,homh Cua miners tren touph te 30s anaoge a be alae isineces mass schoo bstg te prea Eambiaon batons tbs ase tnd compe ways kar Sin yer es aking back oe 0 Yorba know ba fs bate power th apt fe hu se ate regalo The ses fom get 64 pos atom ded tte seat tye an tha mukede Me dndtes ena pra cht be Git proce este pcs evenflo ding lads TanedSopes sao Te S01 alr 128 ea thes bei acesed by bark wd pach urbe wth mae ble Mba US8 emo U8 oes hed Dad Te molest es compete without an arpa ant complemen ths on fone hae aed pe ners ape icy pertonce and tr eas, Fre perme tos ill lr nnd pend nedon sc psn Sable Seam otal resus eels sau sas rest poesing reuters eye ere, dn i ha those chsh low eestan dl A neo th thes ect tected cnt rb fr odes ot ray anergy anning Heavenly keys 14 www.soundonsound.com + may 2010 and so on from your source material. The Cala has an RRP of £579 and Is expected to ship in ate July, Expect a review as soon as we can lay cour hands on one! The second newcomer, the AXO9, is a remote style keyboard that your kids wil surely want to hijack. Like the SHO, ican run on batteries and features a37-key, velocity sensitive keyboard and 4 D-Beam sensor, plus a combined madulation bar and touch controler. Ichas an auco input for MP3 players, but the Lucina can also play audio files straight from a USR stick housed in the conveniently recessed riche at the from, With 150 preset sounds and an impressive 128 notes of polyphony, this light and portable keyboard coud lure Keyboard player ofall ages tothe stage. The AXOS shouldbe available at te end of June, and appears in two colours, the black version costing £599, and the white one coming in slightly cheaper at £549. Oh, and seek out ts scaly twee YouTube videos at your perl. Paul Nagle Roland UK +44 (0)1792 702704 wmecoland.co.akMIAH CRON CLC RMU MI as 80 years...Still working on the hair.WHAT'S NEW Carry on Carillon! PC brand relaunched he idea ofa egendary’ audio PC manufacturer might seem absurd to some of our elder readers, but ifany ofthe seul PC brands can lay claim to sucha status, its Carillon Fist launched in 2000, the distinctive AC] case as graced many a home and professional studio, and now looks set to Continue doing so, the brand having recently been resurrected a Carillon Audio Systems The exginal Carllon PCs garnered ‘reputation for excellent stability and performance, as they were bul specially for studio applications, and the revalsed ‘company alm to carry on in the same vein, providing a range of computers that have allbeen bul sing “only the most trusted and reliable components, wath each system boeing subjected toa 2¢hour stress test before shipping Pricing for the new Carillon range starts at £699 for an entryevel system, with the top-end FC costing £3500, contalning a monstrous six processor cores (each running t3.33GH2), and boasting a frankly luetonous 24GB RAM, Whats more, Carillon say theyre offering free email support and an “advisery service’ ‘hich includes upgrade packages for owners of prerenaissance Carillon PCS Carin Audo Systems 44 (0)8455 194530 wwncetilonacd.com Baby blue USB interface from RME Ef fd ices, hh Recent eerecies coord gay ado aes taeda ee mene aks a Fan sya Outward the Nao Pconatl Bayle nol seat bemnciginonte net com esp eres tt de oer Conta uth ons a ew oaks phase Pty large sherk hat omits thet pnlen tis speed US anomaly nd Cine ched oath he ef ale te tnt ube pt ud The by Buss asoonsaly comprehensive for such a compact interface. AAs wel asa stereo palt of analogue outputs, there’ also headphone output, which, hall, is completely independent ofthe line ‘urs, making it ideal for setting wpa foldback ‘mix, where the recorded input could be routed tothe headahone output using the Included Totalmix software (of which more later rather than through your computer's latency inducing buffers Inputwise, there are twa icine inputs, where the microphone preamps are digitally controlled their levels adjustable using the large silver knob). There’ also «a ighimpedance instrument input jack on the right-hand side ofthe unit, which shares the right-hand input channel ADAT ports offer an easy path to expansion, and with thse included the total /O count on the units 10 inputs and 12 outputs — not bad for such a dinky interface! ME also say that their Total software has been significantly revised for ths inerfce, andis row called Talia FX denoting, as you might have guessed, 5 thatthe Babyface comes with ts own efleasParamettic £Q, reverb and echo effects can be applied to any ofthe inputs ad outputs, with the EO prcessing being carried out on the imertaceS on board DSP chips, andthe reverb and echo effects, which are less sensitive to latency, lying onthe host machines CPL Avalable for this summer, the RME Babyface s Seto sell for arourd 589 Euros sythar Au UK +46 (1829 699750 vor syrah sera diode Cakewalk VS20 Recording interface for guitarists Pacesetter gute ah 1 np ode and 8 brea wh ty en teensy sped rs wth Ctr, wea 16 www.soundonsound.com + may 2010 possible. Eight sliders control track level, and these can be banked to take contrl of all ofthe channels in Guitar Tracks, plus there are record arm buttons, input selector buttons and a complete set of transport controls. ‘The VStudio 20 is expected to be avalable from this Summer, at «a price of £259. For more info, check out Cakewalk’ web site, below. Etirot Europe +44 (0)20 8747 5969 wnnediol.cosk wrn.cakewalk.comDn cE Pore eats Rea Peed ee eee ert encarta eae 46, Bromells Road, Clapham fe IE! 4 year warranty RU ION eunr IC Nico WEST LONDON 020 8992 5592 Tae Pere agar) eee eens re cee te onan ta Pond SAI RET Pee er OMe eat PN) CSS SN er eae peaeeet eee ae en James Stree Cuter www.dv247.com CE eer) Pte ree £88, Mil Road, Cambridge CE PT at eee penne eianiteny 3, Kingagate Cenire Ee Perro orn |eWHAT'S NEW Plug-ins and a pre from UA Four-channel Twin-finity and UAD processors launched plugins avaiable for their UAD2 ‘ange of DSP cards and, just as we ‘were going to press, have also announced «new fourchannel preamp. First ups the Manley Massive Passive EQ, «a software recreation of te highly sought-after Manley Labs equaliser, which UA ae calling their"mast ambitious and detalled EQ model to date’, The emulated Massive Passive includes both the Standard and Mastering versions which ate essentially the same EQ but with slightly different parameter ranges U riversal Audio have made two new a subtler range of +1168 on the parametric bands, and an output gain range of #2.508, ‘The filters onthe Standard plugin range between 1SkH2 and BiH forthe lowpass fier, and between 22H2 and 2202 for the high-pass fter (oth in se discrete steps, while the Mastering versions high- and low pass fier frequencies range from 12 t0 ‘30H, and 52 to Ski, respectively In addition, the conttls fr output gain, EQ gan and EO bandwidth on the Mastering version ofthe plugrin are stepped, rather than continuous, allowing for perfectly Rone and knobs. Both versions feature four bands of fully parametric EO, which can be individually switched between bell-shaped and shelving EQ, with the Bandwidth contal adjusting the steepness of the slope when a bands in shelving mode, The four bands overlap to quite a large extent (from low to high, the bands’ frequency ranges are 22Hz to Ikiz, 82H2 to 3.9kHz, 220H2 to 1OkHe, and 550H2 to 27kH2) and, in addition tothe four parametric bands, both versions also have a high- and low pass fer. “True to the hardware unit, the bands all ‘operate in parallel, and Universal Audio say that this is the key to modelling the sound of the orginal Further adding tothe recreations authenticity iste fact tht, in addtion to ‘a convertional bypass accessed using the Power sultch, the Incvidual EO circuits can be switched in of out, with the sal retalsing the filtering and coloration that youd get by running audio through the real thing but with the £Q section lsengaged. The main differences between the two Versions are in thei gain ranges an fiter Frequencies: where the Standard version has 208 of cut and boost avalable on each parametric band, witha -6d8 to +448 main ‘outout gain range, the Mastering version has 18 wwsoundensound.com may 2030 repeatable settings in mastering projects. These features (and, if early user reports are to be believed, the stunning sound) do come ata price, however: the Manley Massive Passive plugin is the most demanding of DSP power that Universal Audio have released to dat, with instance counts ranging from just one stereo Massive Passive on the UAD2 Solo to four stereo counts on the top-oftherange UAD2 Quad (at 44. 1kiz in both cases — those figures will 0 down at higher sample rates). The Manley Massive Passive EQ for UAD2 cards is avaliable te buy now from Universal Audios web site, at a price of $298, The second new plugin to come from Universal Auelo isthe Precision Enhancer Ha, a processor that adds harmonics to bass content below a user defined frequency. This ‘phantom bass’ gles the listener an impression of increased low-frequency content, which Universal Auko say is idea for lending tracks o* :;@ 3 § nog 'QQ's! Send or eg ‘a Weighty sound, even when played through small speakers. ‘The frequency below which harmonics are added can be set anywhere between 16 ard 320Hz, and there ae four fiter slopes: 68, 1248, 24d8 and 36d8 per octave. You can also sol the frequencies to which the effect, Is being applied, allowing you to check that ‘only these elements of the mix that you want enhanced vill be affected. Also available for the Universal Audio enine shop, the Precision Enhancer Hz wil set you back $199. ‘The latest product from Universal Audio, however, was barely announced in time for this issue. The 47100 isa fourchannel mic preamp and compressor that also provides eight channels of AD conversion. The four mic preamps appear to be the same 2 those found on UAS 710 Twin frity single channel preamp, and as such they al feature the same innovative circuitry that allows you ‘to continuously blend between valve and solidstate gan stages. ‘The preamps aso havea 15d8 pad, alowcut fiter and a polarity Invert suit, but where these channels offer mote than tac of the original Twin finity isin the inclusion of an*176-tye® compresso A simple afait, the compressors aperation is governed oniy by athvee way suite, with postions for (Of, Slow and Fast (the later two selecting between afferent attack times) and there’ also «hard-wired bypass switch ‘Ascon the Twinfnity, each ofthe Four preamps cn aso be used as a DI box, though ‘nthe 47100, instrument evel signals also get access to the new compressor. The unit includes &D conversion as standard ‘outputting digital audi in both AES-EBU and AADAT formats, withthe other four channels ‘of ADAT being “filed up’ by four plain ine Inputs on te rear which are also availabe post conversion on AES EBL). Extra ADAT I/O port are provide, allowing for sample rates ‘of upto 96kHz via ADAT using the S/MUK protocol. Rounding off the 0 are balanced insert points forthe four preamps, and ‘word clock input and output on locking BNC connectors. No prices were available atthe time of writing Source Distibution +44 (0}20 8962 5080 www sourcostribtion.cok wna. comSAA SH-01 SYNTHESIZER Back to the Future h bursting with old-school joddess of earth in Greek ‘of synthesis, using today’s ere al began with GNA Lcoakigala www.roland.co.ukWHAT'S NEW Presonus update Studio One resonus have announced an update to Studlo One her stillyoung Poses Di rare veson 13 adese soe ofthe es identified in SOS review ofthe program’ frst ncamaion, mast notably te lac of support for video and REX fs, and incorporates rurerous ther enhancements designed to further impove the DANS alkeadysteamlined user experience. Inhis review, Robin Bigwood praise the program fr its nctve ard ‘extersive dragrnd-drop functional, and this has been bul upon in the update. Not ony can you drag audio and MIDI fies into a session as before, but Audio Event ard instrument Pars within projects can row be rendered one aul files and MID fs, respectively, simply by dragging them ito the Browser pane. Whats more, presets fr plugin eects and virtual nstruments canbe created and recalled in ‘exact the sae way, avoiding the reed te ravigate menus within the plugin window Support for MOV and REX les has also been aided, and these can be impo ico sessions in exactly the sare way. NOV suppor looks welimplemerted, with adjustable ose time, a resizable playback window, and the option to export the MOV fle’ audio to anew track inthe sequencer EX fles, meanwhile, can be dragged and dropped ether in ther cemetyor se by-slice ita a project, oF sen toa ew instanceof the progam’ Sample One isttument Another neat feature in the latest version isthe ablity ve draw automation waveforms: a selection of waveforms (including squat, twiangle, sie and saw) can be selected and dragged inte an automation lane, after which the waveforms canbe scaled, stretched and moved, and their amplitudes and offsets modified. Finally, once you've finished your project, the new builtin SoundCloud client wil allow you to upload your tracks dtectly tothe popula audioflehostng web site Presonus Studio One Pro costs £359, andthe update to version 1.5 is {hee to existing users Source Distrouion +44 (0}20 8962 5080 ‘won soucestibution.c0.sk wana gresonus.com Adam’s X-factor A-series monitors updated A {dam Audio have announced a new range of monitors: the AK series. Replacing the popular Aseres speakers, the new lin-up comprises the ARK, ASK, ATX and A8X monitors, which house 4.5, 5.5, 7-and B.Sinch woofers, respectively All models inthe range have been endowed with the same XART ribbon tweeter used in Adams SX monitors, and the ‘makers say that this extends the speakers’ high requency response to a dog bothering SOkHz ‘The L drivers in the new madels have also benfted from some Improvements, most notably larger Voice coll, which apparently Increases the cone’ excursion and, consequent, the speakers’ maximum output level All ofthe new AX monitors ae bi-ampiified, with a 25W Cass-AB amp ‘serving the tweeter, and a Class D (PAM) amp powering the woofer. LF amplifier power ratings range from 25W for the A3X to 150W forthe ABK ‘Adam also say thatthe twin-ported ‘cabinets have been completly redesigned, ith all models in te range Featuring bevelled corners to minimise edge lifacton. As withthe A sees, a pal of ‘AX speakers can be inked with an RCA phono cable, allowing you to contol your ‘menitering level using the volume control ‘on just one ofthe speakers. ‘The new AX series monitors ae priced at £490, £679, £949 and £1249 forthe ARK, ASX, AK and ARK, respectively. ‘Adan Audlo UK +44 (0)1982 525670 ww adam audlo.com 2) wwwsoundensound.com + may 2030 Take the Express USB interface from Alesis USB audio and MIDI interface, dubbed the 102 Express. Capable of transferring two channels of digital audio taand from aPC or Mac, at up to 24-bit/48kH2 quality, the unit features two mic/line inputs (with phantom power), which can be individually switched to accept instrument eve signals. The 102 Express also has both MIDI input and output sockets The audio channels each have an inset point for use With outboard processors, and the stereo pair of analogue ‘urpats has is own level contro, eliminating the need for a monitor controler. The linelevel stereo outputs are mirrored on the top panels headphone output socket, which also has its own independent level control, and there’ a handy Monitor Mix knob, which blends some ofthe direct signal from the Preamps withthe stereo return from your compute, allowing for lavency free ‘monitoring while recording, ‘Available from the end of Apri, the Alesis 102 Exoress wil set you back just £79. Alesis UK +46 (01282 341400 ‘wmlesis.com A lesis have just announced the launch of anew compactWHAT'S NEW. What's in the telly? Telefunken AR51 launched Te Telefunken name has been ofthe capsule’. The new mic also boasts revived in recent yeas in South Windsor, a vintage NOS (new old stock) tube is Connecticut. The reborn company now however, bul using a globally sourced” offer anexcersve range ofmicephares (presumably inthe Far Est) capsule and power asad toa geste or lessees on the __spplyto gp costs down classe designs that were gal istrbuted___Telefunke tea wide range of uses for ty Telefe in he'50sand'60s. Thelatest- the ARS, ining male ard feral vocals, auton tthe esters the afdabe ARS1 guitars ol spe, pao, percussion and tube ic which employs the same creat drum overhead Som igi deslgnas the classe TeltunenELAM2SIE, ny Ao 044 (0440 785843 etal incorporates ‘madications..t0the” _ wamantyauda.coak Ample circuit to optimise the performance wunllnkneltatsthcam Stillwell’s Bombardier ATC launch SCM25A Pro Plug-in bus compressor Three-way active nearfield monitors oftware developers Silva Auto have anounced an ineesting Saved Uk speaker 1, bringing the overall Giersesrcreeseriettcte ttc Sem | Picci tne ene om there plugin has been desloned mally fr meus processing announces thatthe new what youd expect from an and mastering applications —so what hides behind the distinctly aguer | SCMZSAProactne neaflé infra design. ies own tracks) — realistically if you plan to use more than thee or four pieces of ‘outboard simultaneously, you'll need to star thinking about adding more analogue 1/0 to your setup. Most muit-channel interfaces, lke the MOTU device mentioned abeve, include a east some digital /0 in adeition to their analogue channels, Digital inputs and outputs core in various shapes and forms, but the most popular are ADAT lightipe’, which offers up to eight channels, depending on the sample rate, stereo S/PDIF Via phono plugs, and AES/EBU, which can catry two channels on a single cable via. three-pin XR connectors, and is often configured te cary eight channels on D-sub {0 XLR breakout loom. IF you opt to go the PCI or FCI Express route, there are some other setups designed to give you more than enough VO. MOTUS PCI424 system, for example, enables you to connect upto four oftheir breakout boxes adding four oftheir 2410 boxes would give Yyoua system with 96 I/O in only 4U of rack space, ee the Need More /0 box for more advice on expanding your setup, A-D/D-A Conversion \witn your audi traveling back and forth between your computer and the analogue domain, you'll need to get the best converts available, to avold nasty nolse and distortion elbowing its way into the recording, right? Well, yes... toan extent. ‘Obviously, the better your converters, the fewer unwanted distortion artifacts wl creep into your mix a each stage of conversion and the fewer times you go through AD or DA conversion stages the beter. So, in theory, I makes sense to get as goad quality converters as you can afford and, Ifyou plan ‘on using more than ane outboard processor in series, to connect one device tothe other, rather than use A-D and D-A stages foreach That sid, converters would almost ever be top of my shopping list — and you might be surprised by ust what you can get away with, given the quality of audio imerfaces currently on the market. Athough there are also a Few high-end converter ‘manufacturers such as Bul, whose products ae deliberately designed to colour the sound {albelt subtly ina pleasing way, most converters are designed to be as lean and neutral as possible. and the fac is that, as bad as some designs were i the past, the converters on most