The ability to sync your Traktor track collection with your main Traktor computer via Dropbox is one of my favorite features in Traktor Pro 2.6.1, sharing track info including cue points, beatgrids and BPM/key information. This opens up the possibility of doing a lot of the prep work for a performance (beatgridding tracks, setting cue points, etc.) on the iPad’s inviting touchscreen and then syncing your work with your main computer before the gig. Head over here to read my full overview of Traktor DJ. – Endo

Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro

The definition of DJing has changed dramatically in the last decade. Laptops, controllers, and software have emerged alongside more traditional turntables and CDJs, smashing the barrier to entry. In today’s digital age, anyone can become a DJ. To reflect this renaissance, Dubspot has created the Digital DJing with Traktor program. In both our physical and online schools, students will learn how to DJ entirely with Traktor’s cutting-edge technology. An emphasis will be placed on the concepts of DJing rather than simply learning how to use the software.

What’s Included

• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 1: Introduction to DJing
• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 2: Phrase Mixing
• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 3: Beyond The Beatmatch

“I love the class, and the content! Shiftee and Endo are very funny, and very clear, so the material is easy and fun to follow! I wish my college teachers were more like these two!” – Leandro Martinez, Chicago IL

More start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

If you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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In the second installment of Clive Chin: The Lost Archives, we sit down with Clive and dub producer/engineer Billy “Prince Polo” Szeflinski of The Kennel recording studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The two of them talk about digitizing and cataloguing hundreds of hours of music recorded by Clive Chin and his late father Vincent “Randy” Chin from 1968 to 1978, the heyday of Jamaican reggae, ska, and dub music. Among the hundreds of tapes which lay undisturbed for nearly 40 years were recordings by many of Jamaica’s greatest stars including Max Romeo, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, Alton Ellis, Jimmy London, The Gladiators, The African Brothers, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Lord Creator, U-Roy, and Tommy McCook.

Clive Chin also talks about producing Augustus Pablo’s 1971 hit “Java” at Randy’s Studio in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. “Java” became an international sensation with its Eastern motif played on the melodica. The former classmates followed the hit single with a debut album from Augustus Pablo titled This Is Augustus Pablo in 1972.

Stay tuned for the third and final installment in which Prince Polo talks about remixing the recordings, as well as adding new vocals and instruments to the tracks, many of which were unfinished instrumentals.

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In this video, James Bernard demonstrates the performance capabilities and creative possibilities of the innovative Tempest analog drum machine and synthesizer from Dave Smith Instruments and Roger Linn Design.

He first breaks down the drum machine and explains how it lets you create and manipulate beats and sounds in real time, demonstrating various ways you can utilize the well-thought-out pad bank for a dynamic live performance: the Tempest has sixteen pressure- and velocity-sensitive pads to which you can assign thirty-two unique drum sounds with different settings for each.

Bernard also explains the synthesis aspect and showcases some of the rich sounds you’ll find in the Tempest, essentially a six-voice analog synthesizer with four oscillators per voice, as well as many original effects devices. The Tempest is not your average drum machine or synthesizer: whether in the studio or in a live performance environment, the sonic possibilities with this machine are boundless.

Sound Design Komplete Program

Become fluent in the language of sound design with this comprehensive program. This six-level Sound Design program uses Native Instruments’ Komplete as a platform for learning synthesis and sampling techniques. Starting with an introduction to the properties of sound, this comprehensive series of courses covers most common synthesis methods available for music production in the DAW of your choice.

Discovering the right sound is like finding a needle in the digital haystack. Learn the fundamentals to make this easier, and gain the depth of knowledge to make a good sound better. Factory content is great, but everyone has it – your mix needs something special.

What’s Included:

• Sound Design Level 1: Introduction to Komplete 8
• Sound Design Level 2: Synthesis with Massive, FM8 and Absynth
• Sound Design Level 3: Sampling with Kontakt and Battery
• Sound Design Level 4: Advanced Sound Design
• Sound Design Level 5: Reaktor Ensembles and Instruments
• Sound Design Level 6: Reaktor Programming

Sound Design classes just started, sign up today!

NYC COURSES
Evening Classes: April 30, 2013; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:15pm-9pm
Afternoon Classes: May 1, 2013; Wednesdays and Fridays, 3:15pm-6pm

ONLINE COURSES in session with seats still available. Register today!

Music Production w/ Ableton Live

NYC COURSES
Morning Classes: April 29, 2013; Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, 10:15am-1pm
Evening Classes: May 1, 2013; Wednesdays and Fridays, 6:15pm-9pm
Weekend Classes: June 2, 2013; Sundays, 1:00-6pm

ONLINE COURSES in session with seats still available. Register today!

From the studio to the stage, learn to use Ableton Live to create, record, produce, and perform your music. Learn about linear and improvisational styles of producing electronic music as we help you master the software’s innovative interface.

After completing this program, you will leave with four completed tracks (an EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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I’m impressed with how Native Instruments have adapted Traktor’s design to take advantage of the touchscreen interface of the iPad, and they’ve also added in some new features that even go beyond what Traktor Pro can do on Mac OS/Windows.  The best example of this is how the whole interface has been designed around the two parallel waveform displays, allowing you to control playback by directly touching the waveforms on the screen! This is a more useful approach than the typical “spinning platter”-style interface offered by many other iOS DJ apps, and controlling the tracks directly on the screen gives a much different feeling than DJing on a laptop and controlling your tracks with keyboard commands or a MIDI controller. Head over here to read my full overview of Traktor DJ. – Endo

Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro

The definition of DJing has changed dramatically in the last decade. Laptops, controllers, and software have emerged alongside more traditional turntables and CDJs, smashing the barrier to entry. In today’s digital age, anyone can become a DJ. To reflect this renaissance, Dubspot has created the Digital DJing with Traktor program. In both our physical and online schools, students will learn how to DJ entirely with Traktor’s cutting-edge technology. An emphasis will be placed on the concepts of DJing rather than simply learning how to use the software.

What’s Included

• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 1: Introduction to DJing
• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 2: Phrase Mixing
• Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Level 3: Beyond The Beatmatch

“I love the class, and the content! Shiftee and Endo are very funny, and very clear, so the material is easy and fun to follow! I wish my college teachers  were more like these two!” – Leandro Martinez, Chicago IL

More start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

If you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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In this video, Dubspot students talk about their experiences participating in our 3-month intensive Ableton Live Producer Certificate Program in which students learn how to create, record, produce, and perform music using Ableton Live. The students discuss their individual background, how they discovered Dubspot and what they’ve learned from our talented and versatile instructors DJ Kiva, Jon Margulies, and Adam Partridge.

This program is about learning Ableton Live by going through the entire process of being an artist, by developing your own sound through a series of sketches and experimentation. You will also learn the ins and outs of this powerful software through a series of exercises designed to help you master the steps involved in producing your own music. After a level of getting familiar with the tools that Ableton has to offer, you will then develop your sonic ideas into full length songs – one per level. You will be exposed to a variety of approaches to arrangement and composition, storytelling techniques, ways of creating tension and drama in your music. At the end of the day, it is the sum total of your choices as an artist that define your sound, and levels 2 – 6 will give you the experience of actually completing tracks to add to your portfolio.

Our music production program is custom-tailored to fit your musical style. You can choose from several Digital Audio Workstations including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, or Propellerhead’s Reason.

After completing this program, you will leave with 4 completed tracks (EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

“So far the experience through Dubspot is incredible, and I can’t wait to go through the next levels. It’s just getting better each week, and I can not wait to start putting an EP together, not just being able to put a successful track together!” - Dan Carter, United Kingdom

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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The last three years have seen a rise in the production of monophonic synthesizers by several different manufacturers. As competition increases, many hardware companies are producing inexpensive synthesizers marketed around popular styles of electronic music. Furthermore, there also seems to be a rise in the demand of hardware synths in comparison to software. Many producers are enticed by hardware synths because they are not affected by RAM, processor speed nor the need to upgrade to a newer computer in order to continue using it.

Following this trend, Waldorf recently released the Rocket, a $329 tabletop monophonic synth that can run off USB power and brings the classic Waldorf sound to a highly portable instrument. I picked up one of these synths while on tour recently and decided to give it a test drive for the benefit of future users.

