If it ain’t broke…

In a nutshell, this issue’s cover feature is

Could Sequential’s Take 5 synth be the affordable Prophet of your dreams?

Analogue meets digital in Dave Smith’s new Prophet- 5-inspired poly

Steinberg’s new plugin bundle looks like an Absolute bargain

> Steinberg have updated their Absolute bundle, a

Heritage Audio aim for the sound of Motown with the Motorcity EQualizer

> The ‘Motown sound’ is one of the

Noise Engineering’s Quantus Ampla is more than your average VCA

> VCAs are generally thrown into the ‘utilities’

Erica Synths Bass Drum 2 module is more than just a 909 kick clone

> Erica Synths have taken their faithful 909-inspired

Nektar Impact GX Mini: tiny keyboard, big feature set

> Nektar are promising plenty of bang for

ROLI go into administration; CEO Roland Lamb launches new music tech company

> ROLI, the UK music tech startup, has

New Rhodes electric piano confirmed: the MK8 is coming

> Iconic electric piano brand Rhodes has returned

Audio Damage takes the delay plugin road less travelled

> If you thought you’d seen it all

Polyend Tracker now caters for people who don’t like trackers, too

> Polyend's stylish sampling hardware Tracker was always

J-Walk A Night On The Rocks

EastWest, 2002

Jon Hopkins Music For Psychedelic Therapy

Domino

Sepehr Survivalism

Shaytoon

Aya im hole

Hyperdub

Spiritczualic Enhancement Center Carpet Album

Kryptox

SONIC DESTRUCTION

From overd riven signal paths to rhythmic malfunctions, there’s plenty of creativity to be found by doing things just a little bit wrong

Distortion vs Bitcrushing vs Wavefolding

Analogue-style distortion isn’t the only game in town. Let’s look at some variations and deviations from the style of distortion described on the previous page

5 POWERFUL DISTORTION TOOLS

Stompboxes Distortion is probably the most-used effect by

What is a ‘glitch’?

Technically speaking, a ‘glitch’ is defined as an

6 EXTREME SOUND DESIGN IDEAS

1 Stack your distortions As highlighted earlier in

Keeping it lo-fi

> As with so much in music, the

ADD VINYL EFFECTS

VIDEO ON FILESILO 1 We will be using

What’s all the noise?

> Some of the less creative tasks we

GIVING AN ELECTRIC PIANO MOJO

1 For this track we wanted some chilled

MODULAR DOWNSAMPLING

1 Here we’re using Mutable Instruments’ Beads module

In and out of the box

8-track echo boxes are a great, budget alternative

Feed Me

EDM producer Jon Gooch revives his cartoonish Feed Me moniker. Danny Turner finds out how the use of live instrumentation changed his production approach

THE TRACK

MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC

Exploring Akai MPC

Leo Maymind takes a detailed look at an iconic groovebox whose influence helped shape modern hip-hop and much more besides

10 ways to get more out of your MPC hardware

These tips and shortcuts will have you flying around your MPC, expert and novice alike

Controller mode: access hidden functionality

You’ll want to get deeper with this way of using the MPC when you’re ready to do your final mixdown

Noise

With roots as far back as 1913, noise is the genre that’s also a state of mind

AFFORDABLE SYNTHS

NEW ENTRY Modal SKULPTsynth SE £169 Full Review:

SEMI-MODULAR SYNTHS

Moog Matriarch £1,979 Full Review: FM355 The Matriarch

DAWS

Bitwig Studio 4 $399 Full Review: FM373 On

DIGITAL POLYSYNTHS

Korg Modwave £699 Full Review: FM373 | Modwave

STANDALONE MUSIC MAKERS

Akai MPC One £599 Full Review: FM358 |

HARDWARE SEQUENCERS

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

“Logic is an Apple afterthought. I prefer a DAW that’s a company’s main focus” Rudosa

Mark Bradbury, best known under the stage name

KEEP YOUR KICK IN SCALE

“I always ensure my kick fits in the

Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

How to create a morphing effect for your synth sounds

Tutara Peak Shapes Over the Moorlands

Tutara Peak, 2021

Tutara Peak’s top 5 creative tips

Harvey shares five fantastic tips to give you a creative boost

Liars

Dissolving the contours of rock and electronics, Danny Turner charts the making of Liars’ 10th album with Angus Andrew and Laurence Pike

Jean-Michel Jarre

The pioneering musician who introduced generations to futuristic sounds the first time around is at it again. He joins Matt Mullen to talk experiments in VR gigging, spatial audio and more

Erica Synths and Sonic Potions LXR-02 £499

Rob Redman braces himself for another resurrected blast from the past

Modal SKULPTsynth SE £169

Modal are back with an update to their SKULPT synth. Bruce Aisher takes a listen to see if it can rustle up a big sound

TOP SYNTHS FOR 2021 (PART 1)

We take a look at some of the best synth plugins released in the past 12 months

1010 Music Bitbox mk2 £549

Rob Redman finds out whether this updated sampler box of tricks contains any more surprises

L-Acoustics L-ISA from £29/month

Rob Redman checks out this mixing application that makes creating immersive soundscapes a doddle

Alesis Prestige £369

Alesis made bold claims about their affordable digital piano; Daryl Robertson finds out if it lives up to the hype

Algonaut Atlas

>Now at version 2, Algonaut’s Atlas plugin was

Reason Studios Reason 12 £399

Now in both DAW and plugin realms, Reason gains a sampler and refreshed Combinator. Si Truss investigates

UVI – 8-Bit Synth €99

>For a significant number of people their first

Sample Magic – Grum: Shades of Progressive From $7.99/month

>Forward-thinking loops, one-shots, and presets from the Scottish