audio interfaces these ays are actually rather good, (Note that fm rot thinking about the mic preamps in your Imerface here, where theresa more tangible difference between different models) Even with modestly priced models such asthe Behringer ADA8OOO ADAT expander, audio signals should stand several ‘generations of conversion before there's audible degradation ofthe signal quality. Furthermore, f yout sending signals out of the box and back, i usually to add ‘avout or colour there’ no point sending audio out and back to get clean gain when you have D> ‘ADand DA covet he the Bu B Bomber shove, can ad desiabe colton, bul wher puting signalthrough several generations of comersion probably belle to use sarthng nre‘wanspare 24 wwwsoundensound.com may 2030 GENELEC*® eee Seed eee rina eee tt) Absolute Music Solutions Poole T:01202 684500 Andertons Guiidtord 01488 456777 Digital Village ‘West London. T- 020 8992 5592 Digital Village North London 7-020 8440 3440 Digital Village East London 7.01708 771991, Electro Music Doneaster 01302 369999 Guitar, Amp & Keyboard Centre Brighton 01278 665400 KM (Genelec DSP specialist) ‘North London T.020 8445 2446 Production Room Leeds 7: 0845 539 3000 Red Dog Music Edinburgh | 7.0131 229 6211 GearaMusic ‘York T-0871 309 0800 Reverb a 7.0117 934 993 Reverb Birmingham T0121 248 5868 Rubadub Glasgow T0141 221 9657 Sounds Live Newcastle 7.0191 491 3185Industry standard monitoring from the desktop to the control room Wherever there's sound, there’s Genelec. From the desktop to the control room, audio professionals depend on the one indisputable truth that is Genelec reference monitoring. And because every model shares Genelec's core design principals, it means that whether you're running a modest bedroom studio or working in a multi-room commercial facility, you can count on the extended frequency response, ultra-low distortion and bulletproof reliability that only Genelec can deliver. To find out more, visit your nearest Genelec Reference Centre. i Nu OOS w www.genelec.com > ST RNC gelaDe TORO BVOHTEODDHARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO D> infinitely weakable access to that in your DDAW.So even inthe event some tiny artifacts do creep in, you might discover that it doesnt resent the problem you'd imagined, or that its a least a price worth paying to get the tonal colour you'r seeking, If you have everything else you need, then maybe i ime to think about upgrading your converters... but your ears and yout wallet have tobe the final arbiter on this point a suggest that any cash burning a hole in your pocket might be beter spent on more noticeable elements of the signal chain such as EQs, compressors, mics or preamps where Yyour money is likely to have greater impact, | guess the old adage “iF t sounds right, its tight” apoliespecfecty ere. DAW Tools & Naming With the physical requirements of your audio interface out ofthe way let's move on to the software side of things. What’ the best way toconfigure your onl sacs omen al shapes end Sie, fom a single cmpter board ith walheush ost board states ta age mir with ving ter ont, ven asthe SS Matix (above) Bgger is eas betes though 50 thnk rad abot what il be the bes open or the way yu preter to work 2% wwwsoundensound.com may 2030 Patebays may took aang but they fer of patching signals ‘between your hardware and your DAW without ‘he ted ors mt DAW sofware to route signals to and from your hardware? The answer to that ‘question wil always be sila, tut it does vary slighty from DAW te DAN. Youcan also toss into the equation the routing software that comes with your audio interface (such as AMES Totalmix and MOTUS CCueMx, fr example), because these offer another layer of routing fexolty berween your DAW and the outside world. The answer will also depend on how many hardware devices youte using, how much flexibility you wantin your effects and processing cains inthe analogue domain, and how you plan to connect them to your interface. Lets start with the approaches taken by most of the leading DAW software. ‘At the most basic level, in any syster, all you have to dois connect your hardware via the analogue inputs and outputs of your audio interface, then route the output ofa tack in your software to that physical cutput — and then monitor the sound va the interfaces input on a different channel in your DAW. This is rater a primitwe way of working though, because it equires that you use 2 whole DAW channel each time you want to go ‘ut into the analogue demain, and another when you come back f you want, for example, ro use a hardware compressor, fllewed by a plugin, followed by another hardware device, then You're going to be using several channels, In place of one, which quickly becomes cumbersome and confusing For this reason, most modem DAWs now Include an insert plugin of some sort, which will send your audio out ofa user-defined audicrinterface output and receive the feed back through a similarly defined input. These plug-ins enable you to connect the hardware evice via single insert slot on a DAW channel, just as you would with any plugin — excep, of couse, that you limited to a single instance of each piece of hardware See the box on the opposte page for more on how to set these plugins up using some of the most popular DAS Isa good idea to think about the names that you give to these hardware plugins and tomy mind thee ae tree o four broadly sensible approaches to consider. y default, ‘most systems will give them the same name asthe physical interface 1/0 that you select for the plug-in — and you might be perfectly happy leaving it ike that, particularly if Youre likely tobe plugging diferent pieces of hardware in and out of your interface for afferent mixes. Pethaps you prefer to perform sofware routing tasks within the (often) more flexible software that ships with your interface. Ive done this in the past using RMES Totalix software, rather than specifying specific Cutputs, because it enables me to "mult signals te diferent devices, ot multiple mixer channels, in 3 much easier way than | can inmy DAW. With such software, you can save different configurations, which can be handy for diferent projects. If you'e not into this sort of parallel processing, and having variable setups, tis approach would probably add an unnecessary layer of complenity IF you have hardware permanently wired Into your interfaces YO, its a simple case of labeling each plug-in with the name ofthe vice in question f you have, say Golden Age Project Pre 73 patched in to audio input and output channel 1, you coulé simply label ItGAP Pte73" or some such, However, You're forever tweaking your setup, as lam, youll always have to remember to go in and Update the labelling of the hardware plugins, so isnot always ideal! When you're running a setup with more vices than you can accommodate with your analogue 1/0 count, and you'e using 4 patchbay ora mixer to organise things ‘outside the Box, or simply where you wanted oro’ a ule gue to sting wp hardware Ingots In some ofthe bot selng DAW. Typlaly, you'd insortpracossars such as compressors and a, and distortion and some modulation effect, ‘Inserts, and time-based effects such as deans ‘nd orbs om sons, floes, oF aux chants (0 ‘ame wl depend onthe DAW you se), ut in ‘2 A, he pnts the sme, whether using Insets or sens: you place the ‘hardware tect” ‘plugin as am inst aman aus o group channel, ‘rn an FX/aun channel and voute the signal trom your aul charno tothe send tfct nthe ormal way. ‘Aol Lote oil employs an audio 1/0 xin to send sinals ‘out hardnae and back. snp matter pple Logis 1/0 plo of saleting the cutpts and inputs you want tosend to and record back rom (of mont, ‘ot reotdng) ad sttng th ove. Digidesign ProTools ProTools ices dedicated window fr setting ‘Up ad abeling aul comections inthis Wino, you cn slect the insert tab to create rew Irardware inserts. You asian npts and outputs Aeothe ert ad abel them a you dese, ‘Thon, backin the miner Window ou click on _any insert point and you can select the relevant ‘hardware insert. Ronaning the inserts i ths way oosn't label tho phyeloaloutouts of your aslo Interface, which nee touoh. ‘Thor ae some tinitatons in both a tho ‘te’ yrsons of Pro Teas, LE and M Powered. ‘current, you can ony rut aut ot and back ‘on tho eonosponing hardware /0: you send ‘out an channels 142, you havo to come back on Inputs +2. W's rot an insurmountable problem, to change effects chains in the analogue ‘domain, it can help to specify Patchbay ‘out 12" or mixer out 142 for example) instead of analogue out 5+6' as itcan save ‘you searching forthe label onthe patchbay. During the course of writing this article | decided to sel my mixing desk (ts nt the first time Fve reached that conclusion, and to plug everything — interface, converters, mic preamps, outboard, synths — into a couple of bantam patchbays and label tall according tt 25 many poop tond by dott to monitor on coutpts 1+2 1's worth bong aware of, Steinberg Cubase & Nuendo In Cubase you'd configure ‘extemal plugin’ ‘Setngupaneterral deve a hardware ‘tctin Case, to tat usod i ProTools, in that you asign 1/0 toe dedoated hardware insert plugin ond then ‘pon tht plugin nth deco inart sot on 8 chanel n Cubase — although you can aso name harewve syrths and seuns modus and an assy both uso and MIDI tracks te these. ‘Asin, you Ye eet leave you physical tps ‘abel alone, Tiss arguably the most alegant Implementation ofthe ea. (cakewa Sonar No surprises fr suossng that Sona takes 2 sir approach to most ather DAWs. However, there's one ator stating gut Sonar (fom ‘Sonar’ V0 plug, conigrefor se wth asteeo dere. to the patchbay numbering, Ahhh. lf simply! Keeping ergansed is imporcart f you want o avo outing contusion nthe rida fa busy mix. You need to try to find a system that werks for you, tat els take the pln out of rewing, and stk tot Analogue Plugging & Patching So what about more complex hardware Setups wth mary different hardware devices? weve lscussed patehbays many times in \orsion 8 onwards}, which means that you uso ‘the External Insert plugin on mono channel and sot to uso ono aalogue output ofa storo0 pale the other eutpt ofthe same pai becomes Unsaid for use with another eutiaard mene processor. The werkaround sto wo a storeo Extemal Insert plugin ona stereo bus, and route mone chanel to that bs, panned ether ard lero hard neh. depending on which moro etect Your te tose chanel oe process by Tis shoul work efor analog gar, where ‘the lateney ncurod by the processing sof s practically noneaiatrt bt ping a araague fa a ga processor In ths way Is kely to auneprblene wlth Sona’ delay calelations. Coches Reaper Reaper, again nla a hardware rovtng insert lui ale Reaeert. W's ilar to the othe flscussod above and ke Cubase’, enables you Cocks Reapers else gi, oe of the most wellbaupht out mechanisms for neating ‘enteral nacre wih DAW, ‘tw automaticalcaleulate lateny btn common th Reapers ether push, tncudes wet/dry ‘i conto, which makes ore exible than the uve plugin in most DAW, ther OWS: you havea DAW that doosnt include 1 dedieated 1/0 putin, suchas MOTU Distal Performer for oxample W's stil usualy a faity Ballas process to patch in external harcware: You singly nood to eteato an odtonal tack ‘sch tie you wart to brng 2 vtur signal back, Into the DAW. these pages inthe past, so won't dvell on them here other than to say what a godsend they canbe to anyone running a hybrid setup with mare device /0 needed than they have 1/0 avallable on thelr computer, orto anyone wanting the option to buld diferent chains ofanalogue processors and effects for use with their OAW: If you needa primer, Fa recommend a thorough read of the article Hugh Robjohns wrote back in SOS December 1999 (www soundonsound.com/sos/dec99/ may 2010 + wwn.soundonsound.com 2itis CUT) recording/mixing HARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO. D arsices/patchbayhtn), Essentially all you reed do fs have your DAW take the place of the mixer inthe setups described there, Mixing Desks An alternative means of patching inthe analogue domain isto use a mixing desk, with your pracessors or effects permanently plumbed into inserts and sends. Your DAN remains the hub ofthe studio, where all the serious editing work is done, but you're able to send any channel from your DAW out to any channel of your desk, ether for processing with the channel EQ, Inserts or compression, ‘or any aux sends you have setup. There are 4 few ways to connect your computer and desk to each ether let ignore the patchbay for now), and which is bes will depend largely on how much /0 you have and the Configuration of the desk With a decent large desk, you'e likely to have tape sends and returns on each channel, and the normal approach Isto connect the patchbay or interface /O to these. You can ‘then mix onthe desk, using channel EQ if desived, and record the results back ta the DDAW.| you want to use any aux sends under this simple setup, you patch the returns into spare channels and record those. Uniike analogue tape, of couse, you have the option ‘of keeping previous takes and then selecting between ther al late. Ifyou plan to do any actual mixing on your desk, though — recording the summed result — youll need to save some of your interfaces inputs to record the signal from the Master bus, as you wll if you want summed stems, some for the group buses, ary dedicated effects return channels and so on, Before The eve asl analogue compressor ‘ones with eal Setvar, pictred below, take a feed from either the channels’ dect ‘outputs, oF the group bus outputs (assuming ‘tsa large enough mode! tohave those). Fyou're planning to acquire such ‘a mixer it’s probably a good plan to make ‘sure you have a few spare channels on the ‘mixer, so you dont have to keep plugging and ‘unplugging the jacks that feed the line inputs It also possible to cake a fee from the insert polnts on a desk, but thats not really advisable, for a couple of reason. Firstly, on smaller mixers these are very often unbalanced send and return signals combined on a singe stereo jacks; and secondly, f yout planning to use a mixer to link to other hardware devices, you'l probably \want to keep the insert points available for patching to those “A promising development in the last few years has been the emergence of dedicated hybrid mixing devices, such as SSL’s flagship Duality console.” long yout probably end up building a fulton analogue studlo, with a computer pretty much taking the place of a tape machine! As youl See when | dlscuss ergonomics, below, this may or may not be the best approach for you. (Ona smaller desk, suchas one ofthe Mackle VL23 series, the routing options are more limited, as you tend only to et a stereo tape send/teturn fortwo track recording I such cases, you have to look at what ‘options the moser present. With the VLZ3 series, you'd beable to plug your interface ‘outputs into each channel line inputs and 2 wwwsoundensound.com IFyou'e locking to acquire a desk to give you some ‘analogue favour, there are plenty ‘of options, Popular recent models include the Toft ATB, TL Audio M! and, slightly lower In price, the Mackie Onyx range. However, none of these isan investment to be taken ight, Prices onthe second-hand mixer market have fallen trough te floor in the ast few years, and you can easly pick upan old desk with characterful EQ, suchas a TAC Scorpion oF a Soundcraft 6000, for what appears to be a bargain price. Beware, though, thatthe quality and state of repair of od consoles ‘heather scree shows the Ta Boy sofware, ichis designee ely you capture recall Intarmation rom ange tharduare devices, varies massively —and even if you find one in perfect working order, you may stil have ta go through the rigmarole and expense of replacing many ofthe capacitors. Mixer-controllers & Digitally Controlled Patchbays A promising development in the last few years has been the emergence of dedicated hybrid mixing devices, suchas SSL flagship Duality console, which isa fll featured analogue console whose faders can also be used to contol most DAW software. Their Matrix does the same thing on a smaller scale, and dispenses with the expensive channels of preamps, analogue EQ and compression, leaving you with an excellent line level summing mixer and avery convenient patchtay system, Audlent have also made imoads with their Zen mixer, which uses the DDAW to record fader movements — whether for DAW control or analogue-mix recall —and recently the much more affordable ASP 2802, launched at this years Frankfurt MuskNesse. Digital mixers, ofcourse, have been capable of doing some of these tasks for several yeas, with products as old a the Mackie D88 and DXB offering a means of DAW contol as well as a means of digital mixing and routing. More recent dial devices such asthe Yamaha Nseries mixers have made DAW/hardware Imegratan at the more affordable end ofthe ‘market much easier Its only recenty, though, that we've seen analogue devices offering anything like tis >ee ee oe EA Me LL £299 inc vat £499 incvat £699 Inc vat Neighbours cant hear it. Parents cant hear it. Cops can't hear it. But you wort believe what the band can hear. www.JamHub.com . eerecording/mixing HARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO ‘etn fhe sng desk llows yout crfgue aurharare much sin atypical mastering Setup tre tere, werthehadvatayoutweak most fen canbe placed whiney eachofthe tng see =p. > degree of integration reach anything near 4 projectstudio budgets. The Allen & Heath ZED R16 is an analogue mixer that transmits MIDI data from its faders — but the faders ate stati, so theres no mix recall Mackie's latest Onjx mixers the 16401 is reviewed in this issue) dont offer you contol over the DDAWS faders, bt do give good, easy options for routing the signal between the DAW, the mixer andthe outside world — and the footprint is such that you could conceivably Use it alongside a dedicated control surface So there are some oreat hybrid mixers out thee, but there’ stil room inthe market for something that realy does offer you the same degree of control over an analogue imix and an ITB mix imagine anyone who can run with tis design idea and manage to o so to a reasonable price wil find an eager ‘market inthe education secton Similar developments have been occurring in the humble world of the Latency & Delay Compensation Aton late can make te haré when youre recording. paying vital stuments i's ermal uch ass ofan issu whan mig: you're abot sot yur aut intorac's ator she te maximum tree the burden on your ‘eamputer’s processor —enahingyouto un ‘mote plugins In home — at the expense of Inorensedlateney ‘Most mem DAW programs now nce vc, or Automate Delay Compensation, ‘wmotbyneaeece, the aatwar cleuites how suc tne 9 ug takes to process the ao ‘hat passes throug and ads that amount of tie tothe eter chanel Ths even youre talngcemoldten plugin, or xomethig ening ‘an a DSP plato such a UAD with nbrent latency, the computer nuiges alte other tracks acco. (The notable exeptons hee a Pro Tools LE and Pre Tole M-Powere, rite of ‘which featere ADE — you hae ocala and ‘make ajestnets manual) In otwaroonly sets, this usualy Works easy the plugin ‘docaras ts tony othe hast softwar, and the host makes caleltons 30 wwnwsoundensound.com may 2030 codon that Whan ig sing automaton. this tp poss no prblons: tag twoaking serve pln cotrols nd earn the resus nn bo apn