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NEW RELEASES • COMMENT • INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

App watch

We report on the latest developments in phone and tablet music making

Get with the programmers

Mixed in Key and Captain Plugins have been helping musicians and DJs around the world. Here’s their story

10 years back

Our monthly shake-of-thehead at our younger selves’ news choices…

Mixed in Key Live(s) again

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Get Ableton Live Lite for free + two huge workshops!

15 questions with… Mason Maynard

After last month’s 15 Questions With Shane Codd, we have another young producer who is making it big in the world of dance music. Mason Maynard already has the backing of BBC stars and some top production legends plus a studio packed with the best hardware and software. And it all stems from a school lesson when he was asked to produce on a computer. “There was another way to make music…”

15 Questions with… LONE

UK producer Matt Cutler is a man with increasingly impressive credentials, but our probing 15 Questions test reveals a dreamer at heart – inspired by shoegaze and futuristic visions of Neuralink-style, minimalist music-making

The Roland TB-303

It’s issue 303 of Computer Music so there really was only one feature that we could lead with – one comparing and contrasting the attributes of a hardware 303 with its many software counterparts. It’s time, then, to explore the finest pieces of software inspired by the legendary Roland TB-303…

303 software versions

Fancy getting some of that Roland Bassline, filter-squelch in your tracks? Help is available at numerous price points. You simply don’t have to part with thousands of pounds for an ageing second hand 303, to include that spirit in your productions…

Ten 303 tracks you need to know about

The 303 gets a starring liner-note credit on all of these iconic tracks…

Create a great guitar sound Part 2 - the tone

In any guitar recording situation, your first consideration is just how you want the guitar to sound in the mix; are you after bright chiming chords? Distorted riffage, ethereal washes or soaring solos? Whichever way you’d like it to sound, building your own unique tonal palette is part of the fun of being a guitar player – while a gamut of software suites are on hand to enable you to sculpt your tone

DAWs for guitarists

The best DAWs for getting a great guitar tone…

Amp sims

Some of the best software to simulate guitar amps

EFTERKLANG

Producer Mads Brauer explains how the experimental Danish trio have gone back to basics for their latest album – and back to nature…

15 questions with… AMON TOBIN

Amon Tobin’s new release, How Do You Live, marks his 25th year in music. Working under four aliases and across more than a dozen albums, he’s transmuted elements of jazz, drum & bass and trip-hop into his own brand of intricate, brooding electronica, developing a sound and method that’s defined by process and technique – not genre or style. But, we hear you ask, what are his favourite plugins?

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The latest computer music gear tested and rated!

#04 Problem-solving mixing

Part of the job of a mix engineer is to solve problems that might arise at the recording stage. Software – and creative thinking – can help!

#09 A TB-303 via Zebra CM

TB or not TB! It’s not so much a question, as how we use our own Zebra CM plugin to recreate the sound of a TB-303 for our 303 issue!

The pro producer’s guide to SIDE CHAINING

Using ducking and sidechain compression to lower the volume of certain noises can help your mixes sound louder and clearer, and also be used for famous effects. Here’s a look at both basic and creative sidechaining…

Cherry Audio Mercury-4 £30 PC MAC

The bygone, underappreciated Jupiter-4 hums with life once again, thanks to this new, intricately modelled software adaptation

Arturia SQ80 V Cross Wave synth €199 PC MAC

Arturia have emulated the SQ80 from Ensoniq, an interesting samplebased synth from the 1980s. But does it have a place in 2021?

Steinberg PC MAC WaveLab Pro 11 £430

If 11 is one louder than 10, then WaveLab 11 must be one better than WaveLab 10. But, actually, it turns out that’s quite a lot better…

Mixing Night Audio Green HAAS $49 PC MAC

We love it when producers and engineers get involved in plugin development, and this one could be one of the best yet

Wavesfactory Quantum £129 PC MAC

Promising an algorithmic-led way of wrenching apart audio, Quantum sets out its stall to be the ultimate transient shaper. Can it really be?

Nugen Audio Paragon ST £209 PC MAC

Imagine if you could combine the flexibility of an algorithmic reverb with the authenticity of convolution? Imagine no more with Paragon ST…

cm mini reviews

A rapid-fire round-up of hardware, samples, and much more

I HEART NY

Plugin wonders Baby Audio are giving you their very cool I Heart NY for free! It’s full of bite… if you spank it!

Get With The Programmers: Special

As we have a special piece of software in the form of Baby Audio’s I Heart NY, it only seems appropriate that we have an especially extended Get With The Programmers with the company founder Caspar Bock…

4 new 303 packs!

It’s a TB-303 special this issue and we’ve got not two but four new sample packs for free for you, which are now all available at filesilo.co.uk

2 Classic 90s packs

Two classic 90s packs for our 303 theme. Get them from filesilo.co.uk

Loopmasters 303 samples

01 IQ Samples Hyper Tech Groove 02 Vocal

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Download this month’s videos: filesilo.co.uk/computermusic