Waldorf Rocket First Impressions

This is a very sleek mono synth with a stunning build to it. The unit has a great design and has an extremely sturdy build. The switches on the unit are very strong and they do affect the signal flow (ie: hearing audible clicks) when you are switching to a different filter or key tracking type. This is something that I really like about this synth. The Knobs feel great, with a nice build to them. The knobs produce a very continuous response while being adjusted.

Filter

The filter on the Waldorf Rocket is one of the best features on the instrument. The filter is very sharp and has a great bite to it. In relation to the resonance and envelope modulation knob, this synth can really deliver some sharp filter sweeps and subtractive synthesis sounds.

LFO + Arpeggiator

The LFO and Apreggiator are a bit tricky on this synthesizer. Neither can be tempo-synced (like you can with the MiniBrute for instance) which is disappointing. On the other hand, you simply have to use your ears and rely on the timing within the track you are trying to record, to get accurate results.

Oscillator

The oscillator on this mono synth offers saw and pulse waves. This may not seem like a lot to choose from, but the “Booster” function on the Rocket enables the sound to have more saturation and harmonics, especially when used with the chord function on this synth. The Chord feature is very unique and useful. I have been able to create sounds on the Rocket synthesizer that sound close to those that would be created on my ROLAND MKS 80!

Warning: You Can’t Play Chords on This Synth

The Chord feature on the Rocket can be misleading at first because it doesn’t actually play chords. What happens is: the sound becomes stacked with more voices and you can then select a “chord like” voicing such as a 3rd, 5th, or other chord interval which has its own pitch associated to the sound itself. I don’t think many other mono synth offers this function, and this is highly useful while using the Rocket synthesizer.

No A/D/S/R?

One of the biggest gripes that users have been voicing about this synthesizer is its lack of an A/D/S/R envelope. The Rocket synthesizer only has a Decay envelope, which actually acts like the release stage of the envelope as well. I’m under the assumption that this was a design issue related to space available on the front panel, and in terms of price. I can live with this while programming this synth.

Power Supply

This is one of the strongest points about this synthesizer. The Rocket ships with a universal power supply that includes adapters for America, Europe, and Asia. This is a feature that im sure you will see other companies adapt to in the future. For example, i bought my unit in Scotland from Rubadub, and was equipped to use it later in Milan, and then 2 days later when i arrived at home in the United States because the adapters are all included.

Launch Button

The launch button is also another great feature on the Rocket and allows you to audition sounds without a MIDI controller. You can program sounds and apreggiations by simply pressing the launch button. Furthermore, when you are using a midi controller with the rocket synthesizer, the launch button will respond to the pitch of any key selected by the midi controller. This is a handy feature.

Summary of the Waldorf Rocket Monophonic Synth

I really like this synthesizer. I like the design, sound, functions, and features. The greatest thing about this synthesizer is that you feel like you are programming an expensive synth that sounds well above the Rocket price tag. I have never been much of a fan for mono synths, especially expensive ones. But I have learned a lot about programming synthesizers from using mono synths. They make you concentrate on a particular frequency, or type of patch such as a bass line, lead or effect sound, and that is a good thing. But if you have any concerns or needs for polyphony, a monophonic synthesizer is NOT for you.  A monophonic synthesizer is good for a producer that may want to concentrate on a particular type of frequency such as a lead line, bass line, blips, or effects. There is often a need for this in the production and sound design process.

- Mike Huckaby

PROS

• Great build
• Great design
• Very affordable price
• Aggressive filter
• The launch button
• Versatile power supply included for all regions of the world
• Audio input
• MIDI in and out ports
• USB
• A boast function
• Flexible in the amount of sounds that can be created
• Portable

CONS

• Lack of a full A/D/S/R envelope control
• LFO and apreggiator are not tempo synced
• Saw and Pulse wave limitation for oscillators
• No saving / patches

Mike Huckaby

Detroit’s Mike Huckaby is a living legend and has long been an influential player in the city’s techno and house scene. With over two decades of work as a creator, remix artist and DJ, he’s become one of the most sought-after producers in the world. Mike’s love for music is shadowed only by his love for sharing knowledge about music. He’s mentored brilliant new stars such as Kyle Hall, and continues to tour the world as an expert in Ableton and Native Instruments software, teaching Live and Maschine to up and coming producers everywhere.

Mike Huckaby @ Dubspot – Maschine / Ableton Tutorials

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In this example we’re going to use Logic’s Environment to set up an arpeggiator with large buttons that toggle between different resolutions or arpeggiator rates. We’ll learn how to map MIDI control change data to the arpeggiator in the Environment and how to create large visual controls to send that data. We’ll take a look at using the button object in the Environment to send MIDI control change data, a technique which could be applied to many different workflows. The goal of the video, beyond the specific application, is to get you thinking creatively about ways to manipulate MIDI data in Logic’s Environment to create unique musical tools and customize your own setup. – Matt Shadetek

For further exploration of Logic check out Dubspot’s six-level Logic Pro Producer program, designed by Matt Shadetek:

Master Logic with our complete program of courses culminating in a four-track EP ready for release. In addition to achieving a complete overview of the composition process in Logic you’ll also earn the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Logic Pro. After completing this program, you will leave with a new EP, a remix entered in an active remix contest, and a scored commercial to widen your scope.

What’s Included

• Logic Pro Level 1: Shake Hands with Logic
• Logic Pro Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Logic Pro Level 3: Mixing Essentials
• Logic Pro Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Logic Pro Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Logic Pro Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

Music Production with Logic Pro classes just started; sign-up today!

The week of April 29th in NYC – Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri – 10:15-am-1:00pm
The week of April 21st DUBSPOT ONLINE

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conTRAPtion opens up new directions in trap music production! This VST is guaranteed to meet the demands of today’s DJs and trapaholics everywhere.

Load any song you want and after a brief analysis conTRAPtion slows down the tempo, rolls off the low end and adds distorted 808 kicks. Then it adds syncopated hi-hats alternating between 1/8th-note and 1/16th-note patterns. The final layer is classic trap sounds like gun shots, air horns, explosions, and of course “Damn Son, Where’d You Find This?”

conTRAPtion has multiple settings. If you want a subtle track spin on it, simply apply the first setting SWAG.

If SWAG isn’t cutting it and you need to get more hard in the paint, that’s what TURNT UP is for.

The next setting, MAYBACH MUSIC, adds flair, snares, and track IDs. And when there’s no turning back and you need to turn the trap up to 11, simply apply “Damn Son, Where’d You Find This?”

conTRAPtion also has a “chopped and screwed” feature, simply flip the CHOPPED & SCREWED switch to apply the effect.

And if anyone asks you “Damn son, where’d you find this?” you can tell them that Chris Petti told you.

Music Production w/ Ableton Live

NYC COURSES

Morning Classes: April 29, 2013; Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, 10:15am-1pm

Evening Classes: May 1, 2013; Wednesdays and Fridays, 6:15pm-9pm

Weekend Classes: June 2, 2013; Sundays, 1:00-6pm

ONLINE COURSES in session with seats still available. Register today!

From the studio to the stage, learn to use Ableton Live to create, record, produce, and perform your music. Learn about linear and improvisational styles of producing electronic music as we help you master the software’s innovative interface. After completing this program, you will leave with four completed tracks (an EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

“So far the experience through Dubspot is incredible, and I can’t wait to go through the next levels. It’s just getting better each week, and I can not wait to start putting an EP together, not just being able to put a successful track together!”- Dan Carter, United Kingdom

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here. Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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Electrix Tweaker

You may remember Electrix from about a decade back, the company made that those brightly colored effects that seemed to appear in everyone’s studio in the late 90s and then disappeared from sight for a while. Well, Electrix (the brand) is back and this time they are taking aim at the computer market with a new product for digital DJs: the Electrix Tweaker.

The Tweaker is a USB-powered, class-compliant MIDI controller designed by Livid Instruments and Electrix to offer a new type of control device for digital DJs and computer musicians. With 32 buttons in a grid layout, two sets of knobs (think three band EQ),  two sets of faders and a crossfader, the device is a new take on an old concept: the two-channel DJ mixer redesigned for a new generation of performers who didn’t necessarily grow up with a conventional mixer. The Tweaker skips right over the traditional jog wheel method of control and substitutes velocity-sensitive pads and a crossfader for a more direct approach at DJing. At the top of the device is a four-way pad (useful for navigation in Ableton) and a big scroll wheel (useful for finding songs in your Traktor library). On the back of the device you’ll find MIDI in and out ports as well as a USB connection.