ifthe tor value ea fo igh ~ bet W's stil nothing ke the show stoping probiom canbe when tracking oF tying to lay ‘ita! tment neal tne, “Wat hs ol ths odo with yi stem, hear you ask We though meron los fom A/D conversion not fuch an ese tote doy, ech ound tp ers ‘he dg tothe analog domain ds ltency. Bt al your software known eta I's soning tata ott ad bck has 09K tutomatcly hw lrg the ound tip takes, ard therfore the prospect of atematic ly Corpersatin becomes mote chalegh, Rear thank, most DAW softate now eludes 2 moans of moasuing the timo takes fr tho ‘ico to ma around tp ot ofthe DAN, tOveugh 2 lec of goa and back All you need to te cot pth hardaro phat’ (so box earet tn this artic} and ‘png a seal through your ‘DAW shold caleloto th latsney automaticaly (On the floor the desktop or in a rack, ‘Moogerfooger FX are the secret weapons of {op musicians and producers everywhere ‘Taurus “The basis back. A limited edition reproduction, absolutly faithful tothe ‘original bass pedals considered by ‘many tobe the fattest synth ever made PLUS Theremin J The work's eldest elecronic a musa instrumentisnow the s+ worlds newest controller The The most important advance in guitar technology ina decade and now more affordable than. ver, thanks to the new Etyl eo en te ee eee ee ee eeeHARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO > patchy and again SS seem tobe leading the dive to further this pa Their XFatch san eight ay patchbay thats controlled by computer software, routing any input any output without the need forpatch cables, and mutiple units can be inked to increase the 0 count Other companies have developed patching systems for mastering applications, but which could also prove useful Marley Lbs’ Backbone, for example) Excellent a these products may be in delivering 2 flexible but top-notch aralogue signal cain they remain an expesive option compared with a £30 Behringer patchbay and 23 few decent patch ables, or even a more convnercaly priced Heutik bantam patchy. ular trol DAWs & Tape Machines Your computer can replace the recording role ofthe tape machine, but the sound of analogue tape remains a tough act to model and there are very few dgtal products that come close to giving a realistic tape sound (arguably the best emulation, the Anamod ASI isan analogue outboard device. So, if you decide to use real tape, bow do you hook the machine up to a computerbased system \ithouta mixing desk? ‘A ts most basic, the tape machine has analogue outputs and analogue Inpus, just lke any other device, and you can connect i to patchbay, or your interfaces /0 just ke anything else, Most interfaces now offer you the option of setting their nuts and outputs tothe -10dBV consumer level or the +408u professional level, and it obviously makes sense to set these to the right ane forthe ‘machine in question, You can, of course, record directly to ‘muitrack tape and subsequently transfer the recordings to your DAW for eiting and ‘mixing WS pot strictly within the remit ofthis article — but is worth using afew lines to escribe some tps and tricks for speeding things up a litle. Assuming you have your ‘ape ourputs connected toa patchbay, o to your audio interfaces analogue inputs, You're able to track simultaneously tthe PIMce eu un enn you prferto sum you mic i the anaogue domain, thore’s a huge range of analogue ‘nk solutions aval, tom full largetormat ‘rational console down te passive summing boxes, and everthing in botweon, What you se depends on how yoa ike to wai, as wo ‘25 the bude. Tecnlaly, dedicated summing exes havea sgniicant advantage ovr mast ‘ational consoles, n thet the actus physical suming buses are very short and therefore less prone to intedueng nse. Some device, the the ‘Termlonlc Cute Ft stad major on thelr se of tansormor, ve an so ont part ‘ume, mao on ho ‘loa’ they ar. a thon ‘there are entire passive devices, my favounte ‘whi isthe Ralspasive mit whl Is ust ‘bunch of resistors and witches a box. It ‘eds round 4048 of extemal ream gai atthe nd to restore Ine levels (butt can cape easy ‘ith matecout OA outputs, which is more than ‘mary active units ean do), The passive mix a is ‘2 modern version ofthe passive mining that was ‘standard ithe 490 ond "6s before virtua orth ‘mix buses became practical wih Wanstetor and 1 ‘ety. But you ean at last ease the favour ‘of prcamp gain forth dsired ffoct— valve or solstate, clued or squeaky clean! ‘But mining a éyami track onto sal otry onto ofa ackmourtsureing mor en't much fun, and many people the resort to programing ‘tho mising it th OAW auton... which ‘oom tome largely to deat the object. ‘Comparing the rite ments a torent ‘analog summing devices I pretty c35j — you ‘can compare the techiel specs and ue our ‘ars to dg what coloration fs eng ade. ‘nd, arguably you have to spend ages deciding ‘hat sounds bette t's nat lng to matter ‘what chice you make! However, the arguments ‘over tho tlative advantages of analogue and may 2010 + wwn.soundonsound.com 3TEE) recording/mixing HARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO D suited to rotary encaders, or even a mouse? If ie ust transport contals and a single fader you require, dedicated products suchas the Frontier Designs Alphatrack offer an elegant Solution ina small footprint — but, agai, Yyou might find that you can do all you need with a computer keyboard and a mouse “keyboard, n particular, can be made much ‘more useful when embellished witha set of Editors Keys stickers (which provide shorteut labels, or something similar Dont forge chat some hardware devices are also controllable via MDI have wo such effects units in my current setup. f you wish, you can map control surfaces to contro those devices —to select patches, set delay tempos and so on — and ifyou can do this, of course yu can also record the automation data into ‘Your DAW for recall or tweaking Total Recall (One ofthe biggest dificuties presented by analogue devices relates to project archiving an recall. With a digital device, such as an algorithmie reveta box, WS easy enough to save a patch, take a note oft and load it back \when you boot up your DAW project, but with most analogue devices, youl need to set them up again manually, which poses two questions: how do you keep a record of what settings were used on a session? And how do You ensure that those settings are repeatable? ‘Any doves with digitally cateolled analogue crcutry can recal settings automatically and some manufacturers, including ANS Neve, have aso developed dlgtal snapshot facies, whereby the user captures a record ofthe device settings ligtally in software, and then uses the snapshot co make manual seting ofthe controls more accurate — rather hike tuning 1 gutar string while watching chromatic turner The company’s 8816 summing mbes, {8803 EO and 2254/8 compressor and most, other Neve products use this method of recall The other approach to capturing setinas isthe good old fashioned analogue method: keep a visual record. In days gone by a lag took might have been used to nate down the settings by hand, but we now have the luxury of digital cameras, and most of us have asuffiderty good one in our mobile phone. Though popular, this approach does have Its down sides: ou need to go through and organise your pictures, store ther somewhere handy and figure out how tink them with your DAW project. t doesrit ake a huge leap ofthe maginaton ca see DAMS allowing you toimport images to store hardware settings alongside projects or individual tracks (would it be nice te have eveything stored Ina single project, but m unaware of any such integrated system at present. One alternative isthe Tea Boy sofware, which includes virwal panels for a wide range of hardare devices used in recording studios, and allows you to record settings by hand or visually, by turing dials. Is @ good Idea in principle, though unlike the digital camera it stl requires you to enter ll the data ‘manually. Also, theres no guarantee there be a sultable virtual device to capture the setings, particularly if yout creating chains ofefecs, or using non standard studo gear (modified units, for exare), AM gE Teena ‘As ve mentloned nthe main text, most aude Interface that ofr multichannel anlage atclo 110 aso prevde several chanel of cl 1/0, ‘most roquonty Wa ADAT optical ports, 5/PDIF phono conacters, or AES/EBU on KLRs. Fat ‘ample, mj ME Fitlaes 800 gies me 10 ‘analog ns and outs, upto 26 enamels of ADAT 10 (over two phsieal sets of ADAT comeactors), ‘and a8/PDIF phono pot. There's no dediated ‘AES/EBU prt but ve fund peel possible to senda signal out ofthe /PDIF port over 2 short phone-toXLR adaptor to feed an AES/EBU ‘monitor contol. you use & PCE oF Pleased ‘systom that enables you to 2¢¢ multiple brakout ‘bores, you might have many such dita ‘expansion options aval. ‘So how do you make uso ofl this dgtal ‘connectivity? There are a now a mumbor of devles you can buy that take adhantage oft, allowing ou te increas tho analogue 1/0 count ‘igicaty, However, smo of thes ae bettor sited to recording spaleatlons than to mixing ‘sing tn lye signal, st pays to think about ‘mich option you go fo 2 standard, modern ADAT por wit wansmit ‘let channels at upto 24, 48, oF ha that fumbor at double the sample rate Te 5/MUX ‘protocol aows you to split lp chamels at ‘3642 (or fur channels of 132h) across two ‘ets of ADAT comectars your mtrtze otters ‘tha. 1s prbaoly the cheapest and most comenient way of ading multiple analog 1/0, ‘There are many products that fer a bank of mic preamps with an ADAT output — tho Feusrito ‘Octopre Mk, the Behringer ADASO0O, the reson Digna rang, andthe Auient ASPOOB, 34 wewnwsoundensound.com may 2030 tomam but afew — but while these migit appeal, don't forget thatthe alm hor eto add ‘oth Inputs and outputs, x0 you may not need al those proamps. Merve. # you're comecting to patchy, you probably poet to have all ho ie /0 on the rer panel, to keep things neat, tigy and manageable a your stl. Not al ofthe ADAT expandos offer oth in and ‘out the Getope Ml fr example, ely ges you ‘dona inpts,whoteas the Ml éyamlc gives you both in and out Inoestngy, there aren't ‘sctualy that many ineiovl eanvertors around Without add fears ke mic preamps. Infact, the ony dedicated tne /0 devices that seem to me tot a pojacttudio badge are the Sone ore Ai6 Uta, whlch zhves you 46 lneteel ns fd ots rack ths the une enone 29 ‘expand my own stan), and varios elghtchannel ‘or perhaps the Lynx Aurora, which wes the ‘AES/EBU protocol by deat but ls hasan ar erecorers sichaethe lcs oz pleted hee candaubleupas ety reasoaby iced 24.channel DAT expander bos ~ youjustneed an auc inetae that fe you tat many ‘DAT channels take atvantageot one! [ADAT cad as 2 cst option. Given the price of ‘sme of thse doves, thu, you might even ‘onsier purchasing a 240ack dial hard sk recorder suchas the Alois HDS (rts otter uatty HO28 XR variant) and sintat mods by Fostox, Tascam and ethers: a wala faring you a means of tracking 24 analogue channels ‘to haré dive, these can double up moatly as ‘set of 24 ADKFfomat AD/DA converters, ‘One of those recorders pala with something ke the Mule ProFts LigtBdge or Pesomis Festa LghPipa ADA Intrtseos could give you al the 1/0 you ned, ‘There at ewer stree /POIFconvrters, although plenty of hardware processors offer ‘a digta output via $/PDIF Although | opted to tae my /PDIF coonection te ge me a stereo {ed tom my DAW toa mantr contra, ve ‘also used tin the past to fed a eal effocts Ut and on occasion have even pressed! that unit Into sence a8 a steoo converter, withthe effects bypassed, whore I needed ta add one more pai of Ine anoIfyou dont have access to the Neve-stye facilites, recalling settings accurately can be a pain. As with an automated analogue mixer, you can often Find thatthe tiniest efferences In settings can ‘combine to give youa significantly diferent sound, which might be magic, but wll mere probably be frustrating. This is why mastering processors usually have detemted dial, son now ofesing heir best reverb gots as plug, and compaies Uke asl contest to puter manes to plugin elation f the analogue hare, ls perbopsjuta matter af time before youean do everythigin the oe Bu rthetime beng there's plenty that asthe recreated gallo rey sate, where you can change parameters in fixed incremerts, so you have a precise setting that can easly be recalled, Limited Resources [An obvious way in which plugins and hardware differs that you only eta single Instance of hardware: f you want to run two The Pr cof these devices simultaneously, youl need to buy another. Fortunately, the DAW, and afew tools designed to run inside it, can make life easier, offering you the means to create virtual ‘instances’ f some hardware, beth freeing up the real thing to process other tracks and keeping a record ofthe soured to use later. The most commonly used tol is probably convolution, wich can capture a reverb sound pretty accurately so long as there ate no long modulations inthe algorithm; and leven thet kely tobe a passable imitation Similarly, Waves’ QClone plugin can send an analysis signal through a hardware EQand ‘ample’ the settings. This does mote than just bouncing your channel through the device, as yout able to apply the same setting to anather channel perhaps you were hagpy withthe tone ofa guitar part, but found that it reeded re-tracking due to the performance, o a requested edi), Since then, other plugins, Including the TC Electronic Assimlatr forthe Powetcore DSP platform, Voxengo’s Curve EQ ad Apple Logics Match €0, have been able to coffer £Q-matching faclitis, although rone is as automatic or convenient as Q-Clone. Classic Joemeek Sound eur rare Oecd See ee a) Pere ata SOLE he LLC Wee eae icy peeked “Joe Vtale-worid famous drummer for The Eagles, C5,N,4Y, and Joe Walsh. PMI Audio UK Unic4 Minerva Court, Woodland Close, Woodlands industrial Estate, Torquay, Devon TO2 780 ‘hone +d) 1508812700» for 4 780 612009 may 2010 + wwn.soundonsound.com 3HARDWARE IN THE SOFTWARE STUDIO Bu UE Wu | 1ho analogue consoles, and thors somthing ‘efeshing about having te make mix deeslons Intel tne, st as yu would whon mixing the front ofheese sound at ag, When you combing ‘an analogue console ad DAM, you haw the ‘opportunity to get sme of ti feling back, wile ‘Keepin te convenience of eal ‘Recent stated t take eating and mixing toa cortain degree of commpletoness side the ‘bx, ung just he mouse, and ony then ting athe channels otto the mixer wasn't ‘analogue suming | was looking for. Rather, | wanted to expat the playbackooping and verdu camping functionality of modern DAWS ‘erable me to mix eal tine on an analog console ae captre th multitrack product. ve ‘ben pleasant surprised by the results ts ea6y to record several passes ofa mix ‘rough yur desk by loping the whol mix inthis way, and recording each channa as a separate {ako onthe same DAW tack, ust as you would ‘hon overdubing woes. But a you've already ‘ahem eate of most of the hard work nthe DAM, ‘you lft with als hoetc tack on tho board: ‘and because you'r recording mltack ator ‘than suring, yu'l stl be able to cect any Imstakos (thaugh thoes no reason why you cant capture any effect retums orbs otis at the ‘samo tio yu have sunt 1/0.) D> what no such userconfigurable device can yet do well, chough, isto capture anything in the time-domain, so modulation in reverb, nd some ofthe distinctive distortion atfacts ‘of compression a tape saturation are less easy to sample’, Focusrite and Sintefex have created the Liquid Mix DSP system and ‘Acustica Audio the Nebula plugin, both of which use multiple convolution impulse responses to mimic the dynamic response ‘of hardware such as EQs and compressors. Infact, its possible to capture such impulses ‘yourself for Nebula — but it far from an automated process atthe moment, and certainly rot something you'd want to do hile you're busy withthe creative side af your brain on a mix. Perhaps, with time, this technology wil mature and the CUls improve 35 —_wwnwsoundensound.com «may 2030 Peet ete erect ose pays pat eee 1 perform the same mn ve times na re, 1 never get the same esl. Gre mix wil ustaly ‘just work. Ack Ive discovered st change ‘the monitoring love! or fleront passes: | tend to ract frente te ference in level, and thus mix sgt fren. igh affect ‘veal eels, how choose to pana lar part. how much reve ot delay I want to hear, or how much I wat to aise the wet prt of a parle ‘compressor group, for example By roourding several pases (afew at normal toring volumo to got into the grove, anda couple more with tho monitoring lve igor of lower, gat he ‘pportunty to plek my tvoute mix, ree to comp the best ane. Ts approach realy can give to make thins easier forthe end user As things stand, the ony real option isto bounce Your audi through the hardware device and Capture the resut as audio — of, in other words, print’the effect. Thankfully, the unlimited (or atleast massive) track counts ‘of miadem DANS mean you bave the space to keep the dry version and bounce as many times as you tke. Is It Worth The Hassle? “That pretty much completes this guide to setting up a ‘hybrid’ studio, but Il leave You with a litle cat among the pigeons ‘thought: computers are geting faster, and plug-ins are geting better at mimicking pretty everything that analogue can do... 0 perhaps it's simply a matter of time before it really is impossible to tell the aifference in sound between ‘real’ gear and the plug-in equivalents. ' also hope to see similarly promising leaps in the design of contr! surfaces that enable you to Waves 0.lone was designed special tosanple’ hardware EO setings,Feing up the ardnare eis obe wed on another tac ou the best of Both words: you got the Joy and tou ofthe performance se of mixing and you et the convenience and teal (up to pot), ‘et your DAW. "enjoy working in this way vory much, tut tete's a signtieant — and potently ‘sow stopplng— downside. I tho analogue mie ‘using group or mics compression, then several racks may be footing ito these devices ‘and coletvlydctating how thoy opoate on ‘tho program mato. The sone aepect ofthe rx ou toally eat call whothor you have ‘tho mttracs o not. 80 t's gat Hf mixing for ourself ess good when you noed o address 8 elon’sroqust for ow ral tweaks”. Interact with these models. So before you decide that you need to invest a heap of cash in esoteric hardware, think hard about what it worth spending your money on. What hardware really cant yet be ‘done’ in sofware? The revered Manley Massive Passive has been emulated to a quality that Manley Labs are happy to put their name to; and Lexicon have released their most celebrated reverb algorithms asa native plugin. But its as much about what has or hasn't been emulated as about what can or cant be. There are plenty of desirable Gevices that dor't yet appear to have been been modelled successfull: | cant think of a great plugin equivalent to some of the earlier Lexicon reverb like the PCM6O, or similarly unique-sounding units lke the lark Teknik DN780; and there are plenty of (quirky guitar effects pedals out there too. | for one, willbe pleased when we can do all the processing we wantin the box, and spend all that hard-earned cash on nicer spaces In which to record and listen — but that time isn here yet. Spending your ‘money wisely on good hardware gives you something unique, and itglves you an asset that, unlike mast software, keeps at least ‘ome ofits value, For the time being, at least, hybrid systems really can offer the best of both worlds!What's your ADAT doing? DE Rae UC CCR Oa ee ae ee ee ee ee) cleaner conversion, And who better to look after this task than Focusrite - probably the most revered name eee ee Pt eee ee eS of your ADAT input. All you have te decide now is which one’s right for you: OctoPre Mkil OctoPre Mkil DYNAMIC eee na ae ec ene eee Perce 8 single-dial Focusrite VA-based Compressors Cree eee ees ‘Unique “More” ewitch to compress wih effect. ere Ere ee ee eee ec ees Cer ere eer ore ON bod www.focusrite oy Focusrite Nee theAt the heart of PC and Mac studios everywhereef = Controller Production Audio & MIDI Vestudios Desktop Plug-ins Keyboards Software Interfaces Monitors Hardware and software from Cakewalk by Roland From the powerful PC-based Sonar 8.5 DAW, to a wide range of quality music-production hardware for PC and Mac, we've got the gear to make your heart beat faster, Walk by Rolandoe) Win! TL Audio M1F8 Laid ve aed sno ar Tresissterin in fawn se ans fern cuted: an eae ae ices of Sigal ers Teed by fry ating, whos kus to poral Um contany Teac stated if 20 yn ape a bung Soe geal ovara we i120 Foveve; hing reali at anlesieequpmen ths vag “thy sed fs valvetsed ord Ft Dual ae ase Erol wh A cal oid ts i dee ath Saves sld sae gam sages rode ‘eam harmorcay ty ein tn th rial abe, Te combat ake! Indeniorshes ben se nal of Sethe EO haved on the mara ut te eye Shrtamings often tats dtl retin eu Re ora gore om benno sera Sie Sena he wold ban Inyo h range of ches Healgeeon sa kon ae Clase ryan ose of ao Tn ut 1993cRowee hac ey reese evs mcr he con Inwhat year id Autostart aking ‘aie bse tu gea? 2 ge bate sm 4 99 What was Tui est vave-ased oat calles? Wat does stator! 