Attack Magazine

iLok Deletes Users’ Licences

Greg Scarth — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:13:50 +0000

Users of PACE's iLok anti-piracy system left locked out of their plugins as introduction of new License Manager software has disastrous consequences. "iLok License Manager is a new application for Mac and PC that allows you to more easily manage your licenses. iLok License Manager will fully replace iLok.com for managing your licenses. iLok License Manager introduces terrific new features based on user feedback." At least that's what anti-piracy protection company PACE promised. Unfortunately, a hidden feature of iLok License Manager has also become apparent: that updating may unauthorises users' software licences seemingly at random when they attempt to synchronise. iLok's previous browser-based licence management system was flawed for a number of reasons, not least that it was incompatible with a number of popular web browsers. Unfortunately for PACE, rather than improving the licence management system, their solution proved to have unexpected and catastrophic effects following its launch last week: some product licences were automatically and incorrectly unauthorised when users attempted to update. It's unclear why the issue only affected some users – and even then only some of their licences – but the problem was widespread and significant, affecting products by developers including Waves, Avid, Sonnox and Slate Digital. Affected users are effectively locked out of their software until PACE work out a solution. (In case you hadn't guessed, our obvious advice to users who haven't updated since the launch is to avoid updating until the issue's been solved, or run the risk of losing licences.) (UPDATE: For the latest status on whether it's safe to synchronise, we recommend the Gearslutz thread on this issue.) The iLok protection system already had its critics. The fundamental fact that it requires users to buy a third-party dongle in order to use products they've already paid for (or, even worse, demos they don't even know if they'll like) was never going to be a popular idea, but most users seemed willing to accept that developers now have to go to even greater lengths than ever before to protect their software from piracy.

“Bizarrely, PACE president Allen Cronce claimed to be 'very proud' of the new iLok License Manager.”

However, that was only the start of the complaints. The first generation iLok USB key was irritatingly oversized and cumbersome; then came the second generation key required by certain software updates, meaning a lot of existing users had to fork out all over again. Dropped connections, random failures and reports of poor customer service exacerbated the problems. But, despite all these gripes, most users accepted that iLok was the price they had to pay for effective piracy protection. The latest fiasco may be the straw that broke the camel's back. PACE president Allen Cronce took to the Gearslutz forum this morning to issue an official statement, admitting that the company's customer relations skills have been "severely lacking" and promising to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Bizarrely, Cronce also defended the new iLok License Manager, claiming to be "very proud" of it. While the long-term implications for PACE could be catastrophic if developers jump ship to an alternative protection platform, the fiasco will also harm a lot of other individuals and small businesses: artists, engineers and producers who rely on iLok-protected software in order to make a living; developers whose iLok-protected products consumers may now avoid for fear of another similar incident; studios which have been put out of action for over a week. We asked Gregory Scott of Kush Audio (who use iLok protection for their plugins) for a developer's perspective on the events of the last week: Attack: Are you worried about whether this'll affect your business? Gregory Scott: I try not to worry in general, it just gives me stomach acid. Am I keeping a close eye on things right now? Of course… but that's what I already do every day! Do you think it'll put consumers off iLok-protected products? I have zero doubts it will do that; a lot of people have good reason to be upset, and emotions are running high right now. But in my experience, emotionally charged moments are the worst time to make any kind of major decisions, so my responsibility to Kush is to stay calm, focused, and take it all in. I'm a huge fan of waiting for the dust to settle, getting the lay of the land, and adjusting course as needed… if needed. This may be a speed bump, it may be a sea-change, but whatever it is I have faith it's taking us all somewhere better. Will you continue using iLok or does it make you have second thoughts? Yes, and yes… I'd be a fool to not be aware of the current climate and ask questions, and I do my best to always be open to all possibilities. But changing copy protection schemes is a massive endeavor for any company, let alone one as small as Kush, so it's not a decision to be taken lightly or to be made hastily. My concerns are the health of my company and the happiness of my customers. If I sense that either or both of those become compromised, I will do everything in my power to make it better. The good news is things have definitely stabilized at this point; now we wait, and we watch, and we do whatever needs to be done, both in the short term and in the long run. Have you been affected by the introduction of the iLok License Manager? Will you continue to buy and use iLok-protected software in future? Let us know below.

The Danger Of Being Retro: Revivalism In Dance Music

Greg Scarth — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:46:54 +0000

When does retro dance music cross the line from respectful tribute to tiresome pastiche? Kristan Caryl talks to artists and DJs including Bicep, Todd Edwards, Larry Heard, Brendon Moeller, DJ Pierre and Eats Everything to find out.