Physical Build

Out of the box the Electrix Tweaker feels solid. The build, weight, and quality of craftsmanship are immediately apparent. Pads are soft and responsive, dials click and turn nicely, and the faders on each side offer resistance for mixing as well as a click point in the center (matching the feel of older Technics 1200 turntables). The crossfader is well built and fast enough to meet the demands of controllerists. These elements all feel well-tuned and the Tweaker comes across as a pro device. One nice addition to the package is a set of four legs that bring the Tweaker up to standard turntable / mixer height, making it fit perfectly in a DJ rig.

Software Compatibility

The Tweaker is class-compliant and MIDI-capable so it can be used with DJ software, DAWs, VJ and video performance software, or anything else that will accept MIDI input. The Tweaker is entirely customizable and can be programmed to do whatever you want it to do with the included editor software, and it comes ready for use with Ableton Live, Serato, and Traktor right out of the box; Traktor and Ableton also get their own plastic overlays indicating what each button does.

Tweaker In Use

We had a lot of fun playing with the Electrix Tweaker in our test sessions, with Traktor in particular. The visual feedback of the rotary encoders and pads make this device very useful in the dark while the layout still feels traditional to some extent (and comfortable to someone who is used to a conventional DJ mixer as well). I know where the fader level, cross fader, and EQ sit without having to look. The knobs also perform triple duty as EQ, effects and loop effects in the provided Traktor template, and the pads perform are set to jump to cue points, nudge your tracks, trigger effects and other functions.

One thing to note is that the Tweaker does not have a built-in soundcard, so if you are comparing this device to something like the Traktor Kontrol S2, you’ll want to check out a two-channel soundcard such as the Electrix Ebox-44 or one of the Native Instruments devices that support multiple outputs and cue capability.

Features

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Over the course of the past 20 years, the computer has shaped music production more than any other technology. Moreover, the computer has taken the place of those devices in most cases, since software and computer emulations of instruments are much more affordable than hardware. Computers take up less space, are more powerful, and can house countless instruments and effects compared to a physical space. In today’s professional realm, the computer has become the center of the studio. So now, when music software can finally do everything that we always wanted it to do, why are so many producers gravitating to hardware?

The machines will rise

Rise of the Machines

Hardware music devices such as synthesizers, stomp boxes and drum machines have seen a renewed popularity in the last few years, attracting everyone from producers and sound designers to musical instrument manufacturers who are seeing a resurgence of interest for instruments and effects that run “outside the box.” Ebay prices on vintage Roland gear and E-Mu samplers have been steadily rising. Guitar stomp boxes are starting to appear in more and more live electronic sets as performance devices. And then there’s the modular synthesizer phenomenon, leading many of our peers to spend endless nights patching and noodling on custom-built oscillators and filters that can cost as much as a new car.

“It’s just generally a lot more fun to use hardware synths with knobs and patch cables. It’s more hands-on,” offers Shawn Cleary from Analog Haven, one of the United States’ premier retailers for modular synth equipment and hard-to-find/boutique music gear. Cleary says he is seeing,”an increasing market for Eurorack modular gear. Patchable synths such as the Doepfer Dark Energy, Tom Oberheim SEM and the fully modular Pittsburgh Modular Foundation make fantastic gateways to an even larger Eurorack setup.”

Music Hardware for Modern Sound Design

One of the most prominent champions of hardware-based production is sound designer and producer Richard Devine, who says, “I think there has been a big influx of producers who have taken notice to using hardware over the past few years.” Devine himself has been returning to hardware for creation more and more recently, specifically with modular gear. “Lately I have been making music with just modular synthesizers. I originally started out working with analog synthesizers when I first began making electronic music. I then got into using computers for synthesis and grew bored after using them for the last 14 years.”

While modern recording environments allow advantages like saving and recalling presets, Devine feels that the lack of these features adds to the creative process with hardware. “It’s sort of like creating this audio ghost that exists only for a short time. So you just try and capture and record it as many ways as possible before it disappears. I love this aspect as you don’t get too attached to the piece. I would sometimes spend months on a piece in the computer constantly trying to nitpick and redo sections over and over without ever letting go of something. With modular synthesizers you come into the mindset that you will have to pull the patch and move on. Limitations can sometimes bring out much more creativity in me.”

Devine feels that the new Eurorack movement in particular is an inspiring movement for innovation in sound: ”It’s really the wild wild west of music instrument design as of late. There are so many strange new devices and companies popping up in this format. I feel there is still so much to explore. The Eurorack format is just so fun and you can customize your system just for you. In particular I have been loving these companies: Makenoise, Harvestman, 4ms, Intellijel, WMD, TipTop audio, Doepfer and Cwejman.”

Drumcell appears in the upcoming I Dream of Wires documentary, photo by Jason Amm

Another artist (and modular user) who is currently embracing the use of hardware in his own work is Droid Behavior co-founder and techno producer Drumcell, whose album will be released on Chris Liebing’s esteemed CLR label in the coming weeks. “I just finished my first full-length album to be released this April, and the album was made almost 90% with hardware. It was truly an inspiring process for me,” the producer explains. “My recent return to using hardware came after being totally uninspired just looking at the computer screen and twisting knobs with a mouse. The hands-on and tactile feel of hardware is something that truly drives me to be more creative.  Software does have the edge in areas like accessibility and it is far more convenient to just open your DAW and be able to save presets and make changes as you go, but I like the fact that with hardware, once I make something and I record it, there is no going back…it’s finished and it’s time to move on. It pushes you to get things done.”

Less Options Can Equal More Creativity

“Hardware equals power of sound, tone, knobs, sliders, control, inspiration, random patch creation, machines to hover over and feel like the master of the lab,” explains DJ Thomas White when asked why people are returning to hardware. White is one-half of production duo Natural Rhythm and a renowned synthesis guru who feels that the computer’s endless options didn’t help his own workflow. “The computer offered what I had always dreamed of, frankly: an endless set of options and the ability to do whatever I could think of. But you know what? I got roadblocked by options. I found myself wondering why I hit the wall with creativity at times. And to find the answer I returned to my hardware roots.”

DJ Thomas White explains his love for hardware at the Dubspot LA OP1 workshop

Dubspot instructor and dub champion Raz Mesinai agrees with this idea and feels that hardware brings a more natural flow of creation. “All technology is an extension of the body,” he explains. “Hardware gear is having a comeback because musicians want more tactile control, which, no matter how much software companies want to push you to believe, they are not delivering.”

Touching the Past

“Some people want vintage for the sake of vintage. Others want vintage for tone. Some want hardware for esteem. It looks pretty, but damn if it doesn’t sound mean,” offers White when asked about the popularity of older Roland devices, Moog synths and other vintage gear. These in-demand and out of production instruments often fetch high prices on the resale market.

Drumcell adds that some people want to touch the history of their own musical heritage with these devices: “We do go in and out of these retro stages with music and a lot of vintage and old electronic music instruments have become iconic to people. For instance the TB-303 or TR-808 are devices that you often see on T-shirts, iPhone covers, CDs , stickers and party flyers. I think many people know what these instruments are even if they don’t make electronic music and actually want to touch them.”

Hardware adds Character to Recordings

Dubspot’s Steve Nalepa combines hardware and software to achieve his signature sound

One of the reasons that so many producers are turning to hardware is to create unique sounds. In-the-box production often yields similar results while outside sources can add color to a recording and give it character. This is a tip that we hear over and over again when we speak to producers. Dubspot Ableton Live course designer Steve Nalepa champions this method, explaining his process to us:

“While Ableton serves as the hub of my studio, I have been collecting analog synths, pedals and other assorted gear over the years and I always try to incorporate them into my music. There’s something inspiring about putting your hands on an actual piece of hardware and experimenting with it, recording it, then mining for the best parts. While I utilize soft synths in just about every track, hardware devices have their own unique character and I find the combination of both works very well. Music made completely inside the box can sometimes sound too clean and digital, and lately I’ve been exploring a number of ways to give tracks a vibe: incorporating lo-fi field recordings done with a phone for example, miking an amp versus running a direct out, etc. Hit up those pawn shops, estate sales and yard sales, you might find your next secret weapon.”

This idea resonates with Drumcell as well. “I think there is a sound to hardware that is desirable to most people and each instrument has its own texture and richness to it.”