1 Tie ance 1 ToyLarking © Tyrone Leigh Ter Lorene questions inweisoindbrscundicoms sey ania: oooo ooo and M2. Featuring the same distinctive blue metalwork that has graced all thelr mixers since, these led the way for TL Audio’ first large-format console, the VIC, and their mixer line-up nove comprises analogue front ends to suit studios from project to professional, and everything in between. To celebrate their 20th year in existence, ‘TL Augio are kindly giving one lucky SOS reader an MIF8 console. An updated version of the original Ml, the MIFB features eight channel strips, each with balanced inserts, a three band EQ (with sweat mig), and two aux sends, The master module has its ‘own bypassable insert points, an alternate ‘monitor output, a mono-sum button, effects returns, two pairs of two-track returns, and a headphone output with independent level control. What's more, TL Audio's generosity doesn't end there: along withthe MIE8, they're supplying thelr optional DOF catd, which endows the MIF with Firewire aucio-nterface functionality. This means thatthe lucky winner will be able to record all of the desk’ channels to his or her DAW Individually, along with the stereo mix. The DOF interface can also send eight channels cut of your computer to the BMF, for analogue summing and EQ. To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is fil out the form below, answering the questions, completing the tie-breaker and supplying your contact details. You can also enter the campetition n-ne, via the SOS web site. The closing date for entries Is 26th May 2010. SB TLAudio MaF8 Tie-breaker Wi tad bs eadsai ak ome an ones LA ies lesa atv ath sand, at's th moet trace igi yo tia ‘why? Answers in 30 words or fewer, please. ~ ‘lator ‘het To oats, ase ete ial Date ten: nal Pest your competed err tT us Conpeitin Maye: ‘Seund On Svan, Mea Hose, Tala Way, aril, Cambridge C23 850, Fagan.Tube TrackerPaulWard vt cvimertices ae Messe thee days seth wre and ete te othe ret MD evudon mgtine deve tou dip at rose bu sve trnogi teclogy ore een on Fubar old ns oan totlaraysem softy MOTUS (Gta andro ten fon Bp Spe) ny oft anand pmae tebe saath Tisatbutets Bb Mong cree eis tuts inva se eve cet Sslogalnlt cu udesang of aloe Sine Te concepts drm Sine severe lage one pee of dienes er ony age trae A tunamental banple odd ee lage opt oma mut ay whch when fea an cli hon fejonl ouput cage nt te anal ns ott are ante ean berode open lea Kate essed father up th key Emel gers UfOsandanigue eee pete th sane ince cent tage a eo dhaoioeetst couple ener ithe day muta en synbesterse cyopas onl Cotes eee sail tem 2 eek get as nto on vy Sovetnes Os cal wek wel paral iin syns ueston ame Rote tile, bt oer ces te tere ra qe aap espe trafic ved aren sede Gi Weticsounonsoindicon tay acid Expert Sleepers Silent Way Control Voltage Generating Plug-ins For Mac & PC If you dream of controlling your analogue synths from within your DAW software, it may be that your audio interface wi from this plug-in suite. With the arval of MID, manufacturers finally agreed on one standard for instrument Imerconnection, but in the new digital world it seemed our beloved voltage-contralled synths were out in the cold, Thankfully it wasn't lang before MIDI-ta-CV interfaces began to appear, and pre MIDI synths were able to join the nev age of MiDidriven ‘music production Despite enormous strides inthe authenticity of emulations, the attraction cof a genuine analogue device endures “Taday, this is reflected ina second hand ‘market where prices continue to amaze and dismay in equal measure, and in let you do just that — with a little help a burgeoning underground industry of new modular analogue synth designs. Clearly, voltage-controlled synthesis is not going away anytime soon, so the question arses as to how best to incorporate these instruments into today’ DAW-dominated word, where even the MIDI port seems tobe sipping from “must have'to may have The Silent Solution Expert Sleepers’ Silent Way is one answer. It consists of suite of DAW plug-ins desioned ‘to.generate contra voltages from an audio interface, basically tuning its audio outputs into CV and Gate generators. The potentialfor such technology goes well beyond connecting up atypical monosynth of yesteryear, and Expert Sleepers see their product as providing the beating heart ‘of a powerful modular synthesis system. Silent Way fs, n theory, capable of driving anything from a humble Roland SHI), Sequential Pro One or Korg MonoPoly to ‘lant Moog System 55 or home brewed ‘modular dinosaur. Atthe time of witng, the plugins in the Silent Way suite consist of Silent Way , Silent Way LO, Silent Way Trigger, ened eo ea eed Eras Se eo renner ey eres bie rs er Ce eemeiney Peranrennreryee Let Stent Way Voice Cntlleris the hea othe package, adi capable of etputtng up tosix centrol signals Right Voie Tigger reproduces the gate and envelope features rom Vole antler amar and neater package Silent Way CV Input and Silent Way Volce Contrlier, with mare modules on the way, They will run as VST or Audio Units plug-ins, requiring Mac 05 10.4.1 oF higher, or Windows XP SP2 or late. “The major limitation facing any software-based CV generator, including Silent Way, is the ability of your audio interface to maintain a stable DC voltage atits outputs. Alas, most of ther can, including my own RME Fireface 800, Exper Sleepers are maintaining a database of compatible interfaces, along with user reports on the results achieved with them, so take alook atthe web ste to see if yourImerface and synth are amongst them. At present, the oniy range of interfaces that offers the necessary DDC-coupled outputs are those made by Mark ofthe Unicorn, neatly all of whose products suit. The SOS offices managed to drum up a MOTU 828 interface for me to use during the course ofthe review, and I can eport that this interface worked lke charm in tis context. If there’ catch to this technology, you just read it Just before we went to press, however, Expert Sleepers announced a solution that should work with mast audi interfaces that have balanced outputs. it requires an additional plugin called Silent Way AC Encoder and Specially adapted cables, and we'll ry it The Voice Of Truth Installation on my PC was as simple as Iegets involving simply copying the Silent Way DLL files Ineo my plug ins folder n demo mode, the plugins are fully functional, but wil ime out after 15 minutes. A single registration permits installation on three computers. | experienced no crashes or any other unpleasant activity during the review period Ta get things state, | chose fist to get the Sent Way Voice Controller plugin up and running, Setting it up Can be a little daunting, but the web site does a good job of guiding you through, with tutorials for a number of popular > oT DISTRIBUTION} Retro 2A3 Tube Program EQ Accurate to the indusity-standard Pultec EQ] performance, the 2A3 adds HF boost ‘re- ‘quencies in several new sweet spots Barefoot Sound MicroMain35 Active Monitor wiintegral Subs Revolutionary Barefoot vay technology in an even more compact enclosure! Inward Connections TSL-3 Vac Rac Hinwara Connections limiters are kind of ike | ‘ld Fairchikés. They have two knobs and fone setting. stun. You just insert and go.” = Chis Loid-Alge | Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor “Nobody buy the Shadow Hills Mastering ‘Compressor! Just once, | want a great compressor that nobody else can have.” ‘Michael Braver . shadow hills SER mun ergo visit www.mt distribution.com ry ®vintagekingaudio Soimioncesndcom = Das. | was using Cubase 5, and | found the textual description enough to prompt me along the way, though video guides are also avalable. Once you have grasped the basic concept, the process is simple enough, bue it helps to have a good understanding of your DAW routing capabilities and what you are trying to achieve. I can imagine a few people brouehit up onthe instant gratification of VST Instruments struggling at frst Voice Controller is capable of generating six control voltages, including agate signal, pitch and envelope voltage. inked the ‘urputs of the MOTU 828 into my Minimoog’ gate and pith CV inputs, and after the brieF calibration process | was up and running. Calibrating Voice Contaller consists of feeding the connected synth’ audio output back into the plugin, so that Voice Controller «an see how its vokage outputs relate to the synth’ pitch This s achieved by simply Silent ay DC simpy outputs a cantina altonng yout eae slow Piter ses a Vinpus. clicking a calibration button on the plug-in, whereupon a rising series of voltages is ‘urpurt from the plug-in and a mapping i automatically created, aligning volages to ‘MIDI note values. A small graphic gives an ‘overview of the mapping achieved | found ‘myself wanting to eit the mapping curve "Just to See, but his isnt possible at present, ‘though Expert Sleepers have ton the soon to be released! lis, Woice Contoller will cope with both Volt peroctave and Hz/Volt synths. My own dear Moog Taurus pedals are (strangely, ‘or Moog) ofthe latter variety, so it was pleasing to have this flexibility, MIDHtoH2/V “Theory serous arate MOTUS ota wih vrehape ote i S0Ssoon. bas sicker, at “Sarpabh ess sopnstcae,adacs Sem ays ‘ring ablity Was aso avlatie oan he cpa, 0 Nrawcpindonbetind:cominigl Hit: 1 volage, toe that canbe. thee your sya ase appropiate converters were never as easy to find as their Valt-peroctave cousins; have sold on some perfectly good synths party because thelr 2p system made them hard 10 integrate with the rest of my system. “The range of avallable output voltage Is dependent on your au inmerface. Hf the Iiterface features balanced outputs (as do ‘most, youll need a special cable to tap the voltage from two ofthe three wires, and its also possible to tap a second, Inverted copy ofthe C| used a few simple stereo jack to-twin mano jack adaptors. In the case of my combination of MOTU £828 and Minimoog, | managed to achieve consistent accurate fourand a-halFoctave ‘pan of 54 semitones from F#-1t0 83, which lt to be a reasonable working range. {noticed thatthe mapping began wrapping ‘back on itself at higher pitches, producing correct notes, but in the lower octave. Once coated, calibrated, the triggering and pitch response was rellable and consistent. | habitually lke ‘my monosynth keybeard to respond with highestnote priority but thee ae times when lowest and newest ate mare appropriate. Happily, Voice Contrlier optionally allows any of these, and also has 2 retrigger on/off ‘switch — something | wish my Minimeog had hha from day onel Further Adventures. ‘Once | had the basics working, | decided to bring more CVs into play. Voice Controller contains an amazingly exible votage ‘mixing matrix, allowing combinations of pitch, velocity andthe three envelopes to ‘be mixed in varying amounts to each of the ‘ix CV outputs. These Cvs can also be offset bya fixed amount. To prevent audible clicks when faced with rapid CV changes, variable ‘smoothing’ can be applied to the CV outputs, creating either a slew rate imi (reducing Loney becomes an save with Sten Way techreogy sce the conto voltages Ie produces are at mory of te aude Intertace' vers Tks needs to be pointed ‘out in case you wart to work In eal tine, but have an ou Intertace that dos net ‘curently go you the latency you demand. tho loney vou oxpvonco usin a VST Instruments not good fr You, Stet Way il not improve matters. The good news is thot an OV latency wil be Identical to that for you aco, so atleast they wl be n sme teosampe accuracy. the speed of voltage change), or applying low-pass filter to the voltage output The voltages generated for both gate ane ‘rloger (a transient pulse related to note-on) are variable. | abused the tigger voltage to Aad a slight fiter spike tothe attack of my ‘Wish you sith ha mor modulation sources? Set Way FO wil ad the, Sequential Po One, and it worked wel for some uberaggressive bass sequencing "had great fun plugging Voice Controllers envelope CV into my Minis VCA and VCE | found ic useful to modulate the envelope voltages with velocity information, The three envelope generators can be tweaked as simple ADSR devices, or you can go into more detall for each envelope, with a range of ‘mult stage controls fr both time and shape. Although my old MIDL-CY box does allow me topassa velociy offset voltage, It certainly doesn allow me to create and modulate envelope voltages, so this was a taly rewarding experience! inspiring stuf indeed. The level of control in Voice Controller is impressive. For the implementation of both fxed-time and fixed-rate portamento alone, Expert Sleepers have made I into my Christmas cad ist! It dismays me that so ‘many synth manufacturers seem content to ‘suppl ther instruments with only one or >Pee eee kee ee fe tel Talore Mctolt 1 Beloe Mae} AMP lel lla to BLP aloe Pree ee ee ee eT erent ee re ee eae et ee ere Te it eer en Ree eee eet ee iene nt ener, Ee eee as SET wcaauae eC aed Fer eee ee eee Re eT) Der ee eee ee eee en meer ie Ts eee EY ee eee eer en ee ey ern Ne eee ee ee a ee ee taal Ce eee a LS Re eC Se Een Be > am t=) a ZA SS relt ME) Borah) eee Lal) (3) SON eu NASON Eey io} Ss CE NON ER PO ITEP e RM nC osu cts nn nt tne Mnt cet ne] (3) 3 SECS Ene eS Moco n Peta toy eee RN Eos Wee se aielon Eon Cag Co @D) Bi tslh Zor e aoe kee eel NTE Beret Nossa fey FI “ earmeeiti i eee ee th ek Th a oy ALINvVn® SNIGNVLS.ino eye fetel ee SOTA a eeEXPERT SLEEPERS SILENT WAY D> the other, when it can make an enormous cifference tothe way a synth partis played But what about polyphom? Well, Voice Contaller has that covered 100, 8y Instantiating a number of Voice Controller plug-ins, assioning one as ‘master and the others to individual voice numbers, {was able to use my six-voice Oberheim Xpander via its CV inputs. n a fully fledged, ‘multt-oscilator modular syster, this wil be a very powerful feature. Trigger Happy Eventually, had to tear myself amay from Voice Controller and tryout some ofthe other plugins, Silent Way Tigger provides tigger, gate, envelope and velocty voltages from MIDI trigger source thas a similar that ll of these plugins can be automated {rom your host DAW, whereupon youll hopefully begin to see the potential. t wasnt Jong before | had some hardware contaliers assigned to DCS knobs (ll of the controller ‘numbers are detailed in the manual) and had recorded some inspired filter and sync'ed oscillator sweeps ona few tracks of my ‘OANN. Offsets and multiplies can be applied to the output voltage Silent Way LEO is also atworchannel plugin, enabling sophisticated free-running lor tempossynced cyclic control-voltage waveforms to be created, Tis is 2 notch ‘or two above your typical on-board synth FO, allowing, as it does, a number oF FO waveforms tobe freely mixed: sine, triangle, square (with pulse width control, Silent ay rat only a MID o-CV comer the CV npt plugin can record contol allages utp Iromyour sats. ange of controls to the corresponding features in Voice Controle, with al ofits offset. envelope, smaothing and the ability {0 et minimum anc maximum CVs. Simple and functional Silent Way DC is, perhaps, the simplest of the Silent Way plug-ins. s job isto produce constant contol voltage outputs, and itis actually two-channel plugin, each channel cof which has independent modifiers. It might not seem so exciting until you remember Oren ‘Stent Way's competiie withthe Open ‘Sound Control (0S) protocol meaning that ‘ean communicate with ether OSCendly _aplleations, though these remain tin on ‘tho ound as yet, For the true nuts and bots ‘Sleepers provide more information and ‘examples for you on tol web ste. i Nrew.cpindontetind cont inigl sid: sawtooth, random and noise. One particularly Interesting feature of LFO is its ability to add an asymmetric offset to the waveform. This and the other settings are reflected inthe ‘waveform display, making everything easier to understand and adjust. There is even quadrature’ option, which can lock the two LF0s together with a variable phase offset. FO is flexible enough that it can be used to create clock pulses for an old analogue drurm ‘machine, nd there is even a variable ‘swing’ contra, which many old machines lack Silene Way CV input is perhaps the most surprising weapon in Silent Way’ armoury. While the rest ofthe plugin suite concentrates ‘on getting Cvs out of your computer, CV Input enables you bring CVs rom your analogue synths into your computer It does this by making use ofan external VCA. torracka controling (un-polar/o- polar) voltage, through which is passed a signal fom a ‘Generator’ instance of CV Input, which 's subsequertly picked up by a ‘Decoder’ ee een) Pees seer instance of CW Input. This i reminiscent ‘of Waves EQ cloning plugin. though it may sound slightly confusing, once you understand the principles involved the application is easy enough. Since the plug-in is stereo capable, the sending and recelving ‘ofa mano tracked signal may be set up with single instance of CV input, which I fel helps to simplify the process. was able to create a VCA loopback with my Sequential Pro One and use the resulting CV tracking to control my Minimoog’ iter. Clever stuff — and, importartly, recordable in your DAW, Untimited Control My ime with lent Way was quite a liberating experience. The fact that ‘someone took the leap of logic to turn audio interfaces nto MIDFto-CV converters is innovative in self, but Expert Sleepers have taken the original concept up a whole sevies of notches witha range of genuinely useful plugins. These go far beyond simple ‘monosynth control and into the dizzy realms ‘of powerful modular syrth systems, where {can Imagine a very sophisticated control system with Silent Way tits heart. The only limiting factor isthe number of outputs you ‘an muster from your interfaces Voice Controller isthe star ofthe show for me. Slick and self contained, this has the effect of pulling a muctvloved analogue ‘synth inc the heart of your DAW, with a level ‘of contrel that is usualy the reserve of virtual instrument ‘When | was asked to look at Silent Way | wondered ifit was merely some technical novelty. Within minutes of beginning to ‘explore the possibilities | realised that | was very much mistaken. This is genuinely useful, ‘musical technology for anyone with even the most humble of C\-equipped synths ‘and, perhaps, an answer tothe prayers ‘ofthose with mighty modular systems. The catch, if there is one, is that only afew audio imerfaces can be pressed into service —and this may soon be a nonissu, ifthe forthcoming AC Encoder really works. 