Bicep: "A lot more people in their early 20s understand who Kerri Chandler is now than they did 3 years ago."

You don't have to be an industry insider to notice that we're treading water in an endless sea of revivalism. From fiery forum debates to fierce Facebook rants, adoringly received re-issues to reformed retro acts, a casual observer of dance music might understandably argue that our creative reserves have run dry. They probably haven't (yet) – there's still plenty of genuinely original new music to be found in every electronic sub-genre – but certainly some of the most popular movements of the last 12 months have been all too familiar for those of a certain age. Even if you weren't getting sweaty at New Jersey's Zanzibar club in '92, there's a good chance that by now you've lived and relived the 90s house experience so many times it feels trite, tired and testing.

“There comes a time when enough is enough, and it seems that time is now.”

And that's just one style of dance music; similar retro movements have mined everything from Detroit techno to grime for inspiration. We've even seen hints of a revivalist 'old-school' dubstep scene emerging, looking back less than a decade to the good old days of FWD and DMZ. Of course, there is a good side to all this revivalism in that it allows a new generation of fans to discover the classics. As Bicep put it, "a lot more people in their early twenties understand who Kerri Chandler is now than they did three years ago". Genuine innovators like Chandler will always deserve attention from the new generation, but there comes a time when enough is enough, and it seems that time is now. What was it like when there was little else to copy? Why does revivalism occur? How can we avoid it? And is it necessarily a bad thing? We spoke to a range of early innovators, late adopters and genre pin-ups to find out.

"It's always been about cycles"

In many cases, revivals are brought about by the newest generation of producers – teenagers giddy with excitement as they discover music they were too young to experience first time round. For Altern8 founder Mark Archer, the reasons why the process keeps repeating itself are obvious: "Kids get into music and look back to stuff their older brothers were into. They've often been brought up on the music of their parents, so when they get into production that's what they turn to. Even when I was into funk and soul in the mid to late 80s, there was a guy called Ben Liebrand who'd remix Hot Chocolate from [only] ten years previous. It's always been about cycles." Chicago house icon Larry Heard certainly seems to agree, readily admitting that the house sound he helped define in the mid 80s was largely an attempt to imitate existing disco sounds using the synths and drum machines which were available to him. "It was easier and harder back then," he explains. "You were starting with a blank slate. There wasn't [a concept of] new music in my head, it was more just a stripped-down interpretation of the disco music we were hearing that I was trying to make," he says before adding the crucial detail. "The reason it sounded so different was because it was made with machines rather than a full orchestra."

Brendon Moeller: "In order to come up with something new, you need to first master what others have mastered."

Garage pioneer Todd Edwards agrees that all new producers start making music by imitating the artists that inspire them, and admits to taking big cues from Masters At Work, Todd Terry, MK and Enya, whilst dub techno godfather Brendon Moeller cites The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld as his day dot. "As a musician who is trying to find a path to go down, you end up trying out everybody else's tricks," says Moeller. "In order to come up with something [new], you need to first master what others have mastered, just like Hendrix and The Rolling Stones spent ten years playing the blues then came out the other side so fluid and free to create. For newcomers it becomes a rush when you fucking finally get your bassline to sound like Rhythm & Sound and get nice cavernous reverb and the right texture. You tend not to realise that this is only the first step and you must go on to make it your own rather than leave it where it is." In order to be able to do that you need to learn the language, to develop your own voice, and in turn to start your own conversation. As Pittsburgh Track Authority member Thomas Cox puts it: "People with a first grade level of education are going to speak and write like first graders, while those with PhDs will speak and write like PhDs. Why would it be any different in dance music?" Playing around with instruments and production tools is all part of this process, but Heard believes it starts much earlier, with a musical education. "I started buying 45s when I was nine or ten years old," he says. "Because you only a have few you play them over and over and over, which means you're studying the production without knowing it. I'm pretty much home-schooled by listening to the records I bought. I had artists that I would practise a song of theirs for my own personal development. I was appreciating a whole lot of different people; I wasn't just focussed on one."

Paul Woolford: "Only do what brings pleasure."

The enduring stylistic chameleon that is Paul Woolford believes that taking pleasure from what you do is key, not only when starting out, but forevermore. Rather than toiling away trying to recreate that exact hi-hat pattern, just jam: "I started in my teenage years with home keyboards, basically trying to replicate house drum patterns using the drum sections. You just do what gives you pleasure at that age, and this is basically all you need to keep in mind forever: only do what brings pleasure." If anyone can give out advice on how to be original, how to go from being a slavish ape to a lone ranger, it is surely acid patriarch DJ Pierre. "I don't think you should set out to create your own sound," he says. "That way it becomes too 'heady'; there's no heart or soul. I think great sounds and styles happen naturally, from within, not from outside in. Once you understand who you are as an artist then you can accomplish so much. We were created to create."

