Computer Music

I remember all too well the struggle of learning my first guitar chords. The aching fingers that had never been stretched in such a way before, and the calloused tips that suddenly appeared after a few weeks of relentlessly hammering through the chonky chords of Smells Like Teen Spirit, were almost enough reason to make me throw in the towel and take up a more instantly gratifying hobby. While I’m glad I persisted with learning the guitar (and recommend that readers try and learn, too!) I do empathise with those making music in-the-box and coming up with utterly sublime guitar ideas in their heads, and not being able to realise those ambitions. For those people, we’ve assembled the perfect cover feature, which details the myriad ways anybody in 2024 can…

news NEW RELEASES > COMMENT > INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS One of our favourite software hubs, IK Multimedia’s T-RackS, has now been updated to version 6, and boasts an expanded collection of 60 modules covering mixing, mastering and effects processing. Modules can be used individually as standalone plugins or incorporated into modular mixing chains via the T-RackS host plugin and Mastering Console. Included in the list of eight new processors is an upgraded version of Master Match, IK’s referencing and analysis plugin. Master Match X will apply intelligent auto-mastering based on both internal and external reference tracks, matching parameters such as EQ, compression and limiting to any master you’d like to emulate. T-RackS’ Channel Strip plugin has also been updated, with Channel Strip X packing EQ, de-essing, transient-shaping and dynamics processing into a single…

A universally appealing sound palette choice, the electric piano is a timeless addition to any producer’s arsenal. Wursy (VST, AU, standalone) from Sampleson normally retails for $20, but with this issue it is yours absolutely free. Sampleson is a developer on a mission. Focused primarily on instrument plugins, their stable has grown to incorporate a broad range of instruments based on many types of sound generation techniques. These include a spectral modelled grand piano (MetaPiano), analogue and wavetable oscillators in their SkyWaves soundscape instrument, physical modelled percussion (Haptic Perc) and their description-based entry-level synth, Things. They also include a rather excellent ambience generator, Scaper, that analyses imported audio to create unique soundscapes. However, one thing they really like are electric pianos, and you’ll find they have a multitude of options…

You might well think that the plugin-stuffed computer you use to make music on has been around forever. But when we launched this magazine, over 25 years ago, such technology didn’t exist, and the world of computer music-making was a very different one indeed. You needed hardware to boost your computer processing power, you needed soundcards to plug in to said computers, and you needed cash by the bucket-load to afford all of these extra bits and pieces. Now, in real terms, making music on a Mac or PC is easier and cheaper than ever, and you have a big and evolving history – and one that ran in parallel to the history of this magazine – to thank for that. Over those two plus decades, there were huge innovations…

We don’t know about you, but one of the reasons – okay, the reason – we took up using a computer to help us make music, was simply because we were more geeky than musically able. We were (and still are) more suited to click a mouse than pluck a string, and better at pressing Command+R than playing notes in time. Put simply, where we lack all the skills to make music, we don’t mind throwing some cash at RAM and processors to do the heavy lifting. We are musical and capable of creating music, of course we are. We’re just not very good at physically moving bows, hitting strings in the right place or doing anything in time. And nothing confirms that more to us than when we pick…

perfect virtual guitar For the better part of five decades we have been wrestling with technology to try and get it to imitate the sound of the guitar – and all for the very good reasons we just mentioned: it’s a damned hard instrument to master! Early synthesisers were often played to try and imitate real instruments – way before people realised that they could be used to provided their own excellent sounds. The sound of brass was a particular early sonic synth target, as was the more successful string emulation, but the pluck of a guitar didn’t really work on early analogue synths (although you could arguably do a decent bass guitar sound on one). It wasn’t until the FM-based machines like the Yamaha DX7 in the ’80s where…