623WWW.SCAN.CO.UK t: 0871 472 4747 SCAN COMPUTERS Parts or systems “. .the fastest PC reviewed in SOS to date.” Scan 3XS Power DAW .. Scan's 3XS audio, video and gaming arm prove here that they can offer just as much expertise as the specialist DAW builders, with the advantage of buying components in such bulk that they can keep system prices competitive. 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Foy 10% depos and choose to pay the remcining bolance spread over 36 or 48 month. when you spend only £300 {inc vat) or more.B hardware D controller Eigenlabs — Eigenharp Pico n er Instrument The follow-up to the revolutionary Eigenharp Alpha is designed to make the essence of the Eigenharp experience more accessible and affordable. / How well does it succeed? Robin Bigwood ‘company, Eigenlabs, in its ‘Alpha’ model version. | reviewed that in the November 2009 issue of SOS, and while it proved to be a fascinating thing its price tag makes it practically unatainable for all but the most well heeled experimental musician. Since the Alpha review, Eigenlabs have also released another rmadel, the Tau, which costs £1899 and attempts to fillthe gap between the top and bottom of the range, but on test this time is the baby ofthe Eigenharp family; the Pico. Physically much smaller, at around 34em long, and connecting directly to a computer via a USB lead, it nonetheless retains much of the essence ofits big-money siblings. It has bythe same sort of keys, which ae velocity and pressure sensitive, and ) which also rock up, down, left and right to generate various contr streams — but only 18 ef them, in comparison to the Alpha’s 120. Italso sports a similar breath controller, and a front-mounted strip controller used primarily as a pitch-bendet. And while a computer is required to run the software element of the Eigenharp system, the Pico is fundamentally an instrument for live performance, designed to be played without peering at a monitor, a least for most ofthe time. I: Eigenharp was launched at the end of 2009 by a UK-based Take Your Pic So first things first: what exactly do you get when you splash out for a Pico? There's the Pico Itself, of course, which comes in black or silver, and whose cool, exceptionally well-finished aluminium construction looks destined to lasta lifetime. An aluminium and plastic breath-ppe fits into a cutaway section at the top of the main body, and two mouthpieces are supplied, An adjustable neck: strap attaches toa loop on the back of the Pico and assists 2 pair of adjustable thumb-rests in supporting the Instrument during playing. A good-quality, three-metre USB cable then fits intaa recess atthe bottom, and is secured with a rabust cable clamp, You also get an 868 Elgenlabs-branded memory stick, which takes the a oyere Geter earns Crees place of the DVD you might otherwise have expected for installing the system software and associated sample library. pair of ‘small ‘Quick Star’ and ‘Quick Reference’ {guides are all that’s provided in the way of manuals, and # product activation card cartes a personalised code for accessing support and downloads from wr. cigenlabs.com, All this lot comes in a sturdy cardboard box with a carrying handle. Taken as a whole, the package has an air of confident quality reminiscent of Steve Jobs-era Apple products, “The Pico also comes with a generous ‘complement of Apple Loops and Soundfents, which cover a broad range of Contemporary musical styles. Afew bonus downloads are available from the Eigenlabs web site, and its easy to add your ov loops and Soundfonts into the user library. You alse get a special edition of Camel ‘Audio’ excellent Alchemy synth, Pic & Mix So what are the basic concepts ofthe Pico? ‘As you'd expect, the physical instrument acts asa controller — so it has no sounds oF pracessing ability ofits own. Everything else happens on the computer, in an application called ElgenD. This handles the controller Input, and hosts a range of Soundfont-compatible sample players, [Apple Loop players, AU (Mac) and VST (PC) OUND.) ere eaa ae enero] Instruments and effects, physical models of ‘cello and clarinet, and various loop: based sequencers. But in a brave departure from what seems to be the norm these days, FigenD has almast no graphical interface {ust a browser window that’ only involved ina few operations, and even then doesrit rely on the use af mouse, trackpad ot ‘computer keyboard. instead, you interact with the system using mostly the Eigenharp itself, via key-press combinations that Include the top-left round button, the Main Mode Key. To put that In some sort of practical context, il describe some typeal frst steps with the Pico. After setting up and launching EigenD for the frst time, the one and only factory setup (a sore of global ‘snapshot of settings) is loaded, and the Pico defauits to playing a piano sound. The keyboard initially maps notes chromatically from ‘C10! forthe left hand, aranged In ‘wo vertical columns. The eight keys forthe right hand below cover the Ge to Eb going ‘on up the pith range. The bottom round keys act as octave shits, while the top Fight key (as you'te holding Ip is 2 global start/stop control that, atleast For now, launches a drum loop. So far so good Yu can get something out of the Pico the moment you star using it. ‘But what if you want a different sound? Holding down the Main Mode key, and pressing one of the seven playing keys directly below it switches to some other pre-configured sounds, including bass ‘uitay a synth pad, and the clarinet and cello physical models that make interesting use ofthe breath pipe input. And how about selecting a different drum loop to play along ‘with? Holding down the Mode key again, ‘Thebigenarp wos designed fom he ground up tari hear elance cn your computer most. Tefen times yout need are far browsing sample content and few ther options. Mere, fone ofthe ‘rummarvoices sing loaded up witha new too, but this time pressing the first playing key in the right-hand colursn below switches {0 a'Drummer Control mode, in which six pre-loaded loops and a metronome click can be launched, stopped and combined by {apping keys inthe left-hand key column, ‘Adjacent keys inthe righthand key column bring up a browser window on your computer monitor and now, by rocking up and down one oF the bottom-most playing keys on the Pico, you can scroll through a list of bundled loops. When you've found fone you lke, a tap of the scroll key Toads it into your drummer ‘slot’ and then you can switch back to an instrument and continue playing. If this sounds a bit labour Intensive it not supposed to — its much easier to actually do than describe. Using a series of addtional configuration modes, extensive changes can be made to 2Pico setup, loading different sounds, changing tempo, switching keyboard scale layouts and transpositions, adding effects recording loogs ready for later triggering, and balancing the relative levels ofthe different sound-generating components. It D> Pio ienes ‘As rte tis ele, the Eigenrp software ‘stl Macon), and you" need an Ite ac witha 2a processor otter, and 208 [RAM Windows suport is expocted?by Apt ‘2040, s0 shuld hopefully be avaiable bythe ‘tHe you read this. vicodin ©hardware EIGENLABS EIGENHARP PICO D> rakes alittle while to get into the swing of it and in the early stages constant reference to the Quick Reference Guide is essential, as there are absolutely no other visual cues or prompts, but after a few sessions it stats to stick, and quite radical setup changes can be made surprisingly quickly. Nature/Nurture When | reviewed the Eigenharp Alpha last yeas, | found making critical judgements of ee. tert eats it strangely dificult. It screamed potential, but at that stage required that players learn programming system called Belcanto to accomplish even fairly simple operations like browsing sounds and loops. Without committing a large amount of time and effar to mastering this and other aspects of the system, you werer't going to get much cut oft, and yer you could sense that it ‘was capable of so much, With the Pico, the situation is quite different. trades the scary ‘open-endedness of those pre-release Alpha configurations fora single setup that you can master ina few days, Straightforward features lke browsing for samples, loops and scales have been incorporated as simple keystrokes within a handful of configuration modes, making the whole thing feel much more immediate and hugely Altematives: Then ealateratve the Pico would be ante. Instrument the Eger ngs buat E899 (he Tata 3995 or the ire sro et compara imare oles moss i tew.cpiedonteuad.com in tiid: Jess intimidating, First steps with the Pico can lead you into thinking Its quite limited, bout, as ve already mentioned, familiarity and experimentation allow a great deal of Customisation to be achieved very easly But while simplicity isa strenath, it an also be a limitation. Depending on your approach, it might not take toa long before You wish you could make some deeper confiquratian changes. Say, for example you wanted the seven sound slots to all bbe Audio Unit hosts, and do away with the ‘samplers and physical models. Figen can easily run a setup lke that, but you've no ‘means of creating it. Your only hope, as an increld Pico owner, is that Eigenlabs could provide a setup that would allow you to enter Belcanto commands directly, to directly re-program the sound-selection system, | dare say they'd do this, and the forums at Eigenlabs are busy with people discussing the possibilties and potential of really getting under the skin ofthe system In this way. But then would come an entirely ‘new and much tougher learning experience, getting to grips with 2 programming language and the architecture of FlgenD. Ws ‘curious situation, though a mlion miles, | must stress, from being any sort of deal breaker — the Pico works well ust the way Eigenlabs made i Pico-boo? {mat tisk of finishing another Eigenharp review having done more describing than reviewing, so here goes, AS a physical product, the Pico Is top class, with Construction quality key action and strip, controller response all excellent. My review unit only worked properly when its USB connection was plugged directly into a USB port an the Mac, though apparently the use of a ferent USB chip in future Picos may allow their use with USB 2 hubs. The breath pipe works well, and is mapped to control Vatious parameters with different sounds, but wished there could have been a faster response to harder, quicker tonguing — its hhard to know whether its the breath pipe Itself or the physical models that are at fault here. Also, many sustaining sounds don't respond to the excellent key aftertouch unless they've been triggered with a fairly strong initial key velocity, This is more the fault ofthe individual voice architectures than a lack of ability on the part of the Pico, but it’s disappointing nonetheless, especially for pad-style sounds. ‘The instructional videos that are such an important part of getting going with the Ua aed ‘The visual Quek Start Gude vs some ‘base Info about setting up the Ple, and then drets the now cwno to wateh a srl of tatra vious, too of which were supped onthe bundled USB tok I received, With ancther accessible atthe Eigen wo site Unies you'd had por fsthond ‘expetionce ofan Eigonbarp, these ao, fé ‘52 compulsory viewing, because they get you up and runing with some hase canes ute auch, Pico are well paced, and the documentation is clear Having said that, | often wished the key positions and descriptions were shown from a player’ perspective rather than bheadkon,a position from which you never view the Pico asa playet. Inuse, running EigenD, | experienced no problems whatsoever. The samplers loaded fevety Soundfont I tried, and there were no ‘Audio Unit compatibility problems elther. Is shame that browsing Audio Unit presets has to be dane with the mause or trackpad, and can't be achieved directly from the Pico, but with so many different systems in-use by developers, its hard to see how Eigenlabs could have found a unified solution to this. In any case, once you've ‘got the sounds you need loaded, they can be saved and recalled from a user setup easily enough, Of the house’ instruments, the physically modelled cello trounces the clarinet in realism terms, especially when you ‘bow’ it by stroking the strip controller. Apple Loop playback is ood across a wide range of tempos, but the absence of a ‘quantise during recording’ option when using the loop sequencer makes achieving {good results hatd for some styles Conclusion Looked at as a complete package, the Pico isa great litle thing. Eigeniabs have done well to allow so much flexibility within the fone straightforward setup, and It might be all that many players ever need for live soloing, some more complex mult-ayered performances, and many happy hours of noodling and experimenting at home. 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Solo Stings erecta See cok Teme ecri, Beatlecea meer ae: Stace Bene creas mene ca neuer: Cements OrchestralStringslI_ Woodwinds Brassll Chamber Strings ll AppasiontaStingsl Solo Stings SRG cea La i ane as a Conan Gaston! Ramos Saree Gemiwras stempentice eect Reece cee ee Ge eae se NiTAN EE... 200 Synthesizers in One! _Debaeinim etniesRAY DAVIES a Berk IN THE STUDIO eee ENE nc UC LU ceU EEE oe Cd first taste of recording in 1964, and he’s never looked back. since the Kinks purchased Konk in the ely anted to try You Really Got Mea bit s you amble along the steets of Crouch End in North London, you fe e unassuming entrance to up by the ki 3 0 ing racks going st ma the choir was laid d ° not only donned the pro the of All Day And All OF LP (but alas, switched off on he also co-arranged the track i The Night it has atonal sort of notes that the only indicator signposting Temple and Steve Markwick. Re-examining fr ss — even in the original the arangements was an enjoyable e he really ambitious one for Daves and, in cenain cases, Ay Friends’, because that was the states, managed to rei e . kind ofa chant and a rif with feedback anywhere else sounds and t e ly capella and it w.soundonsound.com + may asoee Sone eet Pets Per eres ALittle Bit Of Fuzz ‘wo Davies bothers usd to spin records on at home each and every day "The radlogram at home was se nackered explains Ray Davies, Wo were we had to got sort of organically | ‘to recall us stlekng ottng neds in ‘the speakers, but Dave seems to thnk t ‘was razr blades — ho may have done that to another speak. | remem sticking ‘he king needs in ad getting that ‘eat arty sound, and thon lageng thot oamp ita a main amp. twas leky that ‘hat radiogran was so busorod. basleally, booavse wo would nover Ra ‘make the records the way til retains a lot ofthe overtones, alack of regard ir and an et up the way they're setup, because the high notes travel faster than th winereas, inthe studo, pe a and you lose ve, 10a degree. It madk ot ofthe natural dynam acknowledgement of what tr I guess wnat things sound lke Young & Innocent Days st time, after the K label © of my f uta lat of pop music had a lt of echo ust dlch’t want tha! Another dios that amazed it was the fist time Id ever done double-racking properly. We di it with 8 side of our fist single. | had sung the >interview Brvm our POST M CEN As wal happy Konk lant orth years The studo now boasts an SSL mix room with a 6000 eros desk, ‘the Neve rom With the elasic 8048 console, andthe lve ror with ts ee eae enor D> lead, and then it came to double tracking, and for some reason | didi consider myself tobe lead vocalist, but! got the Job because iy volce tracked better Dave [Rays brother ‘and lead guitarist sai, Your voice really responds to tacking, you know’ and wed never done It before. | really got fascinated by layering sound’ and tracking and I learnt how todo that very quickly. We had no idea what we'd sound ike in the studio but, at home, {did home recordings. We had a Grundig stereo and we had a grat ribbon microphone and we got grat sounds on it. Ve were quite sure what we wanted, but it was an unknown step going ncaa studio — particularly somewhere lke Pye” After the Kinks first two 1964 singles for Pye —"Long Tall Sally and "ou Stl War Me! bombed — the pressure was on to nal ive favourite You Really Got Me’ and give the i) ew.cpiedonteuad.com ing tiid: al the classe Kinks albums and slo Ray Daves records that have ‘cen dow and mined a Kank Stuns, hunereds of oer bands have ‘wondered traugh Rs unassuming doors to make ME records since the "703, Artits tom tho Bay City Relios, Elvis Castle, By Gaorge and Pau Weller ‘trough tothe Aretle Monkoys,Rezorght, Adela andthe Kooks have boon ign wooten treatment. Kork's lothora of modem and vintage outhoard {ear mlerophones and other gears too mumerus to ist Ree. Check the pment section onthe Kank Stdlea wob ste fo frter information. +S akways toon an artist ivan place tha than boing 9 stud that ‘makes mona.” oxplans Ray Davies. You nvor mako reno} suds Ihe this and it's a pcasure whon you break erer, Boca fo us the musle was TED wrens. com group a much-needed fis hit. The furure riumber ane was orginally recorded at Pye but the band refused tole he resulting ‘echaey' version be release, instead insisting they be allowed ta rerecord the track at IBC Studios in Petland Place. One ofthe big problems at the Pye studios had been Dave Davies use of his distorted ‘Ll Green? ampli with its infamously shredded speaker cone. At Pye, Davies guitar sound was cleaned up, while at IBC, the engineer Bob ‘Auger used it to his advantage. You Really Got Ne had a certain sound because we knew what we wanted,” says Ray Davies. "I remember my brother playing the ‘pening chords tit in the old Pye studios, and the assistant engineer ran out holding his ears because he'd never heard anything so loud He turned out to be quite a famous engineer ttt was just the power, in those aimays the thing eoming out uct gottng the records mage was a delight!” ‘days of the ‘green amp’ plugged intoa Vox, and maybe we had two Vox AC30s put together it was alot of noise in those dayst™ Mutual Respect The Kinks fist four UK albums and many singles released 1964 through to 1966 were mostly credited solely to American producer Shel Talmy, who was alsa behind some ofthe Whos early cutput, incuding ‘My Generation ‘hel recounted his version of the events behind “You Really Got Me’ ina Classi Tacks ticle in September 2009, ortine a soundonsound,com/sos/sep09/articles/ classiciracks 0909, hm), According to Ray Davies, the Kinks relationship with Talmy in these carly years was, forthe most part, one of fairly mutual respect. “We listened to him until we heard aborted version of "You Really Gat Ne’ sayshiss not what! wank ito sound lke! Tis i all too smooth — its got ta sound this way! After we made that poi with that song to Shel, he listened to us move, and he became mote of an ally in the stu, ther than someone who was lke a boss telling you what todo. He was very, very especttul of what Wi fone for wasting time, you know take, yeah it al right" Is there a mistake fn that, Shel” And he'd say, ‘gonna natice! In those days, producers/A&R, men were lke superior to the bards they wanted but he was not ah, but no-one’s produced, but we soon corrected that! Anyone producing the Kinks had tobe an all! The Kinks’ fifth UK aloum, 19668 Something Else By The Kinks, was the first ‘o-produced’ by both Ray Davi Talmy, and while Waterloo Sunset’ has often been cited asthe fst Kinks single tobe solely d by Davies, he claims this was not, in fact, first thing | was crecited as producing, but did lo of stuff before that. But | thin the 3s Shel had to get the credit w did ‘Dead End he case “TWaterloo Sunsell was the did it or not. Berne cat ere pea Suny Aftemoe! see twas such a good team that he would listen tothe way | wanted it think the real with me, bt by then, you falling out came I didnt ike at all. We waited 'v finished, waited until he lft and then went in and re recorded it, and that became the ane that went out An Old Jazz Sound While Ray Davies naturally learned a lot from "e most important both prior to and during ead End Steet which ‘working with She Tamy, Influences on him the time he started self praducing his ow records — were the engineers at Pye My idea of production was nt as clear as Shel," explains Daves.