Finally… iTunes Radio

Greg Scarth — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:21:21 +0000

Apple finally announces its own streaming service, with major implications for the rest of the music industry. As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference draws to a close for another year, the distinct absence of Logic news has left everyone guessing again, but there was no mystery around another of the company's revelations: iTunes Radio, Apple's long-anticipated music streaming service has been one of the worst kept secrets in the music business. The only big surprise is that we all thought it'd be called iRadio. Apple’s move to boldly go where everyone else has gone before looks like it'll focus on powerful data algorithms, a drive towards music purchases and snug integration with Apple devices. Apple has access to data from 575 million iTunes users, detailing their listening and purchasing habits. Gleaning from that data, the discovery element of iTunes Radio, based on their existing Genius service, will produce (relatively) accurate music recommendations. Genius can’t come close to the finesse of Pandora’s renowned 'Music Genome Project', whereby each song is filtered through human ears to be tagged according to sounds, styles, genres, and even historical context, but Apple has the advantage of drawing from a catalogue of 26 million songs, dwarfing Pandora’s 900,000. And while Pandora’s focus is the discovery of undiscovered music, iTunes Radio offers a toggle which can be used to switch between ‘Top Hits’, ‘Discovery’ or ‘Mix’ when listening. In this way they cater for the more varied listening motivations of a larger user base, while also making their vast catalogue slightly easier to navigate. Apple is clearly pitching to the mass market. While streaming services such as Spotify are in the business of selling ads and subscriptions, iTunes Radio focuses on selling music – as much of it as possible, and to as many people as possible. Apple’s access to most of iTunes users’ credit card details makes the music-buying process seamless; the one-click buy button displayed on each track no doubt put Apple in a good position for negotiations with the majors. It will be interesting to see what deals have been struck, and whether Apple will attempt to make similar arrangements with independents. Given the ongoing debates over artist and label royalties from streaming, iTunes Radio could well be the ideal half-way house: a convenient streaming service which also encourages users to make impulse buys, thus bumping up label and artist revenue. iTunes may be in the business of selling music but Apple, lest we forget, is in the business of selling devices. Thus, another notable feature of iTunes Radio is the seamless integration with Apple’s hardware product range (and also with the iCloud subscription service). iTunes Radio will be embedded into Apple’s new iOS 7 mobile operating system, built in to iTunes for Mac and Windows, and accessible through Apple TV. The free version will be ad-supported or, alternatively, users can opt for ad-free by subscribing to iTunes Match. As with Google Music, you can upload your own library and iTunes will ‘Match’ it to the equivalent tracks in their catalogue which you can access at any time, on any device, via the cloud. While iTunes Radio and Google Music Play All Access do share a few key features, it's not Google who needs to be worried. Apple has opted for the internet radio model (Pandora) rather than an on-demand catalogue service (Google, Spotify) – presumably to encourage sales of a wider pool of tracks and please the majors. However, while Pandora pays a standard internet radio royalty fee and is therefore bound by the corresponding laws (no rewind, no repeat, limited skips), Apple’s individual deals with the majors mean iTunes Radio is likely to escape some of those limitations. Is Pandora panicking? When news of iTunes Radio hit, Pandora’s share price rose and CEO Joe Kennedy quickly issued a statement suggesting he was unfazed (“Apple's new feature is an evolution of their iTunes offering to bring it on par with other streaming music services… We have spent the last 13 years singularly focused on redefining radio and benefit from unrivaled intellectual property, deep experience in delivering personalized playlists, and ubiquitous product availability across every platform”). But two days later, Pandora have snapped up an FM radio station in order to join the Radio Music Licensing Committee so they can have more negotiating power over royalty fees and potentially benefit from lower rates. Maybe not so unfazed after all? Is this the moment when streaming services finally become mainstream? Let us know your thoughts.