Hardware as Inspiration

KiNK’s “Hand Made” was the result of hardware inspiration and software execution

One artist who has been influencing the techno/house community recently is Bulgarian producer KiNK, whose YouTube channel has inspired a flock of producers to go back to basics for creation. The above video shows KiNK’s creative process for the song “Hand Made” which he released with vocalist (not daytime TV chef) Rachel Ray on the influential Rush Hour record label. After a few watches through his homemade videos of live house music performance you may be surprised to learn that the chart-topping producer actually uses software to create the music he releases publicly. As he explained to Resident Advisor in a now-famous interview from 2010, he’s been using hardware to help find inspiration and new ideas:

“I have an inspirational part of the studio which I enjoy when I make some sounds. And the other part of the studio is just my computer with the software. Let’s say when I want to make a track, I think of the track when I am out with friends, or in bed when I am about to fall asleep. When I sit at the computer I already have some idea what I am going to do. I sit there, and I start to program. It is a very cold process; it’s not really impulsive and emotional.” - KiNK with RA

Arturia’s MiniBrute – An Indication of Things to Come?

One of the biggest telltale signs of this movement into hardware is software maker Arturia’s release of the MiniBrute–an all-analog monophonic synth that communicates with the computer as well as MIDI and CV devices. The synth immediately took off with critics and consumers at its announcement during NAMM 2012, and has been out of stock in most places until very recently.

“The MiniBrute has proven that musicians do want synths with an immediacy to them,” explains Glen Darcey, Arturia’s Head of Product Development. ”You see a knob and it actually represents the position of the parameter; you turn it without the sound jumping or having to pass a zero-cross point. It is a very organic thing, and something that the modular community knows well but many others have forgotten or missed out on because the mainstream market went a different direction.”

When asked where he saw this trend of hardware going Darcey replied, “Our feeling is that there are jobs for pure hardware, there are jobs for hardware/software hybrids and jobs for pure software. All of these are tools for an artist to create with. Different artists are inspired by different sounds, touch, feel, etc.  Our feeling is that we want to make musically useful tools for artists. We will continue to make software, hybrids and dedicated hardware products for the market. It is great to see a return to pure analog products with the modular boom. MiniBrute was designed to work well for both the computer user or the modular user.”

Boutique Hardware and TonyLight’s LepLoop

Italian developer, designer and synth enthusiast TonyLight has been catching a wave of popularity recently by way of a recent KiNK video where the producer uses TonyLight’s LepLoop synthesizer to tweak his way into a thumping groove (above). We reached out to TonyLight to find out about the inception of LepLoop and to get his take on this rise in hardware’s popularity:

“I use the computer mostly for recording, but I’m not a fan,” he explains. “I love tabletop instruments, small and compact. My setup fits in a backpack. Hardware instruments are more reliable and stable, modern digital synths are basically super special computers in a keyboard case. Also–at the show people like to see the performer doing something on stage and the computer forces you to stay immobile. After getting into techno music during the 90s, I started using a drum machine and synth. In 2004 I became part of the audio/video collective Otolab where I met Giovanni, a hacker/DIY guy. He is an expert in analog and digital electronics. So we started thinking about a compact analog synth for live performance, a small box for playing around with.”

A Hybrid Future for Creation

It should be noted that in our research for this article we didn’t find any producers who are using 100% hardware for creation. There is always a computer involved and as we move to the future there will probably always be one in the recording process. But we are also starting to see more producers go outside the box for inspiration, character, and fun when the glow of a computer screen isn’t delivering.

“To be honest I really love both ends of the spectrum,” explains Drumcell. “At the end of the day I truly believe it’s not about what you use, it’s just how you use it.”

I Dream of Wires

Click here to view the embedded video.

Future viewing: I Dream of Wires (IDOW) is an upcoming documentary about modular synthesizers that features some of the artists interviewed in this article as well as “a vast array of others who have dedicated their lives to this esoteric electronic music machine.” We are very excited for this film’s premiere in May 2013.

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The Couch Life

With home studios and entertainment centers quickly fusing into one larger technological organism in many homes, this dream of achieving all of life’s goals from the comfort of the couch is coming closer to being a reality. We can already watch much of the video content from the web through our own televisions thanks to Apple TV, the Roku box and our (soon-to-be out of date) videogame consoles, bringing much of the entertainment value that the web has to offer directly into our living rooms. Microsoft has even addressed the “second screen” demographic with an iPad app called SmartGlass which allows for the navigation of their Xbox 360 systems as well as extra game and video content on the tablet. But what about those of us who have connected our computers directly to the TV as a monitor and want to control aspects of our system beyond just watching videos, like producing music for example…?

iOS Remote Control

There are a number of apps for iOS devices that convert the device to serve as a remote control for the computer. While there are varying features in the different apps available for this purpose, I chose one called Mobile Mouse for its rich feature set and affordable price at $2.99. Like other iOS apps designed for communication with the PC over a wireless connection, Mobile Mouse requires a server application to be installed on your host computer, handling all of the information exchange to the device. Once the server application is installed, you can start the iOS app and the software will connect to your computer.

With the app open, the iOS device automatically becomes a full screen trackpad for your computer, with useful features like dedicated itunes and web browser controls as well as a fully functioning keyboard with function keys, control/option/command keys and even assignable hot buttons. The app also creates a hideable duplicate of your application dock (if you are on Mac) with launchable icons so you have quick access without precise mouse clicking or searching through folders. Browsing to SoundCloud to listen to a friend’s tracks or watching your Dubspot Online videos never seemed so relaxing.

iPad Music Production

From the beginning of its inception, the iPad has acted as a sketchpad and performance tool for music through apps like iMaschine and Tabletop which have made it easy to make beats and sketch ideas on your tablet on airplanes, in limos or most luxurious of all, on your couch. With iMaschine, for instance, Maschine users can sketch out beats on the road, record melodies or even lyrics and then save and transfer that mobile project to the full Maschine program, making the iPhone (or iPad, as the app actually looks good in double size) a valuable practice and recording tool. Other apps like Animoog or Traktor DJ act as fully operational instruments, but their portability and the wireless, hands-on inspiration they provide is what makes them unique. Practicing on the couch is just as good as practicing anywhere else. Unfortunately, to hear these great sounds in full studio glory, you would need a cable long enough to reach from your studio mixer to your couch, testing the limits of laziness.

Edits from the Couch

Unfortunately, some parts of the music-making process translate better to the couch than others. Flipping through presets, pre-listening to samples and tweaking synth parameters can all be done from the distant leisure of the sofa and may offer a more social approach to making beats and writing hooks, but the fine-tuning of MIDI sequences or automation curves still requires the precision of a mouse; some parts of the editing process are still difficult to translate to a touchscreen interface. This is the biggest challenge in working from the couch, and this is the point when I would recommend fighting through the laziness to actually put in some work. There are always exceptions to the rule, but working up close and personal with the computer seems like it is still an indispensable necessity at a certain point.

TouchAble for Ableton Control

Once the nitty gritty editing work is done, the mixing stage is likely the next step and here there are many tools that promise to liberate the artist from the shackles of the production desk. While there are a number of applications that assign mix parameters of Ableton Live and other DAWs to touchscreen controls on the iPad in various ways, TouchAble is still our favorite, with all of the features necessary for mixing as well as control of effects and instruments. Allowing for the display of up to 16 channels in Ableton, TouchAble also has full transport controls and a streamlined control surface template for easy integration in your setup.

Room Correction Software

Another useful tool that will allow you to move around your studio with impunity is the ARC room correction software from IK Multimedia. For ARC to work properly, a microphone measures the frequency response at certain locations around the room where the producer will sit when mixing. Once the measurement process is complete, ARC compensates for the imperfections of the room so you can hear what you’re doing more clearly.

One of the cooler functions of ARC is that you can take measurements for different listening areas in the same room, save them and switch between them. You can have one correction profile set up for accurate sound at the main engineer’s position sitting in front of the computer, and another profile set up for couch listening. By switching back and forth between profiles in ARC, you can have the software give you an accurate picture of the sound in either listening position. We recently did a post about ARC and other room correction technologies if you want to learn more about this topic.