“ thnk there was Sort of catty ina lot of his recordings, whereas liked to bring in things hike sounding ‘offic sometimes, or double miking, 50 it sounded like an old jazz sourd rather than a clean pop sound, and that was the cference. Bu the quality control from Shel lke to think that etre! Inother words, saying We could keep doing it but its not ‘gonna get any bette things lke that ir ceo Roca ean or eee? aman reer eres ene had good engineers Mackenzie, Alan ODufty, Ray rcket all employees at Pye, all rely good sold studio {uys. Hearnt alt from those people nad to Know thelr sonics, those guys It was @ new music and they were using alot (of ald equipment that had probably used by the BBC, and there was a BRC kind (of feeling about the rules stil, but the Kinks ‘ame in and broke the rules. | remember the first ime — think it was the fist there was feedback ona record, on Need iewas a mistake, but as I was doing the countin, Dave’ guitar went of. Bob Auge was engineering it, and this man with all is ‘experience just knew what to do and that was the take. e was a combination of new, your musicians like the Kinks coming through with acical ideas, and then very knowledgeable, experienced people who knew how to record Theresa teal debt owed toa lt of those engineers working with us Ray Daves is the fist to admit he's not particularly technically minded when it Comes to record Wic plac $ a personal thing, and | guess instinctively TORPEDO VB-101 cara Cente iapttie -Wirnsocndonteidicc = if >> interview Brvm our {know what! want,” he explains, “but Scientifically m not aware of whats happening. | now what sounds righ, but | think instinctively. Sometimes the rulebook. has to go out ofthe window, but there’ that saying: You gotta krow the rules before you break them" ‘An Underachieving Masterpiece The first Kinks album co be solely credited as a Ray Davies production is probably their best loved nowadays, despite having sold very few copies on its 1968 release: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, In the late “60, 2 quintessentially English album celebrating traditional county life was a departure from the mainstream, and this wast unintentional 'ilage Green was a reaction toa lot ofthe culture that was around at that time, because it was a very warlike culture, explains Ray. You know, Pete was smashing up his guitars with the Who and Jim was setting fire to his ‘ular. | wanted to react ina more peaceful ‘way, and I saw that Village Green album as sort of — not a reaction to them, because oved those guys and they wer all frends of ‘mine — but a reaction to what was happening inthe world at that time, Although the album Jnas a relative flop, it became gute @ slogan for the peace movement in America. They picked up on it because they saw i s a thing about old values and, yeah there’ some gute heavy topics inthe record itself. It does err towards being retro, I suppose, ints theme, and its cetalnly a reaction to what | saw as reall being a violent world war and the cold war was at its height. It was avery paranoid time, and I saw Village Green as a peaceful antidote.” Daves also took an unorthodex approach to the records production, much to the bbemusement of some of the Pye engineers. actually asked them, ‘Can you turn the nic? the Vietnam 1 ew.cviedonteuad.com ing ditt: CCan someone knock the mic off to one side so the electric guitar souncs like i’ not miked up properly” says Ray "They didnt understand ‘that at al 10 tell you the wuth, and | wouldnt if were in thelr postion, but | wanted guitars sounding lke they'e being played in another roam, We're talking about the late 60s; think you coud do it now with technology — there's probably a plugin fort somewhere! Yea, ts an underachieving sound, ke | wasnt going for direct guitar sounds. | wanted them to be offic and more lke a recording environment instead ofa studio, I'm stil abit ke that {sll say to.guys, ‘Do those rough mixes for me, but don't make it seurd too good! Dont sample drums and dont make ictco precise! because the things that excite me are great jazz and eatly rock records The Song Comes Second ‘As you'd tend to expect, there can be beth ups and downs when a musilan ane principal songwriter beains to move from being produced to being producer. “ican be alificul," explains Ray Davies. “Like... ited OF Waiting For You is nota massively complicated song but at that ime, I wasnt in the production chai. adn finished the ly, and we cid the backtrack and they said, ‘Lets do the vocal and | sald, 'Ve gat a sore throat so gave me time overnight to write the fyes! | couldnt do tha kind of thing somuch when! was producing buta lot ofthe time, | knew sound I wanted to get with the band, and | used to guess ‘hereon shorage sf quality outboard at onk where the voal should be, so never relly used to de guide vocals, And by the time we {got to doing Something Eise and Vilage Green, | was Just saying tothe guys, Just play these chords, thsi the arrangement,’ and fd go in and readjust my song to fi the backtrack — othe song came secand in many respects, tut | had an idea about how | wanted to tack ‘the sounds, and then we'd ust go in and do back racks, ‘Nowadays ke when | did Working Man's Café, te last record —| did it in Nashville {already waiten al the songs when ‘we recorded it and played them to al the ‘musicians, felt kind of compromised a litle bit by doing that, bur thatthe way they work ‘over there. Those are the two extremes, and both have their pluses and their minuses. But when I was producing and went into a really heavy production schedule, like when we signed to Arista, for example, we had to come up with albums very quickly and alt of the time the band didnt know what the song was gonna be —I just gave them a bunch of chords to put down! King Konk The last record the Kinks recorded at Pye vas 1969 Arehur Or The Decline And Fall Of The Bish Empire. was time to‘move on, And Morgan Studos in Wilesden, North London, ticked all of Rays respective recording boxes "Arthur was as far as we could have gone at Pye,” says Ray. "By then, a couple ofthe ‘good enginaers werent there any mote, and Pye was changing, ust felt at that time that we were getting a bit stale at Pye. We needed to break off somewhere else and we went to Morean. liked Mergan because the control room was high up and it enhanced the bass rumble. It was probably a wooden frame platform, soit always compensated what led. lt of it might sound cheesy ‘how but | did a copy of every mix we did and put extra top on it and put bass cut Conitto compromise, so | did litle bic of pre-mastering but lost a generation in those days tape-totape... but they seemed to Work, Lola’ werked out al tight, And then td goto the mastering room and they'd do it even more excessively, but thats what Gives those records that kind of presence. Bur Moxgan also had a nice deur soura in it and I ked that. It was good for Mick LAvonys drums, because it was a very dead room, and Mick’s got a subte touch and It kind (of complemented his style of drumming to certain degree. “The Kinks used Morgan to record Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround Part One, MuswelHilblies ard Everybody's In Showbiz lus part of Preservation: Act before Konk, an ex-biscuit factory, was set up and ready to roll tape. Ray Davies explains the reasoning behind the band wanting to secute their own recording space Budgets were being slashed, but things had been creeping at Pye explains Davies, "Pye was expensive to record in and we pald ‘our own recording costs. We had a lousy dal, 0 once the recording costs had come off the tp, then you'd wet your royalty, which was realy low — theres not much left for you! Also, we wanted somewhere to do demos and somewhere we could record more freely [think we wanted to spend more time playing as well rather than jst writing songs. twas a period of IG track recordings becoming ‘more the thing todo, Sateen track was a big dal then, and then later it was 24:track We wanted to rehearse more, and people ‘were maybe thinking about arrangements differently by then, and were making slightly different music. Anyway, Dave and | were driving around here one day and we saw this place forsale, so we bough, then we bought an Ampex 16 track, put the control ‘oom high up so we could look down on the musicians and started working here. Where this room is naw used to be a loading bay, and we played ping-pong in here and there \was a snooker table inthe back room. was place to hang out as well —itwas grea! ‘couple of musicians ved here as wel, the road manager lived upstairs with a dog, soft became a bit ike a commune” The original Kork control room was raised above the ive room because it reminded Ray Davies of BC Studios, where the band had recorded the definitive version of You Really Got Me, Various refurbishments and changes have taken place over the years at Konk, where both the Kinks and Ray Davies have recorded almost every one of their albums since 1973. "We moved the original canto room from \what is now the plano room," enthuses Ray, “and we had a Neve... Rupert came down and he was great tous. He designed a desk for that room but we later sold that desk and bought another Neve [the current 8048 console], We moved the control room and had ‘the purpose built room that exists now. it was tui for quad, because RCA wanted me to develop quad for them, but it never took off People have said if we decided to move the desk and change it, t would be a reat 5:1 oom. WS a perfect size and is one ofthe great control roams in London, ! think, and youve {ot So much space. Inthe 80s we decided ‘ogo forthe SL and people are coming here ‘mixing today You can rally trust this room, ‘This room is bul for these speakers. ts abit retro now, but people are coming backto se the old SSL technique aft. was never major fan of SSL, butt still works and people like this environment.” Getting Together Before we let Ray Daves return to his busy day's schedule, there's just one more ite ‘question — fuelled by recent rumours — we rave ta ask re the Kink, who split up In 1986, going to reform any time soon? “Yédo tif we had new music and new stuff to achieve says Ray. wouldnt do itjust todo a remix ofthe past, As long as there's new music todo, and maybe with the ‘new technology, there’ more opperturity to do it because then maybe can ge and get Dave at his place and get him to do his stuf, bout oniyif theres new music. If we had two new songs to play then yeah” a2 iimncoindcaoodico Wi) software Uso pecan md Piece isin doantng wih Cech ke Bros and Bry might oe, butbetnd pera ds Fesasu wt sd desgn va inert men pose and tora acest va asi they hes ed men culty tox eta neh kd Sterne end shpinecores any conemary les Te pa aswel tara ect eve va Cine Sere trot on pf mae ee Showerty pec oe ccc Wa is ba nsdn ind sent sed conan Seon devoed esta Ko sed eee) ae Soren ttn ered eect sreerornntg ere eee (i ew.cvindonteuad.com ini sid: - Sample Logic Morphestra ) YJ What happens when an orchestra mutates into a cinematic virtual instrument? Our men in white coats investigate. Peed sounelsculpting and processing to a 27.568 sample poo, Derived from recordings of {a wide range of symphonic, world and ethnic instruments and percussion, vocals and sound effects, te library was developed in conjunction with prolif sampilist Kick Hunter, author ofthe Virwose Series and Emerald orchestral brates. | discovered ‘one advantage of Morphesta before playing a mote: it the frst library Ive encountered that ships on a pocketsized hard drive rather than on DVD, which means that you can immediately start using it without frst enduring a lengthy installation, Speaking as one whe has ted his thumbs for aa i what seemed lke an eternity while installing Teraoytes of sample data from DVD, m ‘lad to see Sample Logic finally commit to 4 delivery system that has been promised by ‘other companies since 2002. Atmos-fear Morphesta’ mission to serve up the indefnable, amorphous and unrecognisable must have caused dificuies when it came to naming is contents, ts makers deal with the conundrum by dividing the library int three ‘main categories: Atmospheres, Percussives and Instrumentals, The first of these contains a total of 261 Kontakt instruments groupedEffects Tabs For Easy Tweaks ‘am anay of eects tabs i vaiabie at the top level in Morphestra instruments, ‘enabling user to perform custom tweaks without diving to deep under the bonnet. ‘Abul arpogaiaor ade alt of value and Is very comprehensive: arpoggle pats {hich are saved along wth user patches) ‘a user configurable and can contain up to 32 sogments, each with thelr own volume set, To create ‘gated! rhythm fect, ‘al you have to do i reduee selected note loves to 210, leaving tho others to play the este tiie pulse. Timbre may be vaved with simple ‘wo-band Eq and a state tr although as the later nas no ervelopes, you cant use itfor ter swoops. But you can introduce ‘ce Lato efots va the flanger, oF use ‘the phasor and tremolo ad 19605, pyehodoleamblonco. Distortion, ehows wid’ delay and vor can bo tured on and of va the rot panel, but You may fed you dont mood to reach forthe last control very often, a a good number of Mowphestra's samples have thelr ov ong, heavy rover ult In together losely by mood, in folders labelled Mystery / Suspense’, Sci, "Disturbed, ‘Spiritual / Ethereal’ and so forth, Most ofthese ‘Atmospheres’ are sustained textures the majority Featuring a synthetic bass drone overlaid with nebulous, ethereal and blended sonic events of various kinds. These are rich timbres: “Days of Ol, with its reverberant, Mark Isham-style solo trumpet languorously picking outa sparse, minorkey ‘melody, accompanied by backwards plano notes, isan evolving sonic event that sounds like a complete plece of ambient music, Erle Life’ (sc) has a ghostly majorseventh Ingerval slowly fading in andl out over ts bass drone, while Path to Tranquility’ does a sintlar cick with a breathy, almost subliminal, bathed in-echo instrument that may once have been an ethnic fut Contrasting with these complete-sounding soundscapes ate more minimal patches, such as the gorgeous Pleasant, a sustained, ricely-voiced "C over D bass’ chord played on a beautiful layered synth patch ‘The ubiquity of apocalyptic bass-pedal notes lends a sense of menace: ‘Datkn'Scary plunges you straight ito Saw VI territory, with samples suchas ‘Brain Dead! and ‘Death Horizon’ sounding every bit as fearsome as the names suggest Alter suffering the soothing (not tones of Chainsaw Kile’ turned to the World section for some light relief, only tobe unnerved by the ominous sonorities of Piercing Fright and Jihad. Crees eee - Orr" : The plaintive, walling melody ofthe latter nd the folksy tune of An irish Welcome’ are played on what sounds lke an lndian sarangi, indicating that in this morphed world ‘Geographical boundaries ae also blurted. Though the prevailing mood of this section is disquieting, sounds lke Power (Of Three’ (a floaty bed of echoing, breathy flutes based an the pentatonic blues scale) and the bissed-out ‘space orchestra! pad of "Plaieum Dreame? are beautiful and wang, an instant inspiration to writing, Most ofthe tentutes use only one sample mapped over a couple of octaves —and, while | admire ‘the imagination that wers into creating them, | ccasionally wished their elements ‘were presented separately, so could turn Some off and add my own overlays. On the Plus side, the Atmospheres samples offer an abundance of choice, and once you've found fone that suits your musical mood, you're Virtually guaranteed to find several more that will complement it. Repercussions Inthe wisted world of sound design, everthing ha 0 be prceies, drone muted in someting len an bare The pac its in Mrphestas Pecssves secon aera exception: Hard te sinks ‘dtd torte underted big drm Iti apo freer, aig a supe reise ofsize and dst. iia, 2 dened prof pat cymbals refracted through aaron i Crashed Oa trarsorming a her cymbal pas to 2 helih metalic euncbust impact sequences rake good se of Merphestaarpeggator and delay tetra a wih lo Choa ROE ‘The arpesiatoris an intel part of Morphes’s mods eperand an oes a comprohesive sto etre, iiincodidonbootdicc == >SAMPLE LOGIC MORPHESTRA D> Computations 2 a humble ket itis transformed into something so iresistbly weird and funky that | found myself jamming along with for ages. Some ofthe heaviest, bits inthe library (notably Hard House’ and "Wg Menace) are found inthis section — and if you dont need their builtin rhythm patterns, just tum off the arpeggiator and you're ready to slam out some of your own, These processed orchestral and acoustic percussion hits are supplemented by big, Industrial, effected, metalic noises, doomy chimes, low pitched percussive material and a large variety of electronic impact noises ‘One of my favourites in the ast category ‘was I Want Your Sou" an utterly overthe top, bighly reverberant and distorted electronic percussion onslaught. Turning off some of the dstortion effets reveals a fabulous, bighly usable ‘gitch kit’ of electronic bonks, dlangs, buzzes, zaps and crashes. Such patches are the exception rather than the rule, because ike the ‘Atmospheres’ textures, many ofthese percussive instruments consist of single samples. Instru-mental Morphestra ‘instruments’ category is by far its largest, comprising melodic instruments, ‘ads and some bonus orchestral patches. Some ofthe most entertaining sounds in the library are found in the ‘Arpeggiatedflder. where patches