Computer Music

Computer Music's goal is to help its readers create great music with a PC or Mac. Each month find easy-to-follow tutorials for all sorts of music software, unbiased reviews of the latest products and answers to technical questions.

welcome

cm/downloads • Get this month’s content from filesilo.co.uk – see p81

cm/news • NEW RELEASES > COMMENT > INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

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

Get with the programmers • Steinberg’s SpectraLayers gets reviewed on p70. Time to talk to its main developer, Robin Lobel…

COMPUTER music 10 years back • Our monthly shake-of-the-head at our younger selves’ feature choices…

Ins & outs

PAUL OAKENFOLD • It’s fitting that in issue 300 we feature such an influential artist and DJ like Paul Oakenfold. He brought dance music to the UK – and indeed the world – in the late 80s, defined and redefined genres within it over the next four decades, and almost became the definition of ‘superstar DJ’. Then there’s the remixes, game soundtracks, movies and so much more…

MAKE A TRACK NOW! • We have a great issue 300 giveaway in the form of a special edition of Tracktion’s mighty Waveform Free with $80 worth of extras! Here’s how to claim your goodies and make a track with this fabulous free DAW!

POWER TIP

QRTR • With a cinematic approach to the construction of her otherworldly productions, Brooklyn-based QRTR – aka Meagan Rodriguez – has garnered rising acclaim for the ethereal pulse of debut LP Drenched, and for her euphoric DJ sets

.WAVCAVE

A special joy

#06 From Vintage Brass to Euro • Pads come in all shapes and colours, and can easily be created within the subtractive synth architecture. Here’s how to do just that, for free!

PRO TIP

Dave Gale

#02 Humanising your drum sound • Drum machines and quantisation are great studio tools, but can quickly lead to stale, robotic beats. Put the soul back into your drums!

PRO TIPS

MODE AUDIO

#13 Randomising arpeggios • Design a signature synth arpeggio with a VA synth

PRO TIPS

About Audiotent

COMPUTER MUSIC: THE PAST VS THE FUTURE • As we sit here in our studios of the early 2020s, we find ourselves surrounded by technology that, only a few decades prior, would be totally unthinkable. As computer power has increased, so too has the creative potential of the music we can make in our home studios. But how did we get here, into this sci-fi world of AI, algorithms and endless plugins? It’s time for us to take stock of the road travelled so far, and ponder where future developments might lead home music-makers as the 21st century continues apace

Gear of our life • There’s no better way to tell the story of the growth of music technology since our birth than to reveal a year-by-year product that marked a significant moment. Which is what we’re about to do!

THE MASTER PRODUCERS • Over 300 issues we’ve spoken to a huge number of producers for our insightful Producer Masterclass series, where artists open up and give us hands-on advice on specific tracks they have worked on. Over the next eight pages we’ve selected some of the biggest names and, more importantly, the best advice from 300 issues of these masterclasses. Read on to discover everything: from micro beat management to processing every kind of vocal, from bass-end brilliance to shaping the perfect kick…

Best Service Forest Kingdom 3 £190/$259 • Sample library overlord Eduardo Tarilonte takes us by the hand and leads us down into a meticulously-crafted leafy kingdom of aural amazement

Blow it again Sam

Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 8 £257 • SpectraLayers’ beefed-up, AI-infused processing tames frequencies with...