Couch Production into the Future

So why don’t all artists produce from the couch? Well for one thing, most DJ/producers who are gigging a lot and touring do not have much time to sit down. However, the iPad and mobile devices have become vital to these artists’ ability to organize their transient lifestyles. DJs can beatgrid tracks on the run with Traktor DJ or record their voice and make beats with iMaschine or iMPC in bed. One might wonder why DJs don’t perform on stage laying on a couch with their iPad rather than inside elaborate and ridiculous sets… Some artists have seized on this idea already, like Aphex Twin who in trendsetting fashion reportedly performed sitting in front of a couch or the industrious people behind FestivalCouch who developed a motorized DJ couch, among other ingenious couch modifications.

Where do you like to sketch out ideas or relax while critiquing your own work?  Let us know in the comments below…

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In this video we’ll learn how to set up an iPad for use as a second monitor with Logic Pro and explore how to get the most out of this setup. The software we’ll use for this is called Air Display (available via the App Store) and it allows us to turn the iPad into a touchscreen monitor using a WiFi connection.

There are a few ways I’ve used this and I’m sure you’ll think of others. I like to use a second view of the mixer while working in the arrangement, and vice versa when mixing. Another fun use of this where you can get more creative is to control custom control setups in Logic’s Environment view.

In part two of this series I’ll show how to control an arpeggiator using this setup. – Matt Shadetek

For further exploration of Logic check out Dubspot’s six-level Logic Pro Producer program, designed by Matt Shadetek:

Master Logic with our complete program of courses culminating in a four-track EP ready for release. In addition to achieving a complete overview of the composition process in Logic you’ll also earn the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Logic Pro. After completing this program, you will leave with a new EP, a remix entered in an active remix contest, and a scored commercial to widen your scope.

What’s Included

• Logic Pro Level 1: Shake Hands with Logic
• Logic Pro Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Logic Pro Level 3: Mixing Essentials
• Logic Pro Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Logic Pro Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Logic Pro Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

Music Production with Logic Pro classes just started; sign-up today!

The week of February 27th in NYC – Wednesdays & Fridays, 6:15-am-9:00pm
The week of April 21st DUBSPOT ONLINE

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In this Visual Performance tutorial, Dubspot course designer Benton-C Bainbridge of Glowing Pictures offers tips and techniques for performing live visuals with Vidvox’s powerful VDMX software. The goal is to utilize a MIDI controller to play VDMX as an instrument and back away from the computer screen and keyboard.

You can download the archive of clips used in this video from Vidvox here

Check out our previous Visual Performance video tutorials in this series, offering a brief introduction to VDMX and some tips on how to synchronize audio with video.

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The main cause of this very common (and frustrating) problem is that you aren’t hearing the music accurately in your studio while you’re working, and so you’re making adjustments that won’t sound good on other sound systems or in other environments.

For example, you may think the bass is too loud in a track when you hear it in your studio, so you turn it down–but then when you play the track out on a proper club system or even in your car, the bass sounds weak.

To fix this problem and make your mixes sound better, you need to improve the overall listening environment in your home studio. A lot of us are just using computer + gear + monitors on a tabletop in an empty room, not exactly ideal from an acoustical standpoint:

Making improvements in your studio listening environment is probably the most important thing you can do to make your finished mixes sound better, but most electronic producers are more interested in spending money on new synths or software than room improvements.

There are a few obvious things you can do to improve the situation. You can get better speakers, and this can certainly help. It’s also a good idea to frequently compare the sound of the track you’re working on with a commercially-released track in a similar vein, as a reference for the overall balance of frequencies in the mix. You should also take your final mixes and listen to them on a variety of different sound systems (car, earbuds, club system, laptop speakers, friend’s studio, TV, etc.).

This is all good advice, but this kind of advice has always been frustrating to me as well–it all makes me wonder, what does the music really sound like?

Ultimately you need to be able to clearly hear what you’re working on to make your music sound the way you want. Accurate monitoring depends mainly on your speaker system and the space they’re set up in, and here’s the problem: decent speakers are available for a reasonable price, but what if (like most of us) you have a less-than-ideal space to set them up in? Mixing on expensive speakers in an echoey concrete basement or in a cramped space under a stairwell is not likely to produce good results, but what can you do about it short of moving to a new place?

This is where acoustic treatment and room correction come in. These are both ways to improve the overall listening environment so that the mixes you make sound consistent and translate better through different sound systems and in other spaces.

Acoustic Treatment

Acoustic treatment simply means to use bass traps, sound absorbers, sound diffusors and other such devices to absorb unwanted sounds, and this should be the first step in treating your studio. Most commonly you want to use some bass traps in the corners of the room to absorb the extra bass reflections that build up in a small room. You may also need to install some wall-mounted diffusors or absorbers as well to stop too much of the sound from your speakers reflecting back to your ears from the walls around you.

If you could really afford to set up your room properly with bass traps and diffusors, it might end up looking something like this:

Realistically though, most of us aren’t going to go that far. As a music producer you owe it to yourself to learn something about studio acoustics and acoustic treatment, and almost any small studio will benefit from a few well-placed bass traps and diffusors, but you should also realize that you won’t be able to get perfect sound in a small room that wasn’t designed with acoustics in mind. This is where room correction can help, but in most cases you will benefit most by adding some acoustic treatment and then adding room correction.

Acoustic treatment is a science in itself but this article from the Feb 2006 issue of UK audio magazine Sound on Sound is a good place to start learning. This diagram from the article shows some suggestions about where to place acoustic treatment in a typical small studio:

Sound on Sound also has a long-running regular feature “Studio SoS” where they go on location to a reader’s studio and do a proper acoustic treatment, detailing some of the unique problems they encountered along the way and the solutions they found, for example…

Room Correction

Room correction takes an opposite approach to acoustic treatment, and in fact the two approaches are complementary and can (should) be used together. Instead of trying to absorb unwanted frequencies by adding foam traps, absorber panels, etc., with a room correction system you analyze the frequency response in your room using a microphone and test tones, and then the system introduces some kind of filter to give you a flatter, “truer” frequency response. By using room correction while working on your tracks, you should be able to come up with final mixes that will sound more consistent on different sound systems.

Although there are differences between manufacturers, they generally follow the same process:

1. Measure the frequency response of the room over a spread of different locations using a reference microphone and audio test tones.

2. Analyze the frequency response of the room and create a correction filter to compensate and bring the final output closer to a flat response.

3. Apply the correction filter to the playback signal while mixing.

You can see that in step one, you will need to make audio measurements at a number of different locations. This is because the frequency response you hear in any room is dramatically affected simply by moving a small distance in any direction. (You probably already know that the bass sounds a lot louder in some parts of your room than others, this is what we’re talking about here.)

For a home/project studio, generally you want to optimize the sound at the sweet spot between the speakers where you sit while you mix, and you’ll do your measurements around this spot in some kind of pattern. The manual for IK Multimedia’s ARC software includes a diagram showing where you should make your measurements. The circled number 1 indicates your ideal listening position, you measure this first and then proceed in a symmetrical pattern around it:

What You Can Correct…And What You Can’t

The term “room correction” sounds kind of magical to me, like it will correct all your audio problems and make everything right! In reality though, there are several different types of acoustical issues going on in a typical project studio, and room correction can only fix some of them.

Generally speaking, room correction products work by fixing frequency problems in the room. If you are hearing too much bass at 150Hz in your studio, a room correction system may subtract some at that frequency to balance out.

However, it is also true that many of the acoustical issues in small studio rooms are not frequency problems but what are called time domain issues, issues with when different parts of the sound reach the ear, and these cannot be fixed except through studio design and acoustic treatment; examples here include early reflections and reverberation. For example, if your studio is set up in an echoey concrete basement, no amount of room correction is going to make it sound good, you need to put in carpeting and install some soundproofing/damping first!

Having said that though, room correction can help a lot in the typical project studio. Most significantly, a properly setup room correction system can give you a better idea of the true bass level in a track. This always seems to be one of the hardest things to get right in dance music, because it is difficult to hear the long low frequency bass waves accurately in a small studio room. This is really a frustrating problem with bass-heavy styles like drum’n'bass and dubstep, where you generally want the bass to be as powerful as it can be but without drowning out everything else; it is hard to find this balance when you can’t hear the music clearly in your studio and room correction can help a lot with this.

Acoustic Treatment + Room Correction = Sonic Bliss?