such as Frenshs' transform simple chards ito mati, dancing ehythmic ostinatos with nate values and delay times corveniently synced to your song tempo. A selection of pitched loops Is included: these can change key without changing tempo, but ‘when playing multiple notes you have watch your timing In order to avoid inadvertently ‘creating messy fams. (That not the case with the arpegglatr, which happily chunders out Its rythm patterns in perfect time regardless ‘of when notes are played) Many patches use “The carer cane ‘abet soundscapes pos : 1 ellestans wo ek soe on wd Tox hicriniee eet h ‘pings by ond). Corals estan a Soa ou {rope combing bets, senate is 7 page. AD hep nt he rae, etek an Big Fish Aus Sats (sGB) cove siar rounds Mores, while Part Fes om Best Seve 8.36) offs mare ig forthe ach. or “hesinbtdcomig Uke Bos ‘Taranion isan afidile ma famines _anenlojuesyrineetc be. (@ wew.cvindonteuad.com inj titd: SACU TIGER AUS EHEC ‘Morphestt sips on 9 Glyph Portagis Freie '800/1SB 2 SATA hard eve with Kontakt Pier 3 software and samples preinstalled, ‘The reviow copy orved onan 80GB drive, hich Sample Loge have since upgraded to 16068. Onn authorisation fs dane at Native Imctruments’ web sto. Uke all sound libraries formatted fr N's Kontakt layer, Morphestra canbe loaded Into the ful version of Kontakt, which offers comprehensive editing facies. Morphestra the mod whee! to contol ter cutof, enabling users to perform subtle or extreme timbral changes on the fy. Most ofthe instrument in tis section are reverberant, with longish repeat delays and decays. | found some nce, ethereal, orchestral favoured pads, but thought too many featuted builtin octaves, which limits the potential for chord voicing. To my ears, Some ofthe Instrumental sounds area lite cheesy: an oversellance on syntheticsounding, avely bright, mallet, bell and plucked attack transients prevents the patches n question from sounding contemporary and glves many an outdated, '80s feel. | also occasionally felt thatthe cffects (particularly the built-in delays) were the main event, rather than the actual sound source. That sad, there are some beautiful and emotive pad textures in here ‘As well as supplying orchestral sound sources fr the library Kirk Hunter donated bonus fl strings, brass and woodwinds patches, each of which comprises multiple Instruments mapped according to range. Though sounding a ite unconvincing down in the bassoon register, the high {end of wooduinds contains an appealing ‘oboe and: flute combination; the legato strings sound rch, smooth and expressive; and the brass patchS trumpets are a knockout, ‘teat for fanfres and triumphant, militaristic themes, This unprocessed bonus material is a usefl laboursaving device for composers equiv Kontat 3.5, bet # youre ateady ‘uming that version, the Kontakt Payer Software povided wth the Mbrary wil not Install. That's Beomise Kontakt 3.5 atondy Incorporates al the unctons of he ployer software, (This somewhat conusing plece ‘ot Natve Instruments protocel apps o all Kontakt 3.5 libraris, nt lust Morphosta,) This should’t pose any problems fr user, sinew Kontakt 3.5 docs everthing the player software an do, and a whole lot mote ‘who want to quickly add orchestral timbre to pieces without having to load, balance and program al the incivdual instruments fam the three orchestral fails Fade To Black From the tie, | assumed that this was going tobe another orchestral library with some bolted-on tweaking facilities, but Morphestra turns out tobe more adventurous than tat Some use rchestal samples are provided courtesy of ik Hane: Much effort has gone into creating something ‘out ofthe ordinary andthe results are imaginative, vaied and rewarding: another advantage i that, unlike some libraries, it contains 2 wide enough range of material tocreate self contaned pieces of music albeit of somewhat warped nature! Gazing into my battery powered crystal ball, It may be that the current fashion for unserting, lsorientating and scary noises in movie, TVand game scores will eventually give ‘way toa more romantic lyricism, but as long as we continue to live in rouble times Arusically speaking), Morphestra wil have place in the market. ea [Corn(OF (eye meee www.carillonae1.com 0845 519 4530 The return of Carillon Audio Systems Perma ecg Com eea tesa cla eal Pee eMac ee AC1Core1 Acores25GHz Up to *) re oc D AC1Core4-XT ~ 6 cores 12 threads 3.33GHz starting at £1949 Looking for a new aucio computer? You've just found it.Sonodyne SM 50AK Two-way Nearfield Active Monitor India may be a growing force in most Oe muna ONAL) Pere OR UU RUC Ria} DEC eH Tiere Uk Cle} ree tLe x Hugh Robjohns ‘the brainchild of Ashoke Mukherjee, who set it up in Kolkata in the 1960s, eriginally to produce battery eliminators. In the years that followed, the company started manufacturing Cee ee ets teen rs ‘great acclaim in India and increasingly around the world — and inthe early 1980s an export division was set up in Mumbai's Bake ee er ee peecreee tans The company have always been engineering: and reseatch-led, Cee ee gee ce umes te ond the high-end home audio, professional studio and PA markets The Kolkata factory is entirely self contained, with an in-house Pe ey oe eat ent) Pe ee ee ere etic) ieee eet et cue cy ee ee ee Cy See ae et gd Ce ne ee ee Sree eee ee Cause ny Se eC ace La ng OPE rec UNO ea ret ee Pe ree eee eee ne ee gen ee ae also a partnering powered subwoofer, the SLF 200A, which uses Peres } PeiThe compact SM SOAKS weigh a surprisingly hefty 6.3kg each, and are shipped witha strong fabric drawstring bag 0 protect them when notin use, or during transit. Viewed from the side or above, the reflex-ported cabinet is a trapezoid shape, narrowing towards the front in both dimensions, presumably in an attempt to reduce internal standing waves. The front baffle also leans backwards towards the top, to aid wit driver timealignment. (Overall, the speaker styling Is hia reminiscent ofa Former produc line indinavian speaker fram a cert snufacturer, with vertical flared slot ports ether side of the I. inch (26mm) silk soft-dome tweeter (the SM SOAKM variant ‘model uses an aluminium-dome tweeter instead). The 5.5-Inch (130mm) long-throw rmidbass driver apparently uses a Kevlar cone material with a conical centre dust cap, suspended within a die-cast metal chassis, and both drivers are magnetically shielded, The specifications supplied in the ‘manual seem good, with 2 claimed frequency response of 70H2-22kHz at PRINS teo | STUDIO =] Tear PLAC ean omen ter ml aay ea eerie oom and stimulatin eer ener Visit www.Universal-Acoustics.com for detaile (2348), extending out to 60H2-25kH2, ‘with a:10d8 margin, These figures reveal the very steep bass rolhoff inherent in this kind of compact speaker, and the ‘gentler HF roof, Dispersion above SkH2 is quoted as 75 degrees horizontally and a surprisinly wide 70 degrees vertically. The latter might cause problems with ealy reflections from the work-surface or ceiling, and that should be berne in mind when ausitioning this speaker The electronics chassis provides 45W of power for each exiver, with fourth-order active crassover centred fon 2.5kHe and a second-order 6OHZ suibsonic filter. Comprehensive protection circuitry quards against over current and overtemperature, as well a RF interference and switch-on/off transient thumps. The maximum continuous SPL figure Is ven as 04a8 at 1m in half space Deeply recessed DIP switches on the rea panel provide tonal and roomcorrection ‘options, with a treble tik shelf response (248 above 44H), and bass-tlt options of 248 and -4d8 from 80H (ot -6¢8 with beth ent and Universal Acoustics provi Universal Acoustics Solar System Room Kit or some Mercury, used in combination) These are intended to compensate for placement near boundaries, De SSE Se eed eer es err: cer ee eros ed well bul an See eed cee deta and treo ioging. Th Penner oe ener eesSONODYNE SM SOAK D while a separate bass roll-off (6d8 octave from 100H2) enables the speakers to handle louder monitoring levels whan the bass is being handled bya subwoofer. Also hidden away in the recess is @ rotary gain trim with a range of #648 (the nominal input level is OdBu). A small screwaliver will be required to adjust the gain tim or the DIP switches The power on/off switch with associated blue LED) and operational volume control are placed on the front baffle elther side, below the bass/mid driver — and that will please a great ‘many potential users: one of the most ‘common complaints | hear about active speakers relates to power switches and «gain controls being inaccessible on the rear panel! Input connections comprise balanced XUR and quarterinch TRS sockets, mounted in another recess so thatthe connectors and cables hang vertically. Mains power is via a standard fused IEC connector, and the Unit operates on a single, fixed voltage (230V AC, in the case of the review model) A par of threaded inserts in the base is provided to secure the speaker to ‘optional or thre: party mounting brackets. Impressions The SM SOAKs appear to be built to high standards, ae certainly wel finshed, seem comprehensively specified, and are obviously designed with thoughtful facilities. The polar- and frequency-tesponse plots published on the manufacturers web site (but not included in the otherwise usefully detailed manual look plausible although you have to look closely to realise the polar plots ae at , 10 and 14k. The heavily averaged frequency-response plot reveals a generally very flat response from 100Hz up to 4kHz, with two distinct peaks above that, of roughly 208, centred on 5.5 and 1OkH2, As the manual promises, switching the SM SOAKs on (or off is entirely thump- and click-free, which is @ nice touch — although | was surprised at the level of background hiss from the amplifies, which seemed Alternatives ‘Wis ately conpetive porto actie speker mate isa ey estas! and Storgconpetton. the mos obras arem¥els {he Gane fo ih sin cd tat ‘ANAT ons RK VATS ars sons aneners Inspect i ew.cvindonieuad.com in tid: Cee alittle high for such a modest power ‘output. In extremely quit control rooms and with close nearleld positioning, this bbackoround hiss could become frustrating, but! doubt it wil trouble many in the project studio arena in practice, I set the speakers up in the standard cequilateraltriangle formation, with a base length of roughly 1.5m — and typical nearfield positioning, well clear of walls and floor. As usual, | started my auditioning with my long-serving spoken-voice test track, which revealed some mild Lupper-mid coloration. Overall, though, these little speakers are pretty neutral and resonance-tre, and the level of fast, accurate detail through the mid-range was impressive. The high teble is very ‘open and ary, with ots of detail, but certainly not overblown, Even in my slighty bright-sounding room, | didn't requite the HF til, which is another good sign; speakers witha britle, exaggerated top end really do sound hard in my room! Stereo imaging 's solid and precise, with reasonable depth fon appropriate material. The speakers ddon' seem to0 fussy about toe in angles or positioning generally, which Is @ good thing, and the overall tonal balance is pretty good for a box of this size. The bass response is tight and tuneful when they're used as nearfields, although (not surprisingly) It lacks weight and DiPsmitches onthe ear panel thei sok rode onal and oomeorection ft. power, particularly if pushed hard — ‘hen the amplifiers quickly reveal the strain they are under. | fle thatthe tonal balance became unacceptably thin and lightweight when working at distances of much more than | 5m, although placement nea side or rear walls des help to counteract that Impression to a degree. Fundamentally, though, there a finite limit to what ‘an be done with a 55-inch driver in a small reflexloaded box with a 45W amp behind it)! cant imagine many people would feel the need to use the bass-tt equalisation options, even when the speakers are placed close to walls, and integrating SM SOAKS with the partnering subwoofer would make sense in larger spaces or IF high volume monitoring is required. Alternatively, ‘of course, larger models inthe range should offer improved bass response. Verdict The real steenath of these monitors is in their mid-range detail and spacious stereo Imaging, with enticing treble precision — and those things are key to building accurate mixes. Balancing bass instruments requires constant referencing ‘t0-commercial tracks — atleast, until you become familar withthe sound presentation of the SM SOAKs — but | found it relatively easy to construct test mixes that travelled wel, and EQ decisions came {quickly and unambiguously, which is always good sign The SM SOAK is fighting ina very competitive part of the budget monitor speaker market, butt stands comparison with its peers well and has some useful strenoths. Asa relative newcomer —te the UK market atleast — Sonodyne have made a goad impression vith this reviewer, and m intrigued to-discover what the larger SM models are capable of, 53 Informationene ae ee nate eee ee I es ere es erty for over IS years... Daa reel call us on 01837 SSZ200 Eo eT bit) ie) Be eu note captures, making RG t ERs cient! RG 1.5 Update Cee Tureen ad ve fom scratch using the j synthesizer, and effects! eco Pees oe ERC ee ee a eo) PSG uPA LS ere BASS MODULE eee raid SOX: The Lost New York Studios Atyci aa sS(ore é 8 SAMPLE LIBRARIES DIRECT TO YOUR COMPUTER 24 HOURS A DAY. 7? DAYS A WEEK.‘Tascam DR-O7 ‘Tascam DP-O2CF Set Git rns matte err ‘Alesis Multimtx 4 USB ‘Yamaha 01V96 VOM Mackie 1642 VLZ3 ‘ ‘a ing ome themann @ MUSIC"IS, OUR, PASSION ee rae! Peter Sere) Pee et ee rad ieee erro ene reens or Career ene ‘Tascam €D-A700 saan sewn, 168. Sony PCM-MIO Set NEO Bundle Yamaha MG 166¢x ‘Alesis MultiMix 16 Firewire ‘Mackie TT24 Refurbished ‘Yamaha IMB - 40 Set mageThe Thomann services RCE! BOC uee eT CR Ere) VECO T Rr Ee ey OE asa oe uy Seer iach eur oe Cee area ‘Akai LPI 15 ESI DuaFire oon ‘MOTU 828 MKI M-Audio Oxygen 25 (ard Gen) — 8: 964 acces TD ‘Tascam US-122MK2 Digidesign Mabon? Banat eit yal RME Fireface UC Korg $P-250 "ro ae ieeNinentces hae “138. j= Focusrite, Saffire PRO 40 Korg SVI 73 otaee 1542.- icone 5 GBD, ‘Akal MPC 2500 SE ‘M-Audio ProjectMix ‘MOTU Ultralite MIE Hybrid M7 l2- gag _|The Thomann services Pe oar’ ee aod cogs tue) Ser ae eure en nee ear) Soro Cuineer eek Pees 49 9546 9223-24 ‘the t.bone Micscreen Rode M3 qereanetarens ils 99 83. sis fPove 3E Hectronics, era sESG5S smmesree, Soo, Recording Solution ‘Shure SM 7B Di is ee Peavey QU311 Rode NTS StudioProjects BI = 78. the t.bone Retro Tube tt a ‘AKG C214 Stereo Set IDX 266 XL ‘Streamate ‘Sennheiser Mba: the t.bone C450 Set Es the bone Scrra000 set ‘Avalon US Mone Behringer ADASOOO Rede NT2-A, 5-180 Bundl ‘Neumann U97 Al Sot aaa 2078: Focusrite Octopre LEBUCROT CULE Cal oy Ra rey See ass teed Ceo Cue Cer RTT EP renry + free shipping to the UK and Ireland on reer eres) mee ear) ‘Audio Technica ‘AKG K-121 studi AKG K271 MKIL ‘Sennheiser HD25 € I arson ATH-Maors Feroreeniee ‘Yamaha HSSOM ESI nEaros. 128. ‘Adam AS Pro ‘Adam AZ Special Edition wrens ee BD ‘Genelec 8040APM. JBL LSR 4328PAK ‘Event Opal caren wa G62. i 1121 ‘Allen & Heath Ploneer BJM-700 XONE:s? oats ‘€DJ-2000 108 Hercules ‘Native Instruments Dj Console RMX Traktor Scratch Duo [Mh alt const ‘roams, ie oat ese, ‘ ED ta Fo ae cm. psStudio SOS Having tackled his room acoustics, David Balen found himself plagued by a confusion of excess hardware. Our job was to get him back on track. Paul White & Hugh Robjohns Balen has a contol room, alive room ‘and a separate drum booth, and has already installed some effective, SOSstyle, Rockwool-based acoustic treatment. However, despite having plenty of ger, at the ime cof our visit he'd not managed to get i all to work together propely He was particularly concerned about a planned session with his band In a few weeks time: he explained ‘that atypical session might need a dozen rics to capture the drums and various instrumentalists, as well as one headphone ‘mix forthe drum booth, and four more Independent headphone mixes for the main room, He ust wanted a setup that worked and imate recording easy. Spaghetti Cable Disaster ‘The main room was dominated by a huge ‘bamboo flame covered with ethnic percussion, bu there was also an upright D rummer and percussionist David ‘ wew.cvindonteuad.com ing ditt: Dvd had accumulated move han enough ges but ef hin spencingoretine ihting gemns than mating msi plano, VOrums, a Yamaha Motif keyboard and a small powered mixer with speakers, fr use withthe electronic instruments. The floor was 2 sea of cables and there was a broken XR socket in the wall box. Next tothe main studio was the long, narrow control room: at fone end was @ huge pece of studo furniture housing a Mackie D88 mixer and hard lisk recorder plus a digital patchbay and an RME ‘Octamic il eight channel mic preamp: and atthe other was an Apple Mac Pro system running Logic 9.1, a Mackie Control and ‘Novation keyboard. A MOTU 2408 system provided eight channels of linelevel in and fut, a monitor output and three ADAT ports, Capable of providing up to 24 channels in and fut, A Mackie Big knob was hooked up as ‘a master volume contro, fr both headphones and a pai of Mackie HR82$ monitors. ‘An impenetrable mass of cables and ADAT lightpipes hung out of the back ofthe desk, andthe Mac Pro and D8® systems were loosely interconnected with miles of cabling — very litle of which worked correctly, and most ‘of which was diffcult to access, The drum booth was on the othe side of the control ‘00m, again with a tangle of wires connecting itto something inthe viii of the O88! Davids Behringer fourchannel headphone ama in the main roam was fe trom a stereo source, so everyone had contol over their ‘oun level but nt the mix. Again there was cable running everywhere, and exactly where the various signals went was anybody's (quest At least there was wall box for mic lines and teins tothe main room, and holes inthe wall ined with plastic pipe to the drum booth and main room fr running additional cables Logical Next Steps Fortunately, Oavid was alteady Familiar with the essentials of Loic 9 so, ater discussions ‘over coffe and chocolate Hob Nobs, he agree that it coud be time to make the leap to. more compact Logic based systemand to rete the DSB, along with some other hardware. The Mackie recorder could then be used with a small mixer to form the basis of simple mobile ecording rig if requted. The studio furiture could be retired, making the | oom far more spacious, and creating ‘he possiblity of recording vocals In there too! ‘After taking stock ofthe avallable geri seemed sensible micas an expander tothe MOTU interface, because both were fitted with ADAT ports. That would Give David eight line level analogue channels plus eight good-quality miclevel channels This wouldnt be encugh to handle the dozen necessary for his typical recording sessions, so for further expansion without spending too much, we suggested adding ‘Behringer ADA8OOO eight chanel preamp which, aga, offers ADAT interfacing use hese litle boxes in my oun studio for the rare occasions | run out of and need some extra capacity and it performs far better chan you might expect aiven the price ‘An idea was taking shape: we could feed ‘the RMES eight mic inputs from the main room tienes, the