USB MIDI Controllers are laden with knobs and faders – but what do they do? Nowadays, even basic USB MIDI controllers feature a selection of knobs, faders and buttons on its front panel. If you’re new to music tech, you might wonder why you would need hands-on control over a keyboard with no on-board sounds,… Read More
Like all technology, audio editing software is packed with jargon – here’s what the most common functions do… When first using the audio editing features of common DAW software (like Sonar or Cubase), the terminology used can be a bit confusing. As a musician, all you want to do is get the ideas in your… Read More
MIDI Editing in Ableton 9 was given a bevy of new features – here’s how some of them work… Ableton Live was originally designed to be a live performance tool, based around the use of audio clips. It did this (and continues to do this…) very successfully, with an audio engine that is revered for… Read More
In Dance music production, the use of pump compression is now widespread- here’s how it’s done… Abuse of musical gear (i.e. using it in ways it wasn’t intended) has underpinned nearly every modern musical movement. Rock was born out of players overdriving their amps, Jazz players constantly pushed to find ways of squeezing new sounds… Read More
It’s probably the most commonly used effect of all, but just what is reverb? If you’re a producer, home recordist or guitarist, you’ll no doubt have used reverb effects at some point. If you haven’t, you’ll almost certainly be aware of what it sounds like. Reverb (short for reverberation) is one of the oldest of… Read More
Audio to MIDI in Ableton makes creating a track from nothing but a guitar and random stuff easy and fun When version 9 of Ableton was announced, one of the features that caught the attention of most users was the new audio to MIDI functionality. The idea of audio to MIDI is not entirely new-… Read More
The idea of MPC for iPad is a very good one, and one you could be enjoying now… When music making apps for iPad first started to appear, the concept of an MPC for iPad in app form was, most likely, one idea that struck many as a good one. It was a while before… Read More
The ReGroove Mixer in Reason is something that, when you know how to use it, you won’t be able to live without The ReGroove mixer in Reason is one of the tools that are rather hidden away, compared to the other rack devices. So much so, in fact, that many don’t use it at all…. Read More
There’s a myriad of audio file formats – but what’s the difference between them? If you’ve used any kind of audio software at all, whether it is a full audio recording package, or a an music file manager, such as iTunes, you’ll be aware that there is a large number of different file formats. WAV,… Read More
Programming a drum machine can be straightforward and rewarding – here we program Reason’s Redrum as an example The word ‘programming’ conjures up images of computer screens full of code that make little sense to any one other than those with a degree in computer science. Programming a drum machine, by the same token, is… Read More