A Few Old Tunes… A Tribute To Boards of Canada

Greg Scarth — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:30:02 +0000

As they plan for a Boards of Canada tribute night next week in London, DJ Food, Tom Central, Posthuman and Mach V explain the appeal of the duo's music and the dense, multi-layered world they've created around it. Join us down the 'BOC rabbit hole' for a series of personal reminiscences, thoughts on the new album and a small celebration of this unique pair's career to date. "The concept of the night started last week with me and Kev [DJ Food] chatting on email about how much fun it would be to go to a night that was full of music in the BOC ethos. I guess it's a fairly unique thing. Boards themselves so rarely play live, and you wouldn't really get an event playing this kind of music just on its own – it's more home listening, or reserved for chillout rooms. That conversation quickly moved to: 'Well, why don't we just do one ourselves?'" – Josh Doherty (Posthuman) "I remember listening to Music Has The Right To Children for the first time and getting annoyed by it. All the keyboards were slightly out of tune and so dis-tonally phased against each other that I thought it was a mistake, a bad joke. Then the bassline from 'Roygbiv' came on and the penny dropped. My life and my understanding of electronic music changed at that very moment." – Mach V "I found a venue that had a free date, Kev suggested asking Tom Central to get on board, and then Mach V contacted me and asked if he could help. From there we set up a shared Google document and exchanged many, many emails discussing which tracks we each wanted to play, what movies and film clips would work, plus other music in the same spirit as Boards – the likes of Ghost Box, Com Truise, Christ., Tycho, the One on Twoism fan compilations..." – Josh Doherty

“The bassline from ‘Roygbiv’ came on and the penny dropped. My life changed at that very moment.”

"Their melodies seemed familiar even on the first listen, like something you vaguely remembered from your childhood but couldn't place. Add to that the warmth and fuzz of weathered audio and the playful children's voices and you have part 8mm cine film nostalgia trip, part utopian dream world. But the dreams are tempered with just the right amount of nightmares. They manage to balance light and dark perfectly – we're never totally safe." – Strictly Kev (DJ Food) "To me it feels like Boards of Canada's synth melodies are hard-wired into the childhood feelings and memories I can't quite place. They sound like the incidental music to the programmes I watched as a child and it's a wonderful nostalgia revisit. Possibly its also why I love library music so much. But there's more to it than nostalgia – BOC's tracks tell their own stories through title references, samples and sleeve art, leaving you to find out more and draw your own conclusions. The fact that you rarely see or hear from them just adds to the magic and mystery of it all." – Tom Central "The cover to Music Has The Right To Children was so right because those people could be any family who holidayed in the 70s. There are a million snaps like that decaying in photo albums the world over – you just have to add your features to the blank spaces provided. The odd thing is that their sound, unlike, say, the Ghost Box label, who seem firmly rooted in UK-centric nostalgia, works on an international level. People everywhere identify with their sonic puzzles." – Strictly Kev

Memory9

Greg Scarth — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:17:29 +0000

Memory9 makes jazz-influenced electronic music which falls "somewhere in the space between beats and sound design-heavy electronica". We asked him to introduce himself.

Who are you?

I got started as a jazz musician but as I realised that the distinctions between sound, music and noise are completely artificial I became interested in the many ways one can play with the blurry lines that supposedly divide them. In time I've become obsessed with all the different ideas people have about these things, how they make sound, understand it, manipulate it and listen to it.

What do you sound like?

Aside from the obvious genre associations, I'd like to think that I sound like someone who spends a lot of time trying to create something worth listening to.

Why should we listen to you?

If you like music that exists somewhere in the space between beats and sound design-heavy electronica and have a passing interest in jazz, then I think you might in fact enjoy what I do.

What have you released so far? What else have you got coming out in the near future?

So far I've released three EPs and two singles. For the immediate future I have another EP planned and then an album.

What song sums you up?

I'd say 'Escape The Ice' off my latest release, The Abyss Within, really does sum up a lot about my work. There are many of the sound tools I love in terms of foley, prepared piano and stuff like that; a 160 bpm beat with elements of juke and jungle, as well as some live drums; and the melodic and harmonic parts which are played on a '73 Fender Rhodes with the occasional jazzy nod.

What or who is your biggest influence?

I listen a lot to film soundtracks, especially the sound design. It's massively inspiring to me and I use a lot of the tools that are employed by Hollywood sound designers and score composers.

Where can we hear your music?

The best places are my SoundCloud and my YouTube channel. Or a gig. I spend a lot of time finding ways to present my work live in a way that provides a different experience from the records.

Where will you be in five years' time?

Ah, who knows? Maybe London, maybe somewhere else… maybe like a tropical island being a professional chef, or a gentleman thief in Hong Kong. Either way, I'll still be making music.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I am pretty severely colourblind. Some colours I just can't see. Some of them just make my cognition flip out, especially certain combos in dotted textures. I recently went to see the Lichtenstein exhibit at Tate Modern and there was this one pointillistic painting he did that literally looked like it was swirling and pulsing, and I couldn't make out the picture for the life of me. No need for psychedelics when your optical nerve is that bonkers. Maybe that's why I prefer sound so much. The Abyss Within is out now on Mnemonic Dojo. Find Memory9 on Facebook, Twitter and SoundCloud.