ADA8O00 from the drum-room to use the RME. = SPEAKERPHONE real radios tienes, and use the MOTUS ineevel outs to carry the five headphone mixes ll eight line level inputs would remain fee, so David ‘ould plug in more external mic preamps o use them to record linefevel sources. Tactile contol would come from the Mackie Control, chough David also hac tier Designs Tranzport that would allow him to initiate recording and to operate the essential transport contrals from the drum booth. A quick test proved thatthe Tranzport ‘was installed and working correctly. The Mackle Contro| was more roblemati, as it ‘and Logic in genera) seemed to be in conflict with the Novation USB keyboard: every time a contrl was moved on the keycard, & Logic fader would move and the screen would flash is was a problem tobe resolved xed up the essentials, Clear afer Getting Down To Business We got to work moving unwanted gear tothe ‘oaage. We also took out vitally all of the cabling, so we'd be able to start with a dean slate. While Hugh was pruning cable, I fixed the broken MLR connector inthe wal box, real guitar amp cabinets real telephones real ambiences Ree ee ee Sr ee ee Ree area ere to your tracks, Altverb, # reverb, comes with real somples of hundreds of world famous con a ee meee ce ead pears Ce a ee ee eer 1 convolution ere art ee ae See a ee meet h as distortion and a radio receiver dial ssing epoxy quid metal to rejoin the broken halves and to build up some reinforce around te jin: it may not have looked petty fram inside the lox but & worked! ‘Anew socket would have been bette, but there was no local source and it would have meant giling out and replacing rivets ‘Asma tabletop rack already housed the MOTU 2408, plus an Emagic AKITB MIDI interface, but there was aso space for the Octamic I and the Behringer ADABOOO, which would keep the connecting cabling shart Clocking On & Patching Up he Octamic I has an impressive technical spec, and excellent ter recovery, so We decided ta set It up asa slave un inthe system, withthe MOTU as mastey, synéed ck, That meant setting the RM lock external sync, using the rear panel DIP switches, One ADAT lightppe' optical cable was needed to feed ‘the output from the Octamic tothe MOI bank input. The ADABOO was also set up ‘unin slave mode, but because it has no provislon for word:clock termination, twas altiverb real temples real concert halls real caves real recording studios UNi7Y) avuvio Pe)> connected ina dasy-chain of word clock ftom the MOTU, via the Behringer, using a BNC Tplece, and on tothe Octamic, which would provide the required 750 termination via a rearpanel DP switch. Audio from the ADASODO was hooked up ia ADAT lghtpipes connected tothe MOTU bank ports. The ADA8000 also provides eight ineevel outous, but David edn ne these forthe time being. Sank of the [MOTU was left se to ‘analogue’ for use in the headahone system and to provide extra line Inputs, while the dedicated monitor outs rom ‘The eskand euboard setup underuentaseiere prune, eaing David with enly afew rockunits, and Fagot hardware badaches. the MOTU were sent ta the Macke Big Knab. Davis Mackie HR824 monitors were fed fiom the Speaker A output ofthe Big Knob, and the level lm on the rear adjusted to give a sensible level, with the Big Knob set around halfway up and the level knob on the MOTU around three-quarters ful. pair of Tannoy Eclipse active speakers was fed from aut ® fon the Big Knob, and the levels were adjusted so that switching from one set of speakers to the other kept the listening level more or less constant, We had to angle the Mackie in, as ‘David ae them pointing almost straight back along the length of the room, but their height vas fine. He was also persuaded to relocate ‘a noticeboard that he'd fixed over his acoustic treatment at the righthand miror point MIDI Headaches DDavid had connected his Mackie Contra to MIDI port one on his iterface, using standard MIDI cables, This setup was causing screen flickering problems (even when the Novation keyboard was disconnected and its software Lninstalled, so we moved it ta anether MIDI port on the interface and it worked perfectly. We also experienced similar problems when ‘0 Newcvindonieindcom sing tid: feeding the Yarnaha keyboards MIDI output to input one ofthe interface, so we suspected there was a hardware problem. As David never ‘needed mote than three MID| inputs at once, We opted nat to fix the issue properly he could simply abandon port one and use any of the remaining seven We didnt have time to get to the bottom of ie problems with the Novation keyboard, either, 50 a8. a quick fix we set it up as simple MIDI keyboard, with its Automap button switched off, and connecting tothe Computer via a MIDI cable rather than USB, This gave us a MIDI input to play Logics iernal instruments with no confit. The Mackie Contrel meant David didnt really need to.se the Novation as a remate contrl, so we left it et up this way for the time being, Hugh rerouted the cable snake feecing the main studio wall box, which turned out to bbe 16,way: 12 female XLRs for mics and four ‘male XLRS for eturas We didnt need retums, as the headphone feeds would be routed another way, 0 we connected channels 1 and 12 and the four returns as unbalanced line feeds to six ofthe MOTUS analogue line inputs, for use with the keyboards and \V.Drums. Adaptor cables would be needed to access those four return channels, but David had plenty of jack to XLR cables he could use to.connect up the studio end, and | wited up some shorter cables to feed the control-room tends into the MOTU inputs David also used a Dymo electronic labeling machine to create some signs on the wall box to identify the new line level connections, The fist eight mic feeds from ‘the maln studio were fed to the AME box, with channels nine and 10 fe tothe ist two charmels ofthe ADABODO. Hugh created loom ofa further six mic cables, threaded them into the drum room, and connected them tothe remaining six ADA8OO0 inputs. This was deemed enough, as David normally records is jazz kt with kick, snare and ‘overhead mics only We also pulled two pairs of long RD cables through the wall totransmit the MIDI data to and from the ‘Yamaha Moti keyboard and Roland V‘Drum kit in the main studio tothe computer That left us with two spare line inputs ‘onthe MOTU, which we connected toa TL Aula Wwory C5021 compressor inthe control room, that David could use as a I unit when recording instruments in tere, We checked ‘the mic ard line feeds and labelled the cable ae ends, All the connections were reflected inthe input and output labeling of the Logic default song template we created, but we alse listed ‘the routing ina text fi, for general reference Headphone Feeds Examination of the Behringer four channel headphone unit David had setup in the main studio area showed that ithad an unbalanced stereo auxllary Input on each ofits four channels, as well asa main balanced stereo input — so we reckoned we could feed in four separate foldback mixes via the aux inputs. This theory proved correct, but as the aux input comes in on a TRS stereo jack we couldnt just use balanced cables from the MOTU: that would result in only one side of the headphones receiving a signal. We needed. to ire a TRS cable to be unbalanced atthe MOTU end, with both channels connected tothe tp ofthe jack and the ting left unconnected, o split te mon headphone feed from the MOTU into two, feeding both headphones channels This worked fine, so we made four of those fr the four channels ofthe Behringer, plus an additional one to feed abasic Samson headphone amp in the drum room. Fed from diferent send buses within Logic, this arrangement would allow four performers >THE ROCK TRUE FIDELITY STANDS THE TEST OF TIME... THE FIRST OF AN EXCITING NEW RANGE OF MONITORS BY (aie ae ee) FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL UNITY AUDIO ON 01440 785843 F: 01440 785845 E: SALES UNITYAUDIO.CO.UK > WWW.UNITYAUDIO.CO.UKD> in the studio to have individual headphone rmixes, and they'd each be able to access the Lune to adjust their ov overall levels That lat the problem of talkback tosolve. The Big Knob doesnit have a dedicated talkback-mic output, but wwe found a workaround by seting the Headphore/Studio Out to follow the external ‘phones input which we let disconnected, This mix of nothing's then routed tothe studio-out jacks, but when the talkback is ‘operated, the talkback signal interrupts the ‘nothing’ and feeds tothe studio outs We then cabled this stereo studi feed 10 the main stereo inputs ofthe Behringer headphone amp, and adjusted the frontpanel balance controls on each headphone amp output tothe mid-way position between ‘aux’ and “main, so that both the talkback signal and ‘monitor mixes would be audible to the four performers inthe studio, This arrangement doesnt dip or kill the monitor mix when the talkback is used — whichis normally the case ‘on dedicated talkback setups — but David said he only used the alkback during pauses In the playback, so this wouldnt be a problem In practice. We relocated the headphone armp from its original position in the centre ofthe studio tothe top ofthe piano, so that the cables could be run through an existing pipe In the contol raom wall to the MOTU tine ‘outputs, and Hugh made up another loom to keep all those cables neat and td David hd acquired a numberof long headphone extension cables to run from the relocated headphone amp to the required ‘studio floor postions. Unfortunately, the drumraom headphone amp had ne provision for a second input, so there was no way to ‘eed calkback to this, other than via a channel In Logic. However, 3s the drum room glass ew.cvindonteuad.com sing tid: Bee David: “There's anew lve of meaey and engagemont in my ste that enables ‘me to st down, tune and forget loads of switening gear on and of. background noise ‘or vase ante consuming procedures, Projects with my youn Interplay 2 wel ‘as my own CD can now move aad my ‘own projeet has been lng for years ‘because technology hassles sopped my teatro los! “Abandoning th ftir andthe ttle ‘leap offal My past experiences with sotware have caused mich sashing of tecth, but Pal realy sorted out my working femplates. Gratitude to Paul and Huh for thelr gence, expertise and Humour. twas ‘orth the lvestment of tine, money and shares in the Hod Nob taotory” door faced into the control room, David fet ‘he could live with not having talkback in there unt he could repace the headphone amp. To tidy up the contrekroom cabling, Hugh ran it around the edge of the floor, but we couldn't avoid having a large bunch of cables running across the door opening. To make this safe, me found a piece of wad to use as a low step, supported by a batten along one ledge and the mooden door sill onthe other. ‘There was room beneath it for cables to pass through safely, and a couple of screws into the threshold strip made sure it wasn, ‘going to move about underfoot. Default Song David had two screens connected tw his Mac, which ahways makes life casey, but the displays were the wrong resolution, resulting in tooterce icons and out ofround ides. A couple of minutes in the ‘monitor preferences page got these looking correct, with salle, sharper icons and circular circles! The key to making the system simple to operate was to create Tomake recoding sessions easier to marage, Poul White setup system for iniduat headphone mines, and tlback a song template with the required audio tracks setup, thelr input sources selected and labelled as per their physical ieterface inputs, And five pre fade sends per channel, arranged as headphone feeds routed to line outputs 3-8 ofthe MOTU imcerface. Further post fade ‘sends were configured to accommodate reverb and other send effects, with a Space Designer reverb set up and ready to go. David ‘often records a MID plano (using Synthoay Ivory) at the same time asthe audi tracks We laboured the importance of checking that ‘the MIDI track in Logic Is selected before David its record — otherwise no MIDI gots recorded into it, even ifthe tack red record light is showing, We aso explained the concepr oftrack ‘grouping, which is important when you're recording a band, as it ensures you don't aceldentally nudge tracks out of sync. Inthe Groups box, you simply tick the Edit/Selection box and uncheck all the others. (iFyou need to make an edit to an individual track, Command G toggles group mode on and off) When we'd made the necessary adjustments, which included a screnset to pace the Arrange page on one monitor and the Mixer age onthe other, with a large SMPTE display below, we saved itas a New Song’ user ‘template. ‘The Remains Of The Day 8y the end ofthe day, we had accomplished everything we'd set out to, other than getting the Novation keyboard working propery, We started to download the latest software but Davi’ internet connection was rather slow, and by the time we had to leave, it stil said two hours and 44 minutes to go — so that ‘was one for him to install The contrel ream was now much tide, with a compact Logi system set up to work both for band recordings and Davids solo projects, andthe floor was free of cabling spaghetti, The back ofthe contra room had already been acoustically treated with broadband wall absorbers and acellng cloud, and the new-found flor space meant that it ‘was now practical to use this space as a vocal booth, iFrequired, Standing the vocalist with thee back tothe aceustcally teat possibly witha Reflexion Filter or similar device behind the mic, should produce clean and usable vocal tacks. Headphone ‘monitoring woul be easy to arrange ftom the MOTUS own headphone output via an ‘extension cable. Of course, that left David to decide how to deal with ll the redundant gear and studio furniture —but fortunately that wasn't on our todo list eaACOUSTIC DRUM SOFTWARE Streamlined.Fun Affordable built-in mixing and premium FX multitudes of genre-based presets to get you started x integrated Groove engine featuring over 1500 patterns x all major plugin formats and standalone version x a selection of the best BFD2 sounds x wide selection of expansion libraries Sxcusiel dtd i) che UK by ISONIC 8} www.SONICS.com 08701 657 456 (@pensiion ‘AS BE |i) 29 co9 inc. vatAkai Miniak Analogue Modelling SynthesizerghOvoice synthesizer that injected I: 2003, Alesis unleashed the lon, an arcery.clagging fatness into the world of analogue model than releasing ‘rack version, Ales's followed up with petite and curious spin-off called the Micron. Despite almost entirely lacking controls, the Micron trumped its kobbier brather with desirable extras that included delay and reverb effects, a sequencer and a drum machine. IF you'e wondering how this Is relevant 0 the review ofan Akal synth, is because sd by Numark, at beth Akal and Alesis are ow ‘a company that ‘ross pollination, Or, in d, wholesale alundering a is the case here. For at ts Software heat, the Akal Bini 's an Alesis Micron, with an updated design and 1 bundled microphone. Iti testament to Alesis’ programming skis that their work has received a new lease of if in 2010, presumably an (of Korg’ Microkorg XL. The Korg has a broadly similar spec, and Akal in ‘amparisons with the ation ofa gooseneck microphone. Trusting proudly from the pane this mics aided and abetted bya sticker pointing out how to operate the vocoder. AS 0 why its Akal rather than Alests onthe box, it seems that withthe passing of the mighty Andromeda, Alesis arent currently assoc th keyboards, sa the rale falls to Aa Wheel Meet Again With such a clase relationship between the mack ofthe success Miniak and the Alesis Micon, it makes more sense to revisit the latter synth’ review in the janvary 2005 issue of Sound On Sound. Here we'll recap briefly, focusing on any significant diferences encountered. At 5.4kg, the Miniak is heavier and more substantial than the Micron, and its main encoder inspires a litle more confidence ‘00. 'mnot madly keen on the blue back display, though; its backeround glow alm: ‘overwhelms the text inspite of every contrast, adjustment. I's readable, certainly, but not as clear from a distance asthe Micron’ plain but serviceable green display Having a larger torso enables the tniak to accommadatefullsized Keys and three wheels, placed above the keyboard, They consist of a traditional sprung pitch bender and two assignable modulation wheels. Backlit ina rather fetching amber, these fee! instantly more frm than the sideways sliders of the Micron, although | rather pitch-bender. The light, three octave keyboard. De ked the Micron may 2010 + www.soundonsound.comAKAI MINIAK D> is velocity sensitive but, as expected, lacks aftertouch,ithas a total transpose range of eight octaves, with brief on screen graphics popping up at each transposition. n a futher show of friendliness, the transpose buttens increase in brightness foreach octave shift. ‘There’ a choice of four possible operating modes — Multi, Sequences, Rhythins of Programs — selected from a ow of buttons inexplicably labeled "Program Controls’ Single patches (Programs) are dialled up alphabetically, or from a pool of stored favourites, or according to category (known a Sound Bank on the panel). The categories include the usual Bass, Lead, Pa, String and soon, accessed via a combination of ‘the Program button and a white key from the lower hal of the Keyboard. spin ofthe mmaln encoder whizzes through the avalable patches, ts nota bad system, and has some ‘quirky advantages, such as the Recent” category, which fs automatically populated wth te last 10 patches played: The six buttons known as "Performance Controls include the Phrase arpeggiator — the gateway to prepared riffs — and Pattern Flay, a button whose job is to start and stop all sequences, rhythms and arpeagios in a Mult ll shythmic shenanigans are subject to the tap-tempo button. Tapping in tempo Is briliane when working with live band, butt ‘an be preferable to dialup a BPM in absolute terms. Ths Is simple, tea: hold the button ancl {twist the main encoder. Fray, three encoders cenigmaticaly labelled and" are actually performance controls, thle function assignable in each patch “There ae no textual enigma on the reat panel instead we find balanced 24-bit stereo ‘outputs and inputs. Theres not a great deal 1 say, other than that connecting a jack to the left input disables the included XLR microphone. Sadly, Aka revamp hasit ‘opened up a place for USB connectivity. In this respec the Miniak shows its age as if sporting a wrinkly neck and ler spots. At least MIDI te Ai Mion Te sy sWicokorg wich Swell esabishe oinnoand vd eit pte sty butte Mina eran ere nator oto marion ts hve oma fused an ete patches, could be enough to give the Kor hep theehe Meso Bolt cone, fanjoe ota vcodgo era avo sig pee espay and power sthess tal worthaiack, i ew.cviedonteuad.con ing std: sockets are in fll attendance, though, Power 's via linelump adaptor, and completing the rearview are thre additonal jacks: «headphone socket and inputs for a sustain ‘ecal and an assignable expression pedal. You Spin Me Right Round Al edit functions fall under the jurisdiction lof te main encoder, which has push functionality, soit can double as an Ener key. One push and you're in edt territory. ‘asa visual reminder, the button forthe ‘mode you're in changes from yellow tore. Throughout the review perio, the only real downer involved the amount of time spent