While there does seem to be some controversy among audiophiles about whether acoustic treatment or room correction is a better way to go, it seems the consensus is that the best approach is to do some basic acoustic treatment of your room first, and then use room correction to further fine-tune what you’re hearing. So assuming that you’ve already installed some bass traps and diffusors as needed, let’s look at the main room correction systems out there and how they stack up…

Which One Should I Get?

There are room correction systems on the market from a number of different manufacturers, but some of these are intended for audiophile hi-fi music playback systems or home theater setups and wouldn’t easily fit into a typical project studio. At the moment there are basically only two companies making room correction solutions for small studios: IK Multimedia and JBL. IK’s product, ARC, is software-only while JBL’s MSC1 is a hardware piece, and each have their pros and cons. These two are comparatively priced as well (both were around $300 on Sweetwater.com and other sites I checked when I was working on this post), so if you are interested in adding room correction to your studio I recommend checking out both of them and decide which would fit better in your studio.

Software Room Correction: IK Multimedia’s ARC 2.0

IK Multimedia’s ARC software, first released in 2008 and updated with a 2.0 version in 2012, allows you to apply room correction in your studio with just a software plug-in, without requiring any hardware. ARC=Automatic Room Correction, get it? This is the system I’m currently using in my studio, let’s look at how to set it up.

To use ARC, you first run a setup program and run through a series of audio measurements as the software plays a series of test tones through your monitors.

Then, when you’re working on a music project in your DAW, you just run the ARC VST plug-in on your master output as the very last effect in the chain. When you go to render your final mix, you turn the ARC plug-in off so that the room correction filter does not affect the sound, resulting in a mix that should translate well anywhere.

Opening the ARC plug-in, the interface looks like this:

On the left under Measurement is a drop-down where I can pick various measurement profiles, of different rooms measured at different times and so on.

On the right under Target Curve, you can see that I’ve selected Flat. Normally you want to keep it on this setting, and ARC will do its best to play you your “true” mix, uncolored by the response of the room you’re sitting in. However there are other choices here that will simulate the sound of a car stereo, laptop speakers and other playback systems, letting you hear what your mix will sound like on different types of speakers without even leaving your room…

In the graphs below the drop-down menus, the brown BEFORE line represents the measured frequency response in my studio from when I did the audio test. The grey AFTER line represents the frequency response I should be hearing after the correction has been applied, and in the background the green TARGET line represents the perfectly flat frequency response of a completely transparent listening environment.

Because of the imperfections in my room and the limitations of what room correction software can do, the final corrected frequency curve will never be perfectly flat, but this grey curve represents the best it can do in my room.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of using a software solution for room correction. On the plus side, you can take advantage of the latest updates to the technology without having to buy a new hardware piece, and in fact most reviewers found that last year’s ARC 2.0 release was a substantial step up in quality from the first generation of the product.

The downside to a software-only solution lies in the fact that to really take advantage of a room correction system you should be running it all the time, whether you’re doing sound design, arranging, mixing or just listening to some of the latest tracks you bought. To do this with ARC, you need to have some other piece of software such as Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro that allows you to run audio plug-ins on your main system audio output, and you need to remember to run this whenever you are listening to music in your studio. This is a minor inconvenience, but no big deal really; this is the way I do it and it’s never caused me any other issues.

Hardware Room Correction: JBL’s MSC1

JBL’s MSC1 is a desktop hardware unit that you run your final audio output through before it reaches your speakers, also providing you with multiple stereo ins and outs so you can use it with several different audio sources and/or speaker sets without reconnecting anything:

The accompanying software that comes with the MSC1 walks you through the setup process using the included reference microphone (following a similar procedure as ARC), and then you can use the MSC1 to apply a corrective filter to your audio at the press of a button:

The MSC1 was released in 2009, but JBL has also been incorporating their RMC (Room Mode Correction) technology into some of their studio monitors for awhile. You can get the same functionality as the MSC1 built into the company’s LSR4326P or LSR4328P monitors for example, both of which are also highly recommended, but the MSC1 lets you use JBL’s room correction with the speakers you already have.

Honorable Mention: The KRK Ergo

KRK has had a solid entrant in the room correction field for some years with their Ergo device, but it seems to have reached the end of its lifecycle now and been discontinued fairly recently. The Ergo is a small hardware box comparable in size to the MSC1, but it is able to function as a Firewire audio interface for your computer as well as a standalone room correction device:

I know a number of satisfied users of the Ergo system and I’ve heard good things about it, but at this point KRK isn’t selling it any more and it’s not really the sort of thing you want to buy secondhand. It needs to be able to connect to your computer so you can set it up and get it working, and without updated drivers and software from the manufacturer this may not work right, at least not for much longer.

Related Dubspot Courses:

Transform rough ideas and basic compositions into dance floor bangers and sonically pleasing commercial-quality masters. Learn well-kept industry secrets of EQ, compression, panning, level balancing, reverb and special effects from platinum mix/mastering engineer, Daniel Wyatt, senior Dubspot instructor and course designer.

This program gives you everything you need to refine your tracks into a clear commercial-quality release, including special mixing and mastering techniques for dubstep, techno, house, trance, downtempo, hip hop, and the gamut of electronic music.

Science behind the art.

Investigate how to use key concepts and tools in your tracks, while paying special attention to techniques of metering and spectral analysis in order to apply science alongside the art.

Mixing & Mastering

What’s Included:

Mixing & Mastering Level 1: Mix
Mixing & Mastering Level 2: Modify
Mixing & Mastering Level 3: Master

“The videos were helpful and the chats were great. I expected a lot out of this course and I got it!” – Jon Yu, California

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.
Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

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New York City’s Cielo nightclub is a true dance music lovers’ venue. This small club—which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year—is one of the last of its kind, a now-historic Lower Manhattan venue designed and run specifically for underground dance music and its devotees. In the past decade Cielo has become a well-known name in dance music for their big-name DJ bookings and residencies from the likes of Lil’ Louie Vega and François K, but what really makes Cielo unique is pristine sound in an intimate space: the 350-person capacity room in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District is also home to the city’s first and only permanently-installed Funktion One sound system.

Nicolas Matar and Cielo

Cielo’s owner Nicolas Matar is an in-demand international DJ himself, having spent seven years of his life spinning records in Ibiza up to five nights a week at venues including house music mecca Pacha. For Nicolas, though, clubbing in New York City hasn’t quite been the same since the 90s. In an interview with online publication Rhythmism, he attributes the sudden shift in vibe to Mayor Giuliani’s crackdown on nightlife in the late 1990s. This initiative introduced rigorous inspections for fire safety and sanitation, created pressure to root out drug use in nightclubs, boosted the cost of various entertainment-related permits and licenses, and most famously revived a cabaret law from 1926 that banned three or more patrons from dancing without a specific permit.

While New York’s proliferation of nightlife dwindled in the past decade, however, Nicolas has kept the torch burning over at Cielo, booking many of the DJs you might have caught at the Paradise Garage in the late 80s or at venues like the Sound Factory in the 90s alongside newcomers from the Berlin and London underground scenes. On weekends you can expect a line down the block, a very picky door policy, and some of the most sought-after house and techno DJs in the world taking a night off from their usual festival and superclub gigs to rock the crowd at Cielo.

François K. and Deep Space

The Cielo experience isn’t always as exclusive as it is on Fridays and Saturday, though. On Monday nights the club drops its tough door policy, drops the cover charge by half, and allows the disciples of underground groove to convene for services at DJ François K.’s church of vibes. A dance music legend in his own right who has been performing for nearly four decades, François’ Monday night party Deep Space has been running nearly every week for the past nine years, playing host to a who’s-who of internationally-renowned DJs and live performers who jump at the opportunity to juice the subs at what audiophiles have called “the best-sounding club in the country.”

Throughout its nine-year history, Deep Space has maintained a reputation for “future dub, spacey vibes, and abstract grooves,” all while keeping current with constantly shifting global music trends. The list of DJs and live musicians that have played the night includes countless major innovators of electronic dance music such as original dubstep shaman Mala of Digital Mystikz, Hyperdub label manager Kode9, Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins and British radio legend Gilles Peterson, to name just a few.

Funktion One: Award-Winning Sound

And while the award-winning, British-designed Funktion One hardware is a talking point for electronic music nerds, it’s the combination of interior architecture and design, top-tier sound technicians, and a proper hardware setup that makes Cielo’s womb-like sonic warmth possible.

