I recently sold my Elektron Octatrack mk1 with the intention to buy a mk2 – can’t resist that new Black mk2 design! While I wait for the mk2, I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how I could get BeepStreet’s Drambo to deliver some of the hands-on sample mangling and live effects manipulation joy that the Octa … Read More
5 Musicians Embracing Mobile Technology
Musicians are constantly looking for ways to set themselves apart from the crowd and engage their fanbase in innovative and artistic ways beyond releasing music and playing live shows. So it’s no surprise that plenty of musicians have jumped on the mobile app bandwagon. Whether it’s releasing an app to tie in with an album release, or just as a … Read More
How to Reduce CPU Usage in Your iOS DAW
While your musical creativity may have no limits, unfortunately your device does. If you’re loading up multiple instances of a complex synth or piling on tons of plugins and effects, it won’t be long before your device just can’t take any more. This limit depends on the CPU of the device. The better the processor is, the more your device … Read More
Basics of Synthesis Part 3: Filters
Following on from last time, where we looked at shaping synth sounds with an amp envelope, in this instalment we’re going to be looking at how to shape sounds with a filter. Filters allow you to attenuate and cut out different frequencies. This is an essential part of subtractive synthesis, as you’re generally starting with a harmonically rich waveform as … Read More
Basics of Synthesis Part 2: Amp Envelope
So, if you read through the last part of the Basics of Synthesis you’ll have selected your initial waveform – but what next? The raw waveform by itself isn’t the most inspiring but we can shape the sound by controlling how the volume of the sound changes over time. This is all done with something called an Amp Envelope. Envelopes … Read More
Basics of Synthesis Part 1: Oscillators
In the right hands a synthesiser is capable of creating almost any sound you can imagine, but no matter what synth you’re using the process of building a patch pretty much always starts in the same place: with an oscillator. The oscillator is the part of the synth’s circuit that actually generates the sound – this is your initial building … Read More
Native vs Cross-Platform – Which is best for Audio Apps?
The decision of whether to develop natively or whether to go cross-platform is one of the most important considerations when developing a mobile app. Each method has its own merits, and depending on the kind of app you’re developing, app one route will be preferable over the other. But before we get ahead of ourselves, what are exactly are native … Read More
What is Mastering?
Many musicians seem to regard mastering as some sort of dark art, completed through mysterious means by mastering engineers with super-human hearing and attention to detail. There are also a fair number of misconceptions around what the purpose of mastering actually is, ask ten different musicians and you may well get ten different answers. So, what is mastering? Put simply, … Read More
AI in Music Streaming
While talk of Artificial Intelligence may conjure up visions of science fiction-esque robots, the reality is a little more mundane. Even though you might not realise it, AI is now a part of our everyday lives. From email spam filters to Instagram suggesting appropriate emojis, countless companies have been exploring the potential of AI technology, and music streaming platforms are … Read More
What is Logic Remote?
Combining iOS and Desktop Many of iOS musicians find that using either an iPhone or iPad as a music making platform gives them something that working on desktop just doesn’t. Whether it’s the unique workflow or simply the portability factor, a large number of iOS musicians have stopped making music on desktop entirely using only their mobile devices instead. But … Read More