Vocal effect buyer’s guide

welcome

DOWNLOAD See page 92 to find out how

String theory

The latest update to GForce’s Virtual String Machine software brings a tapestry of classic sounds to the table

Dawn of the chorus

Minimal Audio, maker of the fabulous Current synth

Atrick and a treat

The intriguing plugin company Punk Labs has recently

10 years back

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

How do you get musically inspired?

We asked ’s audience for their methods…

Ins & outs

FROM ME TO YOU British musician James Blake

Modalics: A mindset for swift success

We’ve been fans since the quirky, pizza-inspired Beat Scholar first landed in 2022. Just over a year later, and Modalics’ product stable has ballooned with further excellence. The two co-founders explain their story…

Next issue

ONSALE WEDS 15 MAY How to manipulate and

INPHONIK RYM2612

There’s flavour in abundance with this month’s free software, taking its cues from the iconic sounds of classic video game consoles

VOCAL EFFECTS

Never mind AI, this month we’re getting the robots involved in production, as we demystify vocoders, talkboxes, hard-tuning and harmonisers!

Vocoders &talkboxes

The most classic robot vocal effects are typically either a vocoder or a talkbox. But what’s the difference between the two?

Getting zapped!

The ever-secretive Roger Troutman: “You talkin’ to me?”

Hard harmonies

That hard-tuned, robot-like sound, first popularised by Cher, has now become something of a staple in modern pop

Building effected vocals

Knowing where to use vocal processing, could make or break your track. We take a look at where you might choose to add some electronic vocal colour

14 vocal effect tips

Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to

Chilled keys and dub

This month we’re building up our bedrock of chilled-vibed samples with a lush keys selection, and our new dub pack will fit well in any delay-heavy project

Psychedelic samples

Here’s the outcome of our cosmic quest beyond the veil of reality in the form of two recent (but still, ‘classic’!) sample packs…

Loopmasters 334 samples

This month’s demo sample selection highlighting Loopmasters’ latest releases

ModeAudio 334 samples

Guest samplists ModeAudio have provided another showcase of their fabulous releases this issue, including Bloom, Diffraction, Open Sky and much more. For details on each pack, see the folder within the downloads section

KÖLSCH

Danish house and techno artist Kölsch’s latest album, ITalkToWater, incorporates recordings by his late musician father, and explores the emotional weight of grief; a sonically dense masterclass by a multi-million-streamed artist at the height of his creative powers. We found out more about its conception

CATCHING FLIES

Manipulating samples into abstract new forms, while keeping a keen melodic sense firmly in his grasp, Catching Flies has emerged with a creative identity all of his own. Led by the circularity of tidal ebbs and flows, his latest release, Tides, shifts between moods, fusing lush string ornamentation with dynamic undercurrents

Sequencer-based drone building with BazilleCM

Continuing our deep-dive into the standout tools in our CM Plugin Suite, we shed some light on drone-making using BazilleCM’s sequencer section

Recreate Kraftwerk’s iconic Autobahn

This year marks an incredible 50 years since Kraftwerk released Autobahn, the track that brought electronic music to the masses, and even the charts

How to use classic dance sounds in deep house

Let’s look at creating organ and piano sounds for our tracks – two staples of the deep house genre

Understanding EQ

Understanding EQ is key to getting a perfect, well-balanced mix, and this month we study the fundamentals of the process

Freqport Freqtube FT-1 £899

Fancy adding some analogue impurity to your DAW? For Roland Schmidt it’s high time to turn on, plug-in and freq out…

Oeksound Bloom £169

Bloom is an adaptive EQ that will make your music sound better. Andy Jones says it’s harder to explain how it actually works than to just use it

Minimal Audio Current $199 or $10-15/month

Deftly side-stepping the subscription saga, Andy Jones has spent some quality time with Minimal Audio’s dexterous flagship. Here’s his findings…

Arturia VCollection X €499

Arturia’s mighty V Collection reaches generation X, but now its focus is not just on classic keyboards but new ones too.

Sugar Bytes Effectrix 2 €129

16 years after the release of the original, Sugar Bytes has finally updated this multi-effect sequencer but, asks Andy Jones, is v2 worth the wait?

Cherry Audio Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) Free (!)

It’s hard to resist another seminal classic from Cherry Audio, says Roland Schmidt, but at a bargain price of zero, are they selling themselves short?

GForce Software Axxess £33

Recreating a classic (though not very obvious) ARP synth with characteristic aplomb. Andy Jones gets Axxess all areas…

Antares Vocal Reverb £125

From the makers of the infamous Auto-Tune comes a vocal reverb plugin with added AI. Does Roland Schmidt believe in reverb love after love?

Steinberg Nuendo 13 £859

Like a fine wine, Steinberg Nuendo just keeps getting better with age, says Stuart Adams – if only we all could look so good after 24 years!

Soundware round-up

BHK Samples Premium: DnB &Jungle Breaks £29.95 For