Found Sound 2-Step

Greg Scarth — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:41:12 +0000

In the latest Beat Dissected we create a swinging 2-step beat which uses a blend of vintage drum machine hits and found sounds. Beat Dissected is a regular series in which we deconstruct drum patterns, showing you how to recreate them in any DAW. Just copy our grid in your own software to recreate the loop. Here's the beat we're building today:

Found Sound 2-Step

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To download the samples for this beat, click here. The samples are provided on a completely royalty-free basis. They may not be sold or given away, either in whole or in part. You must register for a free Attack account and sign up to receive our newsletter in order to download the samples. New members can register here. Existing members can log in here.

SPEC
tempo
125—135
swing
55—65%
sounds
Vintage drum machines and found sounds

Step 1

For this beat, we’re doing something a bit different: we're mixing a few stock drum machine hits with found sounds to show how beats can take on a completely different feel using custom-made percussion samples. We start with a simple kick rhythm, the hits taken from a sample library. In sparse productions, where the kick drum and bass synth dominate the track, it's utterly essential for the two parts to sit comfortably together. Although conventional wisdom says that the kick and bass should both be tuned to the same key, this doesn't always need to be so – but be aware of tuning clashes, and always try a little retuning of both to see the effect on the combined bottom end. In this example, the kick is tuned to G. (Click the images to enlarge.)

Found Sound 2-Step: Step One

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Step 2

Now it's time to get creative with some found sound design. The snare, shown here as a single hit, is layered, processed and mixed from recordings of running water, swinging chains and a wooden block being hit. The pitch of this 'snare' is a little harder to determine, centering around F, which forms a minor 7^th with the kick. Although this may not seem like a big issue at the moment, it becomes useful when adding pitched elements later in the beat. It's worth noting at this point that we're programming the beat with swing set to 62%. The swing plays a fundamental role in the groove of the beat, defining the interaction of the kick and snare even at this early stage. We’ll be covering swing in more detail soon in our Passing Notes series.

Found Sound 2-Step: Step Two

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Step 3

A basic hi-hat pattern is added, with open hats falling on the off-beats and a closed hat triggered on the 16th note before most (but not all) the open hats. Again, we're back to stock samples here: a nice, loose, slushy sound to give the beat a fluid feel. For a tighter feel to the beat, simply shorten the open hat's decay time. Note that the final open hat is triggered at a very slightly lower velocity. This gives the loop a subtle breathing feel.

Found Sound 2-Step: Step Three

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Step 4

Although the beat is already pretty solid, some subtle percussion will add movement and sonic interest. These percussion sounds can really define the overall feel of an otherwise quite simple beat. We're using more found sounds for our percussion parts; the raw samples for this final stage are some finger clicks and a metal impact sound treated with a light phaser effect. The click is triggered once at the end of the first bar, then the click and metal impact both contribute to the slightly busier turnaround at the end of the second bar. You can experiment with delays, reverbs and similar effects on these percussion hits to create a wide variety of very different sounding beats.

Found Sound 2-Step: Step Four

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It's worth listening to the difference between the final beat and the non-swung beat example to hear the impact of the swing. Without any swing the beat sounds very different:

Found Sound 2-Step: Without Swing

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Experiment with different swing levels until you find the setting that works best for the track. To download the samples for this beat, click here.

Native Instruments Komplete 9

Greg Scarth — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:16:17 +0000

Ten years on from its launch, Komplete is bigger and better than ever. Bruce Aisher gets to grips with the latest version of NI's flagship software bundle. It seems strange to talk about software developers having long and illustrious histories. Native Instruments may be just a baby in comparison to hardware veterans like Moog and Roland, but the company is now approaching its twentieth birthday, having launched with Generator way back in 1996. The company is rapidly joining the ranks of firmly established industry mainstays, with a product portfolio to match. Generator was a modular software synthesiser that served as a development system for many of NI's later stand-alone instrument plugins and eventually mutated into Reaktor, which is the processing backbone of the company's new Monark monosynth. Since the release of Generator, of course, NI has developed into one of the powerhouses of music software, expanded into digital DJing and even moved into hardware. This brings us neatly to Komplete 9, the latest iteration of NI's cost-saving über-bundle. As NI's product range has expanded, the idea of a 'complete' bundle has become less practical, so Komplete is split into two option: the standard version features 33 products with a 120 GB footprint and includes NI staples such as Absynth, FM8, Massive, Battery and Kontakt. However, for those who quite simply want it all, there is Komplete 9 Ultimate, weighing in at a monstrous 370 GB. It includes 65 instruments and effects and is deemed so large that it's delivered on its own NI-branded USB hard drive. Let’s start by looking at some recent additions to Komplete in its ninth outing.