“For a 300-capacity room the sound system in [Cielo] is huge,” says resident audio engineer Daniel Neumann, adding that “high-quality audio is only achieved as the sum of every detail.” It’s Neumann’s job to make sure that all the components function properly and sound their best night after night. There are a dozen points at which the signal chain in an audio setup can break down, including unnecessary routing, faulty cables, a DJ mixer or an amplifier that’s being pushed beyond its limit, or a substandard audio interface that can reduce the quality of the signal. Neumann follows the signal from start to finish to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

“At Cielo a big part of the sound is definitely the room treatment. The padded walls (and even part of the ceiling) absorb most of the sound,” rather than allowing it to bounce around the room. “That’s exactly what you want for club music, since the tracks work with spatialization and placement physicality built into the tracks, not necessarily added later on, as in classical music.” Only with the combination of proper engineering, interior design, and thorough sound checks can the Funktion One do what it’s made to do. In a club setting, “the usual formula for sound systems is 10 watts per person, which for Cielo would mean a 3,000-watt system. But the subwoofers alone can take around 10,000 watts, plus the low-mids another 4,000 watts.”

Beyond the raw power of Cielo’s amps and loudspeakers, the design of the amplifier system and frequency crossovers accounts for much of the quality; “It’s a four-way system, so you have a very clear distinction between frequency bands—highs, high-mids, low-mids, lows—which makes a much clearer sound, because each box is built to only serve a certain range.” “Cielo is sent prototypes of new gear and serves as a testing club for new technologies developed by Funktion One,” says owner Nicolas Matar. “We spared no expense in acoustically treating the room to make it sound like you’re in a studio environment.”

So if you’re looking to relive the 90s and get housed by Frankie Knuckles and Louie Vega, if you need a couple doses of dark, sexy minimalism from Berlin, or if you want to get your skank on with dubstep dons like Goth-Trad and J:Kenzo, get your tickets in advance and hop on the L train to Cielo. And to all you aspiring DJs: don’t waste your time trying to trainspot from behind the DJ booth—the Funktion One’s sweet spot is smack dab in the middle of the dancefloor. - Max Pearl

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Abe’s Road Test: Keith McMillen QuNeo 3D

During a recent visit to Japan, Dubspot instructor and globe-trotting performer Abe Duque got a chance to road test Keith McMillen’s QuNeo 3D controller and was impressed. The QuNeo is a USB MIDI controller that offers pressure sensitivity as well as directional control on a series of low-profile pads and sliders. We’ve had our eye on the QuNeo for some time and have been eager to see how it performs in real-life situations. Abe’s report shows a multitude of uses for controlling Ableton Live’s clips, effects, and envelope parameters in real-time. He found that while the touch-sensitive interface may take some getting used to, it also provides numerous control options that don’t exist on most other MIDI control products.

The QuNeo pad MIDI controller from Keith McMillen Instruments brings a fresh design philosophy to a market dominated by endless variations on the same common designs. While its pads appear superficially like those of an MPC or NI’s Maschine, the QuNeo also adds touch recognition in multiple dimensions. The “3D” in its name refers to the fact that its sensors can send velocity, pressure, and location information in addition to simple on/off note triggering. The drum pads can send x/y axis information, or each pad can send 4 separate note/pressure commands, one from each corner, making the 4×4 pad array into an 8×8 grid of 64 triggers. Some pads can also send direction and width information. The QuNeo’s dimensions are also identical to an iPad’s, which allows you to use it with popular iPad stands and accessories.

Free Download: Abe’s Ableton Live QuNeo Template

To get you started with the Keith McMillen QuNeo, Abe Duque has provided the Ableton Live template that he uses in the above video.

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Bitwig Studio

Bitwig Studio was one of the standout items on display at NAMM this year. Hidden behind the Moog booth, the Bitwig area was a beehive of excitement over the working version of application being shown by the development team. Borrowing from sequencers of the past while adding their own new ideas to create a new take on the modern DAW, Bitwig was the talk of the show floor.

Korg MS-20 Mini

The Korg MS-20 Mini is the little brother of Korg’s classic MS-20 synth. While contained in a smaller chassis, the MS-20 Mini boasts the same internal architecture as the classic design. Korg replaced the original’s quarter-inch patch cable inputs with eighth-inch inputs, saving interface real estate while retaining all of the original routing capabilities.

Moog Sub Phatty

The Moog Sub Phatty was another show favorite, attracting artists like Deadmau5 and Stevie Wonder to the booth for a chance to hear the new synth. The Sub Phatty is smaller than most of the company’s previous synthesizers, however it lives up to its “Phatty” family name by providing a massive palette of sounds for the performer. Featuring Moog’s new “Multidrive” circuit as well as some unique oscillator mixing functions, the Sub Phatty was unlike most of the other synthesizers we saw.

DSI Prophet 12

The rumor mill was buzzing this year about what Dave Smith Instruments would bring to the show after their 2012 release of the Tempest analog drum machine. We were all delighted to find the Prophet 12, a formidable synthesis behemoth, featuring 12 independent voices, each voice containing four oscillators as well as many original effects devices, such as Girth and Hack. This was the showcase of the DSI booth, which also featured the now-favorite Tempest as well as their classic MoPho synth units.

Pittsburgh Modular Cell [48] System 1

One of the more esoteric devices at NAMM 2013, the Pittsburgh Modular Systems Cell [48] System 1 stuck out from the modular pack. A small brick-shaped module with extensive routing capabilities and an eight-step sequencer, the Cell [48] really stood out on the show floor. The Cell [48] System 1 is fully analog, and is capable of performing a variety of classic synth sounds without any cable patching.

Stokyo Customs + Oyaide + Jesse Graves

DJs at NAMM were buzzing about new custom options for their turntables. One standout was Jesse “Dean” Graves, who has created custom turntable designs for the likes of BT, Steve Aoki and Linkin Park. Stokyo featured all kinds of quirky DJ tools, devices and accessories including customized Serato vinyl, while Oyaide showed off their combo cabling systems, which have become a favorite in the DJ community.

Nektar P1 and P4 Panorama series

The Panorama series from Nektar were the controllers of choice at many NAMM booths this year. With pressure-sensitive pads, knobs and sliders in addition to a keyboard, the Nektar controllers have a fairly standard set of hardware controls, but it is the elegant color touchscreen that sets the Panorama series apart from the competition. The screen changes dynamically depending on what software you are using, featuring built-in integration with Propellerhead’s Reason platform and presets for a variety of other major music applications.

Livid Base

Livid Instruments’ booth in Hall E was a constant flurry of action and bass music. Situated in the middle of the ukulele section of NAMM, Livid was easy to find among their neighbors. Their new Base controller was a standout alternative to the many humdrum keyboard controllers that littered the NAMM halls. Featuring eight ribbon-style sliders and 32 pressure-sensitive pads, the Base was a refreshing change of pace from many of the other controller designs we saw.

Ableton Push

Ableton is entering the controller world in a big way in 2013 with their much-anticipated Push controller, which features 64 pads and touch-sensitive strips for modulation. The device is designed to work in conjunction with the upcoming Ableton Live 9 release, and is said to offer new approaches to composition and performance.

Arturia SparkLE

Arturia brought some new tools to the show this year, following up on their earlier MiniBrute. They introduced their new hybrid drum device, the SparkLE, which promises to integrate with software or to work as a standalone device. We also saw the new MiniLab, a controller featuring eight pads, 16 knobs and 25 keys which works seamlessly with Arturia’s Analog Laboratory software.

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Running 32-bit plugins in the 64-bit version of Bitwig Studio

Bitwig Studio has been designed to take some of the best aspects from music software tools of past and present and combine them to create a next-generation music production and performance platform.

The line between production and performance has become blurred in the past decade thanks to innovative software environments that allow you to do both, and performance-oriented features have become an essential part of many musicians’ production workflow. Bitwig Studio takes this “performance DAW” concept to another level–it’s a music production environment that allows you to assemble your music thru realtime performance.

Of course, the main innovator in this area has been Ableton; before Live was first released in 2001, the idea of performing and producing music were usually left to two independent programs. Live allowed for the best of both worlds and also enabled users to take advantage of a more spontaneous, performance-based workflow when producing inthe studio.

