Novation’s Circuit Tracks: the best value hardware on the market?

The excellent Circuit groovebox gets an update, packing in a hell of a lot of power for the price

Roland’s Juno-60 synth plugin brings back an ’80s classic

> Roland might not be too keen on

Mutable Instruments go beyond the Clouds with the Beads Eurorack ‘texture synth’

> Mutable Instruments have introduced the Beads ‘texture

Jukeblocks: create FL Studio/Live track templates and convert project files for free

> Having previously created the famous Excel spreadsheet

Could the UF8 be the SSL DAW controller that you can actually afford?

> Ever dreamt of sitting down in your

Steve Bug

The Other Day

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra

Promises

Building a studio desk

The desk is the heart of any studio, so make it your own with this guide from musician, producer, guitar builder and beard grower Rob Redman

Chillout

Lie down on a bean bag, close your eyes and relax as we explore the nebulous world of chillout music

DAWS

Apple Logic Pro X 10.5 $199 Full Review:

HIGH-END SYNTHS

Sequential Pro 3 from £1,459 Full Review: FM366

STANDALONE MUSIC MAKERS

NI Maschine+ £1,099 Full Review: FM363 | There

HARDWARE SEQUENCERS

Korg SQ-64 £269 Full Review: FM367 | An

“I pretty quickly had to learn how to make a full band recording with just one microphone” Roosevelt

As Roosevelt, German producer Marius Lauber makes music

Clark

The production process behind Chris Clark’s entry into soundtrack has increasingly filtered into his solo work. Danny Turner discusses the making of his ambitious new album Playground in a Lake

Nookie

Kaeya (Rage Mix)

Gaetek

Gaetano Parisio (aka Gaetek) has spent the past year having his back catalogue re-touched by some of the genre’s greats. Danny Turner extracts production tips from a key figure behind the rise of Neapolitan techno

BATTLE OF THE BEATMAKERS

There’s never been a  better time to dive into  hardware beat-making. This issue, w e put eight of  the finest drum machines and percussion  synths head-to-head  to crown the king of the beat

Our eight contenders…

Let’s meet our line-up of percussive personalities

The drum machines on test

Arturia DrumBrute Impact Unlike several machines in this group

What’s missing?

Our self-imposed one-drum-machine-per-brand rule sadly means that there

Conclusions

On some levels, it’s difficult to make direct

4 Drum machine processing tips

So you’ve built a great hardware drum groove, but what’s next? Help your rhythm patterns nestle neatly into your next track with these processing tips

Battle of the 808s

Behringer’s RD-8 aims to replicate the sound and

Making Kaeya’s musical elements in Cubase

Gavin creates throwback rave vibes with some contemporary plugins and processing techniques

MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC

Discover our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more!

Ableton Live 11 Suite £539

The immensely popular DAW enters its eleventh chapter with an array of new features. Tim Cant goes Live

ALM Busy Circuits Akemie’s Taiko £265

> ALM have a number of modules in

M-Audio BX3 and BX4 from £85

Need some compact monitors for your set up? Jon Musgrave sizes up two new offerings from M-Audio

Focusrite FAST Series plugins From £5.99/month

Focusrite meets Sonible for these new ‘smart’ mixing tools. Si Truss takes a spin…

Aston Element £159

Marketed as “the people’s mic”, Aston say their latest mic has undergone exhaustive public testing. But what does reviewer Rob Redman think?

PLATE REVERBS

From simple EMT models to more out-there plate recreations, reverb is served…

Akai MPC 2.9 Air Drumsynth Free

The ever-expanding MPC range now comes with a native drum synth. Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman gets tapping…

Output Frontier £1,259

Audio company Output have shifted their attention to studio monitors. Jon Musgrave explores their new Frontier

CME WIDI Master $59

Fancy wireless operation between your old MIDI gear? Jon Musgrave pairs up with this new wireless MIDI system

AAS Chromaphone 3

> Physical-modeling instruments recreate the real-world conditions behind

NI – Electric Sunburst Deluxe £129

> Native instruments have been in the synthesis

Roland – TR-606 Software Rhythm Composer from $19.99/month

> The analogue revival sees no sign of

Audiotent – Discovery £37

A top-rank indie-dance sample library, with more than

Loopmasters – Vibes 14 Bluegrass £25

Grab your DAW, partner. And do-si-do up your

Field & Foley – Barn Percussion $7.99/mo

On this quirky release, two virtuoso drummers stroll

Element One – ’96 Jungle £15

Pull up and come and come again, my

Sample Magic – Reworked Soul Selections $7.99/mo

We’re taking sampling back to its foundations, when

Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

PROBLEM: How can I program drums with different pitches and pattern lengths using Drum Racks and create interesting arrangement ideas?