Monark

Monark (included in both versions of Komplete) is NI’s brand new and much-publicised Minimoog clone – though they only allude to its true heritage by look, not name. Before continuing, it's worth knowing that the synth is in fact not a self-contained plugin, but rather exists only as a Reaktor ensemble. This is disappointing, as it makes DAW integration and preset management slightly more involved than it otherwise might be. In part, this might be due to the involvement of Vadim Zavalishin – the man responsible for bringing us many of the features introduced in Reaktor 5. It's his innovative DSP code which is responsible for Monark’s filter, something that's key to recreating the sound of the original Minimoog’s 24dB/octave resonant low-pass classic (though Monark itself does also include additional filter flavours). Unlike many of NI’s other virtual-instruments, Monark features an extremely trimmed-down feature set, which stays very true to the three-oscillator design of the original. What you don’t get here is a whole host of extra modulation options or banks of effects. In fact, I found this extremely refreshing, and this is perhaps heightened by the fact that the synth does sound absolutely great. There are a few additional settings available in the ‘B’ edit window, but these mainly provide subtle tweaks to the underlying sound engine.

Monark 1

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Monark 2

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Monark 3

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It took a certain amount of guts for NI to release (amidst much, much marketing bluster) a synth that appears so limited in scope and that can only play one note at a time, but it does a brilliant job of capturing the allure and usefulness of the one of the most important synths of all time – no mean feat. Monark is also available separately for €99.

Battery 4

Another of the star players in the NI line-up is Battery, the company's drum sampling plugin. It’s been over six years since the last version of Battery was introduced, and in that time NI has introduced Maschine (which is represented in Komplete Ultimate with the inclusion of the Kontakt-based Maschine Drum Selection). So, the big question has been whether Battery would even be updated; some people speculated that NI would quietly discontinue Battery to focus solely on Maschine as their flagship drum sampler. Thankfully, that's not the case. The most obvious difference between Battery 4 and its forebears is the copious use of colour within its newly designed lean and clean interface. In fact, it's clear immediately that working with new version is quicker, more intuitive, and frankly more fun. The updates to the plugin are mainly about GUI and workflow, but alongside new effects, algorithms and routing they do make quite a bit of difference in use. Even if you don’t initially want to get your hands dirty with sample creation or editing, there are 70 new kits to get you going and an excellent sample tagging system which makes library management much easier. The range of import formats has also been expanded. In sonic terms the selection of effects has been expanded to include the bus compressor and EQ from the new Solid Mix Series (more on these shortly) as well as tape saturation and many others. Better time-stretching has been implemented in the form of the Time Machine Pro algorithm, first seen in Kontakt 5 (another Komplete inclusion). Audio routing is also far more flexible and now provides bussing and processing groups via drag-and-drop as well as instant rendering for in-cell bouncing of effects and processing.

Battery 4 Beat

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With Tape Saturation 1

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With Tape Saturation 2

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Overall, this is great reboot of a popular drum sampler which should tick plenty of boxes for most users. It's not the biggest update you'll ever come across – and there are plenty of features which die-hard fans have been demanding for a long time and which still haven't been added – but it should be enough to keep most users happy.

Sample Magic Magic AB

Greg Scarth — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:27:38 +0000

Sample Magic makes the leap from samples and MIDI packs into the world of plugins. The result is a simple but highly effective tool for AB referencing. Sample Magic's software debut is one of the most obvious ideas I've come across in a long time, but it's so effective that it'll surely have countless other plugin developers kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. The plugin simplifies the straightforward, yet often tricky, task of comparing a mix in progress with a reference track of your choice.

Rating

Versatility

Value

Ease of use

Overall

A simple idea which works perfectly.

The guidance offered by a reference track is often invaluable. Not only does it present a framework to help structure and mix your session, but it also provides your ears with a much needed refresher. Unfortunately, AB referencing is usually a bit fiddly no matter which DAW you use. We're probably all familiar with the process of juggling media player windows with DAW transport controls, trying to skip quickly from one track to another to hear how our own track compares to a commercial mix. The Magic AB plugin makes it easy to set up and use reference tracks from within your DAW. I opted to place it on my master channel after my mix bus processing, but it's equally at home on a sub-mix bus if you just want to compare, say, a drum group or bassline. The plugin doesn't colour the sound in any way, so you can quite happily place it permanently at the end of a channel strip until it's needed. (It can actually be placed anywhere in the chain but I can't think of an obvious reason why you'd want to put it before your master channel processing. Still, the option's there if you find a need for it.)