Bitwig Studio draws upon many of the major concepts pioneered in Live, but presents itself first and foremost as a studio production tool. It incorporates many of the live performance features that we have come to know and love from Ableton but also some more recent ideas about production workflow inspired by other sources (there are certain similarities with aspects of Native Instruments’ Reaktor and Maschine, for example). There are also some new ideas that are unique to Bitwig itself. Let’s take a look at some of the high points…

Bitwig Studio Clip Launch view side by side with classic Arrangement view

Multiple Views Of Your Music

Like its competitors, Bitwig Studio features all the standard multitrack recording and sequencing functions, including a standard arrangement window that will be easily recognizable to users of other DAWs. Bitwig also provides two other distinct views, including a mixer-based clip launch view similar to Ableton’s as well as a non-linear clip arrangement view which should be familiar to users of Native Instruments’ Maschine. There is also an expanded mix view that allows for detailed control of your mixdown once you get to that stage. Because the interface draws on familiar conventions of DAW design, it should be relatively quick for experienced users of other production platforms to start working with Bitwig.

The Bitwig Studio expanded mixer view

Streamlined Workflow

One of our favorite things about the demo we saw was the streamlined production workflow in Bitwig. The program incorporates many shortcuts to facilitate an efficient production process. Virtually anything in the interface can be easily mapped and controlled thru MIDI or with key commands.

For example, one of the first things we noticed about the interface that appeared different from other DAWs were the multiple tabs running along the top of the application. These tabs were exactly what they appeared to be, individual project tabs, each representing a separate, open project. This allows users to select between multiple open projects and cut, copy and paste material from one to another, making it much easier to share loops and sound between projects, something that has always been rather awkward in most other DAWs.

Although a streamlined workflow is not as glamorous as flashy new features or effects, ultimately the test for any new music software or hardware should be: is this something that will help me make the music I want more quickly? Will it help me come up with creative ideas more easily and sculpt them into finished tracks? A streamlined workflow is one of the key factors here and in our opinion this is one of the best things about Bitwig.

Editing multiple audio slices inside one clip in Bitwig Studio

Other features of Bitwig that will help provide for a smooth workflow include:

• Intelligent time-stretching that fits musical parts to a given BPM
• A layered editing mode that allows you to see the MIDI data for multiple clips simultaneously for easier editing
• The ability to bounce audio in place–you can highlight a MIDI or audio clip and print it with or without effects as audio (generally to save on CPU resources)
• A plug-in crash protection mechanism that prevents the whole program from going down just because one dodgy plug-in crashes
• Audio editing both within single clips as well as on the arrangement timeline
• The ability to run 32-bit plug-ins within a 64-bit project
• Dual monitor support

Clip and Note Automation

Bitwig Studio also offers powerful automation functionality, including automation within clips as well as single notes. Allowing for very precise control of unlimited effects and instrument parameters, the implementation of automation in Bitwig seems robust and fully developed. A specific point we liked was that MIDI automation of pitch bend is represented by the note you want to bend to rather than the traditional numeric range in other programs, making it easier to quickly see what is going on.

Clip automation in Bitwig

Future Developments

Some of the new features we saw demoed at NAMM will not be part of Bitwig’s initial 1.0 release as they are still in the experimental phase. However some of these deserve a brief mention here as they are among the most exciting aspects of the application, including online multi-user collaboration, LAN-based sync and the ability to open and edit any part of the application’s interface using Bitwig’s ‘native modular’ system.

Modular Accessibility

One of the most innovative aspects of Bitwig is that the entire system has been designed from the ground up using a built-in native modular toolkit that will be completely user-accessible. This will allow you to modify and customize the onboard instruments or effects and then save and share your modified versions with other users. You can add new parameters or controls to an existing device, or even build a completely new instrument or effect from scratch.

Bitwig features an expanded mixer view and Clip view

Although this kind of functionality will be familiar to users of programs like Reaktor or Max/MSP (which is course available to Ableton users as Max for Live), Bitwig’s design seems to go a bit further than other DAWs in offering users the ability to modify virtually any aspect of its internal workings, although we don’t have all the details yet about how this will work.

Network Collaboration

One of the most exciting things we saw demoed in Bitwig were the multiuser collaboration features planned for future versions, which will allow you to work on a shared document with another user over a network. Essentially the idea is that multiple users on the same network can all work on the same project at the same time via LAN, allowing for a new level of creative collaboration. Although we have seen some applications with somewhat similar functionality before (most notably Ohm Studio from French plug-in developer Ohm Force, also still in beta), to our knowledge Bitwig is the first full-featured DAW that will offer this degree of collaboration.

The modular system in Bitwig will appear in a future version

Getting Your Hands On It

Unfortunately, Bitwig Studio is not available yet, although from what we heard the project release date may be sometime this summer. We will keep our fingers on the pulse in anticipation of the release and bring you updates and more info as soon as we can…

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Apogee Pro Audio Interfaces Add iOS Connectivity

One of the more prominent themes at NAMM this year is iOS connectivity and Apogee is one of the companies leading the charge. They have recently announced new versions of their popular Duet and One audio interfaces, which will now be supporting iOS devices as well as Apple computers. In addition, they have announced a new audio interface for the prosumer market, the Quartet. This wedge-shaped box offers eight outputs, four inputs and Apogee’s renowned digital-to-analog converters for around $1295 US.

Algoriddim Vjay + Vestax Typhoon

One of the more surprising moments at NAMM this week was stumbling upon the Vestax booth where the company was displaying a new version of their Typhoon DJ MIDI controller being used with Algoriddim’s Vjay application on iPad. We found this tactile interface for video performance very appealing and left thinking that we needed to start building our own iOS VJ setup…

Moldover’s Guitar Mod–the Robocaster from Visionary Instruments

Another innovative instrument we made sure to check out is Moldover’s fusion of guitar tech and controllerism for Visionary Instruments, the Robocaster. Featuring assignable faders, touch strips and arcade buttons, this guitar outputs audio as well as MIDI simultaneously, allowing you to control any MIDI software or hardware while playing guitar at the same time. We saw a demo featuring the Robocaster connected to Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5, controlling octave transposition with the arcade buttons and volume with a fader and countless other cool, glitchy effects assigned to the other controls.

Novation Launchkey + iOS Apps

It’s been a while since we’ve seen new hardware from Novation. The company has been enjoying the success of their Launchpad controller for Ableton Live and now they have announced that they are expanding the line of Launchpad control products with a new line of keyboard controllers collectively called Launchkey that integrate clip launch buttons, faders, knobs, and transport control into the design. They seem to incorporate some version of Novation’s Automap technology as well, promising “instant access to major DAW control parameters–with no assignment necessary.” The company has also released a Launchkey synth application for the iPad which will integrate with the new keyboards.

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Korg MS-20 Mini

It turns out that the rumors are true–the Korg MS-20 Mini is real. The company has unveiled this micro version of the two-oscillator analog synthesizer for NAMM. The original MS-20, one of Korg’s greatest creations, was introduced in 1978 and sold until 1983. It continues to command a high price on the resale market due to its robust sound and a semi-modular interface that allows you to experiment with a variety of signal routings via a patch cable system. The Korg MS-20 Mini updates the original with  1/8-inch patch cables, USB MIDI connectivity, and a smaller overall package, although Korg claims that the internal components of the machine are exactly the same as the original. Having played with it firsthand we can say that it’s a joy to use and we expect it to be a smash hit at a street price of $599.

Moog Sub Phatty

Moog Music is also presenting a very attractive new synthesizer this year, the Sub Phatty. Arriving in a package similar to its sibling the Lil Phatty, this new instrument is a subtractive synth with a thick sound enabled by the company’s new “Multidrive” effect, a unique distortion/overdrive circuit that can inserted at any point in the signal path. Priced around $999, this is Moog’s most affordable keyboard synth yet.

Deadmau5 / Bernie Worrell @ Moog

Chance would have it that we walked over to the Moog booth just as Deadmau5 was getting a walkthrough of the Sub Phatty, while just nearby Parliament/Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell was tearing into a solo on Moog’s new synth for a captivated audience of NAMM attendees. Fun to say the least!

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12

Back again with a powerful new instrument is Dave Smith Instruments, who wowed NAMM audiences last year with their Tempest analog drum machine. This year the company has introduced the stunning Prophet 12 synthesizer, a new design built from the ground up. The Prophet 12 boasts twelve voices, each containing four oscillators, a sub-oscillator and analog filters and VCAs.  A sound design behemoth, talk of this device was the buzz of Hall A.

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