Setting loop points (click to enlarge)

There's not a huge amount to say about Magic AB in action; it just works. Up to nine reference tracks can be loaded simultaneously. Levels can be matched with the horizontal trim sliders. Select one of the reference tracks as the B channel, then hit the big B button to switch the output. Crossfade time can be adjusted to allow your ears a moment to adapt to the new signal. The option of setting a loop within the plugin is a great feature. You can compare the reference track and the mix at any point you choose, or if there are particular parts of different tracks you want to reference, you can load them into the other channels and set loop points for each. I can think of very few improvements which could be made to this simple but effective tool. A spectrum analyser might be useful for a bit of visual feedback. It might also be handy if there was an option to start all the reference tracks at the same time (or even sync them to the position of the DAW's play head) in order to compare different versions of the same track – different mix bus compression settings, different vocal levels, different synth or drum sounds, and so on. Sample Magic has achieved something very rare in today's over-saturated plugin market. By focussing on providing the user with a simple and well-designed way to achieve what many find to be a time-consuming and fiddly process, they've created an essential tool. At a very fair £24.90 – and especially at the introductory £19.90 price point – Magic AB is a necessary purchase for anyone looking to simplify the process of AB referencing. It's a simple but essential plugin for your mixing, production and mastering processes. Sample Magic Magic AB – £24.90 (introductory price: £19.90), samplemagic.com

Crowdfunding Gigs

Greg Scarth — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:26:14 +0000

Songkick's new crowdfunding website for live music events allows fans to put their money where their mouth is and convince their favourite acts to play in their city. Songkick has announced that its Detour pilot has come out of beta and is now open to the general public, starting in London. Once signed up to the platform, music fans can pledge money to see their favourite acts, in much the same way as platforms like Kickstarter and Pledgie allow consumers to fund the development and manufacture of products. If enough funds are pledged, Songkick works with promoters to make the event happen. A final ticket price is determined and pledgers are charged for their ticket (if they can still attend and are happy with the price). In a literal take on 'crowd' funding, Songkick will use the most engaged contingent of music fans to forge a new and effective way to make money from music, minimising the risk for promoters and artists. The success of the Detour pilot, which has seen 1,000 music fans registered and ten gigs organised since November, proves that engaging the engaged is a promising model. It's become common to lament the demise of profitability in recorded music, but to keener observers it's also apparent that avid music fans are still eagerly investing their cash in other areas of the industry. Artists are wise to the worth of these hardcore fans and social media, most notably Twitter, has had a huge impact on artist-fan interaction in recent years. Songkick, no doubt aided by data they've gathered from their main business of ticket sales and gig alerts, aren't the first to tap into this profitable pool of musos – Brazil's Queremos! has been going strong since 2010 and GigFunder launched in the US last year – but their choice of London as a launch city is an interesting move given that the British capital has no shortage of music fans or live music events. While there is a 10% cut at stake for Songkick, CEO Ian Hogarth sees the impact of Detour as being more fundamental; he says the Detour beta has demonstrated that encouraging fans to support artists they love in this way "is having a profound positive change in the economics of touring, artists' livelihoods, and the atmosphere at concerts". In recent years touring has become the bread and butter of many artists' income, a phenomenon which is easily apparent in dance music. Diplo, for example, reportedly does 300 shows a year. But what does Detour mean for the sector of highly active music fans the platform relies on? Barriers between fan and artist have rarely been as prohibitive in dance as in rock and pop. Putting creative control in the hands of fans through crowdfunded gigs and shows could build on the existing interchange between fan and artist, while simultaneously creating a reassuring additional source of income for rising producers in the sub-genres and sub-sub-genres of electronic music. But surely the most excitement will come when Detour branches out of the capital – think Suomisaundi hits Orkney...

Keith Worthy

Greg Scarth — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:37:26 +0000

The Detroit deep house master takes on our quick-fire Q&A, revealing why money might help you find happiness, the importance of good monitoring and the way in which he's a true Scorpio.

Why music?

It chose me when I was a child.

What's the best advice you’ve ever received?

If you want to be an eagle then don’t surround yourself with chickens, because they will never be able to fly!

What inspires you?

Sometimes even the simplest things inspire me... but particularly my family, friends, art, music and the future all motivate and inspire me.

What's the next big thing?

Talented people will make a comeback. LOL!

Best club experience?

I’ve been fortunate to have a few, but whenever I'm able to play and connect with people and they're feeling me and leave better than they came, then the mission is accomplished.

What's the worst job you’ve ever had?

Unloading a UPS truck. Nothing against the company, but the work was brutal.

How do you know when a track's finished?

When I'm dancing or nodding my head and I don't realise it until the music shuts off.

Which song do you wish you wrote?

Quentin Harris – 'Let's Be Young'.

What's the easiest way to make it in the music industry?

When you figure it out, please let me know.

Recommend us a film.

I recently fell in love with a French film that I saw earlier this year, The Intouchables with François Cluzet and Omar Sy.

Recommend us a book.

The 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Greene.

What or who is underrated?

This list is unfortunately so, so long.

“Who is overrated? Without naming anyone, I think the answer to this question is very obvious.”

What or who is overrated?

Music these days is a numbers game and therefore the masses dictate just about everything, unfortunately. I'm not a negative person but – without naming anyone – I think the answer to this question is very obvious.

What are you addicted to?

Art and clothes.

What do you lust over?

I am a true Scorpio.

What is your greatest regret?

How much time do we have? God willing I'll live a long life to have another shot at some of the things on that list.

What one thing would most improve your life?

More time to be creative.

What’s the worst gig you’ve ever played?

I believe that even the bad gigs can make you stronger. Years ago it affected me if I showed up and it wasn’t packed. Now I make it my business to play just as well for 30 people as I would for 3,000 people.

Collaboration: rich creative experience or pain in the ass?

I’ve experienced both and you live and learn, but between these two I’m taking the rich creative experience.

If you could only listen to one more track, what would it be?

The $ Of Non-Conformance by Keith Worthy, in stores fall 2013. Shameless plug!

What one piece of software/kit could you not do without?

Great monitors, particularly a subwoofer. Why? I recently just purchased a new pair and my music and mixes now have noticeably better balance.

“Money won't buy you happiness, but it will pay for the search.”

Art or money?

Money won't buy you happiness, but it will pay for the search.

Strangest place you ever wrote a track?

Humming my ideas into a recorder at a bus stop in Croatia.

Must-read blogs/forums?

Does YouTube count?

What's your single biggest frustration in the music industry?

That marketing is king!

Favourite label?

Tough one. Track Mode?

What's the worst thing about making music?

It’s a total gamble.

What’s your motto?

The rule is there are no rules!

Tweet us a tip. What’s the best production advice you can give in 140 characters or less?

Always operate with integrity, and don’t purposely set out to create something to please the masses or for disingenuous reasons... Always trust your instincts. [That's 159 characters but we'll let him off this one time - ed.] Keith Worthy's debut LP, The $ Of Non-Conformance, will be out soon on Aesthetic Audio. Find Keith on Facebook.

Attack Magazine

iLok Deletes Users’ Licences

“Bizarrely, PACE president Allen Cronce claimed to be 'very proud' of the new iLok License Manager.”

The Danger Of Being Retro: Revivalism In Dance Music

“There comes a time when enough is enough, and it seems that time is now.”

"It's always been about cycles"

Finally… iTunes Radio

A Few Old Tunes… A Tribute To Boards of Canada

“The bassline from ‘Roygbiv’ came on and the penny dropped. My life changed at that very moment.”

Memory9

Who are you?

What do you sound like?

Why should we listen to you?

What have you released so far? What else have you got coming out in the near future?

What song sums you up?

What or who is your biggest influence?

Where can we hear your music?

Where will you be in five years' time?

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

Found Sound 2-Step

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SPEC

tempo

swing

sounds

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Native Instruments Komplete 9

Monark

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Battery 4

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Sample Magic Magic AB

Rating

Versatility

Value

Ease of use

Overall

A simple idea which works perfectly.

Crowdfunding Gigs

Keith Worthy

Why music?

What's the best advice you’ve ever received?

What inspires you?

What's the next big thing?

Best club experience?

What's the worst job you’ve ever had?

How do you know when a track's finished?

Which song do you wish you wrote?

What's the easiest way to make it in the music industry?

Recommend us a film.

Recommend us a book.

What or who is underrated?

“Who is overrated? Without naming anyone, I think the answer to this question is very obvious.”

What or who is overrated?

What are you addicted to?

What do you lust over?

What is your greatest regret?

What one thing would most improve your life?

What’s the worst gig you’ve ever played?

Collaboration: rich creative experience or pain in the ass?

If you could only listen to one more track, what would it be?

What one piece of software/kit could you not do without?

“Money won't buy you happiness, but it will pay for the search.”

Art or money?

Strangest place you ever wrote a track?

Must-read blogs/forums?

What's your single biggest frustration in the music industry?

Favourite label?